Question

The hermit ‘spoke only to common people’; so the king ‘put on simple clothes’. Do you think the king hoped to be mistaken for a common man, or was he just showing that he was a humble person? What shows that the hermit knew him to be the king?

Answer 1

I think the king wanted to show he was humble because he was desperate to get answers to his questions. In fact, he approached the hermit and immediately sought answers to his queries. He even lost patience when the hermit didn’t answer his questions for a long time shows that the king didn’t expect to be treated as a common man. Instead of trying to learn from the hermit’s actions, the king was only interested in finding his own answers, which shows that, though he dressed in simple clothes, he still expected to be respected as a king. On the other hand, the hermit’s constant ignorance of the king’s repeated questions shows that he knew he was not a common man. The king’s impatience must also have made the hermit realise that he wasn’t dealing with a common man. His firm resolve to make the king understand the answers to his questions shows that he wanted to treat him like any other man, so that he could make him more humble.