This article covers the complete question-answer guide for Class 9 English Moments Chapter 3 – “Iswaran the Storyteller” by R.K. Laxman, prescribed by ASSEB (Assam State Board of Secondary Education) for the Class 9 curriculum. The article includes a detailed summary, all textbook questions from “Think about It” and “Talk about It,” additional short and long answer questions, and multiple choice questions to help students prepare thoroughly for their examinations.
Summary of Iswaran the Storyteller
“Iswaran the Storyteller” is a humorous and mildly spooky story written by R.K. Laxman, the celebrated Indian cartoonist and writer best known for creating the comic character “The Common Man.” The story appears in the NCERT supplementary reader Moments for Class 9.
The story revolves around Mahendra, a junior supervisor working for a firm that constructs buildings, roads, and bridges. Because his work takes him from one place to another, Mahendra has to move frequently and live in temporary locations — sometimes on the outskirts of towns, sometimes in remote, desolate areas near factories or construction sites. He has no fixed home, no permanent neighbours, and very few comforts.
Fortunately, Mahendra has a devoted servant named Iswaran, who has been with him for many years. Iswaran is not merely a cook — he is an all-in-one assistant. He cooks Mahendra’s meals, washes his clothes, keeps the quarters tidy, and even packs Mahendra’s luggage whenever it is time to move to a new location. He performs all these tasks promptly and without complaint, following Mahendra from posting to posting with absolute loyalty.
But what truly sets Iswaran apart is his extraordinary gift for storytelling. Every night after dinner, Iswaran entertains Mahendra with long, dramatic, and suspenseful tales. He narrates incidents from his past or invents stories on the spot, enriching them with vivid details, theatrical gestures, rising and falling voice, and carefully built suspense. The author compares Iswaran to a television set — because in the remote postings where Mahendra lives, there is no television and few other amusements, but Iswaran’s stories fill every evening with entertainment.
One of Iswaran’s favourite techniques is to begin a story with a seemingly unrelated event and then slowly build it up to a dramatic climax. For example, he once narrated the story of how he had seen a fallen tree on the highway. He built up the description slowly — raising his hands and eyebrows, modulating his voice — until the “fallen tree” seemed to become a monstrous, frightening creature. By the time he reached his climax, Mahendra was completely gripped.
Iswaran also tells Mahendra a remarkable story about the time he tamed a wild elephant that was running amok at a timber yard. According to Iswaran, the elephant had broken free and was causing destruction — crushing timber, knocking down sheds, and terrifying the workers. Young Iswaran (then a schoolboy) reportedly walked up to the elephant, struck it on its third toenail with a cane, and the elephant collapsed unconscious. The story is presented with such confidence and dramatic flair that it seems almost believable, though it is clearly exaggerated.
Later, Iswaran begins to describe the area around their current quarters. He tells Mahendra that the place used to be a cremation ground and that many skulls and bones are buried just below the surface of the earth. He says that spirits — ghosts of the dead — still roam the site, especially on full moon nights. In particular, he describes seeing a female ghost clutching a foetus (an unborn baby). Despite himself, Mahendra is disturbed by these stories, though he tells Iswaran not to talk such nonsense and that he does not believe in ghosts.
However, one full moon night, Mahendra is woken by a low, eerie moaning sound. Unable to resist his curiosity, he gets up and peers out of his window. To his horror, he sees a cloudy form — a dark, vague shape of a woman — squatting in the moonlight and clutching a bundle that looks like a baby. Terrified, he pulls the sheet over his head and breaks into a cold sweat. The next morning he tells Iswaran about what he saw. Iswaran, calm and matter-of-fact, confirms that yes, that must have been the ghost he had warned Mahendra about.
After that night, Mahendra cannot shake the fear. Unable to sleep peacefully at that location any longer, he decides to move to a different workplace and puts in an application for a transfer. The story ends on a quietly comic note — showing that even a rational, educated man like Mahendra can be overcome by superstition, especially when primed by a gifted storyteller like Iswaran.
Key Themes
- Power of Storytelling: Iswaran’s ability to captivate his audience through vivid narration shows how great storytelling can entertain, frighten, and even change behaviour.
- Superstition vs. Rationalism: Mahendra considers himself a rational man who does not believe in ghosts, yet he is ultimately overcome by fear — showing that superstition can affect even educated, logical people.
- Loyalty and Devotion: Iswaran’s unconditional service to Mahendra highlights the theme of faithful, affectionate loyalty.
