Summary of The Adventures of Toto

Hello readers, today we are going to discuss the summary of a famous story named -

"The Adventures of Toto." This story is written by a well-known writer Ruskin Bond.

The funny "The Adventures of Toto" novella by Ruskin Bond illustrates the difficulties of having a pet monkey. In this tale, the narrator's grandfather acquired a monkey intending to raise it as a pet. The given story is about a pet monkey named Toto. This is a very numerous story that provides an immense amount of joy and happiness to the reader. The story overall introduces us to the casual behavior of monkeys.

In this story, the narrator's grandfather was fond of pets and other animals. He loves spending time with them, caring for them, and sharing his feelings. This hobby was the only significant reason for running his private Zoo. The grandfather bought Toto from a Tonga driver for five rupees. The reason for buying Toto was his terrible condition under the care of the Tonga driver. He could not help looking at Toto in this dire situation because the driver always tied Toto to a feeding trough (a container in which cattle eat their food) which, according to the grandfather, did not suits Toto as he was a small, cute, mischievous monkey with bright eyes and a small tail.

Toto had long teeth, and it frightened the man when he smiled. His hands looked old, and even his fingers were quick and hard. His little tale served as a third hand for him. Grandfather believed that the tail gives a good look to an animal. It is like a natural ornament most animals have. Toto swings and jumps on the tree branches with his tail and helps him pick and hold fruits and vegetables. It was all about his physical appearance. He was very fond of bananas.

Toto's arrival at the house was decided to keep a secret. The reason behind this fear was the fear of the narrator's grandmother. Because she always becomes red with anger and loses her temper whenever his grandfather buys a new animal. She did not like pets. So, the narrator and grandfather waited for her to be in a better mood to reveal the secret. They found a safe place for him and decided to hide Toto in a closet in the narrator's room and tied him tightly so that the grandmother could not come to know about him, and the secret could not reveal.

After a few hours, they were shocked when the narrator and grandfather returned home. They found that the house's walls, decorated with colorful paper earlier, were severely scratched. And the walls were dug so deep that their internal plaster could be seen easily. Toto also threw the narrator's school blazer into segments. The flower pot, basket, and everything was spread here and there. This scenario made everyone sad, unhappy, and shocked. After spreading this shit, Toto was absent from the ground zero. Later they assumed Toto escaped from the room with the help of a torn piece of the blazer. After this incident, Toto was shifted to the working men's quarters in a big cage, where he met with other members of the Zoo. He met with a tortoise, some rabbits, a naughty squirrel, and a goat. Before Toto joined them, all animals lived in peace and harmony. But, after the arrival of Toto in the quarter, a series of difficulties and disturbances were faced by other pets.

Toto did not leave his naughty behavior and continued annoying other pets; he did not let them sleep peacefully at night. The company of Toto was very irritating and harmful to the rest of the pets. This negative behavior of Toto makes grandfather take him to Saharanpur the next day with himself as grandfather cannot leave him disturbing others in the house and the Zoo. Grandfather was very sure that this trip to Saharanpur would not be easy for him because of the presence of Toto. Carrying Toto with himself was a challenging task for the grandfather. So, proper arrangements were made to control his naughty activities that could affect other passengers. He was packed in a canvas bag half filled with dry grass from the bottom. Even though he tried to escape, all his efforts were in vain. His efforts to come out of the bag made the bag jump which attracted public attention at the railway station.

When they reached Saharanpur railway station, Toto raised his head from the bag and made the ticket collector afraid of his teeth. After that, the ticket collector asked for Toto's fair, as he recognized it as a dog. He told the grandfather that they must pay for such an animal. It would charge 3 rupees extra for animals like dogs. After a long conversation, Grandfather paid three rupees to the ticket collector. Grandfather took a little tortoise to amaze the collector and asked about his fair. But the ticket collector refused to take any charge for the tortoise. The grandfather traveled to Saharanpur to collect his pension. The narrator failed to join his company, but after returning home from Saharanpur, the grandfather told him all the mischiefs of Toto and the whole incident.

Finally, when the grandmother learned about Toto's presence and permitted him to stay, toto got a permanent comfortable place to live. There he got another fellow named Nana, who was a donkey. Toto did not get along with Nana as well. After a while, Grandfather arrived to ensure the situation was all right. There he found that, without any reason, Nana was moving his neck far from hay. This made grandfather surprised, and he slapped her haunches. Nana moved backward by dragging Toto with herself. Toto was hanging on nana' s ear. Then Grandfather understood the reason behind his irritation with Nana. Toto always annoyed Nana, and hence they could not make better relations with each other.

Toto was still living in the narrator's house and made everyone troubled whom he met. Grandmother gave him warm water in a large bowl for bathing, which gave him joy. Firstly, toto would check whether the water is warm enough to bathe. Then he gradually steps into the bowl and goes down slowly. Then he picked up the soap and started rubbing it properly. When the water began to cool down, he got out of the water hurriedly and sat near the kitchen fire.

Toto enjoyed taking a bath in warm water during the winter season. One day, a remarkable incident occurred in Toto's life. He had almost half-boiled himself when he jumped into a kettle of boiling water. A kettle full of water is left on fire to boil water. Toto was sitting idly; he had nothing else to do. Hence, he left the lid and got into the water. He raised his head out as usual. This gave him joy for some time, but ultimately water began to boil, and he felt uncomfortable. Even he tried to get out of it but felt cool outside. Hence, he continued going up and down in the kettle. Thank God that grandmother arrived on time and took him out; otherwise, toto may boil completely. But unfortunately, he was half-boiled. He always tears things into pieces. Whenever the narrator's aunty arrived and tried to come near him, he would hold her dress and make a hole in it.

One of the most humorous and clever deeds of toto was seen at lunchtime. Pulao was already served at the table. When the narrator and his family entered the room for lunch, they found that Toto was eating the pulao with both hands. On seeing this, Grandmother suddenly shouted, and he threw a plate at her. And when the narrator's aunty tried to move toward him, he threw a glass of water at her. When grandfather reached there, he picked up the dish and sat on a jackfruit tree branch outside the window; he stayed there long and ate pulao all afternoon. At last, he hurled the dish down the tree and chattered in pleasure when it broke, all to annoy his grandmother, who had yelled at him.

All these incidents made Grandfather realize that Toto was not the kind of pet they could keep for an extended period. Because of their financial situation, they could not regularly replace lost dishes, clothes, drapes, or wall coverings. The grandfather returned Toto to the Tonga driver, who paid him only three rupees.

Conclusion

In short, The Adventures of Toto has served as an example for the readers of the lesson that one must act appropriately in an atmosphere of kindness and should not cause any disturbance or become unpleasant to others. The wrong behavior can lead to property loss and character loss. Several incidents are discussed in the story to demonstrate that no matter how much you are being loved, you can be thrown out of people's lives if you do not behave properly.