Class 10 NCERT Solutions English Chapter 2 - The Thief's Story
The Thief's Story Exercise 8
Solution 1
'I' refers to the thief who had taken on the name of Hari Singh for the month when he first met Anil.
Solution 2
He is a fairly successful hand at being a thief. Although he is only 15 years old he is an experienced thief.
Solution 3
In return for his work, he had a place to live, would get food, learn to read and write and would save a rupee a day from cheating on the shopping he did for Anil’s daily supplies.
The Thief's Story Exercise 10
Solution 1
The thief thought that on discovering the theft, Anil's face would show a touch of sadness. The sadness would not be for the loss of money, but for the loss of trust.
Solution 2
He says that he had made a study of men's faces when they had lost their goods or were robbed. The greedy man showed fear; the rich man showed anger while the poor man showed acceptance. However he was certain that Anil’s face would, when he discovered the theft, show, only a touch of sadness-not for the loss of money, but for the loss of trust.
Solution 3
Yes, Anil realizes that he has been robbed. All the notes that were under his pillow were still wet with the night’s rain. But he does not say anything to Hari Singh and behaves normally with neither his lips nor his eyes showing anything.
The Thief's Story Exercise 13
Solution 1
In the earlier sentence, Hari Singh thinks that the prospects of receiving an education would help him in his profession which is stealing (by signing fake documents etc.) and he would become a rich man. Once he received an education, there would be no limits to what he could achieve in this profession of being a thief and conning and cheating people.
But after stealing Anil’s money he looks at getting educated in a new light. In the excitement of the theft he had forgotten about learning to write whole sentences.
He now realized that 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, he needed to be educated for then he would be able to earn far more money than the few thousand rupees he stole that night.
He returned to Anil because it was raining and he had no place to go. He also realized that the only person whom he could trust and depend upon to make him into a respectable man was Anil.
Solution 2
Anil did not hand the thief over to the police as he saw the change in Hari Singh’s life and behaviour. He had learnt his lesson and even returned the stolen money. Besides his friendship with Hari Singh was based on trust and he was happy that although the thief had tried to betray his friendship and trust by stealing his money he had had a change of heart and returned it to him.
No, I do not think that most employers would have done so.
Anil is different from such employers as he is a simple, trusting and honest man who gives Hari Singh a chance to overcome his weakness of stealing and become a good human being.
Most employers are only interested in getting their employees to work for them. But from the moment Anil met Hari Singh he wanted not just to give him a place to stay, food to eat and get work out of him but was determined to educate him and make him into a good, respectable man.
