Reading Notes: Bengal: A Ghostly Wife, Part B

Bengal: A Ghostly Wife 
Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day, with illustrations by Warwick Goble (1912). 

Story and Picture Source

• The Brahman married a wife who lived with his mother
• There was a ghost who lived nearby them – the ghost is a Sankchinni
• The Brahmans wife needed to go to the tank
• She passed by a Sankchinni who was near
• The ghost became very angry with the wife
• He grabbed her by the throat
• Then he climbed a tree and threw her into a hole in the trunk
• The woman almost died of fear
• The ghost put the clothes of the woman on and went into her home
• The Brahman and his mother could not tell the difference
• They both believed the ghost was the wife
• Eventually the mother-in-law saw some changes in her daughter in law
• The daughter in law used to be slow about housework but now she was fast and strong about it
• The mother was happy that she was better at house work now so she said nothing
• Every day the ghost got better and better at doing house work
• The ghost did everything in lightning speed and showed signs of being supernatural
• The mother eventually started to notice that the ghost was doing tricks and participating in supernatural acts
• The mother said nothing to the ghost because she was in shock but she did bring it up to the son
• The son and mother started to pay more attention to the ghost
• They finally put two and two together and realized that the ghost was not who they had believed it was
• They then called an exorcist to get the ghost out of the house
• The ghost ran from the room once the exorcist started his performance
• The exorcist beat the ghost with his shoes when the ghost would not answer his questions
• The ghost them told them that she was a ghost and where they could find the woman
• The woman was almost dead but she was rescued
• The ghost promised to leave the family alone
• They all lived happily ever after

The Ghost and Wife