ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

  Letter to God - G.L.Swanteh (translated by Donald A. Yates)       The house – the only one in the entire valley – sat on the crest of a low hill. From this height one could see the river and, next to the corral, the field of ripe corn dotted with the kidney bean flowers that always promised a good harvest. The only thing the earth needed was a rainfall, or at least a shower. Throughout the morning Lencho – who knew his fields intimately – had done nothing else but scan the sky toward the northeast. “Now we’re really going to get some water, woman.” The woman, who was preparing supper, replied: “Yes, God willing.” The oldest boys were working in the field, while the smaller ones were playing near the house, until the woman called to them all: “Come for dinner…” It was during the meal that, just as Lencho had predicted, big drips of rain began to fall. In the northeast huge mountains of clouds could be seen approaching. The air was fresh and swe...

  Night of the Scorpion            By-Nissim Ezekiel          I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice.   Parting with his poison - flash of diabolic tail in the dark room - he risked the rain again.   The peasants came like swarms of flies and buzzed the name of God a hundred times to paralyse the Evil One.   With candles and with lanterns throwing giant scorpion shadows on the mud-baked walls they searched for him: he was not found. They clicked their tongues. With every movement that the scorpion made his poison moved in Mother's blood, they said.   May he sit still, they said May the sins of your previous birth be burned away tonight, they said. May your suffering decrease the misfortunes of your next birth, they said. May the sum of all evil balanced in ...