Short summary of the chapter Iswaran the storyteller
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Iswaran the Storyteller is an interesting story written by R. K. Narayan about Mahendra, a bachelor and junior supervisor in a firm who stayed with his cook, Iswaran. Mahendra had a transferable job so he used to keep moving from one place to another very often, as per the orders of his head office. However, Iswaran would always accompany him wherever he went. He took great care of his master and shared interesting stories with him.
Iswaran would buy fresh vegetables and used to cook delicious meals for Mahendra. While his master was away to work, Iswaran would clean up the house, wash utensils and had a bath leisurely. He was very fond of reading popular Tamil thrillers during his free time. As a result, he often invented his own thrillers and would tell those stories to Mahendra when he returned from work. Mahendra too enjoyed listening to his cook’s stories as he would listen to every story awestruck. Once Iswaran told him a story of a wild elephant and how he controlled the menacing animal that had gone mad.
He told Mahendra that he was originally from a place that was famous for timber, where he had seen logs of wood carried by elephants. These animals were fed a huge amount of food, but when they went wild, they went beyond the control of even the most experienced mahout. One fine day, an elephant entered the school premises where children were playing and broke through the brick wall. All the children and teachers were terrified of the wild tusker and rushed to a safe place to save themselves. When the wild tusker saw Iswaran, it lifted its trunk and rushed towards him menacingly. Mustering up all his force and courage, Iswaran quickly whacked its third toenail and the elephant shivered head to foot and collapsed. Mahendra was astounded at his cook’s courage after listening to his story.
On another occasion, Iswaran had prepared a special meal for dinner on an auspicious day. He told Mahendra that he prepared several delicacies to feed the spirits of their ancestors. Mahendra enjoyed the meal and complimented his cook on his culinary skills. As usual, Iswaran began with his story-telling. But this time, he talked about supernatural elements. He said he was not afraid of ghosts as he was brave enough to deal with them.
Iswaran told his master that the place they stayed in was once a burial ground and he had also seen ghosts around. He particularly mentioned a gruesome ghost of a woman which appeared on and off at midnight during a full moon night. She moaned in a shrill tone and carried a foetus in her arms. Hearing this, Mahendra was scared and shivered at the description and rebuked Iswaran stating that ghosts don’t exist. Soon, he retired to bed but could not sleep as the discussion about the ghost woman was hovering in his mind.
From that day onwards, Mahendra would go to sleep feeling uneasy thinking about the female ghost. One night as Mahendra was sleeping, he suddenly woke up from his sleep by a low moaning sound coming from his window. Out of curiosity, he looked out of the window and saw the night sky was filled with moonlight outside and noticed a dark cloud-shaped structure that was clutching a bundle. Seeing this, Mahendra started sweating profusely and fell on his pillow gasping. The next morning, Iswaran enquired his master about the female ghost and moaning sound that was coming from his room. A chill ran down Mahendra’s spine and he decided to leave the haunted place immediately forever.