Here’s a summary of the chapter “In the Kingdom of Fools” and the answers to your questions, explained with ease and emojis!
Summary of “In the Kingdom of Fools” 👑🤪#
“In the Kingdom of Fools” is a Kannada folktale about a foolish king and minister who believe they can run things differently from other kings by reversing the natural order. They decide that night would be day and day would be night, ordering everyone to wake at night, till fields, and run businesses after dark, and sleep during the day. Disobedience was punishable by death, so the people complied out of fear.
One day, a Guru and his Disciple arrive in this strange city during broad daylight and find it completely deserted, with everyone asleep, even the cattle. When night falls, the town awakens, and they discover another peculiar rule: everything costs the same, a single duddu. The Disciple, delighted by the cheap food, decides to stay despite the Guru’s warning that it’s a “kingdom of fools” and not a safe place to remain, as “you can’t tell what they’ll do to you next”. The Guru leaves, while the Disciple stays and grows fat on cheap food.
The absurdity of the kingdom’s justice system is revealed when a thief dies after the wall of a rich merchant’s house collapses on him while he was carrying out his loot. The thief’s brother complains to the king, demanding justice. The king, in his “idiot” wisdom, decides to punish the merchant.
A comical chain of blame ensues:
- The merchant blames the bricklayer for building a weak wall.
- The bricklayer blames a dancing girl who distracted him by walking up and down the street.
- The dancing girl blames a goldsmith for delaying her jewellery order, which made her walk around repeatedly.
- The goldsmith blames a rich merchant’s father (who turns out to be the original merchant’s deceased father) for urgent wedding orders.
The king decides the merchant’s deceased father is the “true murderer” but, since he’s dead, rules that the current merchant, having inherited his father’s riches and sins, must die in his place. A new execution stake is prepared, but the minister notices the rich merchant is too thin to fit it. The king orders his servants to find a man fat enough, and they find the Disciple, who had grown fat on cheap food.
Facing execution, the Disciple remembers his Guru’s words and prays for help. The Guru, possessing magic powers, sees the situation in a vision and arrives to save him. The Guru devises a clever plan: he whispers something to the Disciple, then tells the King that the new stake is the “stake of the god of justice” and whoever dies on it first will be reborn as the king of the country, and the second as the minister.
Tricked by the Guru’s lie, the King and Minister decide to execute themselves to secure their positions in the next life, believing that “Holy men do not tell lies”. They secretly release the Guru and Disciple, disguise themselves, and are promptly executed.
The people panic upon finding their King and Minister dead. They persuade the Guru and Disciple to become their new King and Minister. The Guru agrees on the condition that all the old foolish laws are changed. From that day forward, night became night and day became day again, and prices returned to normal, making it “like any other place”.
Answers to the Questions 🤔#
Here are the answers to your questions, based on the provided sources:
What are the two strange things the guru and his disciple find in the Kingdom of Fools? The two strange things the Guru and his Disciple find are:
- That the king and his minister had changed night into day and day into night. Everyone was ordered to be awake at night, till fields, and run businesses only after dark, and go to bed as soon as the sun came up.
- That everything cost the same, a single duddu (an old coin). Whether they bought a measure of rice or a bunch of bananas, it cost just one duddu.
Why does the disciple decide to stay in the Kingdom of Fools? Is it a good idea? The Disciple decides to stay in the Kingdom of Fools because everything was cheap there. All he wanted was “good, cheap food”, and he ate his fill every day—bananas, ghee, rice, and wheat—and grew fat like a street-side sacred bull. It was not a good idea for the Disciple to stay. The Guru explicitly warned him, stating, “This is no place for us. Let’s go,” and “They are all fools. This won’t last very long, and you can’t tell what they’ll do to you next”. His decision to stay eventually leads him to be chosen for execution.
Name all the people who are tried in the king’s court, and give the reasons for their trial. The people tried in the king’s court, along with the reasons for their trial, are:
- The rich merchant 💰: He was summoned because the wall of his house collapsed and killed a thief.
- The bricklayer 🧱: The merchant blamed him for building a weak wall in his father’s time that collapsed and killed the thief.
- The dancing girl 💃: The bricklayer blamed her, claiming she distracted him while he was building the wall by walking up and down the street.
- The goldsmith 💍: The dancing girl blamed him for delaying her jewellery order, which made her walk up and down the street so many times, thus distracting the bricklayer.
- The original merchant (the current merchant’s father) 👴: The goldsmith named him as the person who gave the urgent wedding order for jewellery. Although dead, the king consulted his minister and ruled that the current merchant had “inherited everything from that criminal father of yours, his riches as well as his sins”.
Who is the real culprit according to the king? Why does he escape punishment? According to the king, the current rich merchant is the real culprit. The king declares, “It’s true your father is the true murderer. He’s dead, but somebody must be punished in his place. You’ve inherited everything from that criminal father of yours, his riches as well as his sins. I knew at once, even when I first set eyes on you, that you were at the root of this horrible crime. You must die”. The merchant does not escape punishment in the king’s eyes. He is ordered to be executed. However, he escapes the actual execution on the stake not due to his innocence, but because the minister observed that he was “somehow too thin to be properly executed on the stake”. This leads to the search for a fat man, which results in the Disciple being captured.
What are the Guru’s words of wisdom? When does the disciple remember them? The Guru’s words of wisdom are a repeated warning about the danger of the Kingdom of Fools:
- Initially, he tells his disciple, “This is no place for us. Let’s go”.
- He further explains, “They are all fools. This won’t last very long, and you can’t tell what they’ll do to you next”.
- When the Disciple is about to be executed, he remembers his “wise guru’s words”: “This is a city of fools. You don’t know what they will do next”. The Disciple remembers these words when he is captured and about to be executed because he fits the newly prepared stake, which the merchant was too thin for.
How does the guru manage to save his disciple’s life? The Guru manages to save his Disciple’s life through a cunning and insightful trick.
- He arrives immediately to save his disciple, having seen everything in a vision due to his “magic powers”.
- He first scolds the Disciple and then whispers a plan to him.
- He approaches the King and asks who is greater, the Guru or the Disciple. When the King states the Guru is greater, he requests to be put to death first.
- He then engages in a feigned argument with the Disciple, who also clamours to be executed first, which puzzles the King.
- Taking the King aside, the Guru whispers a lie: he claims that the new execution stake is the “stake of the god of justice,” and whoever dies on it first will be reborn as the king of the country, and the next person will be the future minister.
- The King, not wanting to lose his kingdom in the next life, believes the “Holy men do not tell lies”. He and his minister decide to sacrifice themselves to be reborn as King and Minister.
- That night, the King and Minister disguise themselves as the Guru and Disciple, and are executed in their place. This clever deception saves the Disciple’s life and allows the Guru and Disciple to eventually become the new rulers, restoring order to the kingdom.