Directions : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some for the questions.

King Hutamasan felt he had everything in the world not only due to his riches and his noble knights, but because of his beautiful queen, Rani Matsya. The rays of the sun were put to shame with the iridescent light that Matsya illuminated, with her beauty and brains. At the right hand of the king she was known to sit and aid him in all his judicial probes. You could not escape her deep-set eyes when you committed a crime as she always knew the victim and the culprit. Her generosity preceded her reputation in the kingdom and her hands were always full to give. People in the kingdom revered her because if she passed by, she always gave to the compassionate and poor.

Far away from the kingly palace lived a man named Raman, with only ends to his poverty and no means to rectify it. Raman was wrecked with poverty as he had lost all his land to the landlord. His age enabled him little towards manual labour and so begging was the only alternative to salvage his wife and children. Every morning he went door to door for some work, food and money. The kindness of people always got him enough to take home. But Raman was a little self centered. His world began with him first, followed by his family and the rest. So he would eat and drink to his delight and return home with whatever he found excess. This routine followed and he never let anyone discover his interests as he always put on a long face when he reached home.

One day as he was relishing the bowl of rice he had just received from a humble home, he heard that Rani Matsya was to pass from the very place he was standing. Her generosity had reached his ears and he knew if he pulled a long face and showed how poor he was, she would hand him a bag full of gold coins-enough for the rest of his life, enough to buy food and supplies for his family. He thought he could keep some coins for himself and only reveal a few to his wife, so he can fulfill his own wishes.

He ran to the chariot of the Rani and begged her soldiers to allow him to speak to the queen. Listening to the arguments outside Rani Matsya opened the curtains of her chariot and asked Raman what he wanted. Raman went on his knees and praised the queen, “I have heard you are most generous and most chaste, show this beggar some charity. Rani narrowed her brows and asked Raman what he could give her in return. Surprised by such a question, Raman looked at his bowl full of rice. With spite in him he just picked up a few grains of rice and gave it to her. Rani Matsya counted the five grains and looked at his bowl full of rice and said, you shall be given what is due to you. Saying this, the chariot galloped away.

Raman abused her under his breath. This he never thought would happen. How could she ask him for something in return when she had not given him anything? Irritated with anger he stormed home and gave his wife the bowl of rice. Just then he saw a sack at the entrance. His wife said some men had come and kept it there. He opened it to find it full of rice. He put his hand inside and caught hold of a hard metal only to discover it was a gold coin. Elated he upturned the sack to find five gold coins in exact for the five rice grains. If only I had given my entire bowl, thought Raman, I would have had a sack full of gold.

Q:

What does the phrase ‘pulled a long face’, as used in the passage mean?

• 1
  Scratched his face
• 2
  Looked very sorrowful
• 3
  Disguised himself
• 4
  Put on makeup
• 5
  None of these