The Goala's Daughter

: Part I.
: Folklore Of The Santal Parganas

There was once a man of the Goala caste who had an only daughter and

she grew up and was married, but had no child; and after twenty years

of married life she gave up all hope of having any. This misfortune

preyed on her mind and she fell into a melancholy. Her parents asked

her why she was always weeping and all the answer she would give was

"My sorrow is that I have never worn clothes of "Dusty cloth" and

that is a s rrow which you cannot cure." But her father and mother

determined to do what they could for their daughter and sent servants

with money into all the bazars to buy "Dusty cloth". The shopkeepers

had never heard of such an article so they bought some cloth of any

sort they could get and brought it to the Goala; when he offered it

to his daughter she thanked him and begged him not to waste his money:



"You do not understand" said she--"what I mean by "Dusty cloth." God

has not given it to me and no one else can; what I mean by 'Dusty

cloth' is the cloth of a mother made dusty by the feet of her

child." Then her father and mother understood and wept with her,

saying that they would do what man could do but this was in the hands

of God; and they sang:--





"Whatever the child of another may suffer, we care not:

But our own child, we will take into our lap, even when it is covered

with dust."