LESSON-1

TENALI RAMA

PRE-READING
a) Do you like stories? Why?
b) What type of stories do you like ?
c) Which stories of Tenali Rama have you read ?
d) Have you read any stories of Tenali Rama?

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Laughter makes every one happy. All people laugh, but only a few
can make others laugh. One such person was Tenali Rama. He was a

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jester in the court of Krishnadevaraya. Tenali Rama was known for
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his immense wit and humour. His love for humanity and justice made
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immortal. Many a time he made Krishnadevaraya realize his mistake

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without hurting his feelings. There are many stories which tell us about
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Tenali Rama’s cleverness.

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Now, let us read one of the Tenali Rama’s famous stories:
One day, a stranger came to Tenali Rama’s house. He met Tenali
Rama and said, “I come from a far off village. I am very tired. Will you
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give me shelter for two days? I will stay here for two days and then go
away.” Tenali Rama readily agreed.
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This man had been sent by the king of a neighbouring kingdom.

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He wanted to kill King Krishnadevaraya. How could Tenali Rama even

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suspect such a conspiracy? The following day, Tenali Rama had to go

to his village on some personal work.
The stranger got the opportunity he had been waiting for. He sent
a letter to the king: “Tenali Rama’s wife is ill. She needs immediate
medical help.”
The king had a lot of respect for Tenali Rama. He said to himself,
“Let me personally go to see Tenali Rama’s wife. If necessary, I will take
her to the Royal doctor (Rajvaidya) for special medical treatment.”
Thinking thus, the king sat on his horse and reached Tenali Rama’s
house. The stranger was hiding himself behind the main door. He had

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a sharp dagger in his hand. The moment he raised his hand to stab
the king, the king saw his reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall.
Showing great presence of mind and agility, the king quickly moved
aside and he struck the stranger hard on his hand. And the dagger fell
from the stranger’s hand. When the guards heard the loud thud, they
rushed inside the house and caught the stranger.
Soon, a big crowd gathered outside Tenali Rama’s house. Just then,
Tenali Rama also came.
There he came to know that
the stranger whom he had
given shelter, had tried to kill
the king. When Tenali Rama,

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went to the court, the king
was burning with rage. He

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began to shout at Tenali

IS Rama, “How could you give

shelter to a stranger?
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Shouldn’t you have tried to

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find out something about

him? How could an
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intelligent man like you make

such a grave mistake?”
Tenali Rama did not say a
word. The king said, “It is be-
cause of you that an attempt
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was made to kill me. And so you must be punished. And the punish-
ment will be nothing less than death sentence. But considering your
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long service, I let you choose the way you wish to die.” Tenali Rama
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still did not say a word.

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The king continued, “Do you want to be sent to the gallows? Why don’t
you say something ? Tell me… How would you like to die?”
“Of old age,” said Tenali Rama calmly.
The King burst out laughing. He was pleased with Tenali Rama’s
quick wit. He cooled down. But when he realized what mistake he was
about to make in his great anger, he shuddered. He quickly sought
Tenali Rama’s forgiveness.
Tenali Rama said, “We are human beings after all, your majesty.
We all make mistakes sometimes. But I promise that I do not repeat
this mistake.”

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GLOSSARY
meek - quiet and obedient, gentle
conspiracy - plotting for evil doing
spy - a person who collects information secretly
agility - quickness of motion
dagger - a short edged stabbing weapon
grave - serious
gallows - structure for hanging criminals
fury - extreme anger
shudder - tremble or shake in fear

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I VOCABULARY

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A. Dictionary work/spelling :
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In each of the following group of words only one word is correctly
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spelt. Find the correct word and check the spelling from your
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dictionary.
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Share your answer with your partner.

1) shelter, shaltar, shalltar
2) suddan, sudden, suddin
3) fargive, forgive, fargeve
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4) oportunity, oppartunity, opportunity

5) cought, caught, caugt
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B. Write the opposites of the following - Choose the words from

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the box and write them appropriately in the blanks-

remember, near, depart, absence, front, soft.
1) far X ………………..
2) behind X ………………..
3) presence X ………………..
4) hard X ………………..
5) arrive X ………………..
6) forget X ………………..
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II COMPREHENSION

A. Answer the following questions in a word, a phrase or a sentence

each:
1) Who came to Tenali Rama’s house one day?
2) What did he ask for?
3) Why did he want to stay there?
4) Who wrote the letter to the king?
5) How did Tenali Rama express his wish to die?

