He has seen a great healing . When I was a child I made clay men and horses . ' ' I have made them too . Sir Banas , he comes in the night and makes them all alive at the back of our kitchen-midden , ' piped the child . ` And so thou art not frightened at anything . Eh , Prince ? ' ' I was frightened because my father was frightened . I felt his arms shake . ' ` Oh , chicken-man ! ' said Kim , and even the abashed Jat laughed . ' I have done a healing on this poor trader . He must forsake his gains and his account-books , and sit by the wayside three nights to overcome the malignity of his enemies . The Stars are against him . ' ` The fewer money-lenders the better , say I ; but , Saddhu or no Saddhu , he should pay for my stuff on his shoulders . ' ` So ? But that is thy child on thy shoulder -- given over to the burning-ghat not two days ago . There remains one thing more . I did this charm in thy presence because need was great . I changed his shape and his soul . None the less , if , by any chance , O man from Jullundur , thou rememberest what thou hast seen , either among the elders sitting under the village tree , or in thine own house , or in company of thy priest when he blesses thy cattle , a murrain will come among the buffaloes , and a fire in thy thatch , and rats in the corn-bins , and the curse of our Gods upon thy fields that they may be barren before thy feet and after thy ploughshare . '
This was part of an old curse picked up from a fakir by the Taksali Gate in the days of XXXXX 's innocence .
Banas Kim Saddhu account-books fire money-lenders murrain nights ploughshare thatch