Some more questions from 'The Jungle Book'

[Haihao]

Hi,

Could you please help me with the following passages? Thank you in advance.

[Mister Micawber]

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1. Is this 'home' with a sense similar to 'hit the nail home'? -- Yes

2. Just to make sure, does the 'shut mouth' belong to Kaa? -- Yes

3. I presume that 'bearling' and 'manling' are the jungle language meaning 'bear' and 'man' -- They mean 'baby bear' and 'baby man', respectively.

Did he say 'a hundred little bearlings' just to mean 'a huge amount of monkey' in a little ironic mood? -- He was facetiously suggesting that they (all the monkeys) almost pulled him into many small pieces.

4. I suppose that 'get the distance' means 'get the distance from the marble screen-work'. If so, how could Kaa make get the distance in such a fashion? -- He is testing his striking distance: a couple of soft taps, like a hammer, and then he will make a heavy blow with his head from the established distance, which will shatter the screen-work.
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_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[Haihao]

Hi Mr. Micawber,

You made me understand them so satisfactorily! Your explanation 'He was facetiously suggesting that they (all the monkeys) almost pulled him into many small pieces' pulled me out of the dark at the moment!

Many thanks again.

Haihao