This article covers the complete question-answer guide for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 5 – “The Snake and the Mirror” by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, prescribed by ASSEB (Assam State Board of Secondary Education) for the Class 9 curriculum. The article includes a detailed summary, all textbook questions from the Oral Comprehension Check, “Thinking about the Text,” and “Thinking about Language,” along with additional short and long answer questions and multiple choice questions to help students prepare thoroughly for their examinations.
Summary of The Snake and the Mirror
“The Snake and the Mirror” is a humorous yet suspenseful story written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, a celebrated Malayalam author. The story is narrated in the first person by a young doctor who recounts a terrifying incident from his past involving a snake. The story revolves around themes of vanity, fear, humility, and the unpredictability of fate.
The narrator, a young homeopathic doctor, has just returned to his small, rat-infested rented room after dinner. It is a hot, stuffy night with no electricity — only a kerosene lamp for light. He sits down and begins reading, but his attention shifts to the mirror hanging on the wall. He gazes at his own reflection and becomes lost in self-admiration, making two “earth-shaking” decisions: to shave daily and grow a thin moustache, and to always maintain an attractive smile.
While absorbed in these vain thoughts, a snake falls from the ceiling onto his shoulders and coils around his left arm above the elbow. The snake raises its head and comes within centimetres of his face. The doctor is paralysed with fear, sitting motionless and silently praying. Then the snake slowly uncoils itself, moves toward the mirror, and becomes fascinated by its own reflection. Seizing this chance, the doctor quietly slips out of the room and spends the night at a friend’s house. When he returns the next morning, he finds a thief has stolen almost everything he owned. But the doctor is simply grateful to be alive. The ironic ending reveals that the wife he later married was thin and sharp-tongued — the exact opposite of the fat, wealthy woman he had dreamed of.
Oral Comprehension Check
Q1. “The sound was a familiar one.” What sound did the doctor hear? How many times did he hear it? When and why did the sounds stop?
Answer: The doctor heard the sound of rats running and scratching on the beam above his bed — a familiar sound in his rat-infested room. He heard this sound three times during the night. The sounds stopped when the snake fell from the ceiling with a dull thud onto his shoulders. When the snake appeared on the beam, the rats sensed danger and fled.
Q2. What two “important” and “earth-shaking” decisions did the doctor take while looking into the mirror?
Answer: While gazing at his reflection, the doctor decided: first, to shave every day and grow a thin moustache to look more attractive; and second, to always keep an attractive, winning smile on his face. The narrator calls these decisions “important” and “earth-shaking” with irony, since they are trivial and vain decisions reflecting the doctor’s excessive self-obsession.
Q3. “I was turned to stone.” Why does the doctor say this? What was his condition when the snake coiled around his arm?
Answer: The doctor says “I was turned to stone” because he was completely paralysed by fear when the snake coiled around his left arm and brought its hood within centimetres of his face. He could not move, speak, or even breathe normally. He sat absolutely motionless, silently praying, feeling that death was just inches away. The phrase vividly captures his complete physical and mental paralysis caused by extreme fear.
Q4. What was the doctor’s opinion about himself when he looked in the mirror? How did it change after the snake encounter?
Answer: Before the encounter, the doctor had a very high opinion of himself — he found his smile attractive, admired his looks, and felt pleased with himself as a young, eligible bachelor doctor. After the encounter, his opinion changed completely. He recognised himself as a “poor, stupid, foolish doctor” — a helpless human being humbled by a creature far smaller than himself. His vanity was stripped away, replaced by humility. He smiled at himself once more in the mirror, but this time with a weak, self-mocking smile.
Thinking about the Text
Q1. The doctor had a magnificent plan for the future as he sat in the chair. What stopped him from carrying out the plan?
Answer: The doctor’s grand plans — to grow a moustache, to smile always, to marry a wealthy woman doctor — were abruptly destroyed by the sudden appearance of the snake. In that terrifying moment, all his ambitious dreams became completely meaningless. His mind was wiped clean of every thought except survival and prayer. The snake — representing the unpredictability of fate — is what stopped him. It also serves as a symbolic reminder that human beings cannot control the future no matter how confidently they plan.
Q2. Find evidence that the doctor was vain and self-centred. How was his self-centredness punished?
