Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy : Short Questions & Answers # 4th Semester WBCHSE

 

1. Who was the author of “Three Questions”? Where is the story taken from?

Ans : The author of the story “Three Questions” is Leo Tolstoy.  His full name is Lev (Leo) Nikolayevich Tolstoy.

The short story "Three Questions" is first published in What Men Live By and other Tales in 1885.

2. To whom did the three questions occur? Who is called Tsar?

Ans : The three questions occurred to a certain Tsar. Tsar is the King or the Supreme Ruler of Russia before 1917.

3. What did he do as the questions occurred to him?

Ans : As this thought occurred to the Tsar, he proclaimed throughout his kingdom that he would give a great reward to anyone who would give him the right answers.

4. Why did the Tsar want the answers to his three questions? 

Ans : The Tsar wanted the answers to his three questions of life because he thought that if he always knew the answers, he would never fail in anything he would undertake. 

5. What are the three questions that occurred to the Tsar?

Ans : These three important questions are –

i) What is the right time to begin everything?

ii) Who are the right people whom he should listen to and whom he would avoid?

iii) What is the most important action to do for him?

6. Who came first to answer the questions of the Tsar? How did they answer?

Ans : Many learned men came first to the  Tsar to answer his three vital questions of life. But they all answered his three questions differently.

7. What according to the learned men is the role or function of the time table?

Ans : One must draw up in advance a table of days, months and  years and must live strictly according to it. Only thus everything could be done at its proper time.

8. What according to the learned men is the role or function of a council?

Ans : According to the learned men, one should have a council of wise men who would help him to fix the popper time for everything.

9. What according to the learned men is the role or function of magicians?

Ans : According to the learned men, only magicians know what is going to happen. So in order to know the right time for every action one must consult magicians.

10. What, according to the learned men, was the answer to the 2nd question of the Tsar?

Ans : The learned men answered differently in response to the second question of the Tsar. They said that the most needed persons were his councilors, the priests, the doctors and the warriors. 

11. What, according to the learned men, was the answer to the third question of the Tsar?

Ans : The learned men answered differently in response to the third question of the Tsar. They said that the most important things were science, skill in warfare and religious worship.

12. Why did the Tsar decide to consult the hermit ?

Ans : All the answers being different, the Tsar agreed with none of the learned men. Wishing to find the right answers to his questions, he decided to consult a hermit who was widely renowned for his wisdom.

13. Where did the hermit live and whom did he meet? 

Ans. The hermit, who was widely renowned for his wisdom, lived in a wood which he never quitted. He received none but the common folk.

14. How did the Tsar go to meet the hermit? Why did the Tsar go to meet the hermit in disguise?

Ans. As the hermit received none but the common folk, the Tsar put on simple clothes, left his horse and bodyguard behind and walked to the hermit alone.

15.  What was the hermit doing when the Tsar came to visit him?

Ans. When the Tsar approached, the hermit was digging the ground in front his hut. Seeing the Tsar, he greeted him and went on digging.

16. Describe the physical condition of the hermit. 

The hermit was fail and weak. While striking the spade into the ground and turning a little earth, he was breathing heavily.

17. “You are tired.” Who said this and to whom? What did he do then? Or How did the Tsar help the hermit?

Ans. The Tsar said this to the hermit who was working hard and tired. 

         The Tsar took the spade from him and started digging the ground. He had dug two beds for him. Thus he helped in digging for two hours continuously.

18.  “Let us see who it is.” – Who is the man referred to here? Or Whom did the hermit see come running?

Ans : The hermit saw a bearded man come running out of the wood. The stranger had a bad wound in his stomach. It was bleeding heavily.

19. Describe the wound of the stranger.

Ans :  The stranger, the bearded man who came running out of the wood, had a bad wound in his stomach. It was bleeding heavily.

20. Who attacked the bearded man and why?

Ans : In Leo Tolstoy’s short story Three Questions, the Tsar’s bodyguard attacked the bearded man because he wanted to kill the Tsar as he had executed his brother and seized his property.

21. Why did the bearded man want to take revenge on the Tsar?

Ans. In Leo Tolstoy’s short story Three Questions, the bearded man wanted to take revenge on the Tsar because he had executed his brother and seized his property.

22. Where & Why did the Tsar fall asleep? Or Why did the Tsar lie down on the threshold and fell asleep?

Ans : In Leo Tolstoy’s short story Three Questions, the Tsar crouched down on the threshold of the hermit’s hut and fell asleep because he was so tired with walking and digging the beds. 

23. “ Forgive me” – Why did the man beg forgiveness? Or What did the Tsar do with his

 enemy? Or Why did the Tsar forgive the wounded man?

Ans. The bearded man wanted to kill the Tsar. But that Tsar saved his life. Being ashamed the man gave up all anger, wanted to serve him and begged forgiveness. Being happy the Tsar became friend and promised to give back his property and send his servants and own physician for his treatment.

24. What did the wounded man promise the Tsar?

Ans : The wounded man promised the Tsar that he would serve him faithfully for the rest of his life and would also tell his sons to do the same.

25. What was the hermit doing when the Tsar came to take leave of him?

Ans : When the Tsar came to take leave of him, on his knees, the hermit was sowing seeds in the beds he had dug the day before.

26. “You have already been answered!” – Who said this to whom & why?

Ans : The hermit said this to the Tsar because, through his own actions — helping the hermit dig, saving the wounded man, and showing kindness to him — he had already been answered to his three questions.

27. What, according to the hermit, is the most important time?

Ans : According to the hermit, the most important time is the present moment, because it is the only time when we have any power to do good for others.

28. Who, according to the hermit, is the most important person?

Ans : According to the hermit, the most important person is the one with whom we are at the present moment as nobody knows what would happen to him.

29. What, according to the hermit, is the most important thing to do?

Ans : In Leo Tolstoy’s short story Three Questions, according to the hermit, the most important thing to do is doing good for others because ‘man for man’s shake’.

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