Look at the pictures below: The four pictures printed on pages 98 and 99 1 2 3 4 The four pictures of the story, in order, as they are printed on pages 98 and 99.

Look at each picture carefully before you speak. Here is what is drawn, picture by picture. The place. Two village houses stand side by side, with a low mud boundary wall running between them. On the left is a blue house with a banana plant beside it. On the right is a pink-and-yellow house with a washing line. A tall coconut palm grows on the right-hand side, in the pink house’s yard, but it leans right over the wall so that its crown of coconuts hangs above the blue house’s yard. Picture What is happening 1 (page 98, top) A boy in the blue house’s yard is crouching down, spinning his top (lattu) with a string. There is a white kolam drawn on the ground. Next door, a woman kneels and spreads red chillies on a white cloth to dry in the sun, and a man in white hangs a striped cloth on the washing line. A purple bucket stands beside him. 2 (page 98, bottom) A green coconut has fallen from the tree. You can see the line of its fall and the shock lines where it hits the ground, right next to the boy. The boy has toppled over backwards and sits on the ground with his mouth open, startled. His top lies still beside him. Next door, the woman turns her head towards the noise and the man has spun round to look. 3 (page 99, top) The boy is standing up now, smiling, holding the fallen coconut in his hands. The man from the pink house is coming out through his gate and walking towards the boy’s yard. The woman stands and watches. 4 (page 99, bottom) The boy is running away up the steps i

NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 8 The four-picture story of the fallen coconut — Let us Speak

Book page 98–99 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.

Look at the pictures below:

The four pictures of the story, in order, as they are printed on pages 98 and 99.

Answer

Look at each picture carefully before you speak. Here is what is drawn, picture by picture.

The place. Two village houses stand side by side, with a low mud boundary wall running between them. On the left is a blue house with a banana plant beside it. On the right is a pink-and-yellow house with a washing line. A tall coconut palm grows on the right-hand side, in the pink house’s yard, but it leans right over the wall so that its crown of coconuts hangs above the blue house’s yard.

Picture	What is happening
1 (page 98, top)	A boy in the blue house’s yard is crouching down, spinning his top (lattu) with a string. There is a white kolam drawn on the ground. Next door, a woman kneels and spreads red chillies on a white cloth to dry in the sun, and a man in white hangs a striped cloth on the washing line. A purple bucket stands beside him.
2 (page 98, bottom)	A green coconut has fallen from the tree. You can see the line of its fall and the shock lines where it hits the ground, right next to the boy. The boy has toppled over backwards and sits on the ground with his mouth open, startled. His top lies still beside him. Next door, the woman turns her head towards the noise and the man has spun round to look.
3 (page 99, top)	The boy is standing up now, smiling, holding the fallen coconut in his hands. The man from the pink house is coming out through his gate and walking towards the boy’s yard. The woman stands and watches.
4 (page 99, bottom)	The boy is running away up the steps into his house, still holding the coconut. The man in white is walking into the boy’s yard behind him. The woman is peeping from behind the coconut tree.

The one thing the pictures want you to notice: the tree grows in the neighbour’s yard, but the coconut fell in the boy’s yard. So who does the coconut belong to? That is the same shape of quarrel as the well and the water in our story — and that is why this picture task is put in this chapter.

Sample answer — describing the pictures aloud: In the first picture a boy is spinning his top in the front yard of his house. Next door, his neighbours are busy — the aunty is drying red chillies in the sun and the uncle is hanging clothes on the line. In the second picture a green coconut falls with a thud from the tall coconut tree and lands right beside the boy. He gets such a fright that he falls back on the ground. The neighbours turn round to see what the noise was. In the third picture the boy has picked up the coconut and looks very pleased, but the uncle is coming out of his gate towards him. In the last picture the boy runs into his house with the coconut and the uncle follows him into the yard.

Q2.

What do you think will happen next? Sit in small groups and discuss. One student from each group will narrate the ending to the whole class.

Answer

How to do this task:

Sit in a group of four or five.
Each one says, in one sentence, what he or she thinks will happen. Do not talk over one another.
Notice the two sides. The boy says the coconut fell in his yard. The uncle says it grew on his tree. Both have a point.
Choose the ending your group likes best, and give a reason for choosing it.
One person tells the whole class. Speak in full sentences, loudly and slowly. Start with “We think that…”

What a good ending needs: it must follow on from picture 4; it must show what each person says; and it should end with the quarrel settled, not just stopped. The best endings borrow the chapter’s idea — hear both sides, then decide.

Sample answer — one ending (the kind one):

We think that the uncle will follow the boy into the house and call his mother. The boy will hide behind her with the coconut in his hands.

The uncle will say, “That coconut grew on my tree. It belongs to me.”
The boy will say, “But it fell into our yard, and it nearly hit me on the head.”

The boy’s mother will listen to both of them without shouting. Then she will say, “The tree is yours, uncle, so the coconut is yours. But the tree leans over our yard, and today a coconut fell right beside my son. He could have been badly hurt.”

The uncle will look up at the tree and see that this is true. He will say sorry, and promise to have the ripe coconuts brought down before they fall by themselves. Then he will smile and tell the boy to keep this one, because it gave him such a fright. The boy will say thank you, and his mother will give the uncle a glass of water. The two families will be friends again.

Sample answer — a second ending (the Panchayat one):

We think the uncle and the boy’s father will start arguing loudly in the yard, and neither will listen to the other. The neighbours will come out to watch.

At last someone will say, “Do not fight here. Take the matter to the Panchayat.”

On the fixed day the Panchayat will sit under the banyan tree and hear both sides. The uncle will say the tree is his. The boy’s father will say the tree leans over their yard and its coconuts fall where his children play.

The village chief will say, “The tree belongs to our neighbour, and so do its coconuts. But a tree that leans over another man’s yard is his responsibility. He must get the ripe coconuts picked every month, so that no child is hurt.”

Both men will agree. The uncle will pick the coconuts on time, and he will send one to the boy’s house each season. Nobody will have to quarrel again.

Why both endings work: Each one hears the boy and the uncle before it decides anything. Each one ends with a rule the two families can follow next time. An ending where one side simply shouts louder is not really an ending — the quarrel will just come back.

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