Page:Shantiniketan; the Bolpur School of Rabindranath Tagore.djvu/106

86 the storm? Who but our Utonka returning to the ashram with the ear-rings?

Utonka having left the open fields is taking shelter behind a tree. Take care, Utonka, be careful of your precious ear-rings! For this is the very field where that mysterious cow appeared to you and made you drink its milk—all sorts of unearthly things happen here. It seemed as though Utonka realised his danger; for he sat down carefully and said, “I will see whether I can discover the meaning of what happened to me yesterday.”

For a long time he looked steadfastly in the direction of the dusty field but he could see nothing. On looking behind him, however, he saw a curious sight. He saw, at a height of two or three feet from the ground, a tall beggar with shaven head, ugly and almost naked, coming towards him. His face was clean shaven and his cheeks wrinkled, while on his forehead were three or four dreadful black lines, and as he approached he kept making hideous grimaces. Crouching down, he beat his hands all the time against his hollow sides. It almost seemed as if a dust-storm, vexed by the wind, was trying to drag this object along in its clutches.

Utonka began to wonder whatever was the