Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below the Reading Comprehension.
A long time ago, on a big tree in the lap of the mountain, lived a bird named Sindhuka. It was a rather special bird because its droppings turned into gold as soon as they hit the ground.
One day, a hunter came to the tree in search of prey and he saw Sindhuka’s droppings hit the ground and turn into gold. The hunter was struck with wonder. He though, “I have been hunting birds and small animals since I was a boy, but in all my 80 years, I have never seen such a miraculous creature. He decided that he had to catch the bird somehow. He climbed the tree and skillfully set a trap for the bird. The bird, quite unaware of the danger it was in, stayed on the tree and sang merrily. But it was soon caught in the hunter’s trap. The hunter immediately seized it and shoved it into a cage.
The hunter took the bird home joyfully. But as he had time to think over his good fortune later, he suddenly realised, “If the king comes to know of this wonder, he will certainly take away the bird from me and he might even punish me for keeping such a rare treasure all to myself. So it would be safer and more honourable if I were to go to the king and present the unique bird to him,” The next day, the hunter took the bird to the king and presented it to him in court with great reverence. The king was delighted t o receive such an unusual and rare gift. He told his courtiers to keep the bird safe and feed it with the best bird food available.
The king’s prime minister though, was reluctant to accept the bird. He said “O Rajah, how can you believe the word of a foolish hunter accept this bird? Has anyone in our kingdom ever seen abird dropping gold? The hunter must be either crazy or telling lies. I think it is best that you release the bird from the cage.” After a little thought, the king felt that his prime minister’s words were correct. So he ordered the bird to be released. But as soon as the door of the cage was thrown open, the bird flew out, perched itself on a nearby doorway and defecated. To everyone’s surprise, the dropping immediately turned into gold. The king mourned his loss.
