Essay on "The Three Questions" by Leo Tolstoy

Target Audience: Polytechnic Teachers and Students in Tamilnadu
Subject: English-1, II YEAR MOP, M SCHEME
Question Pattern in Exam: Answer anyone of the following in 200 words each. (1x10=10) 
Three quesions will be asked from four short stories prescribed in the syllabus and students have to answer one.
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Preface:

“The Three Questions” is a short story written by Leo Tolstoy.  He is one of the greatest Russian philosophers and writers.  He is best remembered for his novel “War and Peace”.  This short story is a moral story for life. It deals with the three questions of a king and how he gets the answer.

The King’s Three Questions:

                There was a king with three questions in his mind: 1. What is the right time to start anything in life? , 2. Who is the most important person in one’s life?  and 3. What is the most important thing to do first?  He even wanted to offer a reward for the person who gives the satisfactory answer.  But no one in his country gave the right answer.  So he decided to meet a wise hermit who lived in a wood.

Incidents Happened in Hermit’s Hut

                The king asked the hermit the three questions.  But the hermit did not answer and he was just digging the ground.  The hermit was old.  So the king helped him.  At that time, a wounded man came running there.  He was bleeding and struggling for life.  The king dressed his wound and saved him.  It was growing night.  Both the hermit and the king took the wounded person to the bed.  The king fell asleep due to tiredness and loss of energy.

The Answer for the Three Questions:

                Next day, the king came to know that the wounded person was actually his enemy.  He had come to kill the king to take revenge.  However now he became king’s friend.  The hermit now explained to the king that his questions were already answered.  When somebody needs help, that is the right time.  The suffering person is the most important person before us.  To help him is the most important thing to do first.  The king had helped the hermit.  He had helped the wounded person.  Thus, he got answers.