The Scholar's Mother Tongue: NCERT Class 4 Story (Marigold Unit 6)

etmantra30 Sept 20217 min read

Children love Birbal’s quick thinking, and this story shows it at its best. It is also a good way to talk about the languages spoken in your own family.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 4, unit 6. NCERT’s newer Class 4 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: The Scholar's Mother Tongue

Play the video three or four times. The first time, just listen. Then point at the pictures, and from the third time, say the lines along with the video. Short, repeated listening is how CALP builds a child’s English.

What your child learns

Words about a king’s court: court, courtiers, scholar
What a mother tongue is, and why it matters
Past tense words that change: go → went, tell → told
Solving a puzzle by thinking cleverly

What the story is about

A learned pandit came to King Akbar’s court. He said he could speak many languages, and he spoke them so well that nobody could tell which was his mother tongue. He challenged everyone in the court to name it. Everyone failed, and then Birbal took up the challenge.

That night, Birbal went quietly to the pandit’s room while he was asleep. He whispered into his ear and tickled it with a feather. The half-awake pandit cried out in his mother tongue. The next day, Birbal told the court that the pandit’s mother tongue was Telugu, and the surprised pandit agreed. When Akbar asked how he knew, Birbal explained that in times of difficulty a person speaks only in his mother tongue, and told the king what he had done.

New words, with Hindi meanings

scholar: a person who has studied a lot and knows a great deal (हिंदी: विद्वान)
learned: having a lot of knowledge (said “lur-nid”) (हिंदी: ज्ञानी)
court: the place where a king meets his ministers and visitors (हिंदी: दरबार)
courtiers: people who work for the king in his court (हिंदी: दरबारी)
mastery: great skill in something (हिंदी: महारत)
fluently: smoothly and easily, without stopping (हिंदी: धाराप्रवाह)
mother tongue: the first language a person learns at home (हिंदी: मातृभाषा)
challenged: asked someone to try to do something difficult (हिंदी: चुनौती दी)

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 the pandit challenge the people in the court to do?
What did Birbal do in the pandit’s room at night?
What was the pandit’s mother tongue?
What is your mother tongue, and which other languages can you speak?

Answers for parents

He challenged them to name his mother tongue.
He whispered into the sleeping pandit’s ear and tickled it with a feather.
His mother tongue was Telugu.
For example: My mother tongue is Hindi. I can also speak English and a little Punjabi.

Grammar corner: Past tense words that change

Many action words take -ed in the past, like visited and whispered. But some words change in a different way: go becomes went, tell becomes told, and come becomes came. This story uses both kinds.

Birbal went to the court early in the morning.
The pandit told the king about his many languages.
The courtiers came to hear Birbal's answer.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The first language we learn at home is our ___.
Match each word with its past form: go, tell, come. (came / went / told)
Say “good morning” in your mother tongue and then in English.

Answers: 1. mother tongue · 2. go – went; tell – told; come – came · 3. Sample: सुप्रभात – Good morning.

Try this

Act out the story with two or three people. One person is the proud pandit, one is Akbar and one is Birbal. Use a pen or a piece of paper as the feather. Afterwards, ask each family member to say “good morning” in their own mother tongue or in any other language they know.

Tip for parents

This story itself shows that the mother tongue is a strength, so tell it first in Hindi or your home language. Then ask your child to say the key words in both languages: मातृभाषा is mother tongue, दरबार is court. Mixing languages while learning is normal, so praise every try.

Questions parents ask

What is the moral of The Scholar’s Mother Tongue?

In times of difficulty, a person speaks in his mother tongue. The story also shows that clever thinking can solve a problem that others cannot.

What was the pandit’s mother tongue in the story?

Telugu. Birbal found this out when the half-awake pandit cried out in his own language at night.

Which NCERT book has The Scholar’s Mother Tongue?

It is Unit 6 of NCERT's older Marigold book for Class 4. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 4 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Santoor, NCERT’s new book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, grammar, speaking and writing practice. ₹1,299 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →