<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"></SPAN></p>
<h2> The One-Handed Girl </h2>
<p>An old couple once lived in a hut under a grove of palm trees, and they
had one son and one daughter. They were all very happy together for many
years, and then the father became very ill, and felt he was going to die.
He called his children to the place where he lay on the floor—for no
one had any beds in that country—and said to his son, 'I have no
herds of cattle to leave you—only the few things there are in the
house—for I am a poor man, as you know. But choose: will you have my
blessing or my property?'</p>
<p>'Your property, certainly,' answered the son, and his father nodded.</p>
<p>'And you?' asked the old man of the girl, who stood by her brother.</p>
<p>'I will have blessing,' she answered, and her father gave her much
blessing.</p>
<p>That night he died, and his wife and son and daughter mourned for him
seven days, and gave him a burial according to the custom of his people.
But hardly was the time of mourning over, than the mother was attacked by
a disease which was common in that country.</p>
<p>'I am going away from you,' she said to her children, in a faint voice;
'but first, my son, choose which you will have: blessing or property.'</p>
<p>'Property, certainly,' answered the son.</p>
<p>'And you, my daughter?'</p>
<p>'I will have blessing,' said the girl; and her mother gave her much
blessing, and that night she died.</p>
<p>When the days of mourning were ended, the brother bade his sister put
outside the hut all that belonged to his father and his mother. So the
girl put them out, and he took them away, save only a small pot and a
vessel in which she could clean her corn. But she had no corn to clean.</p>
<p>She sat at home, sad and hungry, when a neighbour knocked at the door.</p>
<p>'My pot has cracked in the fire, lend me yours to cook my supper in, and I
will give you a handful of corn in return.'</p>
<p>And the girl was glad, and that night she was able to have supper herself,
and next day another woman borrowed her pot, and then another and another,
for never were known so many accidents as befell the village pots at that
time. She soon grew quite fat with all the corn she earned with the help
of her pot, and then one evening she picked up a pumpkin seed in a corner,
and planted it near her well, and it sprang up, and gave her many
pumpkins.</p>
<p>At last it happened that a youth from her village passed through the place
where the girl's brother was, and the two met and talked.</p>
<p>'What news is there of my sister?' asked the young man, with whom things
had gone badly, for he was idle.</p>
<p>'She is fat and well-liking,' replied the youth, 'for the women borrow her
mortar to clean their corn, and borrow her pot to cook it in, and for al
this they give her more food than she can eat.' And he went his way.</p>
<p>Now the brother was filled with envy at the words of the man, and he set
out at once, and before dawn he had reached the hut, and saw the pot and
the mortar were standing outside. He slung them over his shoulders and
departed, pleased with his own cleverness; but when his sister awoke and
sought for the pot to cook her corn for breakfast, she could find it
nowhere. At length she said to herself,</p>
<p>'Well, some thief must have stolen them while I slept. I will go and see
if any of my pumpkins are ripe.' And indeed they were, and so many that
the tree was almost broken by the weight of them. So she ate what she
wanted and took the others to the village, and gave them in exchange for
corn, and the women said that no pumpkins were as sweet as these, and that
she was to bring every day all that she had. In this way she earned more
than she needed for herself, and soon was able to get another mortar and
cooking pot in exchange for her corn. Then she thought she was quite rich.</p>
<p>Unluckily someone else thought so too, and this was her brother's wife,
who had heard all about the pumpkin tree, and sent her slave with a
handful of grain to buy her a pumpkin. At first the girl told him that so
few were left that she could not spare any; but when she found that he
belonged to her brother, she changed her mind, and went out to the tree
and gathered the largest and the ripest that was there.</p>
<p>'Take this one,' she said to the slave, 'and carry it back to your
mistress, but tell her to keep the corn, as the pumpkin is a gift.'</p>
<p>The brother's wife was overjoyed at the sight of the fruit, and when she
tasted it, she declared it was the nicest she had ever eaten. Indeed, all
night she thought of nothing else, and early in the morning she called
another slave (for she was a rich woman) and bade him go and ask for
another pumpkin. But the girl, who had just been out to look at her tree,
told him that they were all eaten, so he went back empty-handed to his
mistress.</p>
<p>In the evening her husband returned from hunting a long way off, and found
