CBSE Class 10 English A Triumph of Surgery Worksheet

A TRIUMPH OF SURGERY

James Alfred Wight(3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), known by the pen nameJames Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and writer, who used his many years of experiences as a veterinary surgeon to write a series of books each consisting of stories about animals and their owners. He is best known for these semi-autobiographical works, beginning with If Only They Could talk in 1970, which spawned a series of movies and television series. INTRODUCTION OF THE STORY Tricki, a small dog, is pampered and overfed by his rich mistress. He falls seriously ill and his mistress consults a veterinary surgeon. Does he perform an operation? Does the dog recover? This story is about Tricki, a dog who is the pet of a rich lady named Mrs. Pumphrey. She loves her dog very much and is unable to refuse him anything he wants. Tricki, is fond of eating cream cakes and chocolates. So one day when Mrs. Pumphrey is out with Tricki for a walk the narrator sees them and stops to talk. While talking to Mrs. Pumphrey he realises that she has been overfeeding Tricki and also had been giving him things that he shouldn’t eat due to which Tricki had started looking like a bloated sausage. Soon Tricki got unwell and Mrs. Pumphrey has to call Mr. Herriot (narrator) for help. She does not want to send him away but the only way suggested by Mr. Herriot is to get him hospitalised for 15 days. Then the story unfolds into how he gets well.

Summary
The story starts when Mrs. Pumphrey, a rich lady takes her dog out for a walk. A nearby veterinary doctor who knows the lady sees the dog and is shocked as he sees that the dog looks like a bloated sausage with a leg at each end. He advises her to stop giving him unhealthy things to eat but Mrs. Pumphrey is not able to refuse him. Soon he falls sick and the doctor is called. The narrator, Mr. Herriot then somehow takes Tricki, the dog to the hospital even though he knows that Mrs. Pumphrey is not ready to leave her dog and nearly fainted just by hearing these words.Then he takes the dog along and puts a bed for him in his surgery. The dog doesn't move much nor eats anything for the first two days. On the second day he looks around and whimpers a bit. He wanted to go out on the third day and started playing with the bigger dogs when he was taken out. He also licked the bowls of other dogs clean on the third day. Then his condition started improving very fast. He started fighting for his meals with other dogs. Then when this news reached Mrs. Pumphrey, she started sending him eggs as she thought that Tricki was recovering from an illness and needed energy foods. Mr. Herriot and his partners started eating those eggs for morning breakfast. Then for improving Tricki’s blood, Mrs. Pumphrey started sending in bottles of wine which was again consumed by Mr. Herriot. He used to take two glasses before lunch and some more glasses while having his lunch. Then when she started sending in bottles of brandy for Tricki that was the time when Mr. Herriot thought that he would really like to keep Tricki as a permanent guest in the surgery. Mr. Herriot used to be really happy someday by having two extra eggs every morning. Then having few glasses of wine in the afternoon and closing the day by having brandy at night. But then he took a wise decision and called up Mrs. Pumphrey as she was really worried and on this side Tricki was ready to be taken back home. Tricki was really happy to see his mistress and jumped into the car. Mrs. Pumphrey said that she won't be able to ever thank him for what he had done and also, that his surgery had been successful as Tricki was now cured.

Choose the correct answer.

Question. Why was Tricki sent to the surgery?
(i) Dr Herriot wanted to give him some special food.
(ii) Dr Herriot wanted to give him some medicine.
(iii) Dr Herriot wanted to keep him under observation.
(iv) He could get proper rest there.
Answer. C

Question. What special treatment was Tricki given at the surgery?
(i) He was made to remain hungry by avoiding food. .
(ii) He was given lots of water.
(iii) He was given medicines.
(iv) Both (i) and (ii)
Answer. D

Question. What effect did Dr Herriot’s treatment produce on Tricki?
(i) He remained listless for several days.
(ii) He never showed interest in his surroundings.
(iii) He became active on the third day.
(iv) He never responded to the other dogs.
Answer. C

Question. Why did the doctor feel satisfied?
(i) His ideas worked on Tricki.
(ii) His treatment failed.
(iii) Mrs Pumphrey was angry with him.
(iv) Tricki drove away the other dogs.
Answer. A

Question. How would you decribe Mrs Pumphrey?
(i) Loving
(ii) Over-doing
(iii) Intelligent
(iv) Rational
Answer. B

Question. “In two weeks he had been transformed into a lithe, hard-muscled animal.” What is the meaning of the word “lithe”?
(i) Dirty
(ii) Graceful
(iii) Misbehaving
(iv) Rude
Answer. B

Question. What was best for Tricki, according to the vet?
(i) To take Tricki to the hospital.
(ii) To take Tricki for a walk.
(iii) To let Tricki have sugar.
(iv) Both (ii) and (iii)
Answer. A

Question. What did the doctor advise?
(i) To cut Tricki’s food.
(ii) To give Tricki more exercise.
(iii) To keep Tricki on a very strict diet.
(iv) All of these
Answer. D

LEARN AND WRITE THE QUESTION ANSWERS IN YOUR COPY.

