NCERT Book Class 10 English (Foot Prints Without feet) Chapter 9 The Book That Saved The Earth

The Book That Saved the Earth
9
Mother Goose is a well-known book of
nursery rhymes in English. Do you think
such a book can save Planet Earth from
a Martian invasion? Read this play,
set four centuries in the future, and find out.

Characters
HISTORIAN LIEUTENANT IOTA
GREAT AND MIGHTY THINK-TANK SERGEANT OOP
APPRENTICE NOODLE OFFSTAGE VOICE
CAPTAIN OMEGA

SCENE 1
READ AND FIND OUT
• Why was the twentieth century called the ‘Era of the Book’?
• Who tried to invade the earth in the twenty-first century?
TIME : The twenty-fifth century
PLACE : The Museum of Ancient History: Department of the Twentieth
Century on the Planet Earth
BEFORE RISE : Spotlight shines on Historian, who is sitting at a table down
right, on which is a movie projector. A sign on an easel beside
her reads: Museum of Ancient History: Department of the
Twentieth Century. She stands and bows to audience.

HISTORIAN : Good afternoon. Welcome to our Museum of Ancient
History, and to my department — curiosities of the
good old, far -off twentieth century. The twentieth
century was often called the Era of the Book. In those
days, there were books about everything, from ant
eaters to Zulus. Books taught people how to, and when
to, and where to, and why to. They illustrated,
educated, punctuated, and even decorated. But the
56 Footprints without Feet