Feathered Friend Summary and Explanation
CBSE Class 8 English Unit 5 Science and Curiosity Chapter 1 Feathered Friend Summary, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from Poorvi Book
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CBSE Class 8 English Unit 5 Science and Curiosity Chapter 1 Feathered Friend
By Arthur C. Clarke
The story is about Sven Olsen’s pet bird, whom Sven got along at the space station where he worked. At first, other workers were struggling to accept the presence of the canary. However, after an incident, they see the importance of Sven’s feathered friend.
- Feathered Friend Summary
- Feathered Friend Summary in Hindi
- Feathered Friend Theme
- Feathered Friend Explanation
Related:
- Feathered Friend Question Answers
- Feathered Friend Character Sketch
- Class 8 English Poorvi Book Lesson Notes
Feathered Friend Summary
The narrator worked in a space station. One of their co-workers was Sven Olsen, who wished to keep a pet. Sven wanted a pet so badly that he was willing to ignore any rule that forbade having a pet inside a space station. He got a small yellow canary whose name was Claribel. One day, the narrator was working in their small office when he heard a melodic whistle. He thought that the sound came from the intercom. When there was no announcement on the intercom, and they heard the whistle again, he looked up towards the angle beam. The light blinded him for a few seconds, but then he saw a small canary hanging upside down, her wings folded towards her body. The two stared at each other for some time. The bird then did a backwards loop and exited the narrator’s cubbyhole. She became fat because she was not making any effort in flying due to no gravity. Claribel adjusted to the space station quickly. The pet bird easily adjusted to the absence of gravity. She also did not eat much. The only issue was that she sometimes got upset and hid in the ventilating shafts and storage bulkheads. The VIPs from Earth would hear her whistles and peeps, and the workers had to make excuses for it. One day, the narrator woke up with a persistent headache and sluggishness. When they entered the mess, they observed that everyone else was quiet too. Then, Sven entered with an unconscious Claribel in his hands. Jock was the doctor-cook-dietician of the space station. He checked the canary’s heartbeat. However, because Jock had never listened to a canary’s heartbeat before, his evaluation could not be trusted. Someone suggested giving Claribel oxygen. The oxygen mask was like an oxygen tent for the small bird. The oxygen revived the bird immediately, and she gave a few “Come to the cookhouse, boys” trills. However, she fainted again. The narrator then realised that there was something wrong with the air, because everyone was feeling sluggish. He told Jim, the duty engineer, that canaries were used in the mining industry to tell the miners when they were getting exposed to harmful gases. Jim’s assistant reminded Jim that the second circuit of the alarm system was not complete yet. Jim then quickly went to rectify this while the others passed the oxygen cylinder amongst themselves. What happened was that the Space station was eclipsed by the Earth preventing the Sun, reducing the temperature to freezing, which froze the air purifier and the single alarm did not go off. Their feathered friend had been more useful than the costly advanced engineering. This made them accept Claribel fully into the space station as it had saved their lives.
