எது சஸ்பென்ஸ்..? அந்த இரண்டு கதவுகள்
- சுஜாதா
சென்ற நூற்றாண்டின் ஆரம்பத்தில் ப்ராங்க்
ஸ்டாக்டன் என்கிற சிறுகதை எழுத்தாளர் எழுதிய தி லேடி அர் தி டைகர்? என்கிற ஒரே ஒரு கதை இன்னும் பேசப்படுகிறது.
ஸ்டாக்டன் இந்தக் கதையை 1882-ல் எழுதினார். அதன் பிரபலமும்,
அது தந்த ஏமாற்றமும் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான கடிதங்களை தூண்டின. இன்று வரை இந்தக் கதை,
உலகிலேயே மிக பிரபலமான சஸ்பென்ஸ் கதையாகப் பேசப்படுகிறது. நூறு வருஷம்
கழித்துக்கூட இதன் முடிவை விவாதிப்பவர்கள் இருக்கிறார்கள். கதை என்னவென்று
சொல்கிறேன்...
“ரொம்ப நாள் முன்னால் ஒரு ராஜா
இருந்தான். அவனுடைய தலைநகரில் ஒரு பெரிய ஸ்டேடியத்திலேயேதான் பொதுஜன கேளிக்கைகளும்
தண்டனைகளும் நடக்கும். எல்லோரும் பார்த்து மகிழ்வார்கள்.
ராஜாவின் கவனத்தைக் கவரும்
வகையில் ஒரு குற்றம் நிகழ்ந்து விட்டால், குற்றவாளியை ஸ்டேடியம் நடுவில்
கொண்டு வந்து விடுவார்கள். எல்லாருக்கும் தகவல் சொல்லி ஜனங்கள் சூழ்ந்திருக்க, குற்றவாளிக்குத் தண்டனை அளிக்கப்படும்.
தண்டனை என்ன? ராஜா சைகை
காட்ட, குற்றவாளிக்கு எதிரே அருகருகே இரண்டு கதவுகள்
இருக்கும்… இரண்டும்
ஒரே மாதிரி தோற்றம் கொண்டவை… அதில்
ஒன்றைக் குற்றவாளி தன் இச்சைப்படி தேர்ந்தெடுத்துத் திறக்க வேண்டும். ஒரு கதவைத்
திறந்தால், அதன்
உள்ளிருக்கும் பசித்த புலி வெளிவந்து அவன் மேல் பாய்ந்து குத்திக் குதறித்
தின்றுவிடும். மற்றொரு கதவைத் திறந்தால்… அவன்
வயசுக்கும் தகுதிக்கும் ஏற்ப ஒரு பெண் – ராஜாவால்
தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட அழகான பெண் – காத்திருப்பாள்.
அவளைக் குற்றவாளி உடனே கல்யாணம் செய்துகொள்ள வேண்டும். ராஜா காட்டும் நியாயம்
இதுதான்!
ராஜாவுக்கு
ஓர் அழகான பெண் இருந்தாள். அவள் (எப்போதும் போல!) அழகான ஏழை இளைஞனைக் காதலித்தாள்.
இந்தக் காதல் ராஜாவுக்குத் தெரிய வந்தது. உடனுக்குடன் அந்த இளைஞன் கைது
செய்யப்பட்டான். தண்டனை? வழக்கம்
போலத்தான்! இரண்டு கதவு – புலி அல்லது
பெண். இந்த ஸ்பெஷல் கேஸுக்காக ராஜா பிரத்யேகமாக ஒரு புலியைத் தயார் செய்தார் – கோபம் அதிகமான, பசி அதிகமான
புலி! அதே போல் பெண் விஷயத்திலும் பேட்டையிலேயே பெரிய அழகியைத் தேர்ந்தெடுத்தான்
ராஜா. அதில் எல்லாம் பாரபட்சம் இல்லாதவன்.
தண்டனை நாள்
வந்தது. காதலன் கொண்டு வரப்பட்டு நடுவே விடுவிக்கப்பட்டான். இரண்டு கதவில் ஒன்றைத்
திறப்பதற்கு முன் ராஜாவுக்குத் தலைவணங்கிவிட்டு அருகில் உட்கார்ந்திருந்த
ராஜகுமாரியைப் பரிதாபமாகப் பார்த்தான். ராஜகுமாரிக்கு மட்டும் எந்தக் கதவுக்குப்
பின்னால் புலி, எதில் பெண்
என்பது முன்பே தெரிந்திருந்தது. (ஒரு பெண்ணின் வைராக்கியமும் காவலர்களின் பொன்
ஆசையும் அவளுக்கு அந்தத் தகவலைக் கொடுத்திருந்தன.)
