Read The Temple Dancer for Free Online Page B

see.
"She's your servant, Lucy," Da Gama said, urging her forward.
    Lucy finally saw that the other figure, though it spoke with a woman's
voice, was not a woman as she had supposed, not unless it was a woman
dressed as a man, and a short and fat one at that.
    "What's wrong, Helene?" she demanded in Portuguese.
    Helene's face was twisted in anger and disgust. "First that jackal dog
tells me I must ride like a sack of flour in a bullock cart!" she snapped back
in coarse Hindi, pointing angrily at Captain Pathan, who stared skyward
and said nothing. "Then they tell me I must ride with this hijra! I am not to
be insulted so! Let her walk!"
    "Please, Aya, please calm down," said Lucinda in Portuguese, walking
toward her.
    Helene pulled away. "Nahin!" she answered angrily. "I'll not travel
with a hijra!" With that she crossed her arms and sat on the ground.
    The other-man or woman, whichever it was-looked over to Lucinda
with a round face full of hurt and sadness. "It is my cruel fate to be treated
so, madam," the piping voice said-a voice, Lucinda thought, more like a
child's than a woman's.
    Of course, then she realized. In Hindi, hijra was a word said in answer;
it meant "neither this nor that." Now as she looked at the strange figure
standing sadly near her maid, it dawned on her. "Hijra, " she murmured.
    "A mukhunni, madam, if you please," the figure said in offended
Hindi, lifting his head high. "That is the proper term. I was a eunuch of the first rank in the seraglio of the sultan of Bijapur. And I am a he, obviously,
not a she!" Helene rolled her eyes.

    Not knowing what else to do, Lucinda made a small curtsy, which the
eunuch answered by lifting his hands to his forehead. "Excuse my bad manners," she said, knowing from Helene's teaching that apologies were always
the best place to start a conversation in Hindi. "You are the first ... er ..."
    "Mukhunni, madam," the eunuch answered, lifting his head high and
exposing a tiny neck. "It means `short-tusked' and is the proper greeting
for one deformed as I."
    While he stared at her, Lucinda became aware that the circle that had
formed to watch the argument had now begun to critique her. She could
hear the whispers.
    Her maid, seated grumpily on the ground. A eunuch dressed in silks,
waiting proudly as if daring her to speak. The Muslim captain staring at her
with disdain. The chuckling eyes of Da Gama. The whispers of the circle.
    Would no one help her?
    And just then she felt a firm hand grip her arm gently, and heard a
whisper. "I'm here with you."
    It was Geraldo.
    Geraldo snapped his fingers at Helene. She looked up, offended.
"Stand up, now, woman, and get into the cart as you're told," he said in
perfect Hindi.
    Helene's eyes grew wide. "Not with that hijra. I will not."
    "You'll do what your mistress commands," Geraldo said. His voice,
though soft, hinted at harsh action.
    Now all eyes turned to Lucinda, who whispered to Geraldo, "But,
cousin, why is that eunuch here?"
    "He's here to look after the ... the cargo," Geraldo whispered back.
    Of course, Lucinda would later regret that she'd never inquired about
the caravan's cargo. But on hearing Geraldo's reply, the answer to the problem burst into her head. "Very well then. If you will not ride together, then
one of you must travel with the cargo."
    At this Helene's eyes grew wide, but the eunuch, to Lucinda's amazement, burst into a wide, relieved smile. "Oh thank you, madam, thank
you," he squeaked. He hurried off, but then returned and haltingly pressed
Lucinda's hand between his chubby palms. "I never expected such courtesy from a farang. Forgive me." With that he puffed toward the elephant. Lucinda stared at her hand.

    "As for you," Lucinda said to Helene, squeezing her face into a frown,
"how dare you make such a scene in front of everyone? To refuse to ride with
someone-why? Because he is a little different? Christian charity teaches us
to love others, not condemn them." She