,Board,Class,Subject,ChunkData,Book | |
0,CBSE,Class10,English,"The Thief's Story | |
2 | |
A young boy makes friends with Anil. | |
Anil trusts him completely and employs him. Does the boy betray his trust? | |
READ AND FIND OUT | |
• Who does ‘I’ refer to in this story? | |
• What is he “a fairly successful hand” at? | |
• What does he get from Anil in return for his work? | |
I WAS still a thief when I met Anil. | |
And though only 15, I was an experienced and fairly successful hand. | |
Anil was watching a wrestling match when I approached him. He was about 25 — a tall, lean fellow — and he looked easy-going, kind and simple enough for my purpose. | |
I hadn’t had much luck of late and thought I might be able to get into the young man’s confidence. | |
“You look a bit of a wrestler yourself,” I said. | |
A little flattery helps in making friends. | |
“So do you,” he replied, which put me off for a moment because at that time I was rather thin. | |
“Well,” I said modestly, “I do wrestle a bit.” | |
“What’s your name?” | |
“Hari Singh,” I lied. | |
I took a new name every month. | |
That kept me ahead of the police and my former employers. | |
After this introduction, Anil talked about the well-oiled wrestlers who were grunting, lifting and throwing each other about. | |
I didn’t have much to say. | |
Anil walked away. | |
I followed casually. | |
“Hello again,” he said. | |
I gave him my most appealing smile. | |
“I want to work for you,” I said. | |
“But I can’t pay you.” | |
I thought that over for a minute. | |
Perhaps I had misjudged my man. | |
I asked, “Can you feed me?” | |
“Can you cook?” | |
“I can cook,” I lied again. | |
“If you can cook, then may be I can feed you.” | |
He took me to his room over the Jumna Sweet Shop and told me I could sleep on the balcony. | |
But the meal I cooked that night must have been terrible because Anil gave it to a stray dog and told me to be off. | |
But I just hung around, smiling in my most appealing way, and he couldn’t help laughing. | |
Later, he patted me on the head and said never mind, he’d teach me to cook. | |
He also taught me to write my name and said he would soon teach me to write whole sentences and to add numbers. | |
I was grateful. | |
I knew that once I could write like an educated man there would be no limit to what I could achieve. | |
It was quite pleasant working for Anil. | |
I made the tea in the morning and then would take my time buying the day’s supplies, usually making a profit of about a rupee a day. | |
I think he knew I made a little money this way but he did not seem to mind. | |
The Thief’s Story 9 Footprints without Feet10 | |
Anil made money by fits and starts. | |
He would borrow one week, lend the next. | |
He kept worrying about his next cheque, but as soon as it arrived he would go out and celebrate. | |
It seems he wrote for magazines — a queer way to make a living! | |
One evening he came home with a small bundle of notes, saying he had just sold a book to a publisher. | |
At night, I saw him tuck the money under the mattress. | |
I had been working for Anil for almost a month and, apart from cheating on the shopping, had not done anything in my line of work. | |
I had every opportunity for doing so. | |
Anil had given me a key to the door, and I could come and go as I pleased. | |
He was the most trusting person I had ever met. | |
And that is why it was so difficult to rob him. It’s easy to rob a greedy man, because he can afford to be robbed; but it’s difficult to rob a careless man — sometimes he doesn’t even notice he’s been robbed and that takes all the pleasure out of the work. | |
Well, it’s time I did some real work, I told myself; I’m out of practice. | |
And if I don’t take the money, he’ll only waste it on his friends. | |
After all, he doesn’t even pay me. | |
READ AND FIND OUT | |
• How does the thief think Anil will react to the theft? | |
• What does he say about the different reactions of people when they are robbed? | |
• Does Anil realise that he has been robbed? | |
Anil was asleep. | |
A beam of moonlight stepped over the balcony and fell on the bed. | |
I sat up on the floor, considering the situation. | |
If I took the money, I could catch the 10.30 Express to Lucknow. | |
Slipping out of the blanket, I crept up to the bed. | |
Anil was sleeping peacefully. | |