Summary of the Lesson Feathered Friend in Hindi
कथावाचक एक अंतरिक्ष स्टेशन में काम करते थे। उनके एक सहकर्मी स्वेन ऑलसेन थे, जो एक पालतू जानवर रखना चाहते थे। स्वेन को पालतू जानवर इतना पसंद था कि वह अंतरिक्ष स्टेशन के अंदर पालतू जानवर रखने पर रोक लगाने वाले किसी भी नियम को अनदेखा करने को तैयार थे। उन्होंने एक छोटी पीली कैनरी चिड़िया पाल ली जिसका नाम क्लैरिबेल था। एक दिन, कथावाचक अपने छोटे से कार्यालय में काम कर रहे थे, तभी उन्हें एक मधुर सीटी सुनाई दी। उन्होंने सोचा कि यह आवाज़ इंटरकॉम से आ रही है। जब इंटरकॉम पर कोई घोषणा नहीं हुई, और उन्होंने फिर से सीटी सुनी, तो उन्होंने ऊपर एंगल बीम की ओर देखा। रोशनी ने उन्हें कुछ सेकंड के लिए अंधा कर दिया, लेकिन फिर उन्होंने एक छोटी सी कैनरी को उल्टा लटकते देखा, जिसके पंख उसके शरीर की ओर मुड़े हुए थे। दोनों कुछ देर तक एक-दूसरे को घूरते रहे। फिर चिड़िया पीछे की ओर घूमी और कथावाचक के कक्ष से बाहर निकल गई। गुरुत्वाकर्षण के अभाव में वह उड़ने में कोई प्रयास नहीं कर रही थी, इसलिए वह मोटी हो गई। क्लैरिबेल ने अंतरिक्ष स्टेशन के साथ जल्दी से तालमेल बिठा लिया। पालतू चिड़िया ने गुरुत्वाकर्षण के अभाव में आसानी से तालमेल बिठा लिया। वह ज़्यादा खाती भी नहीं थी। बस एक ही समस्या थी कि वह कभी-कभी परेशान हो जाती थी और वेंटिलेशन शाफ्ट और स्टोरेज बल्कहेड में छिप जाती थी। पृथ्वी से आए वीआईपी उसकी सीटियाँ और फुसफुसाहटें सुनते थे, और कर्मचारियों को इसके लिए बहाने बनाने पड़ते थे। एक दिन, कथावाचक लगातार सिरदर्द और सुस्ती के साथ उठा। जब वे मेस में दाखिल हुए, तो उन्होंने देखा कि बाकी सब भी चुप थे। तभी स्वेन बेहोश क्लेरिबेल को गोद में लिए अंदर आया। जॉक अंतरिक्ष स्टेशन का डॉक्टर-रसोइया-आहार विशेषज्ञ था। उसने कैनरी की धड़कन जाँची। हालाँकि, जॉक ने पहले कभी कैनरी की धड़कन नहीं सुनी थी, इसलिए उसके आकलन पर भरोसा नहीं किया जा सकता था। किसी ने क्लेरिबेल को ऑक्सीजन देने का सुझाव दिया। ऑक्सीजन मास्क उस छोटी चिड़िया के लिए ऑक्सीजन के तंबू जैसा था। ऑक्सीजन ने पक्षी को तुरंत होश में ला दिया, और उसने कुछ बार “कुकहाउस में आओ, लड़कों” जैसी आवाज़ें निकालीं। हालाँकि, वह फिर से बेहोश हो गई। तब वर्णनकर्ता को एहसास हुआ कि हवा में कुछ गड़बड़ है, क्योंकि सभी सुस्त महसूस कर रहे थे। उसने ड्यूटी इंजीनियर जिम को बताया कि खनन उद्योग में कैनरी का इस्तेमाल खनिकों को हानिकारक गैसों के संपर्क में आने की सूचना देने के लिए किया जाता है। जिम के सहायक ने जिम को याद दिलाया कि अलार्म सिस्टम का दूसरा सर्किट अभी पूरा नहीं हुआ है। फिर जिम जल्दी से इसे ठीक करने चला गया, जबकि बाकी लोग ऑक्सीजन सिलेंडर आपस में बाँट रहे थे। हुआ यूँ कि पृथ्वी ने सूर्य को ग्रहण लगा दिया, जिससे तापमान शून्य से नीचे चला गया, जिससे एयर प्यूरीफायर जम गया और एक भी अलार्म नहीं बजा। उनका पंख वाला दोस्त उनकी उन्नत इंजीनियरिंग से ज़्यादा उपयोगी साबित हुआ था। इस वजह से उन्होंने क्लैरिबेल को अंतरिक्ष स्टेशन में पूरी तरह से स्वीकार कर लिया।
Theme of the Lesson Feathered Friend
The chapter is themed around the importance and appreciation of pets. Even though a space station is not necessarily a place for animals to be present, they discover that animals can be useful in space. The chapter also showcases how nature and living beings with heightened senses can be more enlightening than machines and structures made with advanced engineering. The chapter also talks about safety in space. We see the predominance of nature over scientific development.
