Class 10 English · Original EZT practice
The Thief's Story - Ruskin Bond (Class 10 English, Footprints without Feet, Chapter 2)
The Thief's Story is Chapter 2 of Class 10 Footprints without Feet (Reprint 2026-27, pp. 8-13), by Ruskin Bond. The narrator, a fifteen-year-old thief who takes a new name every month, picks kind, trusting Anil as his next target and moves in as his cook. When Anil tucks six hundred rupees under his mattress, the boy steals it and runs for the Lucknow Express - then hesitates, misses the train, and comes back in the rain to return what he took. This page gives a full summary, characters, theme, word meanings and fresh practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 24 October 2026:
1. Summary - the note still wet
The thief approaches Anil at a wrestling match with a little flattery, asks for work, and lies that he can cook. The first meal is so bad Anil gives it to a stray dog - but the boy hangs around 'smiling in my most appealing way', and Anil agrees to teach him to cook, to write his name and, soon, whole sentences and numbers. Working for Anil is pleasant; the boy makes about a rupee a day on the shopping, which Anil seems to know and not mind. One evening Anil brings home a bundle of notes from selling a book to a publisher and tucks it under the mattress. After nearly a month of honesty, the thief steals it at night: 600 rupees in fifties, enough 'to live like an oil-rich Arab for a week or two'. At the station he hesitates - for some reason he can't explain - and misses the 10.30 Express to Lucknow. Alone in the November drizzle, he realises the theft costs him more than money: no cooking, no bazaar runs, and no learning to write whole sentences, which 'could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees'. He creeps back at midnight and slips the damp notes under the mattress. Next morning Anil hands him a fifty-rupee note - 'I made some money yesterday... Now you'll be paid regularly' - and says, 'Today we'll start writing sentences.' The note is still wet. 'He knew. But neither his lips nor his eyes showed anything.'
2. Characters and setting
The narrator ('Hari Singh'): a fifteen-year-old thief, 'an experienced and fairly successful hand', who lies about his name - he takes a new one every month to stay ahead of the police and former employers. Anil: about 25, tall and lean, a struggling writer who makes money 'by fits and starts'; trusting, kind and simple. The setting: Anil's room over the Jumna Sweet Shop; the boy sleeps on the balcony.
3. Theme and word meanings
Trust changes people: Anil's complete trust makes robbing him hard, and quietly reforms the thief. Education over easy money: what finally pulls the boy back is the chance to learn to read and write. The faces of loss: the thief knows a greedy man shows fear, a rich man anger, a poor man acceptance - but Anil's face 'would show only a touch of sadness. Not for the loss of money, but for the loss of trust.' Forgiveness without words: Anil never confronts him; the wet fifty-rupee note says everything. Word meanings from the textbook 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.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Explain the monthly name
Choose the method: Stay ahead.
EZT practice question
Why does the narrator take a new name every month?
Show the worked solution
- He is 'an experienced and fairly successful hand' at thieving.
- A changing name keeps him ahead of the police.
- It also keeps former employers - people he has robbed before - from catching up with him.
Answer: It keeps him ahead of the police and his former employers - a fresh name every month means no one can trace him.
Check: Two groups he evades: police and former employers.
Watch for this: Do not read the name changes as play - they are professional caution, which makes his final honesty cost more.
Now try it yourself
What name does he give Anil?
Check your answer
Hari Singh - a lie like all the others.
'Hari Singh,' I lied - the story tells us directly.
Catch the first-meeting lies
Choose the method: Two lies, one smile.
EZT practice question
What lies does he tell Anil at their first meeting?
Show the worked solution
- At the wrestling match he flatters Anil and says he wants to work for him.
- Lie one: his name is Hari Singh.
- Lie two: he can cook - the first meal is so bad Anil gives it to a stray dog.
Answer: That his name is Hari Singh and that he can cook - the first meal is so bad Anil feeds it to a stray dog.
Check: Name both lies; the stray-dog detail proves the second.
Watch for this: Do not say Anil saw through him - Anil 'agrees to teach him' anyway, which is the trust the story turns on.
Now try it yourself
How does the boy get Anil to keep him after the terrible meal?
Check your answer
He hangs around 'smiling in my most appealing way' until Anil relents.
Charm is the thief's professional tool - and it works on kindness.
Count the theft exactly
Choose the method: Amount and notes.
EZT practice question
How much money does he steal, and in what notes?
Show the worked solution
- Anil brings home a bundle of notes from selling a book to a publisher and tucks it under the mattress.
- The thief slips his hand under the mattress at night and takes it.
