NCERT book Class 10 English - The Hundred Dresses I

 Page 1


? ???? ??? ? ??? ???
• How do we judge the people around us — by their money, wealth
and possessions? Or is there something of more enduring value
to look for in a person?
• This story is a sensitive account of how a poor young girl is
judged by her classmates. Wanda Petronski is a young Polish
girl who goes to school with other American children in an American
town. These other children see Wanda as ‘different’ in many
ways. Can you guess how they treat her?
• Read the information in the box below. Find out more about this
community (or about a related topic) from an encyclopedia, or
the Internet. 
The Polish-American Community
in the United States
The first Polish immigrants arrived in America in 1608, but
the largest wave of Polish immigration occurred in the early
twentieth century, when more than one million Poles migrated
to the United States. The Polish State did not exist at that
time, and the immigrants were identified according to their
country of origin rather than to ethnicity. They were identified
as Russian Poles, German Poles and Austrian Poles.
One of the most notable Polish-American communities
is in Chicago and its suburbs; so Chicago is sometimes called
the second largest ‘Polish’ city in the world, next only to
Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Polish-Americans were
sometimes discriminated against in the United States, as
were the Irish, Italians, and Jews.
According to the United States 2000 Census, 667,414
Americans of age five years and older reported Polish as the
language spoken at home, which is about 1.4 per cent of
the people who speak languages other than English, or
0.25 per cent of the U.S. population.
2022-23
Page 2


? ???? ??? ? ??? ???
• How do we judge the people around us — by their money, wealth
and possessions? Or is there something of more enduring value
to look for in a person?
• This story is a sensitive account of how a poor young girl is
judged by her classmates. Wanda Petronski is a young Polish
girl who goes to school with other American children in an American
town. These other children see Wanda as ‘different’ in many
ways. Can you guess how they treat her?
• Read the information in the box below. Find out more about this
community (or about a related topic) from an encyclopedia, or
the Internet. 
The Polish-American Community
in the United States
The first Polish immigrants arrived in America in 1608, but
the largest wave of Polish immigration occurred in the early
twentieth century, when more than one million Poles migrated
to the United States. The Polish State did not exist at that
time, and the immigrants were identified according to their
country of origin rather than to ethnicity. They were identified
as Russian Poles, German Poles and Austrian Poles.
One of the most notable Polish-American communities
is in Chicago and its suburbs; so Chicago is sometimes called
the second largest ‘Polish’ city in the world, next only to
Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Polish-Americans were
sometimes discriminated against in the United States, as
were the Irish, Italians, and Jews.
According to the United States 2000 Census, 667,414
Americans of age five years and older reported Polish as the
language spoken at home, which is about 1.4 per cent of
the people who speak languages other than English, or
0.25 per cent of the U.S. population.
2022-23
??
?????? ??????
TODAY, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her
seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeline, the
girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence.
Usually Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat
in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sat in the
corner of the room where the rough boys who did
not make good marks sat, the corner of the room
where there was most scuffling of feet, most roars
of laughter when anything funny was said, and most
mud and dirt on the floor.
Wanda did not sit there because she was rough
and noisy. On the contrary, she was very quiet and
rarely said anything at all. And nobody had ever
heard her laugh out loud. Sometimes she twisted
her mouth into a crooked sort of smile, but that
was all.
Nobody knew exactly why Wanda sat in that seat,
unless it was because she came all the way from
Boggins Heights and her feet were usually caked
with dry mud.  But no one really thought much
about Wanda Petronski, once she sat in the corner
of the room.
The time when they thought about Wanda was
outside of school hours — at noon-time when they
were coming back to school or in the morning early
before school began, when groups of two or three,
or even more, would be talking and laughing on
their way to the school yard.
Then, sometimes, they waited for Wanda — to
have fun with her.
The next day, Tuesday, Wanda was not in school,
either. And nobody noticed her absence again.
But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat
down front with other children who got good marks
and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud, did
notice that Wanda wasn’t there. Peggy was the most
popular girl in school.  She was pretty, she had
many pretty clothes and her hair was curly. Maddie
was her closest friend. The reason Peggy and Maddie
noticed Wanda’s absence was because Wanda had
made them late to school. They had waited and
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?????????? ??? ???
????? ??? ???? ??????
2022-23
Page 3


? ???? ??? ? ??? ???
