Notes From Footprints Without Feet

1.A Triumph of Surgeryby James Herriot

Tricki- a bloated sauage, leg at each corner, eyes bloodshot and rheumy
Mrs Pumphery- over-pampering, over-indulgent, feeds Tricki with malt
cod liver oil, a bowl of Horlicks, cakes, chocolates
Excuse- Hodgkin down with lumbago
Suggestion- more exercise, strict diet
Problem- Tricki wouldeat nothing, bouts of vomiting, lying on rug,
panting
Transformed- lithe hard muscled animal, stretching out in great bounds,
chest brushing the ground
2) The Thief's Story: Ruskin Bond
Difficult to rob Anil:
" Easy torob a greedy man-he can afford
" Difficult to rob a careless man-takes all the pleasure out of the work';
wouldn't notice
b.short career asa thief- made a study of man's faces
Greedy man showed fear
" Rich man showed anger
" Poor man showed acceptance
" Anil would show sadness-'not for the loss of money but loss of trust'
c. Why did Hari return?

Realization-couldnot learn to write whole sentences-"it was simple matter to

steal-and sometimes just as simple to be caught. But to be a really big man, a
clever and respected man was something else."
3. The Midnight Visitor:Robert Arthur
The story deals with espionage.
a. Fowler felt let down -musty corridor, gloomy French hotel, small
room,scarcely a setting for a romantic adventure
" b.Fowler's expectations: mysterious figures in the night, dark eyed
beauties, the crack of pistols, drugs in the wine
c. Max- slender,a little less than tall, pointed countenance like a fox,
gun-trotting (menacing)
" d. Story of balcony: belonged to the next apartment
 " The room used to be a part of the larye
" The next room used to be the
unit
living,room
" Ihad the balcoy which extended under Ausable's window now
One could get onto it from theemptyroom two doors down
" Second time in a month soncone had entered
through the balcony
Raised a devil with themanagement
e. Why the balcony story- to save the important papers
that could change the course of (related to missile)
history
" To save him (Ausable) and Fowler and
get rid of Max
1. Ausable: "fat and sloppy', quick-witted, mentally
agile, calm and composed,
could speak French and German passably
4. A Question of Trust: Victor
Canning
a. Horace Danby- good respectable citizen but not
completely honest,
unmarried, fifty years old, lock and key business, two helpers, loved rare and
expensivebooks hence robbed a safe every year, had attacks of hay fever
b. Theft at Shotover Grange-
preparedness through amagazine
article(residents out, servants movie, dog Sherry)
c. Lady in Red- pretty and young, poised, tamed Sherry,took
Horace's fear in
her stride, manipulative, confident demeanor (cigarette)
Threats by her- phone the police,
"Society must be protected from men lilke you",
"You are really afraid of going to prison, aren't you?",
"I have always liked the wrong kind of people'.
Poise, taking his fear in her stride, cigarette
Honour among Thieves
5. FootprintsWithout Feet :HG Wells
Griffin- brilliant scientist, lawless person, homeless wanderer, landlord
disliked, tried to eject, revenge, burnt house
Adventures-a) slipped into a big London store for warmth, feed(cold
meat, coffee, sweets,wine)
 b) tryto steal fronm of atheatrical company, bandages, dark
glasses, false nose,
big bushy whiskers, a long hat
Attacked the shopkeeper, robbed off all hismoney
Village of Iping
c) theft at clergyman's house

d) Extraordinary things- sniff, hat on the bedpost, leapt up, bedroom chair
became alive, launched by spirits, Mrs Hall felldown hysterics
e) Mr Jaffers- the constable, law abiding constable, is hit by blows by Griffin,
knocked unconscious

6) The Making of a scientist:Robert WPeterson

an autobiographical piece based on the evolutionary scientist inthe
domain of science
unwavering persistence that has characterized all of his endeavors
gathered butterflies.
In addition,he gathered coins, minerals, and fossils
As an enthusiastic astronomer
" he occasionally spent the entire night stargazing
His mother supported his curiosity by taking him on field trips, and
purchasing telescopes, microscopes, cameras, mounting supplies, and
other tools
gathered specimens of all twenty-five species of butterflies
Next, his mother gave him a book for young readers named The Travels
of Monarch X
Urquhart, a researcher at the University of Toronto in Canada,
instructed them to tag butterflies.
7th grade- County Science Fair, lost, slides of frog tissues, real
experiments, neat display
succeeded in his eighth-grade assignment of trying to identify the
source of a viral sickness that kills almost all monarch caterpillars every
few years
His science fair research the next year tested the hypothesis that viceroy
butterflies mimic monarchs
" Richard Ebright was second in his Harvard class of 1,510graduates
Ebright enrolled in Harvard Medical School as a graduate student
researcher.
 Richard AWeirherer- Sst Teacher
Making of ascientist- first rate mind, curiosity, willto win for the right
reasons
7)The Necklace: Guy De
Maupassant
story revolves around a selfish lady named Matilda
unsatisfied with her life, suffered incessantly,
unhappy with the apartment's shabby walls and the worn-out furniture
she dreamt of royal dinners being served in exquisite
silver dishes
got an invitation to a party at the house of minister of
public instruction
upset because she didn't have anything to wear at
such an extravagant
party
husband gave her 400 francs to buy a new dress
ten years to repay all the loans and in these
years their lives changed
drastically
Looks much older, her hair badly dressed, her
voice became loud
Irony- the necklace was an imitation
Vanity comes before fall
8)Bholi:KAAbbas
revolves around a girl who hod
due to an accidental fall and disease in her
childhood
target by everyone for not being good-looking and intelligent
A

stammered and had pockmarks on her face

father Ramlal was a Numberdar
Ramlal was always worried about her as it seemed
her with her having an ugly face and a dumb mind
impossible to marry
Tehsildar visited their village
persuaded Ramlal to send his daughters to school
Bholi having no chance of getting married was sent to school
she was dressed up and her hair was washed and oiled
she felt that she was to visit a better place
" Her life turns
" her teacher encourages her and helps her to beconme a learned and
confident person
Teacher'swords -" Put the fear out of your heart and you will be able to
speak like everyone else"
 Acceptance of Bhishambar's proposal- well to do grocer, a big shop,
house of his own and several thousand in the bank
Later demanded 50,000/- rupees
Denied marriage with a mean, greedy and contemptible coward
the rise of a girl against social injustice (Bholi to Sulekha)
Children with disabilities must also receive the same encouragement,
love, and education
9)The Book That Saved The Earth: Claire Boiko

story that revolves around a book of nursery rhyme titled 'the Mother
Goose'
central idea of the play "The Book that Saved the Earth' is that
incomplete information is always hazardous.
The play takes place in the year 2550.
two characters -one of them has a balloon brain is shown as the master.
His name is Think Tank
another one is his assistant Noodle
plan to invade earth
The crew lands into a library
Think Tank asks them to show the item and tells them that they are
sandwiches which are a staple diet of the earthlings.
" Noodle corrects him and tells him that they are the
communication
devices
try to hear it but they get nothing to hear from them.
Noodle corrects his master Think Tank that they are to be read and not
hear
with the help of the vitamin, the crew tries to read the book
" It was a book of rhymes