1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

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