Speechless (A short Story)

Samandar, a good-looking guy, was a shepherd. He used to graze his sheep and goats on the moorland pasture located near his village, and his time would elapse in goats and sheep’s company. He was very affectionate towards his goats and sheep, and they were his microcosm. He had nothing to do with world affairs. Samadar was good at poetry and used to recite Shah bhittai’s bait. He used to vocalize Shah’s bait in the evening at his baithak ; people would come to him to listen to Shah’s bait. As usual, he went to the moorland pasture with his goats and sheep. While reciting Shah’s poetry, he went far away that day, and he couldn’t feel a sense of going away and kept going on.

He reached another village and kept searching well to quench his thirst. Finally, he succeeded in searching well. It was afternoon. He was walking towards well; he saw a damsel from a distance who was clad in a pale yellow shift. Her name was Sundri she lived in that village.As he closed the well, he kept looking at her; it was love at first sight. But She seemed almost oblivious to what he was thinking about her.

While surfing through the deep affection, he forgot to drink water. Then he took a brief pause.That day, he returned from the well without drinking water. From that day forth he began to come to the village as a matter of routine, where he had seen Sundree dressed in yellow shift first time. After that day, he had a lackadaisical approach to loving and caring for his goats and sheep.

He started losing his goats and sheep one by one as he used to get engaged in Sundari’s thoughts. Sundri was not aware of Samandar’s affection, and Samandar had no courage to express his affection to her. The days passed. Business as usual, he reached the well and kept waiting for Sundri. Some women standing close to the well seemed sad. There was a deafening silence, as strangely peaceful calmness, and the audible sound there was that of a woman, who murmured, Wrath be upon Snake! It bit Sundri, a dumb girl, and she lost her life.