Footprints Without Feet Supplementary Reader Chapter 10 The Book That Saved The Earth

According to the historian, the Twentieth Century is known as the Era of the Book. There were books about everything. Books taught people how to, when to, where to and why to. They illustrated, educated, punctuated, and even decorated. The strangest thing a book ever did was to save the Earth.

Think-Tank wanted Noodle to salute him as the Great and Mighty Think-Tank, Ruler of Mars and her two moons, most powerful and intelligent creature in the whole universe.

Think-Tank was angry with his mirror as it delayed to answer him that he was the most fantastically, intellectually gifted being in the land. Out of his anger, he smacked the mirror.

Think-Tank appears to be a foolish, boastful, authoritative, domineering and exploitative commander of the Martians. He boasts about himself and takes the credit of others’ intelligence himself.

Think-Tank is proud of his handsome Martian race and his large Balloon Brain that proves him to be the most intelligent Martian. It is clear from his self-praise and boastful habits.

The Earth is the only planet with books. The Martians have never seen books before. Moreover, they cannot understand the Earth’s language and transcription. So, they cannot understand and recognize the books.

Think-Tank mistakes the books for sandwiches. But the crew members do not find the books eatable. So, they try to avoid eating them. They make terrible faces while chewing and swallowing them. They find them dry like the Martian dust.

Think-Tank guesses the books wrongly. He thinks them to be sandwiches. He does not feel ashamed or embarrassed when he is proved wrong. He takes the credit of having found something new and changes his opinion and conclusions accordingly. He is too proud to acknowledge his mistake.

Noodle is more learned than Think Tank. Think Tank declares all findings of Noodle as his own. He never acknowledges Noodle’s intelligence. To keep him under his control, he exploits Noodle and  always pretends that he is inferior to him.

No, Think Tank pretends to be the most intelligent Martian boasting of his large brain size. Noodle is more intelligent than Think-Tank as he supplies the correct information to Think-Tank. It proves that the intelligence has no relation with the head size.

The crew members are reading the Mother Goose - the old nursery rhyme book. They find the nursery rhymes funny and impossible. The poems entertain them and make them laugh.

Think-Tank has not taken the vitamins. So he cannot understand the fun-element of the nursery rhymes. He interprets them as the earthlings’ threats. It alarms him.

Think-Tank interprets it as an important information about the Earthlings. He infers that Earthlings can combine agriculture and mining. They can grow rare metals and cockle shells and high explosives also.

Think-Tank interpreted the sentence ‘He had a great fall’ wrongly. He considered it referred to his defeat. He thought the earthlings were planning to capture Mars' Central Control and him.

He ordered his crew to prepare a space capsule for him. He had to escape before he was caught by the earthlings. He ordered them to leave the Earth at once and remove all traces of their visit. He ordered the invasion fleet to evacuate the entire planet of the Mars.

He assumes it as an information about Earthlings’ high level of civilization. He thinks that they teach music and space techniques to their domestic animals . The Earth dogs have a sense of humour. He also concludes that the Earthlings might be launching an interplanetary attack.

Think-Tank is terribly shocked on seeing the picture of Humpty Dumpty. He finds it to be himself and infers that the Earthlings are after him. They plan to capture Mars Space Control and him. He decides to evacuate Mars and seek shelter at Alpha Centauri.

The nursery rhymes are funny and imaginative. As the crew members have taken vitamins, they can understand the nursery rhymes while Think-Tank cannot. The poems make them laugh while these alarm Think-Tank. That is why, he scolds them.

Think-Tank considers that Earthlings are insignificant, primitive and un-intelligent. The nursery rhymes make him think that the Earthlings are the most civilized. They have the advanced techniques of agriculture, mining and warfare. They know about him and want to capture him. He is frightened of the Earthlings.

The Mother Goose - an old book of nursery rhymes saved the earth. The Martian invaders could not understand its fun and imagination. They misinterpreted it to be the Earthlings’ record of inter planetary attack on Mars. They were terrified of the Earthlings and evacuated not only Earth but even Mars.

The Martians, under the leadership of Great and Mighty Think-Tank plan to invade the Earth in the twentieth century. They send a Space Control to earth. They are ready to attack Earth but a book of nursery rhymes saves the Earth. They go through that book of rhyme and discover that the people of the Earth are very intelligent and they are planning to take control of Mars.

The Need for Cross-Cultural Communication

The play, ‘The Book That Saved the Earth’ makes it obvious that the people of Mars have made different perceptions about the Earthlings. Surprisingly, none of them is right. Before starting their invasion, they thought that Earth is a ridiculous little planet. After going through their nursery rhymes, Martians again made a wrong interpretation and concluded that the Earthlings are planning  to take control of Mars. The reason behind this was the improper communication. We must understand that each culture has its merits. The people of different races should help each other to grow up rather than trying to put each other down. For this, we need a healthy cross cultural communication. It has become the need of the hour  to support healthy survival of all.

For self attempt.

At first, Think-Tank assumes that books are the sandwiches that are meant for eating. He orders his assisstants to eat them. Then, he asks them to listen to them. Soon, he concludes that the books are not meant for ear communication but for eye communication.
When Omega reads few lines from Mother Goose, he thinks that the people of Earth have discovered the ways to combine agriculture and mining. They can actually grow crops of rare metals such as silver. He asks Lieutenant Iota to read few lines from the poem, Hey diddle diddle. Listening to them, he thinks that the people of Earth have taught their domesticated animals about musical culture and space techniques. On the top of that, he imagines that they might  launch an interplanetary attack of millions of cows. He immediately instructs his team to notify the invasion fleet. when he sees the picture of humpty dumpty, he thinks that people of Earth have seen him. Misinterpreting the lines, 'had a great fall', he considers that they are after him and they plan to capture Mars Central Control and invade Mars.