his wife in tears.</p>
<p>'What is the matter?' asked he.</p>
<p>'I sent a slave with some grain to your sister to buy some pumpkins, but
she would not sell me any, and told me there were none, though I know she
lets other people buy them.'</p>
<p>'Well, never mind now—go to sleep,' said he, 'and to-morrow I will
go and pull up the pumpkin tree, and that will punish her for treating you
so badly.'</p>
<p>So before sunrise he got up and set out for his sister's house, and found
her cleaning some corn.</p>
<p>'Why did you refuse to sell my wife a pumpkin yesterday when she wanted
one?' he asked.</p>
<p>'The old ones are finished, and the new ones are not yet come,' answered
the girl. 'When her slave arrived two days ago, there were only four left;
but I gave him one, and would take no corn for it.'</p>
<p>'I do not believe you; you have sold them all to other people. I shall go
and cut down the pumpkin,' cried her brother in a rage.</p>
<p>'If you cut down the pumpkin you shall cut off my hand with it,' exclaimed
the girl, running up to her tree and catching hold of it. But her brother
followed, and with one blow cut off the pumpkin and her hand too.</p>
<p>Then he went into the house and took away everything he could find, and
sold the house to a friend of his who had long wished to have it, and his
sister had no home to go to.</p>
<p>Meanwhile she had bathed her arm carefully, and bound on it some healing
leaves that grew near by, and wrapped a cloth round the leaves, and went
to hide in the forest, that her brother might not find her again.</p>
<p>For seven days she wandered about, eating only the fruit that hung from
the trees above her, and every night she climbed up and tucked herself
safely among the creepers which bound together the big branches, so that
neither lions nor tigers nor panthers might get at her.</p>
<p>When she woke up on the seventh morning she saw from her perch smoke
coming up from a little town on the edge of the forest. The sight of the
huts made her feel more lonely and helpless than before. She longed
desperately for a draught of milk from a gourd, for there were no streams
in that part, and she was very thirsty, but how was she to earn anything
with only one hand? And at this thought her courage failed, and she began
to cry bitterly.</p>
<p>It happened that the king's son had come out from the town very early to
shoot birds, and when the sun grew hot he left tired.</p>
<p>'I will lie here and rest under this tree,' he said to his attendants.
'You can go and shoot instead, and I will just have this slave to stay
with me!' Away they went, and the young man fell asleep, and slept long.
Suddenly he was awakened by something wet and salt falling on his face.</p>
<p>'What is that? Is it raining?' he said to his slave. 'Go and look.'</p>
<p>'No, master, it is not raining,' answered the slave.</p>
<p>'Then climb up the tree and see what it is,' and the slave climbed up, and
came back and told his master that a beautiful girl was sitting up there,
and that it must have been her tears which had fallen on the face of the
king's son.</p>
<p>'Why was she crying?' inquired the prince.</p>
<p>'I cannot tell—I did not dare to ask her; but perhaps she would tell
you.' And the master, greatly wondering, climbed up the tree.</p>
<p>'What is the matter with you?' said he gently, and, as she only sobbed
louder, he continued:</p>
<p>'Are you a woman, or a spirit of the woods?'</p>
<p>'I am a woman,' she answered slowly, wiping her eyes with a leaf of the
creeper that hung about her.</p>
<p>'Then why do you cry?' he persisted.</p>
<p>'I have many things to cry for,' she replied, 'more than you could ever
guess.'</p>
<p>'Come home with me,' said the prince; 'it is not very far. Come home to my
father and mother. I am a king's son.'</p>
<p>'Then why are you here?' she said, opening her eyes and staring at him.</p>
<p>'Once every month I and my friends shoot birds in the forest,' he
answered, 'but I was tired and bade them leave me to rest. And you—what
are you doing up in this tree?'</p>
<p>At that she began to cry again, and told the king's son all that had
befallen her since the death of her mother.</p>
<p>'I cannot come down with you, for I do not like anyone to see me,' she
ended with a sob.</p>
<p>'Oh! I will manage all that,' said the king's son, and swinging himself to
a lower branch, he bade his slave go quickly into the town, and bring back
with him four strong men and a curtained litter. When the man was gone,
the girl climbed down, and hid herself on the ground in some bushes. Very
soon the slave returned with the litter, which was placed on the ground
close to the bushes where the girl lay.</p>
<p>'Now go, all of you, and call my attendants, for I do not wish to say here
any longer,' he said to the men, and as soon as they were out of sight he
bade the girl get into the litter, and fasten the curtains tightly. Then
