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A Collection of
ICSE Poems and Short Stories
Volume II — Short Stories

Teachers’ Handbook
ICSE

Edited by:

P
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50
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Ltd
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studentsmorningstar
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com

A Collection of ICSE
Poems and Short Stories
Volume II — Short Stories

 1
...


Journey by Night

8 — 12

Norah Burke
3
...


My Lost Dollar

16 — 19

Stephen Leacock
5
...


The Last Leaf

24 — 27

O’ Henry
7
...


The Bet

31 — 36

Anton Chekhov
9
...


Princess September

W
...
(i) Mrs
...

Her full name is Mrs
...
She exclaims ‘wonderful’
when, in response to her question about the number of students
who have completed their assignment, all the forty students raise
their hand in affirmation
...
Baruah gave an assignment to the students of Class Eight
to write what they would like to be when they grew up
...
All the forty student raised their
hands in affirmation when Mrs
...

(iii) According to the author, the students fidgeted and shifted in their
seats before Mrs
...
This shows their eagerness
to speak in front of their classmates
...

(iv) Ajit Basu was the first speaker
...
Sachin Tendulkar was
his idol
...

Gayatri wanted to become a social worker, whereas Sanjay Damle
wanted to become a pilot
...
Baruah was an accomplished teacher, who had a
student-centred approach of teaching
...
e
...
Consequently, all the students brought
their completed assignments
...
That is why the students
maintained strict discipline in her class and spoke only when
their turn came
...
(i) ‘He’ refers to Kabeer
...
Though he was shy at making speeches
before the entire class, he put in extra efforts to complete his
assignment
...


6

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)

(ii) No, he was not confident when he stood up to speak before the
entire class
...

(iii) The other children spoke about becoming social workers, pilots,
movie stars, sportsmen and politicians
...

(iv) Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan joined NSG in January 2007
...

(v) When the speaker spoke about the life of Major Unnikrishnan,
there was complete silence in the class and everybody listened
attentively
...
It was different from the accounts of
people about whom they had listened from their other classmates
...
(i) Vishnu Zende was an announcer with the Mumbai railways for
ten years
...

(ii) Vishnu Zende’s act of staying in his position, in the face of
danger speaks volumes of his courage, his selfless devotion to his
duty and his presence of mind in the face of calamity
...

(iii) The scene outside the classroom was noisy with the chirping of
the birds, honking of cars and the younger childen enjoying their
recess
...
They remained
unconcerned with what was happening outside and focussed
their attention on Kabeer’s speech
...
He helped in
evacuating the guests and his staff from the hotel
...


INDIA’S HEROES

7

(v) This hero lost his wife and his children, as they died of suffocation
on being trapped in a room in the Taj Hotel, which was attacked
by the terrorists
...

(vi) Kabeer mentioned Karambir Kang’s loyalty and devotion to his
duty
...


IV
...
He
pursued the terrorists in a jeep, without caring for his own life
...
The three lost their lives, when they were gunned
down by terrorists, whom they were pursuing in a jeep
...

(iv) The speaker had goose bumps on his arms whereas the students
in his class became emotional
...
Baruah became
so emotional that tears welled up in her eyes
...
He helped to transport the victims of the
terrorist attack to the nearby St
...

V
...
She saved Moshe’s life during the 2008 terrorist attacks
in Mumbai, in which Moshe’s parents were killed
...
They proved by their action that
man’s supreme duty is to love and respect other human beings
and that no religion is above humanity
...
From his speech, Kabeer comes
out to be a person, who not only values courage, fearlessness,
selflessness and caring for other but also practises it
...
It stirred up
their emotions and tears welled up in their eyes
...
Baruah was
on the verge of crying but she hid her tears from her students
by dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief to wipe her tears
...
Baruah felt proud to see her students cherish the virtues
of peace, tolerance, sense of duty and selflessness
...


ASSIGNMENTS
I
...
He ran to get water, sticks and dung
for the fire to get hot water for his sick, younger brother
...
He was suffering from acute stomach ache
...
This was because she had gone through
such ordeals many times when her other children had gradually
moved towards death
...

It was fifty miles away from Sher Singh’s village, Laldwani
...

(v) Sher Singh was shocked to know that his brother had to be
hospitalised
...

(vi) The boy suggested that he would call his father to take his
younger brother to the hospital at Kalaghat
...
It
tells us that she was wise enough to judge the severity of her
child’s deteriorating condition and that by the time her husband
would return, the child’s condition would deteriorate further and
may even prove fatal
...
(i) Bahadur the Brave was the title given to Sher Singh Bahadur
...

(ii) Bahadur lived in Laldwani village
...

Besides farming, he was famous as a hunter
...

(b) he was familiar with the sounds of animals and birds,
which proved as an asset during a hunting or photographic
expedition
...
The tiger’s claws
tore open his flesh down his skull to the back of his shoulder
and left the scars there
...
His
actions tells us that he was a brave and adventure-loving man,
who was ever ready to be a part of any expedition in the jungle
...
Most of
the times he used to be away in the jungle on hunting or  shooting
trips seeking adventure, overlooking the needs of his wife and
children
...
Perhaps, it was Bahadur’s absence from
his family for days together that his other children could not
be saved from death, caused by cholera, influenza and jungle
accidents
...
(i) Kunwar Singh was Sher Singh’s younger brother
...
Sher Singh’s brother was in a serious condition
...

