In the Kingdom of Fools Class 9 English, Moments – Summary, Explanation, Word Meanings

This is a story about a Kingdom ruled by a foolish King and his foolish minister. They pass a strange order that is followed by the people. It is, then, the wise guru who reverses the order and brings normalcy back into the Kingdom. The story highlights the dangers posed by the foolish people. It also emphasises the view that foolish people like the king and his minister can be very difficult to manage. Fools live in their own paradise and cannot be easily impressed by others. They can only be handled by wise people like the Guru.

Once there was kingdom of fools where both king and minister were idiots. They decided to reverse everything. They ordered everyone to sleep in the day and work at night. If anybody in the kingdom disobeyed this they would be punished with death. One day a guru and his disciple arrived in this Kingdom. They were surprised to find that everyone in the Kingdom including the animals were sleeping during the day. As soon as it was night, everyone woke up and started doing their work. By this time the guru and disciple had become very hungry, so they went to buy groceries in a shop. It was surprising for them that everything had the same cost, a single duddu.

Initially, the Guru and his disciple were happy as they could buy all the food in a Rupee. However, the guru soon realised that it was the kingdom of fools and he decided to leave the place. He told his disciple that the behaviour of the fools cannot be predicted and it was not safe to stay there. But the disciple was not ready, as he loved to eat the food and it was cheap in the kingdom. Finally, the guru left the kingdom. Everyday the disciple ate the cheap food and became fat.

One day a thief broke into a rich merchant’s house by making a hole in the wall. When the thief was carrying out stolen goods, the wall of the old house fell on his head and he died on the spot. The thief’s brother went to the king and complained that the owner of the house i.e. merchant should be punished for his brother’s death. The King called the merchant in his court and told him that due to the weak wall of his house the thief had died and now he would be punished. But the merchant claimed that the wall was built in his father’s time and it was the fault of the bricklayer who built the wall.

The bricklayer was brought into the court. He said that when he was building the wall, his mind was distracted towards the jingling sound of the dancing girl’s anklets. So, she should be punished instead of him. The King was satisfied with the bricklayers explanation. The dancing girl was brought into the court. She shifted the blame to the Goldsmith. She said that she had to walk up and down the street many times because the goldsmith had delayed her order.

The Goldsmith was brought into the court. He defended himself by saying that he could not complete the dancing girl’s order in time because he had to finish a rich merchant’s order. This rich merchant was the father of the merchant whose house’s wall had fallen. So, the merchant was summoned again. The merchant now stated that the jewellery had been ordered by his father but he was dead now. So the King decided that the merchant should be punished in place of his dead father.

A new stake was ordered for the execution but the merchant was too thin to fit the stake. So, it was decided to find a person who fitted the stake. The disciple was found fitted for the stake so he was brought into the court for the punishment. The disciple remembered his Guru’s words that it was a city of fools and they could harm him.

The guru saw everything by his magical powers and arrived to save his disciple. He explained a plan quietly to the disciple in his ear to escape the execution. The Guru tried to trap the King in his words. The Guru and his disciple started fighting to decide who should be executed first. The King was confused by their behaviour. He asked the guru why both of them wanted to die first. The guru replied that it was the stake of God. Whoever died first would become the king in the next birth and the person who died next would become minister.

After listening to the Guru, the King and his minister decided that they will die in place of the Guru and his disciple. They did not want to lose their Kingdom in their next life. So, they secretly went to the prison and released the Guru and the disciple. They put themselves in their places and were executed the next morning.

After the death of King and minister, the people of the kingdom requested the guru and his disciple to be their new King and the Minister. The Guru and his disciple agreed to the proposal on one condition that old laws must be changed. Now, the kingdom became just like any other Kingdom.

Extra Questions

(1) How was the kingdom of fools different from other places?