The Village in the Jungle

by Leonard Woolf

'What was he convicted for?'

'It was a false case. They said he had robbed the Arachchi.'

'Oh, that man, yes. The Arachchi was killed afterwards, wasn't he?'

'Yes, yes, my father did that.'

'Well, he was here, too. Have you any money, woman?'

'No, aiya, none; we are very poor.'

'Ah! well. We can't tell you anything here. You must go to Kamburupitiya, and send a petition to the Agent Hamadoru.'

'But you know my man, aiya; you said you did. What harm to tell me? Is he here now? What has happened to him? I have come many days' journey to ask about him, and now you send me away to more trouble.'

The jail guard looked at Punchi Menika for a minute or two.

'Well,' he said, 'charity they say is like rain to a parched crop. You are asking for drought in a parched field. I knew the man; he was here, but he is dead. He died two months back.'