Premchand's story of a festival morning, an orphan boy with three coins in his pocket, and the least exciting present ever bought at a fair.
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Ten words unlock the story. Work through the four activities — say your answer out loud before you reveal it.
Three words from the story: fragile · sturdy · relent. Say the right word, then reveal.
Premchand's story, retold here in English and shortened. Read each part. After it, there's a quick comprehension check (try the questions from memory first), then one thing to discuss.
Thirty days of fasting were over, and this was the morning of Eid. How beautiful it was! The trees looked greener, the fields brighter, the sky a softer blue; even the sun seemed to be wishing everyone a happy festival. The village was full of noise and hurry. One man was sewing a button on his only good shirt, another was running to borrow a pair of shoes. But nobody was happier than the children. Again and again they took out their treasure, counted it, and put it carefully back in their pockets. Mahmood had twelve paise. Mohsin had fifteen.
Hamid had three. He was a thin little boy of four or five, and the happiest of them all. His father had died of cholera the year before, and his mother, growing paler and paler, had followed him. Now Hamid lived with his grandmother, Amina, and slept in her lap, and was perfectly content. She had told him that his father had gone away to earn money and would come back with sacks of silver, and that his mother had gone to visit Allah and would bring him wonderful things. Hope is a great treasure. Hamid had no shoes and his cap was torn, but when his parents came home, he would have everything his heart desired.
Amina sat in her dark little room and wept. There was hardly a grain of food in the house. She had scrimped for weeks, and still it was not enough. And how could she let a child of five walk three miles to the Idgah, without shoes on his feet? But Hamid ran in, his face shining. "Don't be afraid, Granny. I'll be the first one back!" So she gave him three paise — a pittance, but all she could spare — and watched him run off down the road with the others.
1. What has happened to Hamid's parents, and what has his grandmother told him about them?
2. Why is Amina crying while the children are celebrating?
1. Both have died — his father of cholera, his mother soon after. Amina has told him his father has gone to earn money and his mother has gone to visit God, and that both will come back with gifts.
2. Because she is very poor: there is almost no food for the festival, Hamid has no shoes, and she is worried about letting such a small child walk three miles to the Idgah.
On the way, the town amazed them. There were great houses with gardens, colleges full of grown men with moustaches still studying, a police station, and a sweet shop piled high with sugary pyramids. Mohsin told them that genies brought the shopkeeper money every night; Mahmood said the policemen were thieves themselves. Hamid listened to it all with wide eyes, and walked faster, his bare feet hot on the dusty road.
At the Idgah, thousands of people stood in long rows under the tamarind trees. When the prayers began, every row bowed together and knelt together, again and again, as if a thousand lamps had been lit on a single thread. Then everyone embraced, and the children ran for the fair.
There were merry-go-rounds with wooden horses, and the friends paid a paisa each and went round and round while Hamid watched. There were painted clay toys — a soldier, a water-carrier, a lawyer in a black coat. Mahmood bought the soldier, Mohsin the water-carrier, Noor the lawyer. Hamid wanted one badly, but he only said, "They're made of clay. Drop them and they'll break." Then came the sweet stalls. "Hamid, have one!" said Mohsin, holding one out — and, when Hamid reached for it, put it in his own mouth. Everyone laughed.
Beyond the sweets was a shop selling ironware, and there Hamid stopped. On the counter lay a pair of iron tongs. He thought of his grandmother making bread on the hot griddle with her bare hands, burning her fingers every single day. What use was a toy? Sweets were gone in a minute. But tongs would last for years. "How much?" "Six paise." Hamid's heart sank. "Three?" he said, and began to walk away. The man watched him go, then relented: "Come on, then. Three." Hamid put the tongs on his shoulder like a rifle and swaggered back to his friends.
1. What do Hamid's friends spend their money on, and what does Hamid say about the toys?
2. Why does Hamid buy the tongs, and how does he get them for three paise?
1. Rides on the merry-go-round, painted clay toys (a soldier, a water-carrier, a lawyer) and sweets. Hamid says the toys are clay and will break if they fall.
2. Because his grandmother burns her fingers every day making bread. He offers three paise and walks away; the shopkeeper relents and calls him back.
"Tongs!" laughed Mohsin. "Are you going to make bread at the fair?" "On my shoulder they're a rifle," said Hamid calmly. "In my hand they're a fakir's tongs — I can play music on them. Besides, one blow and every one of your toys would be finished." "My water-carrier brings water every day," said Mohsin. "And what happens when he gets wet? After all, he's only mud. What's more, put my tongs in the fire and they'll come out smiling." One by one the friends went quiet. Soon they were offering their toys just to hold the tongs for a moment. The tables had turned. By evening, Mahmood's soldier had lost a leg, Mohsin's water-carrier lay in pieces on the step, and Noor's lawyer had fallen from a high shelf. The tongs remained.
