CBSE Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet - Footprints without Feet Summary & Notes

Summary of Footprints without Feet

Chapter 5 of the Class 10 English Supplementary Reader ‘Footprints Without Feet’ consists of a prose lesson titled Footprints Without Feet. It is about a bright scientist, Griffin and his unique formula of invisibility. He misused his power to steal food, clothes and money and created a menace using the formula. The summary of the prose is given in the CBSE English Notes Class 10 format. CBSE 10th standard students can access the CBSE Class 10 English Prose Summary & Notes – Footprints without Feet while revising this chapter during their Board examinations.

Students can also practice CBSE Essays on various topics to improve their writing section for the English exam.

CBSE Class 10 English Footprints without Feet Summary

Footprints without Feet is an interesting story written by Herbert George Wells. This story is about a brilliant scientist named Griffin who had developed a drug that could make a man invisible. He was successful in his experiment and developed a formula that had the power of invisibility. By consuming the drug, a man could become transparent that could not be seen with the naked eye.

Griffin carried out the experiment on himself, so he gulped the drug, and his body became transparent like a sheet of glass. Inadvertently, he stepped in mud, and the fresh muddy imprints of his feet were all over the place. It was first seen by two young boys who followed his footprints until they became fainter and disappeared altogether. Although Griffin was an outstanding scientist, he was a lawless man. His landlord disliked him and asked him to eject the house. In vengeance, Griffin set the house on fire and soon wandered around the streets without food, money and clothes.

Owing to his invisibility, no one could see him, and as he was walking down the streets, he started feeling cold and entered a big London shopping centre to warm himself. After the stores were shut down, he picked up some comfortable clothes to warm himself and fed himself with cold meat and some espresso from a nearby restaurant. Later he slept on a pile of quilts in the store. The following morning some associates started approaching him, and he removed all his clothes immediately and became invisible again.

As Griffin wandered without clothes in the chilly weather, he could feel the biting cold and decided to take some clothes from a theatre company. Soon, he found an appropriate shop and wore bandages around his forehead, a false nose, dark glasses, big bushy side-whiskers and a huge hat. Then, he went to a shopkeeper’s store and stole all his money. He realised that staying in a crowded city like London could be difficult for him, so he thought of moving to the Iping village.

He had booked two rooms at the local inn in the village and reached there by boarding a train from London. It was quite an unusual experience for the villagers to expect an outsider with a strange appearance who had come to stay at the hotel during winter. Mrs Hall, the wife of the landlord of the inn, tried to be friendly with him, but Griffin did not want to talk to her. Soon enough, his money was exhausted, and he started stealing to sustain himself. Due to his suspicious appearance, the inn owner and his wife attempted to check his room while he was away.

Out of anger, Griffin damaged the furniture of the inn and threw it across the room towards them. The owner and his wife got scared, thinking that there were spirits around and their unusual guest was responsible for all the chaos. Meanwhile, Mrs Hall requested the town constable, Mr Jaffers, to inquire about the identity of this particular individual and arrest him for damaging her furnishings. This annoyed Griffin further, and he decided to reveal his identity as he started unwrapping his bandages, whiskers, spectacles and nose. Everyone was shocked to see this, as there was no normal human being hidden behind the bandages. The constable could not catch hold of Griffin as he took off all his garments, became invisible and disappeared in thin air.

Conclusion of Footprints without Feet

Footprints without Feet describes the tendency of human beings to misuse creative discoveries meant for the common good but end up creating a menace by misappropriating them. We hope this CBSE Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Prose Summary of Footprints without Feet has helped students to have an in-depth understanding of the chapter. For more such awesome resources on CBSE Notes and CBSE study material, they can visit BYJU’S and access sample papers and question papers while preparing for their Board exams. Meanwhile, download BYJU’S: The Learning App for interesting and interactive educational content.