Haseena ardently listened to whatever her son had to say. After his stories were over, she told him about the events and incidents that had happened in Mabadmorpho. He reciprocated his mother’s attention. There were some reports that left him astonished—a djinn had taken over a girl. The girl kept talking to him all the time. No one knew the language she spoke. The people were astonished because it rained coins from the windows of the second floor of her house. At times the girl disappeared for some days and when she returned it didn’t seem as if she had been absent. When she returned there was no sign on her body. Her mother said that she didn’t vanish but stayed at home, and that because of the effect of the djinn she had become invisible. Moreover, the witches of Mabadmorpho were really angry lately. They were taking away clothes from people’s cupboards and from their clotheslines. These clothes were found in their actual condition, ironed or otherwise, on the shore. But now they were fine as a peer baba was invited to calm the witches down. The third incident was that a Hindu girl had eloped with her teacher, but their dead bodies were found three days later at the house that they had rented. A letter was found in their house which read, ‘We are killing ourselves of our own will because this world is not made for those who love.’ The girl was a Brahmin, whereas the boy was a Dalit. One more sensational incident had taken place while Asrar was away, but Haseena did not talk about it.
A teacher of Madarsa Ahle-Abu-al-Farja-ul-Baladat-ul-Arbiya in the neighbouring village was caught molesting a white goat in the fields. When the panchayat had asked him the reason for such an obscene and shameful act, he had replied that the face of the goat resembled that of his late wife and he believed that her soul had entered the goat’s body after her demise.
People laughed at his answer for a long time. The sarpanch was part of the organizing committee of the madrasa and liked the teacher. He gave a long speech on the social importance of a goat. While the speech continued, a few members of the panchayat dozed off on stage. The crowd also lost all interest and started conversing with each other. The sarpanch shot a shrewd glance at the crowd and slipped his last sentence out of his mouth. ‘My wife passed away four years back and I know the pain of separation,’ he said.
The teacher asked for forgiveness and the matter subsided.
After four days the corpse of a white goat was found on the shore of Mabadmorpho. Its head had been severed.
