Stories from Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore [best english books to read .txt] 📗

stairs, and announced in a loud voice, "The Chota Lât Sahib has arrived!" Kailas Babu was ready, waiting for him, in his old-fashioned ceremonial robes and ancestral turban, and Ganesh was by his side, dressed in his master's best suit of clothes for the occasion.

When the Chota Lât Sahib was announced, Kailas Babu ran panting and puffing and trembling to the door, and led in a friend of mine, in disguise, with repeated salaams, bowing low at each step and walking backward as best he could. He had his old family shawl spread over a hard wooden chair and he asked the Lât Sahib to be seated. He then made a high-flown speech in Urdu, the ancient Court language of the Sahibs, and presented on the golden salver a string of gold mohurs, the last relics of his broken fortune. The old family servant Ganesh, with an expression of awe bordering on terror, stood behind with the scent-sprinkler, drenching the Lât Sahib, and touched him gingerly from time to time with the otto-of-roses from the filigree box.

Kailas Babu repeatedly expressed his regret at not being able to receive His Honour Bahadur with all the ancestral magnificence of his own family estate at Nayanjore. There he could have welcomed him properly with due ceremonial. But in Calcutta he was a mere stranger and sojourner,—in fact a fish out of water.

My friend, with his tall silk hat on, very gravely nodded. I need hardly say that according to English custom the hat ought to have been removed inside the room. But my friend did not dare to take it off for fear of detection: and Kailas Babu and his old servant Ganesh were sublimely unconscious of the breach of etiquette.

After a ten minutes' interview, which consisted chiefly of nodding the head, my friend rose to his feet to depart. The two flunkeys in livery, as had been planned beforehand, carried off in state the string of gold mohurs, the gold salver, the old ancestral shawl, the silver scent-sprinkler, and the otto-of-roses filigree box; they placed them ceremoniously in the carriage. Kailas Babu regarded this as the usual habit of Chota Lât Sahibs.

I was watching all the while from the next room. My sides were aching with suppressed laughter. When I could hold myself in no longer, I rushed into a further room, suddenly to discover, in a corner, a young girl sobbing as if her heart would break. When she saw my uproarious laughter she stood upright in passion, flashing the lightning of her big dark eyes in mine, and said with a tear-choked voice: "Tell me! What harm has my grandfather done to you? Why have you come to deceive him? Why have you come here? Why——"

She could say no more. She covered her face with her hands and broke into sobs.

My laughter vanished in a moment. It had never occurred to me that there was anything but a supremely funny joke in this act of mine, and here I discovered that I had given the cruellest pain to this tenderest little heart. All the ugliness of my cruelty rose up to condemn me. I slunk out of the room in silence, like a kicked dog.

Hitherto I had only looked upon Kusum, the grand-daughter of Kailas Babu, as a somewhat worthless commodity in the marriage market, waiting in vain to attract a husband. But now I found, with a shock of surprise, that in the corner of that room a human heart was beating.

The whole night through I had very little sleep. My mind was in a tumult. On the next day, very early in the morning, I took all those stolen goods back to Kailas Babu's lodgings, wishing to hand them over in secret to the servant Ganesh. I waited outside the door, and, not finding any one, went upstairs to Kailas Babu's room. I heard from the passage Kusum asking her grandfather in the most winning voice: "Dada, dearest, do tell me all that the Chota Lât Sahib said to you yesterday. Don't leave out a single word. I am dying to hear it all over again."

And Dada needed no encouragement. His face beamed over with pride as he related all manner of praises which the Lât Sahib had been good enough to utter concerning the ancient families of Nayanjore. The girl was seated before him, looking up into his face, and listening with rapt attention. She was determined, out of love for the old man, to play her part to the full.

My heart was deeply touched, and tears came to my eyes. I stood there in silence in the passage, while Thakur Dada finished all his embellishments of the Chota Lât Sahib's wonderful visit. When he left the room at last, I took the stolen goods and laid them at the feet of the girl and came away without a word.

Later in the day I called again to see Kailas Babu himself. According to our ugly modern custom, I had been in the habit of making no greeting at all to this old man when I came into the room. But on this day I made a low bow and touched his feet. I am convinced the old man thought that the coming of the Chota Lât Sahib to his house was the cause of my new politeness. He was highly gratified by it, and an air of benign serenity shone from his eyes. His friends had looked in, and he had already begun to tell again at full length the story of the Lieutenant-Governor's visit with still further adornments of a most fantastic kind. The interview was already becoming an epic, both in quality and in length.

When the other visitors had taken their leave, I made my proposal to the old man in a humble manner. I told him that, "though I could never for a moment hope to be worthy of marriage connection with such an illustrious family, yet ... etc. etc."

