A Horse and Two Goats by R. K. Narayan
Quick answer: A Horse and Two Goats by R. K. Narayan, ICSE Treasure Trove: Muni of Kritam, the clay horse, the American who wants to buy it, the hundred rupees, themes and exam answers.
An old villager sits in the shade of a clay horse by the highway with his two goats when a red-faced American steps out of a stalled station wagon and talks to him in a language he does not know.
R. K. Narayan (1906 to 2001) collected this comedy of misunderstanding in 1970; ICSE students met it in the Treasure Trove anthology.
The story in brief
Muni lives in Kritam, one of India's smallest villages. Once he owned forty animals; now he has two goats and a sharp-tongued wife, and the shopkeeper refuses him credit. He grazes the goats by the highway beneath a painted clay horse nobody in the village notices any more.
A New York businessman whose car has run out of petrol stops and admires the horse. He speaks English, Muni speaks Tamil. Muni explains the horse as the Kalki avatar that will trample the wicked at the end of the world; the American talks of Manhattan, coffee and a living room where the horse would look fine. Taking Muni for the owner, he pays a hundred rupees; Muni, believing he has sold the goats, hurries home. His wife suspects theft, and then the goats wander home unsold.
The people in it
Two men who never understand each other.
Themes and meaning
Exam readings include the culture clash between East and West, poverty and wealth, and the comedy of language. The sharper point is that both men are perfectly happy: each gets what he wants from a conversation neither understood. Misunderstanding, Narayan suggests, is the ordinary state of the world and kinder than we fear.
The craft: two monologues mistaken for a dialogue
Each man speaks at length about what matters to him, and the speeches sit side by side so the reader alone hears both. The turn is the hundred rupees, which converts a comedy of talk into a comedy of consequences. The goats come home and the story stops before discovery. Writers can steal the parallel monologue and the ending that lets the reader imagine the explosion.
For the exam
Quick material for ICSE Class 10.
What writers can take from this
- Explain both men's versions of the transaction; the exam question is nearly always about the misunderstanding.
- Describe the horse's meaning to Muni, the Kalki avatar, and to the American, a decoration.
- Mention the goats' return as the ending; do not invent a confrontation the story withholds.
- Writers, place two monologues side by side and let the reader hear what the characters cannot.
- Stop before the discovery; the imagined explosion is funnier than any written one.
Try it yourself
Write a comic story in which two people conduct an entire transaction without sharing a language, each convinced the other has agreed to something different. Let the reader hear both sides, and end before either discovers the truth.
Questions
What is the theme of A Horse and Two Goats?
The comedy of cultural and linguistic misunderstanding between a poor Tamil villager and a wealthy American. Neither understands a word the other says, yet both leave satisfied, one believing he has bought a statue and the other that he has sold his goats.
What is the significance of the horse in A Horse and Two Goats?
For Muni the clay horse is the Kalki avatar that will destroy the wicked at the end of the world, a village landmark nobody notices any more. For the American it is a handsome object for his living room. The gap between the two views is the story.
How does A Horse and Two Goats end?
The American pays Muni a hundred rupees, believing he has bought the statue. Muni, thinking he has sold his goats, hurries home. His wife accuses him of theft, and then the two goats trot back into the yard, unsold.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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