Chapter 39 "Abandonment"

(India) by Tagore It was a full-moon night at the beginning of the Pargon season, and there was a mango-blossom-scented breeze in early spring.A rhododendron was hiding in the dense leaves of an old lychee tree by the water tower. Its tireless and soft singing was transmitted into a sleepless bedroom in Mukherjee's house.Here, Hemanta kept twirling a lock of his wife's hair around his finger, now playing with a chain of gold chains on her wrist, making it rattle, and now pulling her head down. The flowers in the upper garland let it hang over her face. His mood was like a gust of evening wind, playing among the favorite flowers, gently shaking her here and there, trying to cheer her up.

But Kuzon sat still, looking out the open window, his eyes sunk into the moonlit expanse of space.She seemed indifferent to her husband's caresses. Finally, Hemenda took his wife's hands, shook them gently, and said: "Ku①India is divided into six seasons in a year, namely summer, rain, autumn, winter, winter and spring. Pargon is spring. .—Translator Song, where are you? Looking patiently through a large telescope, I can only see you as a small black spot——You seem so far away from me. Oh, come closer to me, dear, Look how beautiful the night is." Ku Song's eyes turned from the boundless space to her husband, and said slowly: "I will chant the mantra and shatter this spring night and the bright moon in an instant."

"If you can say a spell," said Hemanda, laughing, "please don't. If you can say a spell, you can make three or four Saturdays in a week and extend the night into the next day." It's five o'clock in the morning, then you can read." As he spoke, he wanted to pull his wife closer.But Cuzon broke free from his embrace and said, "You know what? Tonight I really want to tell you something I decided to say when I was dying. Tonight, I feel that no matter what you give me I can bear any punishment." Hemenda was thinking of making a joke and punishing her to recite a poem by Yetiva, when she suddenly heard the sound of slippers approaching quickly. This was the familiar footsteps of his father Harih Mukherjee. .Hemenda didn't know what was going on, and felt flustered.

Hallih stood outside the door and yelled, "Hemenda, throw your wife out at once." Hemenda looked at his wife, but there was no sign of surprise on her face.She just covered her face with her hands and begged with all her soul to be wiped away instantly. The song of the cuckoo still drifted in with the south wind, but no one heard it.The beauties of the earth are endless--but alas, how easily the appearance of all things is changed! ①○ Yetiva, a famous Indian poet. —The translator Hemenda came back from the outside and asked his wife: "Is this true?" "It's true," Couzon replied.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" "I've tried to tell you several times, but I can't. I'm an unfortunate woman." "Then tell me everything now." In a firm and steady voice, Cuzon spoke seriously about her matter.She seemed to be barefoot, walking slowly through the flame step by step with fearless steps, but no one knew how badly she was burned.When Hemenda heard her finish, she stood up and went out. Cuzon expected her husband to be gone and never to return, and she was not surprised.She took it with as much poise as any other event in daily life—her mood had grown so dry, so indifferent in the past few minutes.

The world and love seemed empty and unreal to her from beginning to end.Even the memory of her husband's former love affairs pierced her heart like a cruel knife, and brought only a dry, hard, melancholy smile to her lips.She thought, maybe it is the love that seems to fill the life, how much love and affection it brings, it makes Xiaobie so painful, short-term so deeply sweet, it seems to be boundless, eternal, life after life forever It won't stop - that's what love is!How weak its pillars!Touched by a priest, your "eternal" love is reduced to a handful of dust!Hemanta had whispered to her just now, "How beautiful is the night!" The night was not over, the cuckoo was still singing, the south wind was still blowing the curtains in the room, and the moonlight was still lying at the open window On the next bed, like a beautiful goddess tired of happiness.

All this is unreal!Love is more illusory than herself! Hemenda, sleepless all night, tired like a madman, went to the house of Boali Shanker Kosar the next morning.Boali Shankel greeted him: "What's the matter, my child?" Hemenda jumped up like a fire, and said in a trembling voice: "You have desecrated our caste. You have brought us ruin. You will be punished." He couldn't go on; he felt choked up. "You preserved my caste, kept me from being expelled from the community, and gave me an affectionate pat on the back!" Boali Shankel said with a sarcastic smile.

Hemenda wished to use his brahmin rage to burn Boali Shankel to ashes at once, but his rage only scorched himself.Boali Shankel sat before him safe and sound, and in perfect health. "Have I ever hurt you?" Hemenda stammered and asked. "Let me ask you a question," said Boali Shankel, "has my daughter—my only child—had she ever hurt your father? You were little then, and perhaps you never heard thing. Then you listen. Don't get too excited. What I'm going to say is still very interesting. "When you were very young, my son-in-law, Nabugda, stole my daughter's jewels and fled to England. You may remember, when he returned as a lawyer five years later, in the village You were at school in Calcutta, maybe you didn't notice it. Your father, who made himself a leader of the community, said that if I sent my daughter back to her husband's house, I would have to abandon her forever, never She stepped into the threshold of my house again. I knelt at your father's feet and begged him: "Brother, please forgive me this time. I will let this kid eat cow dung and perform a redemption ceremony. Please let him Restore his caste.' But your father persisted. On my part, I could not abandon my only daughter, so I took leave of my village and people and moved to Calcutta. There my troubles still followed Look at me. When I made all the preparations for my nephew's marriage, your father provoked the woman's family again, and they broke the engagement.

At that time, I made a solemn oath that as long as there is still a drop of Brahman's blood in my veins, I will take revenge.Now you know a little bit about this matter, don't you?But wait a second.When I tell you the whole truth.You'll love to hear it; it's an interesting affair. "While you were studying at the university, there lived next door to you a Biboradas Chatterjee. The poor man is now dead. There lived in his family a woman named Kusun, who was a Poor orphan of the Galsthers. The girl was very pretty, and the old Brahmin wanted to hide her from the eyes of the college students. But it was not at all possible for a maiden to deceive an old guardian. No difficulty. She used to hang out on the roof to dry her clothes, and I believe you have found your roof to be the best place to study. Whether you two talked on the roof, I can't say, but the girl's actions It aroused the old man's doubts. She often did the wrong housework, and like the mother-in-law, she gradually stopped eating and sleeping in love. Some nights, she shed tears for no reason in front of the old man.

"He finally found out that the two of you used to meet on the roof, you didn't even go to class, you sat on the roof at noon with a book, and you suddenly liked studying by yourself. Biboladas came running I asked and told me everything. 'Uncle,' I said to him, 'you have wanted to go to Benares for a long time.You might as well go now and leave the girl in my care.I will take care of her. ' "So he went away, and I placed the girl in Spati Chatterjee's house, and made him pretend to be her father. You know what happened afterwards. I told the whole story today. What a relief, you. Doesn't this sound like a novel? I'd like to write a book and print it, but I'm not a writer myself. My nephew is said to have some talent for— —I'm going to ask him to write it for me. But it's best if you co-operate with him, because I don't know the end of the story very well."

