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diff --git a/23163.txt b/23163.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..685792a --- /dev/null +++ b/23163.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1823 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eyes of Asia, by Rudyard Kipling + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Eyes of Asia + +Author: Rudyard Kipling + +Release Date: October 24, 2007 [EBook #23163] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EYES OF ASIA *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hope, Joseph Cooper and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected +without note. Dialect spellings, contractions and discrepancies have +been retained. + + + + Books by Rudyard Kipling + +Actions and Reactions Light That Failed, The +Brushwood Boy, The Many Inventions +Captains Courageous Naulahka, The (With Wolcott +Collected Verse Balestier) +Day's Work, The Plain Tales from the Hills +Departmental Ditties and Puck of Pook's Hill + Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads Rewards and Fairies +Diversity of Creatures, A Sea Warfare +Eyes of Asia, The Seven Seas, The +Five Nations, The Soldier Stories +France at War Soldiers Three, The Story +From Sea to Sea of the Gadsbys, and In +History of England, A Black and White +Jungle Book, The Song of the English, A +Jungle Book, Second Songs From Books +Just So Song Book Stalky & Co. +Just So Stories They +Kim Traffics and Discoveries +Kipling Stories and Poems Under the Deodars, The + Every Child Should Know Phantom 'Rickshaw, and +Kipling Birthday Book, The Wee Willie Winkie +Life's Handicap: Being Stories With the Night Mail + of Mine Own People + + + + + +THE EYES OF ASIA + + + +By + +RUDYARD KIPLING + + + +GARDEN CITY NEW YORK +DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY +1918 + + +Copyright, 1917, 1918, by +RUDYARD KIPLING + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +A RETIRED GENTLEMAN 1 + +THE FUMES OF THE HEART 23 + +THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT 47 + +A TROOPER OF HORSE 75 + + + + +A RETIRED GENTLEMAN + +_From Bishen Singh Saktawut, Subedar Major, 215th Indurgurh [Todd's] +Rajputs, now at Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England, this letter is sent to +Madhu Singh, Sawant, Risaldar Major [retired] 146th [Dublana] Horse, on +his fief which he holds under the Thakore Sahib of Pech at Bukani by +the River, near Chiturkaira, Kotah, Rajputana, written in the fifth +month of the year 1916, English count._ + + +Having experienced five months of this war, I became infected with +fever and a strong coldness of the stomach [rupture]. The doctor +ordered me out of it altogether. They have also cut me with knives for +a wound on my leg. It is now healed but the strength is gone, and it is +very frightened of the ground. I have been in many hospitals for a long +time. At this present I am living in a hospital for Indian troops in a +forest-reservation called "New," which was established by a King's +order in ages past. There is no order for my return to India. I do not +desire it. My Regiment has now gone out of France--to Egypt, or Africa. +My officer Sahibs are for the most part dead or in hospitals. During a +railway journey when two people sit side by side for two hours one +feels the absence of the other when he alights. How great then was my +anguish at being severed from my Regiment after thirty-three years! +Now, however, I am finished. If I return to India I cannot drill the +new men between my two crutches. I should subsist in my village on my +wound-pension among old and young who have never seen war. Here I have +great consideration. Though I am useless they are patient with me. + +Having knowledge of the English tongue, I am sometimes invited to +interpret between those in the hospital for the Indian troops and +visitors of high position. I advance eminent visitors, such as +relatives of Kings and Princes into the presence of the Colonel Doctor +Sahib. I enjoy a small room apart from the hospital wards. I have a +servant. The Colonel Doctor Sahib examines my body at certain times. I +am forbidden to stoop even for my crutches. They are instantly restored +to me by orderlies and my friends among the English. I come and go at +my pleasure where I will, and my presence is solicited by the +honourable. + +You say I made a mistake to join the war at the end of my service? I +have endured five months of it. Come you out and endure two and a half. +You are three years younger than I. Why do you sit at home and drill +new men? Remember: + + The Brahman who steals, + The widow who wears ornaments, + The Rajput who avoids the battle, + Are only fit for crows' meat. + +You write me that this is a war for young men? The old are not entirely +useless. The Badshah [the King] himself gave me the medal for fetching +in my captain from out of the wires upon my back. That work caused me +the coldness in my stomach. Old men should not do coolie-work. Your +cavalry were useless in France. Infantry can fight in this war--not +cavalry. It is as impossible for us to get out of our trenches and +exterminate the enemy as it is for the enemy to attack us. Doubtless +the cavalry brigades will show what they are made of in Egypt or +Persia. This business in France is all Artillery work and mines. The +blowing up of the Chitoree Bastion when Arjoon went to Heaven waving +his sword, as the song says, would not be noticed in the noise of this +war. + +The nature of the enemy is to go to earth and flood us with artillery +of large weight. When we were in the trenches it was a burden. When we +rested in the villages we found great ease. As to our food, it was like +a bunnia's marriage-feast. Everything given, nothing counted. Some of +us--especially among your cavalry--grew so fat that they were compelled +to wrestle to keep thin. This is because there was no marching. + +The nature of the enemy is to commit shame upon women and children, and +to defile the shrines of his own faith with his own dung. It is done by +him as a drill. We believed till then they were some sort of caste +apart from the rest. We did not know they were outcaste. Now it is +established by the evidence of our senses. They attack on all fours +running like apes. They are specially careful for their faces. When +death is certain to them they offer gifts and repeat the number of +their children. They are very good single shots from cover. + +It is the nature of the enemy to shower seductions from out of their +air-machines on our troops in the lines. They promised such as would +desert that they would become Rajahs among them. Some of the men went +over to see if this were true. No report came back. In this way we +cleaned out five bad characters from our Company exactly as it used to +be in the little wars on the Border. May the enemy be pleased with +them! No man of any caste disgraced our Regiment. + +The nature of the enemy in this war is like the Nat [juggler] who is +compelled to climb a pole for his belly's sake. If he does not climb he +starves. If he stops he falls down. This is my thought concerning the +enemy. + +Now that our troops have gone out of France, the war is entirely +between the enemy and the English, etc., etc. Both sides accordingly +increased the number and the size of their guns. The new wounded +officers in the English hospital say that the battles of even yesterday +are not to be compared with the battle of to-day. Tell this to those +who have returned and who boast. Only fools will desire more war when +this war is ended. Their reward will be an instant extinction on +account of the innumerable quantity of arms, munitions, etc., etc., +which will be left in the hands of the experts. Those who make war +henceforward will be as small jackals fighting beneath the feet of +elephants. This Government has abundance of material, and fresh +strength is added every hour. Let there be no mistake. The foolish have +been greatly deceived in these matters by the nature of the English +which is in the highest degree deceptive. Everything is done and spoken +upside-down in this country of the English. He who has a thousand says: +"It is but a scant hundred." The possessor of palaces says: "It is a +hut," and the rest in proportion. Their boast is not to boast. Their +greatness is to make themselves very small. They draw a curtain in +front of all they do. It is as difficult to look upon the naked face of +their achievements as in our country upon the faces of women. + +It is not true there is no caste in England. The mark of the high +castes, such as Ul or Baharun [Earl or Baron] is that they can perform +any office, such as handling the dead, wounds, blood, etc., without +loss of caste. The Maharanee of the Nurses in the English Hospital +which is near our Hospital is by caste Baharanee [Baroness]. I resort +thither daily for society and enlightenment on the habits of this +people. The high castes are forbidden to show curiosity, appetite, or +fear in public places. In this respect they resemble troops on parade. +Their male children are beaten from their ninth year to their +seventeenth year, by men with sticks. Their women are counted equal +with their men. It is reckoned as disgraceful for a Baharanee to show +fear when lights are extinguished in the hospital on account of +bomb-dropping air-ships, as for an Ul to avoid battle. They do not +blacken each other's faces by loud abuse, but by jests spoken in a +small voice. + +The nature of the young men of high caste is as the nature of us +Rajputs. They do not use opium, but they delight in horses, and sport +and women, and are perpetually in debt to the moneylender. They shoot +partridge and they are forced to ride foxes because there are no wild +pig here. They know nothing of hawking or quail-fighting, but they +gamble up to the hilt on all occasions and bear losses laughing. Their +card-play is called Baraich [Bridge?]