A Horse and Two Goats Summary

A Horse and Two Goats Summary

In this article, you will be reading a horse and two goats summary, one of the well-known works of R.K. Narayan. He has thrown lights on the important issues prevailing in society by the use of humour instead of using a serious tone. The story is focused on a villager ‘Muni’ who has two goats. He eventually enters into a miscommunication with an American. American thinks Muni as the owner of the horse statue and buys it for a hundred rupee note. Muni thinks it as a deal for his goats. He tells his wife the same. She accuses him of theft. Let us study A Horse and Two Goats Summary in detail.

A Horse and Two Goats Summary in English

The story focuses on a villager “Muni” who once owned a herd of forty sheep and goats. However, he has only two goats now. Muni takes his breakfast and then shakes down his drum sticks from the tree in front of his residence. Then he expresses his wish for a drumstick sauce. However, his wife asks him to bring groceries for the house. Muni makes efforts to arrange for the groceries from the village shop on credit but fails. Furthermore, he gets humiliation from his wife for his failure. Then, he takes his goats and moves to a place in the outskirts of the village beside the highway for grazing his goats.

Then, Muni sits under the horse statue made of clay to protect himself from the sun.  He watches the trucks. Furthermore, he sees a yellow station wagon coming towards him. A red-faced American gets out of the wagon and enquires about the nearest gas station. Muni thought him to be a policeman or a soldier who had come to enquire about the crime that took place in the nearby village. This misconception took place due to his Khaki dress. However, on finding the American friendly through his gestures, he tells him his story.

Both of them tell each other their story. Muni tells how his cattle were taken off by cheetahs and jackals. Also, he tells that he has never gone to school as only Brahmins were provided education those days. Furthermore, he tells him about the temple priest who could see the face of the thief in the camphor. He adds that all the bad men would be destroyed at the end of kali yuga. Also, he expresses his anger towards the village chief who has become rich by gathering a lot of wealth.

The American also tells Muni about his being a businessman dealing in coffee. He was forced to work four hours when there was no electricity. The incident aroused curiosity in him to look at other civilisations and thus he visited India leaving his wife in Srinagar.

The statue of horse fascinated the American. He thought Muni to be the owner of the horse. He offers him one hundred rupees for buying it. Due to miscommunication, Muni took the dealing for his goats. He always dreamt of selling his goats and start a shop with the money. So he was happy. Moreover, the American was happy to buy the horse.

Muni tells his wife about the dealing. She could not believe his words and accused him of theft. Her suspicion gets stronger when the two goats return home just after that.

Conclusion of A Horse and Two Goats

The story depicts the cultural differences between the East and the West. Also, it throws light on poverty and wealth, a theme of knowledge and wisdom. Furthermore, it portrays the rural life in India, social classes, prevailing of the caste system, prejudices and superstitious beliefs.