tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2213361196725083202024-03-04T20:22:11.796-08:00Short Stories By Rabindranath Tagore DiptoHawkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16219296819732909720noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221336119672508320.post-20961796242632161752016-04-05T10:44:00.002-07:002016-04-05T10:44:33.398-07:00The Kingdom of Cards <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Author: Rabindranath Tagore </span></b></div>
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<b>I</b></div>
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Once upon a time there was a lonely island in a distant sea
where lived the Kings and Queens, the Aces and the Knaves, in the Kingdom of
Cards. The Tens and Nines, with the Twos and Threes, and all the other members,
had long ago settled there also. But these were not twice-born people, like the
famous Court Cards.<br />
<br />
The Ace, the King, and the Knave were the three highest castes. The fourth
Caste was made up of a mixture of the lower Cards. The Twos and Threes were
lowest of all. These inferior Cards were never allowed to sit in the same row
with the great Court Cards.<br />
<br />
Wonderful indeed were the regulations and rules of that island kingdom. The
particular rank of each individual had been settled from time immemorial. Every
one had his own appointed work, and never did anything else. An unseen hand
appeared to be directing them wherever they went, --according to the Rules.<br />
<br />
No one in the Kingdom of Cards had any occasion to think: no one had any need
to come to any decision: no one was ever required to debate any new subject.
The citizens all moved along in a listless groove without speech. When they
fell, they made no noise. They lay down on their backs, and gazed upward at the
sky with each prim feature firmly fixed for ever.<br />
<br />
There was a remarkable stillness in the Kingdom of Cards. Satisfaction and
contentment were complete in all their rounded wholeness. There was never any
uproar or violence. There was never any excitement or enthusiasm.<br />
<br />
The great ocean, crooning its lullaby with one unceasing melody, lapped the
island to sleep with a thousand soft touches of its wave's white hands. The
vast sky, like the outspread azure wings of the brooding mother-bird, nestled
the island round with its downy plume. For on the distant horizon a deep blue
line betokened another shore. But no sound of quarrel or strife could reach the
Island of Cards, to break its calm repose.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>II</b></div>
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In that far-off foreign land. across the sea, there lived a
young Prince whose mother was a sorrowing queen. This queen had fallen from
favour, and was living with her only son on the seashore. The Prince passed his
childhood alone and forlorn, sitting by his forlorn mother, weaving the net of
his big desires. He longed to go in search of the Flying Horse, the Jewel in
the Cobra's hood, the Rose of Heaven, the Magic Roads, or to find where the
Princess Beauty was sleeping in the Ogre's castle over the thirteen rivers and
across the seven seas.<br />
<br />
>From the Son of the Merchant at school the young Prince learnt the stories
of foreign kingdoms. From the Son of the Kotwal he learnt the adventures of the
Two Genii of the Lamp. And when the rain came beating down, and the clouds
covered the sky, he would sit on the threshold facing the sea, and say to his
sorrowing mother: "Tell me, mother, a story of some very far-off
land."<br />
<br />
And his mother would tell him an endless tale she had heard in her childhood of
a wonderful country beyond the sea where dwelt the Princess Beauty. And the
heart of the young Prince would become sick with longing, as he sat on the
threshold, looking out on the ocean, listening to his mother's wonderful story,
while the rain outside came beating down and the grey clouds covered the sky.<br />
<br />
One day the Son of the Merchant came to the Prince, and said boldly:
"Comrade, my studies are over. I am now setting out on my travels to seek
my fortunes on the sea. I have come to bid you good-bye."<br />
<br />
The Prince said; "I will go with you."<br />
<br />
And the Son of Kotwal said also: "Comrades, trusty and true, you will not
leave me behind. I also will be your companion."<br />
<br />