- Imagination and Reality: The story blurs the line between what is real and what is imagined, suggesting that a powerful imagination — both the teller’s and the listener’s — can make fiction feel like fact.
Think about It
Q1. In what ways is Iswaran an asset to Mahendra?
Answer: Iswaran is an invaluable asset to Mahendra in many ways. As a domestic helper, he cooks Mahendra’s meals, washes his clothes, keeps the quarters neat and tidy, and even packs and unpacks all of Mahendra’s luggage whenever they move to a new location. He performs all these tasks efficiently and without being told. Beyond his household duties, Iswaran is also a brilliant storyteller. In the evenings, after dinner, he entertains Mahendra with dramatic, imaginative tales full of suspense and vivid detail. Since Mahendra lives in remote, isolated postings far from towns and entertainment, Iswaran’s stories serve as a substitute for television and other amusements. His complete loyalty and his multiple skills make him an extraordinarily valuable companion for a man who leads such a solitary life.
Q2. How does Iswaran describe the uprooted tree on the highway? What effect does his description have?
Answer: When Iswaran describes the uprooted tree on the highway, he does not simply state the fact plainly. Instead, he uses his characteristic technique of building suspense gradually. He pauses at the right moments, raises his hands and eyebrows dramatically, modulates his voice — lowering it to a whisper at tense moments and raising it at the climax — and uses vivid imagery. He describes the fallen tree as something “huge like a bushy beast” spread across the road, making it sound enormous and frightening rather than merely a fallen tree. The effect of his dramatic description is that Mahendra (and the reader) finds the entire narration far more exciting and gripping than it would have been if told in plain, straightforward language. Iswaran’s storytelling transforms an ordinary event into a thrilling experience.
Q3. How does Iswaran narrate the story of the tusker? Does it seem plausible to you?
Answer: Iswaran narrates the tusker (wild elephant) story with great confidence and dramatic detail. He describes how a wild elephant had escaped from a timber yard and was running amok — destroying stacks of timber, smashing sheds, and terrifying the workers and villagers. Everyone was helpless. Then young Iswaran, still a schoolboy at the time, picked up a cane, walked calmly towards the elephant, and struck it sharply on its third toenail. Immediately, the elephant swayed and fell to the ground unconscious, like a large tree being felled. Iswaran explains the technique as something he had learnt from a “book on Jallikattu” — a book on the ancient art of taming animals. The story does not seem plausible. While elephant handling is a real skill in parts of India, the idea of a young schoolboy single-handedly knocking out a rampaging tusker with a cane by hitting a specific toenail is clearly an exaggeration. The story is typical of Iswaran’s tendency to dramatise and embellish real events into near-legendary feats.
Q4. Why does the author say that Iswaran seemed to have been gifted with the ability to transform even the most mundane event into a gripping tale? How does Iswaran achieve this?
Answer: The author makes this observation because Iswaran consistently takes ordinary or simple events — a fallen tree on a road, a misbehaving elephant, a quiet moonlit night — and retells them as riveting, suspenseful stories. Iswaran achieves this effect through several techniques. First, he uses dramatic pacing — he never rushes a story but builds up slowly, adding detail upon detail. Second, he employs theatrical gestures — raising his eyebrows, widening his eyes, lowering his voice to a whisper, or pausing for effect. Third, he uses vivid imagery and exaggeration — describing things in ways that are larger-than-life. Fourth, he is skilled at withholding the climax — keeping the listener hooked by delaying the most exciting part. These combined techniques ensure that even a listener who knows the events are exaggerated finds himself completely absorbed. This is why the author compares Iswaran’s ability to that of a skilled author who has read several Tamil thrillers.
Q5. Why does the author compare Iswaran to a television set?
Answer: The author compares Iswaran to a television set because Mahendra lives in remote, desolate locations — far from towns, cinemas, and any form of organised entertainment. In such isolated postings, Mahendra has very little to do after work. Iswaran fills this void completely by narrating stories every evening after dinner. Just as a television provides entertainment, news, suspense serials, and drama, Iswaran provides all of this through his storytelling. His tales are varied — sometimes humorous, sometimes dramatic, sometimes supernatural — and they keep Mahendra entertained night after night. In this way, Iswaran functions as a one-man entertainment channel, making the author’s comparison to a television set both apt and amusing.
