NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 5: The Tale of Melon City

Chapter at a glance

Exercise Questions

Answer

There was once a King who was “just and placid”. He ordered an arch to be built across the main street to impress the people. When he rode under it, his crown was knocked off because the arch had been built too low. Feeling disgraced, the King ordered the chief of builders to be hanged. The chief blamed the workmen; the workmen blamed the bricks of the wrong size; the masons blamed the architect; and the architect reminded the King that he himself had changed the plans.

Confused, the King called the wisest man in the country, a very old man who said the arch itself must be hanged. But a councillor objected that it would be shameful to hang something that had touched the King’s head. Meanwhile the crowd grew restless, wanting a hanging. Fearing them, the King declared that someone must be hanged at once. The noose was set high and only one man was tall enough to fit it — the King himself. So the King was hanged by royal decree.

The ministers, relieved that they had found someone, announced that, by custom, the next person to pass the City Gate would choose the new ruler. An idiot came by and, as he answered every question, said “A melon”. So a melon was crowned King. Years later, the people still accept the melon as King because it leaves them in peace and liberty.

A foolish “just” King, hurt by a low arch, keeps shifting the blame and finally gets himself hanged to satisfy the mob; by custom an idiot chooses a melon as the new King, whom the people accept because it leaves them in peace and liberty.

Answer

At first, “just and placid” suggests a fair, calm and peaceful ruler. But the poem shows the King as foolish, indecisive and easily swayed. His idea of justice is absurd: he wants someone hanged for a trivial incident, shifts blame from one person to another, consults an old man who says the arch should be hanged, and finally yields to the mob’s demand for a hanging. Such a state would be badly governed, with arbitrary punishments, foolish advisers and rulers who care more about appearances than real justice. The people, however, seem indifferent as long as they are left in peace.

A state with a seemingly fair, calm ruler who is actually foolish, indecisive and arbitrary in his justice — badly governed, with absurd decisions driven by advisers and the mob.

Answer

1. Rule of law — fair laws applied equally to all, and justice based on reason and evidence, not on whims or mob pressure.
2. Democratic government accountable to the people, with free elections.
3. Protection of fundamental rights — freedom of speech, religion and movement.
4. Wise, honest leadership and competent advisers.
5. Independent judiciary and free press.
6. Tolerance and harmony among communities.
7. Meeting people’s basic needs (food, jobs, education) to prevent unrest.

Through rule of law and fair justice, accountable democratic government, protection of rights, wise leadership, an independent judiciary and press, tolerance, and meeting people’s basic needs.

Answer

1. The King is called “just and placid”, yet he flies into anger and wants people hanged for a trivial accident.
2. The blame game: builder → workmen → masons → architect → the King himself.
3. The “wisest man” is so old that he can neither walk nor see — “so old (and therefore wise)” — and he advises hanging the arch.
4. A councillor objects that it would be shameful to hang the arch because it “touched your head”.
5. The King says the nation wants a hanging and that “finer points like guilt” can wait.
6. The noose fits only the King, so the King is hanged by his own decree.
7. The ministers cry “Long live the King! The King is dead.”
8. An idiot chooses a melon as King, and the people happily accept it as long as they have peace and liberty.

The “just and placid” King’s rage, the blame chain, the blind old “wise man” ordering the arch hanged, “finer points like guilt”, the King hanged by his own decree, “Long live the King! The King is dead”, and a melon chosen as King.

Answer

Examples in Hindi and other Indian languages:

1. Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas — the story of Rama narrated in verse (chaupai and doha).
2. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s “Jhansi ki Rani” — the story of Rani Lakshmibai in verse.
3. “Andher Nagari Chaupat Raja” — the famous tale (made into a play by Bharatendu Harishchandra) of a foolish king of a city where everything costs the same and the noose is fitted to the fattest man — very similar to Melon City.
4. Folk ballads like Alha-Udal (Bundelkhand), and Panchatantra/Jataka tales retold in verse.
5. In English, Robert Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

E.g. Ramcharitmanas, “Jhansi ki Rani”, the tale “Andher Nagari Chaupat Raja” (remarkably similar), the Alha-Udal ballads, and Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Topic checklist

• Story and structure of the poem
• Character of the “just and placid” King
• Humour, irony and satire
• Peace, liberty and laissez-faire

Total questions answered: 5 of 5