The Thief’s Story
Introduction to the lesson
A young boy makes friends with Anil. Anil trusts him completely and employs him. Does the boy
betray his trust?
The story is about a 15-year-old thief who changes his name every month to stay ahead of the police
and old employers. This time he kept his name Hari Singh. The other person in the story is a 25-year-
old writer named Anil. The thief meets Anil and asks him if he can work for him. The story unfolds on
how the thief betrays Anil by committing a theft but retracts later on.
Theme of the Lesson
The story The Theif’s story by Ruskin Bond is focused on the topics of friendship, treachery,
aspirations, connection, trust, guilt, change, kindness, loyalty, retribution, and honesty. The plot
of the narrative is built on the idea that kindness and love have the power to change even the
worst crooks and thieves in this harsh planet.
Hindi Explanation: https://youtu.be/X6xgsUhO6Q0n
The Thief’s Story Summary
Leslie Norris’s poem strongly shows how keeping wild animals in cages harms them and how
unfair it is to take them away from their natural homes just for people’s entertainment.
The story is about two different people. One is a thief of 15 years of age and the other is a man
of approximately 25 years, watching a wrestling match somewhere. The name of the person
watching the match is Anil. The thief approaches Anil and starts talking to him because he feels
that he had not robbed anyone in the past few days and thought that it would be easy to rob a
simple person like Anil. They both start talking and Anil asks the thief his name. The thief
introduces himself as Hari Singh. This is not his real name as he changes his name every month
to escape his ex employers or police. Then they started talking about the wrestlers and Anil was
leaving when Hari called him again and asked him if he could work for Anil. Anil said that he
won’t be able to pay him but could feed him if he knew how to cook. Hari lied that he knew how
to cook. Anil took Hari to his room which was above a sweet shop. Hari cooked a meal which
was really bad because Anil did not eat it. Anil asked Hari to leave but he tried to please Anil.
Hari smiled in his most attractive way and Anil could not stop laughing looking at him. Anil
agreed to teach Hari how to cook, write full sentences and add numbers. Hari was grateful as
he knew that there would be no limit to robbing people once he learnt how to read and write.
The narrator used to like working for Anil as he used to make him tea in the morning and then
go out to buy the groceries for the day. He also used to steal 1 rupee from the money that was
, given to him to buy the groceries every day. Anil knew that he used to steal but did not mind.
Anil used to make money by irregular works. Sometimes he used to borrow money and the
other day, when he had money, he would be lending it to other people. Whenever he used to
get money, he would go out with his friends to celebrate.
One day, Anil came in with a bundle of notes and told Hari that he had sold a book to a
publisher. At night he kept the money safely under the mattress of his bed. Hari realized that he
had been working for Anil for more than a month and had not stolen anything apart from the 1
rupee that he kept every day from the grocery money. Hari had many chances to steal as he
had the key to the room as well. But he was surprised with the amount of trust Anil had on him
as he had never seen such a trusting person in his life. This trust thing was preventing him from
robbing Anil as Hari thought that robbing a careless person like Anil didn’t make much
difference because he might not even notice that he had been robbed and that took out all the
fun from the work. Then he thought of stealing Anil’s money and justified himself that if he
didn’t steal money from Anil then also he would waste it on his friends and also, Anil didn’t pay
him for the work that he did.
Hari then woke up at night and quietly crawled to Anil’s bed. He steals the money and decides
to leave the city by Lucknow Express that departed at 10:30. When he reached the station, the
train had slowly started moving from the platform. He could have easily caught the train, but he
hesitated and he himself did not know the reason for it. Before he had reached the station he
counted the money and it was 600 rupees in 50 rupee notes. He could live a lavish life for 2 – 3
weeks with so much money. After the train had left, Hari was all alone at the train station. He
was left with no place to sleep at night. The only person he knew was Anil and he had looted
him as well. He sat on a bench in a park and as it started to rain, he sat down under the clock
tower. Then he realized that the notes had got wet. He realized that learning how to read and
write would help him to get a much more respectable and honest job which would pay him
much more than these few hundred rupees. Then he decided to go back to Anil’s house.
He reached the room and placed the money back. Next morning, he woke up a bit late and Anil
had already made his tea. Aniul gave a 50 rupee note to Hari as he had got paid for some work
and he would be paid regularly. Hari took the note in his hand and realized that the note was
still wet from the rain last night. Hari realized that Anil had come to know about his misdeed
but there was no sadness, anger or guilt in his mind. The narrator smiled in a beautiful way and
it was genuine happiness as he knew that he had saved himself from the wrong road.
The Thief’s Story Lesson explanation
Passage – I was still a thief when I met Anil. And though only 15, I was an experienced and fairly
successful hand. Anil was watching a wrestling match when I approached him. He was about 25
— a tall, lean fellow — and he looked easy-going, kind and simple enough for my purpose. I
hadn’t had much luck of late and thought I might be able to get into the young man’s
confidence. “You look a bit of a wrestler yourself,” I said. A little flattery helps in making friends.
“So do you,” he replied, which put me off for a moment because at that time I was rather thin.
“Well,” I said modestly, “I do wrestle a bit.” “What’s your name?” “Hari Singh,” I lied. I took a new
name every month. That kept me ahead of the police and my former employers. After this
introduction, Anil talked about the well-oiled wrestlers who were grunting, lifting and throwing
Introduction to the lesson
A young boy makes friends with Anil. Anil trusts him completely and employs him. Does the boy
betray his trust?
