Jody’s father Penny was bitten by a rattle-snake. He quickly killed a doe. Then he used the doe’s heart and liver to draw out the poison. Jody saw that the doe’s baby, a little fawn, was left alone.
Jody Talks to Penny
The thought of fawn kept on haunting Jody’s mind. He quietly went to his father’s bed-side. He asked him how he was feeling. Then he asked him to think about the fawn. He asked him to permit him to bring the fawn home. Jody wanted to raise him.
Penny Gives His Permission
At first Penny was in a dilemma. Jody argued that raising the fawn would not be a burden. Fawn could drink Jody’s milk until he started eating leaves and acorns. Jody also said that his family was responsible for the fawn’s plight. Penny agreed that it would be ungrateful to leave the fawn to starve. So he gave Jody his permission. He asked him to tell his mother about it before going to bring the fawn in.
Jody Talks to His Mother
Jody came to the table and sat down very quietly. The mother was pouring coffee in the cups. She was taken aback when Jody talked of bringing the fawn home. Seeing the mother reluctant, Jody told what his father had said. He said that Penny had said it would be ungrateful to leave the fawn to starve.
Dr. Wilson and Mill-wheel Help Jody
Before the mother could say anything, Dr. Wilson spoke. He told Jody’s mother that nothing in the world comes quite free. He meant that they must pay some price for having taken the life of doe. Here the price was to raise the fawn. Mill-wheel chipped in. He offered to take Jody on his horse to the forest. The mother felt helpless. She only told Jody that he could give the fawn his milk. She would not give him anything else to feed the fawn.
Jody Goes with Mill-wheel
Mill-wheel mounted his horse. He sat Jody behind him on the horse. Jody assured his mother Ma Baxter that he would be back before dinner. Now Mill-wheel asked Jody how he knew that the fawn was male. Jody said that the spots on the fawn were all in a line. This indicated that the fawn was male.
II
Jody Wants to be Alone
Once in the forest, Jody wanted Mill-wheel to go back. He wanted to be alone with the fawn. There were two reasons. First, it was possible that Jody might not get the fawn. For the fawn might have died or be not found. In that case, he would not like Mill-wheel to see his disappointment. Secondly, if he met the fawn, the meeting would be very lovely and secret. He would not like to share it with any one else.
Mill-wheel is Sent Back
So Jody asked Mill-wheel to go. He said that the scrub was too thick for the horse to get through. Mill-wheel was however afraid to leave Jody alone. He said that Jody could be lost in the forest or bitten by the snake. Jody however said Mill-wheel didn’t have to worry. He would be careful. So Mill-wheel went back.
III
Jody Finds the Fawn
After a while Jody came to the carcass of the doe. The fawn was not found nearby. He tried to look for the small hoof prints, but in vain. Then there was some movement directly in front of him. Jody was overjoyed to see his fawn. It was shaky but it didn’t try to rise or run.
Jody Picks the Fawn
Jody laid his hand on the fawn’s soft neck. He was very happy to feel it. Jody lifted the swan from the grass very softly. He feared that the sight of its mother’s carcass might agitate the swan. So he avoided the clearing and went through the bushes. It was a difficult walk. He was carrying the fawn in his arms.
Jody Brings the Fawn Home
It was a long walk. He reached the trail. Then he came to the road that could take him home. Now he stopped to rest. He put the fawn down. It bleated and looked at Jody. Jody was charmed. “I’ll carry you after I get my breath”, he said. His father had told him that a fawn would follow if it had first been carried. So he started slowly. The fawn didn’t move. So he came back to pick him. He went ahead carrying the fawn in his arms. He could not go very far. He was too tired. This time, however, the fawn followed him as he walked on. He allowed it to walk a little. Then he picked it up again. He reached at the gate of his home carrying the fawn.
Jody Carries Fawn to His Father
At the gate Jody had an idea. He would walk into his father’s room with the fawn after him. But at the steps, the fawn would not come up. So Jody reached his father’s bed with the fawn on him. Jody showed his father the fawn. The father was glad that Jody had found what he wanted.
Jody Feeds the Fawn
Jody offered the milk to the fawn. The milk was in the gourd. The fawn could not drink it. Then Jody dipped his fingers in the milk and thrust them into the fawn’s soft mouth. The fawn drank the milk greedily. Then he lowered his fingers into the gourd. The fawn drank from the gourd now
Page No 90:
Question 1:
What had happened to Jody’s father?
Answer:
Jody’s father had been bitten by a rattlesnake.