• How do we judge the people around us — by their money, wealth
and possessions? Or is there something of more enduring value
to look for in a person?
• This story is a sensitive account of how a poor young girl is
judged by her classmates. Wanda Petronski is a young Polish
girl who goes to school with other American children in an American
town. These other children see Wanda as ‘different’ in many
ways. Can you guess how they treat her?
• Read the information in the box below. Find out more about this
community (or about a related topic) from an encyclopedia, or
the Internet. 
The Polish-American Community
in the United States
The first Polish immigrants arrived in America in 1608, but
the largest wave of Polish immigration occurred in the early
twentieth century, when more than one million Poles migrated
to the United States. The Polish State did not exist at that
time, and the immigrants were identified according to their
country of origin rather than to ethnicity. They were identified
as Russian Poles, German Poles and Austrian Poles.
One of the most notable Polish-American communities
is in Chicago and its suburbs; so Chicago is sometimes called
the second largest ‘Polish’ city in the world, next only to
Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Polish-Americans were
sometimes discriminated against in the United States, as
were the Irish, Italians, and Jews.
According to the United States 2000 Census, 667,414
Americans of age five years and older reported Polish as the
language spoken at home, which is about 1.4 per cent of
the people who speak languages other than English, or
0.25 per cent of the U.S. population.
2022-23
??
?????? ??????
TODAY, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her
seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeline, the
girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence.
Usually Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat
in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sat in the
corner of the room where the rough boys who did
not make good marks sat, the corner of the room
where there was most scuffling of feet, most roars
of laughter when anything funny was said, and most
mud and dirt on the floor.
Wanda did not sit there because she was rough
and noisy. On the contrary, she was very quiet and
rarely said anything at all. And nobody had ever
heard her laugh out loud. Sometimes she twisted
her mouth into a crooked sort of smile, but that
was all.
Nobody knew exactly why Wanda sat in that seat,
unless it was because she came all the way from
Boggins Heights and her feet were usually caked
with dry mud.  But no one really thought much
about Wanda Petronski, once she sat in the corner
of the room.
The time when they thought about Wanda was
outside of school hours — at noon-time when they
were coming back to school or in the morning early
before school began, when groups of two or three,
or even more, would be talking and laughing on
their way to the school yard.
Then, sometimes, they waited for Wanda — to
have fun with her.
The next day, Tuesday, Wanda was not in school,
either. And nobody noticed her absence again.
But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat
down front with other children who got good marks
and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud, did
notice that Wanda wasn’t there. Peggy was the most
popular girl in school.  She was pretty, she had
many pretty clothes and her hair was curly. Maddie
was her closest friend. The reason Peggy and Maddie
noticed Wanda’s absence was because Wanda had
made them late to school. They had waited and
?????????? ??? ????
????? ?? ????????
?????????? ??? ???
????? ??? ???? ??????
2022-23
??
???? ???????? ??????? ? ?
waited for Wanda, to have some fun with her, and
she just hadn’t come.
They often waited for Wanda Petronski — to have
fun with her.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Wanda Petronski. Most of the children in Room
Thirteen didn’t have names like that. They had
names easy to say, like Thomas, Smith or Allen.
There was one boy named Bounce, Willie Bounce,
and people thought that was funny, but not funny
in the same way that Petronski was.
Wanda didn’t have any friends.  She came to
school alone and went home alone.  She always
wore a faded blue dress that didn’t hang right. It
was clean, but it looked as though it had never
been ironed properly.  She didn’t have any friends,
but a lot of girls talked to her. Sometimes, they
surrounded her in the school yard as she stood
watching the little girls play hopscotch on the worn
hard ground.
“Wanda,” Peggy would say in a most courteous
manner as though she were talking to Miss Mason.
“Wanda,” she’d say, giving one of her friends a nudge,
“tell us. How many dresses did you say you had
hanging up in your closet?”
??????? ????? ?????
???? ??? ???? ????????
?????????
?? ????? ??? ?????
????????? ???? ????? ???
?? ??? ??? ????? ? ?????
??? ???? ??????
?????
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2022-23
Page 4


? ???? ??? ? ??? ???
• How do we judge the people around us — by their money, wealth
and possessions? Or is there something of more enduring value
to look for in a person?