The story is about a 15-year-old thief who changes his name every month to stay ahead of the police
and old employers. This time he kept his name Hari Singh. The other person in the story is a 25-year-
old writer named Anil. The thief meets Anil and asks him if he can work for him. The story unfolds on
how the thief betrays Anil by committing a theft but retracts later on.
Theme of the Lesson
The story The Theif’s story by Ruskin Bond is focused on the topics of friendship, treachery,
aspirations, connection, trust, guilt, change, kindness, loyalty, retribution, and honesty. The plot
of the narrative is built on the idea that kindness and love have the power to change even the
worst crooks and thieves in this harsh planet.
Hindi Explanation: https://youtu.be/X6xgsUhO6Q0n
The Thief’s Story Summary
Leslie Norris’s poem strongly shows how keeping wild animals in cages harms them and how
unfair it is to take them away from their natural homes just for people’s entertainment.
The story is about two different people. One is a thief of 15 years of age and the other is a man
of approximately 25 years, watching a wrestling match somewhere. The name of the person
watching the match is Anil. The thief approaches Anil and starts talking to him because he feels
that he had not robbed anyone in the past few days and thought that it would be easy to rob a
simple person like Anil. They both start talking and Anil asks the thief his name. The thief
introduces himself as Hari Singh. This is not his real name as he changes his name every month
to escape his ex employers or police. Then they started talking about the wrestlers and Anil was
leaving when Hari called him again and asked him if he could work for Anil. Anil said that he
won’t be able to pay him but could feed him if he knew how to cook. Hari lied that he knew how
to cook. Anil took Hari to his room which was above a sweet shop. Hari cooked a meal which
was really bad because Anil did not eat it. Anil asked Hari to leave but he tried to please Anil.
Hari smiled in his most attractive way and Anil could not stop laughing looking at him. Anil
agreed to teach Hari how to cook, write full sentences and add numbers. Hari was grateful as
he knew that there would be no limit to robbing people once he learnt how to read and write.
The narrator used to like working for Anil as he used to make him tea in the morning and then
go out to buy the groceries for the day. He also used to steal 1 rupee from the money that was
, given to him to buy the groceries every day. Anil knew that he used to steal but did not mind.
Anil used to make money by irregular works. Sometimes he used to borrow money and the
other day, when he had money, he would be lending it to other people. Whenever he used to
get money, he would go out with his friends to celebrate.
One day, Anil came in with a bundle of notes and told Hari that he had sold a book to a
publisher. At night he kept the money safely under the mattress of his bed. Hari realized that he
had been working for Anil for more than a month and had not stolen anything apart from the 1
rupee that he kept every day from the grocery money. Hari had many chances to steal as he
had the key to the room as well. But he was surprised with the amount of trust Anil had on him
as he had never seen such a trusting person in his life. This trust thing was preventing him from
robbing Anil as Hari thought that robbing a careless person like Anil didn’t make much
difference because he might not even notice that he had been robbed and that took out all the
fun from the work. Then he thought of stealing Anil’s money and justified himself that if he
didn’t steal money from Anil then also he would waste it on his friends and also, Anil didn’t pay
him for the work that he did.
Hari then woke up at night and quietly crawled to Anil’s bed. He steals the money and decides
to leave the city by Lucknow Express that departed at 10:30. When he reached the station, the
train had slowly started moving from the platform. He could have easily caught the train, but he
hesitated and he himself did not know the reason for it. Before he had reached the station he
counted the money and it was 600 rupees in 50 rupee notes. He could live a lavish life for 2 – 3
weeks with so much money. After the train had left, Hari was all alone at the train station. He
was left with no place to sleep at night. The only person he knew was Anil and he had looted
him as well. He sat on a bench in a park and as it started to rain, he sat down under the clock
tower. Then he realized that the notes had got wet. He realized that learning how to read and
write would help him to get a much more respectable and honest job which would pay him
much more than these few hundred rupees. Then he decided to go back to Anil’s house.
He reached the room and placed the money back. Next morning, he woke up a bit late and Anil
had already made his tea. Aniul gave a 50 rupee note to Hari as he had got paid for some work
and he would be paid regularly. Hari took the note in his hand and realized that the note was
still wet from the rain last night. Hari realized that Anil had come to know about his misdeed
but there was no sadness, anger or guilt in his mind. The narrator smiled in a beautiful way and
it was genuine happiness as he knew that he had saved himself from the wrong road.
The Thief’s Story Lesson explanation
Passage – I was still a thief when I met Anil. And though only 15, I was an experienced and fairly
successful hand. Anil was watching a wrestling match when I approached him. He was about 25
— a tall, lean fellow — and he looked easy-going, kind and simple enough for my purpose. I
hadn’t had much luck of late and thought I might be able to get into the young man’s
confidence. “You look a bit of a wrestler yourself,” I said. A little flattery helps in making friends.
“So do you,” he replied, which put me off for a moment because at that time I was rather thin.
“Well,” I said modestly, “I do wrestle a bit.” “What’s your name?” “Hari Singh,” I lied. I took a new
name every month. That kept me ahead of the police and my former employers. After this
introduction, Anil talked about the well-oiled wrestlers who were grunting, lifting and throwing
