The Adventures of Toto by Ruskin Bond
Quick answer: The Adventures of Toto by Ruskin Bond, Class 9 Moments: summary with the ending, Toto and Grandfather, the ticket collector scene, themes and exam answers.
Grandfather buys a monkey from a tonga driver for five rupees because it looks miserable tied to a feeding trough, and the family soon pays far more in wallpaper and crockery. Ruskin Bond's The Adventures of Toto is second in the Class 9 reader Moments.
The story in brief
Toto has bright mischievous eyes, pearly teeth and a tail that works as a third hand. Hidden from Grandmother in a closet, he tears the wallpaper and the narrator's school blazer, then keeps the tortoise, rabbits, squirrel and goat awake in the servants' quarters. On a trip to Saharanpur he pokes his head from Grandfather's kit bag and a ticket collector charges three rupees for a dog. Grandfather produces his tortoise in protest and is told there is no charge, since that is not a dog.
At home Toto bites the ears of Nana the donkey. He learns to bathe in warm water by copying the narrator, then climbs into a kettle set to boil and sits as it heats until Grandmother pulls him out. At dinner he snatches the pullao, pelts the family with plates and runs off with the dish. Grandfather admits the household cannot afford him and sells him back to the tonga driver for three rupees.
The characters
Themes and meaning
Exams want two readings: wild animals cannot be pets, and a family that adopts creatures without a plan is comic. The sharper observation is that Bond never punishes Toto. Every disaster is told as cleverness; the two rupees lost on resale is the only judgment passed.
The craft
The episodes escalate: wallpaper, railway, kettle, dinner table. The ticket collector scene is the model set piece, one rigid rule applied to two animals with the punchline given to a tortoise. An episodic animal story still needs a rising line and a final scene that costs something concrete.
For the exam
Summary in 100 words: Grandfather buys a monkey named Toto from a tonga driver for five rupees and adds him to his private zoo. Toto proves impossible to keep: he tears wallpaper, disturbs the other animals and bites the donkey's ears. On a train trip a ticket collector charges him as a dog while letting a tortoise travel free. Toto learns to bathe in warm water and nearly boils himself in a kettle. Finally he wrecks a dinner, throwing plates and stealing the pullao. Grandfather decides the family cannot afford the damage and sells Toto back to the tonga driver for three rupees.
What writers can take from this
- For the ending, remember the exact figures: bought for five rupees, sold back for three.
- Cite the kettle episode when asked how Toto imitates humans; it is comedy and danger in one scene.
- The ticket collector is your example of official rigidity used for laughter.
- Writers: let an episodic story escalate in cost, so the last episode forces a decision.
- Describe an animal through its habits, not its feelings, as Bond does with the tail and the fingers.
Try it yourself
Write a comic story in which a household adopts something it cannot afford to keep, told in five escalating episodes, and let the final scene be the one that puts a price on the decision to let it go.
Questions
How did Grandfather get Toto and what happened to him in the end?
Grandfather bought Toto from a tonga driver for five rupees because the monkey looked unhappy. After Toto tore up the house and wrecked a dinner, Grandfather sold him back to the same tonga driver for three rupees.
Why did the ticket collector charge for Toto but not for the tortoise?
The collector classified Toto as a dog, the only category he had for pets, and charged three rupees. When Grandfather showed his tortoise, the collector said there was no charge because it was not a dog.
How did Toto nearly get boiled?
He had learned to bathe in warm water by copying the narrator. One day he climbed into a kettle of water left to boil and stayed as it heated until Grandmother pulled him out.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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