. They belittle their own and the +achievements of their friends, so long as that friend faces them. In +his absence they extol his deeds. They are of cheerful countenance. +When they jest, they respect honour. It is so also with their women. +The Nurses in the Hospital of my Baharanee where I resort for society +jest with me as daughters with a father. They say that they will be +stricken with grief if I return to India. They call me Dada which is +father also in their tongue. Though I am utterly useless they are +unwearied of me. They themselves hasten to restore me my crutches when +I let them fall. None of these women lament their dead openly. The +eldest son of my Baharanee at the English Hospital where I am made +welcome, was slain in battle. The next morning after the news my +Baharanee let loose the plate-pianos [turned on the gramophones] for +the delectation of the wounded. It comes into my mind to suggest to you +that our women are unable to stand by themselves. + +When the Badshah commanded me to his Palace to receive the medal, I saw +all the wonders and entertainments of the city of London. There was +neither trouble nor expense. My Baharanee gave orders I should inhabit +her own house in that city. It was in reality a palace filled with +carpets, gilt furniture, marbles, mirrors, silks, velvets, carvings, +etc., etc. Hot water ran in silver pipes to my very bedside. The +perfumed baths were perpetually renewed. When it rained daily I walked +in a glass pavilion filled with scented flowers. I inhabited here ten +days. Though I was utterly useless they were unwearied of me. A +companion was found me. He was a Risaldar of Dekkani Horse, a man of +family, wounded in the arms. We two received our medals together. We +saw the King's Palace, and the custom of the Guard Mount in the +mornings daily. Their drill is like stone walls, but the nature of the +English music is without any meaning. We two saw the great temple, Seyn +Pol [St. Paul's?], where their dead are. It is as a country enclosed in +a house. My companion ascended to the very roof-top and saw all the +city. We are nothing beside these people. We two also saw the Bird +Garden [Zoological Gardens] where they studiously preserve all sorts of +wild animals, even down to jackals and green parrots. It is the nature +of the English to consider all created beings as equal. The Badshah +himself wears khaki. His son the Shahzada is a young man who inhabits +the trenches except when he is forbidden. He is a keen son of the +sword. + +It is true that trains run underneath the city in all directions. We +descended into the earth upon a falling platform [lift] and travelled. +The stopping-places are as close as beads on a thread. The doors of the +carriages are guarded with gates that strike out sideways like cobras. +Each sitter is allowed a space upon a divan of yellow canework. When +the divans are full the surplus hang from the roof by leathers. Though +our carriage was full, place was made for us. At the end of our journey +the train was halted beyond its lawful time that we might come forth at +ease. The trains were full of English soldiers. All castes of the +English are now soldiers. They are become like us Rajputs--as many +people so many soldiers. + +We two saw houses, shops, carriages, and crowds till our souls were +broken. The succeeding days were as the first, without intermission. We +begged at last to be excused from the sight of the multitudes and the +height of the houses. + +We two agreed that understanding is most needful in this present age. +We in India must get education before all things. Hereafter we Rajputs +must seriously consider our arrangements in all respects--in our houses +as well as in our fields, etc., etc. Otherwise we become nothing. We +have been deceived by the nature of the English. They have not at any +time shown us anything of their possessions or their performances. We +are not even children beside them. They have dealt with us as though +they were themselves children talking _chotee boli_ [little talk]. In +this manner the ill-informed have been misled. Nothing is known in +India of the great strength of this people. Make that perfectly clear +to all fools. Why should we who serve the Government have the blood of +the misinformed on our heads when they behave foolishly? This people +have all the strength. There is no reason except the nature of the +English that anything in their dominions should stand up which has been +ordered to lie down. It is only their soft nature which saves evil from +destruction. As the saying is, "We thought it was only an armed +horseman. Behold, it is an elephant bearing a tower!" + +It is in my mind that the glory of us Rajputs has become diminished +since the old days. In the old days, our Princesses charged in battle +beside their men, and the name of the clans was great. Then all Rajputs +were brothers and sisters. How has this come about? What man of us now +relies upon the advice of his womenkind in any matter outside? In this +country and in France the women understand perfectly what is needful in +the day of trial. They say to their men: "Add to the renown of your +race. We will attend to the rest through the excellent education which +this just Government has caused us to receive." Thus the men's hearts +are lightened when they go to the war. They confide securely in their +well educated women. How is it with our horses? Shape and size from the +sire: temper and virtue from the dam. If the mare endures thirst, the +colt can run without water. Man's nature also draws from the +spindle-side. Why have we allowed forgetfulness to impair our memory? +This was well known in the old days. In this country arrangements for +washing clothes exist in almost every house, such as tubs, boards, and +irons, and there is a machine to squeeze water out of the washed +clothes. They do not conceal their astonishment at our methods. Our +women should be taught. Only by knowledge is anything achieved. +Otherwise we are as children running about naked under the feet of +grown men and women. + +See what our women have already accomplished by education! The Thakore +Sahib of Philawat was refused leave from the Government to go to the +war, on account of his youth. Yet his sister, who wedded the Rana of +Haliana had prepared a contingent of infantry out of her own +dower-villages. They were set down in the roll of the Princes' +contingents as stretcher-bearers: they being armed men out of the +desert. She sent a telegram to her brother, commissioning him to go +with them as Captain of stretcher-bearers: he being a son of the Sword +for seventy generations. Thus cleverly he received permission from the +Government to go. When they reached France he stole them out of the +camp, every one of his sister's men, and joined himself to the Rajah of +Kandesur's contingent. Those two boys together made their name bright +in the trenches. The Philawat boy was hit twice and came to hospital +here. The Government sent him a sealed letter by messenger where he +lay. He had great fear of it, because what he and Kandesur had done was +without orders. He expected a reprimand from the Government and also +from his uncle because of the succession. But the letter was an +announcement of decoration from the Shahzada himself, and when he had +read it, the child hid his face beneath the sheets and wept for joy. I +saw and heard this from my very bed in the hospital. So his Military +Cross and the rest was due to the Maharanee of Haliana, his sister. +Before her marriage she attended instruction in England at the great +school for maidens called Ghatun [Girton?]. She goes unveiled among +Englishmen, laying hold upon her husband's right arm in public +assemblies in open daylight. And Haliana is sunborn.[1] Consider it! +Consider it! + + [1] The royal clans of the Rajputs derive their descent from the + Sun. + +Do not be concerned if I do not return. I have seen all the reports of +all the arrangements made for burial, etc., etc., in this country. They +are entirely in accordance with our faith. My youth and old age have +been given to the service of the Government, and if the Government can +be served with the dust of my bones it is theirs, Now that my boy is +dead in Arabia I have also withdrawn my petition to the Government for +a land-grant. What use? The house is empty. + + Man does not remain in the world + But his name remains. + Though Jam and Suliman are gone + Their names are not lost. + +When that arrives, my Maharanee Baharanee will despatch to you +_posh-free par parshel-posh_ [post-free per parcel-post] my Cross that +the Badshah gave me, and a letter from my Captain Sahib's Mother with +whose brother I served when I was a man. As for my debts, it does not +trouble me in the least that the moneylenders should be so troubled +about them. But for the Army and the Police the people would have +killed all moneylenders. Give my duty to the Rana of Pech, for his line +were my father's overlords from the first. He can hang up my sword +beside my father's. + +Do not be concerned for whatever overtakes me. I have sifted the sands +of France: now I sift those of England. Here I am held in the greatest +kindness and honour imaginable by all whom I meet. Though I am useless +as a child yet they are unwearied of me. The nurses in my Maharanee +Baharanee's Hospital, which is by day a home and a house to me, +minister to me as daughters to a father. They run after me and rebuke +me if I do not wear a certain coat when it rains daily. I am like a +dying tree in a garden of flowers. + + + + +THE FUMES OF THE HEART + + +_Scene._ Pavilion and Dome Hospital, Brighton--1915. + +_What talk is this, Doctor Sahib? This Sahib says he will be my +letter-writer? Just as though he were a bazar letter-writer at home?... +What are the Sahib's charges? Two annas? Too much! I give one.... No. +No! Sahib. You shouldn't have come down so quickly. You've forgotten, +we Sikhs always bargain.... Well; one anna be it. I will give a bond to +pay it out of my wound-pension when I get home. Sit by the side of my +bed...._ + +_This is the trouble, Sahib. My brother who holds his land and works +mine, outside Amritsar City, is a fool. He is older than I. He has done +his service and got one wound out of it in what they used to call +war--that child's play in the Tirah years ago. He thinks himself a +soldier! But that is not his offence. He sends me postcards, +Sahib--scores of postcards--whining about the drouth or the taxes, or +the crops, or our servants' pilferings or some such trouble. He doesn't +know what trouble means. I want to tell him he is a fool.... What? +True! True! One can get money and land but never a new brother. But for +all that, he is a fool.... Is he a good farmer? Sa_-heeb! _If an +Amritsar Sikh isn't a good farmer, a hen doesn't know an egg.... Is he +honest? As my own pet yoke of bullocks. He is only a fool. My belly is +on fire now with knowledge I never had before, and I wish to impart it +to him--to the village elders--to all people. Yes, that is true, too. +If I keep calling him a fool, he will not gain any knowledge.... Let me +think it over on all sides! Aha! Now that I have a bazar-writer of my +own I will write a book--a very book of a letter to my fool of a +brother.... And now we will begin. Take down my words from my lips to +my foolish old farmer-brother:--_ + + * * * * * + +"You will have received the notification of my wounds which I took in +Franceville. Now that I am better of my wounds, I have leisure to write +with a long hand. Here we have paper and ink at command. Thus it is +easy to let off the fumes of our hearts. Send me all the news of all +the crops and what is being done in our village. This poor parrot is +always thinking of Kashmir. + +"As to my own concerns, the trench in which I sat was broken by a +_bomb-golee_ as large as our smallest grain-chest." [_He'll go off and +measure it at once!_] "It dropped out of the air. It burst, the ground +was opened and replaced upon seven of us. I and two others took wounds. +Sweetmeats are not distributed in war-time. God permitted my soul to +live, by means of the doctors' strong medicines. I have inhabited six +hospitals before I came here to England. This hospital is like a +temple. It is set in a garden beside the sea. We lie on iron cots +beneath a dome of gold and colours and glittering glass work, with +pillars." [_You know that's true, Sahib. We can see it--but d'you +think_ he'll _believe? Never! Never!_] "Our food is cooked for us +according to our creeds--Sikh, or Brahmin, or Mussulman and all the +rest--When a man dies he is also buried according to his creed. Though +he has been a groom or a sweeper, he is buried like some great +land-owner. Do not let such matters trouble you henceforth. Living or +dying, all is done in accordance with the ordinance of our faiths. Some +low-caste men, such as sweepers, counting upon the ignorance of the +doctors here make a claim to be of reputable caste in order that they +may get consideration. If a sweeper in this hospital says he is +forbidden by his caste to do certain things he is believed. He is not +beaten." [_Now, why is that, Sahib? They ought to be beaten for +pretending to have caste, and making a mock of the doctors._ I _should +slipper them publicly--but--I'm not the Government. We will go on._] + +"The English do not despise any sort of work. They are of many castes, +but they are all one kind in this. On account of my wounds, I have not +yet gone abroad to see English fields or towns." [_It is true I have +been out twice in a motor-carriage, Sahib, but that goes too quickly +for a man to see shops, let alone faces. We will not tell him that. He +does not like motor-cars._] "The French in Franceville work continually +without rest. The French and the Phlahamahnds [Flamands] who are a +caste of French, are Kings among cultivators. As to cultivation--" +[_Now, I pray, Sahib, write quickly for I am as full of this matter as +a buffalo of water_] "their fields are larger than ours, without any +divisions, and they do not waste anything except the width of the +footpath. Their land descends securely from father to son upon payment +of tax to the Government, just as in civilized countries. I have +observed that they have their land always at their hearts and in their +mouths, just as in civilized countries. They do not grow more than one +crop a year, but this is recompensed to them because their fields do +not need irrigation. The rain in Franceville is always sure and +abundant and in excess. They grow all that we grow such as peas, +onions, garlic, spinach, beans, cabbages and wheat. They do not grow +small grains or millet, and their only spice is mustard. They do not +drink water, but the juice of apples which they squeeze into barrels +for that purpose. A full bottle is sold for two pice. They do not drink +milk but there is abundance of it. It is all cows' milk, of which they +make butter in a churn which is turned by a dog." [_Now, how shall we +make my brother believe that? Write it large._] "In Franceville, the +dogs are both courteous and industrious. They play with the cat, they +tend the sheep, they churn the butter, they draw a cart and guard it +too. When a regiment meets a flock, the dogs of their own wisdom order +the sheep to step to one side of the road. I have often seen this." +[_Not one word of this will he or anyone in the villages believe, +Sahib. What can you expect? They have never even seen Lahore City! We +will tell him what he can understand._] "Ploughs and carts are drawn by +horses. Oxen are not used for these purposes in these villages. The +field work is wholly done by old men and women and children, who can +all read and write. The young men are all at the war. The war comes +also to the people in the villages, but they do not regard the war +because they are cultivators. I have a friend among the French--an old +man in the village where the Regiment was established, who daily fills +in the holes made in his fields by the enemy's shells with dirt from a +long-handled spade. I begged him once to desist when we were together +on this work, but he said that idleness would cause him double work for +the day following. His grandchild, a very small maiden, grazed a cow +behind a wood where the shells fell, and was killed in that manner. Our +Regiment was told the news and they took an account of it, for she was +often among them, begging buttons from their uniforms. She was small +and full of laughter, and she had learned a little of our tongue." +[_Yes. That was a very great shame, Sahib. She was the child of us all. +We exacted a payment, but she was slain--slain like a calf for no +fault. A black shame!... We will write about other matters._] + +"As to cultivation, there are no words for its excellence or for the +industry of the cultivators. They esteem manure most highly. They have +no need to burn cow-dung for fuel. There is abundance of charcoal. +Thus, not irrigating nor burning dung for fuel, their wealth increases +of itself. They build their houses from ancient times round about +mountainous dung-heaps, upon which they throw all things in season. It +is a possession from father to son, and increase comes forth. Owing to +the number of Army horses in certain places there arises very much +horse-dung. When it is excessive, the officers cause a little straw to +be lit near the heaps. The French and the Phlahamahnds seeing the +smoke, assemble with carts, crying:--'What waste is this?' The officers +reply:--'None will carry away this dung. Therefore, we burn it.' All +the cultivators then entreat for leave to carry it away in their carts, +be it only as much as two dogs can draw. By this device horse-lines are +cleaned. + +"Listen to one little thing. The women and the girls cultivate as well +as the men in all respects." [_That is a true tale, Sahib. We know--but +my brother knows nothing except the road to market._] "They plough with +two and four horses as great as hills. The women of Franceville also +keep the accounts and the bills. They make one price for everything. No +second price is to be obtained by _any_ talking. They cannot be cheated +over the value of one grain. Yet of their own will they are generous +beyond belief. When we come back from our work in the trenches, they +arise at any hour and make us warm drinks of hot coffee and milk and +bread and butter. May God reward these ladies a thousand times for +their kindness! + +"But do not throw everything upon God. I desire you will get me in +Amritsar City a carpet, at the shop of Davee Sahai and Chumba Mall--one +yard in width and one yard and a half in length, of good colour and +quality to the value of forty rupees. The shop must send it with _all_ +charges paid, to the address which I have had written in English +character on the edge of this paper. She is the lady of the house in +which I was billeted in a village for three months. Though she was +advanced in years and belonged to a high family, yet in the whole of +those three months I never saw this old lady sit idle. Her three sons +had gone to the war. One had been killed; one was in hospital, and a +third, at that time, was in the trenches. She did not weep nor wail at +the death or the sickness but accepted the dispensation. During the +time I was in her house, she ministered to me to such an extent that I +cannot adequately describe her kindness. Of her own free-will she +washed my clothes, arranged my bed, and polished my boots daily for +three months. She washed down my bedroom daily with hot water, having +herself heated it. Each morning she prepared me a tray with bread, +butter, milk and coffee. When we had to leave that village that old +lady wept on my shoulder. It is strange that I had never seen her weep +for her dead son, but she wept for me. Moreover, at parting she would +have had me take a _fi-farang_ [five franc] note for expenses on the +road." [_What a woman! What a woman! I had never believed such women +existed in this Black Age._] + +"If there be any doubt of the quality or the colour of the carpet, ask +for an audience of the Doctor Linley Sahib if he be still in Amritsar. +He knows carpets. Tell him all I have written concerning this old +lady--may God keep her and her remaining household!