________________
20
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[AUGUST, 1921
the wood-seller ran and caught Hîr and Ranjha and pressed their two faces together. Sanpatti, the shepherd's daughter, mocked them, and when Ranjha ran after her she dived into the water like a tall water fowl and escaped. Some stood like cranes among the tall reeds: other swam like otters. Some waddled to the banks like a crocodile : others floated on the water like dead fishes. Hîr swam round Ranjha alone and floated towards him with roguish glances. With much cunning she set herself to catch that fish of Takht Hazara.
But the shepherds heard of these things and came and told the news to Kaidu ; and Kaidu said to Milki: “Your daughter is a daughter of shame. She plays with the shepherd in the pools of the Chenab river. She has tainted the honour of the country side. We have tried all we can, both her parents and the Kazi and I, but we can do nothing with her."
So Milki sent Aulia the barber, Alfoo the shoemaker, Jammoo the ploughman and Doodoo the baker to fetch Hir. And they went and said to Hir: "Your mother is very angry with you. Chuchak and the assembly of elders will thrash you."
And to Ranjha they said: "A great calamity will befall you as Milki threatens to kill you. The Sials are so filled with wrath that they have not kindled fire on their hearths the whole day. The whole tribe is angry. The Sials have determined to kill you.
So Hîr came and salaamed to her mother, and her mother said to her : " You shameless hussy, you loud tongued abandoned harlot, you slit-nosed prostitute with cat's eyes. You are a pool of filthy water as dirty as the bottom of a tank. You can teach the cows to frisk when the bulls come after them and you must know full well how bull buffaloes run after the cows. Fine mating there has been in the forest. You have dragged the name and fame of your family in the mud. You have caused your scandal to be noised abroad in every street and alley of the village."
And Hîr replied angrily to her mother: "The mouth of a liar is a foul thing. Why are you speaking lies ? Mother, what is the good of this overmuch talk? The cowherd was in the jungle and I was playing with my girl friends. Whose she ass have I stolen ? Why has this storm burst on my head? Why publish in the four corners of the city what is only known to a few ? May pain rot and disease consume the unfortunate daughter of Milki. I will not give up Ranjha even if my great grandfather comes and tries to make me do so."
And Milkt was silent before Hîr as she saw that Hîr was determined and that her heart was fixed, and that she had no fear of death at all. And Kaidu, the lame, the tale-bearer, the son of Satan, went about the village with his wicked half-closed eyes saying: "you fools why do you not take my advice? Nobody will give you better counsel. I tell you the girl walks arm in arm with Ranjha all day in the forest. If you do not take care he will run away with her, and where will be the honour of the Sials ?"
CHAPTER 13. (Hir thrashes Kaidu and Kaidu complains to the village elders.) And Hir's girl friends came to her saying: “Your evil uncle is stirring up the whole assembly of elders against you. He has noised the whole affair in the bazaar by beat of drum. If this goes unheeded who will call you Hir? He should be taught a lesson which he will not forget. So Hir took counsel together with her girls, and at her bidding they waited for an opportunity and caught Kaidu and surrounded him like a potter
