Directions (Qs. 16 to 25): Read the passage given
below and complete the story by filling in the blanks. Also, give a suitable
title for the story.
There was once a farmer who
suffered much at the hands of a money-lender. Good harvests or bad the farmer
was always poor and the money-lender was rich. In the end, when he hadn't a
farthing left, the farmer went to the money-lender's house and said, "You
can't squeeze water from a stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you
might tell me the secret of becoming rich."
"My friend," returned
the money-lender, piously, "riches come from Ram-ask him."
"Thank you. I will!"
replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three girdle-cakes to last him on the
journey, and set out to find Ram.
First, he met a Brahman, and to
him he gave a cake, asking him to point out the road to Ram; but the Brahman
only took the cake and went on his way without a word. Next, the farmer met a
Jogi or devotee, and to him he gave a cake, without receiving any help in
return. At last, he came upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out
he was hungry, the kindly farmer gave him the last cake, and sitting down to
rest beside him, entered into conversation.
"And where are you
going?" asked the poor man, at length.
"Oh I have a long journey
before me, for. I am going to find Ram!" replied the farmer. "I don't
suppose you could tell me which way to go?"
"Perhaps I can," said
the poor man smiling, "I am Ram! What do you want of me?"
Then the farmer told the whole
story, and Ram, taking pity on him, gave him a conch shell, and showed him how
to blow it in a particular way, saying, "Remember! Whatever you wish for,
you have only to blow the conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only
have a care of that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their
wiles!"
The farmer went back to his
village rejoicing. In fact, the money-lender noticed his high spirits at once,
and said to himself, "Some good fortune must have befallen the stupid
fellow, to make him hold his head so jauntily." Therefore, he went over to
the simple farmer's house, and congratulated him on his good fortune, in such
cunning words, pretending to have heard all about it, that before long the
farmer found himself telling the whole story?all except the secret of blowing
the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer was not quite such a fool as
to tell that.
Nevertheless the money-lender
determined to have the conch by hook or by crook, and as he was villain enough
not to stick at trifles, he waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.
But, after nearly bursting himself
with blowing the conch in every conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the
secret as a bad job. However, being determined to succeed he went back to the
farmer, and said, coolly, "Look here: I've got your conch, but I can't use
it; you haven't got it, so my dear you can't use it either. Business is at a
standstill unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you back your
conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one condition, which is
this,?whatever you get from it, I am to get double."
"Never!" cried the
farmer; "that would be the old business all over again!"
"Not at all!" replied
the wily money-lender; "you will have your share! Now, don't be a dog in the
manger, if you get all you want, then what will it matter to you if I am rich
or poor?"
At last, though it went sorely
against the grain to be of any benefit to a money-lender, the farmer was forced
to yield, and from that time, no matter what he gained by the power of the conch,
the money-lender gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon
the farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of
anything.
At last there came a very dry
season, so dry that the farmer's crops withered for want of rain. Then he blew
his conch, and wished for a well to water them, and lo! there was the well, but
the money-lender had two!--two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any
farmer to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till a
bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it loudly, and cried
out.
"Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind
of one eye!" And so he was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course
was blind of both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he
fell into one, and was drowned.
Lesson:
This true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a money-lender?but only
by losing one of his eyes.
A) conch
B) whistle
C) trumpet
D) both a and b
Correct Answer: A
Solution :
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