(ii) Sher Singh’s father was away in jungle, accompanying a
photographic expedition
...

(iii) Sher Singh’s mother being a hill woman knew about carrying
loads
...


10

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)

(iv) The mother felt that Sher Singh’s brother was too big to be
carried by Sher Singh all through the fifty miles to the hospital
at Kalaghat
...
The boy did not respond in any way and set off silently
from there
...
According to the
extract, Sher Singh’s mother had to look after the cattle and
work their land when his father used to be away in the jungle
because otherwise they would be starved
...

(b) Sher Singh’s mother had only two saris and used one of
them for making the sling
...

(vi) Sher Singh’s decision to take his brother alone to the hospital
tells us that he was not only a responsible boy but also selfless
and had a deep love for his brother
...
(i) It was a cobra
...
When Sher Singh stepped close
to it, it contracted and rose with a hiss, spreading its hood
...
He backed away from the cobra
...
He
had planned to pass through the jungle, cross two rivers and
complete the rest of his journey by taking a lift in a bullock
cart or a truck
...
The beasts of prey posed more
danger to the humans now than before because poaching had
reduced the deer population considerably and forced the beasts
of prey to kill domestic animals and even human beings for food
...

(vi) Sher Singh decided to take rest on a cliff above the river bed
because he was extremely tired and knew that he would not be
able to go any further without taking rest
...
(i) Sher Singh and Kunwar were on the cliff, when they heard the
jostle and squeal of elephants
...

(ii) An old elephant was the leader of elephants
...

(iii) Sher Singh chilled with fright because the old elephant, moving
his tusk to and fro came round towards him
...

(iv) Sher Singh earnestly prayed to God to avert the danger
...

It seems that God heard Sher Singh’s prayers and consequently,
the elephant hurriedly went away
...
This was because
he heard an elephant trumpet at a distance and could not take
the risk of being attacked by elephants again
...
(i) Sher Singh had anticipated the river would be shallow and the
water would not be very cold as the snow-water would not have
entered the river by that time
...

Besides, it was almost waist-deep, deeper than what he had
thought
...

(ii) The bridge at the second river was a kutcha, impermanent one
...
The surface of the bridge was also made of bamboos
laid down horizontally and across and laced thick grass and
river gravel
...
The river was in flood because of the
melting of a big head of snow
...

(iv) The breaking of the bridge made matters worse for the boy
because now the boy had to swim across the flooded river, with
his younger brother on his back
...
He made sure that his brother was not harmed
by making a rope of grass and tying it round his brother and
himself and by keeping his brother’s head above water
...
With great difficulty, Sher Singh managed to
move holding on to the things he could get hold of
...
The water was too cold for him to keep his hold
...
But he continued moving
ahead and finally crossed the second river
...
(i) After crossing the river, Sher Singh took a lift, first in a bullock
cart and then in a truck to reach the hospital
...

(iii) At the rail yards, Sher Singh got the work of loading coal
...
With the money, he bought coarse atta
(flour), some mustard oil and chillies to cook a meal for himself
...
Sher Singh was
overtaken by the feelings of anxiety about the condition of his
ailing, younger brother and expected the worst
...
He did
so to applaud his deed of bravery of carrying his ailing brother,
all along to the hospital
...

(vi) The doctor informed Sher Singh that his brother was out of
danger and that he would live
...
(i) Rizwan was an educated young man, who was in search of a
job
...

[Corrigendum: Please read Q
...

(iii) Kasim, a rag-seller was walking in Rizwan’s direction
...

(iv) Rizwan stopped the man to take his interview for the Kihaan
newspaper
...
This shows that Rizwan lacked politeness and
manners
...

(v) Rizwan neither greet the man nor ask him anything to build a
rapport with him before starting the interview
...
I(v) of the extract as—How did
Rizwan treat the man walking in his direction in the market?]
II
...
He is addressing a poor,
rag-seller, Kasim
...

(ii) Chacha gets angry when Rizwan asks him where he lives because
he does not have a permanent home and lives wherever he gets
a place, like in front of a shop or under a bridge
...
His father
was an old man, who used to work as labourer and did not earn
decent wages for a living
...

(iv) The government was apparently helping the poor farmers by
giving land to them and providing education to their children
...
He felt so because he was a poor
labourer and his father, grandfather and great grandfather were
poor labourers, who did not get any benefit from the government
policies to alleviate their poverty
...
The first speaker says that he is a journalist
by profession
...
(i) Rizwan, the interviewer and Kasim, the interviewee are the
speakers in these lines
...

(ii) ‘Shah’ refers to ruler of Iran, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
...

(iii) The second speaker, i
...
, Kasim says that his father had told
him that his father (Kasim’s grandfather) died of hunger or cold
...
The labourers could
hardly earn enough to make both ends meet and therefore, many
used to die of hunger and starvation
...
The speaker wanted him
to join his profession of rag-selling, on attaining the age of five
...
(i) Rizwan wanted to tell the rag-seller that the government was
helping the poor farmers and that he could take loan from the
bank, to set up his business and lead a better life
...

