B1. Developing a story : (5 marks) Develop a Story. Begin with the given line and suggest a suitable title : Before I could understand what had happened, the monkey jumped on my table and snatched the bananas from my hands .................. (alterna…

The Monkey on the Table

Before I could understand what had happened, the monkey jumped on my table and snatched the bananas from my hands. I was sitting on the veranda of our house in Mahabaleshwar, peeling the fruit for my little sister, and in one leap the monkey was on the railing and then on the table.

I shouted and my mother came running with a stick. The monkey did not run away. It sat on the compound wall, held one banana against its chest and stared at us with bright, wicked eyes. My sister, who is only five, began to cry — not for the bananas, but because she thought the monkey was hungry.

She picked up the remaining bunch and walked slowly towards the wall, holding it out. My mother caught her breath, but the monkey took the bananas gently, almost politely, and climbed up the jackfruit tree.

We never saw it again, but my sister still tells everyone that the monkey was her first guest in Mahabaleshwar.