Feathered Friend Lesson Explanation
I
Passage: To the best of my knowledge, there’s never been a regulation that forbids one to keep pets in a space station. No one ever thought it was necessary—and even if such a rule existed, I am quite certain that Sven Olsen would have ignored it.
Word-meanings:
regulation: a rule or set of rules made and directed by an authority.
forbid: refuse to allow
Explanation: The narrator talks about the rules of a space station. According to the narrator’s knowledge, there was no rule or set of rules that disallowed keeping a pet in a space station. The one who made the rules did not think it was necessary to specify if pets would be allowed or not. This means that the authorities believed that no one would keep a pet in a space station. This also means that no one working in the space station keeps a pet. The narrator believed that even if the rule existed, Sven Olsen would have ignored it to have a pet with him in the space station.
Passage: Actually he was a wiry little fellow, like most of the early spacers, and managed to qualify easily for the 150-pound bonus that kept so many of us on a reducing diet. Had he been built otherwise, his chances of getting a job in space would have been very slim.
Word-meanings:
wiry: thin but strong
qualify: to pass an exam or test or screening
slim: low
Explanation: Sven Olsen was a thin but strong man. His weight was equal to or less than 150 pounds, which means that he easily passed the test to work at the space station. To work at space stations, lighter people were preferred and those who weighed less than 150 pounds were awarded a bonus pay also. If his weight was more than 150 pounds, he would not have gotten the job at the space station as easily as he did.
Passage: Sven was one of our best construction men, and excelled at the tricky and specialised work of collecting assorted girders as they floated around in free fall, making them do the slow-motion, three-dimensional ballet that would get them into their right positions, and fusing the pieces together when they were precisely dovetailed into the intended pattern: it was a skilled and difficult job, for a space suit is not the most convenient of garbs in which to work. However, Sven’s team had one great advantage over the construction groups you see putting up skyscrapers down on Earth. They could step back and admire their handiwork without being abruptly parted from it by gravity.
Word-meanings:
tricky: something that is difficult and requires focus
assorted: consisting of various types mixed together
girders: long, thick piece of steel or concrete that supports a large structure
precisely: exactly
dovetailed: fitted together
garbs: clothing of a special kind
handiwork: creation
abruptly: unexpectedly/ suddenly
Explanation: Sven Olsen was an excellent space station construction worker. He was excellent at collecting various types of long, thick pieces of steel or concrete floating in space. He had to move slow and strategically, and to the normal eye, he looked like he was doing ballet to get the pieces into their right positions. His job also included joining the girders together. This was a difficult job because the workers had to wear a specialized spacesuit, which was uncomfortable to work in. The reason why Sven’s weight was important was because people with 150 pounds and less weight are not easily influenced by sudden shift in gravity.
Passage: Don’t ask me why Sven wanted a pet, or why he chose the one he did. I’m not a psychologist, but I must admit that his selection was very sensible. Claribel weighed practically nothing, her food requirements were tiny—and she was not worried, as most animals would have been, by the absence of gravity.
Explanation: The narrator did not understand why Sven wanted a pet. The narrator was not a psychologist and could not understand the need to have an animal companion. However, the choice of a bird pet was a smart one. According to the narrator, the pet was a perfect animal for a space station because of three features. The first feature was that the pet’s weight was negligible. Therefore, sudden shifts in gravity would not adversely affect her. The second feature was that the pet did not require too much food. The third feature was that the pet would not be too worried by the absence of gravity. Therefore, judging by these features, the pet was a bird.
Passage: I first became aware that Claribel was aboard when I was sitting in the little cubbyhole laughingly called my office, checking through my lists of technical stores to decide what items we’d be running out of next. When I heard the musical whistle beside my ear, I assumed that it had come over the station intercom, and waited for an announcement to follow. It didn’t; instead, there was a long and involved pattern of melody that made me look up with such a start that I forgot all about the angle beam just behind my head. When the stars had ceased to explode before my eyes, I had my first view of Claribel.