(iii) Kasim said that he did not want a better job because he was
satisfied with his lot and he had no faith in the promises made
by the government for the welfare of the poor
...

(v) Kasim used to spend his nights in front of a shop or under a
bridge
...

(vi) Kasim said that he could not meet Rizwan the next day in the
market place because he was going to his village
...

V
...


HUNGER

15

(ii) Rizwan felt helpless when Kasim, the rag-seller, whom he was
interviewing, went away without giving his address, for he (Kasim)
was a homeless, poor man
...

(iv) The task of interviewing people for the newspaper was made
difficult for Rizwan by the lack of a permanent address of the
poor rag-seller, whom he had interviewed
...

(v) Rizwan’s father had died two years ago and his mother was
ill
...
He was the eldest boy in the family, and he
did not have a permanent job
...

VI
...
He was
feeling dejected because he could not get the address of the
person he had interviewed and the interview had to be submitted
in the newspaper only with the name and the address of the
interviewee
...
But he did not greet Kasim when he
met him at the market place
...
It shows that Rizwan followed
double standards and did not think it important to show any
respect to Kasim, a rag-seller
...

(iii) Before submitting the interview at the newspaper office, Rizwan
wrote his own name and address on Kasim’s interview
...

(iv) When Rizwan came out of the newspaper office, he had the
satisfaction that he had submitted one interview for the newspaper
and consequently, would have the work for at least the next day
...


(v) Rizwanted wanted to reach home as quickly as possible because
he was extremely tired and hungry
...

In contrast to them was Rizwan, an educated, jobless young
man
...
His two younger brothers had dropped out of
school because of financial constraints
...

He lived in the city and used to sell rags to those who could
not afford to buy new clothes
...
He told Rizwan that his
father, grandfather and great grandfather worked hard as
labourers but could not earn enough to make both ends meet
...
(i) Todd is a Major in the army and the narrator’s friend, who had
borrowed a dollar from the narrator a year ago
...

(ii) Todd borrowed a dollar from the narrator to pay his taxi fare
because he did not have any change with him
...

(iii) Todd has failed to return the loan because of forgetfulness
...

(iv) (a) It means that the narrator’s friend’s act of borrowing a
dollar and then forgetting to pay it back would not make
any difference to their friendship
...

(v) The human memory is strong in the case of lenders, whereas it
diminishes with time in the case of the borrowers
...
But, the borrower, i
...
, the narrator’s friend, Todd
not only forgets of having borrowed a dollar, he does not even
get any hint from a number of indirect references made by the
narrator about debts
...
This is because a year
has already passed since his friend has borrowed the dollar
...

II
...
He wrote
to the narrator about the extreme temperature conditions in
Bermuda, the temperature reaching nearly 100° F
...
This
shows that the narrator values friendship and does things that
makes his friend happy
...
They liked each other’s
company and therefore, met practically everyday at the club
and remained in touch with each other
...
The small issues of one
dollar did not affect their friendship in anyway
...
The narrator
suggested that they should take a taxi because that might remind
his friend of the dollar he had borrowed from him a year ago
for paying his taxi fare
...
Then, they talked about the currency used in
Bermuda and whether it is at par with the American Dollar
...

III
...

It lasted for three weeks
...

(ii) The extract tells us that Todd is a forgetfull and careless man

18

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)
for he forgets the dollar he had borrowed from his friend as well
as practically everything about his trip to Bermuda, just after
returning from the trip
...

(b) It means behaviour or attitude
...

(iv) The narrator’s borrowers have forgotten to pay back the money
they had borrowed from him
...

(v) The practice of lending and borrowing referred to in the extract
points to the painful fact that the lenders remember the money
they have lent, whereas the borrowers forget about it
...
(i) In the first sentence of the extract, ‘them’ refers to the people
to whom the narrator owes some money and has forgotten to
pay back
...

(ii) The narrator’s act of writing down names in the alphabetic order
suggests that he is serious about repaying the money he has
borrowed
...

(iii) The narrator feels that it is not necessary to pay back the money
lent over a bridge table or for drinking soda water
...

(iv) The narrator wants to start a Back to Honesty Movement, which
calls for repayment of all the money borrowed in times of need
...

(v) The title of the story My Lost Dollar is quite appropriate because:
(a) the entire story revolves around a particular dollar that the
narrator had lent to his friend, Todd
...

(b) the observations that the narrator makes in the story like he
himself must have borrowed money from some people and
would have forgotten to pay back and difference in memory
between the lenders and the borrowers and starting a Back
to Honesty Movement, are a reflection on the practice of
lending and borrowing based on the one dollar that he had
lent to his friend, Todd
...
(i) Alagu and Jumman were close childhood friends
...

(ii) The secret of their mutual trust and confidence was their mutual
outlook and a community of ideas
...
” As a result of
his precept, his son grew up to be a fine scholar, who was
unequal in the entire village for drafting petitions or drawing
up a deed
...
Alagu continued with his father’s advice and
spent his time serving his teacher by keeping his hookah fresh
and feeding his chillum
...

