three men in the boat summary chapter 11 to 19
Answers
Summary Chapters 11 to 14
Ch 11
In this chapter we find the three friends sleeping on the boat. The narrator gets up quite early. George narrates an anecdote of him; once he had got up early owing to the malfunctioning of watch; he got up in the middle of the night and went out. To his surprise it was still dark; all the shops were closed. The policeman looked at him suspiciously. Then the three friends decide to take bath but later on decide against it; the author accidentally falls into the river; but he makes it appear as if he is enjoying being in the river. Narrator’s shirt falls into the river and George laughs at it; however, the shirt turns out to be George’s; now narrator laughs loudly. Harris proposes to cook scrambled eggs but spoils them terribly.
Ch 12
In this chapter the narrator talks about Henry VIII’s polygamous nature. He talks about his affair with Anne Boleyn. Then he talks humorously about staying with lovers. The narrator talks about the challenging times in English history. He narrates a funny incident in which he describes how they skipped renting rooms in good hotels in the hope of finding better ones. But they did not find any. And when they returned to the hotels they had skipped, they found all of them crowded. They really had to face lots of trouble. Finally they spent the night in a small room of a boy. They slept in beds meant for children.
Ch 13
In this chapter the author gives a brief history Marlow, located on the river Thames. Grand Bisham Abbey, the home of queen Elizabeth is half a mile above Marlow Bridge. The home contains a tapestry bed chamber and a secret room hid high up in the thick walls. It is believed that the ghost of the lady Hoby, who beat her little boy to death, still walks there at night.
The author narrates the incident that on the second morning of their stay at Marlow as they were going for a bath, Montomorency, their dog made an awful noise. Here he relates an interesting incident of a fox-terrier causing a mayhem at a place where many dogs were. Montomerency ran after a large black cat. When the cat could not escape, it sat down in the middle of the road and looked at Montomorency threateningly. Montomorency had no option but to retreat.
Then they did some shopping for the river journey. Then a man came and asked them about steam-launch. Here the author expresses his dislike for steam-launches. He would like to sink every steam-launch if he could. According to the author the man on steam-launch simply whistles and disturbs other people. Then they saw a steam-launch approaching. It whistled loudly. Everyone on board shouted at the three friends to get their boat out of the way.
At Hambledon, they wanted to prepare tea. They went to get a jar of water from an old gentleman. But he showed them the river water. They prepared tea with the river water. They were careful to boil it thoroughly. However they did not like the tea. Then they saw a dead dog floating in the river. They threw their tea in the river. Finally they sailed back water to the bank of the river and had their lunch.
Ch 14
In this chapter the narrator talks about War Grave, Sonning, a fairy-like village, and Shiplake islands. George proposes to make Irish stew; Harris and the narrator face hard time peeling potatoes; Montmorency fights with the kettle and got burnt; George plays banjo which makes Harris irritated. We come to know how George never ever managed to learn banjo. The narrator narrates the funny incident of his friend who tried to learn bagpipes but never ever succeeded. In the evening narrator and George decide to take a walk to the village, leaving Harris and Montmorency on the boat. By the time they return it is quite late. They forget which island the boat is anchored at. Finally they succeed to find the boat. Then Harris tells them about his fight with the swans.