The Shrewish Wife

Leisurely, we talked after our evening meal in our farmhouse. It was threshing time and a busy time for the peasants. Sri Kanth, my servant-cum-manager, and I enjoyed the hookah by turns. Satiated with it, I asked Mahmdoo to have a puff. He, of course, would not use the hookah but he took off the chilum and made the tobacco cinders burn into a last flame with his big-chested pull at it.

"Where were you all these days?" I asked him, stretching myself at ease, hugging the kangri (Kashmiri fire-pot) close, with the pheran (Kashmiri loose gown) well tucked in at the ends.

"O, sir, what shall I tell you? Don't they say, the Shrewish Wife even scared the Jinn? I was at my wife's father's home."

"Why did you go there?" I said, winking jocularly.

"To fetch my wife, my precious wife," he returned humorously. "And there she and her father detained me for full three days. I could not but obey , for the tale of the Shrewish Wife has taught me, that it is best to compromise with one's wife at the very start rather than do so very late."

"Tell me the tale;" I put in. "It appears to be interesting."

Mahmdoo, a talented story-teller-so the villagers say-was more than willing to narrate the folk-tale. He prefaced it with a throat clearing cough in the conventional rustic way and had a puff at the chilum.

Somehow, his natural manner commanded attention. He said:

"There was a man. His name was Gaffara. He was unemployed. Work did not come his way, though he tried hard to find it. What was worse, his bitter-tongued, shrewish wife gave him hell for being out of work, as if it was his fault.

"Early morning, she pushed him out of his bed, with, 'Get up, you lazy man. Go out and find work.'

"No work to be found anywhere, an idea struck him. 'Come on, buck up, boy Gaffara; he said to himself.

"In a field he stopped by a mulberry tree, lowering his spade from his shoulder. He dug the earth into a pit for the day.

"Back at home, his wife came out and greeted him, 'So you, lazy man, found work. Come on, where is the money? How long can we go on our old earnings?'

"'The contractor will pay me after a fortnight; he replied, briefly.

"Daily he went out with his spade and dug the pit deeper and deeper till it was shaped into a pretty deep well. The fortnight was over. That evening, his wife, by now grown noisily impatient for his wages, demanded wages roughly.

"Sadly, he replied, 'The contractor said that he will pay me tomorrow. I don't know why he puts me off.' After a thoughtful pause, he added, 'I think, you come with me tomorrow. You can help me out from this rogue of a clever, city contractor.'

"The determined wife made answer, 'That I will', and she added a fair number of abuses, the burden of the song being that her husband was a fool, a simpleton, a stay-at-home 'boy' and so on. He kept quiet for that way alone he could win her silence.

"Next day, Gaffara took his good wife to the well that he had already covered with brushwood and turf, leaving a part only of it visible. Reaching near, he said to her, 'Look into this hole. You'll see the contractor and the coolies working: As she leant over, he came behind her and pushed her right into the well. Hearing her fall, he ran away. Feeling greatly relieved and running as fast as his legs would carry him, he did not even look back.

"When Gaffara had run for a long distance he heard a cry after him. Thinking it was her cry, he ran all the faster. The shouts followed him again. He looked back and saw a Jinn, motioning him to stop. It was no use fleeing from the Jinn, he thought, for he would soon overtake him. And he was not so much afraid of the Jinn as he was of his wife. He stopped.

"The Jinn, coming up to him, said, in, reply to Gaffara's question as to who he was, 'I am a Jinn. Last night I came to live in the well. Just now a terrible woman fell in there. She frightened me out of it'

"So that was it. 'That's my wife,' confessed Gaffara. 'I am also running away from her. She is indeed a terrible woman.'

"The Jinn agreed, 'Yes, come on then, We'll run away together.'

'The two runaways reached a city in the evening. There they camped in a serai. They held anxious conference as to how they should make both ends meet.

"Fortunately, the Jinn thought of his powers. He said to Gaffara, 'I've an idea. I'll enter the body of the Princess of the king. She will become possessed and mad. No one will beat me out of her as no one here has the power. The king will grow helpless. Then you step in. You can make good money out of driving me out of her by saying aloud the words that I shall tell...' Nothing would be better. It was agreed upon.

"The princess became possessed of the Jinn. The King and Queen were alarmed. They called the best physicians and sorcerers. None could cure the princess. The King then had it proclaimed in the city that he would give ten thousand silver mohurs to anyone who would save the Princess.

"Gaffara awaited this development. He went to the palace, dressed as a hakim. There he was ushered in the chamber of the Princess. After repeating some sacred words over her, he shouted, slapping her, 'Go away, you Jinn, I command you.'

"There was a loud noise in the room. Every one was expectant. The hakim said, "The Princess is cured. The devil has left her: So it was, as the King saw. The Princess was normal again.

"The joy of the King and Queen knew no bounds. The Hakim was invited to remain in the palace as the royal guest. He was given his huge fee and reward. Gaffara lived a strangely pleasant life, feeling quite at ease now that he was in this wonderful palace, and really away from his wife.

"In the dead of the night, the Jinn entered Gaffara's state room, saying, 'Friend, I am idle now. What sha11I do now? I ate well and lived well so long as I had entered the body of the Princess. Now what shall I do?'

"Gaffara puffed at the royal hookah" - here Mahmdoo gave a demonstration on his hookah, as to how Gaffara must have smoked! and said, 'Now, go and enter the Wazir's daughter."

"The Jinn was pleased. 'That is well said. But you should on no account come there to take me out.'

"Gaffara promised him that. The Jinn left towards the Wazir's house in the dead of the night.

"The Wazir's daughter was possessed. The wise Wazir did not talk about it at once for he thought the King or the people might misunderstand. He secretly consulted his physician and astrologer. There was no cure.

"Days passed. Gaffara, still a royal guest, wondered why he heard nothing about the Wazir's daughter. But after a week, the Wazir came to him and persuaded him to visit the Wazir's house.

"There Gaffara repeated the 'sacred' words as he had done earlier and then cried at the Wazii's daughter, bidding the possessing spirit to leave her body. There was a crashing noise. The Wazir's daughter was freed. Gaffara secured his fee and left.

"In the way the Jinn met him. He was angry, 'Why did you break the promise and free me from the Wazir's daughter?"

"Gaffara looked sad, as he said weakly, 'I saw her coming to the palace. So I came to tell you.'

"'Who? Whom did you see?'

"Gaffara, looking sadder still, said, 'My wife, she has come. She has found me out. Allah knows how she is alive.'

"As they were talking, Gaffara's wife came in view. She was crying, 'Faithless Gaffara, I shan't leave you now. Come back to your home.'

"The Jinn looked afraid. He said, "Thank Allah, she wants you only. I must go.' So saying, the Jinn ran away, as if to save his life" Mahmdoo, his eyes glinting with satisfaction at the close attention we had paid him, seemed to come to an end. But I asked him, "Then what did the good wife do?"

"Sure, sir you can guess that she clutched him by the shoulder and took him home. Of course, he was rich now and she must have been kinder to him!"

"So you've learnt this lesson very well," I pointed out, "You always obey your wife."

"Well, Why?" Mahmdoo persisted in the rustic way. "I should have remained at her father's house even for three days more if she had so desired it" He philosophised, "It is useless to go against the grain of a woman, and more, one's wife. In the end she has her will."

I, though unconvinced, argued no longer, for I was feeling sleepy.