(v) Alagu was respected in the village for his wealth, whereas
Jumman was respected for his learning
...
(i) The old lady was Jumman’s maternal aunt and Jumman was
her nephew
...

(ii) Before the deed was signed, the old lady’s every wish used to
be fulfilled without askance
...
After the deed was registered,
Jumman became indifferent towards her and used to illtreat her
...
She illtreated the old
lady and continuously nagged and insulted her
...

(iv) The old lady patiently bore all the insults and daily humilation
as long as she could
...

(v) Her newphew reacted indifferently to her demands and said that
the money did not grow on trees and taunted her that she had
not conquered death
...

No, the old lady’s threat did not affect him in anyway
...
He was sure
that they would not go against him
...
(i) The old woman was Jumman’s maternal aunt, who used to live
with Jumman and his family
...

(ii) The incident of Jumman’s aunt threatening Jumman of taking
her case to the panchayat, if her demands were not fulfilled and
Jumman’s indifferent attitude to the threat is referred to here
...
Some
of them cursed the hard times which had brought the old woman
to such a miserable state, whereas others advised her to patch
up with her nephew
...
She
requested him to attend the panchayat, when her case comes
up in the panchayat
...


IV
...
The speaker
is Jumman’s maternal aunt
...
She was not served any meal without abuses being
hurled on her
...

(iii) The speaker demanded that justice should be done to her
...

(iv) The panchayat was held in the evening under the village tree
...

(v) The panchayat held under a tree after the sun set, presented
a strange sight
...
In another
corner, the village children were shouting, crying and quarelling
with each other
...
There
was excitement and disorder all around
...
(i) Alagu Chowdhari became the head-panch when he was nominated
by Jumman’s aunt, as the panchayat system stipulated the
nomination of a head-panch, acceptable to both the parties
...

(ii) Jumman was delighted at Alagu’s nomination as the head-panch
because he knew that Alagu, being his intimate friend, would
not go against him
...

(iv) Alagu told the old lady about his friendship with Jumman and
indirectly reminded her of the repercussions of appointing him
as the head-panch
...

(v) As the head-panch, Alagu began the proceedings by addressing
Jumman and telling him that although they had earlier helped
each other in times of difficulty, but now since he was the
panch, both Jumman and his aunt, were equal in his eyes
...
In his defence, Jumman
said that he had been carrying all his obligations towards his
aunt like a son would be doing for his mother
...
However, he could not afford to pay a monthly
allowance to his aunt
...
(i) ‘He’ in the extract refers to Alagu
...

(ii) Ramadhan Misra was the resident of another village
...
He was excited to see
Alagu defeating Jumman in his cross-examination
...
He found it difficult to understand for
which old grievance, Alagu was trying to take revenge on him
...

(iv) The panchayat’s verdict was that Jumman had to pay a monthly
allowance to his aunt
...

Jumman was stunned to hear the verdict
...

(v) The villagers were full of praise for Alagu for his sense of fairness
and justice
...

(vi) The verdict spoiled the relationship that existed between Jumman
and Alagu
...

Jumman kept on thinking about how to take revenge on Alagu
and waited with baited breath for such an opportunity to come
his way
...
(i) Alagu purchased the pair of bullocks a year ago from the
Bateshwar fair
...
They were so attractive that they
remained the envy and the rage of the whole village for months
together
...
Jumman
connected the death of the bullock as God’s punishment on
Alagu for his treacherous conduct of giving the verdict against
him
...

(iii) Alagu sold the other bullock to Samjhu Sahu, a cart driver
...
It was agreed
that Samjhu Sahu, the buyer would pay the price in a month’s
time
...
He was overworked and forced to undertake three trips to
the town without any rest and full feed
...

V
III
...
He did
so because he was aware of the hostility between Alagu and
Jumman and thought Jumman would not favour Alagu and so
the verdict would go in his favour
...
He felt so because he was aware that
Jumman had been waiting for an opportunity to take revenge
on him
...
He knew that since he was
sitting on the throne of justice, he should not utter anything
but truth
...
He realised
that he must not allow his personal feelings of hostility towards
Alagu to interfere with his duty of dispensing justice
...

(v) Jumman pronounced the verdict that Samjhu had to pay the
full amount for the ox he bought from Alagu, because when he
bought the cattle, it was in good health and the ox died of slow

24

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)
starvation and ovework
...


(vi) Yes, Jumman’s verdict was absolutely fair as it was Samjhu
Sahu’s greed to earn more profit that made him overwork his
ox, without giving the animal rest and proper food
...
Alagu
was ovewhelmed at Jumman’s fairness in dispensing justice
...
They embraced
each other and renewed their friendship
...
(i) The first speaker in the extract is the doctor, who has come to
examine Johnsy
...

(ii) The ‘little lady’ is a reference for Johnsy
...

(iii) The ‘little lady’ has only one in ten chances of recovery
...

