Class 9 SEBA English Moments Chapter 4 In the Kingdom of Fools Solutions – Complete Guide | Assam Eduverse

THINK ABOUT IT

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Q1. What are the two strange things the guru and his disciple find in the Kingdom of Fools?
Answer: The two strange things the guru and his disciple find are:

1. The king and minister have changed night into day and day into night. Everyone sleeps during the day and works at night.
2. Everything in the market costs the same, a single duddu, whether it is a measure of rice or a bunch of bananas.

Q2. Why does the disciple decide to stay in the Kingdom of Fools? Is it a good idea?
Answer: The disciple decides to stay in the Kingdom of Fools because he is delighted by the cheap food. He believes he can eat to his heart’s content for very little money. It is not a good idea, as the guru rightly warns him that “they are all fools” and that he can’t tell what they’ll do to him next. The disciple’s love for food blinds him to the inherent danger of the place.

Q3. Name all the people who are tried in the king’s court, and give the reasons for their trial.
Answer: The people who are tried in the king’s court are:

1. The rich merchant: He is blamed for a weak wall that collapsed and killed a thief.
2. The bricklayer: The merchant blames him for building a bad wall.
3. The dancing girl: The bricklayer blames her for distracting him with her jingling anklets, causing him to build a poor wall.
4. The goldsmith: The dancing girl blames him for delaying her jewellery order, which made her walk up and down the street and distract the bricklayer.
5. The rich merchant (again): The goldsmith blames him for pressuring him to finish his order first. He is now identified as the “real culprit.”

Q4. Who is the real culprit according to the king? Why does he escape punishment?
Answer: According to the king, the real culprit is the rich merchant whose father ordered the jewellery. The king argues that the son has inherited his father’s sins, just as he inherited his riches. However, the merchant escapes punishment because he is too thin to fit the stake, and the king’s foolish decree requires the criminal to fit the stake perfectly.

Q5. What are the Guru’s words of wisdom? When does the disciple remember them?
Answer: The Guru’s words of wisdom are: “This is a city of fools. You don’t know what they will do next.” He also says, “This won’t last very long.” The disciple remembers these words when he is caught by the king’s servants and carried off to be executed on the stake because he is fat enough to fit it.

Q6. How does the guru manage to save his disciple’s life?
Answer: The guru manages to save his disciple’s life by creating another foolish illusion. He praises the king as the “wisest of kings” and tells him that the new stake is the “stake of the god of justice.” He then lies and says that whoever dies on it first will be reborn as the king of the country, and the one who dies next will be the minister. The king, not wanting to give up his kingdom in his next life, gets himself and his minister executed instead. The guru and his disciple are thus freed.