Toward evening Rane and his wife, Seti, had gone to visit some close friends. There
had been a lot to eat and drink so that when they returned home they did not bother to
cook but sat in the garden simply passing the time until nightfall. It was just past their
bedtime when they entered the house. Rane had been sullen and out of sorts, and Seti
prodded him in an effort to make him speak.
“Back home we call this a dhikicyau. What do you call it?” “I don’t know what
they call it.”
“They say it steals your hair, is that right?”
Picking up a shoe that was near by, Rane lifted it to kill the insect.
“Don’t do it! Don’t Do it!” cried Seti.
Rane did not listen and killed it with a blow.
“Hare Narayan, may his soul live in heaven! You just won’t listen when I talk, will
you? You’ll pay dearly for this!”
“Whatever I’ll have to pay, I’ll pay.”
“Shh. I hear a noise in the next room. There’s someone in there with him, I think.”
“He’s probably brought a girl in with him just to make me angry.”
The sound of something heavy falling in the next room awakened Rane. A loud noise
had already wakened Seti some time before. She had nudged Rane two or three times but
had not been able to rouse him. She whispered to him that she heard something. The two
sat up listening still half -asleep, but they heard nothing more. A narrow passage separated
them from the next room so that it was difficult for them to hear. Rane lit a tuki, took
his bhoto off a peg on the wall.
“What is that fool Lahure up to now?” he said, tying the string on his QhQ1Q. He went
toward the door. His wife stopped him.
“Isn’t it enough that you’ve quarreled with him once already, Do you want to start
another fight? It’s all over now, don’t go!”
” Oh, let me go. I’m just going to peek through the keyhole. After all, in our own
house … Oh, who’s that, I wonder?”
“Who? Who’s there?”
“Whoever it was I couldn’t see him well. Someone sneaked out of Lahure’s room and
ran away.”
“A woman?”
“A man. I saw his topi. I think something’s wrong.”