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B. Answer the following questions in two or three sentences each:

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1) What did the stranger request Tenali Rama?

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2) What did the stranger write in the letter?
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3) Why did the king become angry with Tenali Rama?

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C. Read the following extracts taken from the lesson and answer
the questions that follow:

1) “ It is because of you that an attempt was made to kill me.”

a) Who does ‘me’ refer to?

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b) Who made an attempt to kill the king?

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c) Who does ‘you’ refer to?

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2) “How could an intelligent man like you make such

a grave mistake?”

a) Who asked this question?

b) Who was this intelligent man here?
c) What was the grave mistake?

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III LANGUAGE

A. Fill in the blanks choosing appropriate prepositions given in

brackets:
[with, at, to, off, on, behind]
1) The king was sitting -------- the throne
2) He was hiding himself -------- the main door
3) His mission was ------- kill the king
4) Rohini went to the market ------ her mother
5) Father began to shout ------- Rama

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6) I come from a far ------- village

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B. The words in the following sentences are mixed up. Rearrange
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them into meaningful sentences:
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Example: to king/a / sent/He/letter/ the

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He sent a letter to the king

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1) had /to/He/ bag/ his/take/forgotten

2) did/utter/He/word/a/not
3) big/gathered/A/outside/house/his/crowd
4) not/say/word/a/did/He
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5) kites/have/They/beautiful/made
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C. Frame questions to get the underlined words as answers:

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Use what, where, whose, why

Example: The king sat in his chariot
Where did the king sit ?
1) Tenali Rama’s wife was ill
2) The stranger was hiding behind the main door
3) She asked for a glass of water
4) My bag is on the book case
5) He went to market to buy some fruits

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IV SPOKEN ENGLISH

A. Your teacher will read this dialogue. Listen carefully and

then practise dialogue in pairs:

Naresh : Hello Mahesh, have you seen the film Harry Pzotter?
Mahesh : No. I haven’t. I’m planning to see it this week.
Naresh : In that case, shall we go together? I’ll invite some
of my friends too.
Mahesh : Oh, yes. I don’t mind. Shall we go on Friday.?
Naresh : Fine. I’m going to M.G.Road this evening. I’ll book the

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tickets.

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B. Word game—word making (Group work)
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Make as many words as possible from the following words. One
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example is given for you-

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TEACHER:- teach, her, tear, tea, reach,ache, cheat etc....

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1. OPPORTUNITY

2. NEIGHBOUR
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3. TREATMENT

V WRITING
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A. Read the following story and answer the questions given below:
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Once Akbar wanted to test his courtiers. He put a question to all

of them. Akbar asked, “What is the thing that travels fastest in the
world?” One of the courtiers said, “Bullock cart.”
Another said “Wind.” Yet another said, “Light.” Akbar was waiting
for Birbal’s answer. Birbal said, “Your majesty! The thoughts in the
mind travel the fastest. In a moment you are in the court and your next
thought can be any where else. So, thought is the fastest thing in the
world.”
Everyone was surprised at Birbal’s wisdom. Akbar was proud of
Birbal and rewarded him suitably.
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Answer the following questions:
1) Who asked the courtiers a question?
2) What was the question?
3) What were the different answers given by the courtiers?
4) What was Birbal’s answer?
5) Why was Birbal rewarded?

B. Find the answers to these riddles. One is done for you.

1. What is it that dies when it drinks water?

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Ans: fire
2. It has no wings to fly

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It has no ladder to climb
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but it climbs up to the sky

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Ans: s ___ ___ ke

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3. It gets beating even if it does not do anything wrong.

Ans: d ___ u ___
4. It is yours, but people use it more than you use
Ans: n ___ m ___
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5. You see the world with these to windows

Ans: e ___ ___ s
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VI ACTIVITY
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a) Imagine you are king Krishnadevaraya. What punishment would

you give to Tenali Rama?

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