When Hamid ran in, his grandmother stared. "Tongs? You foolish boy! It's almost midday, you've had nothing to eat or drink, and you spent your money on tongs?" Hamid answered, a little guiltily: "Your fingers burn on the griddle. So I bought them." Her anger was gone in an instant. This child had stood at the fair while the others ate, and thought of her. Her heart melted. She took him in her arms and wept, and blessed him again and again, her tears falling on his head. Hamid could not understand why. And here is the strangest thing of all: the little boy Hamid had played the part of an old man, and old Amina had become a little girl again.
1. Give three arguments Hamid uses to win against his friends.
2. What happens to the clay toys, and how does Amina react to the tongs — first, and then?
1. Any three: the tongs are a rifle or a musical instrument; one blow would break all the toys; clay melts when wet; the tongs survive even fire.
2. All three break by evening. Amina is first angry that he wasted his money and went hungry; when he explains that her fingers burn, she is overwhelmed with love, weeps and blesses him.
Hamid has no money and no toy, and he still wins. His secret is structure: he doesn't just say my tongs are better; he adds a reason, then another, then a stronger one, then reminds everyone of something they can't deny. English has a set of small words for exactly those moves.
Use each once.
1. "Why should I buy a clay toy? , it's only mud — everyone knows mud breaks."
2. "Tongs are useful in the kitchen. , I can play music on them."
3. "Laugh if you like. , I'm happy with my choice."
1. After all (a reason everyone already accepts) 2. Besides (an extra point) 3. Anyway (dismissing what came before)
Complete each sentence with the right expression.
1. Amina couldn't afford shoes for Hamid, new clothes for the festival.
2. The tongs weren't a waste of money. , they were the best thing he could have bought.
3. The sweets were sticky and unhealthy, gone in a minute.
1. let alone (after a negative: even less possible) 2. If anything (correction in the opposite direction) 3. not to mention (an extra, "obvious" point)
Fill each gap with one marker from this lesson, then perform the speech aloud as Hamid.
"You think my tongs are boring. , they're the most exciting thing at the fair. On my shoulder they're a rifle. , in my hand they're a musical instrument. Your soldier can't hold a gun, win a battle. Your water-carrier is very nice. , the first rain will wash him away. And your lawyer is fragile, ugly. , they're only made of clay. , you can laugh all you like — my grandmother will never burn her fingers again."
If anything · What's more / Besides · let alone · Even so / All the same · not to mention · After all · Anyway / In any case
Notice the shape: correction → addition → impossibility → concession → extra point → the fact no one can deny → dismissal. A complete argument in seven moves.
Hold on to these structures — in the Speak tab you'll narrate the story and then win an argument of your own.
Premchand (1880–1936), born Dhanpat Rai Srivastava near Varanasi, is often called the greatest writer of modern Hindi and Urdu fiction. He wrote around three hundred short stories and more than a dozen novels, many about the rural poor of north India — peasants, widows, labourers, children. He lost both his parents young and knew poverty well. "Idgah" first appeared in 1933, three years before his death, and is still one of the most widely read stories in South Asia, studied in schools in India and Pakistan alike.
This is the heart of the lesson — do all of it out loud. The timer is there to keep you going: fill the time with detail rather than racing through it.
Tell Idgah as if to someone who has never read it, and save the reason for the tongs until the very end, the way Premchand does. Move through the arc: Eid morning and the counting of coins → Hamid, his parents, his grandmother's tears → the prayers → rides, toys, sweets, the teasing → the iron shop and the haggling → the great argument → the broken toys → Amina's anger, and then her tears.
Use at least four discourse markers from today (including one let alone) and at least five key words (pittance, haggle, taunt, fragile, sturdy, relent, swagger, scrimp, melt someone's heart, the tables have turned).
Be Hamid's lawyer. Argue that the tongs were the best purchase at the fair; the other side argues that a five-year-old deserves one day of fun, and that a child buying kitchen tools is a sign that something is wrong. Use the four moves: add, add a decisive point, concede and win, dismiss.
Then argue the opposite for one minute — the harder direction is where the language comes from.
The story is about what we choose to spend on, and why. Talk about it in your own life.
Stuck for an idea? Pick one of these and run with it: