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

see what she makes of it.’
    THE TREE-SAGE
    Udho . Well, did you find him?
    Gobra . Brother, after hearing what you said, I’ve ground my bones to powder this last month, hunting for him in woods and copses, without even a glimpse of his holy hair-tuft.
    Ponchu . Who are you looking for?
    Gobra . The Tree-Sage.
    Ponchu . The Tree-Sage! Who on earth is he?
    Udho . Why, haven’t you heard of him? Everyone in the world knows his name.
    Ponchu . Well, let’s hear what it’s all about.
    Udho . Any tree the Sage seats himself upon is instantly transformed into a wishing-tree. If you stand under it and stretch out your hand, you’ll get anything you ask for.
    Ponchu . Where did you get the news?
    Udho . Bheku Sardar of Dhokar village told me. The Tree-Sage was perched on a fig tree, swinging his legs. Bheku, who was carrying on his head a large pot of treacle to mix with tobacco, passed under the tree in all innocence. The Tree-Sage’s dangling leg knocked the pot over, and Bheku found his lips and eyelids sealed with treacle. The Baba is kindness itself; he said, ‘Bheku, tell me your heart’s desire, and it shall be granted.’
    Bheku’s a fool. He answered, ‘Baba, give me a towel, so that I can wipe this treacle off my face.’
    No sooner had he spoken than a towel dropped from the branches. When he was done mopping his face, he recovered his wits and looked up at the tree. But the Tree-Sage was gone. You can only make one wish. After that, even if you rend the heavens with your wails, he won’t respond.
    Ponchu . Dear, dear, not a shawl, not a stole, just a towel? But then, what sense could you expect Bheku to have?
    Udho . That’s as it may be. He’s getting along quite nicely with just the towel. He’s built himself a new house, with a fancy eight-sided roof, at the chariot square. Haven’t you seen it?
    Ponchu . How can that be? Is it magic?
    Udho . The other day, at the Hondalpara fair, Bheku spread out his towel and got ready for business. People flocked to him in thousands. Each time he uttered Baba’s name, there was a positive shower of coins, new potatoes and fresh radishes. The women would come to him and beg, ‘Brother Bheku, touch my son’s head with your blessed towel, he’s been ailing with the fever for three whole months.’ Bheku’s laid down his rule: five quarter-rupees, five whole betel nuts, five measures of rice and five jars of ghee as offerings in return for his services.
     

     
    Ponchu . They’re making their offerings all right, but are they getting any results?
    Udho . I should think so! Gajan Pal filled the towel with grain fifteen days in succession; then he knotted a rope to one corner and tied on a goat; its bleating brought people rushing to the spot. In eleven months’ time, Gajan had a job. He now prepares the palace guard’s siddhi 19 and curls the ends of his moustache.
    Ponchu . You don’t say! Is this true?
    Udho . Of course it’s true! Why, Gajan’s my uncle’s son’s brother-in-law!
    Ponchu . Brother Udho, have you seen the towel?
    Udho . Certainly! Why, you couldn’t tell it apart from any other of those Hotuganj weaves, a yard and a half wide, the colour of champa flowers, with a red border.
    Ponchu . You don’t say so! How could it fall out of the tree?
    Udho . That’s the beauty of it! By the Tree-Sage’s grace!
    Ponchu . Come on, brother Udho, come on, let’s go look for him! But how are we to recognize him?
    Udho . That’s the problem. No one’s ever seen him. Even that idiot Bheku had his eyelids stuck down with treacle.
    Ponchu . What’s to do?
    Udho . Wherever I go, I say to everyone I see, ‘Do tell me if you’re the wondrous Tree-Sage!’ Hearing this, they charge at me in fury. One fellow even poured the swill from his hookah over my head.
    Gobra . Let him. We shan’t give up. We’ve got to find the Tree-Sage—never mind what it takes.
    Ponchu . Bheku says the Tree-Sage can only be seen on a tree. Down on the ground, there’s no way