he got in on the other side, and waited till his attendants came up.</p>
<p>'What is the matter, O son of a king?' asked they, breathless with
running.</p>
<p>'I think I am ill; I am cold,' he said, and signing to the bearers, he
drew the curtains, and was carried through the forest right inside his own
house.</p>
<p>'Tell my father and mother that I have a fever, and want some gruel,' said
he, 'and bid them send it quickly.'</p>
<p>So the slave hastened to the king's palace and gave his message, which
troubled both the king and the queen greatly. A pot of hot gruel was
instantly prepared, and carried over to the sick man, and as soon as the
council which was sitting was over, the king and his ministers went to pay
him a visit, bearing a message from the queen that she would follow a
little later.</p>
<p>Now the prince had pretended to be ill in order to soften his parent's
hearts, and the next day he declared he felt better, and, getting into his
litter, was carried to the palace in state, drums being beaten all along
the road.</p>
<p>He dismounted at the foot of the steps and walked up, a great parasol
being held over his head by a slave. Then he entered the cool, dark room
where his father and mother were sitting, and said to them:</p>
<p>'I saw a girl yesterday in the forest whom I wish to marry, and, unknown
to my attendants, I brought her back to my house in a litter. Give me your
consent, I beg, for no other woman pleases me as well, even though she has
but one hand!'</p>
<p>Of course the king and queen would have preferred a daughter-in-law with
two hands, and one who could have brought riches with her, but they could
not bear to say 'No' to their son, so they told him it should be as he
chose, and that the wedding feast should be prepared immediately.</p>
<p>The girl could scarcely believe her good fortune, and, in gratitude for
all the kindness shown her, was so useful and pleasant to her husband's
parents that they soon loved her.</p>
<p>By and bye a baby was born to her, and soon after that the prince was sent
on a journey by his father to visit some of the distant towns of the
kingdom, and to set right things that had gone wrong.</p>
<p>No sooner had he started than the girl's brother, who had wasted all the
riches his wife had brought him in recklessness and folly, and was now
very poor, chanced to come into the town, and as he passed he heard a man
say, 'Do you know that the king's son has married a woman who has lost one
of her hands?' On hearing these words the brother stopped and asked,
'Where did he find such a woman?'</p>
<p>'In the forest,' answered the man, and the cruel brother guessed at once
it must be his sister.</p>
<p>A great rage took possession of his soul as he thought of the girl whom he
had tried to ruin being after all so much better off than himself, and he
vowed that he would work her ill. Therefore that very afternoon he made
his way to the palace and asked to see the king.</p>
<p>When he was admitted to his presence, he knelt down and touched the ground
with his forehead, and the king bade him stand up and tell wherefore he
had come.</p>
<p>'By the kindness of your heart have you been deceived, O king,' said he.
'Your son has married a girl who has lost a hand. Do you know why she had
lost it? She was a witch, and has wedded three husbands, and each husband
she has put to death with her arts. Then the people of the town cut off
her hand, and turned her into the forest. And what I say is true, for her
town is my town also.'</p>
<p>The king listened, and his face grew dark. Unluckily he had a hasty
temper, and did not stop to reason, and, instead of sending to the town,
and discovering people who knew his daughter-in-law and could have told
him how hard she had worked and how poor she had been, he believed all the
brother's lying words, and made the queen believe them too. Together they
took counsel what they should do, and in the end they decided that they
also would put her out of the town. But this did not content the brother.</p>
<p>'Kill her,' he said. 'It is no more than she deserves for daring to marry
the king's son. Then she can do no more hurt to anyone.'</p>
<p>'We cannot kill her,' answered they; 'if we did, our son would assuredly
kill us. Let us do as the others did, and put her out of the town. And
with this the envious brother was forced to be content.</p>
<p>The poor girl loved her husband very much, but just then the baby was more
to her than all else in the world, and as long as she had him with her,
she did not very much mind anything. So, taking her son on her arm, and
hanging a little earthen pot for cooking round her neck, she left her
house with its great peacock fans and slaves and seats of ivory, and
plunged into the forest.</p>
<p>For a while she walked, not knowing whither she went, then by and bye she
grew tired, and sat under a tree to rest and to hush her baby to sleep.
