📖 Non-Detailed Text 2 — The Lost Child (by Mulk Raj Anand): A deeply touching story about a little boy at a spring fair who keeps longing for sweets, toys, balloons and a roundabout — but the moment he is lost and separated from his parents, all he wants is his mother and father. The story shows that a parent's love is greater than any material thing. Everything you need — summary, theme, word-meanings and all textbook answers — is here.
The Lost Child
📝 About the Story
Written by the famous Indian-English writer Mulk Raj Anand, ‘The Lost Child’ tells of a little boy who goes to a spring fair with his parents. On the way and at the fair he longs for many things — toys, burfi, a garland, balloons, the snake-charmer's music, and a ride on the roundabout — but fears his parents will refuse. When he finally gets lost in the crowd, a kind man tries to please him with all these very things, yet the child refuses them all and cries only for his parents.
👥 Characters
- The child (the little boy) — innocent, full of life, who longs for small joys but values his parents above all.
- The father — strict and stern, ‘red-eyed’, like a tyrant.
- The mother — tender and loving, who keeps calling the child gently.
- The kind man — a stranger in the crowd who lifts up the lost child and tries lovingly to comfort him.
📚 Summary
Section I: It is the festival of spring. A little boy goes with his parents to a fair. On the way he keeps lagging behind, fascinated by toys, dragon-flies, flowers, insects and cooing doves. His parents repeatedly call, ‘Come, child, come.’ The father is stern, the mother tender.
Section II: At the fair the child longs for burfi, a garland of gulmohur, colourful balloons, and the snake-charmer's music. But each time he moves on without asking, knowing his parents will refuse — calling him greedy, or saying things are cheap, or that he is too old. Then he is drawn to a roundabout.
Section III: The child boldly asks, ‘I want to go on the roundabout.’ But there is no reply — his parents are gone! He has got lost. Crying ‘Mother, Father’, he runs in all directions, his turban undone and clothes muddy. In the crowd near a temple, a kind man lifts him up in his arms.
Section IV: The man asks whose child he is and lovingly tries to comfort him — offering a roundabout ride, the music, a rainbow balloon, a garland, and sweets. But the child refuses every single thing, sobbing again and again, ‘I want my mother, I want my father!’ The very things he had longed for now mean nothing to him.
💡 Theme / Message
The story shows that the love and security of parents are far more precious than any material things — toys, sweets or amusements. A child's deepest need is the love of his mother and father; without them, all other joys lose their value.
🏷️ Why ‘The Lost Child’?
The whole story centres on a child who gets lost at a fair and his desperate longing for his parents. The title points to this central event and to the deeper truth it reveals — that nothing matters to a lost child except his parents' love.
📖 Glossary (Word Meanings)
| Word / Phrase | Meaning |
|---|
| humanity | people in general |
| brimming | being full of something |
| lag behind | to move more slowly than others |
| fascinated | very interested |
| suppress | to prevent from expressing a feeling |
| plead | to ask for something in a strong, serious way |
| tyrant | one who has complete power and uses it in a cruel, unfair way |
| cautionary | giving advice or warning |
| cooing | the soft low sound of doves / pigeons |
| hawk | to try to sell things going from place to place |
| burfi | a kind of sweet |
| murmur | to say something in a soft, unclear voice |
| plea / heed | an urgent emotional request / to pay careful attention |
| jostle | to push roughly against somebody in a crowd |
| congested | crowded |
| hither and thither | in many different directions |
| soothe | to make somebody feel calmer / better |
| distract | to take somebody's attention away |
Section I — Answer the following questions
1Find out the persons described in the story. Where are they going?
The persons are a little boy (the child) and his parents — his father and mother. They are going to the spring fair (it is the festival of spring).
2Why did the child lag behind?
The child lagged behind because he was fascinated by the toys in the shops along the way, and later by the dragon-flies, flowers, little insects and the cooing doves.
3What things did the child see on his way to the fair? What attracted him most?
On his way he saw toys in the shops, a flowering mustard field, a group of dragon-flies, little insects and worms, a shower of flowers in a grove, and cooing doves. He was most attracted by the toys, the dragon-flies, the flowers and the cooing dove.
4Did the child gather anything on the way? What was it? What happened to it?
Yes. In the grove a shower of young flowers fell upon him and, forgetting his parents, he began to gather the raining petals in his hands. But when he heard the cooing of the doves and ran to his parents, the petals dropped from his forgotten hands.
5What were his father and mother like?
His father was stern and strict — ‘red-eyed’, in his ‘familiar tyrant's way’. His mother was tender and loving, melted by the free spirit of the day, and she gently called and guided the child.
6‘Come, child, come’ — who said this? How many times and why?
His parents (especially his mother) said it several times (again and again). They said it to call back the child, who kept lagging behind, fascinated by the toys, flowers and insects, so that he would stay with them on the way to the fair.
7What do you think the next part of the story will be about?
The next part is likely to be about the child reaching the fair and longing for the many attractive things there — sweets, toys, balloons, music and rides.
