Self Evaluation: WITNESS
Evaluator: ______Evaluated:______
0 The thought is missing, nothing was signed.
1Too much information, or too many facts, or data is missing. There are some major grammatical
errors. It is unintelligible due to major sign production errors or poor grammar.
2Some/little information, facts or data is missing. Minor grammatical and sign production errors.
3All clear and in good form. Your message was clearly understood.
0 1 23A Thakur borrowed a large sum of money from a Bania and despite repeated reminders failed to repay it.
0 1 2 3 One day, the Bania went to the Thakur's house when he was entertaining guests and demanded the money. The Thakur, embarrassed, promised to come to his place the next day with the money.
0 1 2 3But he had no intention of repaying the loan. Instead, he wanted to take revenge against the Bania for humiliating him in front of his guests. So one evening, he waylaid the man on a deserted stretch of road.
0 1 2 3"No one can insult me and get away with it!" he said, drawing out his sword.
0 1 2 3The Bania thought fast. "I was expecting you would do something like this," he said. "I've left a letter with my wife. If I do not return home by nightfall, she will take the letter to the Rana. The letter details the business transaction between us and the steps I took to recover the money. It also expresses the fear that you might do me some harm."
0 1 2 3The Thakur lowered his sword. He knew that the Bania could be bluffing but he did not want to take a chance. The Rana was known to be harsh on defaulters and murderers.
0 1 2 3 "I'll spare your worthless life," he said, finally,"but I'll chop off your nose. That'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget."
0 1 2 3 "If I write off your loan, will you forgive me?" asked the Bania.
0 1 2 3 "I might," said the Thakur, guardedly, "but you must give me a receipt to say I've paid you in full. I don't trust you."
0 1 2 3 "I'll make out a receipt right away," said the Bania, hastily opening his bundle of books."But we'll require a witness."
0 1 2 3 "No witness!" cried the Thakur. "Just give me a receipt to say that I've paid you in full."
0 1 2 3 "The receipt has no value unless there is a witness," said the Bania. "Why don't we make that old banyan tree a witness?"
0 1 2 3 The Thakur reasoned that there could be no harm in making a banyan tree a witness. It could not reveal the circumstances in which the receipt was made. So he agreed. They stood under the banyan tree, and the Bania wrote out the receipt and gave it to the other man. The Thakur pocketed it and went away, very pleased with himself.
0 1 2 3 But the very next day, he received a summons from the Rana. When he went to the Rana's palace he found the Bania there.
0 1 2 3 "Did you borrow money from this man?" asked the Rana.
0 1 2 3"I did," said the Thakur.
0 1 2 3 "Why haven't you repaid it?"
0 1 2 3 "But I have," said the Thakur and triumphantly taking out the receipt from his pocket, handed it over to the Rana.
0 1 2 3"So your witness was a banyan tree," said the Rana, looking at the receipt.
0 1 2 3"Yes," said the Thakur, "there was nobody else there."
0 1 2 3 "So you admit accosting him in a deserted spot?"
0 1 2 3"No, no," said the Thakur, panicking. "I...I... just happened to meet him there."
0 1 2 3"Anyway this receipt is useless," said the Rana. "It does not carry this man's signature, only the witness's.
0 1 2 3"What!" gasped the Thakur, taking the paper from the Rana's hand.He stared at it and turned pale. Instead of putting his signature at the bottom, the Bania had scribbled: "Banyan Tree".
— Based on a Rajasthani folktale.
Tape B: 1st Story
Know All the Facts
One old man was sitting with his 25 years old son in the train. The train is about to leave the station. All the passengers are settling down onto their seats. As the train started, the young man was filled with a lot of joy and curiosity. He was sitting on the window side. He let one hand out the window and was feeling the passing air. He shouted, "Papa see all the trees going past". The old man smiled at his son proudly. Beside the young man, one couple was sitting and listening at all the conversation between father and son. They felt a bit awkward about the attitude of a 25 years old man behaving like a small child.
Suddenly the young man shouted again, "Papa see the pond and the animals!, the clouds are moving with the train". The longer the couple listened to the young man, it became embarrassing for them. Now it has started raining and some of the water drops touched the young man's hand. The young man was filled with joy as he closed his eyes. He shouted again," Papa it's raining, the water is touching me, see papa". The couple couldn't help themselves and asked the old man, Why don't you visit the Doctor and get your son treated.
The old man said," Yes, We came from the hospital recently. Today my son got his eyes for the first time in his life".
Moral: "Don't draw conclusions until you know all the facts".
Tape B: 2nd Story
The Unwelcome Guests:
Ponnan was a poor but generous man always ready to share whatever little he had with others. He often brought home people he barely knew for tea or lunch, thereby causing great hardship to his wife. One morning when his wife looked out of the window, she saw three fat men coming towards her house and guessed at once they were coming to her house for lunch at her husband's invitation.
As she turned away from the window her gaze fell on the mortar and pestle that she used for pounding the rice and suddenly she got an idea....
When the men arrived at the front door sometime later they were pleased by the warm welcome given them by their host's wife. But when they entered the house they were puzzled by a strange sight - a mortar and pestle made ready for worship, stood in the hall.
"What is this?" asked one of the men. "Who worships this mortar and pestle?"
"Don't you know?" said the woman, pretending great surprise. "It is my husband's deity. A strange deity it is too. It demands human blood. When my husband comes home he'll pick up the pestle and hit you on your heads to draw blood. So many times I have told him : 'Don't do it, don't do it' because it is I who have to clean the floor afterwards..."
Ponnan returned just then and he was puzzled to see the men hurrying away from his house.
"They wanted the pestle," explained his wife, "and I refused to give it to them."
Oh, you foolish woman!" said the husband. "If they wanted the pestle you should have given it," and he picked up the pestle and ran after them.
"Come back! Come back!" he shouted to the men. "You can take the pestle."
The men, already badly frightened, thought he was coming to hit them with the pestle and ran for their lives.
Ponnan sometimes wondered why people had stopped accepting his invitations and why his wife smiled every time she touched the pestle. But she never let out the secret.
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