“The Riddle” is a lesson of “Blossom” Textbook approved by West Board of Secondary Education for Class 7 students.
Activity 1
Choose the correct answers from the given alternatives:
(a) Emperor Akbar was walking
(i) in his palace
(ii) in the royal garden
(iii) in the house of Birbal.
Answer: Emperor Akbar was walking – in the royal garden.
(b) Birbal was Akbar’s
(i) most trusted and faithful minister
(ii) greedy and unfaithful minister
(iii) rival
Answer: Birbal was Akbar’s – most trusted and faithful minister.
(c) The emperor was
(i) happy
(ii) calm
(iii) worried
Answer: The emperor was – worried.
(d) The fastest thing on earth is
(i) the human mind
(ii) bullock cart
(iii) horse
Answer: The fastest thing on earth is – the human mind.
(e) The neighbour was outwitted by
(i) Akbar
(ii) Birbal
(iii) the neighbour’s friend
Answer: The neighbour was outwitted by – the neighbour’s friend.
Activity 2
Identify which of the following statements are true and which are False. Give a supporting statement for each of your answers:
(a) Emperor Akbar was very worried when he was roaming in his garden.
Answer: True (T)
Supporting Statement: “But the great emperor Akbar did not have peace of mind.”
(b) There were no flowers and fruits in the garden of Akbar.
Answer: False (F)
Supporting Statement: “His garden was lined with trees which produced the tastiest juiciest fruits in the whole kingdom. There were flowers of all shapes and sizes.”
(c) Birbal was indifferent to Akbar’s troubles.
Answer: False (F)
Supporting Statement: “O great the powerful king, what is troubling you?”
(d) Birbal succeeded in answering Akbar’s query.
Answer: True (T)
Supporting Statement: “He said, ‘ Your majesty, it is the human mind’.
(e) The people of Akbar’s court admired the wisdom of Birbal.
Answer: True (T)
Supporting Statement: “people were amazed at the wisdom of Birbal.”
Activity 3
What kind of text is this?
(i) play (ii) essay (iii) story.
Answer: It is a – story.
Activity 4
Give another title to the story. Give reasons for your answer:
Answer: The other title of the story may be ‘Power of human mind’ because in this story Birbal proved how fast a human mind could solve a problem.
Activity 5
Complete the sentences meaningfully:
(a) Akbar asked Birbal to solve a riddle that was troubling him.
(b) Most people of the court of Akbar were puzzled as they heard the question, ‘What is the fastest thing on this earth?
(c) The neighbour realized that he was outwitted and withdrew his claim immediately.
(d) Birbal proved that the human mind is the fastest thing on earth.
Activity 6
Fill in the chart with information from the text:
| Cause | Effect |
| Emperor Akbar could not find the answer to a riddle | 1. Akbar was troubled |
| (2) Emperor Akber asked Birbal to solve a riddle | Birbal solved the riddle and proved that it was the human mind. |
| The neighbour has sold the well only, not the water in it. | 3. the neighbour wanted to change money for drawing water from the well |
Activity 7
Answer the following questions :
(a) What were the things that the great Emperor Akbar loved?
Answer: The great emperor Akbar loved arts, science, literature, and music.
(b) Why did Akbar not have peace of mind?
Answer: Akbar did not have peace of mind because he couldn’t find the answer to a riddle.
(c) What was the problem presented by the man from the audience?
Answer: The man presented the problem that he bought a well from a neighbour but when he wanted to draw water, he charged money for it.
(d) How did Birbal solve the problem?
Answer: Birbal proposed the buyer ask to rent from the seller to keep water in his well. Then the seller realized his mistake and withdrew his claim. Thus Birbal solved the problem.
Activity 8
Identify the words from the text which are the synonyms of the following words:
(a) confused: puzzled
(b) demand: claim
(c) argument: dispute
(d) surprised: amazed
Activity 9
Complete the following sentences with the proper degree of adjectives:
(a) Shiela has the longest (long) hair in the class.
(b) Mr Ghosal is busier (busy) than Mr Patnaik.
(c) We should be more careful (careful) in our speech.
(d) Shenawaz is as thin (thin) as Pralay.
(e) The owl is considered as the wisest (wise) of all.
(f) His house is farther (far) away from my house than Sanjeev’s.
Activity 10
Fill in the blanks with either Present Continuous Tense or Past Continuous Tense:
(a) It is raining (rain) now.
(b) Dr Manmohan Singh is visiting (visit) Kolkata today.
(c) Hari was studying (study) at 9pm yesterday.
(d) The boys are playing (play) in the field now.
(e) Rahim was talking (talk) to his friend when his mother called him.
Activity 12
Try to write a story that you may have heard before using the following points (in about 80 words):
A crow — finds meat — flies to a tree — a clever fox — sees — says to crow — sing — crow sings — meat falls — fox takes — crow sad — flies away.
The Cunning Fox and the Stupid Crow
One day, a hungry fox was wandering in search of food. It hadn’t eaten anything for the past three days. Suddenly, it caught sight of a crow with a piece of meat in its beak. It wanted to have the piece of meat. It hit upon a plan. It praised the crow saying that it had a sweet voice. It persuaded the crow to sing a song. As soon as the crow opened its beak to sing, the piece of meat fell down on the ground. The fox picked it up and walked away merrily.
Moral: Never believe a stranger fully