NCERT Textbook: The Case of the Fifth Word | English Poorvi Class 8 - New NCERT PDF Download

 Page 1


THE CASE OF THE FIFTH WORD
Let us do these activities before we read.
I Work in pairs. Solve the crossword puzzle given below with the clues 
in the form of anagrams.
UNIT 3
MYSTERY AND MAGIC
	 II	 Work in pairs. Match the different meanings of ‘case’ in Column 2 with
the correct usage in the sentences in Column 1. Share your answers with
your classmates and teacher.
Column 1 Column 2
	 1.	 Lalit said that he could not sing but that was not the case
as he sang melodiously later.
(i) writing 
format
	 2.	 The lawyer was waiting for the case to be taken up in court. (ii) container
	 3.	 My pencil case is a gift from my grandmother. (iii) situation
	 4.	 The subject of a formal letter is written in title case. (iv) matter
Now, read the following text and find out which ‘case’ the title refers to.
Across: 3. Declare		6. Tucks		7. Heart		9. Felt
10. Sown		12. Sword		13. Evil
Down: 1. Aces		2. Read		4. Tool		5. Alps		6. Hooks		
8. Mane		11. Loves
Note: An anagram is a word or phrase that is made by rearranging
the letters in a different order to make a new word or phrase. For
example, ‘Neat’ is an anagram of ‘a net’.
8
6
7
1
3
5
9
12
4
2
10 11
13
Unit 3.indd   101 20-05-2025   11:25:58
Page 2


THE CASE OF THE FIFTH WORD
Let us do these activities before we read.
I Work in pairs. Solve the crossword puzzle given below with the clues 
in the form of anagrams.
UNIT 3
MYSTERY AND MAGIC
	 II	 Work in pairs. Match the different meanings of ‘case’ in Column 2 with
the correct usage in the sentences in Column 1. Share your answers with
your classmates and teacher.
Column 1 Column 2
	 1.	 Lalit said that he could not sing but that was not the case
as he sang melodiously later.
(i) writing 
format
	 2.	 The lawyer was waiting for the case to be taken up in court. (ii) container
	 3.	 My pencil case is a gift from my grandmother. (iii) situation
	 4.	 The subject of a formal letter is written in title case. (iv) matter
Now, read the following text and find out which ‘case’ the title refers to.
Across: 3. Declare		6. Tucks		7. Heart		9. Felt
10. Sown		12. Sword		13. Evil
Down: 1. Aces		2. Read		4. Tool		5. Alps		6. Hooks		
8. Mane		11. Loves
Note: An anagram is a word or phrase that is made by rearranging
the letters in a different order to make a new word or phrase. For
example, ‘Neat’ is an anagram of ‘a net’.
8
6
7
1
3
5
9
12
4
2
10 11
13
Unit 3.indd   101 20-05-2025   11:25:58
Poorvi
102
Let us read
I
nickname: pet 
name
Encyclopedia Brown is a young boy who lives in Idaville, USA. 
His father is the Chief of Police. In spite of being so young he 
often helps his father solve mysteries that even the police find 
difficult to solve. Their discussions are generally held at the 
dining table. Read this story to find out how the boy wonder 
solves a case that has been troubling his father…
Encyclopedia’s father was Chief of Police. Everyone thought
that he must be the smartest police chief in the country. Chief
Brown was smart and quick. He didn’t sit around and worry.
When he came up against a case he couldn’t solve, he acted
at once. He cleared his desk, put on his hat, and went home
to dinner. Encyclopedia solved the case for him before dinner
was over.
Chief Brown would have liked to tell everyone about his only
child. But who would believe him? Who would believe that the 
best detective alive was an eighth grader? So, he said nothing.
Encyclopedia never spoke of the help he gave his father. He
didn’t want to seem different from other boys. But there was
nothing he could do about his nickname. He was stuck with it.
Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name,
Leroy. Everyone else called him Encyclopedia.
An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from
A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He read more books than
Unit 3.indd   102 13-05-2025   12:58:00
Page 3


THE CASE OF THE FIFTH WORD
Let us do these activities before we read.
I Work in pairs. Solve the crossword puzzle given below with the clues 
in the form of anagrams.
UNIT 3
MYSTERY AND MAGIC
	 II	 Work in pairs. Match the different meanings of ‘case’ in Column 2 with
the correct usage in the sentences in Column 1. Share your answers with
your classmates and teacher.
