The Post Office - Rabindranath Tagore (summer reads .TXT) š
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GIRL. You make me think of some late star of the morning!
Whateverās the matter with you?
AMAL. I donāt know; the doctor wonāt let me out.
GIRL. Ah me! Donāt then! Should listen to the doctor.
Peopleāll be cross with you if youāre naughty. I know, always
looking out and watching must make you feel tired. Let me close
the window a bit for you.
AMAL. No, donāt, only this oneās open! All the others are shut.
But will you tell me who you are? Donāt seem to know you.
GIRL. I am Sudha.
AMAL. What Sudha?
SUDHA. Donāt you know? Daughter of the flower-seller here.
AMAL. What do you do?
SUDHA. I gather flowers in my basket.
AMAL. Oh, flower gathering! That is why your feet seem so glad
and your anklets jingle so merrily as you walk. Wish I could be
out too. Then I would pick some flowers for you from the very
topmost branches right out of sight.
SUDHA. Would you really? Do you know more about flowers than I?
AMAL. Yes, I do, quite as much. I know all about Champa of the
fairy tale and his seven brothers. If only they let me, Iāll go
right into the dense forest where you canāt find your way. And
where the honey-sipping hummingbird rocks himself on the end of
the thinnest branch, I will flower out as a champa. Would you be
my sister Parul?
SUDHA. You are silly! How can I be sister Parul when I am Sudha
and my mother is Sasi, the flower-seller? I have to weave so
many garlands a day. It would be jolly if I could lounge here
like you!
AMAL. What would you do then, all the day long?
SUDHA. I could have great times with my doll Benay the bride,
and Meni the pussycat andābut I say it is getting late and I
mustnāt stop, or I wonāt find a single flower.
AMAL. Oh, wait a little longer; I do like it so!
SUDHA. Ah, wellānow donāt you be naughty. Be good and sit
still and on my way back home with the flowers Iāll come and talk
with you.
AMAL. And youāll let me have a flower then?
SUDHA. No, how can I? It has to be paid for.
AMAL. Iāll pay when I grow upābefore I leave to look for work
out on the other side of that stream there.
SUDHA. Very well, then.
AMAL. And youāll come back when you have your flowers?
SUDHA. I will.
AMAL. You will, really?
SUDHA. Yes, I will.
AMAL. You wonāt forget me? I am Amal, remember that.
SUDHA. I wonāt forget you, youāll see. [Exit]
[A TROOP OF BOYS enter]
AMAL. Say, brothers, where are you all off to? Stop here a
little.
BOYS. Weāre off to play.
AMAL. What will you play at, brothers?
BOYS. Weāll play at being ploughmen.
FIRST BOY [Showing a stick] This is our ploughshare.
SECOND BOY. We two are the pair of oxen.
AMAL. And youāre going to play the whole day?
BOYS. Yes, all day long.
AMAL. And youāll come back home in the evening by the road along
the river bank?
BOYS. Yes.
AMAL. Do you pass our house on your way home?
BOYS. You come out to play with us, yes do.
AMAL. Doctor wonāt let me out.
BOYS. Doctor! Suppose the likes of you mind the doctor. Letās
be off; it is getting late.
AMAL. Donāt. Why not play on the road near this window? I
could watch you then.
THIRD BOY. What can we play at here?
AMAL. With all these toys of mine lying about. Here you are,
have them. I canāt play alone. They are getting dirty and are
of no use to me.
BOYS. How jolly! What fine toys! Look, hereās a ship. Thereās
old mother Jatai; say, chaps, aināt he a gorgeous sepoy? And
youāll let us have them all? You donāt really mind?
AMAL. No, not a bit; have them by all means.
BOYS. You donāt want them back?
AMAL. Oh, no, I shanāt want them.
BOYS. Say, wonāt you get a scolding for this?
AMAL. No one will scold me. But will you play with them in
front of our door for a while every morning? Iāll get you new
ones when these are old.
BOYS. Oh, yes, we will. Say, chaps, put these sepoys into a
line. Weāll play at war; where can we get a musket? Oh, look
here, this bit of reed will do nicely. Say, but youāre off to
sleep already.
AMAL. Iām afraid Iām sleepy. I donāt know, I feel like it at
times. I have been sitting a long while and Iām tired; my back
aches.
BOYS. Itās only early noon now. How is it youāre sleepy? Listen!
The gongās sounding the first watch.
AMAL. Yes, dong, dong, dong, it tolls me to sleep.
BOYS. We had better go then. Weāll come in again to-morrow morning.
AMAL. I want to ask you something before you go. You are always
outādo you know of the Kingās postmen?
BOYS. Yes, quite well.
AMAL. Who are they? Tell me their names.
BOYS. Oneās Badal, anotherās Sarat. Thereās so many of them.
AMAL. Do you think they will know me if thereās a letter for me?
BOYS. Surely, if your nameās on the letter they will find you out.
AMAL. When you call in to-morrow morning, will you bring one of
them along so that heāll know me?
BOYS. Yes, if you like.
