Read Online He: (Shey) (Modern Classics (Penguin)) by Rabindranath Tagore - Free Book Online

save him.
    I suddenly remembered. ‘Our He has gone to find his bride.’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘In the bamboo thicket by the dried-up pond . ’
    The giant exclaimed, ‘Why, that’s where I live!’
    ‘That’s all right, then. Do you have a daughter?’
    ‘I do.’
    ‘Well, now you’ve found her a suitor.’
    ‘I can’t be quite sure yet. I’ll stand over your He with my cudgel till they’re married. Only then will I consider myself relieved of my paternal responsibility.’
    ‘Well then, you’d better be off. You mightn’t see the groom around, now that he’s seen his bride.’
    ‘Right you are,’ he agreed.
    There was an old broken bucket in the room. He seized it. ‘What will you do with that?’ I asked.
    ‘It’s very sunny outside,’ he explained. ‘This’ll do for a hat.’
    He went off. By then, the crows had started cawing, and I could hear the trams rumbling by. I sat up hurriedly and called for Banamali.
    ‘Who was it that entered this room?’ I demanded.
    ‘Didimani’s cat,’ Banamali answered, rubbing his eyes.
    At this, Pupu-didi looked bewildered. ‘Why, Dadamashai, all this while you’ve been telling me how you went to a feast and were visited in your room by Pallaram.’
    I stopped myself just in time. I had been about to explain wisely that I had dreamt it from start to finish. That would have ruined it all. From now on, I would have to manage Pallaram as best I could. When the Creator interrupts our dreams, it doesn’t do to complain. When we do it ourselves, it seems most unkind.
    Pupu-didi reminded me, ‘Dadamashai, you still haven’t told me whether they got married.’
    I realized a wedding was necessary. ‘There was no way they could escape it!’ I told her.
    ‘Did you meet them after their marriage?’
    ‘I certainly did. It was half past four in the morning. The gas lamps on the streets were still burning. I saw the bride marching her husband along.’
    ‘Where to?’
    ‘To New Market, to buy some yams.’ 30
     

     
    ‘Yams! ’
    ‘Yes. Mind you, the groom had objected.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘He’d said he’d buy a jackfruit if they really needed it, but he wasn’t equal to yams .’
    ‘What happened after that?’
    ‘Our unfortunate He had to lug the big yam home on his shoulder.’
    Pupu was pleased. She said, ‘Serve him right!’
----
    20 When Shiva married his ascetic bride : Shiva’s consort Parvati won her husband
through long and severe penance.
    21 Narada : an ancient sage of great wisdom and musical prowess, but also
known for his bad temper and contentiousness.
    22 Mahadeva : another name for Shiva.
    23 Mahakali : goddess of destruction; an incarnation of Durga.
    24 Rangmashal: a popular children’s magazine of the time.
    25 Brahma : one of the principal Hindu gods; the creator of the universe, while
Vishnu is the preserver and Shiva the destroyer.
    26 Babakaran,Taitila karan,Vaishkumbhajog, Harshanjog, Bishtikaran, Asrikjog , Dhanishthanakshatra : words mocking the rigmarole of Sanskritic terms of ritual
and ceremony.
    27 Goswami : a common surname or appellation of Vaishnavs.
    28 Bolpur : a town (originally a village) near Shantiniketan.The railway station for Shantiniketan is situated here.
    29 lungi : a length of cloth worn wrapped round the waist by men.
    30 New Market was a fashionable European-style market. One would not go there to buy something as rustic as yams.

5
    I WAS SIPPING MY TEA IN THE MORNING, WHEN HE TURNED UP.
    ‘Got anything to tell me?’ I asked.
    ‘I do,’ he said.
    ‘Well, tell me quick, because I have to be off in a minute.’
    ‘Where to?’
    ‘The viceroy’s.’
    ‘Does he often send for you?’
    ‘No, he doesn’t, but he would do well to.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘He’d have found me a greater expert at inventing news than all his informants. No Rai Bahadur 31 could ever measure up to me, as you know.’
    ‘I know, but nowadays you’re saying whatever you like about me.’
    ‘There’s a demand for