ராஜகுமாரியைப்
பரிதாபத்துடன் பார்த்த காதலன் கண்ணாலேயே ‘எந்தக் கதவு?’ என்று கேட்டான். அதற்கு அவள் உடனே வலது
கையைச் சற்றே உயர்த்தி வலது பக்கக் கதவைக் காட்டினாள். அது அவள் காதலனுக்கு
மட்டும்தான் தெரிந்தது.
காதலன் உடனே
விருவிருவென்று நடந்துபோய் எதிரே வலது பக்கக் கதவைத் தயக்கமே இல்லாமல் திறந்தான்.
வெளிவந்தது
புலியா, பெண்ணா? புலி
என்றால், தான் உயிரையே வைத்திருந்த காதலன்
துடிதுடித்துச் செத்துப்போவதை எப்படி ராஜகுமாரியால் தாங்கிக் கொள்ள முடியும்? பெண் என்றால் மற்றொரு பெண்ணுடன் தன் காதலன்
சுகித்து வாழ்வதை எப்படி அவளால் சகித்துக் கொள்ள முடியும்?
புலியா? பெண்ணா? எது?”
நீங்கள்தான் சொல்லுங்களேன்..!
- சுஜாதா (எது சஸ்பென்ஸ்..? – கட்டுரையின் சில
பகுதிகள்... “ஓரிரு எண்ணங்கள்” தொகுப்பிலிருந்து)
ஆங்கில கதையை விருப்பமுள்ளவர்கள் படிக்கலாம்...
In the very olden time there lived a
semi-barbaric king, whose ideas, though somewhat polished and sharpened by the
progressiveness of distant Latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and
untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of
exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his
will, he turned his varied fancies into facts. He was greatly given to
self-communing, and, when he and himself agreed upon anything, the thing was
done. When every member of his domestic and political systems moved smoothly in
its appointed course, his nature was bland and genial; but, whenever there was
a little hitch, and some of his orbs got out of their orbits, he was blander
and more genial still, for nothing pleased him so much as to make the crooked
straight and crush down uneven places.
Among the borrowed notions by which his barbarism had become semified
was that of the public arena, in which, by exhibitions of manly and beastly
valor, the minds of his subjects were refined and cultured.
But even here the exuberant and barbaric fancy asserted itself. The
arena of the king was built, not to give the people an opportunity of hearing
the rhapsodies of dying gladiators, nor to enable them to view the inevitable
conclusion of a conflict between religious opinions and hungry jaws, but for
purposes far better adapted to widen and develop the mental energies of the
people. This vast amphitheater, with its encircling galleries, its mysterious
vaults, and its unseen passages, was an agent of poetic justice, in which crime
was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and
incorruptible chance.
When a subject was accused of a crime of sufficient importance to
interest the king, public notice was given that on an appointed day the fate of
the accused person would be decided in the king's arena, a structure which well
deserved its name, for, although its form and plan were borrowed from afar, its
purpose emanated solely from the brain of this man, who, every barleycorn a king,
knew no tradition to which he owed more allegiance than pleased his fancy, and
who ingrafted on every adopted form of human thought and action the rich growth
of his barbaric idealism.
<
2 >
When all the people had assembled in the galleries, and the king,
surrounded by his court, sat high up on his throne of royal state on one side
of the arena, he gave a signal, a door beneath him opened, and the accused
subject stepped out into the amphitheater. Directly opposite him, on the other
side of the enclosed space, were two doors, exactly alike and side by side. It
was the duty and the privilege of the person on trial to walk directly to these
doors and open one of them. He could open either door he pleased; he was
subject to no guidance or influence but that of the aforementioned impartial
and incorruptible chance. If he opened the one, there came out of it a hungry
tiger, the fiercest and most cruel that could be procured, which immediately
sprang upon him and tore him to pieces as a punishment for his guilt. The
moment that the case of the criminal was thus decided, doleful iron bells were
clanged, great wails went up from the hired mourners posted on the outer rim of
the arena, and the vast audience, with bowed heads and downcast hearts, wended
slowly their homeward way, mourning greatly that one so young and fair, or so
old and respected, should have merited so dire a fate.
