Three Questions 

Comprehension Check

Q.1. Why did the king want to know answers to three questions?
Answer: The king wanted to know the answers to three questions as he wished to become a great ruler.
Q.2. Messengers were sent throughout the kingdom
(i) to fetch wise men.
(ii) to find answers to the questions.
(iii) to look for the wise hermit.
(iv) to announce a reward for those who could answer the questions.
Mark your choice.
Answer: (ii) to find answers to the questions.

Comprehension Check

Q.1. Many wise men answered the king’s questions, ___________________.
Answer: Many wise men answered the king’s questions, but their answers were so varied that the king was not satisfied.
Q.2. Someone suggested that there should be a council of wise men ___________________.
Answer: Someone suggested that there should be a council of wise men to help the king act at the right time.
Q.3. Someone else suggested that the king should have a timetable ___________________.
Answer: Someone else suggested that the king should have a timetable and follow it strictly.
Q.4. The king requested the hermit ___________________.
Answer: The king requested the hermit to answer three questions.
Q.5. The king washed and dressed the bearded man’s wound, ___________________.
Answer: The king washed and dressed the bearded man’s wound, but the bleeding would not stop.

Working with the text

Answer the following questions:
1. Why was the king advised to go to magicians?
Answer: Some of the wise men thought that to decide the right time to do something, one must look into the future and only magicians were able to do that. So, they advised the king to go to the magicians.
2. In answer to the second question, whose advice did the people say would be important to the king?
Answer: In answer to the second question, some wise men believed that the king should have some councilors to give him advice, some others said priests, some other wise men said that doctors’ advice was most important and yet others believed that the soldiers were the most important.
3. What suggestions were made in answer to the third question?
Answer: In answer to the third question, i.e., “What is the most important thing to do?”, some wise men responded that science was the most important thing, some others believed that fighting was the most crucial thing to do for a king, and the others said that religious worship was the most important thing to do.
4. answers.
5. How did the king and the hermit help the wounded man?
Answer: First of all, the king cleaned the wound by washing it. Then he covered the wound with his handkerchief. He continued to dress the wound until the bleeding stopped entirely. The king gave some water to the wounded man to drink.
The king and the hermit carried the wounded man inside the hut and let him take rest in the hut in the night.
6. (i) Who was the bearded man?

Answer: (i) The bearded man was the king’s enemy. He had come there to take revenge from the king of his brother’s death and take back his property.
(ii) Why did he ask for the king’s forgiveness?
Answer: (ii) He asked for the king’s forgiveness because he came to kill the king, and the king saved his life.
7. The king forgave the bearded man. What did he do to show his forgiveness?

Answer: The king forgave the bearded man. He showed his forgiveness by offering to send doctor and servants to take care of the wounded man. He also promised to return his property too.
8. What were the hermit’s answers to the three questions? Write each answer separately. Which answer do you like most, and why?
Answer: The hermit’s answers to the three questions were:
1. The right time to do something is “now” because it is the only time when we can act.
2. The most important person is the person you are with at a particular moment because we don’t know what will happen in the future.
3. The most important thing to do is to do good to the person because we are here on the earth for that purpose alone.

I liked the first answer most because we do not know about future we can not put off till tomorrow what we can do today.

Working with language

1. Match items in List A with their meanings in List B.

S.No	Column A	Column B
(i)	Wounded	Got up from sleep
(ii)	Awoke	Give back
(iii)	Forgive	Small patches of ground for plants
(iv)	Faithful	Severly injured
(v)	Pity	Pardon
(vi)	Beds	Loyal
(vii)	Return	Feel sorry fo

Answer:

S.No	Column A	Column B
(i)	Wounded	Severely injured
(ii)	Awoke	Got up from sleep
(iii)	Forgive	Pardon
(iv)	Faithful	Loyal
(v)	Pity	Feel sorry for
(vi)	Beds	Small patches of ground for plants
(vii)	Return	Give bac

Use any three of the above words in sentences of your own. You may change the form of the word.

Answer: (i) Wounded: Arif was severely wounded yesterday during match.

(ii) Awoke: I awoke early today.

(iii) Return: I returned Arif's book.

Each of the following sentences has two blanks. Fill in the blanks with appropriate forms of the word given in brackets

(i). The ________ said that only fresh evidence would make him change his ________.(judge)

(ii). I didn’t notice any serious ________ of opinion among the debaters, although they _______ from one another over small points. (differ)

(iii). It’s a fairly simple question to _______,but will you accept my ________ as final? (answer)

(iv). It isn’t _______ that ________ should always be the mother of invention. (necessary)

(v). Hermits are ________ men. How they acquire their ________ no one can tell. (wise)

(vi). The committee has _________ to make Jagdish captain of the team. The _________ is likely to please everyone. (decide)

(vii). Asking for ________ is as noble as willingness to ________. (forgive)

Answer: 

(i). The judge said that only fresh evidence would make him change his judgement. (judge)

(ii). I didn’t notice any serious difference of opinion among the debaters, although they differed from one another over small points. (differ)

(iii). It’s a fairly simple question to answer, but will you accept my answer as final? (answer)

(iv). It isn’t necessary that necessity should always be the mother of invention. (necessary)

(v). Hermits are wise men. How they acquire their wisdom no one can tell. (wise)

(vi). The committee has decided to make Jagdish captain of the team. The decision is likely to please everyone. (decide)

(vii). Asking for forgiveness is as noble as willingness to forgive. (forgive)

Speaking and Writing

1. Imagine you are the king. Narrate the incident of your meeting the hermit. Begin like this:

The wise men answered my questions, but I was not satisfied with their answers. One day I decided to go and meet the hermit…

Answer: The wise men answered my questions, but I was not satisfied with their answers. One day I decided to go and meet the hermit who was renowned for his wisdom. I went to him and saw him digging the earth. I asked him if he could answer the three questions I sought answers to. But he continued to dig the earth and did not respond at all. I felt that he was getting tired so I offered to help him in digging. He handed over the spade to me. I kept digging for a while. Then I repeated my questions and asked if he would answer them. Even then, there was no response from his side. Then he pointed towards a wounded man approaching us.

2. Imagine you are the hermit. Write briefly the incident of your meeting the king. Begin like this:

One day I was digging in my garden. A man in ordinary clothes came to see me. I knew he was the king…

Answer: One day I was digging in my garden. A man in ordinary clothes came to see me. I knew he was the king but remained calm. He told me that he sought answers to three questions and wanted me to answer those. I politely greeted him and then continued to dig the earth. I was continuously digging and felt tired. Seeing this, the king offered me help. I accepted and handed over the spade to him. He began to dig and after some time, he again asked me the same three questions. I still chose not to respond and offered him help if he was tired. He refused and continued to dig.

After some time, I saw a wounded man approaching us.