"India's a very curious place," said he, after
a pause.
"Ah? You'll know all about it in three months. Come in to lunch," said Orde.
VOLUME V PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
LISPETH
Look, you have cast out Love! What Gods are these
You bid me please?
The Three in One, the One in Three? Not so!
To my own Gods I go.
It may be they shall give me greater ease
Than your cold Christ and tangled Trinities.
--The Convert.
She was the daughter of Sonoo, a Hill-man, and Jadeh his wife. One year their
maize failed, and two bears spent the night in their only poppy-field just
above the Sutlej Valley on the Kotgarh side; so, next season, they turned
Christian, and brought their baby to the Mission to be baptized. The Kotgarh
Chaplain christened her Elizabeth, and "Lispeth" is the Hill or pahari
pronunciation.
Later, cholera came into the Kotgarh Valley and carried off Sonoo and Jadeh,
and Lispeth became half-servant, half-companion to the wife of the then
Chaplain of Kotgarh. This was after the reign of the Moravian missionaries,
but before Kotgarh had quite forgotten her title of "Mistress of the Northern
Hills."
Whether Christianity improved Lispeth, or whether the gods of her own people
would have done as much for her under any circumstances, I do not know; but
she grew very lovely.
Pages:
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542