Word-meanings:
aboard: on an aircraft
cubbyhole: a small enclosed space or room
ceased: stopped
Explanation: The narrator met the pet named Claribel when they were sitting in their small enclosed space or room. The little room was the narrator’s office, but the narrator did not like how small their office was. The narrator believed the room to be too small to be an office. The narrator was doing their work, which was checking through lists of all the technical items they had at the space station. The task was to see if any items were lesser than required so they could be ordered on time. The narrator then heard a melodic whistle near their ear. The narrator just assumed that the sound came from the station intercom. However, there was no announcement. Instead, there was another melodic whistle. This made the narrator look up, a bit shocked and worried of the unknown music. His head hit the angle beam, and his vision got disrupted. Upon recovery, they saw a bird, the one making the melodic sounds.
Passage: She was a small yellow canary, hanging in the air as motionless as a hummingbird—and with much less effort, for her wings were quietly folded along her sides. We stared at each other for a minute; then, before I had quite recovered my wits, she did a curious kind of backward loop I’m sure no earthbound canary had ever managed, and departed with a few leisurely flicks. It was quite obvious that she’d already learned how to operate in the absence of gravity, and did not believe in doing unnecessary work.
Word-meanings:
canary: a popular bird which people love to keep as pets; found in open areas with small trees and shrubs
wits: ability to think quickly
earthbound: restricted to the earth
departed: to leave
leisurely: relaxedly; not in a hurry
flicks: sudden, quick movements
Explanation: Claribel was a small yellow bird. A canary is a popular pet bird found in open areas with small trees and shrubs. Claribel was hanging in the air upside down, and her wings were not spread. The narrator and the canary simply stared at each other. The narrator was completely astonished. Before they could think properly, the canary did a backwards loop that no bird living on Earth should have been able to do. However, because of the absence of gravity, the acrobatics were possible. She left the narrator’s small office with a few relaxed but quick movements of her wings. Claribel had adjusted to the absence of gravity.
Passage: Sven didn’t confess to her ownership for several days, and by that time it no longer mattered, because Claribel was a general pet. He had smuggled her up on the last ferry from Earth, when he came back from leave—partly, he claimed, out of sheer scientific curiosity. He wanted to see just how a bird would operate when it had no weight but could still use its wings.
Claribel thrived and grew fat. On the whole, we had little trouble concealing our guest when VIPs from Earth came visiting. A space station has more hiding places than you can count; the only problem was that Claribel got rather noisy when she was upset, and we sometimes had to think fast to explain the curious peeps and whistles that came from ventilating shafts and storage bulkheads.
There were a couple of narrow escapes—but then who would dream of looking for a canary in a space station?
Word-meanings:
smuggle: to move something or someone in or out sneakily
thrive: grow or develop well
concealing: hiding
ventilating shafts: passageways or ducts that allow fresh air in a closed space
bulkheads: dividing walls or barriers between separate compartments in an aircraft
Explanation: Sven Olsen did not tell anyone that Claribel was his pet bird for some days. He moved the canary inside sneakily when he came back to work after a work leave. He justified the presence of the canary by saying that it would be interesting to see how a small bird would adjust to no gravity since they travel by flight. Claribel was not adversely affected by it. In fact, she grew and developed so well that she became very healthy. However, she got noisy when she was upset. When important people came from Earth to visit the space station, they had to hide the little bird because they did not know how the guests would react to a canary in the space station. Claribel would settle in one of ventilation shafts or storage spaces and then make bird noises. The workers in the space station had to make up excuses to explain the chirpy noises.
II
Passage: We were now on twelve-hour watches, which was not as bad as it sounds, since you need little sleep in space. Though of course there is no ‘day’ and ‘night’ when you are floating in permanent sunlight, it was still convenient to stick to the terms. Certainly when I woke that ‘morning’ it felt like 6:00 a.m. on Earth. I had a nagging headache, and vague memories of fitful, disturbed dreams. It took me ages to undo my bunk straps, and I was still only half awake when I joined the remainder of the duty crew in the mess. Breakfast was unusually quiet, and there was one seat vacant.
