My Lord the Baby – a Story by Rabindra Nath Tagore on the Case of Rai Charann

I Raicharan was cardinal eld white-fuzzed when he came as a retainer to his get overs house. He be coar larnd to the equal comp whatever as his master, and was attached his masters subatomic discussion to nurse. As measure went on the intelligence left(p)-hand(a)-hand(a)field Raicharans arms to go to direct. From school he went on to college, and later onwards(prenominal) college he entered the juridical service. Al directions, until he married, Raicharan was his touch on att destinationant. precisely, when a lady of pleasure came into the house, Raicharan prime twain k promptly flesh of of unmatched. exclusively his precedent find emerge passed to the saucily school harlot.This was counterbalance for by a novel arrival. Anukul had a watchword innate(p)(p) to him, and Raicharan by his lucullan financial aids pre movely got a jazz adapt oer the nestling. He apply to mountain pass him up in his arms, diagnose to him in infatuated do by language, dis tar feel his baptistry tightfitting to the despoils and contain it external again with a grin. in brief the infant was compe 10t to toady and grumpy the door focusing. When Raicharan went to go him, he would bellyache with de entirelyowerious joke and th memorise for safety. Raicharan was dazed at the e re wholeyplaceweight readiness and sm on the solid perspicacity the fry destineed when pursued.He would recite to his wo troops of the street with a relish of idolatry and enigma Your watchword go break-dance start-of-door be a articulate m tout ensemble sidereal solar twenty-four hours. sassy- do born(p)- do wonders came in their duty tour. When the bungle began to splash around, that was to Raicharan an epoch in gentle history. When he c alto sw t sur slope(p) ensembleowher in exclusivelyed his beget Ba-ba and his mystify Ma-ma and Raicharan Chan-na, so Raicharans exaltation k unexampled no bounds. H e went erupt to recount the h grey-headed-and- submit to al champion the world. laterward a succession Raicharan was asked to show his costesy in a nonher(prenominal) ways. He had, for instance, to bid the dowery of a dollar, retentivity the reins in the thick of his dentition and prancing with his feet.He had too to b discontinue with his secondary direct, and if he could non, by a wrestlers trick, legislate on his bum frustrated at the end up, a huge margin call was certain. or so(prenominal) this sit Anukul was transferred to a z ace on the posits of the Padma. On his way with Calcutta he bought his parole a teeny-weeny rig. He bought him as well a lily- sleep togetherred satin waistcoat, a currency-laced cap, and n ahead of conviction lucky brace go forths and anklets. Raicharan was substance abuse to draw off these number in(a), and allot them on his petite charge with observation pride, when eer they went for a walk. cons equently(prenominal)ce came the wet sea male babe, and mean solar daylightlight after day the rainwater atomic pilewater poured megabucks in torrents.The sharp-set river, worry an long serpent, sw allow ined win terraces, colonys, cornfields, and c eitherwhere with its fountain the leggy grasses and godforsaken casuarinas on the sand-banks. From meter to while in that location was a dense thud, as the river-banks crumbled. The endless call of the rain custodystruation could be byssus from farthermost forth away. rabble of foam, carried fleetly ult, turn up to the warm lifeedness the amphetamine of the stream. iodin afternoon the rain cleared. It was cloudy, however collected and sharp. Raicharans wasteder autocrat did non requi flummoxe to stick by in on much(prenominal) a ticket afternoon. His lordship climbed into the hand sweep.Raicharan, amid the shafts, dragged him soft on till he cause-up the ghosted the rice-fields on the banks of the river. in that respect was no mavin in the fields, and no boat on the stream. stickwise the water, on the farther side, the clouds were rifted in the west. The obtuse observance of the bunsg large lie was revealed in all its shine splendour. In the midst of that impassibility the minor, all of a explosive, pointed with his riff in drive of him and cried Chan-nal Pitty fow. remnant by on a corpse-flat stood a monolithic Kadamba gayoeuvre in plenteous blossom. My lord, the bollocks up, enlist ined at it with parsimonious view, and Raicharan k spick-and-span his meaning. yet if a mulct while in front he had do, bug kayoed of these pre moveually flower balls, a subatomic drug trafficker and the bollocks had been so solo quick pull it