- He counts it at the station: 600 rupees, in fifties.
Answer: 600 rupees, in fifties - enough, he thinks, 'to live like an oil-rich Arab for a week or two'.
Check: Amount (600) and denomination (fifties) - both are asked.
Watch for this: Do not forget the source of the money - a book sold to a publisher, Anil's irregular writer's income.
Now try it yourself
Where was the money kept?
Check your answer
Tucked under the mattress of Anil's bed.
The boy sleeps on the balcony, a step away - trust made the theft easy.
Read the hesitation
Choose the method: Conscience wins.
EZT practice question
Why does he miss the Lucknow Express?
Show the worked solution
- He reaches the station in time - the 10.30 Express to Lucknow is just moving out.
- But he hesitates 'for some reason I can't explain' and does not jump on.
- The reason, unnamed in the moment: his conscience and his new life with Anil hold him back.
Answer: He hesitates 'for some reason I can't explain' - his conscience and his new life with Anil hold him back, and the 10.30 Express to Lucknow leaves without him.
Check: Quote the hesitation, then name what it stands for (conscience, the new life).
Watch for this: Do not say he was too late - the train 'had still to pick up speed'; he chose not to board.
Now try it yourself
Where does he spend the hours after missing the train?
Check your answer
Alone in the chilly November drizzle, thinking.
The weather mirrors the reckoning.
Prove Anil knew
Choose the method: The wet note.
EZT practice question
How do we know Anil realised what happened?
Show the worked solution
- Next morning Anil hands the boy a fifty-rupee note: 'I made some money yesterday... Now you'll be paid regularly.'
- The note is 'still wet' from the night's rain - the same rain the boy crept back through at midnight.
- And 'neither his lips nor his eyes showed anything' - 'He knew.'
Answer: The fifty-rupee note Anil hands over the next morning is still wet from the night's rain, yet his lips and eyes show nothing - 'He knew.'
Check: The wet note is the evidence; the straight face is the forgiveness.
Watch for this: Do not say Anil confronted him - the whole point is forgiveness without a word.
Now try it yourself
What does Anil say they will start that day?
Check your answer
'Today we'll start writing sentences.'
The lesson resumes as if nothing happened - trust restored in one line.
Weigh the real cost
Choose the method: More than money.
EZT practice question
What does the thief realise the theft would cost him?
Show the worked solution
- In the drizzle he lists what stealing ends: no more cooking for Anil, no more runs to the bazaar.
- Above all, no more learning to write whole sentences.
- And he knows that learning 'could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees' - the theft trades a future for a fortnight's luxury.
Answer: More than money: no cooking, no bazaar runs, and no learning to write whole sentences - which 'could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees'.
Check: Three losses, with the education loss named as the largest.
Watch for this: Do not say he returns out of fear of the police - the story gives him a conscience, not a chase.
Now try it yourself
What faces do robbed men show, in the thief's experience?
Check your answer
A greedy man shows fear, a rich man anger, a poor man acceptance - but Anil's face 'would show only a touch of sadness... for the loss of trust'.
The catalogue of faces is what he cannot bear to cause.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Why a new name monthly?
Show answer and reason
To stay ahead of the police and former employers.
Professional caution, not play.
2. The two first-meeting lies?
Show answer and reason
His name is Hari Singh; he can cook.
The stray-dog meal exposes the second.
3. The theft, exactly?
Show answer and reason
600 rupees, in fifties, from under the mattress.
Amount and notes both count.
4. The proof Anil knew?
Show answer and reason
The fifty-rupee note next morning is still wet - and his face shows nothing.
Forgiveness without a word.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Explain in two sentences what finally pulls the thief back to Anil's room.
- Contrast what 600 rupees could buy with what learning to write could bring.
- Describe the last scene's wet note and say why it matters more than a confrontation would.
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Questions about this practice page
- Who is the 'I' in The Thief's Story?
- The thief himself narrates - a fifteen-year-old who gives his name as Hari Singh, though he changes names monthly.
- Does Anil hand the thief over to the police?
- No. He says nothing about the theft and instead starts paying him regularly and teaching him to write sentences.
- What is the central idea of The Thief's Story?
- Trust and the chance of an education quietly reform a young thief more than punishment could.
- Where is The Thief's Story in the Class 10 book?
- It is Chapter 2 of the supplementary reader Footprints without Feet (Reprint 2026-27, pp. 8-13), by Ruskin Bond.
- Why does the thief return the money?
- He realises the theft costs him more than money - Anil's trust, the warm routine of cooking and errands, and the chance to learn to write whole sentences, which could one day bring him more than a few hundred rupees.