• This story is a sensitive account of how a poor young girl is
judged by her classmates. Wanda Petronski is a young Polish
girl who goes to school with other American children in an American
town. These other children see Wanda as ‘different’ in many
ways. Can you guess how they treat her?
• Read the information in the box below. Find out more about this
community (or about a related topic) from an encyclopedia, or
the Internet. 
The Polish-American Community
in the United States
The first Polish immigrants arrived in America in 1608, but
the largest wave of Polish immigration occurred in the early
twentieth century, when more than one million Poles migrated
to the United States. The Polish State did not exist at that
time, and the immigrants were identified according to their
country of origin rather than to ethnicity. They were identified
as Russian Poles, German Poles and Austrian Poles.
One of the most notable Polish-American communities
is in Chicago and its suburbs; so Chicago is sometimes called
the second largest ‘Polish’ city in the world, next only to
Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Polish-Americans were
sometimes discriminated against in the United States, as
were the Irish, Italians, and Jews.
According to the United States 2000 Census, 667,414
Americans of age five years and older reported Polish as the
language spoken at home, which is about 1.4 per cent of
the people who speak languages other than English, or
0.25 per cent of the U.S. population.
2022-23
??
?????? ??????
TODAY, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her
seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeline, the
girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence.
Usually Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat
in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sat in the
corner of the room where the rough boys who did
not make good marks sat, the corner of the room
where there was most scuffling of feet, most roars
of laughter when anything funny was said, and most
mud and dirt on the floor.
Wanda did not sit there because she was rough
and noisy. On the contrary, she was very quiet and
rarely said anything at all. And nobody had ever
heard her laugh out loud. Sometimes she twisted
her mouth into a crooked sort of smile, but that
was all.
Nobody knew exactly why Wanda sat in that seat,
unless it was because she came all the way from
Boggins Heights and her feet were usually caked
with dry mud.  But no one really thought much
about Wanda Petronski, once she sat in the corner
of the room.
The time when they thought about Wanda was
outside of school hours — at noon-time when they
were coming back to school or in the morning early
before school began, when groups of two or three,
or even more, would be talking and laughing on
their way to the school yard.
Then, sometimes, they waited for Wanda — to
have fun with her.
The next day, Tuesday, Wanda was not in school,
either. And nobody noticed her absence again.
But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat
down front with other children who got good marks
and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud, did
notice that Wanda wasn’t there. Peggy was the most
popular girl in school.  She was pretty, she had
many pretty clothes and her hair was curly. Maddie
was her closest friend. The reason Peggy and Maddie
noticed Wanda’s absence was because Wanda had
made them late to school. They had waited and
?????????? ??? ????
????? ?? ????????
?????????? ??? ???
????? ??? ???? ??????
2022-23
??
???? ???????? ??????? ? ?
waited for Wanda, to have some fun with her, and
she just hadn’t come.
They often waited for Wanda Petronski — to have
fun with her.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Wanda Petronski. Most of the children in Room
Thirteen didn’t have names like that. They had
names easy to say, like Thomas, Smith or Allen.
There was one boy named Bounce, Willie Bounce,
and people thought that was funny, but not funny
in the same way that Petronski was.
Wanda didn’t have any friends.  She came to
school alone and went home alone.  She always
wore a faded blue dress that didn’t hang right. It
was clean, but it looked as though it had never
been ironed properly.  She didn’t have any friends,
but a lot of girls talked to her. Sometimes, they
surrounded her in the school yard as she stood
watching the little girls play hopscotch on the worn
hard ground.
“Wanda,” Peggy would say in a most courteous
manner as though she were talking to Miss Mason.
“Wanda,” she’d say, giving one of her friends a nudge,
“tell us. How many dresses did you say you had
hanging up in your closet?”
??????? ????? ?????
???? ??? ???? ????????
?????????
?? ????? ??? ?????
????????? ???? ????? ???
?? ??? ??? ????? ? ?????
??? ???? ??????
?????
?? ??????? ????
2022-23
??
?????? ??????
“A hundred,” Wanda would say.
“A hundred!” exclaimed all the little girls
incredulously, and the little ones would stop playing
hopscotch and listen.
“Yeah, a hundred, all lined up,” said Wanda.
Then her thin lips drew together in silence.
“What are they like? All silk, I bet,” said Peggy.
“Yeah, all silk, all colours.”
“Velvet, too?”
