The Thiefs Story – CBSE – NCERT – Class 10 – English – Book : Footprints without Feet
0 view 0 purchase
Course
CBSE English
Institution
The Thiefs Story – CBSE – NCERT – Class 10 – English – Book : Footprints without Feet – Summary, Lesson with Explanation & Word Meanings, 8 Questions & Answers, 30 Multiple Choice Questions with Answers, 11 Extract based Questions with Answers, 2 Long Answers (Value Based) Type Question...
The Thief’s Story Summary
The story is about two different people. One is a thief of 15 years of age and the other is
a man of approximately 25 years, watching a wrestling match somewhere. The name of
the person watching the match is Anil. The thief approaches Anil and starts talking to
him because he feels that he had not robbed anyone in the past few days and thought
that it would be easy to rob a simple person like Anil. They both start talking and Anil
asks the thief his name. The thief introduces himself as Hari Singh. This is not his real
name as he changes his name every month to escape his ex employers or police. Then
they started talking about the wrestlers and Anil was leaving when Hari called him again
and asked him if he could work for Anil. Anil said that he won't be able to pay him but
could feed him if he knew how to cook. Hari lied that he knew how to cook. Anil took
Hari to his room which was above a sweet shop. Hari cooked a meal which was really
bad because Anil did not eat it. Anil asked Hari to leave but he tried to please Anil. Hari
smiled in his most attractive way and Anil could not stop laughing looking at him. Anil
agreed to teach Hari how to cook, write full sentences and add numbers. Hari was
grateful as he knew that there would be no limit to robbing people once he learnt how
to read and write.
The narrator used to like working for Anil as he used to make him tea in the morning
and then go out to buy the groceries for the day. He also used to steal 1 rupee from the
money that was given to him to buy the groceries everyday. Anil knew that he used to
steal but did not mind.
Anil used to make money by irregular works. Sometimes he used to borrow money and
the other day, when he had money, he would be lending it to other people. Whenever
he used to get money, he would go out with his friends to celebrate.
One day, Anil came in with a bundle of notes and told Hari that he had sold a book to a
publisher. At night he kept the money safely under the mattress of his bed. Hari realized
that he had been working for Anil for more than a month and had not stolen anything
apart from the 1 rupee that he kept everyday from the grocery money. Hari had many
chances to steal as he had the key to the room as well. But he was surprised with the
amount of trust Anil had on him as he had never seen such a trusting person in his life.
This trust thing was preventing him from robbing Anil as Hari thought that robbing a
careless person like Anil didn't make much difference because he might not even notice
that he had been robbed and that took out all the fun from the work. Then he thought
of stealing Anil’s money and justified himself that if he didn't steal money from Anil then
also he would waste it on his friends and also, Anil didn't pay him for the work that he
did.
Hari then woke up at night and quietly crawled to Anil’s bed. He steals the money
and decides to leave the city by Lucknow Express that departed at 10:30. When he
reached the station, the train had slowly started moving from the platform. He could
,have easily caught the train, but he hesitated and he himself did not know the reason
for it. Before he had reached the station he counted the money and it was 600 rupees in
50 rupee notes. He could live a lavish life for 2 - 3 weeks with so much money. After the
train had left, Hari was all alone at the train station. He was left with no place to sleep at
night. The only person he knew was Anil and he had looted him as well. He sat on a
bench in a park and as it started to rain, he sat down under the clock tower. Then he
realized that the notes had got wet. He realized that learning how to read and write
would help him to get a much more respectable and honest job which would pay him
much more than these few hundred rupees. Then he decided to go back to Anil’s house.
He reached the room and placed the money back. Next morning, he woke up a bit late
and Anil had already made his tea. Aniul gave a 50 rupee note to Hari as he had got paid
for some work and he would be paid regularly. Hari took the note in his hand and
realized that the note was still wet from the rain last night. Hari realized that Anil had
come to know about his misdeed but there was no sadness, anger or guilt in his mind.
The narrator smiled in a beautiful way and it was genuine happiness as he knew that he
had saved himself from the wrong road.
The Thief’s Story Lesson and Explanation (with Word Meanings)
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.”
Lean- thin
Flattery- excessive and insincere praise
Modestly- in an unassuming manner; without vanity or arrogance.
Employers- a person or organization that employs people.
Grunting- make a low, short guttural sound.
Appealing- attractive or interesting.
, The story starts from the point where the two main characters of the story meet- Anil
and the thief. The thief is the narrator of the story. The thief says that according to him,
he was pretty good at stealing. Anil was watching a wrestling match when the thief
approached him. Anil was a tall, lean and an easy - going man of 25. The thief had not
committed any theft in the past few days as he did not get a chance. He thought that
Anil would be a good man to steal things from. So he thought about getting comfortable
with him. Then the thief commented on Anil that he looks like a wrestler himself. He said
that to win his confidence by flattering him. To this, Anil replied that even the thief
looked like a wrestler which offended him as he was very thin at that time. The thief
modestly replied that he did wrestle a bit sometimes. Anil asked his name and the
narrator lied that his name was Hari Singh. The narrator used to change his name every
month to escape the police and his ex-employers. Then they started talking about the
well- oiled wrestlers whom they watched on the screen. The narrator did not have much
to say as he did not know much about wrestling. As Anil was leaving, the narrator again
approached him asking him that he wanted to work for him. The narrator approached
him with the most appealing smile that he could. Anil told him that he won't be able to
pay him for his work.
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 maybe 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
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller kbzone. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $2.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