CURTAIN
THE POST OFFICE
ACT II
[AMAL in Bed]
AMAL. Canāt I go near the window to-day, Uncle? Would the
doctor mind that too?
MADHAV. Yes, darling, you see youāve made yourself worse
squatting there day after day.
AMAL. Oh, no, I donāt know if itās made me more ill, but I
always feel well when Iām there.
MADHAV. No, you donāt; you squat there and make friends with the
whole lot of people round here, old and young, as if they are
holding a fair right under my eavesāflesh and blood wonāt stand
that strain. Just seeāyour face is quite pale.
AMAL. Uncle, I fear my fakirāll pass and not see me by the
window.
MADHAV. Your fakir, whoeverās that?
AMAL. He comes and chats to me of the many lands where heās
been. I love to hear him.
MADHAV. Howās that? I donāt know of any fakirs.
AMAL. This is about the time he comes in. I beg of you, by your
dear feet, ask him in for a moment to talk to me here.
[GAFFER Enters in a FAKIRāS Guise]
AMAL. There you are. Come here, Fakir, by my bedside.
MADHAV. Upon my word, but this isā
GAFFER. [Winking hard] I am the fakir.
MADHAV. It beats my reckoning what youāre not.
AMAL. Where have you been this time, Fakir?
FAKIR. To the Isle of Parrots. I am just back.
MADHAV. The Parrotsā Isle!
FAKIR. Is it so very astonishing? Am I like you, man? A
journey doesnāt cost a thing. I tramp just where I like.
AMAL. [Clapping] How jolly for you! Remember your promise to take
me with you as your follower when Iām well.
FAKIR. Of course, and Iāll teach you such secrets too of
travelling that nothing in sea or forest or mountain can bar your
way.
MADHAV. Whatās all this rigmarole?
GAFFER. Amal, my dear, I bow to nothing in sea or mountain; but
if the doctor joins in with this uncle of yours, then I with all
my magic must own myself beaten.
AMAL. No. Uncle shanāt tell the doctor. And I promise to lie
quiet; but the day I am well, off I go with the Fakir and nothing
in sea or mountain or torrent shall stand in my way.
MADHAV. Fie, dear child, donāt keep on harping upon going! It
makes me so sad to hear you talk so.
AMAL. Tell me, Fakir, what the Parrotsā Isle is like.
GAFFER. Itās a land of wonders; itās a haunt of birds. Thereās
no man; and they neither speak nor walk, they simply sing and
they fly.
AMAL. How glorious! And itās by some sea?
GAFFER. Of course. Itās on the sea.
AMAL. And green hills are there?
GAFFER. Indeed, they live among the green hills; and in the time
of the sunset when there is a red glow on the hillside, all the
birds with their green wings flock back to their nests.
AMAL. And there are waterfalls!
GAFFER. Dear me, of course; you donāt have a hill without its
waterfalls. Oh, itās like molten diamonds; and, my dear, what
dances they have! Donāt they make the pebbles sing as they rush
over them to the sea. No devil of a doctor can stop them for a
moment. The birds looked upon me as nothing but a man, quite a
trifling creature without wingsāand they would have nothing to
do with me. Were it not so I would build a small cabin for
myself among their crowd of nests and pass my days counting the
sea waves.
AMAL. How I wish I were a bird! Thenā
GAFFER. But that would have been a bit of a job; I hear youāve
fixed up with the dairyman to be a hawker of curds when you grow
up; Iām afraid such business wonāt flourish among birds; you
might land yourself into serious loss.
MADHAV. Really this is too much. Between you two I shall turn
crazy. Now, Iām off.
AMAL. Has the dairyman been, Uncle?
MADHAV. And why shouldnāt he? He wonāt bother his head running
errands for your pet fakir, in and out among the nests in his
Parrotsā Isle. But he has left a jar of curd for you saying that
he is rather busy with his nieceās wedding in the village, and he
has got to order a band at Kamlipara.
AMAL. But he is going to marry me to his little niece.
GAFFER. Dear me, we are in a fix now.
AMAL. He said she would find me a lovely little bride with a
pair of pearl drops in her ears and dressed in a lovely red
sĆ¢ree; and in the morning she would milk with her own hands the
black cow and feed me with warm milk with foam on it from a brand
new earthen cruse; and in the evenings she would carry the lamp
round the cow-house, and then come and sit by me to tell me tales
of Champa and his six brothers.
[Transcriberās note: In act 1, Amal mentions to Sudha about Champa
and his seven brothers. In this act, Amal mentions to Gaffer about
Champa and his six brothers. Translator error?]
GAFFER. How delicious! The prospect tempts even me, a hermit!
But never mind, dear, about this wedding. Let it be. I tell you
when you wed thereāll be no lack of nieces in his household.
MADHAV. Shut up! This is more than I can stand. [Exit]
AMAL. Fakir, now that Uncleās off, just tell me, has the King
sent me a letter to the Post Office?
GAFFER. I gather that his letter has already started; but itās
still on the way.
AMAL. On the way?
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