Footprints Without Feet
NCERT Solutions for 10th Class English Lesson-5 Footprints Without Feet are provided here. These solutions for Footprints Without Feet are extremely popular among 10th Class candidates for English Footprints Without Feet Solutions come handy for fast completing preparing for tests. All answers and questions from the NCERT Book of 10th Class English Chapter 5 are provided here for you for free.
| Board | CBSE |
| Textbook | NCERT |
| Class | Class 10th |
| Subject | English Footprints Without Feet |
| Chapter | 5 |
| Chapter Name | Footprints Without Feet |
| Category | NCERT Solution |
Footprints Without Feet Questions and Answers
Q1. If, somehow you discovered how to become invisible, how would you use that opportunity? [CBSE 2015]
Ans. If I discovered how to become invisible, I would use this opportunity to punish all those people who cause trouble to others for their own selfish motives. I would catch them and hand them over to the police without letting them know that I was behind them. I will also help the law-enforcing agencies when they conduct raids on criminal hideouts, as I will be able to move in the open without fear of being seen. This will help the people of the country to become more law-abiding citizens. Griffin was completely invisible until he happened to step in some mud, which caused him to leave footprints as he walked. His footprints were seen by two boys, who followed him as long as the prints were visible. On getting rid of them, he went into a big London store to put on some warm clothes. After the store was shut, he got dressed by putting on shoes, an overcoat, and a wide-brimmed hat. This made him visible to the people who came to work at the store the next day
Q2. What impression do you form of Griffin after reading the lesson, “FootPrint, without Feet”?
Ans. Griffin was a brilliant scientist, as he discovered a drug due to which his body became transparent as a sheet of glass after swallowing it. This made him invisible. But he was a lawless person. Because of his misdeeds, he became a homeless wanderer without money and clothes. He was an introvert with a desire for solitude. He was always seeking adventure, being fond of mysterious things. However, he was unscrupulous, as he robbed various people to finance his work, besides he got angry very fast, which caused him to become a fugitive.
Q3. Describe the landlord’s and his wife’s experience with the strange scientist. [CBSE 2016]
Ans. Both Mrs. Hall and her husband were surprised to find the scientist’s room door open because normally it was always locked. So they peeped in but found nobody there. The bandages and clothes that he always wore were lying about the room. Suddenly Mrs. Hall heard a sniff close to her ear and the hat on the bedpost leaped up and dashed itself into her face. Then the bedroom chair sprang into the air and pushed them both out of the room and then appeared to slam and lock the door after them. Mrs. Hall became hysterical and almost fell down the stairs. She thought that her furniture was haunted. They decided to confront the scientist next time when they met him.
Q4.Why was he wandering the streets?
Ans. Griffin was a lawless person. His landlord disliked him and tried to get rid of him. In revenge, he set fire to the house. He had to remove his clothes to get away without being seen. This was why he had become a homeless wanderer without money and clothes.
Q5.Why does Mrs. Hall find the scientist eccentric?
Ans. The arrival of a stranger at an in winter was in itself a strange occurrence. In addition, the stranger had an uncommon appearance. In spite of Mrs. Hall’s attempts to be friendly, he would respond in a cold manner. He told her that he had no desire to talk and that all he wanted to be solitary. He did not wish to be disturbed in his work. For all these reasons she regarded him as an eccentric scientist.
Q 6.“Griffin was rather a lawless person.” Comment.
Ans: Griffin was a lawless person. His landlord disliked him and tried to get rid of him. In revenge, he set fire to the house and ran away. He had no money. Therefore, he robbed and stole people after becoming invisible. When he went into the London store, he gave himself the pleasure of clothing. He fed himself without regard to expense. Later, he went to Drury Lane, which was the center of the theatre world. He went to a suitable shop and came out wearing bandages round his forehead, dark glasses, big bushy side-whiskers, false nose, and a large hat. He was visible then. To escape without being seen, he callously attacked the shopkeeper from behind and robbed him of all the money he could find. When he had exhausted all the money he had stolen, he robbed a clergyman. He even attacked the innkeeper and his wife when they tried to sneak into his room. Later, when the police came to arrest him, he threw off his clothes, thereby becoming running away and invisible.
Q7. What curious episode occurs in the study?
Ans: A clergyman and his wife were awakened very early in the morning by noises coming from the study. They crept heard and downstairs the chink of money being taken from the clergyman’s desk. With a poker grasped firmly in his hand, the clergyman hoped to surprise the thief. However, it was he who was surprised when he found the room to be empty. He and his wife looked under the desk, behind the curtains, and even up the chimney. There was nobody there. Yet the desk had been opened and the housekeeping money was missing. It was a curious episode, and the clergyman kept saying the words “extraordinary affair” for the rest of the day.
