There lived a gossiper in a certain village. He was notorious for spreading rumours about others. But the villagers loved him, for he was an excellent entertainer.
One day, the gossiper went to a confectioner in the neighbourhood. The confectioner was sitting idle, for he had no customers to deal with at that particular time. The gossiper sat on his haunches near him.
“I am getting bored as I have no work to do. Tell me some gossip to entertain me,” the confectioner said to the gossiper.
The gossiper said, “I am not in a good mood right now. I am really hurt by your wife’s conduct.”
“What happened?” the confectioner asked.
“I just saw your wife entering a sugar cane field with another man,” the gossiper said, looking at the vast swathe of sugar cane crop near the confectioner’s house.
Having learnt that his wife had stepped out with another man, the confectioner got furious. He picked up a stick and ran towards the sugar cane field in search of his ‘cheating’ wife.
Subsequently, the confectioner’s wife came out of the house, only to see the gossiper sitting alone near the door.
“Where is my husband?” she enquired.
The gossiper said, “I just saw him entering the sugar cane field with another woman who was more beautiful than you.”
Angered by his words, the woman soon whipped out a broom and ran towards the sugar cane field in search of her ‘cheating’ husband.
Searching for each other, both the husband and the wife found themselves face-to-face in the middle of the thick sugar cane field. The wife, threatening the husband with the broom, said, “Am I dead? Why are you loitering around with another woman?”
The husband shot back, “You should ask yourself this question. Why did you enter the sugar cane field with another man?”
But there was neither a man nor a woman around other than the husband and wife, now engaged in an angry spat. Soon, they realised that they had fallen prey to the pranks of the gossiper.
The husband quipped, “It appears that the gossiper has pulled a fast one on us.” The wife agreed, resolving the issue with her husband.
The confectioner then proposed, “We have run through dirt and cow dung littered in the field. Let us go and take a bath in the nearby river to clean ourselves. Then we will go home.” Thus, the husband and wife went to the river to freshen up.
In the meantime, the confectioner’s brother-in-law came to his door. Seeing the gossiper sitting there, the relative asked about his sister and brother-in-law.
With a sad face, the gossiper said, “The confectioner and his wife had a son, right? The small boy died all of a sudden. They have gone to consign the body in the river. I am here to guard their house and attend to their relatives in their absence.”
Hearing this, the man broke into tears and ran towards the river. He saw his sister and brother-in-law coming from a distance. He wailed loudly.
“Why are you weeping so uncontrollably?” asked his brother-in-law. The man replied, “The news of my nephew’s death has jolted me. The gossiper has told me everything.”
As they reached home, they saw the gossiper sitting nonchalantly at their door. Furious with the gossiper, the confectioner brandished his stick and asked, “You stupid gossiper! You played all sorts of pranks on us, you made our lives hell. Why did you do that?”
The gossiper smirked, “You were the one who asked me to gossip.”
***
The above story is taken from Nalin Verma’s collection of short stories titled The Greatest Folk Tales of Bihar. The book is published by Rupa Publications.
Kalampedia 