Hemenda ignored Boali Shankel's last words and asked: "Hasn't Cuzon objected to the marriage?" "Well," said Boali Shankel, "it's hard to guess. You know, my boy, how a woman's mind is made up. When they say 'no' they say 'yes' '. When she moved to her new house for the first few days, she almost lost her mind because she couldn't see you. You seem to have found her new address. When you go to school, you always seem to get lost. In Spa lingering in front of the mentioned door. Your eyes don't seem to be really looking for the Provincial College, but stare straight at the closed window of a private house where only flying insects and the hearts of lovesick young people can get in. Yes. I feel sorry for you. I can see that you are being hindered in your studies, and that girl is in a very poor position. "One day I called Cuzon to me and said, 'Listen to me, my daughter. I'm an old man, and you don't have to be shy in my presence. I know who you're thinking of. What happened to that young man It's also bad. I hope I can do good things for you.' At this moment, Kusun suddenly ran away crying. After that, I often went to Spati's house for several nights, and I found Kusun and talked to her about you. so that I gradually got over her shyness. Finally, when I said I wanted to make the marriage happen, she asked me: 'How can that be done?' 'It's all right,' I said, 'I'll let you pretend to be a Brahmin girl.' After a long debate, she begged me to come and find out if you approved of the matter. 'Nonsense!' I replied, 'the boy seems to be going mad--what's the use of telling him all these complications? ?The wedding was successfully held first, and then—as long as the ending is good, everything will be fine. Especially, this matter will never be in danger of being leaked, so why bother to cause a person to be troubled all his life?' "I don't know if this plan has Cuzon's approval. Sometimes she cries, sometimes she's silent. If I say, 'Then let's stop talking about it', she seems very disturbed. Now that things have come to this point, I will Ask Spati to propose marriage to you, and you agree without hesitation. That's how everything is decided. "Shortly after the date was fixed, Cuzon became so obstinate that I managed to win her over. 'Come on, uncle,' she used to say to me. 'What does that mean, you silly boy,' I scolded her, saying, 'Everything is settled, how can we quit now?'" 'Spread the rumor that I'm dead,' she begged, 'send me somewhere else. ' "'Well, what will happen to the young man?' said I. 'He is now in the seventh heaven, hoping that tomorrow what he dreams of day and night will be realized; but today you want me to tell him that you Dead? The result is that tomorrow I will definitely bring you the news of his death, and in the same night, someone will report your death to me. Son, do you think I can be a girl and a girl at my age? Murderer of the Brahmins?'” "The happy wedding was finally held on an auspicious day. I feel that I have lifted my heavy burden. You know better than me what will happen in the future." "You have caused us irreparable losses, are you still unwilling to stop?" Hemanda roared after a moment of silence, "Why are you telling this secret now?" Boali Shanker replied with great composure: "When I saw that everything was arranged for your sister's wedding, I thought to myself, 'Well, I have defiled a Brahmin caste, but that It's just a matter of responsibility.Now another Brahmin caste is in danger of being defaced again, and this time it is my duty to prevent it. ' So I wrote to them and said I could prove that you married a Sudra's daughter. " Hemenda tried her best to control herself and said, "What will happen to the girl I am going to give up now? Can you provide her with food and shelter?" "I have done my part," replied Boali Shankel calmly. "It's not my job to take care of divorced wives. Is there anyone out there? Bring Mr. Hemenda a glass of coconut water with ice and some betel nuts." Hemanta got up, did not accept this rich hospitality, and took her leave. On the fifth night after the full moon—that night was dark.No birds chirping.The lychee tree next to the water tower looks like a streak of ink on a less dark background. The south wind drifted blindly in the dark like a sleepwalker.The stars in the sky want to penetrate the darkness with unblinking and vigilant eyes to pry into the profound secrets. There was no light in the bedroom.There was a bed near the open window, and Hemenda sat on the edge of the bed, staring into the darkness before her.Cuzon lay on the ground with her arms around her husband's feet, leaning her face against them.Time stands still like a calm ocean. In the background of this eternal night, "Fate" seems to have painted the only picture of eternal value: the surrounding is lifeless, the judge sits in the middle, and the sinner lies at his feet. The slippers sounded again.Khalih Mukherjee approached the door and said, "It's been long enough—I can't wait any longer. Get the girl out." When Cuzon heard these words, she embraced her husband's feet with all the ardor of her life, kissed them repeatedly, touched his feet respectfully with her forehead, and went out. Hemenda got up, went to the door, and said, "Father, I don't want to divorce my wife." "What?" bellowed Hallikh, "will you give up your caste, sir?" "I don't care about caste," was Hemenda's composed reply. "Then I'll kick you out too."