📖 Lesson 1 — The Priceless Gift (Detailed Text): This is the first prose lesson of Skills of Communicative English, the BSE Odisha Class IX English textbook. It is a touching story about love, sacrifice and the true value of a small gift given from the heart. Everything you need — summary, theme, word-meanings and all textbook answers — is here.
The Priceless Gift
📝 About the Lesson
The story is told by Mr. Gupta, an Indian living in London. The word ‘priceless’ means something so valuable that no price can be put on it — because it is rare and precious. The lesson shows how a poor girl's small gift of a single shilling becomes priceless because of the love and sacrifice behind it.
👥 Characters
- Mr. Gupta — the narrator, an Indian gentleman, kind and compassionate.
- Maggie — a poor English girl, loving and self-sacrificing.
- Mrs. Bethy — Maggie's old, widowed mother who bakes and sells cakes for a living.
- Franky — Maggie's brother, a soldier posted in the Punjab (India), who is killed in the fighting.
📚 Summary
Part I: The narrator goes to a crowded vegetarian restaurant in London for lunch and sits at a corner table. He notices a poor-looking young girl with large, sad eyes watching him. As she leaves, she asks the cashier whether he is an Indian. His curiosity aroused, he learns from the waiter that she comes only on Saturdays — pay day — because she does not earn much.
Part II: On the next Saturday he meets the girl again, starts a conversation and learns she is Maggie. Her brother Franky is a soldier in India, and the family has had no letter from him for a long time. He visits her poor home, where her old widowed mother Mrs. Bethy is baking cakes to earn a living. They believe India is full of snakes and tigers; he assures them it is a beautiful, healthy country.
Part III: Franky had sent a ‘magic’ ring, which the family believe can show a distant person. Months later Mrs. Bethy falls seriously ill with worry for her son. To console her, Maggie begs Mr. Gupta to look into the ring and tell her mother that Franky is alive. Out of compassion he does so; Mrs. Bethy weeps with joy and soon recovers.
Part IV: Later the writer learns that Franky has actually been killed in the fighting on the frontier — he was already dead when the writer said he was alive. Ashamed, he writes a farewell letter. On his last day, Maggie comes dressed in black (mourning) to say goodbye and gives him a shilling to buy flowers for her brother's grave in India. Moved by her hard-earned, loving sacrifice, he accepts it — and this little shilling is the priceless gift.
💡 Theme / Message
The true value of a gift lies not in its money worth but in the love and sacrifice behind it. Maggie's single shilling, though small in value, is priceless because it is given from a loving, grieving heart. The story also celebrates human kindness, compassion, and the comfort that even a kind, well-meant lie can bring.
🏷️ Why ‘The Priceless Gift’?
The shilling Maggie gives is worth very little in money, yet it is called ‘priceless’ because she, being very poor, had earned it with great toil and gave it up as a loving sacrifice for her dead brother. The joy and love behind it are beyond all price.
📖 Glossary (Word Meanings)
| Word | Meaning |
|---|
| aroused | awakened, stirred |
| persisted | continued to exist |
| mysterious | strange |
| poverty-stricken | suffering extremely because of lack of money |
| opportunity | a situation that makes it possible to do something |
| festivity | celebration |
| concentrate | to give all attention |
| miraculous | amazing, unbelievable, surprising |
| aggravated | worsened |
| in a fix | in a dilemma |
| crystal | a clear, transparent mineral or rock |
| offences | crime, wrong-doing |
| welled up | appeared (tears) |
| mourning | grieving for (the dead) |
| grave | a place where a dead person is buried |
| gratitude | the feeling of being grateful |
| shilling | a unit of money (20 shillings = 1 English pound) |
| profusion | abundance, plenty |
| foregoing | sacrificing |
D. Let's understand the text — Textbook Question Answers
1What did the writer experience in the restaurant?
The writer went to a vegetarian restaurant at lunch time. It was very crowded, with people eating and drinking. He found that some chairs and tables had been pushed into a corner. He chose the corner table, seated himself and began skimming through a newspaper.
2What did he notice there?
He noticed a very young girl looking at him. Her eyes were large and had a sad expression.
3What was the writer's first impression of the girl?
He felt she was poor and unhappy. Her large eyes had a sad, anxious look, and she seemed poverty-stricken.
4What made the writer surprised?
As the girl was going out, she asked the cashier in a low voice whether he was an Indian, and then looked at him once more before leaving. Her unusual interest in him surprised him.
5Why did he enquire about the girl?
The girl's interest in him had aroused his own curiosity about her. He wanted to know who she was, so after finishing his lunch he asked the waiter about her.
6What information did he get?
The waiter told him that the girl came to have lunch there only on Saturdays — that is, on pay day — and that perhaps she did not earn much.
