E. H. MALYON ON SOME CURRENT PUSHTU FOLK STORIES. 
383 
He then got married again, but the woman turned out badly. One day the husband 
had gone out, when four swains of the lady arrived and commenced telling her, 
“ To-morrow we shall be ploughing in such-and-such a field. So you come, too.” 
The lady replied, “ Set to work in this fashion, — get some cooked grain from 
so-and-so the baker, and scatter it along the road • then I will go straight to the 
field, because I shall see the grain upon the ground (and follow it up, ” 
The husband’s son overheard these words, and when next morning came, the 
youngster got up, and all the grain which had been sprinkled, he gathered together, 
and re-sprinkled in the direction of his own fields. Now, when it was light, the 
woman cooked some food, and set off with it, following up the grain upon the 
ground. She continued along that road, and came upon her husband. Her husband 
enquired, 
“ What have you come for ? ” 
She replied, “ I have brought you some food.” 
“ All right, then. Only don’t do so again,” observed the husband 
On her way back from that place there was a shrine ahead. The lady cried. 
“ Oh shrine ! I have a request to make, if so be that thou wilt grant it ”... . The 
youngster had hidden himself in a tomb (close by), and (from there) called out. 
“ Thy request is granted. What is thy wish ? ” 
The woman replied, “ There is a brat in my house, who to-day has tricked me 
finely. I wish that he may now become blind.’ ’ 
The youngster, from out of the tomb, cried to the woman, “ At thy home is 
such-and-such a cow. Kill the cow, and when the brat eats of its flesh, he will 
lose his sight.” 
The woman was exceedingly pleased, and when she reached her husband’s 
house, she remarked, “ There is the boy here, who is not well. It is advisable that 
we kill the cow.”* 
The man replied, “ We will get some other cow.” 
The woman did not agree in the matter, so the man said, “Very well,” and 
killed the cow. Some of the flesh he gave to the boy to eat. 
When the youngster had finished it, the woman asked, “How are you feeling ? ” 
He replied, “ I feel very fit, only that my sight has grown very dim. I can’t 
see anything.” 
The woman was exceedingly well pleased, and sent word to her swains (saying), 
“ Come. My stepson has become blind. He sees nothing.’ ’ 
The lady assembled her four admirers, and setting the cauldron on the fire, said 
to her stepson, “ Tight the fire underneath. I am just going out ” 
In the stable outside was a pit, and in this the lady seated her swains. So 
soon as she had gone away, the youngster made the water boiling hot (then taking 
it out), he capsized the cauldron upon the four swains in the pit where they were 
sitting (hidden). All four of them perished. 
* i.e. in accordance with the common custom of ‘ Khairat, ’ propitiatory alms or food given to secure the recoverv 
of a sick person. 
