Who is Afraid of the Rakshas Sweetie-Man?

Ranjit Lal

The twins Samar and Nivya are waiting for the school bus.
“Do not turn around. He is staring at us!” Samar hisses at his sister Nivya.

The Rakshas Sweetie-Man is watching the children from his shop across the road.
He is huge and scary!
“His face is like a bulldog!” Samar
says rudely.
“His nose is like a samosa!” Nivya says.
“And his fingers look like hairy bhindis!”

The Rakshas Sweetie-Man may be scary, but he has the most fabulous sweet, toys and general shop – the Lovely Sweetie and Toy Shop.

It has large piles of colourful sweets and chocolates.
They see other children go into the shop
but the twins are too scared to buy a
single sweetie or toy from him.

Once, they had seen heaps of a new chocolate in the shop.
They decided to be brave, and
went inside.
“Pl…please, can we have that chocolate?” Samar mumbled.

The Rakshas Sweetie-Man leaned across the counter, and reached out for them with his huge python-like arms.
“ Your teeth will fall out! ” he grumbled softly.

He took out a dreadful pair of false teeth from his cash drawer. He snapped it at the children.
Samar and Nivya took one look and fled!
“He was going to bite us with those teeth,” Nivya said trembling, once they were safely home.
They never dared go back again.

But today, Samar and Nivya see something even
more scary. The Rakshas Sweetie-Man is holding a wriggling puppy close to his face and rumbling! Then he takes the puppy inside his shop and disappears.
“Oh no! He is going to cook the puppy and eat her!” Nivya squeals.

Samar and Nivya are sure that their own dog Lolo and her six new puppies are in danger.
“We will not let the Rakshas Sweetie-Man cook you all,” says Nivya.

But the next day,
when Ma goes to the market, she leaves the gate open.
Samar and Nivya watch in horror as all the six puppies run out – and straight into the Rakshas Sweetie-Man’s shop!
“He is going to eat them too, now!” Samar cries. “We have to rescue them!”

Samar and Nivya hold hands and slowly walk into the dark cave of the shop.
No one is there!
At the back, a door is half open. Trembling, they push it open.

The Rakshas Sweetie-Man looks at the children
and beams.
“ Look, ” he rumbles, “ they are not afraid! ”