NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English includes all exercise questions for the main book titled First Flight and the supplementary reader Footprints Without Feet. Both books contain 9 chapters each. Our solutions are designed according to the latest NCERT syllabus and the 2026 exam pattern, ensuring accurate and relevant answers.
These NCERT solutions help students break down difficult chapters, poems and stories into simpler ideas for better understanding. With clear explanations in easy language, these NCERT solutions for class 10 help students improve comprehension, grammar, writing skills and overall performance in English.
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Latest Chapter wise 2026 27
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight
| S.No. | Chapter Name & Topic |
| 1 | Chapter 1 - A Letter to God |
| 2 | Chapter 2 - Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom |
| 3 | Chapter 3 - Two Stories about Flying
|
| 4 | Chapter 4 - From the Diary of Anne Frank |
| 5 | Chapter 5 - Glimpses of India
|
| 6 | Chapter 6 - Mijbil the Otter |
| 7 | Chapter 7 - Madam Rides the Bus |
| 8 | Chapter 8 - The Sermon at Benares |
| 9 | Chapter 9 - The Proposal |
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Footprints without Feet
| S.No. | Chapter Name & Topic |
| 1 | Chapter 1 - A Triumph of Surgery |
| 2 | Chapter 2 - The Thief’s Story |
| 3 | Chapter 3 - The Midnight Visitor |
| 4 | Chapter 4 - A Question of Trust |
| 5 | Chapter 5 - Footprints without Feet |
| 6 | Chapter 6 - The Making of a Scientist |
| 7 | Chapter 7 - The Necklace |
| 8 | Chapter 8 - Bholi |
| 9 | Chapter 9 - The Book that Saved the Earth |
Chapter-wise NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Overview
Class 10 English First Flight
Chapter 1 - A Letter to God
The first chapter discusses the story of a poor farmer's faith that carries him through hardship. Students learn about the character Lencho, whose corn crop is destroyed by a sudden hailstorm just before harvest. The chapter explains how Lencho writes a letter to God asking for a hundred pesos, trusting that his prayer will be answered.
It includes the role of the postmaster, who is moved by Lencho's faith and decides to help him by collecting money from himself and his colleagues. Students learn about themes of faith, honesty and human kindness and how Lencho's belief remains unshaken even when the amount he receives is less than what he asked for.
Chapter 2 - Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
This chapter discusses the autobiography of Nelson Mandela and his journey towards leading a free South Africa. Students learn about Mandela's inauguration as the country's first Black President which marked the end of decades of apartheid. The chapter explains how Mandela's idea of freedom changed over time, growing from a young man's desire for personal liberty into a much larger hunger for the freedom of his people.
It also includes his reflections on courage, sacrifice and the obligations every person owes to family and to community. Students learn about themes of equality and resilience, and how true freedom means liberating both the oppressed and the oppressor from hatred.
Chapter 3 - Two Stories about Flying
Chapter 3 includes two short stories that discuss fear and courage through the experience of flight. Students first learn about a young seagull who is too frightened to leave the ledge because he doubts his own wings, even though his siblings fly without hesitation.
The chapter explains how hunger finally forces him to take the leap and he discovers he can fly with ease all along. It also includes the story Black Aeroplane, in which a pilot flying through a storm loses his instruments and is guided to safety by a mysterious aircraft that vanishes without any explanation.
Chapter 4 - From the Diary of Anne Frank
This chapter discusses an extract from the famous diary of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis during the Second World War. Students learn how Anne begins writing to her diary, which she names Kitty, because she feels she has no one else to share her true feelings with.
The chapter explains her daily life in hiding, her loneliness despite being surrounded by family and her talkativeness in school that often annoyed her teacher Mr. Keesing. It also includes her reflections on hope and the future even during a time of fear and uncertainty.
Chapter 5 - Glimpses of India
This chapter includes 3 short stories that capture different regions and traditions of India. Students learn about the traditional Goan bakers in A Baker from Goa, whose bamboo jingle once announced fresh bread to entire villages.
The chapter explains the natural beauty and hardy people of Coorg, a hill region in Karnataka known for its coffee plantations and brave soldiers. It also includes the story Tea from Assam, where two friends travelling through tea estates learn about the history and process behind India's favourite beverage.
Chapter 6 - Mijbil the Otter
This chapter discusses the author Gavin Maxwell's experience of keeping an otter as a pet after the loss of his dog. Students learn how Maxwell receives an otter from a friend in Iraq named Mijbil and how he gradually forms a close bond with the playful animal.
The chapter explains Mij's mischievous habits, such as learning to open bathroom taps and playing with marbles. It also includes the journey from Iraq to London, where Mijbil causes chaos on the flight until an air hostess allows him to travel freely. Students learn about companionship and the bond that can form between humans and animals.
Chapter 7 - Madam Rides the Bus
This chapter discusses the story of Valli, an eight year old girl who dreams of riding the bus that passes by her village. Students learn how Valli carefully gathers information about the bus fare and timing, and saves her coins so she can take the journey on her own.
The chapter explains her excitement during the ride, as she observes the fields, animals and people outside the window. It also includes a disturbing moment when the bus nearly hits a cow, through which Valli is suddenly confronted with the idea of death.
Chapter 8 - The Sermon at Benares
This chapter discusses the story of Kisa Gotami, a grieving mother who seeks the help of the Buddha after losing her only son. Students learn how Buddha asks her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where death has never visited, sending her on a search across the village.
The chapter explains how Kisa Gotami fails to find such a house, since every family has suffered the loss of a loved one. It also includes Buddha's teaching that grief and lamentation cannot undo death, and that life's suffering is something everyone must accept.
