And I showed my mother the
money.
When I had done, my mother fell into an ecstasy of fury. She lifted up
her voice against me with cries of rage, and overwhelmed me with
imprecations and awful curses. Having given way to these first emotions
of despair, she sank into a more moderate tone: "What hast thou done!
Sold thy wife, hast thou! Delivered her to another man! A Brahmanari is
become the concubine of a vile merchant! Ah, what will her kindred and
ours say when they hear the tale of this brutish stupidity--of folly so
unexampled and degrading?"
The relations of my wife were soon informed of the sad adventure that
had befallen their unhappy girl. They came over to attack me, and would
certainly have murdered me and my innocent mother, if we had not both
made a sudden escape. Having no direct object to wreak their vengeance
upon, they brought the matter before the chiefs of the caste, who
unanimously fined me in two hundred pagodas, as a reparation to my
father-in-law, and issued a proclamation against so great a fool being
ever allowed to take another wife; denouncing the penalty of expulsion
from the caste against any one who should assist me in such an attempt.
I was therefore condemned to remain a widower all my life, and to pay
dear for my folly. Indeed, I should have been excluded for ever from my
caste, but for the high consideration in which the memory of my late
father is still held, he having lived respected by all the world.
Pages:
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180