Ch1 The Three Questions
1. “Equally various were the answers to the second question.”
a. Who posed the questions?
Ans: The questions were posed by a king.
b. What did the person wish to achieve by knowing the answers to the questions?
Ans: The king wish to be successful by knowing the answers to the questions.
c. What were the ‘various’ answers that were received in answer to the second
question?
Ans: The ‘various’ answers that were received in answer to the second question were:
Some said that the councillors were the most important people;
The priests;
The doctors;
While some said the warriors were the most necessary.
2. “Seeing the king, he greeted him and went on digging.”
a. Who went on digging?
Ans: The hermit went on digging after he greeted the king.
b. What was this person digging?
Ans: The hermit was digging beds in the ground so that he could sow seeds.
c. Why had the king approached this person?
Ans: The king had approached the hermit because the king could not agree to the
answers given to him for his questions and he decided to consult the hermit as he was
widely renowned for his wisdom.
3. “The king was happy to have made peace with his enemy.”
a. Where did the king and his enemy meet?
Ans: The king and his enemy meet in the forest at the hermit’s hut. When the king
approached the hermit to find the right answers to his questions.
b. What was the cause for the enmity?
Ans: The cause of enmity between the king and his enemy was that the king had
wrongly taken away the property of his enemy.
c. In your own words describe how the king felt at this point in the story.
Ans: The king was happy when he had made peace with his enemy, who swore to take
revenge on the king but now had made peace with the king and wanted to serve the
king most faithfully.
4. What were the three questions after which the story is named?
Ans: The three questions after which the story is named are
What was the right time to begin something?
Who were the right people to listen to? And
What was the most important thing to do?
5. Describe the changes in the wounded man’s feelings for the king. What brought about this
change?
Ans: The wounded man first plan to ambush the king and take revenge on him, but now
his felling changed for the king he asked to forgive him and he would serve him most
faithfully and lived only if the king wished.
The feeling of the wounded man changed because when the king saw him bleeding to
death, he nursed him and saved his life.
6. In the story it says that the hermit was renowned for his wisdom. Would you agree that the
hermit was a wise man? Support your answer with close reference to the story.
Ans: Yes, I agreed that the hermit was a wise man because he answered the three
questions the king had asked wisely.
To the question what was the right time to begin something? The hermit answered the
most important time was when the king helps the hermit dig the beds in the ground.
To the question who were the right people to listen to? The hermit answered that the
hermit was the most important person then.
To the question what was the most important thing to do? The hermit answered that to do
him good was the most important business.