--and he will +advise. I do not know the Doctor Sahib, but this he will overlook in +war-time. If the carpet is even fifty rupees, I can securely pay out of +the monies which our lands owe me. She is an old lady. It must be soft +to her feet, and not inclined to slide upon the wooden floor. She is +well-born and educated." [_And now we will begin to enlighten him and +the elders!_] + +"We must cause our children to be educated in the future. That is the +opinion of all the Regiment, for by education, even women accomplish +marvels, like the women of Franceville. Get the boys and girls taught +to read and write well. Here teaching is by Government order. The men +go to the war daily. It is the women who do all the work at home, +having been well taught in their childhood. We have only yoked one +buffalo to the plough up till now. It is now time to yoke up the +milch-buffaloes. Tell the village elders this and exercise influence." +[_Write that down strongly, Sahib. We who have seen Franceville_ all +_know it is true._] + +"But as to cultivation. The methods in Franceville are good. All tools +are of iron. They do not break. A man keeps the tools he needs for his +work and his repairs in his house under his own hand. He has not to go +back to the village a mile away if anything breaks. We never thought, +as these people do, that all repairs to tools and ploughs can be done +on the very spot. All that is needed when a strap breaks, is that each +ploughman should have an awl and a leather-cutter to stitch the +leather. How is it with us in our country? If leather breaks, we +farmers say that leather is unclean, and we go back from the fields +into the village to the village cobbler that he may mend it. Unclean? +Do not we handle that same thing with the leather on it after it has +been repaired? Do we not even drink water all day with the very hand +that has sweated into the leather? Meantime, we have surely lost an +hour or two in coming and going from the fields." [_He will understand_ +that. _He chatters like a monkey when the men waste time. But the +village cobbler will be very angry with me!_] "The people of +Franceville are astonished to learn that all our land is full of dogs +which do no work--not even to keep the cattle out of the tilled fields. +Among the French, both men and women and little children occupy +themselves with work at all times on the land. The children wear no +jewelry, but they are more beautiful than I can say. It is a country +where the women are not veiled. Their marriage is at their own choice, +and takes place between their twentieth and twenty-fifth year. They +seldom quarrel or shout out. They do not pilfer from each other. They +do not tell lies at all. When calamity overtakes them there is no +ceremonial of grief such as tearing the hair or the like. They swallow +it down and endure silently. Doubtless, this is the fruit of learning +in youth." + +[_Now we will have a word for our Guru at home. He is a very holy man. +Write this carefully, Sahib._] "It is said that the French worship +idols. I have spoken of this with my old lady and her _guru_ [priest]. +It is _not_ true in any way. There are certainly images in their +shrines and _deotas_ [local gods] to whom they present petitions as we +do in our home affairs, but the prayer of the heart goes to the God +Himself. I have been assured this by the old priests. All the young +priests are fighting in the war. The French men uncover the head but do +not take off the shoes at prayer. They do not speak of their religion +to strangers, and they do not go about to make converts. The old priest +in the village where I was billeted so long, said that all roads, at +such times as these, return to God." [_Our Guru at home says that +himself; so he cannot be surprised if there are others who think it._] +"The old priest gave me a little medal which he wished me to wear round +my neck. Such medals are reckoned holy among the French. He was a very +holy man and it averts the Evil Eye. The Women also carry holy beads to +help keep count of their prayers. + +"Certain men of our Regiment divided among themselves as many as they +could pick up of the string of such beads that used to be carried by +the small maiden whom the shell slew. It was found forty yards distant +from the hands. It was that small maiden who begged us for our buttons +and had no fear. The Regiment made an account of it, reckoning one life +of the enemy for each bead. They deposited the beads as a pledge with +the regimental clerk. When a man of the guarantors became killed, the +number of his beads which remained unredeemed was added to the +obligation of the other guarantors, or they elected an inheritor of the +debt in his place." [_He will understand that. It was all very correct +and business-like, Sahib. Our Pathan Company arranged it._] "It was +seven weeks before all her beads were redeemed because the weather was +bad and our guns were strong and the enemy did not stir abroad after +dark. When all the account was cleared, the beads were taken out of +pawn and returned to her grandfather, with a certificate, and he wept. + +"This war is not a war. It is a world-destroying battle. All that has +gone before this war in this world till now has been only boys throwing +coloured powder at each other. No man could conceive it! What do you or +the Mohmunds or anyone who has not been here know of war? When the +ignorant in future speak of war, I shall laugh, even though they be my +elder brethren. Consider what things are done here and for what +reasons. + +"A little before I took my wounds, I was on duty near an officer who +worked in wire and wood and earth to make traps for the enemy. He had +acquired a tent of green cloth upon sticks, with a window of soft glass +that could not be broken. All coveted the tent. It was three paces long +and two wide. Among the covetous was an Officer of Artillery, in charge +of a gun that shook mountains. It gave out a shell of ten maunds or +more [eight hundred pounds]. But those who have never seen even a +rivulet cannot imagine the Indus. He offered many rupees to purchase +the tent. He would come at all hours increasing his offer. He +overwhelmed the owner with talk about it." [_I heard them often, +Sahib._] "At last, and I heard this also, that tent-owner said to that +Artillery Officer:--'I am wearied with your importunity. Destroy to-day +a certain house that I shall show you, and I will give you the tent for +a gift. Otherwise, have no more talk.' He showed him the roof of a +certain white house which stood back three _kos_ [six miles] in the +enemy country, a little underneath a hill with woods on each side. +Consider this, measuring three _kos_ in your mind along the Amritsar +Road. The Gunner Officer said:--'By God, I accept this bargain.' He +issued orders and estimated the distance. I saw him going back and +forth as swiftly as a lover. Then fire was delivered and at the fourth +discharge the watchers through their glasses saw the house spring high +and spread abroad and lie upon its face. It was as a tooth taken out by +a barber. Seeing this, the Gunner Officer sprang into the tent and +looked through the window and smiled because the tent was now his. But +the enemy did not understand the reasons. There was a great gunfire all +that night, as well as many enemy-regiments moving about. The prisoners +taken afterwards told us their commanders were disturbed at the fall of +the house, ascribing it to some great design on our part, so that their +men had no rest for a week. Yet it was all done for a little green +tent's sake! + +"I tell you this that you may understand the meaning of things. This is +a world where the very hills are turned upside down, with the cities +upon them. He who comes alive out of this business will forever after +be as a giant. If anyone wishes to see it let him come here or remain +disappointed all his life." + +[_We will finish with affection and sweet words. After all, a brother +is a brother._] "As for myself, why do you write to me so many +complaints? Are _you_ fighting in this war or I? You know the saying: +'A soldier's life is for his family: his death is for his country: his +discomforts are for himself alone.' I joined to fight when I was young. +I have eaten the Government's salt till I am old. I am discharging my +obligation. When all is at an end, the memory of our parting will be +but a dream. + +"I pray the Guru to bring together those who are separated. + +"God alone is true. Everything else is but a shadow." + +[_That is poetry. Oh--and add this, Sahib._] + +"Let there be no delay about the carpet. She would not accept anything +else." + + + + +THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT + + +_Scene_: Three and a half miles across the Border--Kohat way. _Time_: +The edge of sunset. Single room in a stone built tower house reached by +a ladder from the ground. An Afghan woman, wrapped in a red cotton +quilt, squats on the floor trimming a small kerosene lamp. Her husband, +an elderly Afghan with a purple dyed beard, lies on a native cot, +covered by a striped blue and white cloth. He is wounded in the knee +and hip. A Government rifle leans against the cot. Their son, aged +twenty, kneels beside him, unfolding a letter. As the mother places the +lighted lamp in a recess in the wall, the son picks up the rifle and +pushes the half-opened door home with the butt. The wife passes her +husband a filled pipe of tobacco, blowing on the charcoal ball in the +bowl. + +SON [_as he unfolds letter_]. It is from France. His Regiment is still +there. + +FATHER. What does he say about the money? + +SON [_reading_]. He says: "I am made easy by the news