Column 1 Column 2
	 1.	 Lalit said that he could not sing but that was not the case
as he sang melodiously later.
(i) writing 
format
	 2.	 The lawyer was waiting for the case to be taken up in court. (ii) container
	 3.	 My pencil case is a gift from my grandmother. (iii) situation
	 4.	 The subject of a formal letter is written in title case. (iv) matter
Now, read the following text and find out which ‘case’ the title refers to.
Across: 3. Declare		6. Tucks		7. Heart		9. Felt
10. Sown		12. Sword		13. Evil
Down: 1. Aces		2. Read		4. Tool		5. Alps		6. Hooks		
8. Mane		11. Loves
Note: An anagram is a word or phrase that is made by rearranging
the letters in a different order to make a new word or phrase. For
example, ‘Neat’ is an anagram of ‘a net’.
8
6
7
1
3
5
9
12
4
2
10 11
13
Unit 3.indd   101 20-05-2025   11:25:58
Poorvi
102
Let us read
I
nickname: pet 
name
Encyclopedia Brown is a young boy who lives in Idaville, USA. 
His father is the Chief of Police. In spite of being so young he 
often helps his father solve mysteries that even the police find 
difficult to solve. Their discussions are generally held at the 
dining table. Read this story to find out how the boy wonder 
solves a case that has been troubling his father…
Encyclopedia’s father was Chief of Police. Everyone thought
that he must be the smartest police chief in the country. Chief
Brown was smart and quick. He didn’t sit around and worry.
When he came up against a case he couldn’t solve, he acted
at once. He cleared his desk, put on his hat, and went home
to dinner. Encyclopedia solved the case for him before dinner
was over.
Chief Brown would have liked to tell everyone about his only
child. But who would believe him? Who would believe that the 
best detective alive was an eighth grader? So, he said nothing.
Encyclopedia never spoke of the help he gave his father. He
didn’t want to seem different from other boys. But there was
nothing he could do about his nickname. He was stuck with it.
Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name,
Leroy. Everyone else called him Encyclopedia.
An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from
A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He read more books than
Unit 3.indd   102 13-05-2025   12:58:00
Mystery and Magic
103
in a matter-of-
fact manner:
without 
showing much 
emotion
anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot a fact. His pals said
he was like a library and computer rolled into one, and more
user-friendly.
At the dinner table on Tuesday night, Chief Brown stared at
his cream-of-mushroom soup. Encyclopedia and his mother
knew what that meant. He had a mystery he could not solve.
“Tim Nolan died yesterday,” he announced in a matter-of-fact 
manner.
“That name is familiar,” Mrs. Brown said. “Wasn’t he mixed
up in a jewellery robbery a few years ago?”
“Five years ago,” Chief Brown replied. “Two masked men held
up the Diamond Mart on Sixth Avenue. They got away with a
million dollars worth of jewellery.”
“I thought Tim Nolan was arrested,” Mrs. Brown said.
“He was questioned, not arrested,” Chief Brown corrected.
“I always believed that Nolan and a friend, a man named
Daniel Davenport, pulled the hold-ups. There wasn’t any
proof, though.”
Encyclopedia sat quietly. He knew his mother and father were
discussing the case for his benefit.
His father filled in the facts.
“Nolan and Davenport had met,” Chief Brown said, “while
both were in prison in South Carolina. They became friendly
because of shared interests. 
Nolan was let out first. 
He settled in Idaville
and started a small 
palm-tree nursery. It 
barely yielded him a
living.”
“Davenport came 
to live with Nolan 
a week before the 
jewellery store
hold-up. During 
the hold-up, one 
hold-ups:
robberies 
conducted with 
the use of threat 
or violence
nursery: a place 
where young
plants and trees 
are grown for 
sale
Unit 3.indd   103 13-05-2025   12:58:01
Page 4


THE CASE OF THE FIFTH WORD
Let us do these activities before we read.
I Work in pairs. Solve the crossword puzzle given below with the clues 
in the form of anagrams.
UNIT 3
MYSTERY AND MAGIC
	 II	 Work in pairs. Match the different meanings of ‘case’ in Column 2 with
the correct usage in the sentences in Column 1. Share your answers with
your classmates and teacher.
Column 1 Column 2
	 1.	 Lalit said that he could not sing but that was not the case
as he sang melodiously later.
