Chapter 4 – Folk-Tales of Bengal – A Ghostly Wife Solutions

Content Structure

  • 1. About the author – Lal Behari Dey
  • 2. Summary of the story A Ghostly Wife
  • 3. Word meanings

1. About the author – Lal Behari Dey

Lal Behari Dey was born on 18 December 1824 in Bengal during British rule. He was well known as an Indian writer, journalist, and Christian missionary. He was famous for his English writing and for collecting and publishing Bengali folktales. He studied in a missionary school and later became a teacher and pastor. His most popular book is Folk-Tales of Bengal, which shares the rich culture and stories of rural Bengal. He wanted people to appreciate his simple and powerful writing, which was respected widely. He died on 28 October 1892.

2. Summary of the story A Ghostly Wife

Once, there lived a Brahman with his wife and his mother near their house was a pond, beside which stood a tree where a Sankchinni lived. One night, the Brahman’s wife went to the pond and accidentally touched the Sankchinni. The ghost became very angry, grabbed the woman by the throat, and pushed her into a hole in the trunk of the tree. The woman lay inside the tree hole, almost dead with fear. The ghost then put on the wife’s clothes and went to the Brahman’s house. The Brahman and his mother thought she was the real wife and welcomed her but the next day, the mother noticed something strange. Her daughter-in-law had always been weak and slow, but now she was fast, full of energy, and finished the housework very quickly. She would stretch her arm many metres to get things, and one day the mother saw this with her own eyes and told her son. There was no firewood in the house but the kitchen fire was burning brightly. They found that the woman was cooking by putting her foot into the oven. The Brahman and his mother realised she was not the real wife and called an Ojha who drives away spirits. The Ojha tested her by holding burning turmeric under her nose, as ghosts cannot stand its smell so when the smoke reached her, she screamed and ran. At first, she refused to speak, but when the Ojha beat her with his slipper, she confessed that she was a Sankchinni ghost and the Brahman’s wife was locked inside the tree hole near the pond. They ran to the tree and found the poor woman almost dead. The ghost promised never to harm the family again, so the Ojha let her go. The wife slowly recovered, and the Brahman and his wife lived happily for many years, blessed with many sons and daughters.

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A Ghostly Wife Extra Questions and Answers

3. Word meanings

WordMeanings
OccasionA particular time or event
TankWater pond
SeizedGrabbed
ThroatThe front part of the neck
TrunkTree stem
LanguidWeak
IncrediblyVery hard to believe, Amazingly
RejoicedCheered
RequiredNeeded
LengthenTo make longer
StruckHit or shocked
BlazeA very bright fire
InfallibleSure
ScreamedShouted
DisclosuresRevealing
BelabouringHitting again and again
SolemnlySeriously
SpellMagic

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