1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

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A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
“Agha,” she asked, “is it my father?” and without waiting for a reply
she knelt and touched his feet with her forehead, then rose and went to
meet the man whom she believed she loved best on earth.
What passed between them none knew; but next morning the exile wore
a more tranquil expression. His beloved child was in safe hands. He
was much comforted. But he was warned not to attempt to see her again
– not for some months at any rate. But he went away satisfied,
thankful, relieved. He felt that he could live without seeing her for a
long time now.
One cold raw day when Gul Begum was helping her master to find
some private document that was missing, the old porter poked his nose
into the room where the search was being made.
“Agha,” he said, “there is a troop of gipsies with a dancing bear and
some monke ys outside, and the y ask if they may have the honour of
performing before you.”
“Here it is,” cried Gul Begum at that moment, “see, I have found it.
Surely this is the one.”
“Yes, so it is, that’s well. I am very much relieved. I feared I might
have dropped it between the Court and the house. It would have been
most serious.”
The old man repeated his question, “Will you please see the gipsies,
Agha?”
“Gipsies? What do I want with gipsies? Send them away at once.”
“Oh, Agha, do let us see the dancing bears and monkeys,” Gul Begum
pleaded. “Bibi Ayesha so delights in them.”
Her master looked at her. She was little more than a child herself, this
girl who pleaded with him for his own beloved child. She had found his
paper too, and he was pleased. “The men can’t enter the enclosure, of
course, but if there is a woman among them who can be trusted to bring
the animals she may come in with them.”
The door-keeper returned to the entrance gate jubilant.
“Here! Can that old hag take in the animals?” he asked. “If she can she
will be admitted, but remember half of the backshish comes to me. I
had hard work persuading Agha, and had to use all m y resources, to my
share is well earned.”
“If only the woman is to go in there won’t be much backshish given,”
said the man. “You must satisfy yourself with a third. One third for the