His face was clear and unlined; even I had more marks on my face, though mine were mostly scars. | |
My hand slid under the mattress, searching for the notes. | |
When I found them, I drew them out without a sound. | |
Anil sighed in his sleep and turned on his side, towards me. | |
I was startled and quickly crawled out of the room. | |
When I was on the road, I began to run. | |
I had the notes at my waist, held there by the string of my pyjamas. | |
I slowed down to a walk and counted the notes: 600 rupees in fifties! | |
I could live like an oil-rich Arab for a week or two. | |
When I reached the station I did not stop at the ticket office (I had never bought a ticket in my life) but dashed straight to the platform. | |
The Lucknow Express was just moving out. | |
The train had still to pick up speed and I should have been able to jump into one of the carriages, but I hesitated — for some reason I can’t explain — and I lost the chance to get away. | |
When the train had gone, I found myself standing alone on the deserted platform. | |
I had no idea where to spend the night. | |
I had no friends, believing that friends were more trouble than help. | |
And I did not want to make anyone curious by staying at one of the small hotels near the station. | |
The only person I knew really well was the man I had robbed. | |
Leaving the station, I walked slowly through the bazaar. | |
In my short career as a thief, I had made a study of men’s faces when they had lost their goods. | |
The greedy man showed fear; the rich man showed anger; the poor man showed acceptance. | |
But I knew that Anil’s face, when he discovered the theft, would show only a touch of sadness. | |
Not for the loss of money, but for the loss of trust. | |
I found myself in the maidan and sat down on a bench. | |
The night was chilly — it was early November — and a light drizzle added to my discomfort. | |
Soon it was raining quite heavily. | |
My shirt and pyjamas stuck to my skin, and a cold wind blew the rain across my face. | |
The Thief’s Story 11 | |
I went back to the bazaar and sat down in the shelter of the clock tower. | |
The clock showed midnight. | |
I felt for the notes. | |
They were damp from the rain. | |
Anil’s money. | |
In the morning he would probably have given me two or three rupees to go to the cinema, but now I had it all. | |
I couldn’t cook his meals, run to the bazaar or learn to write whole sentences any more. | |
I had forgotten about them in the excitement of the theft. | |
Whole sentences, I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. | |
It was a simple matter to steal — and sometimes just as simple to be caught. | |
But to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else. | |
I should go back to Anil, I told myself, if only to learn to read and write. | |
I hurried back to the room feeling very nervous, for it is much easier to steal something than to return it undetected. | |
I opened the door quietly, then stood in the doorway, in clouded moonlight. | |
Anil was still asleep. | |
I crept to the head of the bed, and my hand came up with the notes. | |
I felt his breath on my hand. | |
I remained still for a minute. | |
Then my hand found the edge of the mattress, and slipped under it with the notes. | |
I awoke late next morning to find that Anil had already made the tea. | |
He stretched out his hand towards me. | |
There was a fifty-rupee note between his fingers. | |
My heart sank. | |
I thought I had been discovered. | |
“I made some money yesterday,” he explained. | |
“Now you’ll be paid regularly.” | |
My spirits rose. | |
But when I took the note, I saw it was still wet from the night’s rain. | |
“Today we’ll start writing sentences,” he said. | |
He knew. | |
But neither his lips nor his eyes showed anything. | |
I smiled at Anil in my most appealing way. | |
And the smile came by itself, without any effort. | |
RUSKIN BOND | |
GLOSSARY | |
flattery: insincere praise modestly: without boasting; in a humble way grunting: making low guttural sounds appealing: attractive unlined: (here) showing no sign of worry or anxiety | |
Footprints without Feet12 | |
Think about it | |
1. What are Hari Singh’s reactions to the prospect of receiving an education? | |
Do they change over time? | |