(iv) To the first speaker’s last question in the extract, Sue replied
that a man is not worth thinking and Johnsy does not have a
man on her mind
...
This shows that she does not have a positive attitude
towards men
...
She believes that when the last ivy leaf
falls from the vine, her life too will come to an end
...
e
...

II
...

They first met six months ago at a group table in Delmonico’s,
a restaurant in New York City
...


THE LAST LEAF

25


(iii) Johnsy was looking outside the window to watch the leaves
falling from an ivy vine on the wall of the opposite brick house
...

(iv) She was sketching a pair of elegant horseshow riding trousers
and a monocle of the figure of the hero, an Idaho cowboy
...
She believed that with the fall of the last ivy leaf from
the vine, her life too would come to an end
...

She told a lie to Johnsy to keep up her sagging spirits and
revive a hope of survival in Johnsy
...
(i) The first speaker here is ‘Johnsy’
...

(ii) Johnsy told Sue to tell her when the last leaf from ivy vine
would fall because she wanted to see the last leaf fall
...

Behrman is an old man past sixty
...
His
beard curls down from his head and makes him look like a
mythological creature having a man’s face and body of a little
man that has magic powers but behaves badly
...

(v) Behrman used to earn his living by serving as a model to those
young artists, who could not afford a professional for the purpose
...
Further,
he had a fatherly affection for them for he considered himself
as ‘especial mastiff-in-waiting’ to protect the two girls
...
(i) When Behrman came to know about Johnsy’s strange fancy
concerning the last leaf, he became quite angry and expressed
his contempt and derision for such an idiotic imagination
...


26

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)

(iii) The strange fancy which has filled Johnsy’s mind was that she
would die the very moment the last ivy leaf on the vine would  fall
...
He did so because he had a fatherly affection
for Sue and Johnsy and was concerned for their well-being
...

V
...
It plays an important
role in the story with regard to Johny’s strange fancy that with
the falling of the last leaf from the vine, she would die
...
e
...
Hearing the
wind, she was sure that even the last leaf would fall at night
...

(iv) Sue’s dialogue in the extract tells us that she has developed a
strong bond of friendship with Johnsy and is much concerned
about Johnsy’s welfare
...

(v) Johnsy did not answer Sue’s last question in the extract
...
She talked to
her about clothes and fashion
...

VI
...
She is speaking to Johnsy
...
e
...
e
...

(iii) Mr
...
The speaker got the news of Behrman’s
death from the doctor, who had come to examine Johnsy
...
Behrman was out in the heavy rain at night, with a ladder,
across the brick wall where the ivy vine went in order to paint
an ivy leaf on the wall
...
Behrman’s
illness included a lighted lantern, a ladder, some scattered brushes
and a palette with green and yellow colours mixed on it
...
Behrman risked his life by going out in the pouring rain
and painting the last ivy leaf on the wall, after the original leaf
has fallen
...
But in the process
of saving Johnsy’s life, old Behrman got drenched in the rain,
caught pneumonia and died
...


ASSIGNMENTS
I
...
It can be concluded from the
daughter’s questions that she is a talkative girl, always bursting
with questions
...
The narrator is an author by profession, whereas
Rahamat is a pedlar, who brings seasonal goods from his country,
Afghanistan and sells them in India
...
Her father says that her
daughter has not wasted a single moment of her life remaining
silent
...
The
father shows that he is patient with his daughter by listening to
her volley of questions without saying anything and later joining
her prattle and having a lively talk with her
...


28

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)

II
...
He was startled to see Mini
laughing and talking with the Kabuliwala because initially she
was scared of the Kabuliwala
...

(ii) The Kabuliwala was a pedlar, who used to bring dry fruits and
other goods from his country, Afghanistan and sell them in India
...

(iii) The first meeting between Mini and the Kabuliwala happened
when she called him to her house
...
She came only when
her father called her out
...
When the Kabuliwala offered her some raisins and apricots
from his bag, she refused to take them and clung closer to her
father with a redoubled suspicion
...
Mini’s fear of
Kabuliwala carrying several children like her in his bag subsided,
when the Kabuliwala took out some dry fruits from his bag and
offered them to her
...
The Kabuliwala
gave the money to Mini
...
Mini’s father rescued Mini from her
mother’s wrath by taking her out for a walk
...
(i) Mini’s mother’s fear that the world was full of thieves, bandits,
drunkards, malaria and cockroaches, waiting for an opportunity
to harm her family, is referred to in the extract
...


(iii) She is full of suspicion about the Kabuliwala because she
has heard tales of child abduction and robbery prevalent in
Afghanistan, the country to which the Kabuliwala belonged
...


THE KABULIWALA

29

(iv) She was annoyed at her daughter’s act of accepting things
from a stranger, i
...
, the Kabuliwala
...

(v) The ‘pointed questions’ that the lady asked the narrator included —
were there no instances of child abduction, was not slave trade
in practice in Afghanistan and was it impossible for a giant like
Kabuliwala to kidnap a little child
...
No, he did not succeed in allaying
her wife’s fear
...
(i) The dishonest man was the narrator’s neighbour, who had bought
a Rampuri shawl from the Kabuliwala on credit
...

