Every language has its own stock characters to make the reader laugh.
Shaikh Chilli is the jester for Urdu
Here is a sample story of the inimitable Chilli!
One day when Shaikh Chilli was away from home some mischief-maker went to his wife and told her that he had died. His wife and children began to cry, and his wife took off her ornaments and began to wail in lamentation,‘Alas! I am widowed. Alas! my children are orphaned.’
While this was happening Shaikh Chilli returned home. Seeing that his whole family was crying he too began to cry. The sound of their crying brought all the neighbours round to ask what had happened. Shaikh Chilli did not know, so he asked his wife. She said,‘Someone told me that you had died and I was a widow.’ He, still weeping, repeated these words to the neighbours.‘My wife has been widowed!’ One of them said,‘What nonsense are you talking? You’re here—alive and well, fit and strong. How can your wife be a widow?’ He said,‘I may be well and strong, but my wife told me herself that she was a widow. How can I doubt her word?’
Shaikh Chilli is the jester for Urdu
Here is a sample story of the inimitable Chilli!
‘She Told Me Herself’
While this was happening Shaikh Chilli returned home. Seeing that his whole family was crying he too began to cry. The sound of their crying brought all the neighbours round to ask what had happened. Shaikh Chilli did not know, so he asked his wife. She said,‘Someone told me that you had died and I was a widow.’ He, still weeping, repeated these words to the neighbours.‘My wife has been widowed!’ One of them said,‘What nonsense are you talking? You’re here—alive and well, fit and strong. How can your wife be a widow?’ He said,‘I may be well and strong, but my wife told me herself that she was a widow. How can I doubt her word?’
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