How to Tell Wild Animals NCERT Solutions Class 10 PDF Download 2026

Ans: No, technically the correct spelling 'dying' does not perfectly rhyme with 'lion'. However, the poet deliberately drops the 'g' and writes it as "dyin'". When spoken quickly or with a specific accent, "dyin'" sounds very similar to 'lion', allowing the poet to forcefully fit it into the poem's rhyme scheme.

Ans:
The Asian Lion: He is a large, tawny (brownish-yellow) beast found in the jungles of the east. You can identify him when he advances towards you and roars so fiercely that you feel you are dying of fear.
The Bengal Tiger: He is a "noble wild beast" with black stripes on a yellow ground. The poet humorously suggests that you will only identify him when he attacks and eats you!

Ans: No, the words 'lept' and 'lep' are grammatically incorrect. The correct spellings are 'leapt' and 'leap'. The poet deliberately misspells them to create a perfect rhyme with the word "peppered" and to maintain the musical rhythm of the stanza. This is a classic example of taking Poetic License.

Ans: The poet describes the leopard as a beast whose hide is "peppered" with spots. The primary way to identify it is by its attacking style: it will continuously "lep and lep again" (leap) on you, and crying in pain won't stop it.

Ans: When you are walking in your yard and meet a bear, it will hug you very, very hard. The poet ironically calls this a "caress," but in reality, a bear's hug is its deadly method of crushing its prey to death.

Ans: The poet differentiates them by their deceptive expressions. A Hyena always approaches its prey with a "merry smile," whereas a Crocodile is described as shedding "tears" while eating its victim.

Ans: According to the poem, a true Chameleon is a small, lizard-like creature. Its distinguishing physical features are that it completely lacks ears and does not have a single wing.

Ans: The poet says, "If there is nothing on the tree, / 'Tis the chameleon you see." This highlights the chameleon's ability to camouflage itself perfectly against the tree, making it visible only when you look closely at an apparently empty branch.

Ans: Each stanza in the poem follows a strict and musical rhyme scheme of ab ab cc.

Ans: Carolyn Wells brilliantly employs dark humor throughout the poem. She creates a guide for identifying wild animals, but the methods are entirely fatal. For instance, you only know it's an Asian Lion if its roar makes you feel like you are dying. You realize it's a Bengal Tiger only when it eats you. Furthermore, she ironically describes a bear's deadly, bone-crushing attack as a loving "hug" and a "caress." This stark contrast between the educational tone of the poem and the violent reality of the animals creates a highly humorous and satirical effect.

Ans: 'Poetic License' is the freedom a poet takes to depart from standard grammar or spelling rules to achieve a desired rhyme or rhythm. Carolyn Wells uses this extensively. She writes "dyin'" instead of "dying" to make it rhyme with "lion". She uses "lep" and "lept" instead of "leap" and "leapt" to perfectly rhyme with the word "peppered". She also uses the phrase "A novice might nonplus" (using 'nonplus' awkwardly as a verb) to force a rhyme with "thus". These deliberate errors add a quirky, musical, and playful charm to the poem.

Ans: The poem is a humorous, satirical guide on identifying wild beasts. The poet states that if a large, tawny beast roars at you in the eastern jungles, it’s the Asian Lion. If a yellow beast with black stripes eats you, it’s the Bengal Tiger. A beast with peppered spots that leaps on you relentlessly is a Leopard. A bear will identify itself by crushing you in a tight hug. She then distinguishes between beasts of prey, noting that Hyenas smile while Crocodiles weep. Finally, a small, earless, wingless creature camouflaged on a tree is identified as a Chameleon.

Ans: The poet proves this by highlighting the facial expressions of these two deadly predators, which completely contradict their violent nature. A Hyena appears to have a "merry smile," which might make a novice think it is friendly, but it is actually a ruthless predator. Similarly, a Crocodile appears to be shedding "tears" (weeping) in sadness, but in reality, it is deceitfully luring or eating its prey. Thus, their human-like expressions of joy and sorrow are merely deceptive masks for their predatory instincts.

Ans: No, the poem absolutely does not serve as a real or practical educational guide. The poem is a parody. A real guide would teach people how to identify animals safely from a distance. The poet's "guide" requires you to be attacked, eaten, or crushed to death to confirm the animal's identity. It is written purely for entertainment and comedic effect, not for actual wildlife survival.

Ans: A novice (a beginner or inexperienced person) might get confused ("nonplus") while trying to distinguish between different beasts of prey. The poet resolves this confusion by giving a simple rule: if the beast approaches with a merry smile, it is a Hyena; if it approaches weeping, it is a Crocodile.

Ans: The tone is highly sarcastic, ironic, and darkly humorous. Identifying the lion is completely useless to the person because they are already dying from fear or the attack.

Ans: The poet calls it "noble" ironically to describe its impressive, majestic, and royal appearance (yellow ground with black stripes). However, this "nobility" is a stark contrast to its brutal action of eating the person who admires it.

Ans: The repetition of the word 'lep' (leap) is used to emphasize the continuous, relentless, and aggressive attacking nature of the Leopard. It shows that once a leopard targets you, crying in pain is useless because it will repeatedly jump on you.