3 .When Keshav heard this news, he was extremely jealous of Madhav's achievement so much so that he could not sleep at night.
1. Which news made Keshavextremely jealous of Madhav?
2. Why could Keshav not sleep at night? What did he want to do to please the king?
Answers
1. Madhav and Keshav were two farmers living in the same village. Madhav was intelligent, hard-working and always contented and happy. Keshav was lazy, worried, and sad. Jealousy brings ruin 1He was so jealous of Madhav that the very sight of happy Madhav would irritate him. He would even pray to God for Madhav's downfall.
But God seemed to be kind to Madhav, who wished that everyone in the village should be happy like himself. Once after many weeks of hard work in his garden, he produced a huge pumpkin of rare variety. Its skin had all the seven colours of the rainbow on it. It had the pleasing scent of the mogara flower and it tasted as sweet as honey. Above all, it had four legs, a trunk, and a tail which made it look just like an elephant.
Jealousy brings ruin 2Madhav felt that this wonderful pumpkin would be a worthy present to the king. So he took it to the capital and placed it at the king's feet as his humble Nazarana (present). The king was so pleased with this rare present that he gave Madhav a live elephant as a royal gift.
When Keshav heard this news he became so jealous of Madhav that he had no wink of sleep that night. "I must please the king much more than Madhav has done," he went on thinking. "That will make the king give me a more precious royal gift than he has given to Madhav. If a vegetable elephant could please Jealousy brings ruin 3the king so much, a live elephant would please him still more. He may give me in return a village or two and make me a big Zamindar."
The next day Keshav sold his farm, cows, bullocks, sheep, and goats. With all the money he thus got, he purchased a big elephant and took it to the king. The king could not understand why a village farmer should present him an elephant. So he asked his wise minister to look into the matter and to advise him about a suitable gift to the farmer.
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