Suddenly she raised her eyes, and saw a snake wriggling from under the
bushes towards her.</p>
<p>'I am a dead woman,' she said to herself, and stayed quite still, for
indeed she was too frightened to move. In another minute the snake had
reached her side, and to her surprise he spoke.</p>
<p>'Open your earthen pot, and let me go in. Save me from sun, and I will
save you from rain,' and she opened the pot, and when the snake had
slipped in, she put on the cover. Soon she beheld another snake coming
after the other one, and when it had reached her it stopped and said, 'Did
you see a small grey snake pass this way just now?'</p>
<p>'Yes,' she answered, 'it was going very quickly.'</p>
<p>'Ah, I must hurry and catch it up,' replied the second snake, and it
hastened on.</p>
<p>When it was out of sight, a voice from the pot said:</p>
<p>'Uncover me,' and she lifted the lid, and the little grey snake slid
rapidly to the ground.</p>
<p>'I am safe now,' he said. 'But tell me, where are you going?'</p>
<p>'I cannot tell you, for I do not know,' she answered. 'I am just wandering
in the wood.'</p>
<p>'Follow me, and let us go home together,' said the snake, and the girl
followed his through the forest and along the green paths, till they came
to a great lake, where they stopped to rest.</p>
<p>'The sun is hot,' said the snake, 'and you have walked far. Take your baby
and bathe in that cool place where the boughs of the tree stretch far over
the water.'</p>
<p>'Yes, I will,' answered she, and they went in. The baby splashed and
crowed with delight, and then he gave a spring and fell right in, down,
down, down, and his mother could not find him, though she searched all
among the reeds.</p>
<p>Full of terror, she made her way back to the bank, and called to the
snake, 'My baby is gone!—he is drowned, and never shall I see him
again.'</p>
<p>'Go in once more,' said the snake, 'and feel everywhere, even among the
trees that have their roots in the water, lest perhaps he may be held fast
there.'</p>
<p>Swiftly she went back and felt everywhere with her whole hand, even
putting her fingers into the tiniest crannies, where a crab could hardly
have taken shelter.</p>
<p>'No, he is not here,' she cried. 'How am I to live without him?' But the
snake took no notice, and only answered, 'Put in your other arm too.'</p>
<p>'What is the use of that?' she asked, 'when it has no hand to feel with?'
but all the same she did as she was bid, and in an instant the wounded arm
touched something round and soft, lying between two stones in a clump of
reeds.</p>
<p>'My baby, my baby!' she shouted, and lifted him up, merry and laughing,
and not a bit hurt or frightened.</p>
<p>'Have you found him this time?' asked the snake.</p>
<p>'Yes, oh, yes!' she answered, 'and, why—why—I have got my hand
back again!' and from sheer joy she burst into tears.</p>
<p>The snake let her weep for a little while, and then he said—</p>
<p>'Now we will journey on to my family, and we will all repay you for the
kindness you showed to me.'</p>
<p>'You have done more than enough in giving me back my hand,' replied the
girl; but the snake only smiled.</p>
<p>'Be quick, lest the sun should set,' he answered, and began to wriggle
along so fast that the girl could hardly follow him.</p>
<p>By and bye they arrived at the house in a tree where the snake lived, when
he was not travelling with his father and mother. And he told them all his
adventures, and how he had escaped from his enemy. The father and mother
snake could not do enough to show their gratitude. They made their guest
lie down on a hammock woven of the strong creepers which hung from bough
to bough, till she was quite rested after her wanderings, while they
watched the baby and gave him milk to drink from the cocoa-nuts which they
persuaded their friends the monkeys to crack for them. They even managed
to carry small fruit tied up in their tails for the baby's mother, who
felt at last that she was safe and at peace. Not that she forgot her
husband, for she often thought of him and longed to show him her son, and
in the night she would sometimes lie awake and wonder where he was.</p>
<p>In this manner many weeks passed by.</p>
<p>And what was the prince doing?</p>
<p>Well, he had fallen very ill when he was on the furthest border of the
kingdom, and he was nursed by some kind people who did not know who he
was, so that the king and queen heard nothing about him. When he was
