Just at sundown, when his day’s work was ended, he took a quantity of unwhitened rice which was the principal food for the poor,

Question

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

Just at sundown, when his day’s work was ended, he took a quantity of unwhitened rice which was the principal food for the poor, and he cooked, dried it, and tied it in a square cloth, which he swung in a bundle around his neck along with a gourd filled with cool, sweet water. Then he lifted his helpless old mother to his back and started on his painful journey up the mountain.

The road was long and steep; the narrow road was crossed and re-crossed by many paths made by the hunters and woodcutters. In someplace, they were lost and confused, but he gave no heed. One path or another, it mattered not. On he went, climbing blindly upward – ever upward towards

the high bare summit of what is known as Obatsuyama, the mountain of the “abandoning of the aged”.

(a) What did the poor farmer do at the end of his work before taking his mother to the summit?

(b) Why was the journey painful?

(c) How was the road up the mountain?

(d) How do you know that he was focused on his journey?

(e) Why did the poor farmer choose Obatsuyama?

Answer 1

(a) The poor farmer took a quantity of unwhitened rice which was the principal food for the poor. He cooked it, dried it and tied it in a square cloth, which he swung in a bundle around his neck along with a gourd filled with cool, sweet water.

(b) The journey up the mountain was painful because he was very grieved when he lifted his helpless old mother to his back.

(c) The road up the mountain was long and steep. It was crossed and recrossed by many paths made by the hunters and woodcutters.

(d) There were times, when they were lost and confused but he did not bother about anything and walked continuously up the summit.

(e) The poor farmer chose Obatsuyama because it was the mountain of the ‘Abandoning the Aged’.