Please refer to The Thief’s Story Class 10 English Important Questions given below. These solved questions for The Thief’s Story have been prepared based on the latest CBSE, NCERT and KVS syllabus and books issued for the current academic year. We have provided important examination questions for Class 10 English all chapters.
Class 10 English The Thief’s Story Important Questions
Short Answer Type Questions
Question. In which queer way did Anil make a living?
Ans. Anil made money by fits and starts. He would borrow one week, lend it the next. As soon as his cheque arrived, he would go out to celebrate. He also made a living by writing for magazines.
Question. Why did Hari Singh decide to return the stolen money?
Ans. Hari Singh decided to return the stolen money because he did not want to break Anil’s trust. Also, he realised that by learning to write and add, he would have a brighter future than in continuing to rob people.
Question. ‘He was the most trusting person I had ever met.’ Why does Hari Singh say so?
Ans. Anil overlooked the little money that Hari stole the very day. He had also given him the key to his house to come and go as he pleased. This made Hari realise that Anil was the most trusting person he had ever met.
Question. How did the thief win the heart of Anil?
Ans. The thief told Anil that he wanted to work for him.
Anil told him that he couldn’t pay him. The thief asked him if he could feed him. Anil told him that if he could and would cook, he could feed him to which the thief replied in affirmative. Anil let the thief work for him as he had told him that he could cook. This way, the thief had won Anil’s heart.
Question. What made the thief come back to Anil?
Ans. The thief had a change of heart. He thought about something. He thought that if he learnt reading and writing, he could earn more money. He would also be a respectable person.
Question. Hari Singh did not catch the train deliberately while he could catch it easily ? Why ?
Ans. Hari Singh did not catch the train deliberately because his inner conscience held him back. He thought that Anil would feel sad not for loss of money but for the loss of trust he had reposed in him. Moreover, he did not want to lose the chance of learning. His inner self was transformed.
Question. What conditions did Anil put forward before appointing Hari Singh as a servant ?
Ans. Before appointing Hari Singh as a servant, Anil told him that he would not give Hari a regular salary. He had to cook food for both and Anil could only feed him, to this Hari agreed willingly.
Question. Why does Anil not hand the thief over to police ?
Ans. Anil was a large hearted person. He forgave Hari Singh as he wanted to reform him. He knew that Hari Singh was sorry for his act. So, he did not think it right to hand him over to police. Anil gave another chance to Hari to improve his habits.
Question. In which queer way did Anil make a living?
Ans. Anil made a queer way by borrowing money but repaid the loan whenever he earned money through his writings for magazines. He lived life according to the flow of money. When he got money, he enjoyed out with his friends. When he was having less money, he used to reduce his expenses.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question. 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.
(a) Who are these characters in the passage? Why would “he” teach “me” to cook?
(b) Why was the narrator grateful?
Ans. (a) The two people in the passage are the narrator and Anil. The narrator is a boy of 15 who asks Anil to give him a job and lies to Anil about having culinary skills. But being a good man, Anil assures him he would teach him how to cook.
(b) The narrator was uneducated. He was grateful to Anil for teaching him how to read and write. The narrator feels that being literate would give him better life opportunities.
Question. What made the narrator steal Anil’s six hundred rupees? What did he do after this?
Ans. Anil had got six hundred rupees. The narrator saw him putting that money under his mattress. So, he couldn’t help stealing the amount. He thought that Anil would waste this money on his friends as he had not been paying him also. So, he stole the money.
After stealing the cash, the narrator thought that he would live like a Sheikh. He went to the railway station. The Lucknow Express was just leaving the platform. He could jump into one of its compartments but he missed it intentionally. Then he walked through the bazaar and sat down in a park. It started raining. So, he took shelter under the clock tower and at last, he returned to Anil as he realised that it was really hard for him to cheat Anil.
Question. What thought crossed Hari Singh’s mind when he was waiting on the railway platform ?
Ans. Hari Singh stole six hundred rupees while Anil was sleeping. He went to the railway station after stealing the money, but did not board the train. His conscience pricked him for robbing a man like Anil who had trusted him. He knew that Anil would feel bad when he would come to know about his stolen money but that would not be for the money but for the loss of trust and faith which he had in Hari Singh. He roamed around aimlessly and remembered the good times he had spent with Anil. He felt lonely and sad at the thought of leaving Anil. So, he immediately decided to go back to Anil. Hari Singh knew that one day he will be able to earn more money by becoming a really big, clever and respected man which was much more than stealing a few hundred rupees at that time. So he returned home, back to Anil.
Question. Sometimes deception is a way of life. Explain this statement by citing facts from the lesson ‘The Thief Story.’
Ans. For some people, deception is a way to lead life easily, i.e., by changing name, by making excuses, by making new way of making money etc. Anil was the most trusting person Hari Singh had ever met. But he took undue advantage of his trust. He was a thief and couldn’t be expected to be honest with Anil. He came to Anil with a false identity. Anil had a blind faith in human nature. He employed him just out of sympathy and compassion for him. He trusted him and ignored his misdeed. He handed over all the financial transactions without any verification. In a way, he gave him a chance to improve. Hari stole money and then came back with a change on mind. Anil knew even that fact also but said nothing. It made Hari Singh to decide to leave the style of deception as a way of life. Living a simple and straight life over-powered Hari’s deceptive life. Finally, he opted for the simple life by educating himself and becoming a clever, big and respectable man in future. It was very good decision of Hari Singh.
