''Come and hire me", I cried, while in the morning I was walking on the stone-paved road. Sword in hand, the King came in his chariot. He held my hand and said, "I will hire you with my power." But his power counted for naught, and he went away in his chariot. 8-1 These lines occur in the poem.
2 points
The last bargain
The school boy
Geography lesson
The ant and the cricket
Answers
The beautiful lines are extracted from the poem written by Guruji, "Rabindranath Tagore" whose awarded with the Nobel prize for literature work in the year 1913.
What's the poem is about?
The poem is about a man searching for a job. He wanted to find one without losing his freedom. He got offers of services from:
- The King (Power)
- A rich man (God & wealth)
- A beautiful girl (Smiles)
But he turned down these offers because he thought these will fade away soon. Finally, He accept's the offer of a small child playing near the shore who he feels that while playing with the child he will not lose his freedom. He will still be a free man and will receive everlasting happiness playing with the innocent child.
This was the last bargain that made the speaker accept it as he was not to compromise his freedom.
Those are the lines of 'The Last Bargain'. Written by Rabindranath Tagore.
Now let's see the what's the poem is about.
The Last Bargain
"Come and hire me," I cried, while in the morning
I was walking on the stone-paved road.
Sword in hand the King came in his chariot.
He held my hand and said, "I will hire you with my power,
But his power counted for naught, and he went away in his chariot
In the heat of the mid-day the houses stood with shut doors.
I wandered along the crooked lane.
An old man came out with his bag of gold.
He pondered and said, "I will hire you with my money."
He weighed his coins one by one, but I turned away
It was evening. The garden hedge was all flower.
The fair maid came out and said, "I will hire you with a smile."
Her smile paled and melted into tears, and she went back alone into the dark.
The sun glistened on the sand, and the sea waves broke
waywardly.
A child sat playing with shells.
He raised his head and seemed to know me and said,
"I hire you with nothing."
From henceforward that bargain struck in child's play
made me a free man.
- RABINDRANATH TAGORE
_____________________
What do we understand from the poem?
Once A man wanted to hired he cried and walking into a stony path, The king offered him his power for his services. The man was not interested in being powerful. So he rejected the king's offer.
The old man offered the man gold for his services. The man was not interested in gold either. So he turned away from him also.
The fair maid offered her smiles for his work. Had these smiles been real showing happiness, the man might have accepted her offer. However, her smiles paled. She began to shed tears. Clearly her happiness was no more than a disguise for her sorrow. The maid realised that no one would take sorrows in return for his labour. So she herself went away.
Ultimately the man met a child on the seashore. The child was friendly and cheerful. He had nothing to offer except his goodwill and cheer. This was what the man wanted. So he accepted the child's offer.
In fact the man was interested in goodwill, cheer and freedom. Neither the king or The Oldman nor the Fair Milkmaid.