Q6. Mahendra is a rational man. Yet, he gets frightened on the full moon night. What does this tell us?
Answer: On the full moon night, Mahendra is woken by a low moaning sound. When he looks out of his window, he sees a cloudy, indistinct form — what appears to be a female figure squatting in the moonlight and clutching a bundle. This terrifies him. He pulls the sheet over his head and breaks into a cold sweat. The fact that even a rational, educated man like Mahendra is frightened tells us several important things. First, it shows that storytelling has immense psychological power — Iswaran’s repeated ghost stories have planted subconscious fear in Mahendra’s mind, and now his imagination amplifies whatever he sees. Second, it demonstrates that superstition and fear are universal human experiences that can overcome even logical, sceptical people when conditions — darkness, isolation, strange sounds, moonlight — are right. Third, it suggests that the line between rational thought and instinctive fear is thinner than we like to believe.
Talk about It
Q1. Do you think Iswaran is making up the ghost story, or does he genuinely believe it? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer: It is possible that Iswaran genuinely believes his own ghost stories, or at the very least, believes in the possibility of the supernatural. People who live and work in old, isolated locations — especially former cremation grounds — often develop strong beliefs in local legends and spirits, passed down through generations. Iswaran’s culture and background may have reinforced such beliefs. At the same time, Iswaran is a natural storyteller who loves dramatic effect, and it is quite possible that he consciously embellishes and exaggerates. The next morning, when Mahendra describes what he saw, Iswaran responds calmly and matter-of-factly — saying “It must be the ghost I had told you about.” This calm confidence suggests he is not deliberately trying to scare Mahendra for fun — he seems to truly accept the supernatural as part of reality. Whether he fabricates the stories or believes them, the effect is the same: Mahendra is frightened into seeking a transfer.
Q2. Mahendra calls Iswaran’s stories “nonsense.” Yet, he listens to them every night and is eventually frightened. What does this suggest about human nature?
Answer: This contrast in Mahendra’s behaviour reveals several interesting aspects of human nature. It shows that people often enjoy what they claim to disapprove of — Mahendra dismisses the ghost stories as nonsense but never asks Iswaran to stop telling them. He clearly finds them entertaining. It also shows that intellectual rejection does not always protect us from emotional reaction — the mind may say “I don’t believe in ghosts,” but the body still trembles in the dark. Most importantly, it reveals that we are highly susceptible to suggestion — after being told repeatedly that a place is haunted, a person begins to look for evidence of haunting, and once they think they see it, fear takes over. Mahendra’s experience illustrates that rationalism is a conscious choice that can be undermined by atmosphere, isolation, darkness, and a gifted storyteller.
Q3. Iswaran can be said to be a very resourceful person. Discuss.
Answer: Iswaran is indeed a very resourceful person. In a practical sense, he is skilled at managing all domestic tasks — cooking, laundering, cleaning, and packing — without any guidance or supervision. Even in remote postings with limited supplies, he manages to produce good meals and maintain an organised household. Beyond his domestic skills, Iswaran is also resourceful in an intellectual and creative sense. He entertains Mahendra every evening through stories drawn from his imagination, his experiences, or his reading — adapting his material to suit the mood and always finding new tales to tell. He seems to know about a wide variety of subjects, from elephant taming to local legends. His cheerfulness, loyalty, and adaptability — qualities that allow him to thrive in any environment — make him a genuinely resourceful and multi-talented individual.
Additional Questions
Short Answer Questions
Q1. Who is Mahendra and what is his profession?
Answer: Mahendra is a junior supervisor working for a firm that undertakes construction projects such as buildings, roads, and dams. His work requires him to move frequently from one location to another, often living in remote or isolated areas near construction sites.
Q2. Who is Iswaran? How long has he been with Mahendra?
Answer: Iswaran is Mahendra’s loyal and devoted servant. He has been with Mahendra for many years, following him from posting to posting wherever his work takes him. He functions as Mahendra’s cook, laundryman, housekeeper, and evening entertainer.
Q3. What tasks does Iswaran perform for Mahendra?
Answer: Iswaran cooks Mahendra’s meals, washes his clothes, keeps his quarters clean and orderly, and packs and unpacks his luggage when he moves to a new location. In the evenings, he also entertains Mahendra with dramatic and imaginative stories.
Q4. Where does Mahendra generally live during his postings?
