A Horse and Two Goats is a fascinating story that explores themes of poverty, the communication gap, and the cruel nature of society. The story takes place in an Indian village where a poor farmer named Muni meets a tourist.
In this article, I am going to provide an overview of the following information:
- Author
- Characters
- Summary
- Analysis
- Themes
- Key Lessons
- Conclusion
Author
RK Narayan was an Indian writer who presented great books for readers and won numerous awards for his writing, which provided insight into the Indian lifestyle. Some famous Rk Narayan short story books are:
Characters
The storybook includes the following characters:
Muni
He is the protagonist of the story. He is a villager living with his wife and two goats.
Foreigner
He met Muni during his tour of India.
A Horse And Two Goats Summary
The setting takes place in Kritam, a fictional village consisting of thirty houses. Only one house was fabulous while others were simple huts elaborating the poverty of farmers. The best house was owned by the landlord. Muni is the protagonist of the story who lives in extreme poverty with his wife and two goats. One day, he desired to eat a good meal. He collected the drumsticks or seed pods under a tree. He ordered his wife to make a sauce of these pods. She informed him to bring ingredients from the local shop.
Muni went to see the local shopkeeper to pay off his debt. He tried to convince the shopkeeper to give him items on debt, but the shopkeeper got angry. Muni said he would pay his debt on his 50th birthday. His daughter would send him money. The shopkeeper knew that Muni was lying. He had no daughter. He insulted him and sent Muni out of the shop.
Muni returned home feeling hopeless. He took his goats and went out to chill with them near a highway. There was a statue of a horse and warrior with religious significance. A yellow car approached Muni. red-faced foreigner came out of it. He asked Muni about the gas station, but Muni, who didn’t know English, couldn’t help him with his car which seemed to be out of gas.
The foreigner told him that he decided to visit an Indian village culture after an event. Once, there was an electricity outage and he decided to visit people who lacked access to electricity. The foreigner owned a coffee business abroad. Soon, he saw the statue and got inspired. Muni told him the story behind it in Tamil. The foreigner decides to buy the statue. He handed a hundred rupees to Muni.
Muni was confused about why the foreigner gave him money. The foreigner decided to show his affection for Muni’s goats, which created a misimpression on Muni that the foreigner was interested in his goats. Muni took the money and went back to the house. He informed his wife that he sold two goats to a foreigner. Soon, the goats came back to the house. Muni’s wife thought he had stolen the money.
The story ends when a foreigner is waiting with the statue for help. A truck came that filled the gas and loaded the statue.
Analysis
The story explores the poor lifestyle of farmers. Muni lived in poverty. His survival chances were based on livestock. Further, he was uneducated. He hadn’t understood the tourist offer. He thought the foreigner was giving money for goats but actually, he was buying the statue. The communication gap created problems for Muni. He even considered a foreigner a local police who was investigating a problem.
- The story offers insight into the simple village lifestyle and its priorities. Muni was an old man who had few desires that were limited to food.
Themes
The major themes are:
Poverty
The village is portrayed as full of simple houses. Only, the landlord owned a good house out of all 30 houses. Muni was also in debt. He had to tell lies to get food items.
Communication Gap
Muni was not an educated man. He didn’t understand foreign language and offers. This created many issues in the story. They both were confused.
Neo-Colonialism
The story was written after the partition. Muni thought the foreigner was an English policeman who was going to arrest him for the investigation of a previous murder in the village.
Society
Society never helped Muni. He struggled but none of them paid an ear to his pleas.
5 Key Lessons
- I have concluded these main moral lessons from the story are:
- Education is mandatory.
- Communication skills can solve many issues.
- We should help those who face difficulties.
- Poverty should be eliminated from society by taking positive steps.
- We can solve our issues by using our minds properly.
Conclusion: A Horse And Two Goats Summary
A Horse and Two Goats By RK Narayan offers insight into the simple lifestyle of Muni who had an encounter with a red-faced foreigner. They both faced communication gaps that created issues in understanding each other’s offers. Further, the author portrays the poverty of Muni by presenting this fictional story.