পাতা:চিঠিপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড)-রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর.pdf/২১৮

Babu Akshay Sarkar was a literary man of high repute– an associate and contemporary of the great Bankim. He was far above Rabindranath in age. He used to address him as Rabi. Rabindranath had been once talking serially of the great story of the Mahabharata for the education and delectation of the school children. We used to join up to listen, so did Babu Akshay Sarkar. Some days later when I met him at Chinsurah he told me with a feeling of deep appreciation that he had heard men without number— and professional men too-talking of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata stories— but till he heard Rabindranath he never knew how charmingly these stories could be told. He said that he had been to Santiniketan for a day's stay only but the great story-teller captivated him and he could not leave the place till he finished after sixteen days. Rabindranath was nature's gentleman, true to the culture and tradition of his family. I know of a man in sudden distress who wanted a loan of Rs 400/- for a short period. The man was poor. There was no security of repayment. He went to see the Poet all right but he could not venture to broach the subject. The kindhearted man instinctively felt that his visitor $ቖ»ማለ