Junior KING'S BUSINESS Feature
perfume
from
rubbish
by Marian Bishop Bower
T a r a b a i s a t in the shade of a big tree and smiled. A breeze blew softly againt her face. She closed her eyes. It was good, very good, to be able to rest there in the cool shadows. In the distance, children were singing softly. It was good. Little feet ran over the grass. Soft hands patted her cheeks. “Don’t sleep, Mother. See! Look! I have brought you flowers. I picked them.” Tarabai opened her eyes. There be fore her stood her little girl. Her hands were filled with flowers which she dropped into her mother’s lap. “Look,” she said, “ Antwan and Trim- bak are coming. They could not pick flowers right. The teacher said long stems. They picked heads.” “ They are just babies, Kacharee,” her mother reminded her. “ Oh, you called me the old name, the ugly name. My name is Kasturee, now. The dear teacher said it.” “ Kasturee, Kasturee — yes, I’ll re member. It is easy to call you that here.” She pulled the child down be side her. Trimbak and Antwan had dropped most of their blossoms before they reached their mother. Antwan’s eyes were very serious, “We had milk, Mother, big, big cups.” “Did you, my son?” his mother asked, holding him close to her. Trimbak looked in astonishment. “Why are you holding Antwan, Moth er?” Tarabai put the little girl on the other side of her. The children had played in the sunshine; they had had milk to drink; now they were tired. They rested their heads against their
mother. They were not used to this, but the world had suddenly become a much kinder place, a much more beautiful place. Yesterday they had been hungry. Yesterday they had been dirty. Yesterday there had been tears on their mother’s face. Today it was as if they had awakened in a differ ent world. The breeze blew gently through Antwan’s hair. It tickled Trimbak’s neck. It sent one of the flower petals scurrying across Kasturee’s face. The little family was very still. The air smelled sweet. It made Kasturee think of her new name, for that name meant “ perfume,” and Kacharee, her old name, had meant “ rubbish.” “Why is my name Kasturee now?” she asked. Trimbak lay on the soft grass; Ant-
took the little girl away from her mother and father. Never again did she play. Never, never again did she sing.” Tarabai stopped and looked down at the children. “ Go on, mother,” whispered Kas turee. “Years went by. The little girl grew to be a big girl. She had babies — one, two, three babies, but they were not strong. They did not grow right. One by one they died. The little girl, who was a big girl now, thought that the evil spirits had taken them. She did not know — she did not know any better. Another little girl came. The mother thought, “ I shall not let the evil spirits have her. I shall name her Rubbish; they will think that she is no good. They will not touch her.” So she named the little girl Kacharee. It seemed true about the evil spirits. They did not harm this child, and the baby was almost big enough to walk when a baby boy came. The mother called him Trimbak. Another little baby came — this time a little boy, too, Antwan.” The baby nestled down in his moth er’s arms. His eyes were closed. Kas turee looked up. “ Go on, Mother — and then?” “And then sorrow and trouble came very fast. The husband became sick — sick with a terrible disease that he had really had for a long time. It was the bad disease of leprosy. There was no money for doctors; there was nothing to do, and he died.” Tarabai stopped for a minute again. She put her hand over her eyes; then she went on with the story. “The
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES John 5:39 S— seriously — II Timothy 2:15 E—earnestly — Joshua 1:8 A—anxiously — John 20:30 R—regularly — Psalm 1:2
C— carefully — II Timothy 3:16 H—humbly — Luke 24:45
wan watched the big puffy clouds sailing up in the sky; Kasturee looked straight at her mother. “ Listen, I shall tell you,” said Tara bai. “ Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a little girl, a happy little girl, who lived with her mother and her father. All day she played. All day she sang. Then one day a strange man came. He came for the little girl. He married her. He
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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