Chapter 5 — The Tale of Melon City

It is a narrative poem by Vikram Seth about a "just and placid" king who orders a triumphal arch built. When the arch knocks off his crown, his insistence on punishing someone triggers a comic chain of blame that ends with the king himself being hanged by his own decree. An idiot then names a melon as the next king, and the citizens happily accept it as long as they are left in peace and liberty.

The poem is written by Vikram Seth. It was taken from his collection Mappings, published in 1981, and is also included in his Collected Poems.

The king is repeatedly called "just and placid", suggesting he is fair and calm. The irony is that his rigid, mechanical pursuit of justice — insisting someone must be hanged for every perceived wrong — leads to increasingly absurd consequences and ultimately to his own death, showing that blind justice without wisdom is self-defeating.

The king proclaimed that a triumphal arch should be built to span the major thoroughfare for public edification. When the arch was constructed, it was built too low. As the king rode under it, the arch knocked off his crown, which the king called "a disgrace" and which set off the entire chain of events.

The king first orders the chief builder to be hanged. The chief builder blames the workmen; the workmen say the bricks were the wrong size; the masons point to the architect; the architect reveals that the king himself had made amendments to the plans. Each accused party deflects blame onto the next until it circles back to the king.

The wisest man — so old he could not walk or see and had to be carried to court — declared in a quavering voice that the arch must be punished because it was the arch that banged the crown off. He said the arch should be hanged.

A councillor objects, pointing out that it would be shameful to hang something that had touched the king's head. The king agrees, and the plan to hang the arch is abandoned.

With the crowd growing restless and demanding a hanging, the king declares someone must be hanged immediately. The noose is set at a fixed height, and every man is measured. Only one man is tall enough to fit the noose — the king himself. He is therefore hanged by his own Royal Decree.

After the king's death, the ministers invoke the custom that whoever next passes the city gate shall choose the ruler. An idiot passes the gate, and the guards ask him to decide. Because he likes melons and it was his standard answer to all questions, he says "a melon". The ministers duly crown a melon and carry it to the throne.

Years later, when asked about their melon king, the citizens say they do not mind. They reason: "who are we to say / What he should be as long as he / Leaves us in Peace and Liberty?" The poem notes that the principles of laissez faire seem well-established there.

The poem satirises arbitrary and absurd governance. The king's mechanical justice — always seeking someone to punish regardless of true guilt — destroys him. The poem also mocks the idea that a passive, do-nothing ruler (even a literal melon) can be preferable to an over-zealous one, as long as the people are left in peace. It questions what "justice" and "liberty" really mean under hollow authority.

The poem relies on irony and absurdist humour. The repeated phrase "just and placid" becomes increasingly ironic. The escalating chain of blame, the hanging of a king by his own decree, and the coronation of a melon all build a sustained comic absurdity that highlights the hollowness of rigid, performative justice.

Yes. The NCERT Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 5 PDF is available free on CBSE PrepMaster — no sign-up or payment required.