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Juns, 1981)
HIR AND RANJHA
11
Hir replied with folded hands :-"I will remain your slave, and all my handmaidens will do your bidding. Is not the forest a meet place for the clashing of four eyes and the meeting of four lips? Journeys end in lovers' meeting. God has given me the cowherd for my lover and I have forgotten the love I had for all my old friends and acquaintances."
Ranjha replied: "Hir, you will sit among your girl friends at the spinning parties. I shall wander alone and disconsolate in the courtyard, and no one will take any heed of me. Do not feed me on bread and then deceive mo, and expel me from the courtyard. Hir do not beguile me. If you mean to be true, keep to your plighted word. Do not first be kind to a stranger and then turn your back upon him."
Hir replied :-"I swear by my Father-and may my Mother dic-if I turn my face from you. Without you I declare food to be abhorrent to me. I will never give my love to any other man. Sitting on water I swear by Khwaja Khizr, the god of the waters :
May I turn into a pig if I break the oath of Love. May I be a leper and lose my sight and limbs if ever I seek any husband save Ranjha.'"
And Ranjha replied :--"Hir, the way of Love is difficult, and my heart is porplexed within me. Love is more fearful than a sword or spear or the triple venom of the chuselra snake. Pledge me your faith that you intend to be true. Remember that on the day of Resurrection those who have broken faith will meet those whoso trust they have betrayed."
CHAPTER 6.
(Ranjha becomes Chachat's cowherd.) So Hir pledged her faith and Ranjha trusting in her stood before Mihr Chachak. Hir went into the presence of her father and made Ranjha stand beside her.
(Quoth the Poet : " See what a not of deceit Hir, the Jåt girl, has spread !")
And Hir said :-"My father, hail! May my life be sacrificed for you, under the shadow of whose protection my youth has passed happily in the Sandal Bar. Verily have I swung on cords of silk in the gardens of beauty! My tather, I have found a servant who can tend our buffaloes."
And Chachak replied smilingly :-"Who is this boy and whence has he come ! His body looks so soft that if you touch him a bruise will come. He is not fit for buffaloes work. He seems of such gentle birth that methinks he will consider the buffaloes his own and himself no one's servant. The splendour of God shines in his face. It is not meet that he should be a herdsman."
And Hîr replied to her father :-"My father, Ranjha is of gentle birth. He is the son of a Chaudhri of Takht Hazara. "Tis a real jewel that I have found."
And Chachak said :-"He seems to be a more lad, but he has wise eyes and a kindly disposition. But why is he sad and why has he left his home? Is he meditating any deceit in his heart ?"
And Hir replied with subtlety:-"My Father, he is as learned as Solomon, and he can shave the very beard of Plato. He has cunning to trace out thefts and he speaks with wisdom in the assembly of the elders. He can decide thousands of disputes and he is learned in the wisdom of the Dogar Játs. He can swim buffaloes across the river and recover stolen cattle. He keeps all the herd as it were in the apple of his eye. He is one in a thousand in country where thieves are many and good servants scarce. Ho stands steadfast in his duty as a wrestler stands firm in the midst of the arena."
And Chichak replied with tenderness to Hir :-" You are championing his cause with zeal: We will see how the boy turns out. We accept what you say; the boy can be given charge of the buffaloes., but bid him take care, as it is no easy task to tend buffaloes in the Bår."
