Page:Tales of the Punjab.pdf/12

vi premising that all the stories but three have been collected by Mrs.F. A. Steel during winter tours through the various districts of which her husband has been Chief Magistrate.

A carpet is spread under a tree in the vicinity of the spot which the Magistrate has chosen for his darbâr, but far enough away from bureaucracy to let the village idlers approach it should they feel so inclined. In a very few minutes, as a rule, some of them begin to edge up to it, and as they are generally small boys, they commence nudging each other, whispering, and sniggering. The fancied approach of a cluprâsî the 'corrupt lictor' of India, who attends at every darbâr, will however cause a sudden stampede ; but after a time those become less and less frequent, the wild beats, as it were becoming tamer. By and by a group of women stop to gaze and then the question 'What do you want?' invariably brings the answer 'To see your honour' (âp ke darshan âe). Once the ice is broken, the only difficulties are, first, to understand your visitors and secondly to get them to go away. When the general conversation is fairly started, inquiries are made by degree as to how many witches there are in the village, or what cures they know for fever and evil eyes, etc. At first these are met by denials expressed in set terms, but a little patient talk will generally lead to some remarks which point the village' minds in the direction required, till at the after many persuasions, some child begins a story,