ABOUT THE STORY

The ‘Blue Bead’ is the story of a twelve-year-old girl from a village in the foothills of northern India,
where a river runs through her village located at the edge of the river and bordering the forest. Having
placed the setting of the story in such picturesque surroundings, the story goes on to narrate the life of
Sibia, the girl, who lives with her mother and others spending her days carrying out tasks common to the
hill folk of these villages. By 12, she was husking corn, gathering sticks for firewood, cutting grass and
putting out dung to dry as well as cooking food. Their livelihood came from the grass that they eut from
above the river all over the hillside which was sold to an agent who dispatched the same to the paper
mills Lake the other women folk of the village, Sibin and her mother set off daily to cut grass traversing
the hillside by climbing up the precarious side with surefooted ease. They walked along the track along
the river, where a crocodile had lodged itself. The women were unaware of its menacing presence
because the animal hid itself quietly due to the chatter and noise the women created as they passed
along and crocodiles are known to avoid noisy locations.

In the temporary camp established by the Gujar graziers, the women went to the river to fetch water in
their brass pots for household use. That evening too, the women had passed the crocodile in safety
because the frightened crocodile had not appeared due to the noise of bickering and quarrelling that
the women had created. But when the lone Gujar woman came there in the relative silence of the
surroundings, the crocodile knew it was his chance.

Sibin had not followed the group of women returning from their grans cutting tack becau she wanted to
examine the clay cups she had left to dry in a cave and had thus fingered on. She had put down her load
of grass against a boulder and went ahead, when she heard the scream of the woman and saw her
hattling to set herself free from the crocodile’s clutches round her leg. She had spotted the crocodile
earlier and with a frightened clutter had dropped her bruss pots that had floated down the water, an the
jaws closed round her leg She clutched on to the timber logs in the water.

When Sibia saw her desperate state, she sprang into action without a thought of her own safety.
Jumping from boulder to boulder she was at the site and with her homemade hayfork she took a
decisive aim at the animal’s eyes knowing that this was the most vulnerable part of its armour like body.
The fork pierced the eyes and grazed past its cheek. The animal let go of its grip on the woman’s leg and
went down into the water. Sibia knew she had killed the creature because the eye would become
suppurated and the animal would float up to the surface afterwards, with a bloated belly filled with gas,

Sibía carried the woman to safety to the encampment after stopping the blood using

River sand. She then headed back to the river to collect her bundle of grass and the hayfork
Thinking nothing of the great act she had done, Sibia looked under water where she had

Located a piece of bluish glass that had been worn down by the water into the shape of a

Perforated bead. Sibia managed to retrieve it and tucked it into her rugs. When her mother

Came anxiously looking for her, Sibia did not bother to mention the crocodile episode but

Happily showed off her prize-the blue bead.

SUMMARY OF THE LESSON

The story begins with a description of a big crocodile which is a fine specimen of its speies not just in its
exterior make-up but also in its instinctive behaviour. It comes out of the deep water of the river where
it is dark and is twice the length of a tall man. He has swallowed not just flesh but also stones and a
silver bracelet. The river is used by lumbermen to float down logs that have been cut to make sleepers
for rail tracks. Some of these logs have got jammed and the crocodile has made itself comfortable and in
full view on them.

The setting of this place includes a jungle track with scrub bordering it. The crocodile lay almost
motionless but alert for any prey which it would clasp in its jaws, slash with its powerful tail. Its yellow
underside was tinged with reen. The crocodile had been hatched in these waters and had learnt to hunt
and kill since then, using ferocity as his skill. It fed on rotting flesh, fish, birds of prey, etc. It also fed on
half burnt bodies from the nearby cremation ground and had once made a dinner out of a pi-dog
covered with parasites.

The villagers reside in mud huts above the river, where little Sibia lived. Her diet was a chapatti smeared
with rancid butter and chilli chutney. She was barefoot and dressed in rags with one half forming a skirt
and the other a sari and her only joy was to admire glass beads and such baubles which she had never
owned but had seen when she had gone with the family to the nearby town bazaar. She had been
fascinated with the sights and sounds there, noting specially the wares being sold at the sweetmeat
shop, the shop selling cloth as also the glass bangles and the silks and gee gaws, like trinket boxes with
tinkling toys fitted on them.
That day Sibia was accompanying her mother and the village women on their grass cutting work which
they would then sell to an agent who would sell it to the paper mills. Though the women were
underpaid, they had continued with the task from morning till evening. Sibia however was not troubled
with such matters as her mind was occupied with what the women were wearing such as bead necklaces
made from wild berries pierced through, the tiredness of carrying heavy loads of grass back in the
evening, etc. The women were chattering freely as they went ahead and the noise of their talking and
quibbling frightened the crocodile the water who stay away from noise. Thus the women crossed the
river without any mishap. And made their climb uphill.

Sibia’s attention was caught by the Gujjar encampment that they passed on the way.

She was fascinated by their jewellery, their silver earrings made with silver rupees and their pajamas.
The women were alone as the men and boys had gone off to the market to sell the produce from their
flocks. Sibia and the women set to work and Sibia felt the wind coming towards them across the

Trees which made her feel cool. Though she continued with her work for fear of her mother. Her
thoughts were diverted towards the banks where she had played as a child. She had concealed a few
clay cups she had made while playing and had left them in a cave to dry. She imagined that these cups
would look fine once they were painted over and decided that she would hang back a while to check out
on the cups after the grass cutting was over. The tired and loaded women continued to talk as they
wended their way back to the village. Sibia began stepping on the stones in the silence all around.

As the weight of the grass bundle began to feel heavy she set it against a boulder along with her
boulder.

A Gujjar woman had just come to the water’s edge to fill two brass pots with water. She was within a
yard of the crocodile without knowing about its presence. The great creature heaved itself out of the
water yawning it wide open jaws. The woman screamed in fright and dropped her pots which floated
down the river. As she recoiled for the crocodile, it closed around her leg and began pulling her down.
The woman clung to the timber logs to save herself, screaming at the same time.

Sibia was the only human in sight who without a thought sprang into action. She bounded over the
boulders taking care to measure her next landing spot while still in mid-air and was by the side of the
woman. Showing great alacrity and presence of mind, she plunged her havfork into the eyes of the
creature. When the creature lifted itself out of the water. Sibia with all the forced she could muster
plunged the hayfork directly into its eyes. The blinded and wounded creature dropped its clasp round
the leg and went under. Sibia knew that it would soon die as ound would become pus and gas would
collect in its bloated stomach and its carcass would the wound float up to the surface.

She then went back to help the woman getting her arms round her and dragging her from the water.
She stopped the bleeding with sand packing and helped her reach her home where the men made a
litter to carry her ahead for treatment. Sibia quietly did not wait around but went back to collect her
grass bundle and hayfork. While picking up her hayfork she spotted a blue bead, which actually was a bit
of glass rounded by the water and managed to pick it up. It even had a hole in it. She twisted it into a
knot and tucked it at her waist and wended homewards. On the way she was accosted by her anxious
mother who had come searching for her. While her mother was full of anxiety, Sibia was bursting to tell
her story, not about the crocodile episode but about a blue bead she had found in the water!