Word-meanings:
nagging: persistently painful
vague: unclear, uncertain
vacant: empty
Explanation: In space, the workers did not require full eight hours of sleep. Therefore, they worked twelve-hour shifts. Because they were not on Earth, they did not experience the dawn and setting of the sun. They were continuously floating in sunlight. However, to experience a normal routine, the workers used terms they would use back on Earth. So, when the narrator would wake up, they would imagine that the time on Earth was 6 a.m. One time, when they woke up, they felt a painful headache that would not relax. The narrator had a disturbed sleep full of nightmares. The narrator was feeling so tired and pained that it took a lot of time for them to undo the straps of their bed and to come out of their room. They were only half awake when they entered the eating area to join the rest of the remainder of the duty crew. Everyone was quietly eating breakfast. Only one seat was empty.
Passage: “Where’s Sven?” I asked, not very much caring.
“He’s looking for Claribel,” someone answered. “Says he can’t find her anywhere. She usually wakes him up.”
Before I could retort that she usually woke me up, too, Sven came in through the doorway, and we could see at once that something was wrong. He slowly opened his hand, and there lay a tiny bundle of yellow feathers, with two clenched claws sticking pathetically up into the air.
Word-meanings:
retort: answer/ respond
clenched: pressed together tightly
Explanation: The narrator sat down on the one empty chair. They asked where Sven was in a casual, not worried tone. One of their colleagues answered that Sven was looking for Claribel. The canary did not wake up Sven with her musical chirping, which was unusual. The narrator wanted to add that they also used to wake up with her chirping. They were about to say that, but then Sven entered the mess. From Sven’s face, they all could tell that something wrong had occurred. Sven opened his hand, and a tiny bundle of yellow feathers was lying on his palm. Two tightly closed claws were sticking out in a sad, pitiable manner.
Passage: “What happened?” we asked, all equally distressed.
“I don’t know,” said Sven mournfully. “I just found her like this.”
“Let’s have a look at her,” said Jock Duncan, our cook-doctor-dietitian. We all waited in hushed silence while he held Claribel against his ear in an attempt to detect any heartbeat.
Presently he shook his head. “I can’t hear anything, but that doesn’t prove she’s dead. I’ve never listened to a canary’s heart,” he added rather apologetically.
Word-meanings:
distressed: feeling extremely anxious and sorrowful
mournfully: with sorrow and gloom
hushed: quiet
detect: to find
apologetically: in a manner that shows someone is sorry
Explanation: Everyone was worried for the canary and asked what happened to her. Sven was sad and said that he did not know what the issue was. He had found her in this form, which was concerning. A man named Jock Duncan offered to look at her. He had three roles in the space station—cook, doctor, and dietician. So he could help in the matter. They waited quietly for Jock’s evaluation. Jock held the bird against his ear to detect a heartbeat. Jock shook his head. He could not hear anything but he also said that no heartbeat did not mean she was dead. He said that since he had never listened to a canary’s heart before, his evaluation was not reliable enough.
Passage: “Give her a shot of oxygen,” suggested somebody, pointing to the green-banded emergency cylinder in its recess beside the door. Everyone agreed that this was an excellent idea, and Claribel was tucked snugly into a face mask that was large enough to serve as a complete oxygen tent for her.
Word-meanings:
snugly: cosily
Explanation: Some other worker suggested that they give the canary a bit of oxygen. They pointed towards an emergency oxygen cylinder which had a green band on its cylindrical body. This was a good suggestion, so they put Claribel into a face mask carefully and cosily. The face mask was bigger than her body, and so it looked like an oxygen tent than a face mask.
Passage: To our delighted surprise, she revived at once. Beaming broadly, Sven removed the mask, and she hopped onto his finger. She gave her series of “Come to the cookhouse, boys” trills—then promptly keeled over again.
“I don’t get it,” lamented Sven. “What’s wrong with her? She’s never done this before.”
