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JUNE, 1921)
HIR AND RANJHA
CHAPTER 4.
(Hir and her companions come to the Ferry.) How can the poet describe the girl friends of Hir? They were fair and bright with beauty. Lovers becaine like moths round the lamp of their loveliness. Their eyes were pencilled with the collyrium of Ceylon and Kandahar. Their eyebrows were like the bows of Lahore and their eyelashey like the arcows thereof. Neither the Chinese nor those of the North can rival the features of the Sials. When they walke: hand in hand down to the river their lovers were slain in battalions. The music of their bangles echoed as they walked. Their foreheads were as fair as the porch of a mosque.
Last of all came Hîr surrounded by her friends even as an eagle floats through the air. She was proud of her beauty and handfuls of pearls swung from her ears. The ring from her nose shone like the polar star. Her beauty was as mighty as the onset of a storm. When the red shift on her breast quivered in the sun, whosoever saw it forgot both Heaven and Earth
Poet, how can you praise the beauty of Hir? Her eyes were as soft with love as the eyes of a deer or a narcissus ; her cheeks were as bright as roses. Her features were as lovely as the curves of a manuscript written by a running scribe. When her eyes flashed it was as if the armies of the Panjab had fallen upon Hindústân. Her lips were red as a ruby and her chin like an apple of the north. Her teeth were like pearls and beautiful as the seeds of a pomegranate. Hor nose was like the blade of Husain's sword; her locks were like black cobras sitting on the treasures of the Desert. She stood like a cypress in the garden of Paradise. Her thighs were ay white as camphor and her leg as shapely as the pillar of a minaret. To look at her was as the vision of the Night of Nights (lailatul-kadir-shabråt). The redness of her lipa made a man cry "Oh God! Oh God!" The onset of her beauty Was as if arnies from Kandahår had swept over the Panjab.
Thus Hir and her girl friends came to the river to bathe. The tinkling of their anklets was heard from afar. They thundered like a cloud when they drew near the boat. They desecnded on the boatmen as a hail storm sweeps over a field. They belaboured Luddan the ferryman with their whips. They ordered the guards of the ferry to be bound hand and foot. Hîr spoke straightway and said "Luddan, you black-faced rogue, why have you defiled my couch? Whom have you allowed to sleep on my bed? Have you no respect for me or fear of God that you have done this thing?"
So they ran to the boat and looked at the couch and, behold, a comely youth was sleeping thereon with a red shawl over his shoulders. And Luddan lifted up his hands and said :-"Spare us, Lady, we are innocent. We did not invite the lad to sleep on your bed; he has come here himself without our invitation. The songs that he sings have cast a spell over our hearts. Be not proud of your beauty, Queen, nor be overbearing to your servants. Even tyrants fear God. Take heed that you become not like Zulaika when her eyes fell on the beauty of Joseph."
And Hir made answer in her anger :-"This lad takes no heed of aught that may befall him. Does he not know that this is the kingdom of my father Châchak ! I care for no one, be hea lion, an elephant or the son of a noble. Does he think he is the son of Nadhu Shâh or that he is the Pir of Baghdad? I have a thousand slaves like hind and I care not a whit for such as he.
And Hir turning to Ranjha said :-.“ Sleeper, arise from my bed. Who are you and why have you chosen my sleeping place ? One whole watch of the day have I been waiting