better he made his way home again, and into his father's palace, where he
found a strange man standing behind the throne with the peacock's
feathers. This was his wife's brother, whom the king had taken into high
favour, though, of course, the prince was quite ignorant of what had
happened.</p>
<p>For a moment the king and queen stared at their son, as if he had been
unknown to them; he had grown so thin and weak during his illness that his
shoulders were bowed like those of an old man.</p>
<p>'Have you forgotten me so soon?' he asked.</p>
<p>At the sound of his voice they gave a cry and ran towards him, and poured
out questions as to what had happened, and why he looked like that. But
the prince did not answer any of them.</p>
<p>'How is my wife?' he said. There was a pause.</p>
<p>Then the queen replied:</p>
<p>'She is dead.'</p>
<p>'Dead!' he repeated, stepping a little backwards. 'And my child?'</p>
<p>'He is dead too.'</p>
<p>The young man stood silent. Then he said, 'Show me their graves.'</p>
<p>At these words the king, who had been feeling rather uncomfortable, took
heart again, for had he not prepared two beautiful tombs for his son to
see, so that he might never, never guess what had been done to his wife?
All these months the king and queen had been telling each other how good
and merciful they had been not to take her brother's advice and to put her
to death. But now, this somehow did not seem so certain.</p>
<p>Then the king led the way to the courtyard just behind the palace, and
through the gate into a beautiful garden where stood two splendid tombs in
a green space under the trees. The prince advanced alone, and, resting his
head against the stone, he burst into tears. His father and mother stood
silently behind with a curious pang in their souls which they did not
quite understand. Could it be that they were ashamed of themselves?</p>
<p>But after a while the prince turned round, and walking past them in to the
palace he bade the slaves bring him mourning. For seven days no one saw
him, but at the end of them he went out hunting, and helped his father
rule his people. Only no one dared to speak to him of his wife and son.</p>
<p>At last one morning, after the girl had been lying awake all night
thinking of her husband, she said to her friend the snake:</p>
<p>'You have all shown me much kindness, but now I am well again, and want to
go home and hear some news of my husband, and if he still mourns for me!'
Now the heart of the snake was sad at her words, but he only said:</p>
<p>'Yes, thus it must be; go and bid farewell to my father and mother, but if
they offer you a present, see that you take nothing but my father's ring
and my mother's casket.'</p>
<p>So she went to the parent snakes, who wept bitterly at the thought of
losing her, and offered her gold and jewels as much as she could carry in
remembrance of them. But the girl shook her head and pushed the shining
heap away from her.</p>
<p>'I shall never forget you, never,' she said in a broken voice, 'but the
only tokens I will accept from you are that little ring and this old
casket.'</p>
<p>The two snakes looked at each other in dismay. The ring and the casket
were the only things they did not want her to have. Then after a short
pause they spoke.</p>
<p>'Why do you want the ring and casket so much? Who has told you of them?'</p>
<p>'Oh, nobody; it is just my fancy,' answered she. But the old snakes shook
their heads and replied:</p>
<p>'Not so; it is our son who told you, and, as he said, so it must be. If
you need food, or clothes, or a house, tell the ring and it will find them
for you. And if you are unhappy or in danger, tell the casket and it will
set things right.' Then they both gave her their blessing, and she picked
up her baby and went her way.</p>
<p>She walked for a long time, till at length she came near the town where
her husband and his father dwelt. Here she stopped under a grove of palm
trees, and told the ring that she wanted a house.</p>
<p>'It is ready, mistress,' whispered a queer little voice which made her
jump, and, looking behind her, she saw a lovely palace made of the finest
woods, and a row of slaves with tall fans bowing before the door. Glad
indeed was she to enter, for she was very tired, and, after eating a good
supper of fruit and milk which she found in one of the rooms, she flung
herself down on a pile of cushions and went to sleep with her baby beside
her.</p>
<p>Here she stayed quietly, and every day the baby grew taller and stronger,