(i) writing 
format
	 2.	 The lawyer was waiting for the case to be taken up in court. (ii) container
	 3.	 My pencil case is a gift from my grandmother. (iii) situation
	 4.	 The subject of a formal letter is written in title case. (iv) matter
Now, read the following text and find out which ‘case’ the title refers to.
Across: 3. Declare		6. Tucks		7. Heart		9. Felt
10. Sown		12. Sword		13. Evil
Down: 1. Aces		2. Read		4. Tool		5. Alps		6. Hooks		
8. Mane		11. Loves
Note: An anagram is a word or phrase that is made by rearranging
the letters in a different order to make a new word or phrase. For
example, ‘Neat’ is an anagram of ‘a net’.
8
6
7
1
3
5
9
12
4
2
10 11
13
Unit 3.indd   101 20-05-2025   11:25:58
Poorvi
102
Let us read
I
nickname: pet 
name
Encyclopedia Brown is a young boy who lives in Idaville, USA. 
His father is the Chief of Police. In spite of being so young he 
often helps his father solve mysteries that even the police find 
difficult to solve. Their discussions are generally held at the 
dining table. Read this story to find out how the boy wonder 
solves a case that has been troubling his father…
Encyclopedia’s father was Chief of Police. Everyone thought
that he must be the smartest police chief in the country. Chief
Brown was smart and quick. He didn’t sit around and worry.
When he came up against a case he couldn’t solve, he acted
at once. He cleared his desk, put on his hat, and went home
to dinner. Encyclopedia solved the case for him before dinner
was over.
Chief Brown would have liked to tell everyone about his only
child. But who would believe him? Who would believe that the 
best detective alive was an eighth grader? So, he said nothing.
Encyclopedia never spoke of the help he gave his father. He
didn’t want to seem different from other boys. But there was
nothing he could do about his nickname. He was stuck with it.
Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name,
Leroy. Everyone else called him Encyclopedia.
An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from
A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He read more books than
Unit 3.indd   102 13-05-2025   12:58:00
Mystery and Magic
103
in a matter-of-
fact manner:
without 
showing much 
emotion
anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot a fact. His pals said
he was like a library and computer rolled into one, and more
user-friendly.
At the dinner table on Tuesday night, Chief Brown stared at
his cream-of-mushroom soup. Encyclopedia and his mother
knew what that meant. He had a mystery he could not solve.
“Tim Nolan died yesterday,” he announced in a matter-of-fact 
manner.
“That name is familiar,” Mrs. Brown said. “Wasn’t he mixed
up in a jewellery robbery a few years ago?”
“Five years ago,” Chief Brown replied. “Two masked men held
up the Diamond Mart on Sixth Avenue. They got away with a
million dollars worth of jewellery.”
“I thought Tim Nolan was arrested,” Mrs. Brown said.
“He was questioned, not arrested,” Chief Brown corrected.
“I always believed that Nolan and a friend, a man named
Daniel Davenport, pulled the hold-ups. There wasn’t any
proof, though.”
Encyclopedia sat quietly. He knew his mother and father were
discussing the case for his benefit.
His father filled in the facts.
“Nolan and Davenport had met,” Chief Brown said, “while
both were in prison in South Carolina. They became friendly
because of shared interests. 
Nolan was let out first. 
He settled in Idaville
and started a small 
palm-tree nursery. It 
barely yielded him a
living.”
“Davenport came 
to live with Nolan 
a week before the 
jewellery store
hold-up. During 
the hold-up, one 
hold-ups:
robberies 
conducted with 
the use of threat 
or violence
nursery: a place 
where young
plants and trees 
are grown for 
sale
Unit 3.indd   103 13-05-2025   12:58:01
Poorvi
104
gunman’s mask slipped. A clerk thought she recognised
Nolan. But she wasn’t absolutely sure.”
“I remember now,” Mrs. Brown said. “The clerk refused to
testify against him, and no trace of the stolen jewellery ever
turned up.”
“Davenport hasn’t been seen since the hold-up,” Chief Brown
said. “My hunch is that he and Nolan decided to hide the loot 
until things cooled down.”
“Didn’t you search Nolan’s house, dear?”
“I got a court order this morning,” Chief Brown said. “Officers
Lewis and Maloney just about took Nolan’s house apart. They
didn’t find one piece of the stolen jewellery.”
“Is there some mystery about Nolan’s death yesterday?”
Mrs. Brown inquired.