Then the young Prince said to his sorrowing mother; "Mother, I am now
setting out on my travels to seek my fortune. When I come back once more, I
shall surely have found some way to remove all your sorrow."<br />
<br />
So the Three Companions set out on their travels together. In the harbour were
anchored the twelve ships of the merchant, and the Three Companions got on
board. The south wind was blowing, and the twelve ships sailed away, as fast as
the desires which rose in the Prince's breast.<br />
<br />
At the Conch Shell Island they filled one ship with conchs. At the Sandal Wood
Island they filled a second ship with sandal-wood, and at the Coral Island they
filled a third ship with coral.<br />
<br />
Four years passed away, and they filled four more ships, one with ivory, one with
musk, one with cloves, and one with nutmegs.<br />
<br />
But when these ships were all loaded a terrible tempest arose. The ships were
all of them sunk, with their cloves and nutmeg, and musk and ivory, and coral
and sandal-wood and conchs. But the ship with the Three Companions struck on an
island reef, buried them safe ashore, and itself broke in pieces.<br />
<br />
This was the famous Island of Cards, where lived the Ace and King and Queen and
Knave, with the Nines and Tens and all the other Members-- according to the Rules.</div>
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<b>III</b></div>
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Up till now there had been nothing to disturb that island
stillness. No new thing had ever happened. No discussion had ever been held.<br />
<br />
And then, of a sudden, the Three Companions appeared, thrown up by the
sea,--and the Great Debate began. There were three main points of dispute.<br />
<br />
First, to what caste should these unclassed strangers belong? Should they rank
with the Court Cards? Or were they merely lower-caste people, to be ranked with
the Nines and Tens ? No precedent could be quoted to decide this weighty
question.<br />
<br />
Secondly, what was their clan? Had they the fairer hue and bright complexion of
the Hearts, or was theirs the darker complexion of the Clubs? Over this
question there were interminable disputes. The whole marriage system of the
island, with its intricate regulations, would depend on its nice adjustment.<br />
<br />
Thirdly, what food should they take? With whom should they live and sleep ? And
should their heads be placed south-west, north-west, or only north-east? In all
the Kingdom of Cards a series of problems so vital and critical had never been
debated before.<br />
<br />
But the Three Companions grew desperately hungry. They had to get food in some
way or other. So while this debate went on, with its interminable silence and
pauses, and while the Aces called their own meeting, and formed themselves into
a Committee, to find some obsolete dealing with the question, the Three
Companions themselves were eating all they could find, and drinking out of
every vessel, and breaking all regulations.<br />
<br />
Even the Twos and Threes were shocked at this outrageous behaviour. The Threes
said; "Brother Twos, these people are openly shameless!" And the Twos
said: "Brother Threes, they are evidently of lower caste than ourselves!
"After their meal was over, the Three Companions went for a stroll in the
city.<br />
<br />
When they saw the ponderous people moving in their dismal processions with prim
and solemn faces, then the Prince turned to the Son of the Merchant and the Son
of the Kotwal, and threw back his head, and gave one stupendous laugh.<br />
<br />
Down Royal Street and across Ace Square and along the Knave Embankment ran the
quiver of this strange, unheard-of laughter, the laughter that, amazed at
itself, expired in the vast vacuum of silence.<br />
<br />
The Son of the Kotwal and the Son of the Merchant were chilled through to the
bone by the ghost-like stillness around them. They turned to the Prince, and
said: "Comrade, let us away. Let us not stop for a moment in this awful
land of ghosts."<br />
<br />
But the Prince said: "Comrades, these people resemble men, so I am going
to find out, by shaking them upside down and outside in, whether they have a
single drop of warm living blood left in their veins.</div>
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<b>IV</b></div>
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The days passed one by one, and the placid existence of the
