NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 2 The Thief’s Story is prepared by expert teachers. The Thief’s Story NCERT Solutions contains answers to all the questions of the NCERT textbook. These solutions are updated as per the latest CBSE guidelines.
Class 10 English The Thief’s Story NCERT Questions and Answers
Read and Find Out (Page 9)
Question 1. Who does ‘I’ refer to in this story?
Answer: I refers to Hari Singh, the narrator of the story who is a 15 year old experienced thief.
Question 2. What is he “a fairly successful hand” at?
Answer: He is a fairly successful hand at stealing. He is an experienced thief. He is so clean and swift in his work that he robs people without being caught.
Question 3. What does he get from Anil in return for his work?
Answer: When Hari asked Anil if he could work for him, Anil said that he could not pay him. Finally, the agreement was that if he would cook, then Anil would feed him. However, Anil soon found out that he did not know how to cook. Therefore, he taught him how to cook and later, how to write his name. He promised he would teach him how to write whole sentences and how to add numbers. Apart from this, when Hari went out to buy the day’s supplies, he would make a profit of a rupee in a day.
Read and Find Out (Page 10)
Question 1. How does the thief think Anil will react to the theft?
Answer: According to Hari, Anil would be sad not because of the loss of money but because of the loss of trust he had in Hari.
Question 2. What does he say about the different reactions of people when they are robbed?
Answer: Hari’s experience at theft had made him aware of differences in reactions of people when they’re robbed. According to him, a greedy man shows fear; the rich, anger and a poor man, acceptance.
Question 3. Does Anil realise that he has been robbed?
Answer: Yes, Anil realised that he had been robbed, as he gave a fifty rupee note to Hari which was still damp due to the night’s rain.
Think About It
Question 1. What are Hari Singh’s reactions at 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?
Answer: Hari Singh comes to Anil’s house as a servant. Anil offers to educate him. He is overjoyed, but his reactions to the prospect of receiving an education undergo a change with the passage of time. In the beginning, he thinks that if he wrote like an educated man he could achieve limitless success (or money). Later, there are some changes in this perception. He feels that if he wrote whole sentences, they could bring him more than a few hundred rupees. Then money loses attraction for him with reference to education. What he wants from education is to become a big, clever and respected man. This makes him return to Anil because only Anil could teach him as he wants.
Question 2. Why does Anil not 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?
Answer: Unlike others, Anil does not handover Hari to the police on theft charges. He knew about the theft but he did not thrash him nor even mentioned it in front of Hari. He was glad that Hari had realised his mistake and the importance of education in life. Anil wanted Hari to become a literate man and lead a respectful life.
He is different from other such employers because he is very understanding. Hari’s return gave him the hope of a change in him.
Talk About It
Question 1. Do you think people like Anil and Hari Singh are found only in fiction, or are there such people in real life?
Answer: People like Anil and Hari Singh are found only in fiction. Though exceptions might be there, these people are rarely found. Anil was a kind and considerate person who was concerned, about Hari’s education and future. And Hari was a thief whose heart changes after realising the importance of education for his future. People like these are imaginary in today’s world.
Question 2. Do you think it is a significant detail i story that Anil is a struggling writer? this explain his behaviour in any way
Answer: Yes, it is a significant detail that Anil is a struggling writer. His lifestyle was simple and used to spend according to his pocket at all time His struggle sometimes gave him a lot of income while at other times he used to worry about the next payment. Hari’s observation about the discontinuation in his work justifies his behave regarding money.
Question 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?
Answer: No, I haven’t met anyone like Hari Singh but the existence of such people is certain. A fifteen year old boy can be forced by circumstances to become a thief. It may be the need to feed the stomach, to satisfy illegal addiction, to maintain health, to fulfil luxurious demands etc
Question 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?
Answer: It appears that the story is set in Delhi. A number of clues point to this fact. These are: ‘The Jumna Sweet Shop’, ‘railway station’, ‘The Lucknow Express was just moving out’. Hindi, English and other Indian languages are spoken in it. I do not think the characters in the story spoke to each other in English. However, they might have used some English words like ‘time’, ‘train’, ‘clock tower’, etc.
More study materials for CBSE Class 10
Along with NCERT Solutions, it is highly recommended to read the summary and extra questions of The Thief’s Story to score high marks. You can also access different study materials from the following table for free.
| NCERT Solutions for Class 10 | CBSE Notes for Class 10 |
| CBSE Sample Papers for Class 10 | Important Questions for Class 10 |
| RS Aggarwal Solutions For Class 10 | RD Sharma Solutions For Class 10 |