Jaggu the Gardner Class 6 English Lesson 10
Once upon a time, there was a gardener called Jagatu. He was employed in the king’s garden. It was a beautiful garden. Jagatu used to spend the whole day in the garden. He used to go home only at night.
One night, however, he had to remain in the garden. Suddenly he heard a loud noise. Jagatu hid himself behind a big tree in great fear. He saw a large elephant descending from the sky. It was roaming about in the garden. After a while, Jagatu left his hiding place and sat down on the edge of a tank. As he sat there he said to himself, “In my whole life, I have never seen such an enormous elephant. But I remember a heavenly elephant, called ‘Airavata’. No doubt, this is that elephant.” He got up and began to walk quietly after the elephant. It ate various fruits and roots that grew in the garden. Jagatu caught its long tail when it was about to ascend to the sky again.
When they arrived in heaven Jagatu let go of the elephant’s tail. Airavata departed for Indra’s palace and Jagatu began to roam about in heaven. Everything was of such a huge size that the sight filled him with amazement. He got some betel leaves (pan-patta) and some betel nuts (supari). Both the betel leaves and the betel nuts were very big.
The next night, Airavata went down to the garden with Jagatu hanging on to its tail. As soon as they got there, Jagatu let go of the tail and hurried back home. His wife was looking for him. As soon as she saw him coming, she ran to meet him and cried, “Where have you been?” Jagatu, without saying a word, brought out the big betel leaves and betel nuts. At the sight of them, his wife was filled with joy. “Where did you get these?”, she exclaimed.
Jagatu, then, told his wife all about his adventures. He also told her not to tell it to anyone. But she told the whole story to a friend of hers and soon everybody in the village knew about it. The villagers asked Jagatu to take them to heaven.
That night, when the elephant was about to depart, Jagatu quickly got behind him and caught his tail. Then, they all held one another in a queue. On their way, a friend of Jagatu’s wife asked her, “How big was the betel nut that your husband brought home?” His wife repeated the question to Jagatu. Jagatu said that he would answer that later, but she insisted.
Jagatu lost patience and spreading his hands, said “This big”. As he spread his arms to show the size of the nut, he lost his grip on the elephant’s tail. And in a moment they all came tumbling down.
Word Meanings
employee =a person who is paid to work
descend =to come down
roaming= walking aimlessly-here and there
enormous= huge
amazement =surprise
insist =to make a determined demand
ascend= to go up
depart= to leave
Answer the following questions:
- What did Jagatu see in the garden one night?
- Why did Jagatu hide behind the tree?
- What was the name of the elephant?
- What did the elephant do in the garden?
- Where did Jagatu spend the whole day?
- What did Jagatu bring from heaven?
- What did Jagatu’s wife ask him?
- What did the villagers do?
- Why did they tumble down?
Say if the following statements are right or wrong:
- Jagatu was not amazed to see the elephant.
- He had seen such an elephant earlier.
- Jagatu’s wife asked him to bring more betel-leaves.
- The villagers were eager to go to heaven.
- Airavat was a heavenly animal.
Choose the appropriate words from the box and fill in the blanks.
insist on, climb, enormous, employee
- The new ————— in our office works sincerely.
- The African elephants are the most ——– elephants in the world.
- Why do you ————- me to complete this exercise today?
- ————— these steps and you will be on the top floor.
