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OCTOBER, 1921]
the head of the Kheras and spat in the face of Saida.' given offerings to the tomb of Husan and Husain, to my prayer may be fulfilled."
HIR AND RANJHA
31
I long to meet him and have Shuda, Ghazi and Bhola Pir that
When the girl reached Jhang of the Sials she asked the folk there: "Where is the boy who used to graze Chuchak's buffaloes and comes from Hazara? The boy who weeps and talks like a madman, who threw away his blanket and flute and lost his wits. The boy who is known among Lovers as Rânjha and who wears the garland of Love on his head. Who has been ruined by Love and wanders distractedly in the courtyards of the woebegone, because the Kheras have taken away his Hir?" And the girls replied: "He is now a grownup lad and has given up all affections of the world. He roams about in the forest where No one speaks to him. Who would touch a snake if he were Sister, you had better talk to him yourself. We have no
there are wolves and tigers. ignorant of casting spells? influence with him at all."
[Various tedious letters in the original are omitted.]
So the girl went in search of Ranjha and said to him: "Hir is on the point of death Her last breath is hovering on her lips. You have cast some spell over her. She shows no affection for her husband's house, although they have made all efforts to please her. She will not allow Saida to touch her and she will not go near him. She counts the stars all night and thinks of you. Go back to her disguised as a Jogi (religious medicant), and manage to meet her somehow. All things reach the appointed end when God is kind."
And Ranjha, when he heard this message, rejoiced exceedingly, and he called the Mullah to hi and said: "Write for me to Hir and tell her the pangs of separation that I endure. Write: You have taken rest in your newly found home. I am on thorns and burning embers. The fire of Love when once lit burns earth and sky. By deceit you induced me to graze your buffaloes. Verily women can pull down the stars from heaven. Such is their guile." Write it down, Sir Mullah, every bit. Omit no part of my complaint. Write as love writes to lover with a full heart.... Write that nobody cares for me now that Hir has turned her face from me. The peacocks have flown away, and I have to live among owls."
The drum of Love beat loudly in the ears of Ranjha when he thought upon Hir and he pondered much how he might meet her, and he said to himself: "The river of Love is deep but a boat must be fashioned to cross it. Hîr is the secret booty which the robber can only attain by self sacrifice. I must disguise myself as a fakir and this delicate body which has been fed on butter must be smeared over with the dust and ashes that become a fakir. I will go and learn some spell from a Jogi. I will have my ears bored and become his disciple. I will go and find some perfect fakir who can upset even Fate itself. I will cut myself in pieces as it were a comb, so that I may comb the locks of my beloved.
CHAPTER 20.
(Ranjha decides to become a Jogi.)
So Ranjha set off for Tilla the hill where Balnath the Jogi dwelt, for he said to himself: "Balnath surely knows the way of salvation."
And as he went from village, to village he invited those who wished to join him and become a fakir and he said: " Brothers come with me and be a fakir. You have nothing to do but beg and eat. You get your ears bored and put some ashes on your
