Q. Who wrote In the Kingdom of Fools?
Ans. The story was written by A. K. Ramanujan, who translated it from Kannada.
Q. Why was the kingdom called the Kingdom of Fools?
Ans. The king and his minister made foolish decisions and ordered people to behave in unreasonable ways.
Q. What unusual order did the king give?
Ans. The king ordered that everyone should work at night and sleep during the day.
Q. Who came to the Kingdom of Fools?
Ans. A guru and his disciple came to the kingdom.
Q. Why did the guru and his disciple stay in the kingdom?
Ans. They found that food and other things were very cheap there.
Q. What was the price of all things in the kingdom?
Ans. Everything cost the same: one duddu, whether it was rice or a measure of gold.
Q. Why did the guru leave the kingdom?
Ans. He realised that the kingdom was dangerous because its rulers were foolish and unpredictable.
Q. Why did the disciple remain behind?
Ans. He was attracted by the cheap food and enjoyed eating a lot.
Q. What happened to the disciple after eating too much?
Ans. He became very fat.
Q. Why was a thief killed?
Ans. The thief died when a merchant’s weak wall collapsed on him while he was robbing a house.
Q. Why did the thief’s brother complain to the king?
Ans. He blamed the merchant for the thief’s death and demanded justice.
Q. Whom did the king blame for the thief’s death?
Ans. The king blamed different people in turn, including the merchant, the bricklayer, the dancing girl and the goldsmith.
Q. Why was the merchant held responsible?
Ans. The king initially blamed him because the wall of his house had collapsed on the thief.
Q. Why did the king need a fat person for execution?
Ans. The stake was too big for the thin merchant, so the king ordered that someone fat enough to fit it should be executed.
Q. How did the disciple become the target of the king’s order?
Ans. Because he had become fat, he was chosen to be executed in place of the merchant.
Q. How did the guru save his disciple?
Ans. The guru returned and used a clever trick involving the stake and the belief that the person executed first would be reborn as king.
Q. Why did the king and minister want to be executed first?
Ans. They wanted to be reborn as king and minister in the next life.
Q. What happened to the king and his minister?
Ans. They were executed after agreeing to take the places of the guru and disciple.
Q. What happened to the kingdom after the king’s death?
Ans. The people requested the guru and disciple to become their new king and minister.
Q. What is the moral of the story?
Ans. The story teaches that foolish leadership and blind obedience can lead to injustice and danger.