Class 8 English · Original EZT practice
The Cherry Tree (Class 8 English Chapter 10): Rakesh and the seed
Six-year-old Rakesh buys a bunch of cherries for fifty paise and, on the walk home, keeps the last seed. Grandfather suggests he plant it - and over the years that seed survives a cold hillside winter, a grass-cutter's scythe, heavy monsoons and snow, until one February morning a pale pink blossom appears. Ruskin Bond's gentle story opens Poorvi Unit 4, Environment. This page gives a summary, themes and 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 23 October 2026:
1. Summary - a seed in the stony hills
Rakesh lives with his grandfather on the outskirts of Mussoorie, where the soil is stony and dry cold winds stunt most plants, while his parents grow maize, rice and barley in a village fifty miles away. Walking home from school - about half-an-hour - he eats most of his cherries, and when Grandfather finishes the last one, he keeps the seed and, on Grandfather's advice, presses it into a shady corner of the garden.
2. Summary - surviving winter, scythe and snow
By the end of winter the seed has sprouted - a shoot four inches high. Then disaster strikes: a woman cutting grass slices the young tree in two with her scythe. But the cherry tree refuses to die, sends out new shoots the next summer, and grows another foot during the monsoon while Rakesh is away helping his parents with the planting and ploughing.
3. Summary - the first blossom
In February, on Rakesh's ninth birthday, the tree is four years old and almost as tall as Rakesh. One sunny morning Grandfather calls him out: there is a pale pink blossom at the end of a branch. In the following years the tree grows taller than Rakesh - even taller than Grandfather - blossoms keep coming, and the first small, sour cherries feed bulbuls and scarlet minivets.
4. Theme and character study
The story's central theme is care and patience rewarded: a small seed, tended steadily over years, becomes a tree taller than the people who planted it. It also celebrates the bond between Rakesh and Grandfather - a willingness to learn from an elder - and quietly argues that humans and nature thrive together when we nurture rather than neglect.
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 why Rakesh stays in Mussoorie
Choose the method: No schools at home.
EZT practice question
Why does Rakesh live with his grandfather instead of his parents?
Show the worked solution
- His parents grow maize, rice and barley in a village fifty miles away.
- The village had no schools.
- Once Rakesh was of school-going age, his parents sent him to stay with his grandfather in Mussoorie so he could go to school.
Answer: His parents' village, fifty miles away, had no schools, and they wanted him to go to school - so they sent him to stay with his grandfather in Mussoorie once he was of school-going age.
Check: The arrangement is about schooling, not about any family quarrel.
Watch for this: Do not say Rakesh was sent away as a punishment - his parents wanted an education for him.
Now try it yourself
How much did Rakesh pay for the bunch of cherries, and how many were left at the cottage?
Check your answer
Fifty paise; only three cherries were left after the half-an-hour walk home.
The small numbers make the single saved seed feel precious.
Trace how the seed gets planted
Choose the method: Last seed, shady corner.
EZT practice question
How does the cherry seed come to be planted?
Show the worked solution
- Rakesh eats most of the cherries on the walk; Grandfather finishes the last one.
- Rakesh keeps the seed and asks if cherry seeds are lucky.
- Grandfather says cherry trees are tough - so Rakesh presses the seed into a shady corner of the garden.
Answer: Rakesh keeps the seed of the last cherry and, on Grandfather's advice that cherry trees are tough, presses it into a shady corner of the garden.
Check: The Himalayan foothills are hard on fruit trees - stony soil and dry cold winds stunt most plants.
Watch for this: Do not say Grandfather plants it for him - he advises; Rakesh does the planting.
Now try it yourself
What makes the hillside a difficult place for fruit trees?
Check your answer
The soil is stony and the dry cold winds stunt the growth of most plants.
The setting makes the tree's survival feel earned.
Show the tree refuses to die
Choose the method: Cut down, shoots back.
EZT practice question
What happens when the grass-cutting woman damages the tree, and what does it show about the tree?
Show the worked solution
- By the end of winter the seed has sprouted - a shoot four inches high.
- A woman cutting grass slices the young tree in two with one sweep of her scythe; Grandfather's scolding cannot repair the damage.
- Yet the tree sends out several new shoots with tender green leaves the following summer, and grows another foot during the monsoon.
Answer: She cuts the cherry tree in two with her scythe, but the tree refuses to die - it sends out new shoots the next summer and grows another foot during the monsoon, showing its toughness.
Check: When Rakesh returns after helping his parents with the planting and ploughing, the tree is up to his chest.
Watch for this: Do not say the tree dies and a new one is planted - the same tree recovers.
Now try it yourself
How does Rakesh treat the tree's first two visitors?
