Question

What did the king ask Gopal to do to prove that he was clever?

Answer 1

Hint: The given question is taken from the Prose “Gopal and the Hilsa Fish”. It is a story that shows the wit of a courtier named Gopal when he is challenged that he cannot stop people from talking about the Hilsa-Fish.

Complete answer:
It was the season for Hilsa fish and everyone was talking about it. In the market, fishmongers were also attracting customers to buy it. Even in the royal court, the courtiers were speaking about Hilsa. This made the king irritated. He thought that no one could stop the people from talking about Hilsa fish and not even Gopal who was the wisest man in his court. So the king challenged Gopal to buy a huge Hilsa fish and bring it to the palace and added that none of the people must ask him about it. Gopal accepted the challenge.

So, after a few days, he shaved half of his face and smudged himself with ash. He wore rags and looked unpleasant. His wife was shocked and asked him not to leave home like this, but Gopal left to the market to buy a huge Hilsa fish and no one at the market asked him regarding the fish. Thus, Gopal won the challenge and the king burst into laughter and accepted that Gopal had done the impossible once more.

Note: Gopal dressed up in a weird attire and went to buy the Hilsa fish and reached court. On his way, none of the people asked him about the fish but was just looking at him walking strangely with his shabby clothes. Thus Gopal proved to be clever.