Question.What kind of a person do you think the narrator, a veterinary surgeon, is? Would you say he is tactful as well as full of commonsense?
Answer. The narrator, a veterinary doctor is a very compassionate and an honest man as he does not unnecessarily operate upon Tricki. He goes out of the way to guide Mrs. Pumphrey that she should start keeping a strict check on Tricki’s diet and his exercise schedule. He is tactful because he knows how to get Tricki to the hospital and his common sense can be seen by the simple fact that he just changed the eating and exercise schedule of Tricki which helped him recover from his problems. He did not unnecessarily put him on medicines.

Question.Do you think Tricki was happy to go home? What do you think will happen now?
Answer.Yes, Tricki was as happy to go home as much as he was staying in the surgery. He was happy staying in the surgery because he got many friends which he did not have at home and was happy to go back home because he did not have his lavish lifestyle at the surgery. His excitement to go back home can be seen from the fact that as soon as he saw his mistress, he jumped back into the car and started licking her face and roaming around in excitement. I think now he will be fine at home as well because earlier Mrs. Pumphrey did not take Mr. Herriot’s advice seriously which led to Tricki’s hospitalization.

Question.Do you think this is a real-life episode, or mere fiction? Or is it a mixture of both?
Answer. I feel that this story is a mixture of both because it is not a new thing that rich people overfeed their dog or maintain excessive wardrobes for their pets but for a doctor to go out of his way to help another person who doesn't want his advice is unusual. A doctor being so honest that he doesn't wrongly treat the dog and instead, just works on him by keeping him in his surgery and trackS his health by feeding him less and maintains a regular exercise schedule seems to be more of a fiction.

Question-Why is Mrs Pumphrey worried about Tricki?
Answer-Mrs. Pumphrey was worried about Tricki as Tricki was not eating anything, not even his favourite dishes. Tricki was vomiting and lied down on the rug, panting. He did not even want to go out for walks or anything.

Question-What does she do to help him? Is she wise in this?
Answer-She calls the doctor to see him as he was unwell. Yes, she was wise this time as earlier, she was acting foolish by overfeeding him. The doctor told her that Tricki needed to be hospitalized. She was crying over it but later accepted that she needed to listen to the doctor. Q6- Who does ‘I’ refer to in this story? Ans- “I” refers to the narrator who is a veterinary doctor, Mr. Herriot.

Question-Is the narrator as rich as Tricki’s mistress?
Answer- According to the story, the narrator is not as rich as Mrs. Pumphrey because Mr. Herriott is able to provide Tricki with a box bed whereas in Mrs. Pumphrey’s house he has his own bed, different bowls to eat and servants at his disposal. Then Tricki’s mistress used to send two dozen eggs, wine and brandy everyday for Tricki’s recovery. Towards the end of chapter, Tricki’s mistress comes in 30 feet of gleaming black metal which is obviously a luxury car. So, it can be seen that Tricki’s mistress used to live a very luxurious life in comparison to the narrator.

Question-How does he treat the dog?
Answer-He treats the dog very well. He knows that Tricki does not need medicinal treatment but requires a change in his lifestyle. He gives him only water for two days and then he sees that Tricki has started licking the empty food bowls and started mixing up with other dogs. Then he gives him food and Tricki starts to recover well. Then soon after living there for a few days, he is much better and goes back home.

Question-Why is he tempted to keep Tricki on as a permanent guest?
Answer-He is tempted to keep Tricki as a permanent guest because Mrs. Pumphrey wants Tricki to recover quickly. So she used to send two dozen eggs, wine bottles and brandy everyday. Mr. Herriot knew that there was no need of giving Tricki all that so he used to eat the extra eggs and drink the wine with his partners. With all that food and drinks coming in, Mr. Herriot used to be very happy so he was tempted to keep Tricki on as a permanent guest.

Question- Why does Mrs Pumphrey think the dog’s recovery is “a triumph of surgery”?
Answer-Tricki had recovered completely in two weeks. He had been turned into a hard muscle animal. Upon seeing Mrs. Pumphrey, Tricki ran towards her, jumped on her lap and started licking her face. She was overwhelmed to see Tricki all well and so she says as a token of gratitude that it was “a triumph of surgery”.

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