Summary

• Hole in the ground


  Something simple that can prove to be very useful
• A typhoon had passed and the sky was a gorgeous blue
• A small shrine near the mountains had been swept away by a landslide
• More villagers came over to discuss the shrine
• He-y, Come On Ou-t!


  Short story by Shinichi Hoshi
• Shinichi Hoshi


  • Pioneered the "short short" format
  • Known as a science fiction and fantasy writer
  • Wrote the story collection "Enushi no Yuuenchi" which includes this story
• The Imp and the Crust

  • Short story by Leo Tolstoy
• The stories explore themes of human nature, good vs evil, and the consequences of our actions
• Engage in sustained reading and viewing for pleasure, personal development, and learning
• Read at least 40 pieces of fiction and non-fiction texts
• ts had their third glass and became quite like brutes. They muttered and shouted, not knowing why, and not listening to one another.
• Then the party began to break up. Some went alone, some in twos, and some in threes, all staggering down the street. The host went out to speed his guests, but he fell on his nose into a puddle, smeared himself from top to toe, and lay there grunting like a hog.
• This pleased the Devil still more.
• The Devil praised the imp, forgave him for his former blunder, and advanced him to a post of high honour.
• For years people were not aware of the existence of a Municipality in Malgudi. The town was none the worse for it.
• Diseases, if they started, ran their course and disappeared, for even diseases must end someday.
• Dust and rubbish were blown away by the wind out of sight; drains ebbed and flowed and generally looked after themselves.
• The Municipality kept itself in the background and remained so till the country got its independence on the fifteenth of August 1947.
• History holds few records of such jubilation as was witnessed on that day from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin.
• The Municipal Council caught the inspiration. They swept the streets, cleaned the drains and hoisted flags all over the place.
• The Municipal Chairman looked down benignly from his balcony, muttering, 'We have done our bit for this great occasion.'
• The satisfaction the Chairman now felt was, however, short-lived. In about a week, when the bunting was torn off, he became quite dispirited.
• The Chairman called up an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council and harangued them, and at once they decided to nationalize the names of all the streets and parks, in honour of the birth of independence.
• The other transformation, however, could not be so smoothly worked out. Mahatma Gandhi Road was the most sought-after name. Eight different ward councillors were after it.
• The Council decided to give the same name to four different streets. Even in the most democratic or patriotic town it is not feasible to have two roads bearing the same name.
• The town became unrecognizable with new names. Gone were the Market Road, North Road, Chitra Road, Vinayak Mudali Street and so on. In their place appeared the names, repeated in four different places, of all the ministers, deputy ministers and the members of the Congress Working Committee.
• Letters went where they were not wanted, and people were not able to say where they lived or direct others there. The town became a wilderness with all its landmarks gone.
• The Chairman became restless again and looked for fresh fields of action.
• At the corner of Lawley Extension and Market there used to be a statue. The Council unanimously resolved to remove it.
• The Council with the Chairman sallied forth triumphantly the next morning and circumambulated the statue. They now realized their mistake. The statue towered twenty feet above them and seemed to arise from a pedestal of molten lead.
• They realized that Britain when she was here, had attempted to raise herself on no mean foundation. But it made them only firmer in their resolve. If it was going to mean blasting up that part of the town for the purpose, they would do it.
• They unearthed a lot of history about Sir Frederick Lawley. He was a combination of Attila, the Scourge of Europe, and Nadir Shah, with the craftiness of a Machiavelli. He subjugated Indians with the sword and razed to the ground the villages from which he heard the slightest mu
• In the town of Vladimir lived a young merchant named Ivan Dmitrich Aksionov. He had two shops and a house of his own. Aksionov was a handsome, fair-haired, curly-headed fellow, full of fun, and very fond of singing. When quite a young man he had been given to drink and was riotous when he had had too much; but after he married, he gave up drinking, except now and then.
• One summer Aksionov was going to the Nizhny Fair, and as he bade goodbye to his family, his wife said to him, "Ivan Dmitrich, do not start to-day; I have had a bad dream about you."
• Aksionov laughed, and said, "You are afraid that when I get to the fair I shall go on a spree." His wife replied: "I do not know what I am afraid of; all I know is that I had a bad dream. I dreamt you returned from the town, and when you took off your cap, I saw that your hair was quite grey."
• Aksionov laughed. "That's a lucky sign," said he. "See if I don't sell out all my goods, and bring you some presents from the fair."
• When he had travelled halfway, he met a merchant whom he knew, and they put up at the same inn for the night. They had some tea together and then went to bed in adjoining rooms.
• It was not Aksionov's habit to sleep late, and, wishing to travel while it was still cool, he aroused his driver before dawn, and told him to put in the horses.
• Then he made his way across to the landlord of the inn (who lived in a cottage at the back), paid his bill, and continued his journey.
• When he had gone about twenty-five miles, he stopped for the horses to be fed. Aksionov rested awhile in the passage of the inn, then he stepped out into the porch, and, ordering a samovar to be heated, got out his guitar and began to play.