In The Kingdom of Fools
NCERT Solution
Question 1: What are the two strange things the guru and his disciple find in the Kingdom of Fools?
Answer: Two strange things observed by the guru and his disciple are as follows. In the kingdom people slept throughout the day and even animals didn’t dare venture out during daytime. All work was done during night only. Everything cost one duddu, the local currency. Be it gold or banana, for fools everything had same value. In a way people were not capable of judging the true worth of a thing.
Question 2: Why does the disciple decide to stay in the Kingdom of Fools? Is it a good idea?
Answer: The disciple thinks of the easy life ahead. He thinks that he could afford all pleasures of life without worrying about monetary budget. He dreams of relishing every rich food on offer as everything cost same in that kingdom.
Question 3: Name all the people who are tried in the king’s court, and give the reasons for their trial.
Answer: The merchant was the first accused because his house’s wall collapsed and killed the thief. The next person was the bricklayer as it was thought his bad workmanship created a weak wall. Then the dancer was accused of distracting the bricklayer resulting in poor quality of the wall. Next accused was the goldsmith who called the dancer time and again to deliver the jewellery which in turn led to the distraction of the bricklayer. The goldsmith passed the buck on the merchant’s father as his pressure on the goldsmith delayed the finishing of dancer’s work. At last the wheel turned full circle and the blame came back to the original merchant.
Question 4: Who is the real culprit according to the king? Why does he escape punishment?
Answer: The king applied his weird logic to come to the conclusion that as the merchant inherited everything from his father so he should take the share of his father’s sin as well. As the merchant was too thin to fit on the new execution stake so he escaped execution. The king concluded that a man fat enough to fit the stake will serve the purpose.
Question 5: What are the Guru’s words of wisdom? When does the disciple remember them?
Answer: The guru said that you never know what those foolish people would do to you next. When disciple’s life was at stake then he remembered his guru’s words of wisdom. This is normal human behavior. During good times we tend to forget the good teachings of our teachers and well wishers. It is only when the going gets tough we tend to remember them. We usually remember god during times of crisis.
Question 6: How does the guru manage to save his disciple’s life?
Answer: The guru tries to confuse the king by expressing his desire to be killed first. Then to further confuse the king he tells the story of becoming the king in the next incarnation. Apparently it may sound like a case of pure lie to save your dear one’s life. But if we go deeper consciously or unconsciously the sage is trying to save everybody’s life in the kingdom. Ultimately he is able to pull everybody out of the misery of living in the kingdom of fools.