7Where did the writer go on the next Saturday?
He went to the same restaurant again, where he found the girl sitting at the same table.
8Why did he take the chair opposite hers?
He took the chair opposite hers so that he could sit facing her and start a conversation with her.
9What query did the girl make about the writer?
She asked whether he was an Indian. She said her brother was a soldier in India, that they had not had a letter from him for a long time, and that her mother was very worried about him.
10What impression did the writer have about the family of the girl?
He understood that they were poor. The girl's only guardian was her brother, and she lived with her old, widowed mother, Mrs. Bethy. The family was deeply worried about the brother, Franky.
11How was the writer treated at Maggie's house? Who welcomed him?
He was welcomed warmly. Mrs. Bethy, Maggie's mother, was there to receive him. She greeted him eagerly, talked with him about India, and served him tea.
12What was Mrs. Bethy doing when the writer met her? Why was she unwilling to shake hands?
She was making cakes, which people would come to buy that evening — this was how the family made their living. Her hands were covered with flour, so she excused herself and was unwilling to shake hands.
13Why did the girl usually visit the restaurant on Saturdays?
Saturday was pay day. As she did not earn much, she could afford to eat at the restaurant only on that day.
14What did Mrs. Bethy believe about the ring?
She believed it was a magic ring sent by Franky. She thought that if one concentrated on a distant person while gazing into it, one could see him and what he was doing.
15What made the author tell a lie about the ring?
Mrs. Bethy was seriously ill, her condition worsened by anxiety for Franky. Maggie begged the writer to look into the ring and tell her mother that Franky was alive, so that she might be comforted and recover. Out of compassion, he agreed.
16Did the telling of a lie benefit Mrs. Bethy?
Yes. When the writer told her that her son was alive and well, tears of happiness welled up in her eyes, and she soon recovered from her serious illness.
17Why did the writer feel guilty about himself?
He later learned that Franky had actually been killed in the fighting on the frontier — he had already been dead some days when the writer told the mother he was alive. He felt ashamed and guilty for having given a false assurance.
18What was Maggie's gift to the writer?
Maggie gave him a shilling, asking him to buy flowers with it and lay them on her brother's grave in India.
19Why was it a priceless gift?
Though the shilling was small in money value, the poor girl had earned it with much toil and gave it up as a loving sacrifice for her dead brother. The love and joy of sacrifice behind it were beyond all price — that is why it was a priceless gift.
20Did Maggie love her brother dearly? Give reasons.
Yes, she loved him dearly. She was always anxious about him; she wore black and mourned his death; and she sacrificed her hard-earned shilling so that flowers could be laid on his grave far away in India. All this shows her deep love for her brother.
E. Let's understand the text better
1Why did the writer choose the corner table in the restaurant?
The restaurant was very crowded, and some chairs and tables had been pushed into a corner. He chose the quiet corner table so that he could sit comfortably and read his newspaper.
2How did the writer start a conversation with the young girl?
On the next Saturday he found her at the same table. He took the chair opposite hers, wished her a good afternoon, and by making one brief remark after another he was able to start a conversation.
3How could the writer guess the girl to be poverty-stricken?
From her sad, anxious face and large sad eyes, and from the waiter's information that she came to the restaurant only on pay day because she earned little, the writer guessed she was poor.
4Which of the following do you think the author will talk about after meeting the girl? (a) Meeting the girl again (b) Enquiring about her nature of work (c) about her family (d) all the above.
(d) all the above.
5‘I was moved by what he said.’ What impression did the writer get about the girl?
He was moved when the waiter told him she came only on pay day and probably earned little. He felt she was a poor, hard-working girl in difficulty, and his curiosity and sympathy for her grew.
6What impression did the girl (and her mother) have about India?
They thought India was an unsafe country, full of snakes and tigers that killed people. The writer corrected this, telling them that India was a beautiful and healthy country.
7‘Will it be too much of a lie?’ Why did the girl say so?
Her mother was seriously ill with worry for Franky. Maggie wanted the writer to look into the ring and tell her mother that Franky was alive, to comfort and perhaps cure her. She felt such a kind, well-meant lie, told to save her mother, would not be a great wrong.
8Why did the writer feel ashamed to face Mrs. Bethy at the time of his return to India?
Franky had really been killed in the fighting; the writer had assured the mother that her son was alive when he was already dead. He felt ashamed of this false assurance, so he wrote a farewell letter instead of meeting her in person.
9Why was the shilling Maggie presented to the writer an invaluable offering?
Maggie was very poor and had earned the shilling with hard toil, yet she gave it up as a loving sacrifice so that flowers could be placed on her brother's grave. The deep love and self-sacrifice behind it made it invaluable, though its money value was small.