Bram rose, ladled a cup of water, squatted down next to the girl and waited for her to take it. She paused only a moment before reaching out with both hands to accept the cup. She poured the entire amount of water down her throat without ever letting her lips touch the rim or pausing for breath. She handed the cup back to Bram and he walked to the jug to refill it.
She poured the second cup in to her mouth in the same way as before, but it was clear that her thirst had subsided a bit. She drank it slowly and finally handed the cup back to Bram who remained stooped before her.
Bram lowered the empty cup to the floor beside him and then lowered himself so that he was sitting cross-legged on the dusty wood-slatted floor across from the girl.
“What is your name?” Bram tried first in English, hoping she might know or have learnt some of the language at some point.
She shifted her eyes between Bram and Abel and looked ready to bolt at any second but didn’t say a word. Abel had remained sitting at the table during this interlude, but seeing that this could take a while he stood and walked behind the table and took out a project.
“Name?” Bram tried again to no avail.
“Try telling her your name,” Abel interjected from the other side of the room while sanding down and smoothing out a round wooden ball. If possible, the girl shrank further into the corner at the sound of his voice.
“My name is Bram,” he began.
“My name is Bram,” he said again while pointing to his own chest.
She just stared at him with her large frightened eyes. Bram hung his head; he was tired, too tired.
He was just about to rise when he felt Abel’s hand on his shoulder.
“Bram,” Abel said while poking Bram in the chest.
“Bram,” Abel said, jabbing his finger at his older brother again.
“Ouch.” Bram muttered but Abel ignored him.
“A – bel,” Abel said pointing to his own chest.
He did it again.
Finally, “Bram. Abel,” smacking his hand on Bram’s chest and then back to his own.
“What is his name?” Hiren asked her mother as she stroked her new little brother’s face and bent to kiss his soft head.
“We haven’t given him a name yet. We will wait and consult the priest when he comes. The gods have finally smiled on us and given us a son so he must be given a very important name.”
“Did the priest come after I was born and give me my name, Mother?” Hiren asked.
“No, child,” Mother answered while petting her first daughter’s head and smiling down into her round black eyes.
“Then who gave me my name?
“Me,” Mother answered. “On the day you were born, I was feeling good for the first time in months. I had been so sick while I carried you, but that day I felt good and I felt like eating.” Mother paused on the last word to reach out with one hand and tickle Hiren’s stomach. “I sent your father out to find me a tomato. He didn’t like to leave me since my elder sister, who was to be with me, had received news that day that her own son had fallen from a tree and broken his arm. She left me suddenly the night before. My younger sister was to come but she had not yet arrived. Papa protested but I told him that if I didn’t eat a tomato I would surely die, so at last he went.”
“It wasn’t long after he left me that I felt the first pain in my stomach, but then the pain went away as quickly as it came. However, soon after the pain came back again and again and I soon found myself laying down on the ground right here all alone and in such terrible pain that I could not move. Finally, I was able to lift myself up on my elbows to call out to your papa, but I never did.”
“Why didn’t you call for Papa, Mumi?” Hiren asked, eager to hear the story of her birth.
“Look at the hill across the way. Are you looking?” Mother pointed her arm out straight and watched Hiren’s eyes move over the hill.
“Do you see the big tree with the two large rocks on either side?”
After a moment of looking, “Yes, I see it!”
Mother petted her head and smoothed Hiren’s hair before going on. “When I sat up to call for Papa my eyes saw something by the tree that took my breath away.”
“What did you see?” Hiren was up on her knees now crowding closely to her mother and nearly leaning on her baby brother who was nursing at her breast.
“I saw, a lion.”
Hiren gave a little squeal and her fists flew up to her mouth. She had never seen a lion herself but she had often heard terrifying tales told by the older children.
“Did the lion see you, Mumi?”
“No, thankfully he was looking at something else.”
“What? What?” Hiren was bouncing on her knees now and her baby brother ceased his drinking and gave out a little “waa” of annoyance.
“There was a deer grazing on the other side of the large rock. I didn’t even see her at first, but the lion saw her and when I spotted him he was very slowly and very quietly walking toward the deer, ready to pounce!” Hiren gave another squeal and hid her face in Mother’s long folds of saree. But just for a moment.
“And? What happened then?”
“Well, I was watching from here and I felt so badly for that poor beautiful deer. I had never even seen one before that day. I started to turn my face away just as the lion was about to pounce on the deer from behind. I couldn’t bear to see such a beautiful creature killed. But the lion was so fast that I didn’t even have time to turn my head away. I saw the lion leap into the air and jump on the deer.”
“Oh no, no,” Hiren started to cry.
“Listen, child, I haven’t finished yet. When I looked more closely, the deer was not there. The moment before the lion leapt, the deer herself leapt away. She ran so swiftly over rock and bush that by the time the lion, and even I, realized that she was not where she was, she had already reached the top of the hill. When I last saw the deer she was just disappearing over the hill and out of sight.”
Hiren was on her feet hopping up and down clapping by this point. “The lion?” she said suddenly and flung herself back at her mother’s feet.
“I don’t know what happened to the lion. After I saw the deer go over the hill I suddenly had a sharp pain. It was then that I realized that all the time I had been watching the lion and the deer I had felt no pain at all. I finally cried out and when I opened my eyes I saw your papa and my younger sister kneeling over me. A few minutes later you were born.”
“So that is why you named me Hiren, after the deer you saw that day?”
“Yes, later when I held you in my arms and you were so small and beautiful, I was reminded of the deer on the hill.” Mother reached up and cupped her hand onto Hiren’s small cheek and said, “Looking at you then, so small and helpless, I wished that whenever the lion of death would come to devour you, you would always be like the deer, perhaps in the lion’s eyes but never in his jaws,” she whispered to her child. “And that is why I named you...”
