File a claim, get a decree. What right do you have to take away the oxen? If I file a criminal case against you right now, you’ll end up in chains.

Bhola pressed his lips together and said, “But Lala sahib, I didn’t take the oxen by force. Hori himself gave them to me.”

Pateshwari said to Bhola, “Return the oxen, Bhola! No farmer gives away his oxen willingly. He will have to yoke them to his plough.”

Bhola stood in front of the oxen. “Get me my money back, what use do I have for these oxen?”

“We’re taking the oxen; if you want your money, file a claim. Otherwise, you’ll be beaten and thrown aside. Did you pay him cash? You saddled the poor man with a cursed cow, and now you’re taking away his oxen too.”

Still, Bhola did not move from in front of the oxen. He stood silent, resolute, as if he would only leave if he died. How could he argue with the patwari?

Datadeen took a step forward, straightening his bent back, and shouted, “Why are you all just standing there watching? Beat him and drive him away! He’ll take oxen from our village?”

Vanshi was a strong young man. He gave Bhola a hard shove. Bhola couldn’t keep his balance and fell. As he tried to get up, Vanshi struck him again with his fist.

Hori came running. Bhola took ten steps toward him and asked, “Tell me honestly, Hori Mahto, did I take the oxen by force?”

Datadeen interpreted, “He says Hori gave him the oxen of his own free will. He’s trying to make fools of us.”

Hori, embarrassed, said, “He told me, either send Jhunia away from your house or give me my money, or else I’ll take your oxen. I said, I will neither send my daughter-in-law away nor do I have any money. If your dharma tells you to, then take the oxen. That’s all—I left it to his conscience, and he took the oxen.”

Pateshwari, lowering his face, said, “If you left it to his dharma, then where’s the force? His dharma told him to take them. Go, brother, the oxen are yours.”

Datadeen agreed, “Yes, when it’s a matter of dharma, what can anyone say?” All of them looked at Hori with eyes full of contempt, defeated, and turned back. Victorious, Bhola lifted his head with pride and led the oxen away.

: 15 :

Outwardly, Malti is a butterfly, but within, she is a honeybee. Her life is not all laughter. Who can live on sweetness alone? And even if one could, such a life would not be a happy one. She laughs, perhaps because she is paid for it, or because she has made her sense of self so large in her own eyes that whatever she does, she does for herself. No, she chirps and jokes because it lightens the burden of her duties. Her father was one of those strange creatures