Question

THINK ABOUT IT
1. What are the two strange things the guru and his disciple
find in the Kingdom of Fools?
2. Why does the disciple decide to stay in the Kingdom of Fools?
Is it a good idea?
3. Name all the people who are tried in the king's court, and give
the reasons for their trial.
4. Who is the real culprit according to the king? Why does he
escape punishment?
5. What are the Guru's words of wisdom? When does the disciple
remember them?
6. How does the guru manage to save his disciple's life?

Answer 1

Answer:

Answers for the question

1. People used to work during nights and sleep during days. Cost of everything in the market was the same, one duddu, whether it was a measure of rice or a bunch of bananas.
2. The disciple decided to stay in the Kingdom of Fools because he was very happy with the fact that everything was quite cheap there. He had a peculiarity of diet. He was tempted by the cheap food. So, he thought of enjoying an easy life by staying in that kingdom. No, it was not a good idea to stay there for a long time. All the people of the kingdom were fools and they could be dangerous for them in future, as suggested by the Guru.
3. The owner of the house i.e. the merchant, the bricklayer, the dancing girl and the goldsmith were tried in the king’s court. They all were tried because the thief died when the wall of the merchant’s house had collapsed. The merchant was tried for building a weak wall. The bricklayer was tried for doing his work carelessly. The dancing girl was tried for disturbing the concentration of the bricklayer. The goldsmith was blamed for making the dancing girl walk up and down to his house a dozen times.
4. The real culprit according to the king is the merchant because although his old father was the real murderer he was dead and someone had to be punished in his place.  He escapes the punishment because he is too thin to be properly executed on the stake.
5. The Guru’s words of wisdom were that it was the city of fools and their unpredictable behaviour could create danger at any time. He advised the disciple to leave the city because he would not know what they would do next.  The disciple remembers these words when he was going to be executed in place of the merchant.
6. The guru tries to confuse the king by expressing his desire to be killed first. He told the king that it was not an ordinary stake. It was the stake of the god of justice. It was new that never had a criminal on it.  So, whoever would die on the stake first would become the king in the next life and the second to die would become his minister. The king wanted to avail himself of the opportunity as he didn’t want to lose the kingdom to someone else in the next round of life. So he ordered to postpone the execution to the next day and talked in secret with his minister. That night, the king and his minister went secretly to the prison. They released the guru and the disciple and disguised themselves as the two. Finally, both of them were taken to the stake and promptly executed. In this way, the Guru managed to save his disciple’s life.

Explanation: