Chapter 9 — Madhu's Wish

Chapter 9 of the Class 3 English NCERT textbook (Santoor), "Madhu's Wish", is a story written by Sudha Murty about a food-loving boy named Madhu who shares his lunch with an old man and is granted a magical wish from a banyan tree, only to learn through hiccups and desperation that water is more important than any food.

• Kindness and Its Reward — Madhu shares his lunch with a hungry old man under a banyan tree. The grateful old man tells Madhu that the tree will grant him any wish he asks for.
• The Lesson About Water — After wishing for endless food, Madhu gets hiccups and realises there is no water anywhere. He ends up trading all the food away just to get a single jug of water, learning that water cannot be replaced by any other drink.
• Describing People and Their Qualities — The chapter teaches children to describe characters using quality words such as kind, greedy, and generous, helping young learners connect actions to personality traits.
• Joining Sentences with 'and' and 'but' — Children practise combining two or more short sentences into one using the joining words 'and' and 'but', a key grammar skill introduced through examples from the story.

1. 01Madhu loves food and eats his lunch every day under a banyan tree.
2. 02He shares his meal with a poor old man, who gives him a magical wish from the banyan tree.
3. 03Madhu wishes for different kinds of food including laddoos, fruits like mangoes, grapes, and bananas, and savouries like samosas, kachori, and potato chips.
4. 04A basket full of each food appears instantly, but when Madhu gets hiccups, he finds there is no water anywhere.
5. 05Drinks like sharbat, kheer, and badam milk do not stop the hiccups, and he finally prays to the tree to take all the food away and give him water.
6. 06The story teaches that water is essential and no other drink can replace it.
7. 07Grammar exercises cover describing words (kind, greedy, generous) and combining sentences using 'and' and 'but'.