The Ghost Who Was Afraid of Being Bagged

Once on a time there lived a barber who had a wife. They did not live

happily together, as the wife always complained that she had not enough

to eat. Many were the curtain lectures which were inflicted upon the

poor barber. The wife used often to say to her mate, "If you had not

the means to support a wife, why did you marry me? People who have not

means ought not to indulge in the luxury of a wife. When I was in my

father's house I had plenty to eat, but it seems that I have come to

your house to fast. Widows only fast; I have become a widow in your

life-time." She was not content with mere words; she got very angry

one day and struck her husband with the broomstick of the house. Stung

with shame, and abhorring himself on account of his wife's reproach

and beating, he left his house, with the implements of his craft,

and vowed never to return and see his wife's face again till he had

become rich. He went from village to village, and towards nightfall

came to the outskirts of a forest. He laid himself down at the foot

of a tree, and spent many a sad hour in bemoaning his hard lot.

It so chanced that the tree, at the foot of which the barber was

lying down, was dwelt in by a ghost. The ghost seeing a human being

at the foot of the tree naturally thought of destroying him. With

this intention the ghost alighted from the tree, and, with outspread

arms and a gaping mouth, stood like a tall palmyra tree before the

barber, and said, "Now, barber, I am going to destroy you. Who will

protect you?" The barber, though quaking in every limb through fear,

and his hair standing erect, did not lose his presence of mind, but,

with that promptitude and shrewdness which are characteristic of his

fraternity, replied, "O spirit, you will destroy me! wait a bit and

I'll show you how many ghosts I have captured this very night and

put into my bag; and right glad am I to find you here, as I shall

have one more ghost in my bag." So saying the barber produced from

his bag a small looking-glass, which he always carried about with him

along with his razors, his whet-stone, his strop and other utensils,

to enable his customers to see whether their beards had been well

shaved or not. He stood up, placed the looking-glass right against

the face of the ghost, and said, "Here you see one ghost which I have

seized and bagged; I am going to put you also in the bag to keep this

ghost company." The ghost, seeing his own face in the looking-glass,

was convinced of the truth of what the barber had said, and was filled

with fear. He said to the barber, "O, sir barber, I'll do whatever

you bid me, only do not put me into your bag. I'll give you whatever

you want." The barber said, "You ghosts are a faithless set, there is

no trusting you. You will promise, and not give what you promise." "O,

sir," replied the ghost, "be merciful to me; I'll bring to you whatever

you order; and if I do not bring it, then put me into your bag." "Very

well," said the barber, "bring me just now one thousand gold mohurs;

and by to-morrow night you must raise a granary in my house, and fill

it with paddy. Go and get the gold mohurs immediately: and if you

fail to do my bidding you will certainly be put into my bag." The

ghost gladly consented to the conditions. He went away, and in the

course of a short time returned with a bag containing a thousand gold

mohurs. The barber was delighted beyond measure at the sight of the

gold mohurs. He then told the ghost to see to it that by the following

night a granary was erected in his house and filled with paddy.

It was during the small hours of the morning that the barber, loaded

with the heavy treasure, knocked at the door of his house. His wife,

who reproached herself for having in a fit of rage struck her husband

with a broomstick, got out of bed and unbolted the door. Her surprise

was great when she saw her husband pour out of the bag a glittering

heap of gold mohurs.

The next night the poor devil, through fear of being bagged, raised

a large granary in the barber's house, and spent the live-long night

in carrying on his back large packages of paddy till the granary was

filled up to the brim. The uncle of this terrified ghost, seeing his

worthy nephew carrying on his back loads of paddy, asked what the

matter was. The ghost related what had happened. The uncle-ghost then

said, "You fool, you think the barber can bag you! The barber is a

cunning fellow; he has cheated you, like a simpleton as you are." "You

doubt," said the nephew-ghost, "the power of the barber! come and

see." The uncle-ghost then went to the barber's house, and peeped

into it through a window. The barber, perceiving from the blast of

wind which the arrival of the ghost had produced that a ghost was at

the window, placed full before it the self-same looking-glass, saying,

"Come now, I'll put you also into the bag." The uncle-ghost, seeing his

own face in the looking-glass, got quite frightened, and promised that

very night to raise another granary and to fill it, not this time with

paddy, but with rice. So in two nights the barber became a rich man,

and lived happily with his wife begetting sons and daughters.

Here my story endeth,

The Natiya-thorn withereth, etc.