that you are now +receiving my pay-allotment regularly. You may depend upon its coming +every month henceforward. I have also sent eleven rupees over and above +the allotment. It is a gift towards the purchase of the machine needed +in your business." + +FATHER [_drawing a cheap nickel-plated revolver from his breast_]. It +is a good machine, and he is a good son. What else. + +SON. He says: "You tell me our enemies have killed my uncle and my +brother, beside wounding our father. I am very far away and can give no +help whatever. It is a matter for great regret. Our enemies are now two +lives to the good against us in the account. We must take our revenge +quickly. The responsibility, I suppose, is altogether on the head of my +youngest brother." + +FATHER. But I am still good for sitting-shots. + +MOTHER [_soothingly_]. Ah! But he means, to think over all the +arrangements. Wounded men cannot think clearly till the fever is out of +the wound. + +SON [_reading_]. "My youngest brother said he would enlist after me +when the harvest was gathered. That is now out of the question. Tell +him he must attend to the work in hand." (That is true, I cannot enlist +now.) "Tell him not to wander about after the people who did the actual +killing. They will probably have taken refuge on the Government side of +the Border." (That is true, too. It is exactly what they did.) "Even up +the account from the nearest household of our enemies. This will force +the murderers for their honour's sake to return and attend to their +proper business when--God willing--they can be added as a bonus. Take +our revenge quickly." + +FATHER [_stroking beard_]. This is all wisdom. I have a man for a son. +What else does he say, Akbar? + +SON. He says: "I have a letter from Kohat telling me that a certain man +of a family that we know is coming out here with a draft in order to +settle with me for an account which he says I opened." + +MOTHER [_quickly_]. Would that be Gul Shere Khan--about that Peshawari +girl? + +SON. Perhaps. But Ahmed is not afraid. Listen! He says: "If that man or +even his brothers wish to come to France after me I shall be very +pleased. If, in fact, anyone wishes to kill me, let them by all means +come out. I am here present in the field of battle. I have placed my +life on a tray. The people in our country who talk about killing are +children. They have not seen the reality of things. _We_ do not turn +our heads when forty are killed at a breath. Men are swallowed up or +blown apart here as one divides meat. When we are in the trenches, +there is no time to strike a blow on the private account. When we are +at rest in the villages, one's lust for killing has been satisfied. Two +men joined us in the draft last month to look after a close friend of +mine with whom they had a private account. They were great +swash-bucklers at first. They even volunteered to go into the trenches +though it was not their turn of duty. They expected that their private +account could be settled during some battle. Since that turn of duty +they have become quite meek. They had, till then, only seen men killed +by ones and twos, half a mile separating them. _This_ business was like +killing flies on sugar. Have no fear for me, therefore, no matter who +joins the Regiment. It needs a very fierce stomach to add anything to +our Government rations." + +MOTHER. He writes like a poet, my son. That is wonderful writing. + +FATHER. All the young men write the same with regard to the war. It +_quite_ satisfies all desires. What else does he say? + +SON [_summarizing_]. He says that he is well fed and has learned to +drink the French coffee. He says there are two sorts of French +tobacco--one yellow, one blue. The blue, he says, is the best. They are +named for the papers they are wrapped in. He says that on no account +must we send him any opium or drugs, because the punishment for +drugging is severe and the doctors are quick to discover. He desires to +be sent to him some strong hair-dye of the sort that our father uses. + +MOTHER [_with a gesture_]. Hair-dye! He is a child. What's he been +doing? + +SON. He says he wishes to win favour from his native officer whose +white hairs are showing and who has no proper dye. He says he will +repay the cost and that no charges are made for the parcel. It must be +very strong henna-dye. + +MOTHER [_laughing_]. It shall be. I will make it myself. A start it +gave me to hear _him_ ask for dyes! They are not due for another twenty +years. + +FATHER [_fretfully_]. Read it. Read it all as it is written, word for +word. What else does he say? + +SON. He speaks of the country of the French. Listen! He says: "This +country is full of precious objects, such as grain, ploughs, and +implements, and sheep which lie about the fields by day with none to +guard them. The French are a virtuous people and do not steal from each +other. If a man merely approaches towards anything there are eyes +watching him. To take one chicken is to loosen the tongues of fifty old +women. I was warned on joining that the testimony of one such would +outweigh the testimony of six honourable Pathans. It is true. Money and +valuables are, therefore, left openly in houses. None dare even to look +at them with a covetous eye. I have seen two hundred rupees' worth of +clothing hung up on a nail. None knew the owner, yet it remained till +her return." + +MOTHER. That is the country for me! Dresses worth two hundred rupees +hanging on nails! Princesses all they must be. + +SON [_continuing_]. Listen to these fresh marvels. He says: "We reside +in brick houses with painted walls of flowers and birds; we sit upon +chairs covered with silks. We sleep on high beds that cost a hundred +rupees each. There is glass in all the doors and windows; the abundance +of iron and brass, pottery, and copper kitchen-utensils is not to be +estimated. Every house is a palace of entertainment filled with clocks, +lamps, candlesticks, gildings, and images." + +FATHER. What a country! What a country! How much will he be able to +bring back of it all? + +SON. He says: "The inhabitants defend their possessions to the +uttermost--even down to the value of half a chicken or a sheep's +kidney. They do not keep their money in their houses, but send it away +on loan. Their rates of interest are very low. They talk among +themselves of loans and pledges and the gaining of money, just as we +do. We Indian troops are esteemed and honoured by all, by the children +specially. These children wear no jewelry. Therefore, there are no +murders committed for the sake of ornaments except by the enemy. These +children resemble small moons. They make mud figures in their play of +men and horses. He who can add figures of oxen, elephants and +palanquins is highly praised. Do you remember when I used to make +them?" + +MOTHER. Do I remember? Am I a block of wood or an old churn? Go on, +Akbar? What of my child? + +SON. He says: "When the children are not in the school they are at work +in the fields from their earliest years. They soon lose all fear of us +soldiers, and drill us up and down the streets of the villages. The +smallest salute on all occasions. They suffer little from sickness. The +old women here are skilful in medicines. They dry the leaves of trees +and give them for a drink against diseases. One old woman gave me an +herb to chew for a worm in my tooth [toothache] which cured me in an +hour." + +MOTHER. God reward that woman! I wonder what she used. + +SON. He says: "She is my French mother." + +MOTHER. What-t! How many mothers has a man? But God reward her none the +less! It must have been that old double-tooth at the back on the left +lower side, for I remember---- + +FATHER. Let it wait. It is cured now. What else does he write? + +SON. He writes, making excuses for not having written. He says: "I have +been so occupied and sent from one place to another that on several +occasions I have missed the post. I know you must have experienced +anxiety. But do not be displeased. Let my mother remember that I can +only write when I have opportunity, and the only remedy for +helplessness is patience." + +FATHER [_groaning_]. Ah! He has not yet been wounded, and he sets +himself up for a physician. + +MOTHER. He speaks wisely and beautifully. But what of his "French +mother"--burn her! + +SON. He says: "Moreover, this French mother of mine in France is +displeased with me if I do not write to her about my welfare. My +mother, like you, my French mother does all she can for my welfare. I +cannot write sufficiently in praise of what she does for me. When I was +in the village behind the trench if, on any day, by reason of duty, I +did not return till evening, she, herself, would come in search of me +and lead me back to the house. + +MOTHER. Aha! _She_ knew! I wish I could have caught him by the other +ear! + +SON. He says: "And when I was sent away on duty to another village, and +so could not find time to write either to you or to her, she came close +to the place where I was and where no one is permitted to come and +asked to see her boy. She brought with her a great parcel of things for +me to eat. What more am I to say for the concern she has for my +welfare?" + +MOTHER. Fools all old women are! May God reward that Kafir woman for +her kindness, and her children after her.... As though any orders could +keep out a mother! Does he say what she resembles in the face? + +SON. No. He goes on to speak more about the customs of the French. He +says: "The new men who join us come believing they are in the country +of the Rakshas [Demons]. They are told this by the ignorant on their +departure. It is always cold here. Many clothes are worn. The sun is +absent. The wet is present. Yet this France is a country created by +Allah, and its people are manifestly a reasonable people with reason +for all they do. The windows of their houses are well barred. The doors +are strong, with locks of a sort I have never before tried. Their dogs +are faithful. They gather in and keep their kine and their asses and +their hens under their hands at night. Their cattle graze and return at +the proper hour in charge of the children. They prune their fruit trees +as carefully as our barbers attend to men's nostrils and ears. The old +women spin, walking up and down. Scissors, needles, threads, and +buttons are exposed for sale on stalls in a market. They carry hens by +the feet. Butchers sell dressed portions of fowls and sheep ready to be +cooked. There is aniseed, coriander, and very good garlic." + +MOTHER. But all this--but all this is our very own way---- + +SON. He says so. He says: "Seeing these things, the new men are +relieved in their minds. Do not be anxious for me. These people +precisely resemble all mankind. They are, however, idolators. They do +not speak to any of us about their religion. Their Imams [priests] are +old men of pious appearance, living in poverty. They go about their +religious offices, even while the shells fall. Their God is called +Bandoo [Bon Dieu?]