A Woman of Angkor

by John Burgess

  People saw the Brahmin standing alone at the estate that night, for a long period, in the dark, beneath a tree. Then he called to a servant to bring his mare. To me there is no doubt he had decided to go back to the Capital and take responsibility for what had happened. Such was his devotion to honour. And what a risk he would have been taking. The easy response to this crime would have been a spear point through the heart of the priest, who had been heard to say in the Capital that the prince took no decision without his approval.

  But instead of the mare coming, the prince came. Then another surprise: the prince dropped to his knees before the Brahmin, palms together.

  I need your guidance, I need your wisdom, he was heard to say. I am young. I have avenged a grave crime against my family, my bloodline, for that I can have no remorse. But from here on I am at a loss as to what to do. I ask, I beg that you stay. He said all that, almost weeping as he did. Then he pressed his face to the dust and held it there.

  All who witnessed this were deeply moved. A prince of such martial strength was reaching out for guidance. He recognized his shortcomings, he hungered for teaching. In the face of such a plea, what could a teacher do but acquiesce?

  So right there, in the darkness, with the prince remaining on his knees, the priest began to deliver moral instruction. What had happened this night was a grave sin, the Brahmin declared, regardless of questions of rights and bloodline. An estate is not a prize to be jostled over. An estate does not exist to glorify its prince, but to provide food and assistance to the holy men of its temple so that behind the walls they might perform rites that keep the cosmos in balance. A prince is only a tool of this transcendent purpose, organizer of earthly activity, preserver of social order so that Heaven might be petitioned and continued life made possible.

  I believe that the priest that night suddenly saw the glimmerings of greatness in Indra, but a greatness that, left to itself, might turn against Heaven’s design. There could only have descended over Subhadra’s heart a conviction that it was his responsibility to assure that such a corruption did not occur.

  10: Siege

  I have told you these details of the Chaiyapoom killing, but we knew none of them at the time we were prisoners in the compound. All we knew was that the estate’s prince was dead and soldiers from the palace guard were eying us through the gates.

  We lived in the most abject kind of fear, wondering if the soldiers would tire of merely watching and come through those gates to kill us. People said many prayers, extra prayers, some to prepare for death, some to try to persuade Heaven to put it off.

  My little girl and I stayed in the house, somehow feeling safer behind the flimsy walls, but after a few days, we grew restless and ventured out. It was more out of hunger than anything else. We had run out of food. Perhaps someone had some to sell? But everyone we approached shook their heads.

  On the morning of the fifth day we went out, to try again, and found ourselves drawn toward the gate. There were quite a few people there. I saw then that the gate was open. It was possible to go right up to it, as many people were doing, and look out, though not to go even one step further. There were still soldiers just outside. Gradually, I summoned up the courage to try myself.

  From the gate I noticed two things. First, that the soldiers in the lane outside were different ones, with different emblems on their sampots. And the young wife Mrs Pala! Outside, selling coconuts to the soldiers.

  I felt remiss for not guessing that she would find a way to reach us. She was my most important friend from the old neighbourhood, my only one, really. She had been born there before we arrived, but lost her parents to mosquito fever before she reached her sixth year. Another household took her in, but it fell to me to give her an occupation. She became my apprentice at the market. My own daughter was too young at the time and in any case, to be frank, was short on the necessary aptitude. But how quickly Pala learned the skills of a duck egg vendor! How to raise your own birds and keep them healthy, how to supplement their production by arriving at the wholesalers’ carts before sunrise for the good pick, how the market men would try to be familiar with you, but would generally accept that you’d keep some distance, as long as you were cordial about it. I taught her how to pile the eggs in a pyramid at the stall, to sprinkle them with water to make them look extra fresh and to spot the shoppers who, if you gave them the chance by looking the other way, would slip one or two into their market bags and make off. I was sad when the time came that she married and started her own stall on the other side of the market, in coconuts, actually – there were too many sellers of duck eggs. But, do you know what happened late each morning? A boy would show up at my stall carrying a gift, an opened coconut, its sweet milk ready to drink.