Answer: Mahendra generally lives in small makeshift quarters on the outskirts of towns or in remote areas near construction sites — factories, dams, and building projects. These places are often isolated, far from urban amenities, and lacking in entertainment or social life.
Q5. What does the author mean by saying Iswaran had “an amazing ability to produce vegetables and cooking ingredients out of nowhere”?
Answer: The author means that even when Mahendra’s quarters were in very remote locations far from markets or shops, Iswaran always managed to find whatever was needed for cooking — whether vegetables, spices, or other ingredients. His ability to source materials in difficult conditions seemed almost magical, demonstrating his resourcefulness and practical intelligence.
Q6. What is the significance of the full moon in the story?
Answer: The full moon is significant because Iswaran had specifically warned Mahendra that the female ghost appeared on full moon nights. Therefore, when Mahendra wakes up on a full moon night to hear a moaning sound and sees a dark form outside, his mind — already primed by Iswaran’s stories — immediately connects the vision to the ghost. The full moon thus acts as a trigger for Mahendra’s fear and is central to the climax of the story.
Q7. What did the “cloudy form” look like that Mahendra saw from his window?
Answer: The “cloudy form” appeared to Mahendra as a dark, indistinct shape of a woman squatting in the moonlight. The figure seemed to be clutching a bundle — which, in the context of Iswaran’s earlier ghost story, Mahendra took to be a foetus (an unborn baby). The vague, shadowy nature of the form made it more terrifying, as it could neither be clearly identified nor dismissed.
Q8. What does Mahendra do after seeing the ghost?
Answer: After seeing what he believes to be a ghost, Mahendra is so frightened that he immediately pulls the bedsheet over his head and breaks into a cold sweat. The next morning he tells Iswaran what he saw. Despite his earlier rationalism, he cannot shake the fear, and soon afterwards he puts in an application for a transfer to a different workplace so that he can leave that haunted location.
Long Answer Questions
Q1. Describe Iswaran’s storytelling technique in detail. How does he manage to make even ordinary events seem extraordinary?
Answer: Iswaran is an exceptionally gifted storyteller, and his technique is multi-layered and theatrical. His first skill is pacing and suspense-building. He never reaches the climax quickly — instead, he introduces the topic casually, then slowly builds up details, pausing at key moments to let the tension rise. His listener is kept in suspense, always wanting to know what comes next. Second, Iswaran uses physical and theatrical gestures to enhance his narration. He raises his eyebrows, widens his eyes, waves his arms, lowers his voice to a whisper, and at other moments raises it dramatically. This physical performance makes the story feel live and immersive. Third, he employs vivid, exaggerated imagery — a fallen tree becomes “something huge like a bushy beast,” an elephant becomes an unstoppable force of destruction, and a former cremation ground becomes a place teeming with restless spirits. Fourth, Iswaran draws on a wide range of sources — personal experience, things he has read, local legends, and pure invention — to provide variety and freshness in his tales. The author notes that Iswaran had read several Tamil thrillers, which likely influenced his ability to build atmosphere and suspense. All these techniques combine to make his storytelling so powerful that even a rational man like Mahendra is ultimately frightened into moving away.
Q2. How does the story explore the theme of superstition versus rationalism? Use examples from the text.
Answer: “Iswaran the Storyteller” engages thoughtfully with the conflict between rational thought and superstitious belief, ultimately suggesting that the two are not as far apart as we might assume. Mahendra represents the rational, educated man. When Iswaran tells him about ghosts and spirits haunting the old cremation ground, Mahendra dismisses the stories as “nonsense” and tells Iswaran not to talk about such things. He considers himself too logical to be afraid of ghosts. Iswaran, on the other hand, represents the folk belief system — deeply immersed in local legends, supernatural stories, and the idea that the spirits of the dead linger in certain places. Despite Mahendra’s stated scepticism, the ghost stories gradually take root in his subconscious. The repeated descriptions of the haunted setting, the moaning spirit, and the full moon create an atmosphere that his rational mind cannot entirely neutralise. When the conditions are right — the full moon, the eerie sound in the night, the isolation — Mahendra’s instinctive fear overrides his intellect. He sees (or imagines he sees) the ghost, and is too terrified to remain. His decision to request a transfer shows that superstition has won over rationalism, at least temporarily. The story gently mocks this human weakness and suggests that no matter how educated or logical a person may be, the power of a well-told ghost story — especially in the right atmosphere — can make believers of us all.
