Grade 3 Comprehension (Answer key)

Cooking the Khichdi

    It was winter. The ponds were all frozen. 
              At the court, Akbar asked Birbal, "Tell me Birbal! Will a man do anything for money?" Birbal replied, 'Yes'. The emperor ordered him to prove it. The next day Birbal came to the court along with a poor Brahmin who merely had a penny left with him. His family was starving. 
       Birbal told the king that the Brahmin was ready to do anything for the sake of money. The king ordered the Brahmin to be inside the frozen pond all through the night without any attire if he needed money. The poor Brahmin had no choice. The whole night he was inside the pond, shivering. He returned to the darbar the next day to receive his reward. 
      The king asked "Tell me Oh poor Brahmin! How could you withstand the extreme temperature all through the night?" The innocent Brahmin replied "I could see a faintly glowing light a kilometer away and I withstood with that ray of light." Akbar refused to pay the Brahmin his reward saying that he had got warmth from the light and withstood the cold and that was cheating. 
     The poor Brahmin could not argue with him and so returned disappointed and bare-handed. Birbal tried to explain to the king but the king was in no mood to listen to him. 
Thereafter, Birbal stopped coming to the darbar and sent a messenger to the king saying that he would come to the court only after cooking his khichdi. As Birbal did not turn up even after 5 days, the king himself went to Birbal's house to see what he was doing. Birbal had lit the fire and kept the pot of uncooked khichdi one meter away from it. 
      Akbar questioned him "How will the khichdi get cooked with the fire one meter away? What is wrong with you Birbal?" Birbal, cooking the khichdi, replied "Oh my great King of Hindustan! When it was possible for a person to receive warmth from a light that was a kilometer away, then it is possible for this khichdi, which is just a meter away from the source of heat, to get cooked." 
    Akbar understood his mistake. He called the poor Brahmin and rewarded him 2000 gold coins. 

I.  Answer the following questions:

1.     What question did Akbar ask Birbal?

 

      Akbar asked Birbal, "Tell me Birbal! Will a man do anything for money?"

 

2.     What did the king order the Brahmin to do?

               

               The king ordered the Brahmin to be inside the frozen pond all through the night without any attire if he needed money.

 

3.     What reason did Birbal give for not coming to the court?

      Birbal stopped coming to the darbar and sent a messenger to the king saying that he would come to the court only after cooking his khichdi.

 

4.     Why do you think the poor Brahmin could not argue with Akbar?

            Your opinion

 

II. Language Record:

Give a synonym of clothes from the passage:  attire

 

Give an antonym of impossible from the passage: possible

 

III. Directed Writing:

Imagine you are Akbar from the passage and are now narrating your experience of how Birbal made you realize your mistake. Use the following pointers to narrate your experience.

·    What did Birbal do to prove that a man can do anything for money?

·       Why did you refuse to pay the Brahmin his reward?

·       How did Birbal made you realize your mistake?

·       What lesson did you learn after this experience? 

  Hi, I am Akbar. I am a Mughal emperor. I liked to ask questions to Birbal and test his intelligence. The next day, Birbal came to the court along with a poor Brahmin who merely had a penny left with him and his family was starving. 

                                  I refused to pay the Brahmin his reward saying that he had got warmth from the light and withstood the cold and that was cheating. 

       Birbal stopped coming to the darbar and sent a messenger to me saying that he would come to the court only after cooking his khichdi. As Birbal did not turn up even after 5 days, I went to Birbal's house to see what he was doing. Birbal had lit the fire and kept the pot of uncooked khichdi one meter away from it. I questioned him "How will the khichdi get cooked with the fire one meter away? What is wrong with you Birbal?" Birbal, cooking the khichdi, replied "Oh my great King of Hindustan! When it was possible for a person to receive warmth from a light that was a kilometer away, then it is possible for this khichdi, which is just a meter away from the source of heat, to get cooked." And that's how I understood my mistake.

    I learned that it is not possible to gain benefits from the things that are far away. We should also listen to others point of view.