. There is also the Bibbee Miriam [the Virgin Mary]. +She is worshipped on account of the intelligence and capacity of the +women." + +FATHER. Hmm! Ah! This travelling about is bad for the young. Women are +women--world over. What else, Akbar? + +SON [_reading_]. "There are holy women in this country, dressed in +black who wear horns of white cloth on their heads. They too, are +without any sort of fear of death from the falling shells. I am +acquainted with one such who often commands me to carry vegetables from +the market to the house which they inhabit. It is filled with the +fatherless. She is very old, very highborn, and of irascible temper. +All men call her Mother. The Colonel himself salutes her. Thus are all +sorts mingled in this country of France." + +MOTHER. Ha! Well, at least that holy woman was well-born, but she is +too free with her tongue. Go on! + +SON. He says: "Through my skill with my rifle, I have been made a +sharp-shooter. A special place is given to me to shoot at the enemy +singly. This was old work to me. This country was flat and open at the +beginning. In time it became all _kandari-kauderi_--cut up--with +trenches, _sungars_ and bye-ways in the earth. Their faces show well +behind the loop-holes of their _sungars_. The distance was less than +three hundred yards. Great cunning was needed. Before they grew +careful, I accounted for nine in five days. It is more difficult by +night. They then send up fireballs which light all the ground. This is +a good arrangement to reveal one's enemy, but the expense would be too +great for poor people." + +FATHER. He thinks of everything--everything! Even of the terrible cost +for us poor people. + +SON [_reading_]. "I attended the funeral of a certain French child. She +was known to us all by the name of 'Marri' which is Miriam. She would +openly claim the Regiment for her own regiment in the face of the +Colonel walking in the street. She was slain by a shell while grazing +cattle. What remained was carried upon a litter precisely after our +custom. There were no hired mourners. All mourners walked slowly behind +the litter, the women with the men. It is not their custom to scream or +beat the breast. They recite all prayers above the grave itself for +they reckon the burial-ground to be holy. The prayers are recited by +the Imam of the village. The grave is not bricked and there is no +recess. They do not know that the Two Angels visit the dead. They say +at the end, 'Peace and Mercy be on you'." + +MOTHER. One sees as he writes! He would have made a great priest, this +son of ours. So they pray over their dead, out yonder, those +foreigners? + +FATHER. Even a Kafir may pray, but--they are manifestly Kafirs or they +would not pray in a grave-yard. Go on! + +SON. "When their prayers were done, our Havildar-Major, who is +orthodox, recited the appropriate verse from the Koran, and cast a +little mud into the grave. The Imam of the village then embraced him. I +do not know if this is the custom. The French weep very little. The +French women are small-handed and small-footed. They bear themselves in +walking as though they were of birth and descent. They commune with +themselves, walking up and down. Their lips move. This is on account of +their dead. They are never abashed or at a loss for words. They forget +nothing. Nothing either do they forgive." + +MOTHER. Good. Very good. That is the right honour. + +SON. Listen! He says: "Each village keeps a written account of all that +the enemy has done against it. If a life--a life, whether it be man or +priest, or hostage, or woman or babe. Every horn driven off; and every +feather; all bricks and tiles broken, all things burned, and their +price, are written in the account. The shames and the insults are also +written. There is no price set against them." + +FATHER. This is without flaw! This is a people! There is never any +price for shame offered. And they write it all down. Marvellous! + +SON. Yes. He says: "Each village keeps its own tally and all tallies go +to their Government to be filed. The whole of the country of France is +in one great account against the enemy--for the loss, for the lives, +and for the shames done. It has been kept from the first. The women +keep it with the men. All French women read, write, and cast accounts +from youth. By this they are able to keep the great account against the +enemy. I think that it is good that our girls should get schooling like +this. Then we shall have no more confusion in our accounts. It is only +to add up the sums lost and the lives. We should teach our girls. We +are fools compared with these people." + +MOTHER. But a Pathani girl remembers without all this book-work. It is +waste. Who of any decent descent ever forgot a blood-debt? He must be +sickening for illness to write thus. + +FATHER. One should not forget. Yet we depend on songs and tales. It is +more secure--certainly, it is more business-like--that a written +account should be kept. Since it is the men who must pay off the debt, +why should not the women keep it? + +MOTHER. They can keep tally on a stick or a distaff. It is unnecessary +for a girl to scribble in books. They never come to good ends. They end +by---- + +SON. Sometimes, my mother, sometimes. On the Government side of the +Border, women are taught to read, and write, and cast accounts, and---- + +MOTHER [_with intention_]. Far be the day when such an one is brought +to _my_ house as a bride. For _I_ say---- + +FATHER. No matter. What does _he_ say about those French women? + +SON. He says: "They are not divided in opinion as to which of their +enemies shall be sought after first. They say: 'Let us even the account +every day and night out of the nearest assembly of the enemy and when +we have brought all the enemy into the right way of thinking we can +demand the very people who did the shame and offences. In the meantime, +let it be any life.' This is good counsel for _us_ in our account, oh +my mother." + +FATHER [_after a pause_]. True! True! It is good advice. Let it be any +life.... Is that all? + +SON. That is all. He says: "Let it be _any_ life." And I think so too. + +MOTHER. "_Any_ life." Even so! And then we can write to him quickly +that we have taken our revenge quickly. [_She reaches for her husband's +rifle which she passes over to her son, who stretches his hand towards +it with a glance at his father._] + +FATHER. On your head, Akbar, our account must lie--at least till I am +better. Do you try to-night? + +SON. May be! I wish we had the high-priced illuminating fireballs he +spoke of. [_Half rises._] + +MOTHER. Wait a little. There is the call for the Ishr [the evening +prayer]. + +MUEZZIN [_in the village mosque without as the first stars show_]. God +is great! God is great! God is great! I bear witness, etc. + +[_The family compose themselves for evening prayer._] + + + + +A TROOPER OF HORSE + +_To the sister of the pensioned Risaldar Major Abdul Qadr Khan, at her +own house behind the shrine of Gulu Shah near by the village of Korake +in the Pasrur Tehsil of the Sialkot District in the Province of the +Punjab. Sent out of the country of France on the 23rd of August, 1916, +by Duffadar Abdul Rahman of the 132nd (Pakpattan) Cavalry--late +Lambart's Horse._ + + +Mother! The news is that once only in five months I have not received a +letter from you. My thoughts are always with you. Mother, put your ear +down and listen to me. Do not fret; I will soon be with you again. +Imagine that I have merely gone to Lyallpur [the big recruiting-depot +in India]; think that I have been delayed there by an officer's order, +or that I am not yet ready to come back. Mother, think of me always as +though I were sitting near by, just as I imagine you always beside me. +Be of good cheer, Mother, there is nothing that I have done which is +hidden from you. I tell you truly, Mother, I will salute you again. Do +not grieve. I tell you confidently I shall bow before you again in +salutation. It will be thus, Mother. I shall come in the dead of the +night and knock at your door. Then I will call loudly that you may wake +and open the door to me. With great delight you will open the door and +fold me to your breast, my Mother. Then I will sit down beside you and +tell you what has happened to me--good and evil. Then having rested the +night in comfort I will go out after the day has come and I will salute +all my brethren at the mosque and in the village. Then I will return +and eat my bread in pleasure and happiness. You, Mother, will say to +me: "Shall I give you some _ghi_?" [native butter]. I will say at first +proudly, like one who has travelled:--"No, I want none." You will press +me, and I will softly push my plate over to you and you will fill it +with _ghi_, and I shall dip my cake in it with delight. Believe me, +Mother, this homecoming will take place just as I have described it. I +see you before me always. It seems to me only yesterday that I bent to +your feet