Q8. Why did Griffin decide to slip into a big London store? [CBSE 2011]
Ans. Griffin decided to slip into a large London store, because the weather was mid-winter, due to which it became stiff to wander around without clothes in London.
Q.9 Why were the two boys in London fascinated and surprised?
Ans. The two boys in London were fascinated and surprised when they saw fresh muddy footprints of a human being on the steps of a house, but no man was there making them. As they looked, a fresh footprint appeared from nowhere.
Q.10 What other extraordinary things happen at the inn?
Ans. Apart from the study room incident, many other extraordinary things happened at the inn. When the landlord and his wife saw the scientist’s door open, they entered his room. They saw that the bandages and clothes that he always wore were lying about the room. Suddenly, Mrs. Hall heard a sniff close to her ear. A moment later, the hat on the bedpost leaped up and dashed itself into her face. Then, the bedroom chair became charged and alive straight at her. As she and her husband turned away in terror, the chair pushed them out of the room and then appeared to lock and slam the door after them. Mrs. Hall, who almost fell down the stairs in hysterics, was convinced that the room was haunted by spirits and that these spirits had something to do with the strange scientist. Griffin was strongly suspected of having a hand in the burglary at the clergyman’s home. When Mrs. Hall questioned him on the strange happenings in his room, he threw off his whiskers, bandages, false nose and spectacles. The people were horrified to see a headless man. When the police arrived, he threw off one garment after another, thereby becoming running away and invisible.
Q.11 How was Griffin a lawless man?
Ans. Griffin was lawless because he had committed many anti-social deeds for which he never felt guilty. He set fire to his landlord’s house and ran away, he stole ‘ foodstuffs and clothes from a London store, stole other goods from a theatrical company and also stole money from a clergyman’s house to pay his bills.
Q.12 How did Griffin find himself invisible but naked in the chill January air for the second time?
Ans. As he had overslept in the big London store, when the store opened in the morning the store assistants came in. Griffin ran and panicked, chased by the assistants. He had to take off his newly found clothes to become invisible and escape so that he found himself invisible but naked in the chill January air for the 2nd time.
Q.13 How would you assess Griffin as a scientist?
Ans. After repeated experiments, Griffin had discovered how to make the human body transparent. This was a big achievement. However, he misused his discovery for personal gains and for hurting others. Thus, though he can be termed as a brilliant scientist, he was not a noble one.
Q14.What did Griffin do in the shop of a theatrical company? [CBSE 2012]
Ans. The 2nd time Griffin tried the stock of a theatrical company in the hope of finding not only clothes but also something like side-whiskers, hat, bandages, false nose, glasses, bandages, etc that would hide the empty space above his shoulders.
Q15.How did the visible man become invisible? What did he do then? [CBSE 2014]
Ans. The invisible man got angry with Mrs. Hall for asking an explanation for the mysterious happenings and threw off all he was wearing on his head so that he became a man without ahead. Soon the constable Jeffers arrived to arrest him, but the invisible man threw off all his clothes to become invisible and, in the ensuing scuffle, knocked escaped and Jeffers unconscious.
Q16. What happened to Jeffers when he tried to catch the invisible scientist?
Ans. When constable Jeffers tried to catch Griffin, he became invisible by removing his clothes. Jeffers found himself struggling with someone who couldn’t be seen.
Q17. What did the Halls see in the scientist’s room? [CBSE 2013]
Ans: As the door of the room was open and nobody appeared to be inside, the Halls entered the scientist’s room. They saw that the bedclothes were cold, showing that the scientist must have been up for some time, and stranger still, the bandages and clothes that he always wore were lying about the room.
Q18.What was the explanation of ‘mystery’ in FootPrints Without Feet?
Ans. The two boys followed muddy footprints being made fresh without seeing anybody making the prints, which was a ‘mystery’ for them. The explanation was that the bewildered boys had been following a scientist who had just discovered how to make the human body transparent, and thus invisible, by swallowing certain drugs.
Q19. Griffin was not a true scientist as he misused his scientific discovery. Illustrate this point by giving two incidents from the story.
Ans. A true scientist is a law-abiding person. A scientist is also called a ‘natural philosopher’. Griffin was not a real scientist as he did not use his discovery of how to make himself invisible for uses. He lost control of himself and behaved like a criminal. First, he set fire to his landlord’s house and ran away. Then he stole food without paying for it in a London store. Besides, he robbed the owner of a theatrical company and stole money from a clergyman’s desk.