When I made clear my proposal of marriage, the old man embraced me and broke out in a tumult of joy: "I am a poor man, and could never have expected such great good fortune."

That was the first and last time in his life that Kailas Babu confessed to being poor. It was also the first and last time in his life that he forgot, if only for a single moment, the ancestral dignity that belongs to the Babus of Nayanjore.

WORDS TO BE STUDIED

landholder. This method of forming compound words from two original English words should be studied. Compare the following words which have "land" for one of their parts: landlord, landowner, landlady, landslip, landfall. When the second word is not very closely attached to the first word, a hyphen is put between, thus land-grabber, land-shark.

extinct. From the Latin "stinguere," to quench. Compare distinct, instinct, extinguish, distinguish.

cheque. This word is the same as "check,"—only in this case the original French form has been kept. The verb to "check" came into English originally from the game of chess. In Eastern lands when the chess king was in danger the word "Shah!" was called out, and when the chess king could not move, "Shah mata!" These were corrupted into "Check!" and "Checkmate!"

bankrupt. This word is a curious mixture of the old French "banque" (compare bench, banquet) and the Latin "rumpere," to break (compare corrupt, disrupt). It is thus a hybrid word in modern English.

filigree. From two Latin words, "filum," a thread, and "granum," a grain.

otto-of-roses. A corruption of attar. The word is originally Arabic and Persian.

turban. This word has now taken its place in most of the European languages. It has come to Europe from the Turkish "tulbend" and the Persian "dulband."

tobacco. This word came originally from Central America. It was brought to Europe by the Spaniards, who pronounced it "tabaco." It has now travelled all round the world, and has gained a place in all the Indian vernaculars as well as in the Further East.

boon. The Old English word "ben" meant a prayer, and this was the original meaning of "boon." But a new word appeared in English, viz. the adjective "boon" from the French "bon," meaning "good." (Compare boon companion). This influenced the earlier word, which thus gained its present meaning of a "blessing" or "gift."

smoulder. "Smolder" is an Old English word meaning "smoke." Cognate words in English are smother and small, which come from the same root.

gingerly. The origin of this word is very doubtful. Some connect it with "ging" or "gang," meaning "to go." Others with "gent-" meaning "gentle" or "graceful." The word has no relation to "ginger" which is an Eastern word coming originally from the Sanskrit çraga-vera and the Hindustani zunjubil.

fantastic. From the Greek "phainō," to manifest. Compare emphasis, emphatic, fantasy, fancy, phenomenon.

NOTES

NOTES I.—THE CABULIWALLAH

"The Cabuliwallah" is one of the most famous of the Poet's "Short Stories." It has been often translated. The present translation is by the late Sister Nivedita, and her simple, vivid style should be noticed by the Indian student reader. It is a good example of modern English, with its short sentences, its careful choice of words, and its luminous clearness of meaning.

Cabuliwallah.] A man from Cabul or Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

embarked.] Like a ship putting out to sea on a new voyage.

Bhola.] Mini's attendant.

Protap Singh.] Rabindranath Tagore pictures himself as engaged in writing a novel, full of wild adventures. These names are made up to suit the story.

so precarious.] The writer amusingly imagines the hero and heroine actually swinging by the rope until he can get back to his desk and finish writing about how they escaped.

Abdurrahman.] The Amir of Kabul.

Frontier policy.] The question about guarding the North-West of India against invasion.

without demur.] Without making any objection, or asking for more money.

judicious bribery.] He gave her little presents, judging well what she would like best.

new fangled.] The parents had not talked about such things, as old-fashioned people would have certainly done.

euphemism.] This means, in Greek, "fair speech." Here it means a pleasant word used instead of the unpleasant word "jail."

kings went forth.] During the hot weather the kings of ancient India used to stay at home: they would begin to fight again at the beginning of the cold weather.

my heart would go out.] That is to say, he would long to see such places.

fall to weaving.] This is an English idiom, like "set to": it means to begin.

conjure themselves.] Just as the conjurer makes all kinds of things appear before the eyes.

vegetable existence.] Vegetables are rooted to the ground. So Rabindranath is rooted to his desk and cannot make long journeys.

As it was indefinite.] Because there was no actual reason for it. Indefinite here means vague.

forbid the man the house.] This is a brief way of saying forbid the man to enter the house.

bebagged.] This word is made up for the occasion, and means "laden with bags." Compare the words bedewed, besmeared.

just where.] The word "just" has become very commonly used in modern English. It means "exactly," "merely" or "at the very moment." Compare "He had just