Stories from Bengal (Translations of famous Bengali stories)

"RAIBAHADUR"

Indraneel Lahiri

One day about a hundred years ago a rich Brahmin had gone to Hooghly city to make some big purchase.He was carrying a lot of money with him. But the deal did not come through and he planned to return with the cash. He hired a big boat to return home. When the boat reached a place called Gariahat, it started getting dark. The boatmen were reluctant to go on and decided to halt for the night on the banks of Palta river saying it would be difficult for them to row the boat in high tide and they would resume the journey early next morning. The Brahmin wanted to push on but had to give in to the boatmen's wishes. After some time the boatmen told the Brahmin that they lived nearby and sought his permission to go turn by turn to their homes and have their meals, One boatman left and did not return for a long time. So another boatman offered to go and have his meals and look for his partner. In this manner all the other boatmen left one by one on one pretext or other.

The Brahmin was left alone in the boat with all the money. He felt very uneasy and worried. and came out of his boat with his bag of money. He saw a grocery shop nearby & asked the owner whether he knew the boatmen and their whereabouts.

The grocer told the Brahmin that his (Brahmin's) life was in danger. The boatmen were dacoits in disguise and had gone to the village to collect their gang members.

The Brahmin got very frightened, The shop owner offered to hide him in his shop but the Brahmin was not sure whether he too was linked with the deceits and began to walk away from the scene. He came to a big garden where he found a well built man sitting with a bear. The Brahmin asked the man for help. The man said he and his bear were both very hungry. If they were given some food he would look into the problem of the Brahmin.

The Brahmin took him and his bear to the same grocery store and bought them some food. Then he narrated the whole story to the man. The bear owner asked the Brahmin to hide inside the boat and watch how he dealt with the dacoits Then he sat on the boat's platform and after untying the bear's mouth began to give him instructions. The bear grunted in reply.

The boatmen came back with the entire gang all fully armed with spears and swords and their faces blackened. They began to shout for the Brahmin but getting no reply asked the bear owner who he was and what he was doing there. The bear owner said he had taken shelter in the boat from the severe cold outside. He refused to get down.

At this the deceits got angry and rushed towards him, but on a signal from his owner the trained bear bared its teeth and jumped on the dacoits and with its claws teeth immobilized the whole lot. The dacoits began to shout for help at the top of their voices.

Hearing the commotion a watchman came and asked what had happened and was asked by the bear owner to immediately go to police station and bring a police force.

The watchman did like wise. Getting the message a police inspector arrived on the scene with thirty two armed constables. They tied up all the wounded dacoits while the bear owner pacified the bear with soothing words.

The bear owner took the inspector to the boat. On seeing him the Brahmin came out and told him the whole story and showed him his bag of money. The Brahmin and the dacoits were taken to the police station for the night and next day the dacoits were produced in the court of Sreerampore District Magistrate. On investigation it was found that twelve among the gang were branded criminals and had been just released from jail.

The dacoits were sent to the hospital where many of them succumbed to the injuries.

The Brahmin was so thankful for his miraculous escape that he rewarded the bear owner with a hundred Rupees in front of the magistrate, who in turn gave Rs. 200 to the man. Some newspapers that published the story recommended that the bear be given the title of Rai Bahadur. It had shown more valour and presence of mind than many magistrates and their deputies.

Translated from: "Banglar Dakat" Written by Jogendranath Gupta.