The Son-in-law Abroad

Ganpat was newly married. His wife was at her father's whereto he was invited to spend a holiday. As he bustled with the preparations, his mother admonished him: "My son, be heavy (serious) at your father-in-law's. Take a high place to sit on at the feast."

When Ganpat was about to leave for the long journey, she handed to him an old vari (a small earthen narrow-necked jug), saying, "Take this vari and drop into it the things that you can spare for your mother who will pine for you till you return."

A long journey on foot lay before Ganpat. A stream crossed his path. He sat on the bank and pondered -his mother's instructions. "I have to be heavy there," he repeated to himself. A broken mill-stone came in his sight. His puzzle was solved. He passed a rope through the hole of the stone and hung it from his neck. Greatly satisfied, he said to himself, "Now, by the grace of God, I am heavy."

Ganpats wife, his father-in-law and friends of the family were shocked at the mill-stone slung over his shoulder and at his haggard and fantastic appearance. Well, that was the toll of the day's march over hill and dale, they thought. But no one dared laugh at him, lest he should be insulted. Ganpat led the guests to the room. He was the first to enter. Providentially remembering his mother's words, he sat on a ledge parallel to the window sill. From that elevated position, he easily ordered the servants about, who washed his feet. His wife and mother-in-law were burning with shame at his superior airs.

Dinner was served. After two or three mouthfuls, Ganpat would put in eatables in the vari which he concealed within his pheran –the long-sleeved Kashmiri gown

About to finish his meal, he found that his hand got stuck inside the narrow neck of the vari. Just then his father-in-law told him, "Mr. Ganpat, you have finished. Won't you wash your hands? "Embarrassed, he returned, "No, I don't wash my hands. I just wipe them against the sleeves of my pheran."

Ganpat and father-in-law slept in a balcony. The moon shone overhead. Still, he had not succeeded in extricating his hand from the vari. In the dead of the night, he tried to help himself out of the difficulty. In so doing, he made some sounds which awoke his father-in-law. Rubbing his eyes, his father-in-law looked about in the moonlight and mistook the vari to be a big cat. He took a stone and hurled it at the object. The vari broke into a thousand pieces. Small pieces of meat were thrown on all sides. Ganpat got the greatest shock of his life. He fled downstairs and took refuge in the stable.

Meanwhile, his wife was awakened by the noise. She came to the balcony and seeing the scattered pieces of cooked meat, bewailed "God help me! My husband is dead." She thought that her husband had been attacked by a prowling panther and the strewn flesh was from his body.

Ganpat heard the hullabaloo in the stable. There, by mischance, a thief was prowling. The thief took him to be a sheep, lifted him bodily and after coshing him ran away with him upon his shoulders. A mile further, Ganpat, who had recovered by now shouted in the ear of his kidnapper, "You know, I am Ganpat, the honoured son-in-law."

The thief heard no more but dropped him down, shouting "Ghost! Ghost! the ghost has possessed my sheep..."