  How I remembered those coconuts, and how I could almost taste the ones that Pala was, right now, selling to the soldiers. She was down the alley, on her haunches at a spot where the soldiers slept and ate their rice. She was in her element – cleaver in one hand, coconut in the other, expectant customers looking on. With a deft whack of the blade, she opened a shell and passed it to a young soldier.

  When she turned my way, I dared make a little wave. There was nothing in return, and I worried she hadn’t seen me. But in a few minutes, Pala was on her feet, a bag over her shoulder, drifting toward the gate. She stopped to ask something of a soldier, then waited to the side while he consulted with another of the men. I think it was now that I remembered something. Her husband was a member of the guard of some minor prince. She knew these men, perhaps. At the least, she knew how to talk to them.

  Then she was standing in front of me. We quickly embraced, across the threshold.

  ‘Oh, Mrs Sray!’ she whispered. ‘You’re all right! I’m sorry it took so long to come.’

  ‘It seems like right away, Pala. And you’re the first person to make it in. I’m so happy to see you.’

  ‘See now, we must be quick. I have some things for you. Coconuts and some food.’ Pala put down her bag, as if she were just resting a moment and was going to pick it up again. My eyes were misting now. ‘I prayed,’ I said, ‘and now Heaven has sent you. And thank goodness – we’ve run out of everything. My girl is going hungry.’

  Pala shared what news she had. The King’s soldiers were out and around the city. Some had begun the march to the estate where the killing had taken place. At first everyone thought they were going to capture and punish our prince. But now a new story was circulating – he might be forgiven. The soldiers from the Capital might join forces with him. Why? Who could say? It was hard to know what to believe. Today it was that the palace priests were arguing among themselves. It all created a feeling that no one was in charge.

  ‘So,’ said Pala, ‘when the soldiers get an order, they delay carrying it out, because they wonder if it’s going to be reversed the next day.’

  ‘Time’s up.’ It was one of the sentries.

  ‘I’ll come again tomorrow,’ Pala whispered. ‘Same time. Meet me here.’

  She left. I tarried a moment, then picked up the bag. The sentry saw, I’m sure, but did nothing to stop me. I hurried back to the house and with Bopa looking on impatiently, opened the bag. The most wonderful aromas rose from it. Inside were boiled rice, chicken, water spinach, lotus seeds, fish and peanut paste, all wrapped in leaves, ready to eat. At the bottom were four coconuts, each in perfect ripeness.

  Bopa reached for the chicken, poor girl, but I knew we had to do something else first. We knelt at the household shrine, placed rice offerings on it and prayed. Then we ate very quickly – like ravenous animals, I imagine. It would have been easy to finish it all, right there, but half way through, I called a stop. ‘We have to give some to the neighbours. To the woman who lost her son.’

  The next morning, Pala was at the gate as promised, with another bag. I took it gratefully but then I shared an idea that had come to me overnight. Perhaps if the people inside made a gesture to help the soldiers, to make them more comfortable, they’d all
ow Pala to bring in supplies for everyone. Pala said she’d try, but first she’d have to talk to the sergeant in charge.

  Soon the soldier was approaching. It seemed he wanted to talk to the lady inside. Me! He was rather powerfully built, with a small tuft of hair in the middle of his chest. A dagger was tucked at his waist. I regretted having called attention to myself.

  ‘Good morning, sir,’ I said, trying for a courteous voice.

  ‘Good morning, ma’am.’ It surprised me that he replied at all, and that he followed with a morose smile.

  ‘We’d like to tell you,’ I said, feeling for the words, ‘how grateful we here are for the protection you and your men are giving us.’

  He shrugged, as if sorry I should have to say such a thing.

