The Three Questions
by Leo Tolstoy (Mulberry)
Which of these is not a three? Tick the correct answer.
1. the first odd prime number. [ ]
2. the angular points in a triangle. [ ]
3. a hat-trick in cricket. [ ]
4. the number of strikes in baseball before a batter is out. [ ]
5. the number of bears that lived in the house that Goldilocks visited. [ ]
6. the number of musketeers in the title of Alexandre Dumas' book. [ ]
7. the only number whose name in English has the same number of letters as its value. [✓]
Quick answers
1. Follow the solved example to complete this cause and effect chart, based on the events in the story.
=
|
Cause |
Effect |
|---|---|
|
The king was not satisfied with the answers he received to each
question. |
The king did not give the reward to anyone. |
|
The hermit welcomed only common folk. |
The king dressed in ordinary clothes, left his horse and bodyguards
behind and walked alone to the hermit’s cottage. |
|
The hermit was frail and tired. |
The king took the spade from the hermit and began digging. |
|
The king was very tired from his walk and the work he had done in the
hermit’s cottage. |
The king fell asleep on the threshold of the hermit’s cottage. |
|
The wounded man wished to harm the king and the king had saved his
life. |
The wounded man asked the king to forgive him. |
Reference to context
2. "Equally various were the answers to the second question."
a. Who posed the questions?
= The king posed the questions.
b. What did the person wish to achieve by knowing the answers to the questions?
= The person wished 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?
= In answer to the second question, some said that the councillors were the most important people; others, the priests; others, the doctors; while some said the warriors were the most necessary.
3. "Seeing the king, he greeted him and went on digging."
a. Who went on digging?
= The hermit went on digging.
b. What was this person digging?
= This person was digging the ground in front of his hut.
c. Why had this king approached this person?
= This king approached this person to know the answers of those three questions posed by him.
4. "The king was happy to have made peace with his enemy."
a. Where did the king and his enemy meet?
= The king and his enemy met at the hut of the hermit.
b. What was the cause for the enmity?
= The king wrongly took away the property of the man. This was the reason of the enmity.
c. In your own words describe how the king felt at this point in the story.
= The king was happy to have made peace with his enemy. He not only forgave him, but said he would send him own physician to treat him and promised to restore his property.
Read, reflect and write
5. What were the three questions after which the story is named?
= The three questions after which the story is named are -
i. How could the king learn to do the right thing at the right time?
ii. Who are the people he needed the most?
iii. What work was the most important and needed his attention first?
6. Describe the changes in the wounded man's feelings for the King. What brought about this change?
= After treating the wounded man's wound, the king and the hermit brought him in the hut of the hermit. Lying on the bed, the man closed his eyes and was quite. The king was so tired from his walk and the work he had done, that he crouched down on the threshold and fell asleep. When the king awoke in the morning, he found that the wounded stranger was staring intensely at him. Then he ask forgiveness from the king in a weak voice.
The king was unware about anything. He was surprised. Then the wounded man let him know that he was his enemy and he swore to take revenge as the king wrongly took away his property. He was waiting for the king on the way. But the king did not return and his guard recognized the man and chased him. Then the man fell down while fleeing and became wounded.
The man also repented that he would have bled to death if the king had not nursed him. He wished the king and the king had saved his life.
7. 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.
= Yes, I would definitely agree that the hermit was a wise man. The hermit lived in a forest which he never left and he welcomed only common folk. He believed in work but not in mere talks. He was frail and weak. Yet he was busy in digging the ground in front of his hut. He listened to the three questions of the king but answered nothing and started digging again. Perhaps he knew the fact that someone was going to come there and he would answer the questions after the forthcoming incidents.
Very wisely he answered the questions of the king with the example of the incidents of the wounded man and the king. The king got the answers with practical examples.
8. Stories are narrated. Every story has a narrative point of view. If a story is told by a character in the story we call it the first person point of view. If the story is narrated by a narrator who is not part of the story then we call it the third person point of view. Which narrative point of view does the story 'The Three Questions' have : first or third?
= The story 'The Three Questions' have the third person point of view. Here the story is told by a narrator who is not a part of the story. He uses the characters as 'the king', 'the hermit', and 'the wounded man'.
9. The theme of the story is a message that an author wants to give us through the story. A story can have more than one theme. What, according to you, are the themes that Leo Tolstoy wants to convey through his story 'The Three Questions'?
= According to me there are three themes that Leo Tolstoy wants to convey through his story 'The Three Questions'. Those are - the right time, right person and the right thing to do. There is only one time that is right. It is 'now'.
It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most important person is the one with whom we are at a particular moment. No one knows whether we would ever meet anyone else in future. The most important thing to do good, because for that purpose alone are we sent into this life.
About the author :
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is a famous Russian author. A master of realistic fiction and one of the world's greatest novelists, Tolstoy is best known for his two longest works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina.