I Cant Climb Trees Anymore (Prose)

Unit 2 – Prose

I Can’t Climb Trees Anymore

Ruskin Bond

Warm Up

• Have you ever tried swinging from a tree?
• Have you ever climbed up a tree to pluck fruits?
• Think of other occasions when you have climbed up trees, either near your home or outside. Share your reasons with the class.

The Story

He stood on the grass verge by the side of the road and looked over the garden wall at the old house. It hadn’t changed much. The old house built with solid blocks of granite wasn’t altered at all. But there was a new outhouse, and there were fewer trees. He was glad to see that the jackfruit tree still stood at the side of the building casting its shade on the wall. He remembered his grandmother saying:

“A blessing rests on the house where the shadow of a tree falls.”

And so the present owners must also be receiving the tree’s blessings.

At the spot where he stood there had once been a turnstile, and as a boy he would swing on it, going round and round until he was quite dizzy. Now the turnstile was gone, the opening walled up. Tall hollyhocks grew on the other side of the wall.

“What are you looking at?”

It was a disembodied voice at first. Moments later a girl stood framed between dark red hollyhocks staring at the man. She was only twelve or thirteen, with lively eyes and long black hair.

“I’m looking at the house. Is it yours?” he asked.
“No. It’s my father’s. Why? Do you want to buy it?”
“And what does your father do?”
“He’s only a colonel.”
“Only a colonel?”
“Well, he should have been a brigadier by now.”

The man burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny,” she said. “Even Mommy says he should have been a brigadier.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to make a witty remark (“Perhaps that’s why he’s still a colonel”), but he did not want to give offence. They stood on either side of the wall, appraising each other.

“Do you want to buy it?”
“No,” he said.
“Well,” she said, “If you don’t want to buy the house, what are you looking at?”
“I used to live here twenty-five years ago. As a boy. As a young man... And then my grandmother died, and we sold the house and went away.”

She was silent for a while, taking in this information. Then she said, “And you’d like to buy it back now, but you don’t have the money?” He did not look very prosperous.

“No, I wasn’t thinking of buying it back. I wanted to see it again, that’s all. How long have you lived in it?”
“Only three years,” she smiled.
“Would you like to come in and look more closely?”
“Wouldn’t your parents mind?”
“They’ve gone to the club. They won’t mind. I’m allowed to bring my friends home.”
“Even elderly friends like me?”
“How old are you?”
“Oh, just middle-aged, but feeling young today.”

And to prove it he decided he’d climb over the wall instead of going round to the gate. He got up on the wall all right, but had to rest there, breathing heavily.

“Middle-aged man on the flying trapeze,” he muttered to himself.
“I’ll help you,” she said, and gave him her hand.

He slithered down into a flower-bed, shattering the stem of a hollyhock.

As they walked across the grass he spotted a stone bench under a mango tree. It was the bench on which his grandmother used to rest, when she was tired of pruning rose bushes and bougainvillea.

“Let’s just sit here,” he said. “I don’t want to go inside.”

She sat beside him on the bench. They were silent for some time. The man closed his eyes and remembered other times – the music of a piano, the chiming of a grandfather clock, the constant twitter of budgerigars on the veranda, his grandfather cranking up the old car...

“I used to climb the jackfruit tree,” he said, opening his eyes.
“Do you want to climb it again? My parents won’t mind.”
“No, no. Not after climbing the garden wall. Let’s just sit here for a few minutes and talk. I mention the jackfruit tree because it was my favourite place. Do you see that thick branch stretching out over the roof? Half way along it there’s a small hollow in which I used to keep some of my treasures.”
“What kind of treasures?”
“Oh, nothing very valuable. Marbles I’d won. A book I wasn’t supposed to read. A few old coins I’d collected. Things came and went. I was a bit of a crow, you know, collecting bright things and putting them away. There was my grandfather’s Iron Cross. Well, not my grandfather’s exactly, because he was British and the Iron Cross was a German decoration awarded for bravery during the War – the First World War – when my grandfather fought in France. He got it from a German soldier.”

“Do you still have it?”
“No,” he said, looking her in the eyes. “I left it in the jackfruit tree.”
“You left it in the tree?”
“Yes, I was so excited at the time, packing and saying goodbye to people and thinking about the ship I was going to sail on that I simply forgot all about it.”

She quietly said, “It may still be there. In the hollow part of the branch.”

“Yes,” he said. “It’s twenty-five years, but it may still be there. Unless someone else found it...”
“Would you like to go and look?”
“I can’t climb trees any more.”
“If you can’t, I will go and see. You just sit here and wait for me.”

“I’ve found it!” she cried. “I’ve found something!”

And now, barefoot, she ran breathlessly towards him, in her outstretched hand a rusty old medal.

He took it from her and turned it over on his palm.

“Is it the Iron Cross?” she asked eagerly.
“Yes,” he said, “this is it.”
“Now I know why you came. You wanted to see if it was still in the tree.”
“You may be right. I’m not really sure why I came. But you can keep the Cross. You found it, after all.”
“No, you keep it. It’s yours.”
“But it could have remained in the tree for another twenty-five years if you hadn’t climbed up to look for it.”
“But if you hadn’t come back again...”
“On the right day, at the right time, and with the right person,” he said, getting up and placing the medal in her hands. “It wasn’t the Cross I came for. It was my youth.”

She didn’t understand that, but she walked with him to the gate and waited. Where the road turned, he looked back and waved to her. Then he quickened his steps and moved briskly towards the bus stop. There was sprightliness in his step, and something cried aloud in his heart.

The mango-scented summer breeze made the blood course in his veins, and he forgot, for a moment, that he couldn’t climb trees any more...

About the Author

Ruskin Bond was born on 19th May 1934. He is an award-winning Indian author of British descent. He is much renowned for his role in promoting children’s literature in India. The Indian Council for Child Education has recognized his role in the growth of children’s literature in India. He got the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhushan in 2014. As a prolific writer, he has written over 500 short stories, essays and novels. His popular novel The Blue Umbrella was made into a Hindi film and was awarded the National Film Award for the best children’s film in 2007.

Glossary

• hollyhocks (n) – a tall Eurasian plant of the mallow family, with large showy flowers
• colonel (n) – a rank of officer in the army
• brigadier (n) – a rank of officer in the British army, above Colonel
• turnstile (n) – a mechanical gate consisting of revolving horizontal arms fixed to a vertical post, allowing only one person at a time to pass through
• trapeze (n) – a horizontal bar hanging by two ropes and free to swing, used by acrobats in a circus
• muttered (v) – to utter words in a low tone
• slithered (v) – slide or slip unsteadily on a loose or slippery surface
• pruning (v) – the act of trimming a plant
• bougainvillea (n) – an ornamental shrubby climbing plant that is widely cultivated in tropics
• chiming (v) – making melodious ringing sounds typically to indicate the time
• budgerigars (n) – a small Australian bird of the parrot family, often kept in a cage as a pet
• cranking (v) – the act of turning a handle to start an engine
• sprightliness (n) – lively and full of energy

Comprehension

A. True or False

S.No.	Statement	T / F
1	The visitor had hidden a few old coins in the tree.	T
2	The jackfruit tree was still there.	T
3	As a boy the visitor used to swing on the turnstile.	T
4	The visitor had sold the house.	F
5	A girl came out of the house.	T
6	The visitor’s grandfather used to sit on the stone bench.	F
7	The visitor was able to remember the music of a piano.	T
8	The visitor was able to climb the jackfruit tree.	F
9	The purpose of the visit of the narrator was to buy his ancestral house back.	F
10	The visitor climbed over the wall easily.	F

B. Multiple Choice

1. The story I Can’t Climb Trees Anymore highlights the importance of youth.
2. The house which was visited by the man remained unchanged.
3. Who said, “A blessing rests on the house where the shadow of a tree falls”? – Grandmother
4. The visitor came back to the house because he was looking for his lost youth.
5. The visitor gifted the iron cross to the little girl.

C. Short Answer

1. “Blessings rest on the house where the shadow of a tree falls.” – The grandmother believed that a tree’s shade brings prosperity and happiness to the household.
2. The writer observed that the granite house was unchanged, but there were fewer trees and a new outhouse.
3. The local superstition was that a tree’s shadow falling on a house brings blessings.
4. As a boy, the visitor swung on the turnstile until he felt dizzy.
5. The girl’s father, a colonel, is the current owner of the house.
6. The visitor returned to recall his childhood memories and to see his favourite jackfruit tree.
7. He got back the Iron Cross when the girl climbed the tree and found it in the hollow branch.
8. The grandfather received the Iron Cross from a German soldier during World War I.
9. He gifted the Iron Cross to the girl who found it.
10. He had left his childhood treasures in the hollow of the jackfruit tree branch.

D. Match the Words

S.No.	A	B
1	pruning	trimming a plant
2	chiming	emitting a sound
3	drenched	soaked
4	dizzy	shaky
5	prosperous	flourishing
6	sprightliness	lively
7	treasure	a collection of precious things
8	rusty	ancient

E. Shortened Forms

Short Form	Full Form
you’d	you had / you would
they’ve	they have
he’d	he had / he would
he’s	he is / he has
wasn’t	was not
isn’t	is not
doesn’t	does not
aren’t	are not
wouldn’t	would not
can’t	cannot

Speaking

Imagine you are revisiting your primary school after six years.