  I continued. ‘I can see that this is unpleasant duty. Inside, we get to sit in our houses or in the shade but you soldiers have to stand in the sun all day. You know, you and your men might be here for quite a while. It would be much more comfortable, don’t you think, if someone came and built a small pavilion as a place for you and your men to rest, to get out of the sun.’

  One of the sentries was listening, and I was happy for that. Word would spread and it wouldn’t be a decision for the sergeant alone to make.

  ‘That would be pleasant, yes,’ he replied. ‘But unfortunately, we have no money for such a thing.’

  ‘Sir, what I meant is that we in the compound would like to help with that.’

  ‘That’s very kind.’ He was playing along, this man. How fortunate I was; he seemed a decent type.

  ‘A small thing. But Mrs Pala here could see about getting a thatch pavilion built. She knows people who do that kind of work.’ The sergeant nodded and signalled that I could continue. ‘And maybe next time she comes to sell to your men she could sell a few things to us inside as well. We’re running short; the children are complaining that they don’t have anything sweet and it’s a bit heart-breaking.’

  He made a show of thinking it over. ‘All right, she can sell to all of you. But I’m afraid it will have to be with the understanding that she does it here at the gate and that no one comes out.’

  ‘Of course. No one will leave.’

  ‘Good. That way, we can continue to protect you.’ He gave me a small, ironic smile, and turned to leave.

  ‘Sir, there’s one more thing...’ He turned back, as if he’d known there would be. ‘There’s a body inside here, sir. The body of a boy. Cremation needs to be arranged or his soul will become confused, and wander aimlessly. I hope it wouldn’t be too much to ask that his mother be allowed to take the body out to a temple and see to the service.’

  ‘You said a boy...?’ He had turned serious. ‘No one told us about that.’

  ‘Eleven years old, sir. He was killed with a spear outside the wall. It must have been an accident.’

  The sergeant’s face clouded. Then he told me that, yes, the mother could take the body out.

  I hurried in to tell the mother, and then went house to house to explain my idea. People were willing to speak with me now – perhaps they knew that my daughter and I had shared from our first bag of food. I explained the deal I’d made. Some people predicted the soldiers wouldn’t keep their side of it but I said that the sergeant seemed like he could be trusted. In the end, most people put in some silver to see what would happen. By the time I arrived at the gate the next morning, I had a sufficient sum in a pouch. Pala met me, the money changed hands, and that afternoon workmen arrived with thatch and bamboo and began putting up the shelter. And Pala came with two very large baskets of food and drink, suspended from a rod across her shoulders. She could barely walk, it was so heavy! First she sold to the soldiers, then she moved the baskets to the gate. Women lined up at the inside and bought her out.

  Later, a priest with two assistants entered the compound. In half an hour they emerged, the assistants carrying the small body shrouded on a board. The mother trailed behind. The soldier on guard at the door looked under the cloth and made a face of pity.

  The sergeant waved the man off, then stepped to me. ‘I’m sorry, ma’am. The body should not have been disturbed. But the man thought he was required to do that.’

  Life was easier after that. Pala came every day, and people had enough to eat. I was able to persuade the sergeant that women should be allowed to go to the canal in the afternoon to wash clothing, with a soldier in escort, of course. The day after that, I pointed out that the skies had remained clear for a few days and that the houses’ jars were running out of the water they collected as run-off from roofs. He said all right, and they found a pushcart and took several jars to the canal to fill. Several of the soldiers put down their spears and helped.

  But one morning, the sergeant came into the compound with four of his men, without warning. People turned out to watch as the group moved from house to house, entering each to look around inside.

  A woman strolled up to me. ‘It’s very important that they don’t come inside my house,’ she whispered. ‘The one by the wall. Over there. Can you help?’

  I did not ask why. But I went and found the sergeant. ‘Sir, the previous group of soldiers did this already. They searched the whole place. Is there really anything here worth looking for now?’

  ‘Oh, just bear with us a while,’ he replied pleasantly. ‘Some new orders have come down, and we can’t just ignore them.’

