2nd SEMISTER

Prose: Retold Version

Unit – 1

Dignity of Labour

              Once there lived a rich businessman in a town. He had a lazy son. The father wanted his son to work hard and be active. He also wanted his son to know the value of labour.

              One day the father called his son and said, “Go out and earn something. If not, there will be no food for you tonight.” The boy was scared. He did not know what to do. He went crying to his mother. She was moved by his tears. She gave him a gold coin. In the evening the father asked him what he had earned. The boy showed the gold coin. The father asked him to throw it into the well. The son did so.

              The father was a wise man. He guessed that the gold coin was given by his wife. The next day he sent her to her father’s house. Again he asked his son to go out and earn something. This time his sister gave him a rupee coin. The boy showed his father the coin. Again the father asked him to throw that coin too into the well. The boy did so. The father came to know that the boy had taken the help again. He sent his daughter back to her in-law’s house. Once again he sent his son to earn money.

              This time there was no one there to help the boy. He went to the market in search of work. A shop-keeper would offer him two rupees if he carried his bag to his house. The boy agreed to do the work. He had to sweat a lot. His feet were trembling. His neck and back were aching. He returned home and gave the two rupee coin to his father. His father asked him to throw it into the well. The boy cried out in alarm: “Father, I earned this money. My body is aching. My palms have rashes. This is my hard-earned money. You are asking me to throw it into the well?” The father was happy, because his son had realized the value of hard work. The boy vowed never to be lazy. The father handed over the keys of his shop to him.

                                   -----------------   o    --------------------    o      ---------------------

Unit -2

Shabale (Sabala)

         Once there lived a sage in an ashrama (hermitage). His name was Vasishta. He had a cow in his ashrama. Her name was Shabale. Shabale gave Vasistha food, drink, clothes, whatever he asked for. The sage offered to God her milk. She was also able to produce warriors to protect her master and his ashram.

          One day, Kaushika, a king, and his men went to the forest to hunt. They came to Vasistha’sashrama to take rest. The sage welcomed them. He asked them to be his guests. He prayed to Shabale to help him to arrange a meal for them. In minutes, Shabale provided heaps of rice and eatables, fruits and streams of milk and honey. The king Kaushik was very greedy. He wanted to take Shabale to his palace. So he asked Vasistha to give Shabale to him. He offered the sage ten thousand cows in exchange.

Vasistha did not agree to give the cow to the king. The greedy Kaushika was very eager to get Shabale. He even offered his kingdom and asked for Shabale. But Vasistha refused and said, “Shabale belongs to the gods and goddesses. She should not be misused.” Then Kaushika decided to take Shabale by force. He put a rope around Shabale’s neck and pulled her. But she was not ready to go with the king.

Shabale decided to teach the king a lesson. She requested Vasistha. The sage ordered, “Bring forth soldiers to resist Kaushika’s men.” She freed herself, ran and stood near the sage. There was a strange change in her; fire came out of her eyes; her head and neck grew larger; balls of fire came out of her tail; many soldiers came out of her mouth, udder and her sides. These soldiers chased Kaushika and his men away from the ashram.

           From this incident the king learnt that he could not win anything by force. He went into the forest to become a sage himself. He sat in deep meditation for so many years that at last he became a true sage and came to be called Vishwamitra, the friend of the world.

                              ----------    o  ----------o   -----------------

Unit -3

True Friendship

          “Damon and Pythias” is a tale of true friendship in Greek mythology.

          Once upon a time, there was a city named Syracuse and there lived two friends named Damon and Pythias. Both of them were lovers of truth. Dionysius was the king. He was an evil-minded ruler. One day the king heard that Pythias had criticized him. He got very angry and decided to hang Pythias as punishment.

          Pythias prayed to the kingto allow him to meet his mother and sister and settle his familyaffairs before he died. But the king was not ready to grant itas he thought that Pythias might run away. Damon entered the court and requested the king to let Pythias go and finish his duty. He offered himself to be kept in prison until Pythias returned.

          King Dionysius accepted this on one condition that he would fix the day and time for Pythias to return. If Pythias failed to return on the day Damon would die instead of Pythias.

          Pythias went home to settle matters. Then he hurried back to Syracuse. But on the way he had to face many dangers and so was delayed. As a result, Damon was taken out to be hanged. King Dionysius teased Damon saying thatPythias would not return and Damon was a fool. But Damon was very much confident about Pythiasand said that he would be glad to die for his friend.

          At that time, Pythias entered. He asked the king to release his friend and offered himself to be hanged. The king was surprised to listen to Pythias’ words. He was greatly impressed by their friendship and loyalty to each other.

           As a result, the king released both of them.

