Summary
I
Vijay Singh was a famous wrestler. He was tall like a giant. He had big shoulders and muscular arms. He was a born wrestler.
But Vijay Singh had one weakness. It often pushed him into trouble. He was given to self praise and tall talks. He once said that he was not afraid of ghosts. He wished to face a ghost and teach him a lesson. A
man guided him to the Haunted Desert. That place was ten miles on the road to Jaisalmer. The ghosts had often looted and killed travellers.
Vijay Singh accepted the challenge. He got ready to set out west. An old woman came forward and put a packet into his hands. It contained an egg and a piece of salt. The old woman was known to be crazy.
As Vijay Singh entered the Desert, he heard the voice of a ghost. He called himself, Vijay’s friend, Natwar. Vijay Singh tried to be brave. He called the ghost to come out of the darkness. Looking into Natwar’s face, Vijay Singh called him a weak liar. He showed no signs of fear. The ghost felt insulted.
II
Vijay Singh proceeded to test the ghost’s strength. He offered him a piece of stone and asked him to squeeze the liquid out of it. The ghost tried hard but failed. Vijay Singh secretly crushed the egg and the yellow part flowed out. He gave the ghost another piece of rock to crush. The ghost failed the test again. Vijay Singh crushed the lump of salt. The powder tasted saltish.
The ghost then planned to kill Vijay Singh secretly. He took Vijay Singh to his cave and offered him a luxurious bed to sleep on, complete with pillows. Vijay Singh saw through the ghost’s trick. He put a round pillow on the bed and he sat himself in a corner. The ghost at break of day struck the pillow seven times. He was happy now. He thought he had killed his enemy. Vijay Singh then returned to his bed. He began to groan as if in disgust. The ghost was shocked to hear the noise. Vijay Singh told the ghost that his cave was filled with insects. He was sleeping soundly when that insect came to trouble him. The ghost got panicked and fled.
Vijay Singh returned to his village with all the treasure left behind by the ghost. He married the old woman’s granddaughter. He gave up boasting. No traveller was thereafter looted or killed in the Haunted Desert.Page No 46:
Question 1:
What was Vijay Singh’s weakness? Which awkward situation did it push him into?
Answer:
Vijay Singh’s weakness was that he was fond of boasting. This weakness put him into the awkward situation of going alone into the Haunted Desert at night to meet a ghost.
Question 2:
Was the old woman’s gift to Vijay Singh eccentric? Why?
Answer:
The old woman’s gift to Vijay Singh was eccentric or unusual because it contained nothing but a lump of salt and an egg. Both of these were not enough for one travelling through a desert.
Question 3:
Why did Vijay Singh ask the ghost disguised as Natwar to come closer?
Answer:
Vijay Singh asked the ghost disguised as Natwar to come closer because he had realized that he was not his friend, but a ghost. He wanted to have a better look at the ghost, and like all good wrestlers, he wanted to size up his opponent.
Question 4:
What made the ghost speechless? Why?
Answer:
The ghost was speechless because Vijay Singh had called him a “plain, lying ghost”. The ghost was used to people starting back in horror when they met him; but Vijay Singh had insulted him.
Question 5:
Why did Vijay Singh say “Appearances can be deceptive”?
Answer:
Vijay Singh said “appearances can be deceptive” because both he and the ghost were pretending to be someone else. Vijay Singh was pretending to be a brave and fearless wrestler and the ghost had pretended to be Natwar Singh.
Page No 51:
Question 1:
How did Vijay Singh use the egg? How did he use the lump of salt?
Answer:
Vijay Singh demonstrated his strength to the ghost by making him believe that the egg was a lump of rock filled with fluid, which he could crush. He did the same with the lump of salt, which the ghost thought was a rock containing salt. The ghost was mesmerised by this show of the pahalwan’s strength.
Question 2:
Why did Vijay Singh conclude that the ghost would not be a worthy opponent to him? Was he fair in his judgement?
Answer:
Vijay Singh concluded that the ghost would not be a worthy opponent to him because the ghost was not strong enough to be able to crush the fluid-filled and salt-filled rocks. He was not fair in his judgement because he had fooled the ghost into believing that the things he had crushed were rocks.
Question 3:
Why did Vijay Singh ask the ghost to accompany him to town next day?
Answer:
Vijay Singh asked the ghost to accompany him to town the next day because he wanted to display the ghost as his trophy of victory.
Question 4:
What made the ghost believe Vijay Singh was dead?
Answer:
When the ghost hit the bolster on the bed with a stout club, he did not hear even a groan. This made him believe that Vijay Singh was dead.
Question 5:
Vijay Singh complained of insects in the cave. What was he referring to, and why?
Answer:
When Vijay Singh complained of insects in the cave he was referring to the blows which the ghost had given to the bolster kept on the bed. He did this to make the ghost accept that he was a strong and formidable wrestler.
Question 6:
Was it really a ghost who Vijay Singh befooled? Who do you think it was?
Answer:
The ghost’s cave contained the wealth that he had collected by looting and killing the people travelling through the Haunted Desert. So in reality, he could have been a robber who had disguised himself as a ghost for scaring and over powering innocent travellers.
