Introduction
This story comes from a collection of folktales from the Punjab, as told by Flora Annie Steel (1847-1929) who spent twenty-two years in India. It reminds us that little acts of kindness bring their own rewards, so long as the rewards aren’t the reason that we do them.
‘LET’S go and visit Father!’ said Peasie to her elder sister Beansie one day. ‘It must be dull, to be left at home while our brother brings the harvest in.’ But Beansie was scornful. ‘I’m not going to traipse about in this heat,’ she declared, ‘to please an old man!’ So Peasie went alone.
Peasie’s father was overjoyed to see her. ‘But you are wet and scratched!’ he cried. ‘Why is there ash in your hair, and where is your veil?’ Peasie told him that a wild plum tree had asked her to tidy up his tangle of thorns. Then a roadside fire begged to have his ashes raked out. She had bandaged a fig tree’s broken branch with her veil, and she was wet from clearing a stream clogged by sticks and leaves.
When evening came, her father reluctantly sent Peasie home. With her went a buffalo laden with gifts, including a spinning wheel, various pots and pans, and even a bed. She looked like a new bride.
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