NCERT Solutions · Class 10 English · NCERT First Flight and Footprints Without Feet Footprints Without Feet · Chapter 2
Chapter 2: The Thief's Story (The Thief's Story)
NCERT solutions for Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 2: The Thief's Story (2026-27). Answers to Think about it and Talk about it questions on Hari Singh and Anil. All 6 questions are answered, with the key answer highlighted.
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?
Solution
At first Hari Singh sees education only as a tool for crime. He is grateful when Anil teaches him to write his name, and thinks that once he can write "like an educated man", there would be "no limit to what I could achieve". He thinks of it as a way to make more money.
Later his attitude changes. Sitting alone in the bazaar with the stolen notes, he realises that stealing is easy and so is getting caught, but "to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else". He now sees that education can make him respectable, not just rich, and that is worth more than "a few hundred rupees".
This realisation makes him go back. He tells himself he should return to Anil "if only to learn to read and write". He also knows that Anil's face would show sadness for "the loss of trust", and he puts the money back under the mattress.
At first he sees education as a means to steal better; later he wants it to become a respected man, and this brings him back to Anil.
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?
Solution
Anil does not hand him over because he understands the boy and trusts him. He knows that the boy has returned the money, and he wants to give him a chance to improve. So he says nothing and pays him a wet fifty-rupee note, saying, "Now you'll be paid regularly", and says, "Today we'll start writing sentences." He lets the boy keep his dignity and shows that he still believes in him.
Most people would have called the police, or at least thrown the boy out. Anil is different from such employers because he is kind, forgiving and trusting. He is careless with money, gives the boy a key, feeds and teaches him, and treats him as a person and not merely a servant.
Anil trusts and understands the boy and wants to give him a chance; most employers would have called the police.
Do you think people like Anil and Hari Singh are found only in fiction, or are there such people in real life?
Solution
Both kinds of people can be found in real life. There are generous people who trust others and give them a second chance, and there are poor, homeless boys who are pushed into theft by hunger and neglect. Stories like this are made from such real people, though the neat ending in the story may be rarer in life.
Do you think it a significant detail in the story that Anil is a struggling writer? Does this explain his behaviour in any way?
Solution
Yes, it is significant. Anil earns "by fits and starts", borrowing one week and lending the next, so he knows what it is to be poor and uncertain. A writer also studies people and understands them. This may be why he is kind and careless about money, and why he can read the boy's mind and guess the truth without a word. It may also explain why he is so keen to teach the boy to read and write.
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?
Solution
I have seen boys like him begging or working at tea stalls and railway stations. A boy like Hari Singh may be an orphan or may have run away from a poor or cruel home. Having no family, school or regular food, he learns to steal in order to survive, and soon thinks that friends are "more trouble than help". If someone gives him love, work and education, he can change, as Hari Singh begins to do.
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?
Solution
The story is set in India, in a town the story does not name. The names Hari Singh and Anil, the Jumna Sweet Shop, the wrestling match, the maidan, the bazaar and the Lucknow Express, and the rupees all point to this. Hindi and Urdu are widely spoken in such places, and perhaps other local languages.
The characters probably spoke to each other in Hindi or Hindustani, and the writer has given their talk in English for readers of English. (The story does not name the town or the language; this is an inference from the clues.)
