Here is a Summary and Analysis of A Horse and Two Goats by R K Narayan. This would provide learners with a proper detail of the poem to comprehend it properly.
Summary of A Horse and Two Goats
“A Horse and Two Goats” is a short story by R.K. Narayan. The story is set in the small Indian village of Kritam where the main character Muni, a poor farmer, lives with his wife.
One day, an American tourist named Mr. Johnson comes to the village and sees Muni’s two goats. Mr. Johnson offers to buy the goats, but Muni misunderstands and sells him the horse statue in his front yard instead.
Muni is left feeling foolish and regrets the sale, but Mr. Johnson is pleased with his purchase. The story is a commentary on the cultural differences and misunderstandings that can occur between people from different backgrounds.
Analysis of A Horse and Two Goats-Part-1
The first paragraph provides background information on the story, “A Horse and Two Goats” by R.K. Narayan. The author’s name and publication history of the story are mentioned, as well as the fact that it is not one of Narayan’s more well-known works.
The second paragraph describes the setting of the story, which takes place in the small Indian village of Kritam. The village is described as having a grandiose name, but only thirty houses, mostly simple thatched huts. The only sophisticated residence in the village is the Big House, a brick and cement building. The main character, Muni, is described as an old goat herder who lives with his wife in one of the huts, and is the poorest resident of the village. He spends his days herding his flock of goats and sheep to the highway on the outskirts of the village.
Analysis of A Horse and Two Goats-Part-2
The third paragraph of “A Horse and Two Goats” by R.K. Narayan describes a specific moment in the story in which the main character, Muni, wants to make a special meal for himself and his wife.
He picks some “drumsticks,” or seed pods, from a tree in front of his home and asks his wife to cook them in a sauce.
The context of this moment is established by the fact that Muni and his wife are very poor, and their daily meals usually consist of only millet and an onion.
The paragraph goes on to describe how Muni tries to get the ingredients for the sauce from the village shop, but he has no money to pay for them.
He tries to convince the shop owner to give him the items on credit by engaging in conversation and laughing at his jokes, but the shop owner shows Muni a ledger of past debts he owes and says he must pay them off before he can apply for credit.
Muni tells the shop owner that his daughter will give him some money for his fiftieth birthday, but the shop owner doesn’t believe him, as Muni looks older than that. The paragraph shows the poverty and struggle of Muni and his wife, and their effort to improve their life
Analysis of A Horse and Two Goats-Part-3
In the 4th paragraph of “A Horse and Two Goats” by R.K. Narayan, the protagonist, Muni, goes home and tells his wife to sell the drumsticks because he was unable to obtain the ingredients for the sauce.
He then takes his flock of goats to the highway to graze as usual. While there, he sits on a pedestal at the base of a clay statue depicting a majestic horse and warrior.
The statue has been there since Muni was a young child and his grandfather had explained to him that the horse in the statue was a reference to the mythical horse Kalki, who according to Tamil legend will come to life when the world ends and trample all bad men.
As Muni is sitting there, he sees a yellow station wagon coming towards him down the highway.
Analysis of A Horse and Two Goats-Part-4
In the 5th paragraph of “A Horse and Two Goats” by R.K. Narayan, a white foreigner driving a car that runs out of gas stops in front of the statue where Muni is sitting. The foreigner, who is a coffee trader from New York, tries to communicate with Muni in English but Muni does not speak English and the foreigner does not speak Tamil, so they cannot understand each other.
The foreigner takes an interest in the statue and offers to buy it, thinking it belongs to Muni. However, Muni does not understand what the foreigner wants and initially mistakes him for a police officer because he is dressed in khaki.
Muni believes the man has arrived to investigate a dead body that was found on the border between Kritam and a neighboring village a few weeks before. Muni tells him he does not know anything about the incident and that the murderer probably lives in the other village.
Analysis of A Horse and Two Goats-Part-4
The 6th paragraph of “A Horse and Two Goats” by R.K. Narayan describes a conversation between the protagonist Muni and a foreigner, who is interested in buying a statue that Muni owns.
The foreigner offers Muni cigarettes and explains that he and his wife Ruth decided to travel to India on vacation after a power failure in the Empire State Building forced him to work four hours without air conditioning on a hot summer day.
Muni eventually realizes that the foreigner is interested in the statue and starts explaining the statue’s history and the legend of Kalki. Muni also talks about the Hindi religion and asks the foreigner about his family while the latter tries to negotiate a price for the statue and says that it would look good in his living room.
The conversation continues for a while before the foreigner gives Muni a hundred-rupee note and asks him to help move the statue to his car. Muni, believing the man is asking him for change, suggests he go to the village money-lender, but when the foreigner stoops down to pet some of his goats, Muni mistakenly believes that the man is giving him a hundred rupees to buy his flock.
Elated, Muni accepts the man’s money and leaves the goats behind for him. This paragraph highlights the cultural and language barrier between the two characters and how their different perspectives lead to a misunderstanding that results in Muni selling his beloved goats.
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