THE TWO MERCHANTS
WORD MEANING
1. fair
mindedness – ability to treat everybody equally
2. proximity –
closeness
3. resolve a
dispute – solve or end a fight
4. merchants –
business person
5. transaction –
exchange, circulating
6. promised –
assured, ascertained
7. refuses –
denies, rejects, objects, opposes
8. honoured –
respected
9. grateful –
lucky, thankful
10. service – work,
help
11. absolutely –
perfectly, fully
12. receipt – bill,
memo, voucher
13. sum – amount
14. discovered –
found out, learnt
15. appeared – came
16. contained –
hold
17. fetch – bring,
take
18. bottom – below,
floor
19. customers –
buyers
20. sweat – getting
wet in fear/heat
21. tricks – plan
22. propose –
suggest
23. rebuke – speak
angrily
24. dishonest –
fraud, cheat, not honest
25. praised –
appreciated
26. humanity – people in general, quality of good human being
A. CHOOSE THE CORRECT OPTIONS.
1. Birbal
tried to help
a. Ran Chand who had lent money to Jwala Prasad. (✔️)
b. Jwala Prasad who had lent money to Ram Chand.
c. Jwala Prasad’s son.
d. Ram Chand’s son.
2. Birbal
asked the two merchants to
a. sell the gold that he had sent them.
b. sell the ghee that he had sent them. (✔️)
c. sell the gold and the ghee that he had sent them.
d. keep the ghee that he had sent them.
3. Jwala
Prasad gave his son
a. the gold coin he had found in the jar. (✔️)
b. the ghee he had found in the jar.
c. both the ghee and the gold coin he had found in the jar.
d. some butter and asked him to turn in into ghee.
B. ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.
1. Why
did Ram Chand not have any proof of his transaction with Jwala Prasad?
Jwala Prasad was a fellow merchant. Therefore Ram Chand trusted
him when he promised to return him the money within six months.
2. What
did Jwala Prasad do when he read Ram Chand’s written statement?
Jwala Prasad refused the written statement of Ram Chand and said
it was all lies.
3. What
did Birbal ask the two merchants to do with the ghee that he had sent them?
Birbal asked the two merchants to sell the ghee for him after
checking its purity.
4. Birbal
wanted to test the honesty of both the merchants. What did you do to test them?
Birbal asked the two merchants to sell the ghee for him after
checking its purity. At the bottom of the jar, he had kept gold mohur which
could be discovered while heating. Birbal knew, the honest one would bring the
gold mohur back to him, whereas the greedy one would hide it.
5. How
did the two merchants differ in their action after heating the ghee?
After heating the ghee and discovering the mohur, Ram Chand
decided to return it to him. On the other hand, Jwala Prasad hides the mohur
and asked his son to keep it safely until he asked for it.
6. How
was the truth eventually revealed?
Birbal conducted to test the honesty of both the merchants.
Jwala Prasad was found telling lie all the time. His son reveled the truth by
asking, “Haven’t you returned the money yet?” Thus, Jwala Prasad could not
escape the truth.
C. THINK AND ANSWER.
1. Why do
you think Jwala Prasad returned less money to Birbal?
Jwala Prasad was not an honest so somehow, he wanted to keep
most of the profit for himself.
2. Why
did Birbal ask the boy if there were two mohurs in the jar of ghee?
Birbal himself had kept one mohur in the jar and now wanted to
confirm it from the boy. Unlike his father, the boy was honest so he said the
truth, ‘they had found just one’.
3. Why
did Birbal pretend that his men have made a mistake?
Birbal pretended, so that he could excuse himself to summon
Jwala Prasad’s son along with the gold mohur that he found at the bottom of the
jar of ghee.
D. DISCUSS IN THE CLASS.
1. Do you
think that the dishonest merchant had learnt his lesson? Would he mend his
ways? Give reasons for your answer.
Yes he finally learned the lesson when he had no way out. He
confessed his mistake and returned the money to Ram Chand and asked for
forgiveness. He also returned the money he owed Birbal for half a mound of ghee.
2. Should
Birbal have punished Jwala Prasad more harshly? Give reasons.
No, Birbal should not have punished Jwala Prasad more harshly. No
matter good or bad, if a person is able to change his behavior and become good,
I think that should be encouraged. Here, Jwala Prasad finally accepts his wrong
doing and asks for forgiveness. He also promises to be good thereafter.
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