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So one day, he went to town to find

a shop that sold spectacles. At last he
found one.

He entered the shop and asked the

shopkeeper, “Sir, can I get a pair of
spectacles for reading?”

The shopkeeper gave him many pairs
of spectacles and a book to read. The

villager tried all the spectacles one by

one but he could not read anything.

He said to the shopkeeper, “All these spectacles are useless. I can’t read anything.”

The shopkeeper looked at him surprised. He
had shown the man all the pairs he had. The

man had tried them all! “Why can’t he read? I
can’t understand this,” he said to himself.

His eyes fell on the book in the man’s hand.
He was holding it upside down! He said to

the villager, “ Perhaps you don’t know how to
read.”

The villager replied, “No, I don’t know how to

read. I am an illiterate. I want to buy spectacles
so that I can read like others. But I can’t read
with any of these spectacles.”

The shopkeeper now understood why the villager could not read.

“My dear friend, spectacles don’t help you to read and write. They only help you to see better.
You must first learn how to read and write,” he said.

The villager left the shop feeling quite disappointed. All the same he realized that it was
important to know how to read and write.

Word Power

illiterate: unable to read and write spectacles: eye glasses
disappointed: unhappy that something did not happen the way you wanted it to

Arrow - English Plus-6 8