Island went on almost without a ripple. The Three Companions obeyed no rules
nor regulations. They never did anything correctly either in sitting or
standing or turning themselves round or lying on their back. On the contrary,
wherever they saw these things going on precisely and exactly according to the
Rules, they gave way to inordinate laughter. They remained unimpressed
altogether by the eternal gravity of those eternal regulations.<br />
<br />
One day the great Court Cards came to the Son of the Kotwal and the Son of the
Merchant and the Prince.<br />
<br />
"Why," they asked slowly, "are you not moving according to the
Rules?"<br />
<br />
The Three Companions answered: "Because that is our Ichcha (wish)."<br />
<br />
The great Court Cards with hollow, cavernous voices, as if slowly awakening
from an age-long dream, said together: "Ich-cha! And pray who is
Ich-cha?"<br />
<br />
They could not understand who Ichcha was then, but the whole island was to
understand it by-and-by. The first glimmer of light passed the threshold of
their minds when they found out, through watching the actions of the Prince,
that they might move in a straight line in an opposite direction from the one
in which they had always gone before. Then they made another startling
discovery, that there was another side to the Cards which they had never yet
noticed with attention. This was the beginning of the change.<br />
<br />
Now that the change had begun, the Three Companions were able to initiate them
more and more deeply into the mysteries of Ichcha. The Cards gradually became
aware that life was not bound by regulations. They began to feel a secret
satisfaction in the kingly power of choosing for themselves.<br />
<br />
But with this first impact of Ichcha the whole pack of cards began to totter
slowly, and then tumble down to the ground. The scene was like that of some
huge python awaking from a long sleep, as it slowly unfolds its numberless
coils with a quiver that runs through its whole frame.</div>
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<b>V</b></div>
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Hitherto the Queens of Spades and Clubs and Diamonds and
Hearts had remained behind curtains with eyes that gazed vacantly into space,
or else remained fixed upon the ground.<br />
<br />
And now, all of a sudden, on an afternoon in spring the Queen of Hearts from
the balcony raised her dark eyebrows for a moment, and cast a single glance
upon the Prince from the corner of her eye.<br />
<br />
"Great God," cried the Prince, "I thought they were all painted
images. But I am wrong. They are women after all."<br />
<br />
Then the young Prince called to his side his two Companions, and said in a
meditative voice; "My comrades ! There is a charm about these ladies that
I never noticed before. When I saw that glance of the Queen's dark, luminous
eyes, brightening with new emotion, it seemed to me like the first faint streak
of dawn in a newly created world."<br />
<br />
The two Companions smiled a knowing smile, and said: "Is that really so,
Prince?"<br />
<br />
And the poor Queen of Hearts from that day went from bad to worse. She began to
forget all rules in a truly scandalous manner. If, for instance, her place in
the row was beside the Knave, she suddenly found herself quite accidentally
standing beside the Prince instead. At this, the Knave, with motionless face
and solemn voice, would say: "Queen, you have made a mistake."<br />
<br />
And the poor Queen of Hearts' red cheeks would get redder than ever. But the
Prince would come gallantly to her rescue and say: "No! There is no
mistake. From to-day I am going to be Knave!"<br />
<br />
Now it came to pass that, while every one was trying to correct the
improprieties of the guilty Queen of Hearts, they began to make mistakes
themselves. The Aces found themselves elbowed out by the Kings. The Kings got
muddled up with the Knaves. The Nines and Tens assumed airs as though they
belonged to the Great Court Cards. The Twos and Threes were found secretly
taking the places specially resented for the Fours and Fives. Confusion had
never been so confounded before.<br />
<br />
Many spring seasons had come and gone in that Island of Cards. The Kokil, the
bird of Spring, had sung its song year after year. But it had never stirred the
blood as it stirred it now. In days gone by the sea had sung its tireless melody.