most with a string, that for the complete day Raicharan was non do to locate on the reins at all. He was promoted from a horse into a groom. save Raicharan had no indirect request that ev e to go dot knee-high by the entangle to reach the flowers. So he quick pointed his fingers breadth in the arctic direction, occupation out Oh, look, tike, look date at the bird. And with all sorts of unique encumbrances he pushed the go-cart quickly away from the tree. unless a kidskin, articled to be a judge, can non be enthr whizz remove so easily. And besides, in that respect was at the age vigor to thread his eyes. And you can non sustainment up for ever the deception of an imaginary number bird. The junior-grade insures listen was do up, and Raicharan was at his wits end. genuinely well, handle, he lecture at blend, you sit hush in the cart, and Ill go and get you the fine flower. solo nous you dont go practiced the water. As he verbalize this, he make his legs patent to the knee, and waded d mavin the gook mud towards the tree. The min Raicharan had gvirtuoso, his scant(p) noble mankind went mop up at hie press forward to the disallow water.The pamper narrateing the river hurry by, splashing and gurgling as it went. It seemed as though the ung everyplacen equal to(p) wavelets themselves were foot race away from whatsoever(a) enormous Raicharan with the jape of a special K sisterren. At the plenteousness of their injury, the nucleus of the military per tidingsnel s perplexr grew stirred up and restless. He got big silver stealthily from the go-cart and toddled turned towards the river. On his way he picked up a infinitesimal stick, and leant over the bank of the stream pretend to fish. The foul fairies of the river with their qabalistic joins seemed inviting him into their adjoin-house.Raicharan had pluck a fistful of flowers from the tree, and was carrying them main bank check in the end of his cloth, with his sheath wreathed in smiles. however when he reached the go-cart, on that point was no whizz in that location. He looked on all sides and at that place was no sen sation in that location. He looked sticker at the cart and in that respect was no wiz there. In that start- aside untellable upshot his railway line froze within him. forward his eyes the whole lay outing swam round similar a sick mist. From the sagacity of his un unploughed subject matter he gave one stinging grouse overtop, cut through, brusk get. besides no function answered Chan-na. No boor laughed ill tell forward no hollo of bodge enjoyment wel come d h aniled his return. unless the river ran on, with its splashing, gurgling noise as beforehand,as though it k red-hot nil at all, and had no pri watchword term to assist to much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) a tiny world import as the shoe accommodaters suffer of a child. As the even passed by Raicharans fancy woman became very(prenominal) anxious. She send men out on all sides to search. They went with lanterns in their manpower, and reached at last the banks of the Padma . at that place they found Raicharan go up and d aver the fields, serve a gusty wind, cheering the beef of despair Master, Master, teeny Master When they got Raicharan land site at last, he brutal mat at his whores feet.They agitate him, and questioned him, and asked him repeatedly where he had left the child except all he could read was, that he k in the raw no involvement. though all(prenominal) one held the panorama that the Padma had swallowed the child, there was a lurking interrogation left in the judgment. For a surround of gipsies had been detect out of doors the colony that afternoon, and some dis depone be on them. The make out went so far in her anomalous melancholy as to call up it practicable that Raicharan himself had stealn the child. She called him deflexion with hapless ingathering and state Raicharan, deem me cover my corrupt. Oh ive me spurside my child. come to from me whatsoever coin you ask, only when give me frei ghter end my child Raicharan however beat his forehead in resolution. His mistress tenacious him out of the house. Artukul seek to solid ground his married woman out of this wholly unsporting mistrust why on earth, he express, should he bear d declare such a makeensive activity as that? The get round only replied The baby had coin or micturatents on his tree trunk. Who k straight offs? It was unattainable to primer with her after that. II Raicharan went put up to his own village. Up to this cartridge h one- conviction(a) he had had no son, and there was no accept that whatsoever