But, if the accused person opened the other door, there came forth from
it a lady, the most suitable to his years and station that his majesty could
select among his fair subjects, and to this lady he was immediately married, as
a reward of his innocence. It mattered not that he might already possess a wife
and family, or that his affections might be engaged upon an object of his own
selection; the king allowed no such subordinate arrangements to interfere with
his great scheme of retribution and reward. The exercises, as in the other
instance, took place immediately, and in the arena. Another door opened beneath
the king, and a priest, followed by a band of choristers, and dancing maidens
blowing joyous airs on golden horns and treading an epithalamic measure,
advanced to where the pair stood, side by side, and the wedding was promptly
and cheerily solemnized. Then the gay brass bells rang forth their merry peals,
the people shouted glad hurrahs, and the innocent man, preceded by children
strewing flowers on his path, led his bride to his home.
<
3 >
This was the king's semi-barbaric method of administering justice. Its perfect
fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of which door would come
the lady; he opened either he pleased, without having the slightest idea
whether, in the next instant, he was to be devoured or married. On some
occasions the tiger came out of one door, and on some out of the other. The
decisions of this tribunal were not only fair, they were positively
determinate: the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself
guilty, and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or
not. There was no escape from the judgments of the king's arena.
The institution was a very popular one. When the people gathered
together on one of the great trial days, they never knew whether they were to
witness a bloody slaughter or a hilarious wedding. This element of uncertainty
lent an interest to the occasion which it could not otherwise have attained.
Thus, the masses were entertained and pleased, and the thinking part of the
community could bring no charge of unfairness against this plan, for did not
the accused person have the whole matter in his own hands?
This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid
fancies, and with a soul as fervent and imperious as his own. As is usual in
such cases, she was the apple of his eye, and was loved by him above all
humanity. Among his courtiers was a young man of that fineness of blood and
lowness of station common to the conventional heroes of romance who love royal
maidens. This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was
handsome and brave to a degree unsurpassed in all this kingdom, and she loved
him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly
warm and strong. This love affair moved on happily for many months, until one
day the king happened to discover its existence. He did not hesitate nor waver
in regard to his duty in the premises. The youth was immediately cast into
prison, and a day was appointed for his trial in the king's arena. This, of
course, was an especially important occasion, and his majesty, as well as all
the people, was greatly interested in the workings and development of this
trial. Never before had such a case occurred; never before had a subject dared
to love the daughter of the king. In after years such things became commonplace
enough, but then they were in no slight degree novel and startling.
<
4 >
The tiger-cages of the kingdom were searched for the most savage and
relentless beasts, from which the fiercest monster might be selected for the
arena; and the ranks of maiden youth and beauty throughout the land were
carefully surveyed by competent judges in order that the young man might have a
fitting bride in case fate did not determine for him a different destiny. Of
course, everybody knew that the deed with which the accused was charged had
been done. He had loved the princess, and neither he, she, nor any one else,
thought of denying the fact; but the king would not think of allowing any fact
of this kind to interfere with the workings of the tribunal, in which he took
such great delight and satisfaction. No matter how the affair turned out, the
youth would be disposed of, and the king would take an aesthetic pleasure in
watching the course of events, which would determine whether or not the young
man had done wrong in allowing himself to love the princess.
The appointed day arrived. From far and near the people gathered, and
thronged the great galleries of the arena, and crowds, unable to gain
admittance, massed themselves against its outside walls. The king and his court
were in their places, opposite the twin doors, those fateful portals, so
terrible in their similarity.
All was ready. The signal was given. A door beneath the royal party
opened, and the lover of the princess walked into the arena. Tall, beautiful,
fair, his appearance was greeted with a low hum of admiration and anxiety. Half
the audience had not known so grand a youth had lived among them. No wonder the
princess loved him! What a terrible thing for him to be there!
As the youth advanced into the arena he turned, as the custom was, to
bow to the king, but he did not think at all of that royal personage. His eyes
were fixed upon the princess, who sat to the right of her father. Had it not
been for the moiety of barbarism in her nature it is probable that lady would
not have been there, but her intense and fervid soul would not allow her to be
absent on an occasion in which she was so terribly interested. From the moment
that the decree had gone forth that her lover should decide his fate in the
king's arena, she had thought of nothing, night or day, but this great event
and the various subjects connected with it. Possessed of more power, influence,
and force of character than any one who had ever before been interested in such
a case, she had done what no other person had done - she had possessed herself
of the secret of the doors. She knew in which of the two rooms, that lay behind
those doors, stood the cage of the tiger, with its open front, and in which waited
the lady. Through these thick doors, heavily curtained with skins on the
inside, it was impossible that any noise or suggestion should come from within
to the person who should approach to raise the latch of one of them. But gold,
and the power of a woman's will, had brought the secret to the princess.
