Question Answers
1. Why is Theophil Eshley called a cattle painter by force of environment?
The circumstances that forced Eshley to start painting cattle were not his
genuine love for cattle but a force of the environment in which he lived. His
home was in a park-like, villa-dotted semi suburban district. On one side of
his house was a picturesque meadow and so many colorful, little cows ate
grass there. All Eshley saw was cows, gardens, flowers, grass and walnut
trees and his imagination could not WORK without cows and other cattles
hence his paintings had the domination of cattle.
2. TheophilEshley didn’t have any background that directly connected him to
cows and oxen. Explain.
Although Eshley was a cattle painter, he had no ancestral or
temperamental connections with cows and oxen. He lived in the city where
he had no nearby ranch or a dairy farm. There was no atmosphere
pervaded with horn and hoof, milking-stool, and branding-iron, all
CHARACTERISTIC of life with cattle. His home was in a park-like, villa-dotted
district.
3. What was Eshley’s first award winning work?
Eshley’s first cattle painting was of two reposeful milch-cows in a setting of
walnut tree and meadow-grass and filtered sunbeam.
4. The Royal Academy encourages orderly, methodical habits in its children.
Explain.
Eshley was a painter brought up and patronized by the Royal Academy. The
academy chose to honor and keep only orderly artists like Eshley who
painted stereotiped paintings. The academy was particular that every artist
adopted to uniformity regarding the genre/kind of his WORK.
5. Who was Adela Pingsford? Why did she seek Eshley’s help?
Adela was Eshley’s closest neighbor. The lady had no remarkable love for
art or animals but she could die for plants and flowers. One fine afternoon
in late autumn she knocked on the outer door of Eshley’s studio because a
stray ox had wandered into her garden and she didn’t have the courage to
get the huge beast out all alone. Her garden had just been put straight for
the winter, and she could not even imagine an ox roaming about in it. Apart
from this, she had some finest chrysanthemums just coming into flower.
Besides, she was practically all alone; the housemaid was having her
afternoon out and the cook was lying down with an attack of neuralgia.
6. Why was Adela disappointed at having sought help from Eshley?
Adela had never known Eshley anything more than a painter. All that her
instinct urged her was to go get help from her neighbor, a man, known for
his paintings of cattle. She was of the opinion that Eshley could be good at
chasing an ox out of her garden. With Eshley asking the panic stricken lady
‘what kind of an ox was in her garden,’ ‘from where it came into the
garden’ and his foolish inquiry ‘if the ox would not go out itself,’ Adela
knew that the man was going to be useless for the task at hand.
7. How did Eshley try to turn down Adela’s request?
Eshley confessed that he was not at all good at chasing an ox out of a
garden although he was known for his cattle paintings. He even made it
clear that he painted only cows, that too, diary cows, the least dangerous
ones. He said that rounding up an ox is easy in films because such stunts
are either done with accessories or they are fake.
8. How do you describe the ox?
The ox was a huge mottled brute, dull red about the head and shoulders,
passing to dirty white on the flanks and hind-quarters, with shaggy ears and
large blood-shot eyes. It bore about as much resemblance to the dainty
paddock heifers that Eshley was accustomed to paint.
9. How did Eshley attempt to round the ox up?
When the necessity for doing something for Adela was becoming
imperative, Eshley took a step or two in the direction of the animal, clapped
his hands, and made noises of the “Hish” and “Shoo” variety. The ox gave
no outward indication of the fact that Eshley was asking it to leave the
place. When this failed, Eshley picked up a pea-stick and flung it with some
determination against the animal’s mottled flanks.
10.How did Eshley lead the ox into Adela’s morning room?
Finally the ox seemed to realise that it was to go. It gave a hurried final
pluck at the bed where the chrysanthemums had been, and strode swiftly
up the garden. Eshley ran to head it towards the gate, but only succeeded
in quickening its movement. The ox, thinking Eshley meant to lead it to the
lady’s morning room, crossed the tiny strip of turf and pushed its way
through the open French window into Adela’s morning-room.
11.How did the thought of painting the ox ring in Eshley’s mind?
In fact it was not Eshley who first thought of painting the ox in Adela’s room
– it was Adela herself who satirically suggested this. When Eshley said that
he was not responsible for the ox’s entry into the morning room, Adela
retorted that his foolish whims would think of painting the scene. Although
Adela didn’t the least mean this, Eshley considered it an amazing idea.
12.The episode was the turning-point in Eshley’s artistic career. Which
episode? How was it a turning point?
Eshley’s remarkable picture, “Ox in a morning-room, late autumn,” was one
of the sensations and successes of the next Paris Salon, and when it was
subsequently exhibited at Munich it was bought by the Bavarian
Government, in the teeth of the spirited bidding of three meat-extract
firms. From that moment his success was continuous and assured, and the
Royal Academy was thankful, two years later, to give a conspicuous
position on its walls to his large canvas “Barbary Apes Wrecking a Boudoir.”
13.What did Eshley present Adela?
Eshley presented Adela Pingsford with a new copy of “Israel Kalisch,” and a
couple of finely flowering plants of Madame AdnréBlusset.
14.Elaborate on the use of humor by Saki with special reference to Stalled Ox.
Saki’s Stalled Ox is a non-stop, humor-packed story. From the chancepainter TheophilEshley, his neighbour Adela to the Ox, all characters make
the reader laugh at once or reserve laughter for another time. The
circumstances the led to the making of a cattle-painter out of Eshley may
not be as such funny but the episode of Eshley chasing the ox out with peasticks, Adela’s rising rage at the sight of the cattle expert’s leading the ox’s
way into her parlour, his painting the ox in his neighbor’s parlour, etc. are
Saki’s wonderful contribution to humor and literature. Adela’s replies are
rude but when they are weighed against Eshley’s absent minded queries,
the reader joins Adela for her support because such questions as those
Eshley asked are not only irrelevant, they are foolish. Eshley’s asking,
“won’t it go?” is another reason for laughter because his question was
quite childish. Apart from Eshley’s kind of questions, Adela’s helplessness
adds fun to the story although the reader feels like the helpless neighbor.
Eshley’s remark, “it’s eating a chrysanthemum,” and the desperate
response on Edla’s side evoke myrth and anger in the reader. The author
has been able to present an artist under utmost thoughtlessness with a
huge ox eating a plant-lover’s most expensive flowers one by one. Adela
says, “you ‘shoo’ beautifully,” and the painter goes on shooing without
registering her sarcasm. Her making a note that the ox was eating a
Mademoiselle Louise Bichot in icy calm can be understood as an expression
of maximum rage. Eshley’s failure to get a grasp of the lady’s sarcasm leads
him to telling her that the ox was an Ayrshire ox. It is extraordinarily ironical
that the ox was a degree more sensible than the artist, for, it was able to
understand what the artist and the lady were trying to communicate with
it. This follows another instance of laughter – Eshley leads the ox into the
lady’s morning room! The way the author narrates the ox’s mistaken
movement is humorous and hilarious. Finally there is this artist who runs to
his house to bring his painting implements just because he failed to read
Adela’s sarcasm and this appears more than humor.