Hania's Life

Following is a short story I translated, would you please go through it and tell me if there is verb-consistency. Any corrections of any kind are most welcome, so that the output would be in polished English as much as possible.

Many thanks in advance.

Hania's Life

(A Tale from the )



Rady is a faithful husband to Hania. He loves her and does his best to provide a decent life for both her and their children. However, Hania always ridicules him, and says that she has never been happy for a single day since they got married. She often keeps on urging Rady to uphold his rights his uncle has usurped after his father's death.



Rady's uncle, Master Abdul-Hakk, has lived alone his whole life and never got married. He was such a ruthless man that he swallowed up his brother's share in the land after his death. Rady was still a little child at the time. His uncle let him grow up in a half-demolished house made of bricks, and work for well-off farmers.



On Rady's part, he sees himself small in front of that giant who sweeps away anyone in his way, and finds no shame in ruining the lives of the poor. On the contrary, he relishes in that. He has surrounded himself with a bunch of servants prepared to all sorts of task, beginning with the simplest: beating and insulting, up to murdering. How could a quiet and peaceful young man like Rady, who even gave up his right, possibly stand up to such a tyrant (in the sense of unjust)? Rady wants to remain in that village as he knows of no other place in this world. He has never gone out of the village except for the market of the neighbouring village. He doesn't want to try to demand his right, lest he should loose his uncle's favour even though it is mingled with humiliation. The least punishment he would receive then would be expulsion from the village, an easy thing for his uncle and his gang.



Hania had (has had) a hard time persuading Rady to speak to his uncle about his rights. He doesn't have to confront his uncle and accuse him of forgery. Instead, he can cleverly ask him to terminate the lease on a part of the land, so that he may cultivate it and benefit from the yields. She convinced her husband that she can manage a decent dwelling in the nearby village of her uncles, were they to be turned out of the village. At length, Rady agreed reluctantly. But he asked Hania to let him choose the right time to bring the matter up with his uncle. Rady set a time limit of one moth only to have this tough mission done.Days flew by while Rady was waiting for an opportunity to meet that bully and request for his right.



There was his uncle one day, sitting by the canal at the outskirts of the village, surrounded by a number of his followers. The uncle's face indeed tells about his nature: wide, scary eyes; a big nose; and a thick, untrimmed mustache. Rady haven't seen his uncle for two years. His uncle was past seventy, and Rady could now notice the traces of age on his face more than anytime before, despite the apparent strictness.



Rady started the talking exactly as he had planned with his wife. He had chosen his words so carefully and thoroughly that he learned them by heart, for fear that he might mistake a word for another and enrage his uncle. However, he noticed that his uncle was getting angrier, his eyes getting more bulging and his face muscles tenser.



Rady carried on the talking very precisely, though he was getting shakier and more anxious. But it seemed his words no longer had an effect on his uncle as if he were not hearing him. When Rady had finished, his uncle didn't say a word. Rady became worried as this was a bad sign. He asked his uncle about his opinion, but got no answer. One of the Master's men approached him, and poked him gently in the right arm, "Master… what's wrong, Master?" To their astonishment, Master Abul-Hakk fell to the ground on his left side, motionless.



Rady returned home that night completely grieved. He finally spoke up, but it was too late. He could not tell his wife what happened. Despite her pressing after seeing his tears and noticing his grief, Rady went to bed without saying a word about it.



Early in the morning, there was a knocking at their door. Apprehensive, Hania hurried to answer it. She found four of Master Abdul-Hakk's servants before her. She thought they came to carry out his orders of turning them out.



"What's the matter?" she asked in a trembling voice.



"Forgive us, Ma'am," their chief said in a submissive tone. "We are here to get the orders from Master Rady concerning the funeral!"