Chapter 9 - The Proposal
Chapter 9 discusses the play by Anton Chekhov, in which a wealthy landowner named Lomov visits his neighbour Chubukov to propose marriage to his daughter, Natalya. Students learn how the visit turns into a heated quarrel over a piece of land called Oxen Meadows.
The chapter explains how the bickering only grows worse as the characters argue over whose hunting dog is better, almost causing the entire match to fall apart. In the end, economic interests ensure the proposal still goes ahead despite the constant arguments.
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Footprints without Feet
Chapter 1 - A Triumph of Surgery
This chapter explains the story of Tricki, an overfed and pampered dog belonging to the wealthy Mrs. Pumphrey. Students learn how the narrator, Dr. Herriot becomes concerned when he sees Tricki has grown dangerously fat with excessive feeding leaving the dog unwell.
The chapter explains how Herriot convinces Mrs. Pumphrey to let him hospitalise Tricki, where the dog is put on a strict fast and forced to exercise alongside other healthy dogs. It also includes Tricki's remarkable recovery after a fortnight, returning home as an agile and energetic animal, much to Mrs Pumphrey's delight. Students learn about themes of responsible care as Mrs. Pumphrey mistakenly credits surgery for a cure that was really achieved through discipline.
Chapter 2 - The Thief’s Story
This chapter discusses the story of Hari Singh, a young thief who is hired as a helper by a kind and trusting writer named Anil. Students learn how Hari initially plans to befriend Anil only to find an opportunity to rob him, even as Anil teaches him to cook, read and write.
The chapter explains how Hari's affection for Anil makes it increasingly difficult for him to betray this trust, especially after he steals a bundle of money Anil receives from a publisher. It also includes Hari's inner conflict on the night he plans to flee, ultimately leading him to return the money and giving up his old life.
Chapter 3 - The Midnight Visitor
This chapter is a story about Ausable, a secret agent who appears nothing like the dashing spies of fiction. Students learn how a visiting writer named Fowler is startled to find Ausable confronted at gunpoint in his hotel room by a rival agent named Max, who demands a set of important secret papers.
The chapter explains how Ausable calmly invents a story about a non-existent balcony attached to his room, convincing Max that the police are approaching the door. It also includes Max's attempt to escape through this imaginary balcony, leading to his fall, while the real papers remain perfectly safe all along.
Chapter 4 - A Question of Trust
In this story, Horace Danby is a respected 50-year-old locksmith who commits one robbery every year to fund his love for rare and expensive books. His target this year is Shotover Grange, which he studies carefully for two weeks before breaking in. Students learn how a young woman dressed in red suddenly appears and, claiming to be the wife of the house owner, strikes a deal that if he opens the safe for her, she will let him leave without calling the police.
Horace agrees and opens the safe without wearing his gloves, allowing her to take all the jewels. He is arrested a few days later when the police find his fingerprints on the safe, and when he tells his story, no one believes him as the real owner's wife turns out to be a sixty-year-old woman, not the person he described. Horace ends up back in prison, bitter at having been outsmarted by a fellow thief.
Chapter 5 - Footprints without Feet
This chapter discusses the story of Griffin, a brilliant scientist who discovers a formula to make himself invisible. Students learn how Griffin, after revealing his secret to a fellow scientist, becomes a fugitive and resorts to theft and violence to survive using his invisibility.
The chapter explains his desperate and lonely existence, breaking into a village shop and a tailor's house at night to find food, clothing and shelter while leaving behind only mysterious footprints. It also includes the chaos and fear his unexplained invisible presence causes among the people who encounter him.
Chapter 6 - The Making of a Scientist
This chapter discusses the journey of Richard Ebright, a curious child whose fascination with collecting butterflies eventually leads him to become a scientist. Students learn how his mother nurtures his curiosity by providing him with books, microscopes and other equipment, including a book on butterfly migration that proves to be a turning point in his life.
The chapter explains his progress through school science fairs, where his research on monarch butterfly hormones eventually leads him to a groundbreaking theory on how cells read genetic information. It also includes his achievements as an all-round student, excelling not only in science but also in debate and public speaking.
Chapter 7 - The Necklace
This chapter’s protagonist is Mathilde Loisel, a woman dissatisfied with her modest life who longs for wealth and luxury. Students learn how Mathilde borrows what she believes to be a diamond necklace from a wealthy friend to wear to a party.
The chapter explains the moment she realises the necklace is lost on her way home, forcing her and her husband to borrow heavily and replace it with a genuine diamond necklace. It also includes the ten years of poverty and labour the couple endures to repay this debt, only for Mathilde to later discover the original necklace was a cheap copy.
Chapter 8 - Bholi
This chapter discusses the story of Bholi, a girl disfigured by smallpox and affected by a stammer following a childhood accident. Students learn how Bholi, considered a burden by her family because of her appearance, is hesitantly sent to a newly opened village school, where a kind and patient teacher helps her gain confidence, overcome her stammer and learn to read.
The chapter explains how her family arranges her marriage to an older man named Bishamber, who, upon seeing her pockmarked face demands a heavy dowry. It also includes the moment when Bholi, now confident, bravely refuses to marry him, choosing instead to support her parents and become a teacher herself.
Chapter 9 - The Book that Saved the Earth
This chapter discusses a science-fiction play set centuries in the future about an attempted Martian invasion of Earth in the year 2040. Students learn about Think-Tank, the commander of Mars, who sends a space probe crew to investigate Earth before launching his invasion.
The chapter explains how the crew lands inside a public library and mistakes the books they find there for sandwiches, communication devices and eventually coded threats, completely misunderstanding everything they observe. It also includes the turning point when the Martians misread a nursery rhyme book, Mother Goose, as proof that Earthlings are dangerously advanced, causing Think-Tank to panic and abandon the invasion entirely.