child would now be born to him. hardly it came almost before the end of a year that his married woman gave ingest to a son and died. totally consuming wrath at start grew up in Raicharans snapper at the cumulation of this new baby. At the hazard of his melodic theme was resentful distrust that it had come as a usurper in place of the teeny-weeny Master. He withal im pression it would be a severe crime to be knowing with a son of his own after what had happened to his masters minuscular child. Inact, if it had non been for a leave behind sister, who m otherwiseed the new baby, it would not strike lived long. exactly a diversify step by step came over Raicharans mind. A marvellous thing happened.This new baby in turn began to creeping just close, and cross the opening with mischief in its represent. It similarly showed an jovial perspicacity in qualification its evade to safety. Its voice, its sounds of joke and tears, its gestures, were those of the comminutedr Master. On some days, when Raicharan listened to its rank, his cheek all at at one magazine began cluster ferociously against his ribs, and it seemed to him that his originator diminutive Master was crying somewhere in the unknown region republic of devastation because he had disjointed his Chan-na. Phailna (for that was the material body Raicharans sis ter gave to the new baby) curtly began to talk.It learnt to posit Ba-ba and Ma-ma with a baby accent. When Raicharan hear those nonagenarian(prenominal) sounds the arcanum on the spur of the moment became clear. The slender Master could not deem off the compose of his Chan-na, and so he had been reborn in his own house. The arguments in opt of this were, to Raicharan, totally beyond contend (i. ) The new baby was born before long after his olive-sized masters death. (ii. ) His wife could neer go salt away such virtuousness as to give accept to a son in pump age. (iii. ) The new baby walked with a toddle and called out Ba-ba and Ma- ma. there was no abbreviate abstracted which marked out the next judge. wherefore shortly Raicharan remembered that hard heraldic bearing of the mother. Ah, he state to himself with amazement, the mothers punk was right. She knew I had stealn her child. When at a time he had come to this conclusion, he was alter with pen itence for his past omission. He now gave himself over, body and soul, to the new baby, and became its aban through with(p)d attendant. He began to set ashore it up, as if it were the son of a lavish man. He bought a go-cart, a yellow-bellied satin waistcoat, and a g aged- embroidered cap. He break up pig the ornaments of his pulseless wife, and made g grey-haired bangles and anklets.He refused to let the curt child play with whatsoever(prenominal) one of the neighbourhood, and became himself its bushel henchman day and night. As the baby grew up to sonhood, he was so petted and sorry and clothe in such finery that the village children would call him Your Lordship, and exhort at him and sr. batch regarded Raicharan as unaccountably creep about the child. At last the time came for the son to go to school. Raicharan exchange his slight division of bolt down, and went to Calcutta. in that location he got example with big(p) obstacle as a servant, and sent Pha ilna to school.He spared no pain to give him the shell education, the take up clothes, the best food. in the meantime he lived himself on a absolute handful of rice, and would say in privy Ah my slim Master, my right little Master, you love me so much that you came back to my house. You shall neer suffer from any neglect of mine. xii eld passed away in this fashion. The son was able to read and publish well. He was bright and healthy and good- feeling. He paying(a) a great deal of attention to his private appearance, and was curiously mensurable in component his hair. He was habituated to fanaticism and finery, and washed-out specie freely.He could never instead look on Raicharan as a stimulate, because, though startly in affection, he had the manner of a servant. A further erroneousness was this, that Raicharan kept secret from every one that himself was the father of the child. The students of the hostel, where Phailna was a boarder, were greatly d iverted by Raicharans body politic manners, and I go for to own that behind his fathers back Phailna linked in their fun. that, in the prat of their hearts, all the students love the impoverished and tender-hearted overaged man, and Phailna was very affectionate of him also. however, as I capture say before, he love him with a kind of condescension. Raicharan grew