The Unlikely Best Friends: NCERT Class 6 English Story (Poorvi)

etmantra3 Nov 20266 min read

A lonely elephant in the king's stables shares his food with a hungry stray dog, and a friendship begins. When the two are pulled apart, neither of them will eat. This warm story helps children talk about friends, feelings and kindness, and practise telling events in the past.

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From NCERT’s new English book Poorvi for Class 6, unit “Friendship”. Unit 2.

What your child learns

New story words: strayed, munching, accompanied, yelped, winced, relieved
Opposites, including ones made with un-, in-, dis- and mis- (kind, unkind; appeared, disappeared)
Three past tenses: simple past, past progressive and past perfect
Joining ideas with neither... nor and either... or

What the story is about

Gajaraj, the king's elephant, has every comfort but no friend. His kind mahout feeds and bathes him, but he is only a caretaker. One evening a tired, hungry dog wanders into the stable. Gajaraj pushes some of his food towards him, and soon the two are together all the time: the dog goes with him to the pond, gets splashed with water, and rides home on the elephant's back. Then a farmer sees the dog, calls him Buntee, and takes him home on a rope.

After that, Gajaraj stops eating, and at the farmer's house Buntee stops eating too. The mahout guesses that the elephant is missing his friend, and the farmer sees the same sadness in his dog. The farmer sets Buntee free, and the dog runs straight back to the stable. Gajaraj swings him up joyfully, the two friends eat together, and the mahout and the farmer become friends as well. The story teaches that friendship can grow between the most different of beings, and that a true friend notices when you are sad.

New words, with Hindi meanings

unlikely: not what you would expect (हिंदी: अनोखा, अप्रत्याशित)
strayed: wandered in by mistake (हिंदी: भटककर आ गया)
munching: chewing food steadily (हिंदी: चबाते हुए)
accompanied: went along with someone (हिंदी: साथ गया)
yelped: gave a short, sharp cry (हिंदी: किकियाया, चीखा)
winced: pulled back a little because of pain or sadness (हिंदी: दर्द से सिकुड़ गया)
chores: small jobs that are done every day (हिंदी: रोज़ के काम)
indigestion: an upset stomach (हिंदी: बदहज़मी)
relieved: happy because a worry has gone (हिंदी: राहत मिली)
joyous: full of happiness (हिंदी: खुशी भरा)

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.

Why was Gajaraj sad even though he lived in the royal stables?
How did Gajaraj and the dog become friends?
Why did both Gajaraj and Buntee stop eating?
Why did the farmer set Buntee free?
Who is a friend of yours who is very different from you? How are you different?

Answers for parents

He had every comfort, but he had no friend. The mahout looked after him, but he was only a caretaker.
A tired, hungry dog came into the stable one evening. Gajaraj pushed some of his food towards him, and after that they spent their days together.
The farmer had taken Buntee home, so the two friends were apart. They missed each other so much that they did not want to eat.
He saw that Buntee was missing his friend and would not eat. He did not want to see his dog go hungry, so he let him go back to Gajaraj.
For example: My friend Aman is very quiet and loves reading, but I am talkative and love cricket. Still, we both like drawing and we sit together every day.

Grammar corner: Three past tenses: simple past, past progressive and past perfect

We use the simple past for an action that happened and finished (looked, gave). We use was/were + verb-ing for an action that was going on at that time (was munching). We use had + third form of the verb for an action that was already complete before another past action (had tied).

The dog ran to the stable and licked the elephant's trunk.
The mahout was cleaning the stable when the dog walked in.
The elephant had finished his bath before the sun went down.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank with the past progressive: The dog ___ (sleep) when the mahout came in.
Write the opposite of each word: kind, appeared, happy.
Make one sentence about two friends using 'neither... nor'.

Answers: 1. was sleeping · 2. unkind, disappeared, sad · 3. Neither Gajaraj nor Buntee wanted to eat without the other.

Try this

Play 'Same and different'. Sit with a friend, a brother or a sister. Take turns saying one thing you both like and one thing only one of you likes: 'Both of us like mangoes, but I like football and she likes chess.' The first person who cannot think of a new sentence loses the round. Then try a round where every sentence must use 'neither... nor' or 'either... or'.

Tip for parents

Ask your child to tell you the story in Hindi first: how Gajaraj met the dog, and why both of them stopped eating. Then ask for the same story in English, one sentence at a time, and let them use a Hindi word when they get stuck. Talk about their own friends in both languages, and praise every full English sentence they try.

Questions parents ask

What is the moral of The Unlikely Best Friends?

True friendship can grow between very different beings, and friends feel each other's sadness. Being kind to someone in need, as Gajaraj was to the hungry dog, can begin a lifelong friendship.

Who are the characters in The Unlikely Best Friends?

Gajaraj, the king's elephant; Buntee, the dog; the mahout who looks after Gajaraj; and the farmer who owns Buntee. The king is mentioned at the start. The book gives the story as told by Subba Rao (kathakids.com).

Is The Unlikely Best Friends in the new NCERT book?

Yes. It is in NCERT's new Poorvi book for Class 6, in Unit 2 (Friendship). The book says it is based on 'The Elephant and the Dog', a story from the Jataka tales.

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