“Yes and no,” Chief Brown answered. “Nolan suffered from
a bad heart for many years. Yesterday morning he had a
stroke. He must have realised he was dying. With his last
strength, he managed to put his will on the kitchen table. 
It leaves everything he owns, including his palm-tree nursery
to Davenport.”
Let us discuss
	 I	 Complete the following statements with suitable reasons. Share your
answers with your classmates and teacher.
	 1.	 Leroy’s nickname was Encyclopedia and everyone called him by
that name because ______________.
	 2.	 At the dinner table on Tuesday night, Chief Brown stared at his
cream-of-mushroom soup as ______________.
	 3.	 Encyclopedia sat quietly at the dinner table because ______________.
4. Nolan put the will on the kitchen table because ______________.
	 II	 Do you think Chief Brown would need Leroy’s help to solve this case?
If yes, why? If no, why not?
testify: make 
a statement in 
court to prove 
that something 
is true
hunch: a strong 
feeling about 
something
loot: stolen 
goods
stroke: a 
sudden serious 
illness causing 
inability to
move
Unit 3.indd   104 13-05-2025   12:58:02
Page 5


THE CASE OF THE FIFTH WORD
Let us do these activities before we read.
I Work in pairs. Solve the crossword puzzle given below with the clues 
in the form of anagrams.
UNIT 3
MYSTERY AND MAGIC
	 II	 Work in pairs. Match the different meanings of ‘case’ in Column 2 with
the correct usage in the sentences in Column 1. Share your answers with
your classmates and teacher.
Column 1 Column 2
	 1.	 Lalit said that he could not sing but that was not the case
as he sang melodiously later.
(i) writing 
format
	 2.	 The lawyer was waiting for the case to be taken up in court. (ii) container
	 3.	 My pencil case is a gift from my grandmother. (iii) situation
	 4.	 The subject of a formal letter is written in title case. (iv) matter
Now, read the following text and find out which ‘case’ the title refers to.
Across: 3. Declare		6. Tucks		7. Heart		9. Felt
10. Sown		12. Sword		13. Evil
Down: 1. Aces		2. Read		4. Tool		5. Alps		6. Hooks		
8. Mane		11. Loves
Note: An anagram is a word or phrase that is made by rearranging
the letters in a different order to make a new word or phrase. For
example, ‘Neat’ is an anagram of ‘a net’.
8
6
7
1
3
5
9
12
4
2
10 11
13
Unit 3.indd   101 20-05-2025   11:25:58
Poorvi
102
Let us read
I
nickname: pet 
name
Encyclopedia Brown is a young boy who lives in Idaville, USA. 
His father is the Chief of Police. In spite of being so young he 
often helps his father solve mysteries that even the police find 
difficult to solve. Their discussions are generally held at the 
dining table. Read this story to find out how the boy wonder 
solves a case that has been troubling his father…
Encyclopedia’s father was Chief of Police. Everyone thought
that he must be the smartest police chief in the country. Chief
Brown was smart and quick. He didn’t sit around and worry.
When he came up against a case he couldn’t solve, he acted
at once. He cleared his desk, put on his hat, and went home
to dinner. Encyclopedia solved the case for him before dinner
was over.
Chief Brown would have liked to tell everyone about his only
child. But who would believe him? Who would believe that the 
best detective alive was an eighth grader? So, he said nothing.
Encyclopedia never spoke of the help he gave his father. He
didn’t want to seem different from other boys. But there was
nothing he could do about his nickname. He was stuck with it.
Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name,
Leroy. Everyone else called him Encyclopedia.
An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from
A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He read more books than
Unit 3.indd   102 13-05-2025   12:58:00
Mystery and Magic
103
in a matter-of-
fact manner:
without 
showing much 
emotion
anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot a fact. His pals said
he was like a library and computer rolled into one, and more
user-friendly.
At the dinner table on Tuesday night, Chief Brown stared at
his cream-of-mushroom soup. Encyclopedia and his mother
knew what that meant. He had a mystery he could not solve.
“Tim Nolan died yesterday,” he announced in a matter-of-fact 
manner.
“That name is familiar,” Mrs. Brown said. “Wasn’t he mixed
up in a jewellery robbery a few years ago?”
“Five years ago,” Chief Brown replied. “Two masked men held
up the Diamond Mart on Sixth Avenue. They got away with a
million dollars worth of jewellery.”