(ii) The ‘usual exchange’ refers to Mini’s questioning Kabuliwala
about the contents in his bag
...

(iv) The Kabuliwala was charged with murderous assault
...

(v) It was the end of the winter season
...

V
...
The
noise and bustle pervading the house is because of the narrator’s
daughter’s wedding
...
The visitors were continuously
walking in and out
...
The wedding music was beig played in
the house since dawn and there was festivity in the house and
no end to the noise
...
He no longer had his long hair or his old
vigour
...

(iv) The narrator could not recognise him first because his looks had
changed from what it used to be eight years ago
...

The narrator recognised him from his smile
...
The
narrator was little annoyed with the Kabuliwala and asked him
to come some other day
...

(vi) Rahamat was little hurt by the indifferent attitude of the narrator
and was stunned on hearing that he would not be able to meet
Mini, as she was getting married that day
...
(i) The impresson of the hand of Kabuliwala’s daughter on a piece
of paper, created with burnt charcoal was the ‘memorabilia of
his daughter’
...

(ii) The ‘merchandise’ that the Kabuliwala sold on the streets of
Kolkata included dry fruits like almonds, raisins and apricots
and woollen clothes like shawls
...
The speaker
accepted the Kabuliwala’s request because he realised a father’s
longing for his daughter and that the Kabuliwala saw a reflection
of his own daughter in Mini
...

(v) On seeing Mini, it dawned on the Kabuliwala that his own little
daughter at home, away in Afghanistan, must have grown  up like
Mini
...

(vi) The narrator helped the Kabuliwala by cutting down on the
wedding expenses of his daughter and giving him the money so
that he could go back to his own country and meet his daughter
...
Both of them, also suffer the pangs of separation
from their daughters : the Kabuliwala got separated from his
daughter when he was imprisoned eight years ago, whereas the
narrator was about to be separated from his daughter because
of her getting married
...
(i) The old banker hosted the party
...

The host was in a depressing and reminiscent mood
...
Life
imprisonment was the alternative suggested in place of capital
punishment
...

(iv) The host’s view was that capital punishment was more moral than
life imprisonment
...

(v) According to the young lawyer, both capital punishment and life
sentence were immoral
...

I am in/not in favour of capital punishment:

For:

(a) Capital punishment achieves nothing but revenge
...




(c) Capital punishment does not reform the criminal
but just eliminates him
...
The claim that capital punishment
reduces violent crime is inconclusive and certainly
not proven
...
When someone wilfully commits
crimes against his fellow humans, he should be
given capital punishment
...




(c) When the criminals will be out, they will be free
to resume their nefarious activities and even take
revenge against the law enforcing agencies or the
relatives of the victims
...
(i) The bet stipulated that if the lawyer would remain in solitary
confinement for a period of fifteen years, the banker would pay
him two million roubles
...

(ii) It tells us that the banker was a mean and heartless fellow, who
sought to ruin the youth and the life of the lawyer by setting
inhuman and unreasonable conditions for the bet
...
The lawyer’s act of accepting such
a bet shows him to be a daring but greedy fellow
...
He also told him that voluntary confinement is
much more harder than being in compulsory confinement
...

(v) The banker questioned himself about the object of the bet, the
good involved in lawyers’ losing fifteen years of his life and his
throwing away two million roubles and whether the bet can prove
that the death penalty is better or worse than life imprisonment
...

(vi) The banker cursed the bet he undertook fifteen years ago
because his fortune had declined and he was himself in debt
...

The lawyer, on the other hand, decided to forfeit the bet he had
undertaken fifteen years ago, to prove the futility and fleeting
nature of worldly possessions
...

The lawyer staked more because he staked his freedom and
his youth by being in confinement for fifteen years, whereas
the banker staked only money, which can be recovered, unlike
youth and time lost, which can never be regained
...
(i) In the second year of his confinement, the prisoner did not
play any music and no piano was heard
...

(ii) In the second year the prisoner asked for classics to read,
whereas in the fifth year of his confinement, he altogether gave
up reading books
...
Besides, he felt that
nothing could be more gloomy than drinking wine and not being
able to meet anyone
...

(v) The prisoner used to tear up all that he had written at night,
in the morning
...
Besides, he was not interested in anything
...


IV
...
The prisoner wanted them to read the letter
he had written to the banker
...
The banker had the difficulty in getting
the books which the prisoner wanted to become proficient in
different languages
...

(iv) The prisoner wanted the banker to fire a shot in the garden if
the experts in different languages could not find a single mistake
in the letter he had written in six languages
...

The banker ordered two shots to be fired in the garden to
recognise the proficiency the prisoner had acquired in different
languages over the years
...

V
...
As a result of decline in his
fortune, the banker who used to be a proud, fearless, selfconfident millionaire, became a banker of middling rank, fearing
loss at every rise and fall in his investments
...
The banker clutched his
head, cursed the bet and the lawyer for the miserable condition
in which he was
...
He wished so
because, he would be spared the payment of two million roubles
to the prisoner, as stipulated in the bet
...