Section II — Answer the following questions
1Who did the child see at the fair?
At the fair he saw a sweetmeat (sweets) seller, a flower-seller, a man selling colourful balloons, a snake-charmer playing a flute, and a roundabout in full swing.
2Did the child want to buy anything in the fair? What are they? Why did he move on without waiting for his father's reply?
Yes. He wanted burfi, a garland of gulmohur, the colourful balloons, and to hear the snake-charmer's music. He moved on without waiting for a reply because he knew his parents would refuse — they would call him greedy, say the flowers were cheap, say he was too old for balloons, and had forbidden the ‘coarse’ snake-charmer's music.
3Did his parents buy him anything? Why?
No, they did not buy him anything — in fact he did not even wait to ask, because he was sure they would refuse, saying he was greedy, the things were cheap, or that he was too old for such toys.
4Did he like the music played by the snake-charmer? How do you know this?
Yes, he liked it. We know this because the child went towards the snake-charmer, attracted by the music. But since his parents had forbidden such ‘coarse’ music, he did not stop and proceeded farther.
5What was it that attracted the child most?
The roundabout attracted the child most. He watched it intently and then made a bold request to his parents to let him go on it.
6The child made a bold request to his parents to go on the roundabout. Will the parents allow him?
The child boldly asked to ride the roundabout, but there was no reply — for when he turned, his parents were gone and he had got lost. (So the question is left unanswered by events.)
Section III — Answer the following questions
1What is Section III about?
Section III is about how the child gets lost. When he turned to ask his parents about riding the roundabout, they were nowhere to be seen. Crying in fear, he ran about searching for them.
2What was the most attractive thing for the child? How do you know this?
The roundabout was the most attractive thing. We know this because he watched it intently and made a bold request to his parents to let him ride it.
3What made the child cry? How did he try to look for his parents?
Finding his parents gone, the child cried in real fear, ‘Mother, Father.’ He ran hither and thither in all directions, tears rolling down, his turban undone and clothes muddy. He ran to a crowded temple, through people's legs, calling loudly for his parents.
4Who lifted the child up and how?
A man in the rushing crowd near the temple heard the child's cry and, stooping with great difficulty, lifted him up in his arms.
5Do you think the child will find his parents?
The story does not tell us clearly, but the kind man who lifted him up tries hard to find his parents and comfort him — so there is hope that the child may be reunited with them.
Section IV — Answer the following questions
1What did the man want to know from the child?
The man wanted to know how the child had got there and whose baby (whose child) he was — that is, who his parents were.
2Did the man try to make the child happy? How?
Yes, the man tried his best to make the child happy. He offered him a ride on the roundabout, took him to listen to the snake-charmer's music, offered a rainbow-coloured balloon, a garland of flowers, and finally sweets from the sweet shop.
3How did the child react to the man's offerings?
The child refused every single thing. To each loving offer, he only wept and cried the same words: ‘I want my mother, I want my father!’ Nothing could console him.
4What impression do you have of the man who helped the child?
He was a kind, caring, loving and sympathetic man. Though a stranger, he patiently tried every possible way — rides, music, balloons, flowers, sweets — to comfort and please the frightened, crying child.
5Will the man be able to find the child's parents? What will happen to the lost child?
The story ends without telling us. But since the man is so kind and keeps trying to help, there is hope that the child will be reunited with his parents. The ending leaves us feeling the deep love the child has for his mother and father.
WRITING — Answer the following questions
1What were the things the child saw on his way to the fair? Why did he lag behind his parents?
On his way the child saw toys in the shops, a flowering mustard field, dragon-flies, little insects and worms, a grove with a shower of flowers, and cooing doves. He lagged behind because he was fascinated by all these beautiful things and kept stopping to look at or catch them.
2What things in the fair attracted the child? Why did he move on without waiting for an answer from his parents?
At the fair he was attracted by burfi, a garland of gulmohur, colourful balloons, the snake-charmer's music, and the roundabout. He moved on without waiting because he knew his parents would refuse — calling him greedy, saying things were cheap, or that he was too old.
3When did he realise that he had lost his way? How is it described in the story?
He realised it when, after asking to ride the roundabout, he turned and found his parents gone — not ahead, not on either side, not behind. The story describes how ‘a full, deep cry rose within his dry throat’, how he ran crying ‘Mother, Father’, tears rolling, his turban untied and clothes muddy.
4Why did the lost child lose interest in the things that he had wanted earlier?
Once he was lost and frightened, the only thing that mattered to him was his parents. Their love and security became far more important than any toy, sweet, balloon or ride. This shows that a child values parental love above all material things, which is the main message of the story.
5What do you think happens in the end? Does the child find his parents?
The story ends without telling us clearly. The child only keeps sobbing, ‘I want my mother, I want my father!’ But the kind man who holds him keeps trying lovingly to help, so we hope the child is finally reunited with his parents. The open ending deepens the story's emotional effect.