HIRA'S GRANDMOTHER.
"Hira's old grandmother
Walks about picking up
A basket of cowdung.
With her teeth cracking pebbles.
Eating _jak_ fruit by the hundred."
Hira's grandmother hobbled along with the help of a stick, followed by
boys reciting the above unrivalled verses, clapping their hands and
dancing as they went. Whether any special taunt was meant by these
verses is doubtful, but the old woman became furious, and desired the
boys to go to destruction, wishing that their fathers might eat
refuse (a common form of abuse). This was a daily occurrence.
Arriving at the door of Nagendra's house, the grandmother escaped from
her enemies, who at sight of the fierce black moustaches of the
_durwans_ fled from the battlefield, one crying--
"Bama Charn Dobé
Goes to bed early,
And when the thief comes he runs away."
Another--
"Ram Sing Paré
With a stick marches boldly,
But at sight of a thief he flies to the tank."
A third--
"Lal Chand Sing
Doth briskly dance and sing,
Is death on the food,
But at work is no good."
The boys fled, attacked by the _durwans_ with a shower of words not to
be found in any dictionary.
Hira's grandmother, plodding along, arrived at the dispensary attached
to Nagendra's dwelling. Perceiving the doctor, she said, "Oh, father,
where is the doctor, father?"
"I am he."
"Oh, father, I am getting blind. I am twenty-eight or eighty years
old; how shall I speak of my troubles? I had a son; he is dead. I had
a granddaughter; she also--" Here the old woman broke down, and
began to whine like a cat.
The doctor asked, "What has happened to you?"
Without answering this question, the woman began to relate the history
of her life; and when, amid much crying, she had finished, the doctor
again asked, "What do you want now? What has happened to you?" Again
she began the unequalled story of her life; but the doctor showing
much impatience, she changed it for that of Hira, of Hira's mother,
and Hira's husband.
With much difficulty the doctor at last arrived at her meaning, to
which all this talking and crying was quite irrelevant. The old woman
desired some medicine for Hira. Her complaint, she said, was a species
of lunacy. Before Hira's birth, her mother had been mad, had
continued so for some time, and had died in that condition. Hira had
not hitherto shown any sign of her mother's disorder; but now the old
woman felt some doubts about her. Hira would now laugh, now weep, now,
closing the door, she would dance. Sometimes she screamed, and
sometimes became unconscious. Therefore her grandmother wanted
medicine for her. After some reflection the doctor said, "Your
daughter has hysteria."
"Well, doctor, is there no medicine for that disease?"
"Certainly there is: keep her very warm; take this dose of castor-oil,
give it to her early to-morrow morning. Later I will come and give her
another medicine."
With the bottle of castor-oil in her hand, the old woman hobbled
forth. On the road she was met by a neighbour, who said, "Oh, Hira's
grandmother, what have you in your hand?"
The old woman answered, "Hira has become hysterical; the doctor has
given me some castor-oil for her; do you think that will be good for
hysterics?"
"It may be; castor-oil is the god of all. But what has made your
granddaughter so jolly lately?"
After much reflection the old woman said, "It is the fault of her
age;" whereupon the neighbour prescribed a remedy, and they parted.
On arriving at home, the old woman remembered that the doctor had said
Hira must be kept warm; therefore she placed a pan of fire before her
granddaughter.
"Fire!" exclaimed Hira. "What is this for?"
"The doctor told me to keep you warm," replied the old woman.