A Bottle of Dew: NCERT Class 6 English Story (Poorvi)

etmantra3 Nov 20265 min read

Who would not like a potion that turns things into gold? In this folk tale by Sudha Murty, a wise sage plays a clever trick on a lazy dreamer. Children enjoy the surprise ending and remember its lesson: hard work creates wealth.

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From NCERT’s new English book Poorvi for Class 6, unit “Fables and Folk Tales”. Unit 1.

What your child learns

The message of the story: hard work, not magic, creates wealth
Homophones: words that sound the same but differ, like sun and son, ate and eight
Joining ideas with because, before, as and as soon as
The two sounds of 's': /s/ in sage and /z/ in wisdom

What the story is about

Rama Natha is the son of a rich landlord, but he never looks after the land his father left him. He believes in a magic potion that can turn any object into gold, and he wastes money looking for it. His wife, Madhumati, is worried. One day a famous sage, Mahipati, tells him how to make the potion: grow banana plants, look after them himself, and collect five litres of morning dew from their leaves with his own hands.

Rama Natha clears his empty fields and plants rows of banana plants. Madhumati sells the bananas in the market. After six years he has his dew, but when he tries the potion, nothing turns to gold. He is angry, until Madhumati opens a box full of gold coins earned from the bananas. The sage explains that there is no magic potion; their hard work made them rich. Rama Natha understands and works even harder from then on.

New words, with Hindi meanings

landlord: a person who owns a lot of land (हिंदी: ज़मींदार)
potion: a liquid with magical powers (हिंदी: जादुई घोल)
sage: a wise and holy man (हिंदी: ऋषि, साधु)
dew: small drops of water that form on leaves at night (हिंदी: ओस)
give up: to stop trying (हिंदी: हार मानना)
tended: looked after carefully (हिंदी: देखभाल की)
plantation: a large farm where one crop is grown (हिंदी: बागान)
muttered: spoke in a low voice (हिंदी: बुदबुदाया)
precious: very valuable (हिंदी: क़ीमती)
wisdom: deep understanding (हिंदी: समझदारी, ज्ञान)

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

What did Rama Natha believe in?
What did the sage ask Rama Natha to do?
Why was Rama Natha angry when he tried the potion?
How did Rama Natha and Madhumati really become rich?
Think of a time when you worked hard for something. What did you do, and how did you feel?

Answers for parents

He believed in a magic potion that could turn any object into gold.
He asked him to grow banana plants, look after them himself and collect five litres of dew from the leaves with his own hands.
Nothing turned to gold, and he felt he had wasted six years of his life.
Rama Natha looked after a big banana plantation and Madhumati sold the bananas in the market. Their hard work made them rich.
For example: I practised my dance every evening for a month before the school function. I felt proud and happy when I danced well on stage.

Grammar corner: Homophones

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. 'Dew' (drops of water) and 'due' sound alike, and so do 'son' and 'sun'. Read the whole sentence to know which spelling is right.

The sage's son sat in the sun near the banana plants.
Madhumati sold eight baskets, and they ate the rest.
You're lucky that your fields are so big.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank with 'sea' or 'see': From the hill, we can ___ the blue ___.
Choose the right connecting word (because / as soon as): Madhumati went to the market ___ the bananas were ready.
Say these words aloud and tell whether the 's' sounds like /s/ or /z/: sand, nose, sea, keys.

Answers: 1. From the hill, we can see the blue sea. · 2. Madhumati went to the market as soon as the bananas were ready. · 3. sand /s/, nose /z/, sea /s/, keys /z/

Try this

Play 'Homophone pairs' at home. One person says a word, like 'won', and the other must give its sound-alike partner ('one') and use both in one sentence, such as 'Our team won one match.' Take turns. Then act out the last scene of the story: one person is the sage, one is Rama Natha with his bottle of dew, and one is Madhumati with the box of gold.

Tip for parents

Ask your child to tell the story to you in Hindi first, in their own words, especially the trick at the end. Then ask, 'What did the sage say?' and let them answer in English, mixing in Hindi words where they get stuck. Praise every try, and talk together about something your family achieved through hard work.

Questions parents ask

What is the moral of A Bottle of Dew?

Hard work creates wealth, not magic. Rama Natha and Madhumati became rich by looking after their banana plantation and selling the fruit.

Who are the characters in A Bottle of Dew?

Rama Natha, the son of a rich landlord; his wife Madhumati; and the wise sage Mahipati, who plays a trick to teach Rama Natha a lesson.

Is A Bottle of Dew in the new NCERT book?

Yes. It is the first chapter of NCERT's new Poorvi book for Class 6, in Unit 1 (Fables and Folk Tales). The story is by Sudha Murty.

Learn every Class 6 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Poorvi, NCERT’s new Class 6 book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, listening, grammar, speaking and writing with feedback. ₹1,599 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →