1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net
1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net 1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net
76 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR At last, nerved even to desperate deeds, she rolled and wriggled towards the door, to the too of the stairs, and then down them. The fresh morning air fanned her brow and gave her hope such as a few moments before had seemed impossible, but the hope soon died within her, for there, grinning all over his face at her contortions and struggles, stood Mohamed Jan, and behind him the little herd who was to have carried her letter to her father. “You must be hungr y,” he said. “Come, I will give you some food,” and he went inside and fetched her some bread and water, which he placed within easy reach hard her arms been unbound, but he did not offer to unfasten the rope. “Why don’t you eat?” he asked, mocking her. “Is it not food you want?” But the girl, relieved from her first great terror, made no reply. Weeks and months passed on – but over the tortures, the insults, the degradation to which the Vizier’s daughter was exposed during that time, it is best to draw a veil. Only one point she made and kept, she refused to be Mohamed Jan’s legal wife. She could not but believe that some day she would escape, some day she would find a means of returning to her father’s house, and when that day came, she wished to be free, she would have no legal tie to bind her and force her back to a miser y that was worse than death. News of the war reached her from time to time. Mohamed Jan made no attempt to keep it from her. It was part of his amusement to tell her of the privations to which her fellow-countrymen were exposed. At first she had found a reply to much that he had had to say, and had more than once asked him when he was going to join the combatants, but after a time she ceased to make any remark. Once he was awa y for three whole weeks, and then the girl felt as though the millennium had come. The jeers and laughter of the women were as nothing compared to what she had had to put up with from him. She was given the coarsest of food, and was not even allowed to wash her clothes. “What do you want clean clothes for?” Mohamed Jan’s mother asked her one day. “Why, she is going to be married, I should think, and wants all her things got ready,” another one joined in. “Isn’t that it, Gul Begum?” The girl said nothing.
77 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR “It’s nothing but vanit y,” the older woman went on severely, “nothing but the vanit y that is inborn in her, and which she inherits from her father. That’s what’s the undoing of her. Ah, soft, silly fool, can’t you even now see where your own best interests lie? Your father is dead by now, you may be sure, and your mother and all your people slaves, and your home deserted and desolate. Can’t you see what a mistake you’ve made in not submitting from the first? Why, you might have had a good home here, and Mohamed Jan would have made you a good husband if you had treated him properly in the beginning.” The girl shivered. “Yes, shiver away,” the old woman went on, incensed. “A long time ago I told my son what he ought to do. You want to have your nose cut off, that’s what you want. That would take the vanit y out of her a bit. I should think,” she said, turning to address the other women, who giggled and nudged one another. Gul Begum said nothing. She knew these women dared not do anything to her while the master of the house was away. When Mohamed Jan returned, he was in high good humour. He brought some presents for his women, and soon afterwards bought a number of goats and sheep cheap, from a neighbour who was satisfied that any day the Afghans might come down on them as the y had already done on so many others, and would seize his animals without offering any payment at all. Mohamed Jan also brought fresh news of the war, and seemed rather to despise than to sympathise with his fellowcountrymen in the struggle they were making for liberty. “The Mullahs,” he said, “tried to stir up the Hazaras in Kabul, and they did succeed to a certain extent, without doubt, for the Mullahs have great power, but some of the Hazaras had experienced great kindness at their maters’ hands, and knew when they were well off, so the y betrayed the plot. My word! yo n should have seen the carnage that followed. The Mullahs were taken and tortured till they told the names of all who were concerned in this scheme. Which was to have caused a universal rising of ever y Hazara in the Kabul valley. The rebels were hanged, the Mullahs cut to pieces, and every Hazara has had a sp y put on him, so they are having a lively time for their trouble.” Gul Begum’s blood simply boiled, but she said nothing. “Your father is dead,” he said, “and so is your uncle,” but still the girl said nothing. Fortunately she did not believe him, though her anxiet y was increased to an almost unbearable extent. Nor was she disappointed. Weeks passed and the summer was nearly over when one day Ghulam Hossain rode up to Mohamed Jan’s house and demanded his daughter. Her piteous condition, her dishewelled hair, spoke volumes. He did not need to ask any question, or even look
