Class- 5 English L2

 

2. Birbal’s Khichdi

Reading comprehension

B. Answer the questions.

 1. What were Emperor Akbar and Birbal doing one winter morning.

Ans. One winter morning, Emperor Akbar and Birbal were taking a walk along the lake.

 2. What were Emperor Akbar and Birbal doing one winter morning?

Ans. Birbal said to Emperor Akbar that a man would do anything for money.

 3. What did Emperor Akbar challenge Birbal to?

Ans. Emperor Akbar challenged Birbal to find a person who would be willing to spend an entire night in the cold water of the lake for money.

 4. How did Birbal meet the challenge?

Ans. Birbal found a poor man who readily agreed to spend a night in the cold water of the lake for the thousand gold coins from the Emperor. The man then completed the task successfully, and Birbal met the challenge.

 5. Why did Emperor Akbar go to Birbal’s house?

Ans. Emperor Akbar went to Birbal’s house because he knew that Birbal was up to something when he did not turn up at the court that day. The messenger had come back from Birbal’s house to report to the Emperor that Birbal would come to the court once the khichdi was cooked. After waiting for him for hours, Emperor Akbar went to Birbal’s house to find out what was going on at Birbal’s end.

 6. Why did Emperor Akbar and his attendants laugh?

Ans. Emperor Akbar and his attendants laughed because they found that Birbal was sitting on the ground near some burning twigs, and an earthen pot filled with khichdi was hanging several feet above the fire. It was impossible to cook the khichdi this way as the heat from the fire would hardly reach the pot.

C. Read these sentences from the story and answer the questions that follow.

1. ‘I am sure I can find such a person.’

 

a. Who said these words, and to whom?

Birbal said these words to Emperor Akbar.

 b. What kind of a person did he say he could find?

Birbal said that he could find a person who would be willing to spend a night in the cold water of the lake for a handsome reward.

 c. What reward was promised to the person?

 A thousand gold coins as reward was promised to the person who would be able to spend the night in the cold water of the lake.

 d. Write the opposite of ‘sure’. Use it in a sentence of your own

Ans. unsure

Sample answer: I am unsure about the weather today; it may or may not rain.

 2. ‘How can you cook the khichdi if it is so far away from the fire?

a. Who said these words, and to whom?

Emperor Akbar said these words to Birbal.

 b. Where were they?

They were at Birbal’s house.

 c. What made the speaker say these words?

 Emperor Akbar said these words because he and his attendants found Birbal sitting on the ground near some burning twigs, and an earthen pot filled with khichdi was hanging several feet above the fire. It was impossible for the khichdi to be cooked this way, so Emperor Akbar asked Birbal this question rather sternly.

d. What was the listener’s response?

Ans. Birbal said, in response, that the khichdi would be cooked by the heat of the fire so far below in the same way as the warmth from the lamp in the palace must have travelled furlongs away to the poor man in the lake to keep him from freezing to death in the cold water.

D. Think and answer.

1 & 2- write the answer in your own words.

 

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