Q3. What role does loneliness and isolation play in making Mahendra susceptible to Iswaran’s stories?
Answer: Loneliness and isolation play a crucial role in making Mahendra vulnerable to the power of Iswaran’s stories. Mahendra’s job forces him to live in remote, desolate postings far from urban life, social connections, and entertainment. He has no friends nearby, no family, no television or cinema, and very little to occupy his evenings. In this environment of sensory and social deprivation, Iswaran becomes Mahendra’s sole source of conversation, company, and amusement. This dependency means that Mahendra is an unusually attentive and emotionally open audience — he listens to Iswaran every evening with full attention, and the stories gradually fill his mental landscape. A person who is busily engaged with a rich social and professional life might dismiss a ghost story quickly and forget it. But Mahendra, alone in a quiet, dark, remote location night after night, has nothing else to fill his imagination. Iswaran’s stories become the dominant content of his mental world. When the full moon night arrives and Mahendra hears a strange sound, there is no other context to draw on — only the ghost stories. His isolation has made him psychologically defenceless against the power of suggestion.
Q4. What do you think actually happened on the full moon night? Was it really a ghost, or is there another explanation?
Answer: The story deliberately leaves this question open, which is part of its literary charm. There are at least two plausible explanations. The first is that Mahendra saw a real woman — perhaps a local person from a nearby village who had come to the area for some reason in the middle of the night, or possibly even Iswaran himself playing a prank in the moonlight. The second explanation, and perhaps the most likely, is that Mahendra saw nothing supernatural at all — only a shadow, a bush, or some other ordinary shape in the moonlight that his fear-primed imagination transformed into a “cloudy female form.” The human brain, when expecting to see something frightening, often finds it even in ambiguous or innocent visual stimuli. This is especially true in conditions of poor light, isolation, and heightened anxiety — all of which applied to Mahendra on that night. Iswaran’s repeated ghost stories had programmed Mahendra’s brain to expect and recognise the ghost, and so it did. The story thus offers a rational psychological explanation alongside the supernatural one, leaving the reader to decide — much as a skilled ghost story should.
Multiple Choice Questions
Q1. Who is the author of “Iswaran the Storyteller”?
(a) R.K. Narayan (b) R.K. Laxman (c) Ruskin Bond (d) Mulk Raj Anand
Answer: (b) R.K. Laxman
Q2. In which textbook does “Iswaran the Storyteller” appear?
(a) Beehive (b) Honeydew (c) Moments (d) Words and Expressions
Answer: (c) Moments
Q3. What is Mahendra’s profession?
(a) Doctor (b) Teacher (c) Junior supervisor in a construction firm (d) Government officer
Answer: (c) Junior supervisor in a construction firm
Q4. The author compares Iswaran to which of the following?
(a) A radio (b) A television set (c) A newspaper (d) A telephone
Answer: (b) A television set
Q5. What animal did Iswaran claim to have tamed single-handedly as a schoolboy?
(a) A lion (b) A tiger (c) A wild elephant (tusker) (d) A bull
Answer: (c) A wild elephant (tusker)
Q6. According to Iswaran, what was the area around their current quarters in the past?
(a) A battlefield (b) A cremation ground (c) A forest (d) A market
Answer: (b) A cremation ground
Q7. On which type of night does Iswaran say the ghost appears?
(a) Rainy night (b) Stormy night (c) Full moon night (d) New moon night
Answer: (c) Full moon night
Q8. What does Mahendra see when he looks out of the window on the full moon night?
(a) A man with a torch (b) A dog howling (c) A cloudy form of a woman clutching a bundle (d) A skeleton
Answer: (c) A cloudy form of a woman clutching a bundle
Q9. What does Mahendra do after the ghost incident?
(a) He stays and ignores it (b) He confronts Iswaran angrily (c) He applies for a transfer to a new workplace (d) He calls the police
Answer: (c) He applies for a transfer to a new workplace
Q10. How does Iswaran strike the elephant to make it fall unconscious?
(a) He hits it on the head (b) He strikes it on its third toenail with a cane (c) He throws a stone at its eye (d) He stabs it with a stick
Answer: (b) He strikes it on its third toenail with a cane
“Iswaran the Storyteller” is an entertaining and thought-provoking story that celebrates the art of narration while gently exploring how even rational minds can be conquered by the power of a well-crafted tale. For ASSEB Class 9 students, the story offers rich material for understanding character, theme, and the techniques of good storytelling.