Directions: read the passage given below and answer the following questions:
Once upon a time, there was a royal elephant which used to reside in the premises of the king’s place. The elephant was very dear to the king, so he was well-fed and well treated. There was also a dog who lives near the elephant’s shed. He was very weak and skinny. He was always fascinated by the smell of rich sweet rice being fed to the royal elephant. One day, the dog could no longer resist the aroma of the rice and somehow managed to sneak into the elephant’s shed. He ate the grains of sweet rice tat fell from the elephant’s mouth. He liked the rice so much, that he started going there daily to eat the rice. For days, the huge elephant didn’t notice the small dog as he was busy enjoying the delicious food. Gradually, the dog grew gibber and stronger eating such rich food. Finally the elephant noticed him and allowed him access to the food. The elephant enjoyed the company of the dog and started sharing his food with him. They also started spending time with each other and soon became good friends. They ate together, slept together and played together. While playing, the elephant would hold the dog in his trunk and swing him back and forth soon neither of them was happy without the other. They became great friends and didn’t want to be separated from each other.
Then one day, a man saw the dog and asked the elephant-keeper, ‘I want to buy this dog. What price do you want for it? The elephant keeper didn’t own the dog but sold it and extracted a sum of money from this deal. The man took the dog to his home village, which was quite far away. The king’s elephant became very sad after this incident. He missed his friend a lot and started neglecting everything. He didn’t want to do anything without his dear friend, so he stopped eating, drinking and even bathing. Finally, the elephant-keeper reported this to the king; however he didn’t mention anything about the dog. The king has a wise minister, who was known for his keen understanding of animals. The king ordered the minister, ‘go to the elephant shed and find out the reason
for the elephant’s condition’. The intelligent minister went to the elephant shed and found the elephant very sad. He examined the elephant and asked the elephant-keeper, ‘there is nothing wrong with this elephant’s body, then why does he look so sad? I think this elephant is grief stricken, possibly due to the loss of a dear friend.
Do you know if this elephant shared a close friendship with anyone? Then elephant- keeper said, ‘there was a dog who uses to eat, sleep and play with the elephant. He was taken by a stranger three days ago’. The minister went back to the king and said, ‘your majesty, in my opinion, the royal elephant is not sick, but he is lonesome without his dear friend, the dog’. The king said, ‘you’re right friendship is one of the most wonderful things of life. Do you know where that dog is?’ the minister replied, ‘elephant-keeper has informed me that a stranger took him away and he doesn’t know his whereabouts’. The king asked, ‘how can we bring back my elephant’s friend and make him happy again?’ the minister suggested, ‘ your majesty, make a declaration that whoever has the dog that used to live at the royal elephant’s shed will be penalized’. The king did the same and the man who had taken the dog, instantly turned him loose when he heard the proclamation. As soon as he was freed, the dog ran back as fast as he court to the elephant’s shed. The elephant was so delighted to see the dog that he picked his friend up with his trunk and swung him back and forth. The dog wagged his tail, while the elephant’s eyes sparkled with happiness. The king was content to see the elephant happy once again and rewarded the minister for his wise judgement.