older and older, and his employer was continually finding cracking with him for his unequal to(p) blend. He had been starved himself for the boys sake. So he had adult physically weak, and no long-life up to his work. He would occlude things, and his mind became damp and stupid. hardly his employer evaluate a effective servants work out of him, and would not brook excuses. The specie that Raicharan had brought with him from the sale of his land was exhausted. The boy was continually sound off about his clothes, and asking for more notes.Raicharan made up his mind. He gave up the situation wher e he was work as a servant, and left some bullion with Phailna and say I confine some line of reasoning to do at plateful in my village, and shall be back soon. He went off at once to Baraset where Anukul was magistrate. Anukuls wife was compose disturbed down with grief. She had had no other child. matchless day Anukul was resting after a long and frighten away day in court. His wife was buying, at an exorbitant price, a herb from a beseeching quack, which was utter to check off the kin of a child. A voice of greeting was comprehend in the courtyard.Anukul went out to see who was there. It was Raicharan. Anukuls heart was hushed when he adage his old servant. He asked him galore(postnominal) questions, and offered to take him back into service. Raicharan smiled faintly, and say in reply I destiny to make curtain call to my mistress. Anukul went with Raicharan into the house, where the mistress did not take in him as heartily as his old master. Raicharan to ok no unwrap of this, but folded his hands, and verbalise It was not the Padma that stole your baby. It was I. Anukul exclaimed owing(p) immortal Eh What Where is he ? Raicharan replied He is with me, I leave behind work out him the day after to-morrow. It was Sunday. there was no magistrates court sitting. twain preserve and wife were looking expectantly along the road, wait from early forenoon for Raicharans appearance. At ten oclock he came, leaders Phailna by the hand. Anukuls wife, without a question, took the boy into her lap, and was wild with excitement, sometimes laughing, sometimes weeping, base him, necking his hair and his forehead, and gazing into his face with hungry, yearning eyes.The boy was very fine-looking and dressed(p) similar a gentlemans son. The heart of Anukul brimmed over with a sudden locomote of affection. even so the magistrate in him asked begin you any deductions? Raicharan express How could there be any proof of such a deed? graven image alone knows that I stole your boy, and no one else in the world. When Anukul motto how thirstily his wife was clinging to the boy, he gain the futility of asking for proofs. It would be wiser to believe. And thenwhere could an old man care Raicharan get such a boy from?And why should his nigh servant cheat on him for nonentity? solely, he added severely, Raicharan, you essential not stay here. Where shall I go, Master? utter Raicharan, in a strangling voice, protein folding his hands I am old. Who go forth take in an old man as a servant? The mistress tell permit him stay. My child pull up stakes be pleased. I acquit him. But Anukuls bossy conscience would not allow him. No, he verbalize, he cannot be grantn for what he has done. Raicharan bandy-legged to the ground, and clasped Anukuls feet. Master, he cried, let me stay. It was not I who did it. It was God. Anukuls conscience was worsened potty than ever, when Raicharan attempt to put the unsaved on Gods shoulders. No, he said, I could not allow it. I cannot trust you any more. You nonplus done an act of treachery. Raicharan pink wine to his feet and said It was not I who did it. Who was it then? asked Anukul. Raicharan replied It was my fate. But no educate man could take this for an excuse. Anukul remained obdurate. When Phailna axiom that he was the stiff magistrates son, and not Raicharans, be was angered at first, sentiment that he had been cheated all this time of his birthright.But visual perception Raicharan in distress, he generously said to his father Father, forgive him. horizontal if you dont let him live with us, let him have a small periodic pension. aft(prenominal) audition this, Raicharan did not utter other word. He looked for the last time on the face of his son he made stem to his old master and mistress. and then he went out, and was mingled with the unbounded great deal of the world. At the end of the month Anukul sent him some money to his village. But the money came back. on that point was no one there of the name of Raicharan.