  We stood together, watching the men check the house next to the one by the wall.

  ‘You know, sergeant, I’ve been thinking. The mats your men sleep on seem awfully thin and ragged. The women who went out to wash clothes were telling me just last night. I know a shop in the market where they could get new ones. And no, no – I wouldn’t need to go there myself.’

  ‘Mrs Pala could take care of it.’

  ‘Sir, you read my mind.’

  ‘Now, I suppose that the best way to get those mats would be to end the search right now.’

  I’m sure I was smiling nervously now. ‘Why do you say that? We just want to help.’

  ‘That I know. We’ve really been made quite comfortable here. It’s going to be a shame to have to go back to our barracks.’

  ‘Is that a possibility?’

  He shrugged. ‘Perhaps, before long, and after that all of you people will be free to go where you please. There will be no need to protect you anymore. In any case, don’t worry about getting the mats. We’re comfortable enough.’

  But what was he communicating? The four soldiers were walking toward the house by the wall now.

  Then I did something I should not have. I blurted: ‘Please, sergeant! There’s no need to look in that one.’

  I closed my eyes, appalled. I’d given away the secret.

  But just then the sergeant called out to his men: ‘That’s enough then, come on back.’ With his usual courtesy, he said his good-byes to me and led his men out the gate.

  My heart was beating so fast. I let it calm down, then wandered in what I hoped was an inconspicuous way to the house by the wall. Its woman came to the door, whispered her thanks, then brought me inside. A man was sitting on the floor.

  ‘Mr Narin! You’ve been here all this time?’

  ‘Yes!’ Our good friend and helpmate smiled wearily. ‘Since the first day. The soldiers were taking away all the men at Prince Indra’s palace. This lady is my cousin. She took me in.’

  The woman explained that there’d been a close call that first day. The soldiers came to the house, but Mr Narin had hidden in a big water jar. ‘He may have to do it again,’ she laughed. ‘He’ll be safe, though. Those soldiers are just stupid country boys.’

  I wanted to speak up for the sergeant, but thought this was not the time.

  Two days later, word spread that the soldiers outside were packing up. I went to look. There was already a crowd at the gate. It was true – the sentries were gone, the sleeping pavilion was being dismantled. One by one, people began stepping out of the gate, to see what would happen, and n
othing happened. I joined the flow, feeling a thrill at passing through.

  I saw the sergeant consulting with one of his men. Something made me turn away, then I wondered if I should go and thank him. But there was no need to decide; he was walking toward me.

  ‘We’re leaving, ma’am. Back to the barracks.’

  ‘Oh!’

  ‘Your Prince Indra has become quite a hero. He’s securing the Upper Empire against the Siamese.’

  I found my wits now. ‘Before you go, sir, I want to tell you that I appreciate all that you have allowed us here.’

  ‘Oh, it should have been much more. Holding women and children prisoner isn’t my idea of proper duty. And we got something out of it too, don’t forget. Probably more than we should have. So here’s a bit of it back.’ He held out a handful of silver nuggets. ‘We sold the materials in the pavilion to a scrap man. Here’s the money, with a little extra. The men all contributed.’

  I took it. ‘Sir, you and your men are very kind. May Heaven bless you all.’

  ‘I suspect that it blesses you more.’

  Perhaps my face showed a bit of colour when he said that. ‘Well, good-bye, then. But – sir, may I know your name?’

  ‘I am Sergeant Sen of the King’s compound guard, second squad.’

  ‘I will convey word about the kind things that you did for us here, sir. And...my name is Sray. Mrs Sray.’

  ‘Yes, I’ve been told. You are wife of Prince Indra’s parasol master.’

  I went back inside and found Bopa. Together we walked to Bronze Uncle to give thanks. He was not cross with us, I’m sure, for staying away so long. We had reason. That day in my prayer I did not include anything about the ghost. I knew that the god knew what happened and would take steps to protect us.