My name is Philip,but I call myself Pip. Actually, my father name was Pirip,and I always found difficulty in pronouncing both the names. All others,we knew,also got confused usually. So,Pip was easier for both me and the others.
I used to live with my sister and her husband I lost my father and mother when I was too young.I always wanted to remember them but I was never able to do so.The only option I had to be close to my parents was their graves at the church yard next to our village. I did not have great deal of friends. Playing alongside the graves of my parents was the only source for me to get rid of my loneliness.The graves of my father and mother were accompanied by the graves of my five little brothers.So ,I always assumed that my parents would never feel lonely even in my absence.
I was always thankful to my sister for taking so much care of me.Although she used to scold me often yet she was loving.She was tall, bony and dark too.It would have taken great deal for my sister to make Joe Gargery, her husband ,marry her. Joe was a fair man with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes very pale blue. He was a good-natured, sweet-tempered person.He and I shared a relation of friends.
It was one of the December afternoons ( a few days before Christmas) when i was playing at the graveyard as usual. It was cold and I was shivering. I sat alongside my father's grave and started crying.I was feeling lonelier than ever.
"Shut up!" a noise came from behind my back.As i turned , a man approached me. He seized me by the chin and said,"Keep quiet,you devil;I'll cut your throat into pieces."The man was very tall,all in coarse grey, with iron rings on his legs. His shoes were torn and he had an old rag tied around his head. He was covered with mud and all wet.He was also shivering with cold.
"Please leave me," I pleaded."Whats your name? Where do you live?"asked in a frightening voice."P...P..PIP," I answered trembling."Where do you live?Didn't you hear me," he held me more tightly this time after saying these words.I pointed towards my village at once.My village was not far way from the grave yard.The graveyard being on a hill, my village was clearly visible from the graveyard.
Suddenly, the man turned me upside down and emptied all my pockets.A loaf of bread came out. He dropped me at once and grabbed the loaf and gulped it at once.He was now looking at me hungrily as if he wanted to eat me up.
"What are you doing here?" He grabbed me again asking the question."It's my parent's," I said pointing towards the gravestone.
"Oh! Then who do you live with?" said the man gruffly."I live with my sister and her husband,Sir Joe Gargery; he is a blacksmith."Listening to my words,the tall starnger raised his eyebrows and looked at the iron rings on his leg."Have you ever seen a file so that I may cut off these iron rings on my leg?"."Yes,sir."
"Listen, Okid I want you to bring me something to eat. Don't forget to bring me a file as well.Bring them to me tommorow morning.Come as soon as the sun rises.Remember, don't tell anybody," he repeated twice."I won't, I won't tell anybody," I assured him."If you do,I"ll cut your throat and liver," the man added."You can go home now," said the man. Saying these words, he pushed me as if he wanted to throw me away.I ran with the fastest speed I could and stopped once I entered home.
Joe was sitting near the fire."Hey Pip," he called me up,"Your sister has gone out looking for you and taken a cane with her.""Has it been long ,Joe?" I always called him by his name as if we both were of equal age. Before I could finish, my sister came back and shouted, "Where had you been for so long, O bad boy?".I started crying and said, "At the churchyard.""If i had not been looking for you all these years, you would have been there good and proper," said my sister angrily.