“Yeah, velvet too. A hundred dresses,” Wanda
would repeat stolidly. “All lined up in my closet.”
Then they’d let her go.  And then before she’d
gone very far, they couldn’t help bursting into
shrieks and peals of laughter.
A hundred dresses!  Obviously, the only dress
Wanda had was the blue one she wore every day.  So
why did she say she had a hundred?  What a story!
“How many shoes did you say you had?”
“Sixty pairs. All lined up in my closet.”
Cries of exaggerated politeness greeted this. “All
alike?”
“Oh, no. Every pair is different. All colours. All
lined up.”
Peggy, who had thought up this game, and
Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the
last to leave. Finally Wanda would move up the
street, her eyes dull and her mouth closed, hitching
her left shoulder every now and then in the funny
way she had, finishing the walk to school alone.
Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small
children from bullies. And she cried for hours if she
saw an animal mistreated. If anybody had said to
her, “Don’t you think that is a cruel way to treat
Wanda?” she would have been very surprised. Cruel?
Why did the girl say she had a hundred dresses?
Anybody could tell that that was a lie. Why did she
want to lie? And she wasn’t just an ordinary person,
else why did she have a name like that?  Anyway,
they never made her cry.
As for Maddie, this business of asking Wanda
every day how many dresses and how many hats,
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2022-23
Page 5


? ???? ??? ? ??? ???
• How do we judge the people around us — by their money, wealth
and possessions? Or is there something of more enduring value
to look for in a person?
• This story is a sensitive account of how a poor young girl is
judged by her classmates. Wanda Petronski is a young Polish
girl who goes to school with other American children in an American
town. These other children see Wanda as ‘different’ in many
ways. Can you guess how they treat her?
• Read the information in the box below. Find out more about this
community (or about a related topic) from an encyclopedia, or
the Internet. 
The Polish-American Community
in the United States
The first Polish immigrants arrived in America in 1608, but
the largest wave of Polish immigration occurred in the early
twentieth century, when more than one million Poles migrated
to the United States. The Polish State did not exist at that
time, and the immigrants were identified according to their
country of origin rather than to ethnicity. They were identified
as Russian Poles, German Poles and Austrian Poles.
One of the most notable Polish-American communities
is in Chicago and its suburbs; so Chicago is sometimes called
the second largest ‘Polish’ city in the world, next only to
Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Polish-Americans were
sometimes discriminated against in the United States, as
were the Irish, Italians, and Jews.
According to the United States 2000 Census, 667,414
Americans of age five years and older reported Polish as the
language spoken at home, which is about 1.4 per cent of
the people who speak languages other than English, or
0.25 per cent of the U.S. population.
2022-23
??
?????? ??????
TODAY, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her
seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeline, the
girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence.
Usually Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat
in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sat in the
corner of the room where the rough boys who did
not make good marks sat, the corner of the room
where there was most scuffling of feet, most roars
of laughter when anything funny was said, and most
mud and dirt on the floor.
Wanda did not sit there because she was rough
and noisy. On the contrary, she was very quiet and
rarely said anything at all. And nobody had ever
heard her laugh out loud. Sometimes she twisted
her mouth into a crooked sort of smile, but that
was all.
Nobody knew exactly why Wanda sat in that seat,
unless it was because she came all the way from
Boggins Heights and her feet were usually caked
with dry mud.  But no one really thought much
about Wanda Petronski, once she sat in the corner
of the room.
The time when they thought about Wanda was
outside of school hours — at noon-time when they
were coming back to school or in the morning early
before school began, when groups of two or three,
or even more, would be talking and laughing on
their way to the school yard.
Then, sometimes, they waited for Wanda — to
have fun with her.
The next day, Tuesday, Wanda was not in school,
either. And nobody noticed her absence again.
But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat
down front with other children who got good marks
and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud, did
notice that Wanda wasn’t there. Peggy was the most
popular girl in school.  She was pretty, she had
many pretty clothes and her hair was curly. Maddie
was her closest friend. The reason Peggy and Maddie
noticed Wanda’s absence was because Wanda had
made them late to school. They had waited and
?????????? ??? ????
????? ?? ????????
?????????? ??? ???
????? ??? ???? ??????
2022-23
??
???? ???????? ??????? ? ?
waited for Wanda, to have some fun with her, and
she just hadn’t come.
