Plain Tales from the Hills

She was the daughter of Sonoo, a Hill-man, and Jadeh his wife. One year their maizefailed, and two bears spent the night in their only poppy-field just above the Sutlej Valleyon the Kotgarth side; so, next season, they turned Christian, and brought their baby to theMission to be baptized. The Kotgarth Chaplain christened her Elizabeth, and "Lispeth" is theHill or pahari pronunciation.Later, cholera came into the Kotgarth Valley and carried off Sonoo and Jadeh, and Lispethbecame half-servant, half-companion to the wife of the then Chaplain of Kotgarth. This wasafter the reign of the Moravian missionaries, but before Kotgarth had quite forgotten hertitle of "Mistress of the Northern Hills."Whether Christianity improved Lispeth, or whether the gods of her own people wouldhave done as much for her under any circumstances, I do not know; but she grew verylovely. When a Hill girl grows lovely, she is worth traveling fifty miles over bad ground tolook upon. Lispeth had a Greek face-one of those faces people paint so often, and see soseldom. She was of a pale, ivory color and, for her race, extremely tall. Also, she possessedeyes that were wonderful; and, had she not been dressed in the abominable print-clothsaffected by Missions, you would, meeting her on the hill-side unexpectedly, have thoughther the original Diana of the Romans going out to slay.Lispeth took to Christianity readily, and did not abandon it when she reachedwomanhood, as do some Hill girls. Her own people hated her because she had, they said, become a memsahib and washed herself daily; and the Chaplain's wife did not know whatto do with her. Somehow, one cannot ask a stately goddess, five foot ten in her shoes, toclean plates and dishes. So she played with the Chaplain's children and took classes in theSunday School, and read all the books in the house, and grew more and more beautiful, likethe Princesses in fairy tales. The Chaplain's wife said that the girl ought to take service inSimla as a nurse or something "genteel." But Lispeth did not want to take service. She wasvery happy where she was.When travellers-there were not many in those years-came to Kotgarth, Lispeth usedto lock herself into her own room for fear they might take her away to Simla, or somewhereout into the unknown world