The Four
Feathers by Ruskin Bond is a short story originating from his school days, when
he was in Shimla in a prep school. Bond and three more friends of him formed a
gang of boys; they took different features to signify their worth in the gang.
Also, it meant that they are companions in adventure, comrades-in-arms, and
Knights of the Round Table. The features were from peacock, woodpecker, parrot
and falcon. They chose as per their skills and behavior. For Bond it was of a
parrot’s, since he hadn’t much choice.
They have had affinity
for adventure – they wanted to help people in distress, as taught to them. In
fact, other than the semblance of being Hardy Boys, they were also scouts, so
they had strong moral values.
One day they
were out in the hills of Shimla, strolling for no strong reason. While walking
about the narrow lanes of hills, they were talking about the panther and
leopards. In the hills, it was quite often that these wild animals hunt on
domestic animals and humans. Suddenly, they heard a shrill crying of baby. Upon
noticing for some time they found a baby crying under a plum tree. It was new
born. Why did someone leave the baby here, open for wild animals. Bond picked up the baby and the boys began planning as how and where to keep the baby.
First they thought of keeping the baby in their dorm, well that’s not possible.
Mrs. Fisher, their teacher and the wife of the head master, could take this
baby – they assumed. So, they came to her room with the baby.
As they were
discussing about the baby, some villagers along with a wailing woman entered
the school and accused the boys of stealing her baby. Bond tried to make them
understand but they were boisterous. Even Mrs. Fisher believed the tale of
Bond. The lady said that she had kept her baby underneath a plum tree so that
she could pluck some fruits. Upon hearing this, Mr. Fisher turned the table on
the woman and villagers; he said that those plum trees fell in the boundary of
school and how you dared to enter the area defined for the school.
Mr. Fisher
took out his cane to beat Bond and others but Mrs. Fisher intervened and said
that it was the duty of scouts to help people in distress. So, in a sense Bond
was right in saving that child.
It was fantastic Summary
ReplyDeletePlease can anybody give me the character sketch or analysis of this book
ReplyDeletePlz give me more big book review
ReplyDeleteFantastic book review
ReplyDeleteNice
ReplyDeleteA story by sir Ruskin bond by which we got to know about the gang of boys who helped the infant and probably saves the life .......just loved reading it 💕
ReplyDeleteSuper Ruskin bond sir
DeleteMy rating 5 out of 5. The four feathers is a great book of ruskin bond with a rating of 8.8 out of 10. Best of ruskin bond stories
Super Ruskin bond sir. Very great book of yours. My rating 4.9 out of.5. Amazing book
ReplyDeleteHow does Narrator describe Bimal
ReplyDeleteVery helpful for understanding the story without even reading the full story
ReplyDelete