They often waited for Wanda Petronski — to have
fun with her.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Wanda Petronski. Most of the children in Room
Thirteen didn’t have names like that. They had
names easy to say, like Thomas, Smith or Allen.
There was one boy named Bounce, Willie Bounce,
and people thought that was funny, but not funny
in the same way that Petronski was.
Wanda didn’t have any friends.  She came to
school alone and went home alone.  She always
wore a faded blue dress that didn’t hang right. It
was clean, but it looked as though it had never
been ironed properly.  She didn’t have any friends,
but a lot of girls talked to her. Sometimes, they
surrounded her in the school yard as she stood
watching the little girls play hopscotch on the worn
hard ground.
“Wanda,” Peggy would say in a most courteous
manner as though she were talking to Miss Mason.
“Wanda,” she’d say, giving one of her friends a nudge,
“tell us. How many dresses did you say you had
hanging up in your closet?”
??????? ????? ?????
???? ??? ???? ????????
?????????
?? ????? ??? ?????
????????? ???? ????? ???
?? ??? ??? ????? ? ?????
??? ???? ??????
?????
?? ??????? ????
2022-23
??
?????? ??????
“A hundred,” Wanda would say.
“A hundred!” exclaimed all the little girls
incredulously, and the little ones would stop playing
hopscotch and listen.
“Yeah, a hundred, all lined up,” said Wanda.
Then her thin lips drew together in silence.
“What are they like? All silk, I bet,” said Peggy.
“Yeah, all silk, all colours.”
“Velvet, too?”
“Yeah, velvet too. A hundred dresses,” Wanda
would repeat stolidly. “All lined up in my closet.”
Then they’d let her go.  And then before she’d
gone very far, they couldn’t help bursting into
shrieks and peals of laughter.
A hundred dresses!  Obviously, the only dress
Wanda had was the blue one she wore every day.  So
why did she say she had a hundred?  What a story!
“How many shoes did you say you had?”
“Sixty pairs. All lined up in my closet.”
Cries of exaggerated politeness greeted this. “All
alike?”
“Oh, no. Every pair is different. All colours. All
lined up.”
Peggy, who had thought up this game, and
Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the
last to leave. Finally Wanda would move up the
street, her eyes dull and her mouth closed, hitching
her left shoulder every now and then in the funny
way she had, finishing the walk to school alone.
Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small
children from bullies. And she cried for hours if she
saw an animal mistreated. If anybody had said to
her, “Don’t you think that is a cruel way to treat
Wanda?” she would have been very surprised. Cruel?
Why did the girl say she had a hundred dresses?
Anybody could tell that that was a lie. Why did she
want to lie? And she wasn’t just an ordinary person,
else why did she have a name like that?  Anyway,
they never made her cry.
As for Maddie, this business of asking Wanda
every day how many dresses and how many hats,
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2022-23
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and how many this and that she had was bothering
her. Maddie was poor herself.  She usually wor e
somebody’s hand-me-down clothes. Thank goodness,
she didn’t live up on Boggins Heights or have a
funny name.
Sometimes, when Peggy was asking Wanda those
questions in that mocking polite voice, Maddie felt
embarrassed and studied the marbles in the palm
of her hand, rolling them around and saying nothing
herself.  Not that she felt sorry for Wanda, exactly.
She would never have paid any attention to Wanda
if Peggy hadn’t invented the dresses game. But
suppose Peggy and all the others started in on her
next? She wasn’t as poor as Wanda, perhaps, but
she was poor. Of course she would have more sense
than to say she had a hundred dresses. Still she
would not like for them to begin on her.  She wished
Peggy would stop teasing Wanda Petronski.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
2. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said
she did?
3. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is
she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Today, even though they had been late to school,
Maddie was glad she had not had to make fun of
Wanda.  She worked her arithmetic problems absent-
mindedly.  “Eight times eight — let’s see…” She
wished she had the nerve to write Peggy a note,
because she knew she never would have the courage
to speak right out to Peggy, to say, “Hey, Peg, let’s
stop asking Wanda how many dresses she has.”
When she finished her arithmetic she did start a
note to Peggy. Suddenly she paused and shuddered.
She pictured herself in the school yard, a new target
for Peggy and the girls. Peggy might ask her where
she got the dress that she had on, and Maddie
would have to say it was one of Peggy’s old ones
that Maddie’s mother had tried to disguise with
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2022-23