Answer: Evidence of his vanity: he spent time gazing at his own reflection instead of reading; he decided to shave daily and grow a moustache purely for appearance; he planned to always keep an attractive smile; and he dreamed of marrying a fat, wealthy woman doctor who could not run after him — a selfish motive for marriage. His self-centredness was punished in two ways: the snake encounter humiliated him completely, reducing the vain confident doctor to a helpless, terrified man. Second, as an ironic twist, he married not a fat wealthy woman but a thin energetic one — the exact opposite of his dream.
Q3. The story is narrated in an amusing way. Find three or four examples of the funny narration.
Answer: Several moments create comic effect: (1) The doctor’s “earth-shaking” decisions — to grow a moustache and smile always — are presented as if matters of great national importance. (2) He dreams of marrying a fat woman doctor so she cannot run after him — a completely selfish and ridiculous reason to choose a life partner. (3) The snake is described as perhaps “admiring its own beauty” in the mirror — a narcissist, just like the doctor. (4) After the terrifying night, the doctor calmly notes the thief had “a sense of cleanliness” for not taking his dirty vest — a remarkably composed and humorous reaction to theft.
Q4. The doctor says he “felt the great presence of God.” What does he mean?
Answer: When the snake coiled around his arm and raised its hood inches from his face, the doctor felt on the very edge of death. He could not move, call for help, or do anything to save himself. In that moment of total helplessness, he sensed that his life was entirely in the hands of a power greater than himself — what he calls “the great presence of God.” His survival — because the snake chose to look at the mirror instead of striking — felt like divine mercy rather than his own doing.
Q5. Compare the behaviour of the doctor and the snake when they look in the mirror.
Answer: The comparison is central to the story’s irony. The doctor gazes at himself with pride and vanity, making plans to look more attractive and admiring his smile. The snake similarly seems drawn to its own reflection, sitting and gazing at itself as if admiring its own beauty. Both are portrayed as narcissists absorbed in self-admiration. The humour lies in the fact that the snake’s vanity actually saves the doctor’s life — the snake’s attraction to the mirror gave him the chance to escape.
Additional Questions
Q1. Describe the room in which the doctor lived.
Answer: The doctor lived in a small, poorly furnished rented room with no electricity and no electric fan. He used a kerosene lamp for light. The room was infested with rats, whose sounds were a regular feature of his nights. He had very few possessions. The overall setting reflects the doctor’s humble financial circumstances as a struggling young doctor.
Q2. What is the significance of the mirror in the story?
Answer: The mirror plays a central and symbolic role in the story. It represents vanity and self-obsession — first drawing the doctor into self-admiration, and then attracting the snake in the same way. Ironically, the very object that encouraged the doctor’s pride is also the instrument of his salvation, because the snake’s attraction to the mirror gives the doctor the chance to escape. The mirror thus connects the theme of vanity with the theme of survival.
Q3. What does the story teach us about human pride?
Answer: The story teaches that human pride and vanity are fragile and foolish. The doctor, who was admiring himself and making grand plans moments before the snake arrived, was instantly reduced to a helpless, trembling figure when faced with real danger. The story suggests that nature, fate, and forces beyond our control can humble any person in an instant, no matter how confident or vain they may be. True wisdom lies in recognising our own limitations.
Multiple Choice Questions
Q1. Who is the author of “The Snake and the Mirror”?
Answer: (b) Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
Q2. The narrator of the story is a —
Answer: (c) Homeopathic doctor
Q3. The snake coiled around the doctor’s —
Answer: (b) Left arm above the elbow
Q4. Why did the snake leave the doctor’s arm?
Answer: (c) It was attracted to its own reflection in the mirror
Q5. The phrase “I was turned to stone” means the doctor was —
Answer: (b) Completely paralysed by fear
Q6. What did the doctor decide while looking at himself in the mirror?
Answer: (a) To shave daily and always keep an attractive smile
Q7. What kind of woman did the doctor dream of marrying?
Answer: (a) A fat, wealthy woman doctor
Q8. The doctor’s wife in reality was —
Answer: (b) Thin and capable of running fast
Q9. What does the mirror symbolise in the story?
Answer: (b) Vanity and self-admiration
Q10. The story “The Snake and the Mirror” is primarily —