Search of Fear
Sumanta was a poor woodcutter's son. He lived with his parents in a small hut. The hut was situated close to a forest. There was no other house nearby. Sumanta's parents fell ill. He first lost his mother and then his father. His relatives who had come to attend upon his ailing parents urged upon him to leave the lone house. "Come to the village. We will look after you," they promised. But Sumanta was in love with the forest. The brook that flowed by his house, the fresh fruits which the forest yielded to him and, above everything else, the memory of his parents kept him attached to the hut. "But, we are sure, fear won't let you stay here for long," commented the relatives again and again. After they left Sumanta wondered, "what is fear? Why should it let me not stay here?" By and by he got annoyed with fear. "May what come, I must confront him," he told himself. One rainy night he went out of his hut in search of fear. "Hello, boy! will you mind giving me a helping hand?" a female voice asked him. He looked in all directions and saw a house covered by huge bushy trees. He entered it and met a woman.
"My treasure hangs from the roof. I cannot reach it. If you let me stand upon your shoulders, I can bring it down," said the woman. Sumanta knelt down and allowed the woman to step onto his shoulders. But as he stood up, he felt the load growing heavier. He also realized that the woman was trying to press him down. In a sudden impulse he shook her off and saw that she was no longer the innocent woman she looked at first, but had grown into an ogress. She managed to get up and run for her life. Sumanta resumed walking. Dawn was breaking over the forest. "Hello, chap, where are you heading? How dare you approach our den? Even the king's sepoys avoid coming this way!" commented some bandits who sat on a rock dangling their legs. "I am looking for fear," said Sumanta and he asked, "Can you tell me where it is?" The bandits looked at one another and said, "Very well, take a little flour from us and go over to the deserted burial ground. Then, sitting near that tomb, begin preparing a bread. You will soon see what fear is." Sumanta did as advised. Suddenly a hairy hand came out of the tomb and a nasal voice asked him, "Will you give half of your bread?" "Why not? Take it full!" said Sumanta and he calmly placed the bread on the extended palm. The bandits who witnessed the scene from their rock, exclaimed, "Bravo, chap why don't you join us?" "I am in search of fear," said Sumanta and he marched ahead. On the other side of the forest he saw a hut. He was feeling hungry.
He asked the young girl of the hut if he could get any food. Soon the girl's mother too came out. They heard his story and were amused. Sumanta was welcomed into their hut. They cooked food for him. The girl placed a dish of freshly cooked rice before him and then, while her mother had gone out to fetch water, kept a covered earthen pot near the dish. "There is curd inside," she said. But as soon as Sumanta removed the cover of the pot, a bird flushed out and fluttered away. "My God!" shrieked out Sumanta as he leaned backward. The girl tittered. "Were you not out to meet fear? The sensation you just now had is what is called fear. Ordinarily people would feel the sensation for an ogress, or a gang of bandits, or a ghost. But there are brave ones like you who are not afraid of them. Nevertheless, something else, even something small, could give them a taste of fear, as did this bird to you. But I must admit that you are extraordinarily brave," said the girl. Sumanta appreciated the girl's explanation. The girl had lost her father but she and her mother too were unwilling to leave the forest like Sumanta. He soon grew dear to them. He married the girl and they lived happily.
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