Ch 6Mijbil the Otter

Mijbil the Otter

Author: Gavin Maxwell (an extract from his famous book Ring of Bright Water)

Introduction

This chapter is a real-life account by the British naturalist and writer Gavin Maxwell. It describes how he acquired a pet otter in Iraq, the bond that developed between them, and the hilarious yet troublesome journey of bringing the otter from Basra to London. The narrative celebrates the deep companionship that can exist between human beings and animals.

Detailed Summary

In the early 1950s, after the death of his beloved dog Jonnie, Gavin Maxwell decided he would never keep a dog again. Life without a pet, however, felt lonely. While travelling to Southern Iraq in 1956, it occurred to him that he should keep an otter instead of a dog, and that his home at Camusfearna, ringed by water, would be an ideal place for such an experiment. When he mentioned this to a friend, the friend suggested that he should get an otter from the Tigris marshes, where otters were common and were often tamed by the Arabs.

Maxwell and his friend travelled to Basra to collect their mail from the Consulate-General. His friend's mail arrived, but Maxwell's did not, and he had to wait for five frustrating days, struggling with a faulty telephone service. When his mail finally arrived and he carried it to his bedroom, he found two Arabs squatting on the floor with a sack that squirmed from time to time. They handed him a note from his friend: "Here is your otter." Thus, quite casually, an otter entered his life.

The otter, covered with symmetrical pointed scales of dry mud, resembled a small, medievally conceived dragon. Maxwell named him Mijbil. Mij belonged to a race of otters previously unknown to science, which zoologists later christened Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli — Maxwell's otter. For the first twenty-four hours Mijbil was aloof and indifferent, sleeping on the floor away from Maxwell's bed. But he soon became friendly and took a keen interest in his surroundings. Water fascinated him: he went wild with joy in the bathtub, plunging and rolling, and within two days he learnt to turn the tap himself to get running water.

Mij loved games. He spent hours playing with a rubber ball and juggling small objects, and he invented his own game with marbles rolling on his stomach. Soon the problem of transporting him to England arose. The British airline to London refused to fly animals, so Maxwell booked another airline to Paris and on to London. The airline insisted that Mij be packed in a box not more than eighteen inches square, to be kept on the floor at Maxwell's feet. An hour before the flight, Maxwell put Mij in the box and went for a hurried meal. On returning, he found the box silent, with blood trickling from the airholes. Mij had torn the lining of the box and hurt himself. With only ten minutes left for the flight, Maxwell removed the sharp metal pieces, put the bleeding otter back, and raced to the airport.

On the plane, the kind air hostess — whom Maxwell called "the very queen of her kind" — suggested that he keep the pet on his knee. The moment the box opened, Mij shot out and disappeared down the aircraft, causing chaos: a woman shrieked "A rat! A rat!", and Maxwell, diving after the otter, got covered in curry. Mij finally returned on his own and settled on Maxwell's knee, gazing out of the window.

In London, Mij spent hours playing with ping-pong balls and a damaged suitcase whose sloping lid made a ball roll — a game he invented himself. On walks through the London streets, Mij developed the compulsive habit of running along the low walls of a primary school, like children who touch every paling. Londoners could not recognise the animal and made wild guesses — a baby seal, a squirrel, a walrus, a hippo, a beaver, a bear cub, even a leopard. The climax came when a labourer digging a hole asked, "Here, Mister — what is that supposed to be?"

Themes

• Human–animal bond: Genuine love and patient care can build a deep companionship between a man and a wild creature.
• Responsibility of pet-keeping: Exotic pets demand extraordinary care, sacrifice and tolerance.
• Ignorance about wildlife: The Londoners' absurd guesses satirise how little urban people know about animals.

Character Sketches

Gavin Maxwell

The narrator is a sensitive naturalist and animal lover. He is patient, observant and affectionate — he tends to Mij's wounds, tolerates the chaos Mij creates, and studies his habits with scientific curiosity. His humour and calmness in crisis (the box episode, the aeroplane chaos) reveal a devoted and responsible pet-owner.

Mijbil

Mij is playful, intelligent and inventive. Initially aloof, he becomes deeply attached to his master. He loves water, learns to open taps, invents his own games with marbles and ping-pong balls, and develops fixed habits like running along the school wall. He is friendly yet mischievous, a true "otter fixation" for the author.

Important Word-Meanings