(Hint: Compare, for example, the thought: “I knew that once I could write like an educated man there would be no limit to what I could achieve” with these later thoughts: “Whole sentences, I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. It was a simple matter to steal — and sometimes just as simple to be caught. But to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else.”) What makes him return to Anil? | |
2. Why does not Anil hand the thief over to the police? | |
Do you think most people would have done so? | |
In what ways is Anil different from such employers? | |
Talk about it | |
1. Do you think people like Anil and Hari Singh are found only in fiction, or are there such people in real life? | |
2. Do you think it a significant detail in the story that Anil is a struggling writer? | |
Does this explain his behaviour in any way? | |
3. Have you met anyone like Hari Singh? | |
Can you think and imagine the circumstances that can turn a fifteen-year-old boy into a thief? | |
4. Where is the story set? | |
(You can get clues from the names of the persons and places mentioned in it.) Which language or languages are spoken in these places? | |
Do you think the characters in the story spoke to each other in English? | |
• ‘He Said It with Arsenic’ by Ruskin Bond | |
• ‘Vanka’ by Anton Chekhov | |
• ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ by Arthur Conan Doyle | |
The Thief’s Story 13 | |
Suggested reading",jefp102.pdf | |
1,CBSE,Class10,English,"READ AND FIND OUT | |
• Who does ‘I’ refer to in this story? | |
• What is he “a fairly successful hand” at? | |
• What does he get from Anil in return for his work? | |
I WAS still a thief when I met Anil. | |
And though only 15, I was an experienced and fairly successful hand. | |
Anil was watching a wrestling match when I approached him. He was about 25 — a tall, lean fellow — and he looked easy-going, kind and simple enough for my purpose. | |
I hadn’t had much luck of late and thought I might be able to get into the young man’s confidence. | |
“You look a bit of a wrestler yourself,” I said. | |
A little flattery helps in making friends. | |
“So do you,” he replied, which put me off for a moment because at that time I was rather thin. | |
“Well,” I said modestly, “I do wrestle a bit.” | |
“What’s your name?” | |
“Hari Singh,” I lied. | |
I took a new name every month. | |
That kept me ahead of the police and my former employers. | |
After this introduction, Anil talked about the well-oiled wrestlers who were grunting, lifting and throwing each other about. | |
I didn’t have much to say. | |
Anil walked away. | |
I followed casually. | |
“Hello again,” he said. | |
I gave him my most appealing smile. | |
“I want to work for you,” I said. | |
“But I can’t pay you.” | |
I thought that over for a minute. | |
Perhaps I had misjudged my man. | |
I asked, “Can you feed me?” | |
“Can you cook?” | |
“I can cook,” I lied again. | |
“If you can cook, then may be I can feed you.” | |
He took me to his room over the Jumna Sweet Shop and told me I could sleep on the balcony. | |
But the meal I cooked that night must have been terrible because Anil gave it to a stray dog and told me to be off. | |
But I just hung around, smiling in my most appealing way, and he couldn’t help laughing. | |
Later, he patted me on the head and said never mind, he’d teach me to cook. | |
He also taught me to write my name and said he would soon teach me to write whole sentences and to add numbers. | |
I was grateful. | |
I knew that once I could write like an educated man there would be no limit to what I could achieve. | |
It was quite pleasant working for Anil. | |
I made the tea in the morning and then would take my time buying the day’s supplies, usually making a profit of about a rupee a day. | |
I think he knew I made a little money this way but he did not seem to mind.",jefp102.pdf | |
2,CBSE,Class10,English,"READ AND FIND OUT | |
• How does the thief think Anil will react to the theft? | |
• What does he say about the different reactions of people when they are robbed? | |
• Does Anil realise that he has been robbed? | |
Anil was asleep. | |
A beam of moonlight stepped over the balcony and fell on the bed. | |
I sat up on the floor, considering the situation. | |
If I took the money, I could catch the 10.30 Express to Lucknow. | |
Slipping out of the blanket, I crept up to the bed. | |
Anil was sleeping peacefully. | |