and very soon he could run about and even talk. Of course the neighbours
had a great deal to say about the house which had been built so quickly—so
very quickly—on the outskirts of the town, and invented all kinds of
stories about the rich lady who lived in it. And by and bye, when the king
returned with his son from the wars, some of these tales reached his ears.</p>
<p>'It is really very odd about that house under the palms,' he said to the
queen; 'I must find out something of the lady whom no one ever sees. I
daresay it is not a lady at all, but a gang of conspirators who want to
get possession of my throne. To-morrow I shall take my son and my chief
ministers and insist on getting inside.'</p>
<p>Soon after sunrise next day the prince's wife was standing on a little
hill behind the house, when she saw a cloud of dust coming through the
town. A moment afterwards she heard faintly the roll of the drums that
announced the king's presence, and saw a crowd of people approaching the
grove of palms. Her heart beat fast. Could her husband be among them? In
any case they must not discover her there; so just bidding the ring
prepare some food for them, she ran inside, and bound a veil of golden
gauze round her head and face. Then, taking the child's hand, she went to
the door and waited.</p>
<p>In a few minutes the whole procession came up, and she stepped forward and
begged them to come in and rest.</p>
<p>'Willingly,' answered the king; 'go first, and we will follow you.'</p>
<p>They followed her into a long dark room, in which was a table covered with
gold cups and baskets filled with dates and cocoa-nuts and all kinds of
ripe yellow fruits, and the king and the prince sat upon cushions and were
served by slaves, while the ministers, among whom she recognised her own
brother, stood behind.</p>
<p>'Ah, I owe all my misery to him,' she said to herself. 'From the first he
has hated me,' but outwardly she showed nothing. And when the king asked
her what news there was in the town she only answered:</p>
<p>'You have ridden far; eat first, and drink, for you must be hungry and
thirsty, and then I will tell you my news.'</p>
<p>'You speak sense,' answered the king, and silence prevailed for some time
longer. Then he said:</p>
<p>'Now, lady, I have finished, and am refreshed, therefore tell me, I pray
you, who you are, and whence you come? But, first, be seated.'</p>
<p>She bowed her head and sat down on a big scarlet cushion, drawing her
little boy, who was asleep in a corner, on to her knee, and began to tell
the story of her life. As her brother listened, he would fain have left
the house and hidden himself in the forest, but it was his duty to wave
the fan of peacock's feathers over the king's head to keep off the flies,
and he knew he would be seized by the royal guards if he tried to desert
his post. He must stay where he was, there was no help for it, and luckily
for him the king was too much interested in the tale to notice that the
fan had ceased moving, and that flies were dancing right on the top of his
thick curly hair.</p>
<p>The story went on, but the story-teller never once looked at the prince,
even through her veil, though he on his side never moved his eyes from
her. When she reached the part where she had sat weeping in the tree, the
king's son could restrain himself no longer.</p>
<p>'It is my wife,' he cried, springing to where she sat with the sleeping
child in her lap. 'They have lied to me, and you are not dead after all,
nor the boy either! But what has happened? Why did they lie to me? and why
did you leave my house where you were safe?' And he turned and looked
fiercely at his father.</p>
<p>'Let me finish my tale first, and then you will know,' answered she,
throwing back her veil, and she told how her brother had come to the
palace and accused her of being a witch, and had tried to persuade the
king to slay her. 'But he would not do that,' she continued softly, 'and
after all, if I had stayed on in your house, I should never have met the
snake, nor have got my hand back again. So let us forget all about it, and
be happy once more, for see! our son is growing quite a big boy.'</p>
<p>'And what shall be done to your brother?' asked the king, who was glad to
think that someone had acted in this matter worse than himself.</p>
<p>'Put him out of the town,' answered she.</p>
<p>From 'Swaheli Tales,' by E. Steere.</p>
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