32. Reading Skills Comprehension: Rich Businessman

RICH BUSINESSMAN

In the town of Agra, there lived a rich businessman. But he was also quite a miser. Various people used to flock outside his house every day hoping for some kind of generosity, but they always had to return home disappointed. He used toward them off with false promises and then never lived up to his word. Then one day, a poet named Raidas arrived at his house and said that he wanted to read out his poems to the rich man. As the rich man was very fond of poetry, he welcomed him in with open arms.

Raidas started to recite all his poems one by one. The rich man was very pleased and especially so when he heard the poem that Raidas had Witten on him. In those days, it was a custom for rich men and kings to show their appreciation through a reward or a gift, as that was the only means of earning that a poor poet possessed. So, the rich man promised Raidas some gifts and asked him to come and collect them the next day. Raidas was pleased.

The next morning when he arrived at the house, the rich man pretended that he had never laid eyes on him before. When Raiders reminded him of his promise, he said that although Raidas was a good poet he liked the poem which was written on him and the rest of the poems were very ordinary. He also said that he had earlier promised a reward to Raidas not because he was really pleased or impressed, but to simply encourage him. Raidas was extremely upset, but as there was nothing that he could do, he quietly left the house. On his home way, he saw his brother Kuber riding a horse. So, he stopped him and asked for his help after narrating the whole incident. Kuber took him to Isis own house in order to come to rip with a plan. After giving it some thought he asked Raidas to go to a friend’s house with five gold mitts and request the friend to plan a dinner where the rich man would also be invited. Ile then narrated his plan to him. Raidas had one trustworthy friend whose name was Mayadas. So, he went up to him and told him the plan. The next day, Mayadas went to the rich man’s house and invited him for dinner. He said that he intended to serve his guests in vessels of gold, which the guests would get to take home after the meal. The rich man was thrilled to hear this and jumped at the offer. After `the rich man arrived at Mayadas’ house, he was surprised to see no other guests there but Raidas. And now, they welcomed him in and started a polite conversation. The rich man had come on an empty stomach and so was getting hungrier by the minute.

Finally; at midnight, the rich man could bear his hunger no longer and asked Mayadas to serve the food. Mayadas sounded extremely surprised when he asked him what food was he talking about. The rich man tried to remind him that he had been invited for dinner. At this point, Raidas asked him for proof of the invitation. The rich man had no answer. At that point, Raidas reminded the rich man of the same treatment that he had meted out to him. The rich man realised his mistake and begged for forgiveness. He said that Raidas was a good poet and had not asked him for any reward. He himself had promised to give him some gifts and then cheated him out of them. To make up for his mistake, he took out the necklace that he was wearing and gifted it to Raidas. Then, they all sat down to eat a happy meal.

1. Why .was the rich businessman thrilled on being invited over to dinner by Mayadas?

(a) He was thrilled to have dinner for free

 (b) No one had ever invited him over for dinner since he was very miserly

(c) Mayadas had promised to serve in gold dishes which the guests were allowed to take home with them

(d) None of the above

 2. What did Raidas and Mayadas do when the rich businessman came over for dinner?

 (a) They were thrilled to have a rich businessman as their guest and served him well

 (b) They served him in gold utensils which he later took with himself

(c) They did not serve him any food until he learnt a lesson on what he had done with Raidas

 (d) They forced him to give away his necklace to Raidas in return of the dinner which they had served

3. Which of the following best describes Kuber?

 (a) Manipulative                     (b) Clever

(c) Miserly                               (d) Influential

 4. Why was the rich businessman pleased with Raid?

(a) Raidas had recited poems to him but had not asked for any gifts in return’

(b) Raidas was also as miserly as him

(c) Raidas had invited him over for dinner

(d) The businessman liked his poetry especially the one written on him

 5. Why did the people always return home disappointed from the rich businessman’s house?

(a) He would donate less than what he had promised to them

 (b) He made promises to them but never kept his words

 (c) The rich man would only reward those who had written poetry on him*

(d) None of the above

 6. How did the rich businessman react when he realized his mistake of not keeping his promise which he had made to Raiders?

(a) He asked Raidas to come to his house the next day to take his reward

 (b) He left Mayadas’ house immediately without having limited

(c) He justified that Raidas did not deserve an award since his poems were very ordinary

(d) None of the above

 7. Why did people flock outside the rich businessman’s house every day?

(a) The business that was very kind-hearted and generous

 (b) They sought an explanation from him on not keeping the promises made to them

(c) All of them wanted to recite a poem to him as he was fond of poems

(d) They would hope for some generosity from the businessman since he was rich

 8. Which of the following is true in the context of the passage?

(a) It was Raiders’ brother Kuber’s plan to teach the rich businessman a lesson

(b) The rich businessman had to return empty stomach from Mayadas’s house

 (c) Mayadas was a trustworthy friend of the rich businessman

 (d) None of the above is true

 9. Choose the word which is similar in meaning to the word means as used in the passage

(a) Source                    (b) Thing

 (c) Type                      (d) Money

ANSWERS:-

 1. (c)               2. (c)

3. (b)               4. (d)

 5. (b)              6. (d)

 7. (d)              8. (a)

9. (a)

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