THE BLUE BEAD

21] Sibia lingered to check on the little clay cups and was alone when she
reached the stepping stones

A] The sunset struck up the gorge pink into ultraviolet shadows

B] river water almost invisible-with no reflection

C] Sibia exhausted- muscles stretched and aching

D] packed dry grass on her head; hayfork squeaked in the grass-dug into
her collar bone

E] sari bunched up as a pad on her head

F] halfway through put the load down and rested- leaning on the fork

22] The attack

A] gujar woman came with two brass pots

B] walked on the stepping stones to get clear water without sand

C] crocodile within a yard

D] crocodile lunged at her –water slushing off him- livid jaws yawning-
teeth flashing- slashed at her leg

E] woman screamed- dropped the brass pots-recoiled from the

crocodile- but its jaws closed on her leg

F] the woman clung on to the log jammed between two boulders

G] crocodile pulled at her leg- threshing his mighty tail

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H] tried to pull her into the waters and carry her off into the deeps of the
pool

I] blood everywhere

23] SIBIA FOUGHT THE CROCODILE

A] came leaping like a mountain goat

B] did not care about the big gap in between- as if on wings

C] when Sibia reached the woman – the crocodiles eyes rolled on to Sibia

D]one slap of the tail would kill her

E] He threshed his tail- water went 20 feet up and fell like a chain

F] on hesitation on Sibia’s part- incidents like this commonplace like

thorn bush in the jungles

G] She aimed at the reptile’s eyes with hayfork

H] used all her strength- one prong went into an eye and other prong
scratched his horny cheeks

I] crocodile in convulsions – half his lizard body out of water

J] crashed back- exploding the water- in an uproar of bloody foam he

disappeared

K] WOULD DIE- death will not be known for days- stomach blown with
gas will float him- found upside down among the logs in timber boom

L] Sibia got her arms round the fainting woman- dragged her out of the
water- stopped her wounds with sand- bound it with a rag ; helped her
to gujar encampment- where men made a litter[ crude stretcher] and

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 carried her to someone for treatment 24] Sibia went back for her
grass-sickle & fork

25] Luckily fork lying in the river – not carried away

26] When she bent down to pick the hayfork- saw the blue bead

27] Not blue in the dark- white-blue

28] Its shape wobbling in the moving water- refraction

29] Grabbed it somehow- perfect for her necklace- the reflection of

sunset shuffled inside the glass like gold-dust
30] Twisted it into the top of her skirt against her tummy- so she would
know if it burst through the poor cloth and fell

31] The dangers she faced when she stepped out of water

A] stepped on wriggle marks of snakes- danger of snakes

B] malaria mosquitoes

C] a morose [depressed] old makna elephant – the tuskless one – which

came to the river

32] Anxious mother came down from the village in search of Sibia

33] Sibia ecstatic- did not tell her mother anything about the crocodile
when she thought something must have happened to her

34] For Sibia something did happen to her- she found the blue bead for
her necklace- this glass was a miracle for the child- the danger she
faced was irrelevant-

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