In the Kingdom of Fools by A.K. Ramanujan
Quick answer: In the Kingdom of Fools, a Kannada folktale retold by A.K. Ramanujan, Class 9 Moments: full summary with the ending, the chain of blame, themes and exam answers.
A thief dies when a wall falls on him mid-burglary, and his brother demands justice in a kingdom where everyone sleeps by day and everything costs one coin. A.K. Ramanujan collected this Kannada folktale in Folktales from India; it is fourth in the Class 9 reader Moments.
The story in brief
A guru and his disciple reach a kingdom whose rulers have decreed that night is day and that everything costs one duddu. The guru sees danger where nothing can be predicted and leaves; the disciple stays for cheap food and grows fat.
When the thief dies under a merchant's wall, the king blames the merchant, who blames the bricklayer, who blames a dancing girl who distracted him, who blames the goldsmith who delayed her jewellery, who blames the merchant's late father. The son inherits the guilt but is too thin for the stake, so guards seize the fattest man in town: the disciple. The guru returns, whispers to him, and the two fight over who will die first, since, the guru explains, the first to die will be reborn as king and the second as minister. The rulers take their places and are executed. The newcomers agree to rule if night is night and day is day.
The characters
Themes and meaning
Exams expect two ideas: absurd laws produce absurd justice, and the wise leave where reason does not operate. The sharper reading is that each accused offers a true cause, and the court follows causation to the end without ever asking about responsibility. The guru feeds the fools a lie shaped like their own reasoning.
The craft
The tale runs on repetition with a twist at each link, and the stake too big for the merchant swings the joke onto the disciple. A story whose ending grows from a rule stated in its first paragraph scores well for structure under Writory's five-part rubric; the reader can check the logic afterwards.
For the exam
Summary in 100 words: A guru and his disciple enter a kingdom where a foolish king has reversed day and night and fixed all prices at one duddu. The guru leaves; the disciple stays and grows fat on cheap food. A thief dies when a merchant's wall collapses, and the court passes blame from merchant to bricklayer to dancing girl to goldsmith and back to the merchant. Too thin for the stake, he is replaced by the fat disciple. The guru returns and claims that whoever dies first will be reborn as king. The rulers rush to die, and the guru and disciple take the throne, restoring day and night.
What writers can take from this
- Be precise about the chain of blame; examiners check the order of the four links.
- Cite the one-duddu price as the emblem of the kingdom's folly, since it removes all distinction between things.
- Use the guru's early departure as evidence for the theme of wisdom recognising danger.
- Writers: build your comic ending out of a rule you stated in the opening, so the twist feels earned.
- A folktale gains bite when each foolish step is individually reasonable.
Try it yourself
Write a comic story set in a place with one absurd law stated on the first page, and let a newcomer escape trouble by using that very law against the people who made it.
Questions
Why did the guru leave the kingdom of fools?
He saw that a country where day and night were reversed and everything cost one duddu was dangerous, because nothing could be predicted. He warned his disciple and left, while the disciple stayed for the cheap food.
How were the king and minister killed in In the Kingdom of Fools?
The guru pretended that whoever died first on the stake would be reborn as king and the next as minister. Greedy for these rewards, the king and minister took the place of the guru and disciple and were executed.
What is the moral of In the Kingdom of Fools?
Foolish rulers and irrational laws endanger everyone, and wisdom means both recognising such danger and knowing how to turn the fools' logic against them.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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