“I thought Tim Nolan was arrested,” Mrs. Brown said.
“He was questioned, not arrested,” Chief Brown corrected.
“I always believed that Nolan and a friend, a man named
Daniel Davenport, pulled the hold-ups. There wasn’t any
proof, though.”
Encyclopedia sat quietly. He knew his mother and father were
discussing the case for his benefit.
His father filled in the facts.
“Nolan and Davenport had met,” Chief Brown said, “while
both were in prison in South Carolina. They became friendly
because of shared interests. 
Nolan was let out first. 
He settled in Idaville
and started a small 
palm-tree nursery. It 
barely yielded him a
living.”
“Davenport came 
to live with Nolan 
a week before the 
jewellery store
hold-up. During 
the hold-up, one 
hold-ups:
robberies 
conducted with 
the use of threat 
or violence
nursery: a place 
where young
plants and trees 
are grown for 
sale
Unit 3.indd   103 13-05-2025   12:58:01
Poorvi
104
gunman’s mask slipped. A clerk thought she recognised
Nolan. But she wasn’t absolutely sure.”
“I remember now,” Mrs. Brown said. “The clerk refused to
testify against him, and no trace of the stolen jewellery ever
turned up.”
“Davenport hasn’t been seen since the hold-up,” Chief Brown
said. “My hunch is that he and Nolan decided to hide the loot 
until things cooled down.”
“Didn’t you search Nolan’s house, dear?”
“I got a court order this morning,” Chief Brown said. “Officers
Lewis and Maloney just about took Nolan’s house apart. They
didn’t find one piece of the stolen jewellery.”
“Is there some mystery about Nolan’s death yesterday?”
Mrs. Brown inquired.
“Yes and no,” Chief Brown answered. “Nolan suffered from
a bad heart for many years. Yesterday morning he had a
stroke. He must have realised he was dying. With his last
strength, he managed to put his will on the kitchen table. 
It leaves everything he owns, including his palm-tree nursery
to Davenport.”
Let us discuss
	 I	 Complete the following statements with suitable reasons. Share your
answers with your classmates and teacher.
	 1.	 Leroy’s nickname was Encyclopedia and everyone called him by
that name because ______________.
	 2.	 At the dinner table on Tuesday night, Chief Brown stared at his
cream-of-mushroom soup as ______________.
	 3.	 Encyclopedia sat quietly at the dinner table because ______________.
4. Nolan put the will on the kitchen table because ______________.
	 II	 Do you think Chief Brown would need Leroy’s help to solve this case?
If yes, why? If no, why not?
testify: make 
a statement in 
court to prove 
that something 
is true
hunch: a strong 
feeling about 
something
loot: stolen 
goods
stroke: a 
sudden serious 
illness causing 
inability to
move
Unit 3.indd   104 13-05-2025   12:58:02
Mystery and Magic
105
II
“What’s suspicious about that?” Mrs. Brown asked.
“Nothing about the will itself—just about
a sheet from his desk calendar. It was 
clipped to the will,” said Chief Brown.
He took out his pocket notebook and
leafed through the pages.
“I copied what Nolan wrote on the sheet,”
he said. “Here it is.”
He handed the notebook to Mrs. Brown.
She read what he had copied. “It has Davenport’s name and
address,” she said, “and a few words I don’t understand.”
She handed the notebook to Encyclopedia.
“What do you make of the four words, Leroy?”
Encyclopedia read the four words below Davenport’s name
and address: Nom Utes Sweden Hurts.
Mrs. Brown looked at him hopefully. Usually he needed to ask
only one question to solve a case before dessert.
They were still on the soup.
Encyclopedia leaned back and closed his eyes when he did his
hardest thinking.
After several seconds, he opened his eyes and asked his
question. “Is there a young fir tree in Mr. Nolan’s palm-tree
nursery?” Chief Brown thought a moment. “Yes, there is… one.
On the south side of the house. How did you know?”
“The four words say so,” Encyclopedia answered.
“They do?” said Chief Brown.
“See for yourself,” Encyclopedia urged.
Chief Brown studied the four words: Nom Utes Sweden Hurts. 
He shook his head and passed the notebook to Mrs. Brown
again. “Can you figure it out?”
will: (here) a 
legal document 
that says what
is to happen 
to somebody’s
money and
property after
their death
leafed 
through:
quickly turned
(the pages)
Brown asked.
Unit 3.indd   105 13-05-2025   12:58:03