A Horse and Two Goats(Q1 to 5)
A Horse and Two Goats
Treasure Trove (Short Stories)
Extracts 1 to 5
Extract I.
1. Microscopic dot means something very small. In the extract it is said that Kritam was probably the smallest among the seven hundred thousand villages in India.
2. A map gives the location of the village and the routes towards it. It serves as a guide to travellers, boundary of village for the administrators.
3. According to the author, Kritam probably was the tiniest of seven hundred thousand villages in India. It was a village that consisted of less than thirty houses, only one of them built with brick and cement.
4. 'Kritam' in Tamil meant 'coronet' or 'crown'. Muni lived in the last house in the fourth street in the village, beyond which stretched the fields.
5. The Big House, was built with brick and cement. It was painted yellow and blue all over with carvings of gods. The other houses were of bamboo thatch, straw, mud and other materials.
Extract II.
1. Muni would take his sheep and goats to everyday to the highway to graze.
He carried a crook at the end of a bamboo pole to collect foliage from the avenue trees to feed his flock.
2. In his prosperous days Muni had owned a flock of forty sheep and goats. Gradually, Muni's fortunes declined and his flock of forty was reduced to only goats.
3. Muni's wife would give him salted millet flour in boiled water for breakfast. For midday meal she would give him the same millet cooked into a little ball with a raw onion. This shows their poverty as they could not afford anything else.
4. This was done so that his two goats could graze only within a fixed area and not get lost somewhere. Although no one could say precisely who owned the tree, the only claim Muni had was that he live in its shadow.
5. In his prosperous days, Muni had a flock of forty sheep and goats, but now only two goats are left.
Muni was very poor while the American was rich. Muni had no formal education, but the American was a well read person who had a roomful of books.
Extract III.
1. Muni craved for drumstick with sauce as he was tired of eating drumstick leaves alone.
2. His wife agreed thinking that next year Muni might not be alive to ask for anything. She asked him to bring a few food items including a measure of rice or millet.
3. To attract the attention of the shopkeeper, Muni kept clearing his throat, coughing and sneezing.
Muni responded appropriately at the shop man's jokes. This helped him win the shop man over.
4. Muni would go and sit outside the shop. He would make polite sounds by cleaning his throat, coughing and sneezing until he caught the attention of the shopkeeper. He would laugh at the shopkeeper's jokes to make him happy so he could get food items from him.
5. Muni had never left handled a ten rupee note, he could not buy a cigarette, he rarely went out of his village, he mostly ate boiled drumstick leaves, his house was made of bamboo thatch and mud. So, we conclude that Muni is from poor economic background.
Even in his prosperous days he only had forty sheep and goats but still the same conditions.
Extract IV.
1. Muni had the habit of coming to the shop, and requesting the shopkeeper for one or two items of food with the promise of repaying later. Muni had not kept his promise of repaying the money. As a result, the shopkeeper is reluctant to give items to Muni on credit.
2. Muni said that his daughter would be sending him money soon for his fiftieth birthday. He was not saying the truth as he did not have any children.
3. According to Muni he was fifty years old. He calculated his age from the 'time of great famine'.
4. According to the shopkeeper, Muni was seventy years old. He could guess that as Muni had been saying that he was fifty years old since many years.
5. The extract shows that Muni was an innocent man who would tell lies to get items on credit. Though he lied, he did not intend any harm. It was the result of his poverty.
Extract V.
1. The shopkeeper is referred to as scoundrel. Muni was annoyed with the shopkeeper because the shopkeeper made fun of him and did not lend him items on credit.
2. Muni doesn't argue because he knows that if he obeys his wife, she would somehow arrange some food for him in the evening. Muni trusts her as far as his welfare is concerned. He knows that his wife would take minor jobs to earn some money and feed them both.
3. Muni's wife would go out and do minor jobs. She used to grind corn in the 'Big House', sweep people's houses etc. to earn some money to buy food.
4. When Muni was passing through the village, he avoided looking at anyone. he even ignored the call of his friends. Muni wanted to get to the highway to graze his goats, otherwise his wife would become angry at him.
5. Muni's wife refused to give him food because he did not get any items from the shop for making food. it reveals that she was a woman who took up the duties and responsibilities of her household. She was a hardworking woman who had become strong minded due to life in poverty.