The Coolidge examiner., 1931-04-03

mother, had suffered the loss of his
| father also. For this he deserved
| compensation. The blood recon-
pense for plain murder is 1900
rupees; but, as the case was
complicated by the fact that
the mans son and heir, not
his enemy, had done, not MUIR
der, but a manslaughter, the heir
ought not receive as much. Hence
the elders decreed that the lover
should pay Adam Khan 500 rupees
and besides provide him with two
| girls as wives.
The English agent confirmed this
SOlomonlike decision; the lover
paid the rupees, gave one niece to
Adam. and promised a daughter,
yet unborn, when she should be of
manageable age. All was accept
able to both parties and they have
lived in love and harmony after
this happy union of their families,
| ever since.
Not always, however, does the
English political agent comply ex-
actly with the judgment of the
elders. In the case of Miriam, for
instance, the political agent found
her with her nose Slashed off and
bound up with a dirty rag. He
asked who had done this. my hus-
! band" said she.
So the agent sent for the hus-
band. Hahn. and asked why he had
| mutilated his loving wife.
"Oh. because thought | saw her
| speaking to Sharbat Kahn" said he.
But did she do so?" inquired the
agent.
"Who knows? Perhaps not" said
Hahn.
"Well, but | really cannot let you
cut off your wife's nose for nothing
at ALL" said the political agent.
you must go to Jail for one year"
Hahn Preferred the Jail.
The elders came to the agent and
demonstrated against such severity.
perhaps il would not have been
amiss," said they, Ito put Hahn in
| Jail for three months. Yet mans
wife is his own. She is bought with
great price. Why should he not
cut off her nose if he pleases? It
is, after all, his own loss. Surely,
Sahib, you will let Hahn out of
jail" Tomorrow" said the agent,
81 will give my decision"
The next day he pronounced this
| judgment: "I will release Hahn on
either of two conditions. Either he
must restore his wife's nose safe
and sound or he must cut off his
own nose in exactly the same
fashion of hers" The elders were
amused greatly by this alternative.
! They withdrew their protest, Hahn
served his term in Jail and was re-
leased without retaining rancor
against so just sentence.
In another instance the MOham-
medan Mahmud, instead of con-
tenting himself with the girl chosen
by his mother and sisters to be his
wife and first to be seen by him
after the marriage ceremony, found
for himself a pretty Hindu girl and
persuaded her to be his bride. But
he could not make up his mind to
marry her unless she should first
profess his religion.
So Mahmud consulted the mullah
of his village as tC how she might
become Mussulmani. The mullah
made no difficulty of it. All that
was necessary. so he said, was that
the lovely Hindu girl should say be-
fore him: "There is no God but
God. and Mohammed is the prophet
| of God"
"But stay" added the priest.
you must pay for your bride, of
course AS it would be sinful to
give a great sum for her to the
worthless Hindu, her father, you
may give it to me, my son."
The young man easily perceived
the reasonableness of the first part
of the priests proposal, but he
could by no means see why his
wife's dowry should be given to the
priest. In his perplexity he con-
suited the chiefs of the wazirs.
1.-THE priest" said they, sis quite
right in telling you not to give the
dowry to the Hindus; but it should
come to US, not to him. We are the
authorities"
Billiard Table Instead of Feud.
| But before this was done the eld-
ers of the mahsuds heard Of the
transaction. While approving, like
the wazirs, the Withholding of the
money from the Hindus. they let it
| be known that, being the superiors
of the wazirs, the elders of the
mahsuds were the proper recipients
in this instance.
All parties appealed the question
to the British political agent. After
mature consideration he readily
foresaw that either of the disposi-
tions proposed would most probably
lead to feud. Hence. in the in
terest of peace and as represent
ing the real topnotch superior pow
er of the whole region. he very
reasonably decided that the dowry
should be paid over to him.
AS there was no appeal possible,
this was readily complied with,
and the political agent. not knowing
better disposition, made it over
to the club as contribution for the
new billiard table!