The Three Deaf Men

In a remote village lived a husband and wife who were both quite deaf. They had fixed a household rule: one day cabbage with tamarind and soup without; the next day cabbage without tamarind and soup with. So the dishes traded places every other day.

One meal the husband found the tamarind cabbage so tasty he wanted it again the next day and gave orders to that effect. His wife did not catch the words. By the old rule she cooked cabbage without tamarind. When he sat down and saw his order ignored, he flew into a rage, flung the cabbage at the wall, and stormed out. She ate her fill and quietly prepared tamarind cabbage for his return.

He sat where three roads met, trying to cool his temper. A shepherd passed by. The herdsman had lost a good cow and calf and had been seeking them for days. Seeing the deaf man by the path, he took him for a soothsayer and asked him—by the art of Josyam—where the cow might be found. The shepherd was very deaf too. The husband, hearing nothing of the question, abused him and waved him off, stretching out a hand toward the shepherd’s face so he would leave him alone.

The pointing the shepherd understood as a direction: go that way and you will find your beasts. He hurried off, promising to present the soothsayer with the calf if cow and calf were there. By mere chance he found them both. Delighted, he returned with them, pointed to the calf, and asked the man to accept it.

It happened that the calf’s tail was broken and crooked. The husband thought the herdsman was blaming him for breaking it—something he knew nothing about—so he waved his hand in denial. The shepherd mistook the wave for a refusal of the calf and a demand for the cow. “How greedy you are!” he cried. “I promised only the calf, not the cow.” The husband answered that he knew nothing of cow or calf and had never broken any tail. They quarrelled a long time without understanding each other.

A third passer-by saw the dispute and meant to exploit their misunderstanding. He spoke loudly enough for the shepherd yet so the deaf husband would not catch the words: “Shepherd, take your cow and go. These soothsayers are always greedy. Leave the calf with me; I shall make him accept it.” Glad to keep the cow, the shepherd walked home and left the calf.

Then the passer-by told the deaf husband how unlawful it was for a shepherd to accuse an innocent man, called herdsmen the biggest fools, and promised as a friend to explain everything and restore the calf. Much relieved, the husband ran home to escape supposed guilt. By keeping the two men from understanding each other, the third traveler walked off with the calf.

At home the wife served the tamarind cabbage. The husband put his finger to the place on the leaf where the plain cabbage had been, tasted the sweet remnant, and demanded that dish again. She said the pan was empty. “Then at least bring me the cabbage sticking to the saucepan,” he said—and she did.

About this story

“The Three Deaf Men” is the first tale in Tales of the Sun (1890) by Mrs. Howard Kingscote and Pandit Natesa Sastri. It explains a Tamil saying for any blunder caused by a misunderstanding: the matter “ended like the story of the three deaf men” (Muchchevidan kadaiyay mudindadu).

The final scene explains a second proverb, Sevuru kiraiyai valichchu podudi, a husband’s demand that his deaf wife at least give him the cabbage stuck to the saucepan; the source says it was used against wives considered disobedient. That historical explanation contains prejudice toward women and deaf people; it is not a fair judgment of the wife, who did not hear the changed request. Josyam, the shepherd’s word, means fortune-telling.

Read the original: Kingscote and Natesa Sastri, Tales of the Sun, 1890 (Project Gutenberg #37002)

Reading guidance: For ages 6–8 with an adult who can discuss the husband’s anger and challenge the source’s unfair treatment of deafness and wives.

A closer reading

The same gesture carries two different stories: the shepherd sees directions, while the husband means ‘leave me alone.’ Later, an offered calf looks like an accusation, and a denial looks like a demand for more. The comedy relies on the reader knowing both interpretations, not on deafness making anyone less intelligent.

The third traveler understands enough to help but supplies each man with a different reassuring account. His hearing gives him an opportunity for exploitation rather than making him morally wiser. At home, the husband’s shifting preference also undermines his initial certainty that his wife has wronged him.

Try this with the story

Choose the pointing gesture and write two speech bubbles: what the husband intends and what the shepherd assumes. Add a third bubble in which a fair helper checks both meanings. Discuss how agreed gestures, writing or another accessible method could resolve the dispute without treating sign language as a game of random guessing.

Talk about it

• What two meanings are given to the husband’s pointing gesture?
• How does the traveler benefit by keeping the two accounts separate?
• What could a helpful mediator do to make communication accessible to both men?

Related stories

• The Good Husband and the Bad Wife — a South Indian comedy where a guest completely misreads what is happening
• The Gardener’s Cunning Wife — another tale where a husband misreads his wife’s behaviour, with funny results
• Mr. Mighty-of-His-Mouth — a Tamil tale where words, and misunderstood words, win the day