(v) The old man said that he would look at the prisoner with
envy because by paying two million roubles to the prisoner as
stipulated in the bet, the old man would be reduced to the state
of a pauper, whereas the prisoner would regain his freedom,
marry and enjoy life
...
Further, instead
of improving himself, he blamed others for his downfall
...

The banker’s resolve to kill the prisoner creates surprise in the
story by arousing anxiety among the readers about the outcome
of the banker’s resolve and its further consequences for both
the banker and the prisoner
...
(i) Fifteen years of solitary confinement in the prison, made the
prisoner calm and at peace within himself so that he could
sit still, perhaps in a state of meditation
...


THE BET

35

(ii) The banker was in a state of despair when he broke the seals  off
the door
...


(iii) The author wants to create suspense in the story by usig
expressions like ‘rusty’, ‘lock’, ‘grating sound’ and ‘creaking door’
...

(iv) The banker expected to hear the footsteps of the prisoner because
he thought that the latter would rush towards the door and give
a cry of amazement on knowing that somebody had opened the
door and he would be freed from the prison
...

He made up his mind to go inside the lodge to kill the prisoner
and put to an end the bet and the issue of paying two million
roubles to the prisoner
...


(vii) The prisoner is to be pitied for the condition in which he
landed himself for his greed for money
...

He did realise the worthlessness of the materialistic world and
the need for introspection, after fifteen years of being in solitary
confinement
...

V
II
...
The prisoner stayed
for five hours less than fifteen years in confinement
...
Therefore, this world is empty, illusory and doomed
...
He wept and felt a great contempt for
himself
...


36

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)

(iv) The banker kept the note in the safe to avoid the arousal of
unnecessary suspicion among the people regarding the bet and
the prisoner
...

(v) At the end of the story, the prisoner realised the worthlessness
of the material world and rejected all the pleasures he has
experienced and renounced the two million roubles he could
have won, as stipulated in the bet
...

(vi) The Bet is an appropriate title for the story because:
(a) the entire story revolves around the ‘bet’ between two people—a
banker and a lawyer
...

(b) symbolically, human life itself is a bet, where we stake
everything to achieve material possessions, but realise their
futility only after losing everything, i
...
, life itself
...
(i) Tembu is the twelve year old son of Baldeo, a khalasi at a small
wayside signal stop
...
He suddenly woke up in the night
and wondered if his father, who used to go every night on his
night duty at the railway signal, had left for the duty as it was
a dark and cold night
...
His nightly errand was to signal whether or not
the tunnel was clear of obstruction for the train to pass and to
see that the lamp was burning
...


THE TIGGER IN THE TUNNEL

37

(iii) It means that there was complete silence on a chilly, dark night
with the only sounds heard occasionally being that of a cicada,
a woodpecker or the grunt of a wild boar
...

(iv) The station was said to be in name only because it was a small
shack where mail trains stopped only for a few seconds before
entering the tunnel
...

II
...

(ii) The station, a small shack, which served as a wayside signal
stop, was three miles away from human habitation
...
A deep cutting in the forest led to a tunnel
through which mail train passed
...

(iii) The darkness of the night heightened the eeriness of the station
with the black tunnel entrance looming up menacingly
...

(v) Baldeo’s financial condition was quite poor as his income from
the small rice fields was not enough to provide for his family
...

III
...

(ii) Baldeo thought whether the lamp on the signal post would still
be alighted
...
e
...
If he had his way, Baldeo would go back to

38

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)
his hut and feel the warm comfort there instead of working out
in a chilling, dark night
...
He had
heard that the tiger frequented the tunnel and was a maneater
...

(iv) Baldeo had a small axe, whose head was made of pure steel,
was thin but ringing time like a bell
...
Baldeo could cut down a tree
using his axe in just three or four swift strokes
...
That is why he carried the axe wherever
he went and did not part with it in return for a good amount
of money
...
He could cut down
just three or four swift strokes using his axe, as
it had been sawn
...



IV
...

It means that in the darkness the black entrance to the tunnel
appeared threateningly
...

(iii) The signal light was out and the mail train was due in five
minutes and within five minutes Baldeo had to lit the lamp and
check the tunnel of any obstruction
...
In order to ensure that the line was
clear, Baldeo took his own lamp in his hand walked down the
tunnel and by swinging his lamp, which cast shadows on the
wall made sure that there was no obstruction in the line
...

He walked from his hut to the station, lighted the signal lamp

THE TIGGER IN THE TUNNEL

39

and checked the tunnel of any obstruction
...

(v) Baldeo was indeed a responsible employee
...
Every night, he used to leave the warmth
of his bed to proceed toward the station, lit the signal lamp and
walking down the tunnel check for any obstruction in the line
...
He took up the job of a watchman,
unmindful of having to stay away from home and family, just
to supplement his meagre income from land
...

V
...

(ii) Baldeo’s main worry was whether the tiger was moving towards
his hut, where his son, Tembu was fast asleep, unprotected
...

(iii) The tiger’s eyes have been described as shining green in the
light from the signal lamp
...

(iv) As the tiger moved towards Baldeo, he stood with his back to
the signal post, motionless, staring at the tiger with courage
and without being intimidated
...
Although he was aware that flight would
be useless, he decided not to be an easy prey to the tiger
...
As the tiger pounced
on him, he hit it with his axe, wounded it and almost served its
leg
...