His face was clear and unlined; even I had more marks on my face, though mine were mostly scars. | |
My hand slid under the mattress, searching for the notes. | |
When I found them, I drew them out without a sound. | |
Anil sighed in his sleep and turned on his side, towards me. | |
I was startled and quickly crawled out of the room. | |
When I was on the road, I began to run. | |
I had the notes at my waist, held there by the string of my pyjamas. | |
I slowed down to a walk and counted the notes: 600 rupees in fifties! | |
I could live like an oil-rich Arab for a week or two. | |
When I reached the station I did not stop at the ticket office (I had never bought a ticket in my life) but dashed straight to the platform. | |
The Lucknow Express was just moving out. | |
The train had still to pick up speed and I should have been able to jump into one of the carriages, but I hesitated — for some reason I can’t explain — and I lost the chance to get away. | |
When the train had gone, I found myself standing alone on the deserted platform. | |
I had no idea where to spend the night. | |
I had no friends, believing that friends were more trouble than help. | |
And I did not want to make anyone curious by staying at one of the small hotels near the station. | |
The only person I knew really well was the man I had robbed. | |
Leaving the station, I walked slowly through the bazaar. | |
In my short career as a thief, I had made a study of men’s faces when they had lost their goods. | |
The greedy man showed fear; the rich man showed anger; the poor man showed acceptance. | |
But I knew that Anil’s face, when he discovered the theft, would show only a touch of sadness. | |
Not for the loss of money, but for the loss of trust. | |
I found myself in the maidan and sat down on a bench. | |
The night was chilly — it was early November — and a light drizzle added to my discomfort. | |
Soon it was raining quite heavily. | |
My shirt and pyjamas stuck to my skin, and a cold wind blew the rain across my face.The Thief’s Story 11 | |
I went back to the bazaar and sat down in the shelter of the clock tower. | |
The clock showed midnight. | |
I felt for the notes. | |
They were damp from the rain. | |
Anil’s money. | |
In the morning he would probably have given me two or three rupees to go to the cinema, but now I had it all. | |
I couldn’t cook his meals, run to the bazaar or learn to write whole sentences any more. | |
I had forgotten about them in the excitement of the theft. | |
Whole sentences, I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. | |
It was a simple matter to steal — and sometimes just as simple to be caught. | |
But to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else. | |
I should go back to Anil, I told myself, if only to learn to read and write. | |
I hurried back to the room feeling very nervous, for it is much easier to steal something than to return it undetected. | |
I opened the door quietly, then stood in the doorway, in clouded moonlight. | |
Anil was still asleep. | |
I crept to the head of the bed, and my hand came up with the notes. | |
I felt his breath on my hand. | |
I remained still for a minute. | |
Then my hand found the edge of the mattress, and slipped under it with the notes. | |
I awoke late next morning to find that Anil had already made the tea. | |
He stretched out his hand towards me. | |
There was a fifty-rupee note between his fingers. | |
My heart sank. | |
I thought I had been discovered. | |
“I made some money yesterday,” he explained. | |
“Now you’ll be paid regularly.” | |
My spirits rose. | |
But when I took the note, I saw it was still wet from the night’s rain. | |
“Today we’ll start writing sentences,” he said. | |
He knew. | |
But neither his lips nor his eyes showed anything. | |
I smiled at Anil in my most appealing way. | |
And the smile came by itself, without any effort. | |
RUSKIN BOND | |
GLOSSARY | |
flattery: insincere praise modestly: without boasting; in a humble way grunting: making low guttural sounds appealing: attractive unlined: (here) showing no sign of worry or anxietyRUSKIN BONDGLOSSARY | |
flattery: insincere praise modestly: without boasting; in a humble way grunting: making low guttural sounds appealing: attractive unlined: (here) showing no sign of worry or anxietyFootprints without Feet12",jefp102.pdf | |