Word-meanings:
revived: to heal completely
beaming: smiling broadly
promptly: immediately
keeled: collapsed/ fainted
lamented: expressing grief, regret, disappointment
Explanation: When they supplied the oxygen, Claribel became normal and healthy immediately. Sven was very happy and he removed the oxygen mask. Claribel was moving again and she even jumped onto Sven’s finger. She whistled to the tune of “Come to the cookhouse, boys”. However, she again fainted. Sven became upset immediately because of Claribel’s unusual behavior.
Passage: For the last few minutes, something had been tugging at my memory. My mind seemed to be very sluggish that morning, as if I was still unable to cast off the burden of sleep. I felt that I could do with some of that oxygen—but before I could reach the mask, understanding exploded in my brain. I whirled on the duty engineer and said urgently: “Jim!” There’s something wrong with the air! That’s why Claribel’s passed out. I’ve just remembered that miners used to carry canaries down to warn them of gas.”
Word-meanings:
tugging at: causing to remember something
sluggish: inactive
cast off: to discard something undesirable or unwanted
whirled: turned around quickly
Explanation: The narrator was trying to remember something but their mind was feeling too inactive to think quickly. The narrator was unable to wake up properly. They felt like they needed a bit of oxygen to wake up properly. However, before they could take the mask, they realized something important. They turned around and looked at the duty engineer. The duty engineer was called Jim. They told Jim that there was something wrong with the air, which was why Claribel kept on passing out. They then backed their theory up with evidence, saying that people who mined in caves took canaries with them because canaries could warn the miners of harmful gases.
Passage: “Nonsense!” said Jim. “The alarms would have gone off. We’ve got duplicate circuits, operating independently.” “Er—the second alarm circuit isn’t connected up yet,” his assistant reminded him. That shook Jim; he left without a word, while we stood arguing and passing the oxygen bottle around like a pipe of peace.
Explanation: Jim didn’t agree with the narrator’s theory because if there was some harmful gas in the air, alarms would have gone off due to the duplicate circuits. Jim’s assistant then reminded Jim that the duplicate circuits were not properly established. The second alarm circuit was not connected. That shocked and alarmed Jim. He left the mess without saying another word to see into this matter. The rest of the crew argued over the oxygen bottle because now people were realizing that they needed the oxygen to remain alive. The oxygen bottle was being shared by everyone while the duty engineer worked on fixing the air in the space station.
Passage: He came back ten minutes later with a sheepish expression. It was one of those accidents that couldn’t possibly happen; we’d had one of our rare eclipses by Earth’s shadow that night; part of the air purifier had frozen up, and the single alarm in the circuit had failed to go off. Half a million dollars’ worth of chemical and electronic engineering had let us down completely. Without Claribel, we should soon have been slightly dead.
Word-meanings:
sheepish: showing or feeling embarrassment
Explanation: Jim came back to the mess ten minutes later with an embarrassed expression. The alarms did not work because of a rare accident. That night, a rare eclipse had occurred in which the Earth blocked the sunrays to the space station. The absence of sunlight made the air purifier freeze up a little and the single alarm in the circuit did not go off. They had made the circuits and alarms with half a million dollars’ worth of chemical and electronic engineering. None of it worked. They were saved not by their hard work, but because of the canary’s natural alarm.
Passage: So now, if you visit any space station, don’t be surprised if you hear an inexplicable snatch of birdsong. There’s no need to be alarmed; on the contrary, in fact. It will mean that you’re being doubly safeguarded, at practically no extra expense.
Word-meanings:
inexplicable: unexplainable
snatch: a fragment of song or talk
safeguarded: protected
Explanation: So now, if you visited the space station, you would hear a fragment of melodic song by a bird. The narrator assured the readers that there was no need to be alarmed. In fact, Claribel was another protection, which was free and more reliable than engineering. Therefore, the canary made the space station a safer space.
Conclusion
This post on NCERT Class 8 English Poorvi book UNIT 5 Science and Curiosity Chapter 1 Feathered Friend. Students can check out the summary, word meanings and explanation of the lesson to get a better grasp and answer questions in the exam.