when I made salutation and you put your hand upon my head. + +Mother, put your trust in God to guard my head. If my grave lies in +France it can never be in the Punjab, though we try for a thousand +years. If it be in the Punjab then I shall certainly return to it to +that very place. Meantime, Mother, consider what I have to eat. This is +the true list. I eat daily sugar and ghi and flour, salt, meat, red +peppers, some almonds and dates, sweets of various kinds as well as +raisins and cardamoms. In the morning I eat tea and white biscuits. An +hour after, halwa and puri [native dishes]. At noon, tea and bread; at +seven o'clock of the evening, vegetable curry. At bedtime I drink milk. +There is abundance of milk in this country. I am more comfortable here, +I swear it to you, Mother, than any high officer in India. As for our +clothing, there is no account kept of it. You would cry out, Mother, to +see the thick cloth expended. So I beg you, Mother, to take comfort +concerning your son. Do not tear my heart by telling me your years. +Though we both lived to be as old as elephants I am your son who will +come asking for you as I said, at your door. + +As to the risk of death, who is free from it anywhere? Certainly not in +the Punjab. I hear that all those religious mendicants at Zilabad have +proclaimed a holy fair this summer in order that pious people may feed +them, and now, having collected in thousands beside the river in hot +weather, they have spread cholera all over the district. There is +trouble raging throughout all the world, Mother, and yet these sons of +mean fathers must proclaim a beggars' festival in order to add to it! +There should be an order of the Government to take all those lazy +rascals out of India into France and put them in our front-line that +their bodies may be sieves for the machine guns. Why cannot they +blacken their faces and lie in a corner with a crust of bread? It is +certainly right to feed the family priests, Mother, but when the idle +assemble in thousands begging and making sickness and polluting the +drinking-water, punishment should be administered. + +Very much sickness, such as cholera and dysentery, is caused by +drinking foul water. Therefore, it is best to have it boiled, Mother, +no matter what is said. When clothes are washed in foul water, sickness +also spreads. You will say, Mother, that I am no longer a trooper but a +washer-woman or an apothecary, but I swear to you, my Mother, what I +have said is true. Now, I have two charges to deliver to you as to the +household under you. I beg you, my Mother, to give order that my son +drink water which is boiled, at least from the beginning of the hot +weather till after the Rains. That is one charge. The second is that +when I was going down to the sea with the Regiment from home, the Lady +Doctor Sahiba in the Civil Lines asked of our Colonel's lady whether +any of us desired that their households should take the charm against +the small-pox [be vaccinated]. I was then busy with my work and I made +no reply. Now let that Doctor Sahiba know that I desire by her favour +that my son take the charm as soon as may be. I charge you, Mother, +upon _his_ head that it is done soon. I beg you respectfully to take +this charge upon you. + +Oh, my Mother, if I could now see you for but half of one watch in the +night or at evening preparing food! I remember the old days in my +dreamings but when I awake--there is the sleeper and there is the +bedding and it is more far off than Delhi. But God will accomplish the +meetings and surely arrange the return. + +Mother, before going out to the attack the other day, I had a dream. I +dreamed that a great snake appeared in our trenches in France and at +the same time our Pir Murshid [our family priest] whose face I saw +quite clearly, appeared with a stick and destroyed it. Well then, +Mother, our lot went in to the attack and returned from it safely. +Those who were fated to be the victims of death were taken and those +who were fated to be wounded were wounded; and all our party returned +safely. At the same time, the Government secured a victory and the +Regiment obtained renown. It was _our_ horse that went out over the +trenches, Mother, and the Germans, being alarmed, fled. We were +forbidden to pursue because of hidden guns. This was trouble to us. We +owed them much blood on our brethren's account. Tell the Murshid my +dream and ask him for a full interpretation. I have also seen our +Murshid twice before in my dreams. Ask him why he comes to me thus. I +am not conscious of any wrong-doing, and if it is a sign of favour to +me, then the shape should speak. + +I am quite aware how God rewards the unwilling. He is all powerful. +Look at the case of that man of our own family who was ordered to the +front with a higher rank. He refused promotion in order to stay behind, +and in a month's time he died of the plague in his own village. If he +had gone to the front his family would have received the war pension. +An atheist never achieves honour, Mother. He is always unsettled and +has no consolations. Do we Mussulmans think that the Prophet will spend +all his time in asking God to forgive our transgressions? Tell the Pir +Murshid what I have written. + +Mother, put down your ear and listen to me in this matter, my Mother. +There is one thing I wish to impress earnestly on you. You must know +that among recruits for the Regiment there are too few of our kind of +Mussulmans. They are sending recruits from the Punjab who were formerly +labourers and common workmen. The consequence of this is, in the +Regiment, that we Mussulmans are completely outnumbered by these low +people, and the promotions go accordingly. Each of our troops, my +Mother, has been divided into two; that is to say there are four troops +to a squadron. We Mussulmans should have at least two troops out of the +four, but owing to the lack of recruits we have not sufficient men of +our faith to form more than one. Now, Mother, as it was in our fathers' +time, he who supplies the men gets the promotion. Therefore, if our +friends at home, and especially our Pir Murshid, would exert themselves +to supply fifteen or twenty recruits, I could approach my Colonel Sahib +in regard to promotion. If my Colonel received my request favourably +then you at home would only have the trouble to provide the men. But I +do not think, Mother, there would be any trouble if our Pir Murshid +exerted himself in the matter and if my father's brother also exerted +himself. A family is a family even [if it be] scattered to the ends of +the earth, Mother. My father's brother's name is still remembered in +the Regiment on account of his long service and his great deeds of old. +Tell him, my Mother, that the men talk of him daily as though he had +only resigned yesterday. If he rides out among the villages with his +medals he will certainly fetch in many of our class. If it were fifty +it would mean much more influence for me with my Colonel. He is very +greedy for our class of Mahommedans. + +Mother, our Pir Murshid too, is a very holy man. If he preached to them +after harvest he would fetch in many and I should be promoted, and the +pensions go with the promotion. In a short time by God's assistance, I +might command a troop if sufficient recruits were attained by the +exertions of my friends and well-wishers. The honour of one is the +honour of all. Lay all this before the Murshid and my uncle. + +None of the Cavalry have yet done anything to compare with our +Regiment. This may be because of fate or that their nature is not equal +to ours. There is great honour to be got out of a lance before long. +The war has become loosened and cavalry patrols are being sent forward. +We have driven Mama Lumra [a nickname for the enemy] several miles +across country. He has planted his feet again but it is not the same +Mama Lumra. His arrogance is gone. Our guns turn the earth upside down +upon him. He has made himself houses underground which are in all +respects fortresses with beds, chairs and lights. Our guns break these +in. There is little to see because Mama Lumra is buried underneath. +These days are altogether different from the days when all our Army was +here and Mama Lumra's guns overwhelmed us by day and by night. Now Mama +Lumra eats his own stick. Fighting goes on in the sky, on earth and +under earth. Such a fighting is rarely vouchsafed any one to behold. +Yet if one reflects upon God it is no more than rain on a roof. Mother, +once I was reported "missing, killed or believed taken prisoner." I +went with a patrol to a certain place beyond which we went forward to a +place which had recently been taken by the English infantry. Suddenly +the enemy's fire fell upon us and behind us like water. Seeing we could +not go back, we lay down in the holes made by the shells. The enemy +exerted himself to the utmost, but our guns having found him bombarded +him and he ceased. In the evening we retired out of our shell-holes. We +had to walk; it was fasting time and we suffered from thirst. So our +hearts were relieved when we returned to the Regiment. We had all been +reported to Divisional Headquarters as lost. This false report was then +cancelled. The shell-holes in the ground are the size of our goat-pen +and as deep as my height with the arm raised. They are more in number +than can be counted, and of all colours. It is like small-pox upon the +ground. + +We have no small-pox or diseases here. Our doctors are strict, and +refuse is burned by the sweepers. It is said there is no physician like +fire. He leaves nothing to the flies. It is said that flies produce +sicknesses, especially when they are allowed to sit on the nostrils and +the corners of the eyes of the children or to fall into their +milk-pots. The young children of this country of France are beautiful +and do not suffer from sickness. Their women do not die in childbed. +This is on account of physicians and midwives who abound in knowledge. +It