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An Astrologer's Day is a thriller, suspense short story by author R. K. Narayan. While it had been published earlier, it was the titular story of Narayan's fourth collection of short stories published in 1947 by Indian Thought Publications.〔A Treasure Trove of Short Stories, by S.Chakravarthi, p-3〕 It was the first chapter of the world famous collection of stories Malgudi Days which was later telecasted on television in 2006. Fallon and et al. said of the work, "The story is a model of economy without leaving out the relevant detail."〔 Themes found in ''An Astrologer's Day'' recur frequently throughout Narayan's work. ==Summary== The author begins the story by telling the reader the details of the simple life of an astrologer. With vermilion on his forehead, a gleam in his eyes and a saffron colored turban, the astrologer attracts customers to himself. The street where he operates is full of other vendors such as medicine sellers,magicians,auctioneers of cheap cloth who conduct their individual trades creating noise all day. The vendor next to the astrologer is a groundnut vendor who gives fancy names to his goods to attract customers and to boost up his sale. The astrologer conducts his business by the "light of a flare which crackled and smoked up above the groundnut heap nearby" once darkness descends. The man is not trained to become an astrologer and has little knowledge of the stars but he depends solely on his wits, his power of observation and his insight into the human mind. It is just practice, and some shrewd guesswork that help him. With experience, he has learned the tricks of the trade. He talks about safe topics like marriage,money and relationships and takes to speak only after the client has revealed enough about himself. One day, after having finished his daily business, he is about to leave for home when he sees a man close by and hopes to make him a client. The man demands the astrologer tell him something worthwhile about his future. The astrologer tries his usual tricks about talking marriage or money but the man wants to hear answers of his specific questions. At this stage the man lights a cheroot and in the dim light of the matchstick the astrologer looks at the man's face and is unnerved. He tries to withdraw from the challenge and asks him to take his money back but the man holds his wrist and tells him he can not get out now. The astrologer tells the client that he had been stabbed and pushed into a well presuming he was dead. The astrologer addresses him by his name, Guru Nayak. That impresses Guru Nayak and he tells the astrologer that he is out to seek out the man who stabbed him so that he can take the revenge. The astrologer then informs him that the man who stabbed him had died having been crushed under a lorry four months earlier and that Nayak's life was not safe so he should return to his village immediately and warns him not to travel in that direction again. Satisfied with the answer, Nayak gives him some coins and leaves feeling happy at the thought that the man he wanted to kill is already dead. The astrologer comes home and tells his wife that a big load was off his mind that day because he had discovered that the man he thought he had murdered years back in his native village and because of whom he had left home, was in fact alive. He also realizes that Nayak had given him less money than he had promised. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「An Astrologer's Day」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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