Iswaran the Storyteller (Class 9 English)

TL;DR: This story by R.K. Narayan portrays a clever cook who uses storytelling to maintain his position and win over his employer. It celebrates the art of n…

This story by R.K. Narayan portrays a clever cook who uses storytelling to maintain his position and win over his employer. It celebrates the art of narrat

Iswaran the Storyteller — Summary

Iswaran is the cook of a middle-aged man who lives alone. Iswaran keeps his job through his remarkable storytelling ability, regaling his employer with vivid and often exaggerated tales. His stories range from encounters with tigers and snakes to ghost stories and tales of adventure. The employer, though skeptical of many of Iswaran's tales, is captivated by his storytelling prowess and keeps him on despite occasionally replacing him. Iswaran's stories are embellished and often implausible, yet they serve a purpose: they provide company, entertainment, and companionship to a lonely man. The employer comes to value Iswaran not merely as a cook but as a companion and entertainer. The narrative highlights how storytelling can create bonds between people and how a skilled raconteur can find his place in society through the power of narrative. The story also subtly explores loneliness and the human need for connection and entertainment.

Characters

• Iswaran: A clever cook whose storytelling ability makes him indispensable, using narrative to maintain his position and provide companionship.
• The Employer: A lonely middle-aged man who values Iswaran's stories and companionship despite his occasional doubts about their veracity.

Themes

• Storytelling and narrative power
• Loneliness and companionship
• Human connection through words
• Cleverness and resourcefulness
• The art of entertaining

Poetic and Literary Devices

Story within a story

Iswaran's tales are told inside the frame of Mahendra's account, so the reader hears them as Mahendra does.

Suspense

Iswaran never finishes a tale without a dramatic pause — "and then, what do you think happened?" — which is his whole technique.

Humour

The absurdity of the tusker episode, and Iswaran's casual claim to have felled an elephant with a crowbar, are told with a straight face.

Imagery

The moonlit night, the white sari-clad figure with a bundle, the dishevelled hair — the ghost scene is built entirely from visual detail.

Irony

Mahendra dismisses ghost stories as nonsense until he believes he sees one, and it is the storyteller's art rather than any ghost that unnerves him.

NCERT Textbook Questions — Answered

Q1. In what way is Iswaran an asset to Mahendra?

Iswaran cooked, washed clothes and cleaned the house, and could conjure up a hot meal from apparently nothing however remote the posting. He was attached to Mahendra and followed him uncomplainingly to every site. Above all he entertained him with an endless supply of stories in places where there was nothing else to do, which made the isolation bearable.

Q2. How does Iswaran describe the uprooted tree on the highway? What does it tell us about him?

He describes it theatrically, as a large stone-like creature lying across the road with enormous bushy hair, and only gradually reveals it was an uprooted tree. It shows that he cannot tell anything plainly: every ordinary event is dramatised, with suspense and description borrowed from the Tamil thrillers he reads.

Q3. How did Iswaran describe the tusker?

He said a tusker escaped from a timber yard and ran amok, smashing fences, huts and stalls and uprooting trees. It entered the school ground where boys were playing, and Iswaran claimed that he alone took a crowbar, crept up, and struck the third toenail of the animal, which shuddered and collapsed. The scale of the boast is the point of the episode.

Q4. Why does Mahendra decide to leave the place?

Because he can no longer sleep there. After Iswaran tells him the factory is built on a burial ground and then describes a female ghost with a foetus in her arms, Mahendra dismisses it — until one full-moon night he looks out and sees, as he believes, exactly that figure. Shaken, he decides to leave the haunted place rather than spend another night in it.

Q5. Can you think of any other ending for the story?

One natural alternative is that Mahendra investigates the next morning and finds an ordinary explanation — a woman from a nearby settlement, or Iswaran himself staging the scene — which would make the story a comedy about suggestion rather than a ghost story. Another is that Mahendra stays, hears more tales, and comes to enjoy them, leaving the question of the ghost permanently open.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the employer keep Iswaran despite doubting his stories?

The employer values Iswaran primarily for the companionship and entertainment he provides. The truth of the stories is less important than the connection and comfort Iswaran offers to a lonely man.

What does Iswaran's success reveal about human nature?

It reveals that humans are drawn to stories and narrative and that storytelling creates bonds between people. Iswaran's ability to entertain and provide companionship through words makes him valuable despite his professional role as a cook.

More Class 9 English Chapters

• The Fun They Had
• The Sound of Music
• The Little Girl
• A Truly Beautiful Mind
• The Snake and the Mirror
• The Lost Child

🤖 Stuck on any of these? Ask Syllab's free AI Tutor to explain step by step →