In the Kingdom of Fools – Important Questions

Important Question and Answers

Q. The king of the kingdom of fools called the thief ‘an innocent man’. What does this tell you about the king ?

Ans. This tells us that the king was more than a fool. He had a weird or unreasonable way to think. He was gullible. He could rationalise or think for himself. He accepted whatever his ministers said. Calling a thief ‘an innocent man’ also leads out to doubt his judgement.

Q. How was the kingdom of fools different from any other place?

Ans. Everything was different at the kingdom of fools. The night was considered as day and day as night. Not only the human beings even the animals stayed awake at night. Anything and everything could be bought for a Duddu.

Q. Who went in search of the goldsmith? Who accused the goldsmith and why?

Ans. The king’s bailiff went in search of the goldsmith. The dancing girl who was much old then, accused the goldsmith of not making the jewel on time. The goldsmith asked her to go back and come again. This led her to go up and down the street atleast a dozen times. This was when the bricklayer saw her. He got distracted and built a bad wall.

Q. Who blamed the bricklayer for the collapse of the wall? What had the bricklayer done?

Ans. The merchant blamed the bricklayer for the collapse of the wall. The bricklayer laid a poor bricklayer because his mind was on the dancing girl with anklets jingling going up and down the street.

Q. What was so strange about the Kingdom of fools?

Ans. The strange thing about the kingdom of fools was that not only humans but animals were also made to sleep during the day. Everything in this kingdom used to come for a duddu.

Q. What two things were different in the kingdom of fools?

Ans. Two things that were different in the kingdom of fools were that the people worked in the night and slept during the day. Everything was sold at the same price. A ‘Duddu’ could buy a mass of rice as well as a bunch of bananas.

Q. Why did the Guru not want to stay in the Kingdom of fools?

Ans. The Guru did not want to stay in the Kingdom of fools as the people over there were foolish. He was not sure about them and felt that they could harm him.

Q. Why does the disciple not want to leave the kingdom of the fools?

Ans. The disciple did not want to leave the place because of the sale of cheap eatables and other commodities and since everything was easily available and life seemed to be very simple and easy.

Q. Why didn’t the people go against the order of the king and the minister?

Ans. The people didn’t go against the order of the king and the minister because they were told to do so. Apart from it, they had fear of punishment as the order were to be implemented strictly and all the people had to follow them.

Q. What advice did the Guru give to the disciple before going out of the city?

Ans. The Guru told his disciple that it was dangerous to stay in the Kingdom of fools. He said that there was no justice, only foolish, unpredictable behaviour. According to him the kingdom would not last long.

Q. Why did the king want to punish the merchant?

Ans. The king wanted to punish the merchant because the wall of his house fell on the thief killing him. Since the merchant had inherited his father’s wealth, he inherited his sins too. Therefore, he should be punished.

Q. Who is the real culprit according to the king? Why does he escape from the punishment?

Ans. The rich merchant was the real culprit. He had inherited everything from his criminal father. He was too thin to be properly executed on the newly made stake. The worried king started searching foolishly for a fat man to fit the stake and the merchant escaped the punishment.

Q. Why did the Guru want that he and his disciple should die first?

Ans. The king had ordered the execution of the rich merchant. Since the rich merchant could not be executed, the disciple was chosen to fit the stake. The disciple’s Guru had a vision and saw everything. In order to save his disciple, the Guru hatched a plan.

Q. When does the disciple remember the words of his Guru?

Ans. The disciple did not pay any heed to the advice of his Guru, when the Guru asked him to leave the kingdom of fools. When the king decided that the disciple was the suitable person for execution, he remembered the words of the Guru.

Q. Why did the king decide to postpone the execution of the Guru and his disciple?

Ans. The Guru befooled the king. He told him that the people dying now would be the king and minister in their next birth. The foolish king fell for the words of the Guru and postponed their execution.

Q. Why was the kingdom of fools in confusion?

Ans. The kingdom of fools was in confusion because it had lost its king and minister. The people had seen the bodies of the king and minister thrown to the crows and vultures which left them panicky. They were worried about the future of the kingdom.

Q. What is the Guru’s wisdom? When does the disciple remember this?

Ans. The Guru’s wisdom was that there was no justice in the kingdom of fools and due to the unpredictable behaviour of the fools, he wanted to leave the kingdom at once. The disciple remembers these words when the king decided that the disciple was the suitable person for execution was weak.

Q. Who became the king and the prime minister of the kingdom?

Ans. As the kingdom was without a king, the people of the kingdom persuaded the Guru and the disciple to take over the throne. So, the holy man became the king and his disciple took the charge of Prime Minister.

Q. What is duddu? What delighted the guru and his disciple?

Ans. Duddu is a rupee. It can buy anything from a measure of rice to a bunch of bananas in the kingdom of fools. The guru and his disciple could buy all food with just one duddu. This delighted both of them.

Q. On what conditions did the Guru and his disciple agree to rule that kingdom?

Ans. He laid the condition that he would be free to change all the old and foolish laws. Hence, night was considered as night and day was regarded as a normal working day. Even persuaded prices were changed according to the value of the material.

Q. Why were the people of the kingdom confused when they saw the dead bodies of the king and his minister?

Ans. The people of the kingdom were confused as to how their king and the minister were dead instead of the Guru and the disciple. The people were not able to see through the plan which was executed by the Guru against their king and minister.

Q. How did the Guru manage to save his disciple’s life?

Ans. The king ordered to execute the disciple. He prayed to his Guru to save him. The Guru heard his prayer in his vision and appeared to rescue his disciple. First, he whispered something in this disciple’s ears and then asked the king to execute him first and the disciple followed suit, which puzzled the king. Knowing the secret, the king fell into the trap of his temptation and wanted to be the king in his rebirth. He went into the prison at night and set the guru and disciple free. In their place, he and his minister disguised themselves as the guru and disciple and got executed. Thus, the Guru managed to save his disciple.

Q. Greed never goes unpunished. Does this statement stand valid in the context of ‘The Kingdom of Fools’? Explain.

Ans. I don’t think the statement ‘Greed never goes unpunished’ stands valid in the context of ‘The Kingdom of Fools’. This is because the disciple was warned by his Guru that staying in the kingdom of fools would be risky. He had cautioned his disciple saying that nobody could predict what would happen in the fools’ kingdom. But driven by his greed for unlimited food for only one duddu, the disciple decided to stay while the guru went away. What refutes the given statement is that when the disciple was in problem, the guru came and saved him. He did not suffer any punishment for his greediness. It was the Guru’s sharp wit which saved the disciple. So, the given statement stands invalid in the given context.

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