                     ----------------   o   --------------   o----------------------

                                                               Unit- 4

The Boss Who Cares

India’s rocket launching station is at Thumba, in Thiruvananthapuram city. About seventy scientists were working in the space centre. They were all involved with the task of developing rockets. It was an adventurous, challenging task. All the scientists who were working there were dedicated, committed and responsible. They worked from morning till night and sometimes they would work till midnight. They were all happy to work under their boss and none of them was thinking of quitting the job.

          One day one of the scientists came to the boss and asked for permission to leave the office at half past five in the evening, because he had promised to take his children to the exhibition in the city. He was permitted to leave the office early that day. The scientist was happy and went to work. It was half past eight when he left the office. His boss was not in the office.

          On the way home, he remembered the promise he had made to his children. He felt guilty of disappointing them. He thought about many plans to pacify them and his wife. He was expecting his wife to be angry with him.

          When he reached home, his children were not there. He was surprised to see his wife sitting alone, reading a magazine. She was very calm. He asked his wife about the children. His wife said that his boss had come there at quarter past five and taken the children to the exhibition.

          Actually, the boss was observing the scientist. He was seriously involved with his work even after five in the evening. So the boss didn’t want to disturb him. But at the same time he was not ready to disappoint the children who were very curious to visit the exhibition. So he decided to take them himself.

          This kind of nature and attitude of the boss made all scientists work under him happily even though they had a lot of work-stress.

          The boss was none other than Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

                      ------------------     o       -------------------       o             ----------------------

Poems- Summary                                          

                                           1.     Results and Roses

           The poem speaks about the importance of hard work. The man who wants a beautiful garden, small or very big with flowers growing here and there must work hard by bending his back and digging.

           There are very few things on earth, which one can attain through one’s wishes. In other words, with mere wishes we cannot attain anything in the world. If we want something worthy or useful we have got to work to gain it.

           It does not matter what goal we seek, the secret of achieving it simply lies in the fact that we have got to work steadily just as we have got to dig from week to week in our garden to get roses.

                                    ----------------------------------------

                                             2.     King Midas

               King Midas was in his chamber. He was counting his gold coins when a sunbeam entered the room through a small hole in the wall and it touched the floor quivering. Seeing that, king Midas muttered to himself that it would be nice if that broad bright ray of light were gold. Suddenly a stranger stood in a soft light. He was as bright as a star. The stranger told king Midas to have his wish.

                The stranger was an angel from heaven and his voice was like all sweet sounds of the morning mixed in one sound. King Midas slept and woke up in the morning with great eagerness to test the wonderful spell of the angel. The heavy edge of the curtain which he held in his hand became magnificent and it hung by the rich purple curtain like a shining mass of flame. In other words, whatever he touched became gold.

                 He walked across his garden and even the leaves and the flowers became gold at his touch. Then he heard the voice of his dear little daughter who was crying as sweetly as a sorrowful bird. She stood before him sobbing and held a golden rose in her hand. She was sobbing because the rose had turned into gold. It was pitiful for him to see the tears in her blue eyes. He called her near him, bent and kissed her cheek to comfort her. Suddenly a fearful thing happened, all because of heavenly powers (the angel’s spell); his daughter became a gold statue and he sank back shuddering (trembling with fear) and was greatly shocked. His daughter stood still as death with neither motion nor breath. Then the angel’s voice came like music as fresh as the morning air. The voice asked Midas whether his wish had been fulfilled. Immediately King Midas shouted back asking the angel to take his terrible gift back because it was not blessing but a curse to him. He realized that one loving heart was more precious than the gold of the universe. In other words, living things are better than lifeless gold.

                        --------------------------------------------------------------

                                               3.   Friends

             The poem describes natural things around us like the sky, the wind, the sunshine, the tree and the grass as friends. The speaker in the poem says that it is very good to lie a little while under the tree looking up through its leaves. The sky is like a kind big smile bent sweetly over him. The sunshine dances through the cover of leaves above his head and kisses him upon his face like mother before bed. The wind comes stealing over the grass to whisper pleasant things to him. Though he cannot see the wind (him) passing, he feels its presence (his careful wings).

            Therefore the speaker says there are many gentle friends near us whom we cannot see and so a child should never feel fear wherever he may be. The poet says that a child has no reason to be afraid of anything in the company of nature.

                                     -----------------------------------

                                             4.   Believe

             The speaker in the poem ‘Believe’ tells us to believe in love, faith and truth. He also tells us to believe in ourselves. We have the power to prevail or succeed in the face of all difficulties. Further, he tells us to believe in strength, courage and honour.

             According to the speaker, everyone has the power to be good at heart. Still further, he wants us to believe in song, dance and culture because everyone is unique, no matter who we are and where we are from. Finally, he calls for our belief in time, forever and self, because everything is possible as long as we believe in ourselves.

