The Thief’s Story

1.i) Hari Singh was the speaker and he was trying to flatter Anil. The speaker wanted to be
friends with the listener because he wanted to rob him after gaining his trust. Anil was a
struggling writer who befriended Hari Singh. Hari Singh was an experienced, 15 years old thief.
He found Anil an easy target to steal.

ii) kind

iii)c) The purpose of stealing

iv) d)calculating

2.i)According to Hari Singh, it's easy to rob a greedy man because he can afford to be robbed but
it's difficult to rob a careless man because he doesn't even notice that he's been robbed and that
takes all the pleasure out of the work.
ii) d)panic

iii)b) easily

iv) careless

3.i) Hari Singh was a thief and he had stolen Anil's money. After the theft, he realised that he had
robbed not only Anil but also himself of the chance of being literate and having a bright future.
His conscience pricked him to think what all he could have got had he not done this.

ii) b) He is pricked by his conscience

iii) a) He had no one in the city

iv) still

4.i) Anil behaved normally the next of theft to Hari Singh. The currency notes were still damp.
This shows that Anil realises that he had been robbed but still he chose to behave normally. He
didn't show any anger on Hari Singh because he knew that he (Hari Singh) had learnt a lesson
and would not attempt to do any such thing again.

ii) d) repealling

iii)a) forgiven

iv) when he saw a damp note.

A.Answer the following questions:

2. He followed Anil to gain his trust and look for an opportunity that may help him give shape to
his plans of robbing him.

3. Hari Singh frequently smiles an appealing smile because according to Hari Singh, Anil looked
like an easy-going, kind and careless person. Such a person was simple enough for his purpose
because he could easily steal money from him.

4. Hari Singh, a young, fifteen year old thief, was indeed a clever boy. In the text, we notice this
when he tells us how he keeps changing names to avoid police capture. He makes a small profit
while buying groceries for the day. This shows us that he is truly clever. Moreover he didn’t
have any friends, he felt friendship will land him in trouble .

5. Anil does not hand the thief over to the police because he has put the money back at its place.
It shows that he realized his fault. He wants to make amends for his ways.

6. Anil handed Hari Singh a fifty-rupee note in the morning, which was still damp from the rain.
He mentioned that they would start learning to write full sentences together, accompanied by a
smile. This interaction made Hari Singh realise that Anil was aware of his theft.

7. Hari Singh told himself that he was out of practice. Anil was a spendthrift. He must rob. If he
didn.t take the money, Anil would waste it on his friends.

8. Anil was a kind , simple and easy-going young man. He was tall and lean stature and
interested in sports like Wrestling . He was not very rich and could not offered to employee Hari
as a cook. He had the patience and goodness to not only teach Hari to cook but also to read ,
write and add numbers.

9. Hari Singh believed that friends were more trouble than help. This was because he was a thief
and conman who always lived alone and took on a new name every month to escape from the
police and his former employers. He did not want to keep any friends as he did not want anybody
to know about his secrets and whereabouts.

B.1. Having stolen Anil's money Hari Singh went to the railway station where he had decided to
board a train and leave the city but he was not able to cheat Anil. He tried to make up his mind
for a very long time but his heart was not ready to listen to him. Finally, he decided to return the
stolen money.

2. At the end of the story , we realise that Anil knew about the incident of the previous night, yet
he chose to overlook such a breach of trust . It is because Anil felt that Hari Singh realised his
mistake . And Anil also knew that sometimes to realise someone's mistake there is a need to
forgive him/her instead of punish him/her . That's why Anil did so.

C. 1. In fiction writing, grey characters are those who possess both good and bad traits, making
them more relatable and realistic. This complexity allows readers to see the multifaceted nature
of humanity, as opposed to black and white characters who are often purely good or evil.

Both characters in ‘The thief story are neither completely black or white as both of them have
redeeming qualities as well as those that need improvement. Therefore the story reveals both
their persona as grey ( mix of both black and white).

Hari Singh:

He was a thief who was artful and too smart for his age .

He fooled his victims and police with the help of his mind and wasn’t ashamed of lying and
stealing.

Also , he made no efforts to confess that he had given in to the temptation of stealing the notes.

However , his nature changed due to love , affection and Anil’s trust .

Therefore the character of Hari Singh is not a flat character who is either black or white.

Anil:

While we can admire Anil for his qualities such as him being helpful and simple , he also had
certain negative or ‘not ideal’ qualities such as-

He trusted hari singh and forgave him for theft.

He never uttered a word despite knowledge of a theft .

He was also casual about money and ignored Hari Singh’s making profit.

Therefore even Anil’s character is not a flat character who is either black or white.
Grey characters present a challenge to readers , allow a sense of unpredictability and present a
moral challenge . Hari Singh and Anil are created as Grey characters .

2. The story illustrates that the young thief's lack of education significantly impacted his choices
and opportunities, suggesting that education could serve as a pathway to a better life if
accessible.
Hari Singh ultimately realized the significance of education in life . He understood that robbing
would only provide him money temporarily. Also there is a risk of being caught. Education
provides one with respectability. Education can heal a wrongly talented soul. Educated people
can make a distinction between right and wrong and plan accordingly to the right path with their
rational thinking. Education can bring one respect and money. After robbing Anil, the
boy thief realized the value of education that could give him respect and more money than he
could get by stealing. He realized where he should go. Large hearted Anil not only forgave him
but also gave a fifty rupee note and promised to pay him regularly. Thus education is an essential
aspect of any child’s life and can help enable an honorable way of living.

3.After his first introduction, Hari Singh understood Anil's nature and his character rather well.
He lied that he knew how to cook. Still, Anil allowed Hari to work for him. Even at the age of
15, Hari Singh was an experienced and successful hand. He knew all the tricks day from buying
the day's supplies. Anil knew it but ignored. Anil was really a trusting person. He had given Hari
a key to the door and he could come and go as he pleased. But it was .so difficult to rob him.. It
is easy to rob a greedy man. It was difficult to rob a careless and trusting man like Anil.
Sometimes, he didn.t even notice that he had been robbed. That took all the pleasure out of Hari
Singh's work, Anil was no fool. He knew all about the theft, when and how it was committed.
Neither his lips nor eyes showed that he saw Hari placing the money back under the mattress.
Trust begets trust. Ultimately, the boy-thief realised that the only person who could help him was
the man whom he had robbed a few hours ago. Naturally, Anil was the most trusting man Hari
Singh had ever met in his life. Anil forgot the breach of his trust but rewarded Hari by giving a
fifty-rupee-note and promising to pay him regularly.

4. Hari singh was a small time thief. Hari Singh was not his actual name and he kept changing
names so that the police could not get hold of him. He was a liar as well because he even lied to
Anil that he could cook. His main job was to befriend with people and then deceive them and rob
them and run away. Hari Singh was a highly skilled and intelligent thief who relied on
meticulous planning, agility, disguises, and keen observation to carry out his thefts. His ability to
evade capture and his notoriety in the town made him a formidable figure in the world of crime.