54 
G. A. Grierson —Song of Gopi Chand, [No. 1, 
18. When his sister heard these 
words she ran as a calf that hath 
broken loose runneth towards its 
mother. The brother and sister 
embraced, and all the leaves of the 
forest fell down (out of emotion). 
‘ I would make and give my 
brother food, then would I ask 
him news of my father’s house. 
18. When his sister Birna heard 
this, she caught him by his gar¬ 
ment, crying, 4 my mother is 
deserted,* and my brother hath to¬ 
day become an ascetic. Sit down, sit 
down, 0 brother, on the silk-cover¬ 
ed throne, and let me send for all 
the wealth of the world and give 
it to thee.’ 
Hath a Nawab General invaded and snatched away thy kingdom ? 
I will equip an army and send it against him, and rescue thy king¬ 
dom from him.’ ‘ No, sister. No Nawab General hath invaded and 
taken my kingdom. It was written 
in my fate that I should be an 
ascetic. I will not eat food, 0 
sister, at thy hand. Now my hand 
is empty.* Sister Birna, look at 
the food (which was given me) 
last night. What didst thou give 
me. My luck was burnt, and 
thou didst show unto mine eyesf 
burnt food. The burden^ hath 
been removed from thy city.’ The 
ascetic untied and showed the 
burnt food to his sister, and then 
her heart burst and she died. 
‘ At thy door, 0 sister, what 
can I do P If I had two or three 
pice I would have bought bangles 
and given them to thee.f ’ Then 
said her husband’s mother and 
sister. c Last night didst thou eat 
of food which had been touched by 
the hand of Mu/ga. And now that 
thou hast been recognized, thou dost 
obstinately persist (in refusing to 
accept our hospitality)’. When his 
sister Birna heard what things 
and of what kind he had eaten, 
and when she saw„ in the knot of 
his sheet, the burnt food, she cried, 
‘ woe is me ’, and died. 
* He reproaches her with her scurvy 
treatment of him, when she thought 
he was a Jogi. means ‘ empty.’ 
In regard to food, and especially rice, it 
idiomatically means ‘plain,’ e. g. 0$^ 
*TT*r ,‘AmI to eat rice and noth¬ 
ing else ? ’ 
t *stTf^T = 
+ I. e., a beggar is like a burden to 
the city, and this is the way you have 
tried to get rid of him. 
is a corruption of 
f A brother is by custom always 
bound to give his sister a present when 
leaving her house after a visit. 