                                                ---------------------------

                                          5.   Paper Boats

              The speaker in the poem is a child. The child floats her paper boats everyday one by one down the running stream. She writes her name and also the name of her village on them in big black letters. She hopes that someone in some strange land will find them and know who she is. She loads her little boats with shiuli flowers from her garden and hopes that these early morning flowers will be carried safely to land in the night. She launches her paper boats and looks up into the sky and sees the little clouds moving being pushed by the wind.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------               

Courtesy: Prof. Lokesh Hedge, Dr. A.v.Baliga College, Kumta.

 

GUIDANCE :

ShriV.R.Naik B.E.O., Honnavar.

Shri. V. R.Nayak Incharge.Co-ordinator BRC Honnavar

                                Smt. SubhaNayak Lecture DIET Kumta

: RESOURCE PERSONS:

Smt. Kamala Bhagwat Asst. Teacher MHPS Haldipur Smt. NetravatiBhat Asst. Teacher HPS Guddebal

Shri. ShashidharDevadiga Asst. Teacher, HPS Madgeri ShriYasinBikhba Asst. Teacher, HPS Urdu Manki

Co-ordination :JanardhanNaik BRP

Courtesy:

          Prof. Lokesh Hedge, Dr. A.v.Baliga College, Kumta

5th Retold lessons-first sem

UNIT – 1

                                   CHILDREN OF COURAGE

                                         BRAVERY AWARDS

            Every year the ICCW (Indian Council of Child Welfare) awards brave children. About 24 children below the age of 16 are awarded. The national awards for bravery began in 1957. Let us know how it all began.

            It was 2^nd October 1947, India’s First prime minister Pt.  Jawahar Lal Nehru was watching a programme at Delhi’s Ramleela ground. A fire broke out in a shamiana. Harish Chandra, a 14 year old scout, quickly cut open the burning shamiana, with his knife. This saved the lives of hundreds of people. Pt Nehru was inspired to begin the awards. Harish Chandra was the first to get the award.

            The bravery awards are announced on November 14(Children’s Day). The Prime Minister presents these awards on the eve of Republic Day. The awardees get a medal, a certificate and cash as a mark of their bravery.  Some of them are given scholarship to complete their higher-  studies. On 26^th January, those brave children participate in the Republic Day parade, in New Delhi. They are carried on the back of the elephants in the parade. Some children show great courage in difficult moments and they are awarded for their courage. The award helps them to act bravely in their real life situation.

            Let us know the brave acts of some of these children.

In 2008, six year old twins, Gagan and Bhoomika of Bangalore, saved an eighteen month child. The twins were sitting in their father’s car. They saw two bulls running towards each other. There was a child lying in their path. The two at once ran and pulled the child away.

            Rahul, a twelve years old balloon seller, was also awarded in 2008. He informed the police, about the men who planted bombs on one of the important roads. This helped the police to find out the criminals. Silver Kharbani of Meghalaya, saved the life of her young cousin from fire. Vishal Patil of Maharastra saved a woman and her child from drowning .

            In 2009, 21children were awarded for their bravery. Among them, 13 year old Gaurav Singh Saini, from Haryana, saved 50-60 people, during a stampede at the Naina Devi Temple in Himachal Pradesh.

            Maibam Prity Devi of Manipura, aged 10, saved many lives. She used her bare hands to get rid of a live grenade and a metal piece of exploded grenade hit her leg and remained inside. Her aim is to join the Police Force. In 2010, Priyanshu Doshi, from Uttarakhand fought off a leopard which attacked his sister. She was saved and he was awarded for his brave act. Gurjeevan Singh from Punjab stopped a bank -robbery by throwing bricks at the robbers. Moonis Khan (15) from Madhya Pradesh got the award for saving an old man from a railway accident. We salute these brave children.

                                                 

 UNIT -2

                                                    LOVE FOR ANIMALS

            While returning home from school, Meghana and Nithin saw a man walking with his dog. The man is trying to tell his dog something and the dog seems to be answering him by barking. Watching this, Meghana remembered a story about Ramana Maharshi. Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi was probably the most famous Indian sage fo twentieth century.

Meghana: Do you know anything about ‘Ramana Maharshi’?

Nithin      : No. I don’t. Why? Was he famous?

Meghana: Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi loved animals and birds.

Nithin     : Can you tell me more about Ramana Maharshi ?

Meghana: Listen. Even animals liked him. He spoke to them just as he would speak with people.

Nithin     : You mean, just like this man we saw, talking to his dog?

Meghana:Yes. He called the dogs “boys” and his cow “Lakshmi”. He used to say “Are the boys eating their food?”

Nithin       : Really?

Meghana: Yes, and he used to say “Give Lakshmi some rice”.