1. What would you remember?
2. Describe your feelings at that time.
3. Who do you miss very badly, your friends or teachers?
4. Share your thoughts with the class.

Writing

G. Favourite Sport (50 words)

When I was young, my favourite sport was hide-and-seek in our neighbourhood playground. The thrill of finding the perfect hiding spot, the rush of sprinting to base, and the laughter with friends still echo in my memory. Those evenings of dusty shoes and bright smiles remain priceless.

H. Long Answers (80–100 words)

1. Imagine yourself as the writer. Narrate the story of your visit to your ancestral house.
   After twenty-five years, I returned to the granite house of my childhood. The jackfruit tree still shaded the wall, and memories flooded back. A spirited girl appeared, curious about my presence. Together we sat on my grandmother’s old bench. I confessed I had hidden my treasures—including Grandpa’s Iron Cross—in the tree. She climbed up and miraculously found the rusty medal. I gifted it to her, realizing I had come not for the Cross, but to reclaim a fleeting taste of my youth.

2. The man gave the cross as a gift to the girl. Why? What if he had kept it?
   He gifted the cross because the girl’s innocent adventure had completed his nostalgic journey; her joy mirrored his own lost childhood. Keeping it might have saddened her and burdened him with another relic of the past. By giving it away, he freed himself from longing and allowed the medal—and its memories—to sparkle anew in her young life.

I. Letter to a Friend

Dear Riya,

I recently visited my ancestral house after twenty-five years! The old granite walls and the jackfruit tree were just as I remembered. Grandma’s stone bench still rests under the mango tree. I met a cheerful girl who helped me find Grandpa’s Iron Cross hidden in the tree. I gifted the medal to her; her excitement made me feel young again. You must visit with me someday and share the magic of those childhood lanes.

Yours lovingly,
Anjali

Grammar – Degrees of Comparison

Positive | Comparative | Superlative

• tall | taller | tallest
• kind | kinder | kindest
• beautiful | more beautiful | most beautiful
• good | better | best
• bad | worse | worst

A. Compare Your Locality

Work with a partner and fill a table comparing distances, facilities, traffic, etc., then write a short paragraph.

B. Picture-Based Comparison

Use –er, more, less, or irregular forms to compare items shown (healthy, eco-friendly, educational, safe, cozy).

C. Bar-Graph Description

Write five sentences using appropriate degrees of comparison about popularity of adventure sports in 2001 vs 2017.

D. Listening & Vocabulary

List new words from the conversation, find meanings, and discuss.

E. Just-a-Minute Speech

Speak for one minute without hesitation on topics related to childhood, trees, or memories.

Practice Practice Exercises

a. Have you ever tried swinging from a tree?

b. Have you ever climbed up a tree to pluck fruits?

c. Think of other occasions when you have climbed up trees, either near your home or outside. Share your reasons with the class.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

What was the old house built with?

Does the visitor still live in the house?

1. What did the visitor hide in the jackfruit tree?

2. When did the visitor actually hide the iron cross?

1. The story I Can’t Climb Trees Anymore highlights the importance of

a). old age. b). youth. c). adulthood. d). middle age.

2. The house which was visited by the man

a). remained unchanged. b). was totally changed.

c). was slightly repaired. d). was given a facelift.

a). Grandmother. b). Uncle. c). Grandfather. d). The visitor

4. The visitor came back to the house because he

a). wanted to see the jackfruit tree.

b). was looking for his lost youth.

c). wanted to look again at his old house

d). wanted to buy the house.

5. The visitor gifted the to the little girl.

a). iron cross. b). marbles

c). bronze medal. d). old coins.

1. Explain: “Blessings rest on the house where the shadow of a tree falls.”

2. What did the writer observe about the house?

3. What was the local superstition about trees?

4. What did the visitor do with the turnstile when he was a boy?

5. Who is the owner of the house now?

6. Why did the visitor return to his old house?

7. How did he get back the Iron Cross?

8. How did the grandfather get the iron cross?

9. What did he do with the old Iron Cross?

10. Where had he left his childhood treasures?

1. What would you remember?

2. Describe your feelings at that time.

3. Who do you miss very badly, your friends or teachers?

1. Imagine yourself as the writer. Narrate the story of your visit to your ancestral house.

2. The man who came to the house gave the cross as a gift to the girl. Why did he do this? What do you think would have happened if he had taken back the cross with him?

(a)

(b)

(c)