ABSTRACT
T he little sunbaked mud huts o f the village stood silent in the heat of noon. The workers in the fields around and the women at home were all enjoying a midday sleep in the hot, drowsy air; no one was stirring.Slowly the door of a hut opened; a woman looked out cautiously, then turned and beckoned to someone behind.“This is the time,” she said, “no one is about. Take the rope.”A younger woman came out and looked doubtfully at her.“Do you really mean it, sister? I feel afraid.” Nervously she twisted the well-rope in her hand.“Yes, come,” said the elder one with determination. “What good can life bring to us poor widows? Only dishonour. Do you know one single widow in our village who could hold on to righteousness? There is no comfort anywhere. Oh, how many pilgrimages have I gone! No god has answered me. I cannot bear the thought of the long years ahead. I am going to end it.”“ I am afraid,” said the younger sister again. “Must I come ?”“ It would be sin to leave you behind alone, little sister,” said the elder tenderly. “Come! It will soon be over.”Together they went out of the village. A woman stirring from her sleep on the verandah looked after them. “Widow Lakshmi and her sister,” she muttered; “where are they going ? With a rope and no pots ? They are bereft of sense.”The sisters had passed through the village to the fields. Deserted and quiet in the midst of the ragi cultivation was the large square well used for its irrigation on alternate days. To-day was an off day and no one was near. The sisters went down the rough steps and stood by the water. The elder took
the rope and twisted it round them both. Round them rose the strongly revetted walls of the well; above them hung the little stone platform whence, on other days, the great leather bag would be let down over the simple hasp to bring up the precious liquid from the cool depths to the thirsty fields.The younger girl stared fearfully at the dark water.“Come, sister,” said the elder one, “let us jump in. We will leave this world of illusion together. Now!” Resolutely she stepped to the very edge.But the younger one gave a cry of horror. “No, no, no, I will not! Not into that black water! I can’t do it, sister, I don’t want to die!”In terror lest she should be dragged in she slipped an arm out of the rope, threw the rest over her head and scrambled as fast as her trembling limbs would allow up the steps, and ran back home.“My poor little sister,” thought the elder, “she has no strength. Shall I go by myself? But it would be much sin to me if I left her, without any near relative in the world. I, too, must stay.”Mournfully she went home.