Question 2:
How did the doe save Penny’s life?
Answer:
The doe’s liver and heart were used to draw out the poison from Penny.
Question 3:
Why does Jody want to bring the fawn home?
Answer:
Jody wanted to bring the fawn home because he felt that they had killed the doe for their purpose and the fawn had been orphaned for no fault of its own. He kept thinking about the hungry and scared fawn. He felt that it was their responsibility to take care of the fawn or else it would starve to death.
Question 4:
How does Jody know that the fawn is a male?
Answer:
Jody knew that the fawn was a male because the spots on its body were all in a line. His father had told him that on the body of a doe-fawn, the spots are in different directions.
Page No 91:
Question 1:
Jody didn’t want Mill-wheel with him for two reasons. What were they?
Answer:
Jody did not want Mill-wheel with him for two reasons. One reason was that if the fawn was dead or could not be found, he did not want him to see his disappointment. The second reason was that if they found the fawn, then the meeting would be so lovely and secret that he could not endure to share it.
Question 2:
Why was Mill-wheel afraid to leave Jody alone?
Answer:
Mill-wheel did not want to leave Jody alone as he was afraid that Jody could lose his way or get bitten by a snake.
Page No 94:
Question 1:
How did Jody bring the fawn back home?
Answer:
Jody did not want to scare the fawn away. That is why he first stroked its neck slowly, and then put his arms around it. Then, he picked it up and carried it through the thick bushes. He tried to shield its face from the sharp vines. He stopped to rest on his way home. On walking a little, he saw the fawn following him. After this, he would either carry the fawn, or put it down so that it would follow him by itself. When they reached home, it refused to climb the stairs. He then picked it up and took it inside the house.
Question 2:
Jody was filled with emotion after he found the fawn. Can you find at least three words or phrases which show how he felt?
Answer:
Jody was filled with emotion after he found the fawn. When he stroked its neck, the touch made him ‘delirious’. When he realised that it was his fawn now, he was ‘light-headed with his joy’. When he finally brought the fawn into the house, Penny thought that “the boy’s eyes were as bright as the fawn’s”.
Question 3:
How did the deer drink milk form the gourd?
Answer:
The deer drank the milk from Jody’s hands. When Jody gave milk to the fawn in a gourd, it butted it suddenly, smelling the milk and not knowing what to do with the milk in the gourd. It was then that Jody dipped his fingers in the milk and pushed them into the fawn’s soft wet mouth so that it would drink the milk.
Question 4:
Why didn’t the fawn follow Jody up the steps as he had thought it would?
Answer:
The deer is a wild animal. It is used to a life in the forest. When the fawn reached Jody’s home, it did not follow Jody up the steps because of the strangeness of the house and the steps and everything. This is similar to its reaction to the milk in the gourd. It simply did not know what to do.
Question 1:
Why did Penny Baxter allow Jody to go find the fawn and raise it?
Answer:
Penny allowed Jody to go find the fawn and raise it because it seemed ungrateful to him to leave the fawn to starve. He agreed with Jody that they had killed the doe for their purpose and the fawn was orphaned for no fault of its own. They could not let the fawn starve. They felt a responsibility towards it.
Question 2:
Why did Doc Wilson mean when he said, “Nothing in the world ever comes quite free”?
Answer:
Penny had killed the doe to save his life. Therefore, in regard for what the doe had done, its fawn needed to be taken care of and saved from starvation. This was what Doc Wilson meant when he said that nothing in the world came for free.
Question 3:
How did Jody look after the fawn, after he accepted the responsibility for doing this?
Answer:
After Jody accepted the responsibility for looking after the fawn, he cared for it like its own mother would. While taking it home, he shielded its face from the sharp vines. He carried it in his arms even though he was tired. On reaching home, he gave it the milk that was meant for him. When he saw that the fawn did not drink the milk kept in the gourd, he fed it with his own hands. Hence, one can say that Jody carried out his responsibility quite well.
Question 4:
How does Jody’s mother react when she hears that he is going to bring the fawn home? Why does she react in this way?
Answer:
When Jody’s mother heard that he was going to bring the fawn home, she was a little surprised and asked Jody what fawn he was talking about. He then told her that it was the fawn whose mother they had killed to save Penny. She said they had nothing else to feed it and only the milk they gave him could be given to it. She reacted this way because she was not present at the site where Penny had been bitten, where they had killed the doe. She had not seen the fawn and therefore, was not as concerned as Penny and Jody.
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