The Man Who Swallowed a Snake

(Adopted from Rumi(R.A.) 

Glossary:

Word	Explanation	Urdu Meaning
Slide	Move smoothly	کهسکانا
Dismount	Get off a horse, bicycle or motorcycle	گھوڑے، سیکل یا موٹر سئکل سے نیچے اُترنا
Club	A heavy stick	بھاری ڈنڈا
Blow	A hard hit with a heavy object	زور سے مارنا
Abruptly	Suddenly	یکایک، ایک دم
Fled	Ran away	بھاگ جانا
Rotten	Decayed; something that can no longer be used	سڑے ہوئے
Stuff	Completely fill with something	پورا برا ہوا
Offend	Make someone upset or angry	ناراض کرنا، غصہ دلانا
Pursuer	Someone who chases	پیچھے دوڑنے والا
Bruise	A dark area on the skin where one has been hurt	زخم کا نشان
Nightfall	The time in the evening when it is dark	اندھیرا ہونا
Fright	Shock and fear	خوف زدہ ہونا

Thinking about the Text

1.) What did the wise man see while riding?

Answer: While riding the wise man saw a snake sliding into the sleeping man’s mouth.

2.) What did the wise man do when he could not scare the snake away?

Answer: The wise man took his club and struck the sleeping man with several powerful blows. When he awakened from sleep, the wise man forcefully made him eat rotten apples.

3.) Why did the wise man chase the man?

Answer: The wise man was doing this because he wanted the man to vomit so that the snake would come out.

4.) Why did the man fall on the wise man’s feet?

Answer: Because he realised that the wise man was doing all this to save him from snake he had swallowed while he was fast asleep 

5.) Do you think that the wise man proved to be intelligent enough to save the man’s life?

Answer: Yes, certainly the wise man proved to be intelligent enough to save the man’s life. He beared all curses of the man and kept doing what was needed to make the man vomit. Moreover, if the wise man would have said truth, the man could have died out of fright.

Language Work

Find from the text words/phrases which mean the following:

a) To make a person or an animal frightened

Answer: Scare

b) To flow quickly and in large amounts

Answer: Pour

c) Completely filled

Answer: Stuffed

d) A short period of time

Answer: Quick

e) To empty the contents of the stomach through the mouth

Answer: Vomit

B.) Find the opposites of the following words from the text:

Word	Opposite	Word	Opposite
Foolish	Wise	Stop	Start
Awake	Asleep	Backward	Forward
Mount	Dismount	Old	New
Slowly	Fastly	Remember	Forget
Powerless	Powerful	Difficult	Easy
Danger	Safe	Beautiful	Ugly
Blessed	Cursed	White	Black
Virtue	Vice	Alive	Dead

Grammar Work

(A) Look at the following sentence from the text:

The wise man dismounted quickly and tried to scare the snake away, but to no avail.

The underlined words in the above sentence are verbs. These verbs are regular verbs. 

A regular verb is a verb that has –ed or –d in past and past participle forms. e.g.

Verd	Past	Past participle
Talk	Talked	Talked
Dance	Danced	Danced
Say	Said	Said

Whereas other verbs that do not need –ed or ‘d’ for forming past tense and past participle are called irregular verbs e.g.

Verb	Past	Past participle
Cut	Cut	Cut
Go	Went	Gone
Tell	Told	Told
Feed	Fed	Fed

Some verbs are both regular and irregular, e.g.,

Learn	Learnt	Learnt	Learned	Learned
Spoil	Spoiled	Spoiled	Spoilt	Spoilt
Light	Lit	Lit	Lighted	Lighte

Complete the table given below. Consult a dictionary if necessary.

Present	Past	Past Participle
Be	Was/Were	Been
Beat
	Bet
		Bought
Lean
	Spilled or spilt
Choose
		Dug
Find
		Forgiven
	Laid
See
Sink
	Sprang
	Stung
		Taken

Answer:

Present	Past	Past Participle
Be	Was/Were	Been
Beat	Beat	Beaten
Bet	Bet	Bet
Buy	Bought	Bought
Lean	Learned	Learnt
Spill	Spilled or spilt	Spilled/Split
Choose	Chose	Chosen
Dig	Dug	Dug
Find	Found	Found
Forgive	Forgave	Forgiven
Lay	Laid	Lain
See	Saw	Seen
Sink	Sank	Sunk
Spring	Sprang	Sprung
Sting	Stung	Stung
Take	Too	Taken

(B) Pick out five action words from the story and write them in the spaces below:

Answer: 

Passed, shower, scare, cursed, chased

(C) Now change the following sentences from direct into indirect speech:

My friend said to me, “Will you help me in this matter?”

Indirect speech –My friend ask me that whether I would help him in that matter.

He said to me, “What can I do for you?”

Indirect speech –He asked me that what he could do for me.

I said to her, “Why is the child weeping?”

Indirect speech –I asked her that why the child was weeping.

The wolf said to the lamb, “Why are you making the water muddy?”

Indirect speech – The wolf asked the lamb that why it was making the water muddy.

She said to me, “How often do you take tea?”

Indirect speech – She asked me that how often I took tea.

I said to her, “Is it snowing?”

Indirect speech – I asked her if it was snowing.

I said to Mubashir, “Will you lend me your book?”

Indirects peech –I asked Mubashir that if he would lend me his book.

The teacher said to the student, “Have you solved the question?”

Indirect speech – The teacher asked the student if he had solved the question.

They said to me, “Did you watch TV last night?”

Indirect speech – They asked me if I had watched TV last night.

I said to her, “Do you really belong to Kashmir?”

Indirect speech – I asked her that if she really belonged to Kashmir.

Now Change the following into direct speech:

The teacher asked the newcomer what his name was.

Direct speech –The teacher said to the newcomer, “What is your name?”

My friend asked me if I was feeling well.

Direct speech –My friend said to me, “Are you feeling well?”

I asked her when she would go to Mumbai.

Direct speech – I said to her, “When will you go to Mumbai?”

He asked me if he could use my computer.

Direct speech –He said to me, “Can I use your computer?”

I enquired of him what the house had cost him.

Direct speech –I said to him, “ What the house had cost to you?”

The teacher asked the students if they had revised the lesson.

Direct speech –The teacher said to the students, “Have you revised the lesson?”

He asked his brother if he wanted to become a doctor.

Direct speech –He said to his brother, “Do you want to become a doctor?”

I asked my friend if he would accompany me to the market.

Direct speech –I said to my friend, “Will you accompany me to the market?”