Nithin     : Where did he keep all these animals?

Meghana: In his Ashram. He always ate only after giving food to animals and birds.

Nithin       : Even birds?

Meghana: Yes. Ramana Maharshi called the peococks by making their sounds. Then they would come to him and eat peanuts, rice and mangoes with his hands.

Nithin        : That’s interesting Meghana, will you please tell me more about him and animals?

Meghana: Yes, listen. One day, Maharshi was sitting on a hillside. A snake crawled over his legs. He did not move. Later someone asked him, what he felt like?  He replied “cool and soft!”

Nithin        : My God! I would have cried and run away. Did anyone kill the snakes in his Ashram?

Meghana: NO, Maharshi did not allow anybody to kill snakes. He said “It is their home. We have no right to kill them. They do not harm us. Oh! We are nearing our homes. I will continue tomorrow.

Nitin       : Yes, thanks a lot. Who told you all these stories?

Meghana: My grand -mother. She tells us stories everyday. Bye.

Nitin         : Tell me more tomorrow. See you, bye.

                                                        Unit -3

                                                     FAIR PLAY

It was the sports day of the school. Mukul Sharma was one of the good students of the school. He was reading the oath. His mother entered and sat in a vacant chair beside my mother. In his speech, Mukul Sharma spoke about fairness, honesty, and friendship as the true spirit of sports. He might be proud of his mother as she was dressed in her fashionable chudidar set and high-heeled shoes. But my mother was in her traditional saree and looked very different.

            During the sports events, Mukul won many prizes, but I was unable to win a single prize. When students’ events were over, the principal encouraged the parents to participate in their item. Mukul’s mother rose to take part; then a few others. Surprisingly my mother too followed the other ladies.

            The game was –‘musical chair’. All the participants began to walk around the chairs, when the music started. Mallika, one of the audience cheered my mother. My mother was playing carefully. Finally my mother and Mukul’s mother were circling around a single chair in the centre. When music stopped, my mother was almost about to sit in the chair but suddenly Mukul’s mother gave a powerful push and my mother stumbled. Mukul’s mother sat in the chair and clapped in delight. “This is cheating” Mallika shouted once again. I helped my mother to control herself.

            The principal congratulated Mukul’s mother and called Mukul to hand over the prize. Mukul carried the bunch of red roses, walked towards the stage. Instead of going to his mother, he went to my mother, and congratulated her on her victory. Everybody including my mother and me was greatly surprised. My mother muttered “No,no, I didn’t win the game. It’s your mother.” But Mukul said in a firm voice, “No, Actually you are the winner. Your opponent cheated you to win the game. It’s fair to give the prize to its actual winner, who played fairly without cheating anybody”. Everybody appreciated Mukul Sharma, for his sportiveness.

                                                               Unit-5

                                                             TANSEN

            Tansen was one of the greatest musicians of our country. He was the only son of the poet and skilled musician Mukandan Mishra. He was born in 1506 in Satna, near Gwalior.

            As a child, Tansen could copy the sounds of animals perfectly. Once a famous singer, Swami Haridas was travelling in the forest with his students. The young Tansen roared like a lion, to frighten them. They were all frightened and they hid behind the trees. After finding out that this was a play-ful trick, Swami Haridas was very impressed by Tansen’s ability. Swami Haridas kept Tansen with him and trained him. Tansen was just ten years old at that time. Within eleven years, he became a famous singrer. He could ferform extra ordinary feats (deeds of adventures). For example, if he sang the evening raaga, during day time, it would look as if it were evening already.

            Tansen won the heart of the famous mughal king, Akbar and soon became his court musician. He was called one of the nine jewels in Akbar’s court (Navaratna). However some courtiers felt angry with Tansen. One of them Shaukat Mian thought of plot to put Tansen into trouble. He told Akbar, that Tansen could make diyas (lamps), light up with his singing. The courtiers thought that if Tansen failed in duing this, clearly his music skills would be considered just ordinary. But if he succeeded, he could die singing the raaga because it would produce so much heat that his body would be burnt.

            The next day, Akbar asked Tansen, to sing Raag Deepak. Tansen understood that his enemies were behind this. He had taught ‘Raag Megh Malhaar(a raag that brings rain)to his daughter Saraswati and her friend Rupmati.He asked them to sing it soon after the lampswere lit by his singing.

            On the fixed day, the court was filled with people. When he started singing, the temperature began to rise. People began to sweat andtrees dried up. Water began to boil and people cried. Flames shot up to light the lamps.

            Now Tansen’s daughter and Rupmati began to sing Raag Megh Malhaar. It started raining and Tansen the gifted musician was saved. Akbar felt sorry for putting Tansen into trouble and punished his enemies.

The most famous singer composed many new Raagas.