VI
...
The tiger had became fearless because it had become
used to the ways of men, for he had been preying on them for
years
...
But Baldeo, who
was prepared to defend himself, made an agile leap and avoided
the tiger’s paw
...
The tiger
roared and tried to come closer to Baldeo
...
But
unfortunately, the axe got struck in the tiger’s bone and Baldeo
became weaponless
...

(iii) The overland mail entered the cutting with its engine puffing
and climbing steadily
...

The tiger was in agony because of his wounded leg and did not
notice the faint rumble on the earth caused by the moving train
...

(iv) The title of the story is quite apt because the entire story revolves
around one incident in which a tiger appears in the tunnel
through which the train used to pass and the deadly encounter
between the ferocious maneater and the night watchman at the
traffic signal
...
(i) The wounded tiger failed to notice the train entering the cutting
and was trapped in the tunnel
...

(ii) Baldeo’s body was lying at the cutting
...
The relief
watchman arrived early at the dawn
...

However, despite the great tragedy of losing his father and the
only earning member, Baldeo’s son, Tembu took over his father’s
responsibility on himself and assumed the job of a watchman
at the signal stop
...
He was no
longer afraid of anything because his father had killed the most
fearsome enemy—the maneater tiger
...


PRINCESS SEPTEMBER

41

ASSIGNMENTS
I
...
The king’s decision to cut off
the queen’s head was strange because he was extremely fond of
his queen
...

(ii) The king and queen had nine daughters
...
The king’s daughter’s
were first named after the four seasons, then the days of the
week and finally months in a year
...
The difference in their
nature was because Princess September, being the youngest, had
just one name, September, whereas her elder sisters’ names had
been changed often, with the change in number of their siblings
...

(iv) (a) The King’s liking for the parrot’s greeting, ‘God Save the
King’ shows that he loved flattery
...

(v) Although the king was fond of the queen, yet he decided to
have her head cut off
...

The queen was finally saved when she gave birth to sons only
and named them after the letters of the alphabet
...
(i) The parrots could only say ‘God Save the King’ and ‘Pretty Polly’
in seven oriental languages whereas the nightingale could sing
beautifully
...


42

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)

(ii) The king did not mind hearing the phrase ‘God Save the King’
often but was tired of hearing the parrots repeating the phrase
‘Pretty Polly’
...
She was
full of grief on finding that her parrot had died and burst into
tears
...

(iv) The queen was annoyed at Princess September’s act of bursting
into tears at the loss of her parrot
...

This shows her to be an uncaring and unaffectionate mother
...
So they put
Princess September to bed as quickly as possible and went away
leaving her by herself
...

III
...

(ii) The nightingale’s song gave comfort to the mourning Princess
...

(iii) The bird gave the Princess a bow as a part of its artistic good
manners
...

(iv) The little bird offered to take the place of the Princess’ parrot
because of her charming nature and to provide comfort to her
in her grief
...

(vi) Princess September and the bird became good friends
...

And as a true friend, the bird did not mind her putting him in
a cage, whereas Princess September granted the bird freedom
realising that a true bird cannot sing in confinement
...
(i) ‘They’ refer to the eight parrots that belonged to the eight
princesses
...


PRINCESS SEPTEMBER

43

(ii) The Princesses made this remark when the king said that he
was tired of hearing their parrots say Pretty Polly
...
According to
him, his councillors said the same thing in seven different ways
but without conveying any meaning
...

(iv) The Princesses’ characters were naturally embittered because of
having to change their names often with the change in number
of their sisters
...
But when she declined the offer, they
persuaded her to put the nightingale in a cage
...
(i) The little bird had gone to visit his father-in-law
...

(ii) When the bird did not come in time the Princess thought whether
the bird was in any trouble or had he been ensnared by hawks
or men or whether he had forgotten her and taken fancy to
somebody else
...

(iv) The bird questioned the Princess as to why she has put him
in the cage
...

(v) Princess September reasoned that to protect him from her mother’s
prowling cats she had put him in the cage
...
But when the Princess told
him that it was for his safety, the bird seemed satisfied with
her reason because he thought that she would let her go out
in the morning
...
(i) No, the Princess was not aware of what was good for the bird
...


44

TEACHERS’ HANDBOOK (ICSE SHORT STORIES)

(ii) The bird said that he could not sing without seeing the trees,
the lake and the green rice growing in the fields, since these
beauties of nature inspired him to sing
...

No, it did not help the bird to sing because he longed for freedom
and not just a glance at nature’s beauty
...
They further said that if he was obstinate, he would
die and she would get rid of him
...

(vi) On seeing the bird lying like a dead one, Princess September
opened the door and lifted the bird with her hand out of the
cage
...
She told the bird that she had put him in the cage for
his safety only but if that is harmfull for him, she would let
him out of the cage to be happy in his own way
...
He flew away but kept his promise and continued
to visit Princess September, eating out of her hand and singing
beautiful songs to her
...
This allowed sunlight and fresh air
to enter her room
...




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