<
5 >
And not only did she know in which room stood the lady ready to emerge,
all blushing and radiant, should her door be opened, but she knew who the lady
was. It was one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels of the court who
had been selected as the reward of the accused youth, should he be proved
innocent of the crime of aspiring to one so far above him; and the princess
hated her. Often had she seen, or imagined that she had seen, this fair
creature throwing glances of admiration upon the person of her lover, and
sometimes she thought these glances were perceived, and even returned. Now and
then she had seen them talking together; it was but for a moment or two, but
much can be said in a brief space; it may have been on most unimportant topics,
but how could she know that? The girl was lovely, but she had dared to raise
her eyes to the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensity of the
savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric
ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent
door.
When her lover turned and looked at her, and his eye met hers as she sat
there, paler and whiter than any one in the vast ocean of anxious faces about
her, he saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose
souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind
which stood the lady. He had expected her to know it. He understood her nature,
and his soul was assured that she would never rest until she had made plain to
herself this thing, hidden to all other lookers-on, even to the king. The only
hope for the youth in which there was any element of certainty was based upon
the success of the princess in discovering this mystery; and the moment he
looked upon her, he saw she had succeeded, as in his soul he knew she would
succeed.
Then it was that his quick and anxious glance asked the question:
"Which?" It was as plain to her as if he shouted it from where he
stood. There was not an instant to be lost. The question was asked in a flash;
it must be answered in another.
<
6 >
Her right arm lay on the cushioned parapet before her. She raised her
hand, and made a slight, quick movement toward the right. No one but her lover
saw her. Every eye but his was fixed on the man in the arena.
He turned, and with a firm and rapid step he walked across the empty
space. Every heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eye was fixed
immovably upon that man. Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door
on the right, and opened it.
Now, the point of the story is this: Did the tiger come out of that
door, or did the lady ?
The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer. It
involves a study of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of
passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way. Think of it, fair
reader, not as if the decision of the question depended upon yourself, but upon
that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the
combined fires of despair and jealousy. She had lost him, but who should have
him?
How often, in her waking hours and in her dreams, had she started in
wild horror, and covered her face with her hands as she thought of her lover
opening the door on the other side of which waited the cruel fangs of the
tiger!
But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her
grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw
his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady! How her soul
had burned in agony when she had seen him rush to meet that woman, with her
flushing cheek and sparkling eye of triumph; when she had seen him lead her
forth, his whole frame kindled with the joy of recovered life; when she had
heard the glad shouts from the multitude, and the wild ringing of the happy
bells; when she had seen the priest, with his joyous followers, advance to the
couple, and make them man and wife before her very eyes; and when she had seen
them walk away together upon their path of flowers, followed by the tremendous
shouts of the hilarious multitude, in which her one despairing shriek was lost
and drowned!
<
7 >
Would it not be better for him to die at once, and go to wait for her in
the blessed regions of semi-barbaric futurity?
And yet, that awful tiger, those shrieks, that blood!
Her decision had been indicated in an instant, but it had been made
after days and nights of anguished deliberation. She had known she would be
asked, she had decided what she would answer, and, without the slightest
hesitation, she had moved her hand to the right.
The question of her decision is one not to be lightly considered, and it
is not for me to presume to set myself up as the one person able to answer it.
And so I leave it with all of you: Which came out of the opened door - the
lady, or the tiger?
*** *** ***
அருமை...அருமை..!
ReplyDeleteஏறக்குறைய
ReplyDelete6ம் வகுப்பிலேயே
சுஜாதாவின்
கிரைம் மற்றும்
துப்பறியும்
(கணேஷ்-வசந்த்)
நாவல்கள் வாசிக்க
ஆரம்பித்தேன்.
என்ன ஒரு
எளிமையான,
கோர்வையான
தமிழ் ஆளுமை.
கதையை தெளிவாக,
குழப்பமில்லாமல்
நகர்த்திச் செல்வதில்
அவருக்கு நிகர்
அவரே!
பகிர்ந்தமைக்கு நன்றி.