- Page 25 and 26: 25 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 27 and 28: 27 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 29 and 30: 29 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 31 and 32: 31 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 33 and 34: 33 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 35 and 36: 35 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 37 and 38: 37 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 39 and 40: 39 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 41 and 42: 41 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 43 and 44: 43 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 45 and 46: 45 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 47 and 48: 47 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 49 and 50: 49 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 51 and 52: 51 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 53 and 54: 53 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 55 and 56: 55 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 57 and 58: 57 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 59 and 60: 59 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 61 and 62: 61 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 63 and 64: 63 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 65 and 66: 65 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 67 and 68: 67 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 69 and 70: 69 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 71 and 72: 71 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 73 and 74: 73 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 75: 75 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 79 and 80: 79 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 81 and 82: 81 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 83 and 84: 83 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 85 and 86: 85 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 87 and 88: 87 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 89 and 90: 89 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 91 and 92: 91 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 93 and 94: 93 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 95 and 96: 95 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 97 and 98: 97 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 99 and 100: 99 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE O
- Page 101 and 102: 101 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 103 and 104: 103 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 105 and 106: 105 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 107 and 108: 107 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 109 and 110: 109 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 111 and 112: 111 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 113 and 114: 113 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 115 and 116: 115 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 117 and 118: 117 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 119 and 120: 119 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 121 and 122: 121 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 123 and 124: 123 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
- Page 125 and 126: 125 A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER - A TALE
76<br />
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR<br />
At last, nerved even to desperate deeds, she rolled and wriggled<br />
towards the door, to the too of the stairs, and then down them. The<br />
fresh morning air fanned her brow and gave her hope such as a few<br />
moments before had seemed impossible, but the hope soon died within<br />
her, for there, grinning all over his face at her contortions and<br />
struggles, stood Mohamed Jan, and behind him the little herd who was<br />
to have carried her letter to her father.<br />
“You must be hungr y,” he said. “Come, I will give you some food,”<br />
and he went inside and fetched her some bread and water, which he<br />
placed within easy reach hard her arms been unbound, but he did not<br />
offer to unfasten the rope.<br />
“Why don’t you eat?” he asked, mocking her. “Is it not food you<br />
want?”<br />
But the girl, relieved from her first great terror, made no reply.<br />
Weeks and months passed on – but over the tortures, the insults, the<br />
degradation to which the Vizier’s <strong>daughter</strong> was exposed during that<br />
time, it is best to draw a veil. Only one point she made and kept, she<br />
refused to be Mohamed Jan’s legal wife. She could not but believe that<br />
some day she would escape, some day she would find a means of<br />
returning to her father’s house, and when that day came, she wished to<br />
be free, she would have no legal tie to bind her and force her back to a<br />
miser y that was worse than death.<br />
News of the war reached her from time to time. Mohamed Jan made no<br />
attempt to keep it from her. It was part of his amusement to tell her of<br />
the privations to which her fellow-countrymen were exposed. At first<br />
she had found a reply to much that he had had to say, and had more<br />
than once asked him when he was going to join the combatants, but<br />
after a time she ceased to make any remark.<br />
Once he was awa y for three whole weeks, and then the girl felt as<br />
though the millennium had come. The jeers and laughter of the women<br />
were as nothing compared to what she had had to put up with from him.<br />
She was given the coarsest of food, and was not even allowed to wash<br />
her clothes.<br />
“What do you want clean clothes for?” Mohamed Jan’s mother asked<br />
her one day.<br />
“Why, she is going to be married, I should think, and wants all her<br />
things got ready,” another one joined in. “Isn’t that it, Gul Begum?”<br />
The girl said nothing.
Change language