Check your answer
He lets the bright green praying-mantis remain as the tree's first visitor, and removes the hairy caterpillar, dropping it on a heap of dry leaves and telling it to come back as a butterfly.
His choices show care that protects the tree without needless harm.
Link snow to stories
Choose the method: Snow bends, news stops.
EZT practice question
What happens to the tree in the early winter, and how does it affect Grandfather's routine?
Show the worked solution
- Winter comes early, and the cherry tree bends low with the weight of snow.
- The road from the valley is blocked, so there is no newspaper for several days.
- This makes Grandfather quite grumpy - his stories begin to have unhappy endings.
Answer: The tree bends low under the snow; the blocked road stops the newspaper for days, which makes Grandfather grumpy, and his stories begin to have unhappy endings.
Check: Even when there is rain, Rakesh sometimes waters the tree - he wants it to know he is there.
Watch for this: Do not say the snow kills the tree - it bends but survives, like it survived the scythe.
Now try it yourself
What does the tree's survival through winter add to the story?
Check your answer
It proves Grandfather's claim that cherry trees are tough - each hardship it outlives makes the later blossom feel earned.
The winter is the last test before the miracle of the first flower.
Explain 'Come quickly before it falls!'
Choose the method: One flower, years of care.
EZT practice question
Why does Grandfather say 'Come quickly before it falls!'?
Show the worked solution
- In February, on Rakesh's ninth birthday, the tree is four years old and almost as tall as Rakesh.
- One sunny morning Grandfather spots the tree's very first blossom - a single pale pink flower at the end of a branch.
- After years of care it feels like a miracle, and he wants Rakesh to see it before it possibly drops.
Answer: He has spotted the tree's first blossom - a single pale pink flower at the end of a branch - and wants Rakesh to see it before it possibly drops, because after years of care it feels like a miracle.
Check: Rakesh is nine and the tree is four - boy and tree have grown up together.
Watch for this: Do not say the tree is full of flowers - the miracle is one pale pink blossom.
Now try it yourself
What happens when Rakesh tastes the first cherry?
Check your answer
He spits it out because it is too sour, and Grandfather promises, 'They'll be better next year.'
The bigger birds - bulbuls and scarlet minivets - are less fussy and feast on them.
Say what the tree comes to mean
Choose the method: Planted together, grown together.
EZT practice question
What does the cherry tree come to represent for Rakesh and Grandfather?
Show the worked solution
- They planted it together and protected it through every setback - scythe, snow, monsoon.
- It grows taller than Rakesh, then taller than Grandfather, and keeps blossoming.
- Its survival and blossoming repay their patience - a living bond between them and with nature.
Answer: It becomes a living bond between them and with nature - something they planted together and protected through every setback, whose survival and blossoming repay their patience and care.
Check: The tree growing taller than both of them turns care into something that outlasts the carers.
Watch for this: Do not reduce the tree to a source of fruit - the first cherries are sour; the tree's value is the bond, not the harvest.
Now try it yourself
In one sentence, what is the message of The Cherry Tree?
Check your answer
Patience and loving care can make even a tiny seed outgrow us - nurturing nature rewards everyone.
The Unit 4 theme - Environment - rests on exactly this thought.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Price of the cherry bunch?
Show answer and reason
Fifty paise.
Bought at the Mussoorie bazaar.
2. Height at first sprouting?
Show answer and reason
Four inches.
By the end of winter.
3. Ages at the first blossom?
Show answer and reason
Rakesh nine, the tree four.
February, his ninth birthday.
4. First birds at the cherries?
Show answer and reason
Bulbuls and scarlet minivets.
The bigger birds feast first.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Quote Grandfather's promise about the sour cherries.
- Name the two 'visitors' to the young tree and how Rakesh treats each.
- In one sentence, give the story's message about care and patience.
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Questions about this practice page
- Who is the author of The Cherry Tree in Class 8 Poorvi?
- Ruskin Bond. The story appears in Unit 4, Environment, of the NCERT Class 8 English textbook Poorvi.
- Where does Rakesh plant the cherry seed?
- In a shady corner of his grandfather's garden on the outskirts of Mussoorie, in the Himalayan foothills.
- What setbacks does the young cherry tree survive?
- A cold hillside winter, being cut in two by a grass-cutter's scythe, heavy monsoon foliage, and the weight of snow - yet it keeps growing.
- When does the cherry tree first blossom?
- One sunny February morning, when Rakesh is nine years old and the tree is four - a single pale pink blossom at the end of a branch.
- Do Rakesh and Grandfather ever eat sweet cherries from the tree?
- Not in the story - the first cherries are small and sour, and Rakesh spits his out; Grandfather assures him they will be better next year, while the birds happily feast on them.