is a Government order, Mother, that none can establish as a midwife +till she has shown her ability. These people are idolators. When there +is a death which is not caused by war, they instantly ascribe it to +some fault in eating or drinking or the conduct of life on the part of +the dead. If one dies without manifest cause the physicians at once +mutilate the body to ascertain what evil was hidden inside it. If +anything is discovered there is a criminal trial. Thus the women-folk +do not traffic in poisons and wives have no suspicion one against the +other. Truly, Mother, people are only defective on account of +ignorance. Learning and knowledge are the important things. + +Your letters come to me with every mail exactly as if we were at +headquarters. This is accomplished solely by knowledge. There are +hundreds of women behind our lines who make clean and repair the dirty +clothes of the troops. Afterwards, they are baked in very hot ovens +which utterly destroy the vermin and also, it is said, diseases. We +have, too, been issued iron helmets to protect the head against falling +shots. It was asked of us all if any had an objection. The Sikhs +reported that they had not found any permission in their Law to wear +such things. They, therefore, go uncovered. It was reported by our +priests for us Mahommedans that our Law neither forbids nor enjoins. It +is a thing indifferent. They are heavier than the pagri [turban], but +they turn falling iron. Doubtless, it is Allah's will that the lives of +His Faithful should be prolonged by these hats. The sons of mothers who +go to foreign parts are specially kept under His Eye. + +We know very well how the world is made. To earn a living and bear +trouble is the duty of man. If I send you a report that I have won +promotion in the Regiment, do not forget to distribute alms to the +extent of fifteen rupees and to feed the poor. + +Mother, put down your ear and listen to me. There is no danger whatever +in box-pictures [snapshot-photographs]. Anyone submitted to them is in +all respects as he was before. Nothing is taken out of his spirit. I, +myself, Mother, have submitted myself to many box-pictures, both +mounted and standing beside my horse. If at any time again the Zenana +Doctor Sahiba desires to make a box-picture of _him_ do not snatch the +child away but send the picture to me. I cannot see him in my dreams +because at his age he changes with each month. When I went away he was +still on all fours. Now you tell me he stands up holding by the skirts. +I wish to see a box-picture of this very greatly indeed. I can read +box-pictures now as perfectly as the French. When I was new to this +country I could not understand their meaning in the least. This is on +account of knowledge which comes by foreign travel and experience. +Mother, this world abounds in marvels beyond belief. We in India are +but stones compared to these people. They do not litigate among +themselves; they speak truth at first answer; their weddings are not +[performed] till both sides are at least eighteen, and no man has +authority here to beat his wife. + +I have resided in billets with an old man and his wife, who possess +seven hens, an ass, and a small field of onions. They collect dung from +our horse-lines upon their backs, a very little at a time but +continuously. They are without means of maintenance, yet they do not +lay a finger upon any food except through invitation. They exhibit +courtesy to each other in all things. + +They call me _Sia_ [monsieur?] which is Mian [Mahommedan title of +respect] and also _man barah_ [mon brave?] which signifies hero. I have +spoken to them many times of you, my Mother, and they desire I send you +their salutations. She calls me to account strictly for my doings each +day. At evening tide I am fetched in with the hens. My clothes are then +inspected and repaired when there is need. She turns me back and forth +between her hands. If I exhibit impatience, she hits me upon the side +of the head, and I say to my heart it is your hands. + +Now this is the French language, Mother. + +(1) _Zuur mononfahn._ The morning salutation. + +(2) _Wasi lakafeh._ Coffee is prepared. + +(3) _Abil towah mononfahn._ Rise and go to parade. + +(4) _Dormeh beeahn mon fiz nublieh pahleh Bondihu._ This is their +dismissal at night, invoking the blessing of their God. They use a +_Tasbih_ [rosary] in form like ours but of more beads. They recite +prayers both sitting and walking. Having seen my _Tasbih_ these old +people become curious concerning the Faith. Certainly they are +idolators. I have seen the images by the roadside which they worship. +Yet they are certainly not Kafirs, who hide the truth and the mercy of +Allah is illimitable. They two send you their salutations thus:--_Onvoyeh +no zalutazioun zempresseh ar zmadam vot mair._ It is their form of +blessing. + +She has borne three sons. Two are already dead in this war and of the +third no information since the spring-time. There remains in the house +the son of the eldest son. He is three years old. His name is Pir, +which in their language also means a holy man. He runs barefoot in +summer and wears only one garment. He eats all foods and specially +dates. In this country it is not allowed to give children pepper or +cardamoms. He has learned to speak our tongue and bears a wooden sword +which was made for him and a turban of our sort. When he is weary he +repairs to the centre of my bed which is forbidden to him by his +grandmother of whom he has no fear. He fears nothing. My Mother, he is +almost the same sort as my own. He sends his salutations to him. He +calls him "My brother who is in India." He also prays for him aloud +before an idol which he is taken to worship. On account of his fatness +he cannot yet kneel long, but falls over sideways. The idol is of +Bibbee Miriam [the Virgin Mary] whom they, in this country, believe to +watch over children. He has also a small idol of his own above his bed +which represents a certain saint called Pir. He rides upon the ass and +says he will become a trooper. I take delight in his presence and his +conversation. + +The children in this country are learned from their very birth. They go +to the schools even when the shells fall near by. They know all the +countries in the world, and to read and write in their language and to +cast accounts. Even the girls of eight years can cast accounts and +those that are marriageable have complete knowledge of cookery, +accounts, and governments, and washing of clothes, agriculture and the +manufacture of garments and all other offices: otherwise they are +reckoned infirm-minded. Each girl is given a dowry to which she adds +with her own hands. No man molests any woman here on any occasion. They +come and go at their pleasure upon their business. There is one thing I +should like to see, Mother. I should like to see all the men of India +with all their wives brought to France in order to see the country and +profit by their experiences. Here are no quarrels or contentions, and +there is no dishonesty. All day long men do their work and the women do +theirs. Compared with these people the people of India do not work at +all, but all day long are occupied with evil thoughts and our women all +day long they do nothing but quarrel. Now I see this. The blame for +this state of affairs, Mother, lies upon the men of India, for if the +men were to educate the women they would give up quarrelling. + +When a man goes out into the world his understanding is enlarged and he +becomes proficient in different kinds of work. All that is needed is to +show courage. At the present time, one's bravery or one's cowardice is +apparent. The opportunities for advancement come quickly. Such +opportunities will not occur again. + +As for any marriage proposed [for me?] when I return, those things can +wait till I return. It is no gain to take into the house a child or a +sickly one who, through no fault of her own, dies in bringing forth. If +there be any talk between our house and any other family upon this +subject they should understand that I desire knowledge more than dowry. +There are schools where girls are educated by English ladies. I am not +of the sort to make a wedding outside my clan or country, but if I +fight to keep Mama Lumra out of the Punjab I will choose my wives out +of the Punjab. I desire nothing that is contrary to the Faith, Mother, +but what was ample yesterday does not cover even the palm of the hand +to-day. This is owing to the spread of enlightenment among all men +coming and going and observing matters which they had never before +known to exist. + +In this country when one of them dies, the tomb is marked and named and +kept like a garden so that the others may go to mourn over her. Nor do +they believe a burial-ground to be inhabited by evil spirits or ghouls. +When I was upon a certain duty last month, I lay three nights in a +grave-yard. None troubled me, even though the dead had been removed +from their graves by the violence of shells bursting. One was a woman +of this country, newly dead, whom we reburied for the sake of the Pity +of Allah, and made the prayer. Tell the Pir Murshid this, and that I +performed _Tayamummum_ [the shorter purification with sand or dust] +afterwards. There was no time for the full purification. + +Oh, my Mother, my Mother, I am your son, your son; and as I have said +at the beginning I will return to your arms from out of this country, +when God shall permit! + + +THE END + + +THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS +GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eyes of Asia, by Rudyard Kipling + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EYES OF ASIA *** + +***** This file should be named 23163.txt or 23163.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/6/23163/ + +Produced by Stephen Hope, Joseph Cooper and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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