But, then, it had proclaimed only the inflexible monotony of the Rule. And
suddenly its waves were telling, through all their flashing light and luminous
shade and myriad voices, the deepest yearnings of the heart of love!</div>
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<b>VI</b></div>
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Where are vanished now their prim, round, regular,
complacent features? Here is a face full of love-sick longing. Here is a heart
heating wild with regrets. Here is a mind racked sore with doubts. Music and
sighing, and smiles and tears, are filling the air. Life is throbbing; hearts
are breaking; passions are kindling.<br />
<br />
Every one is now thinking of his own appearance, and comparing himself with
others. The Ace of Clubs is musing to himself, that the King of Spades may be
just passably good-looking. "But," says he, "when I walk down
the street you have only to see how people's eyes turn towards me." The
King of Spades is saying; "Why on earth is that Ace of Clubs always
straining his neck and strutting about like a peacock? He imagines all the
Queens are dying of love for him, while the real fact is --"Here he
pauses, and examines his face in the glass.<br />
<br />
But the Queens were the worst of all. They began to spend all their time in
dressing themselves up to the Nines. And the Nines would become their hopeless
and abject slaves. But their cutting remarks about one another were more
shocking still.<br />
<br />
So the young men would sit listless on the leaves under the trees, lolling with
outstretched limbs in the forest shade. And the young maidens, dressed in
pale-blue robes, would come walking accidentally to the same shade of the same
forest by the same trees, and turn their eyes as though they saw no one there,
and look as though they came out to see nothing at all. And then one young man
more forward than the rest in a fit of madness would dare to go near to a
maiden in blue. But, as he drew near, speech would forsake him. He would stand
there tongue-tied and foolish, and the favourable moment would pass.<br />
<br />
The Kokil birds were singing in the boughs overhead. The mischievous South wind
was blowing; it disarrayed the hair, it whispered in the ear, and stirred the
music in the blood. The leaves of the trees were murmuring with rustling
delight. And the ceaseless sound of the ocean made all the mute longings of the
heart of man and maid surge backwards and forwards on the full springtide of
love.<br />
<br />
The Three Companions had brought into the dried-up channels of the Kingdom of
Cards the full flood-tide of a new life.</div>
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<b>VII</b></div>
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And, though the tide was full, there -was a pause as though
the rising waters would not break into foam but remain suspended for ever.
There were no outspoken words, only a cautious going forward one step and
receding two. All seemed busy heaping up their unfulfilled desires like castles
in the air, or fortresses of sand. They were pale and speechless, their eyes
were burning, their lips trembling with unspoken secrets.<br />
<br />
The Prince saw what was wrong. He summoned every one on the Island and said:
"Bring hither the flutes and the cymbals, the pipes and drums. Let all be
played together, and raise loud shouts of rejoicing. For the Queen of Hearts
this very night is going to choose her Mate !"<br />
<br />
So the Tens and Nines began to blow on their flutes and pipes; the Eights and
Sevens played on their sackbuts and viols; and even the Twos and Threes began
to beat madly on their drums.<br />
<br />
When this tumultous gust of music came, it swept away at one blast all those
sighings and mopings. And then what a torrent of laughter and words poured
forth! There were daring proposals and locking refusals, and gossip and
chatter, and jests and merriment. It was like the swaying and shaking, and
rustling and soughing, in a summer gale, of a million leaves and branches in
the depth of the primeval forest.<br />
<br />
But the Queen of Hearts, in a rose-red robe, sat silent in the shadow of her
secret bower, and listened to the great uproarious sound of music and mirth,
that came floating towards her. She shut her eyes, and dreamt her dream of
lore. And when she opened them she found the Prince seated on the ground before
her gazing up at her face. And she covered her eyes with both hands, and shrank
back quivering with an inward tumult of joy.<br />
<br />
And the Prince passed the whole day alone, walking by the side of the surging
sea. He carried in his mind that startled look, that shrinking gesture of the
Queen, and his heart beat high with hope.<br />
<br />
That night the serried, gaily-dressed ranks of young men and maidens waited
with smiling faces at the Palace Gates. The Palace Hall was lighted with fairy
lamps and festooned with the flowers of spring. Slowly the Queen of Hearts
entered, and the whole assembly rose to greet her. With a jasmine garland in
her hand, she stood before the Prince with downcast eyes. In her lowly
bashfulness she could hardly raise the garland to the neck of the Mate she had
chosen. But the Prince bowed his head, and the garland slipped to its place.
The assembly of youths and maidens had waited her choice with eager, expectant
hush. And when the choice was made, the whole vast concourse rocked and swayed
with a tumult of wild delight. And the sound of their shouts was heard in every
part of the island, and by ships far out at sea. Never had such a shout been
raised in the Kingdom of Cards before.<br />
<br />
And they carried the Prince and his Bride, and seated them on the throne, and
crowned them then and there in the Ancient Island of Cards.<br />
<br />
And the sorrowing Mother Queen, on the 'far-off island shore on the other side
of the sea, came sailing to her son's new kingdom in a ship adorned with gold.<br />
<br />
And the citizens are no longer regulated according to the Rules, but are good
or bad, or both, according to their Ichcha.</div>
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<b>THE END</b></div>
DiptoHawkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16219296819732909720noreply@blogger.com0