Bring me your mother’s heart

English translation of an Urdu short story about a mother’s love for her son


Bring me your mother’s heart

“I love you and you don’t even know how much I love you,” he told his lover.
“How much do you really love me?” The woman asked.
“I can do anything to see you happy,” he assured her.
“Anything?” She asked.
“Yes, anything.  Go ahead and make a wish,” he said with confidence.
“OK, then bring me your mother’s heart,” she said, articulating each word clearly.
This strange wish of his lover stunned him.

When he reached home, his mother was waiting at the door.
Mother greeted him but quickly figured out her son was not happy.
“What’s wrong, my dear?  What’s bothering you?” She asked
He did not respond, went straight to his room, and locked himself in.
Later, he ate the dinner with his mother but finished the food without uttering a single word.

Next morning when the mother found her son still lost, she held his hand and said crying, “Please tell me what’s going on?  What’s hurting you?  You are my everything.  I cannot see you unhappy. I beg you, please don’t hide anything from me.”
And he told his mother what happened.
Surprisingly, listening to his lover’s strange request, the mother did not look upset at all, On the contrary she said, “What is there to be worried about, my son?  My happiness lies in your happiness. Go ahead, Get the biggest knife you can find.  Kill me, get my heart out of my body, and present it to her.”
He shuddered, turned around, and quickly went to his room.

For the next two days he walked around like a zombie.  He would only come out of his room for the meals.  He would eat quietly, go back to his room, and lock the door from inside.  When he was awake, he would just lie on his bed and stare at the ceiling.

The third day started a little differently.  The late morning sun shining on his face woke him up.  
‘What happened?’ he asked himself. ‘Why did mother not wake me up today?’  

He got up and went to his mother’s room.  What he saw there shocked him.  His mother’s dead body was hanging from the ceiling fan. There was a note on a table by her body. The note read:

“My dearest son, you are the whole world to me and for the last three days seeing you sad has made me heartbroken beyond belief.  I am making it easy for you.  I am killing myself.  You can now take my heart out of my chest and present it to your lover.  When she will find her wish fulfilled, she will be pleased, and she will embrace you and that hug will make you joyful. I am already happy thinking about that moment.”

So, with tears rolling down his cheeks he did exactly that. He took his mother’s heart out of her dead body, put it on a plate, and ran towards his lover.  On his way to the love of his life he tripped over a rock and fell. The plate slipped out of his hand and the heart rolled out of the plate.

Then his mother’s voice came from the heart, “Are you OK, my son?”