AI-generated interpretation of Steel’s tale; appearance and clothing are imagined.
Overview
Beansie is the elder sister whose attempt to copy Peasie’s good fortune becomes a chain of reversals in Steel’s Punjab tale. She first refuses to visit their father because she will not walk in the heat for him. When Peasie returns with gifts, including food saved for her, Beansie responds with envy. She sets out the next morning expecting an even larger load from their father.
On the road, Beansie refuses the same requests that Peasie answered: she will not arrange the plum-tree’s thorns, bind the pîpal’s branch, clear the fire’s ashes or unblock the stream. At her father’s courtyard, her brother and his wife accuse the sisters of taking the household’s property and beat her away. The narrative presents their accusation as the reason for this attack; it does not establish a plan between the sisters to rob them.
Beansie still expects rewards on her return. Reaching for fine cloth nearly drowns her; a broken branch strikes her as she tries to seize pearls, which someone else then takes. She burns her fingers snatching the cake, and a crow carries it off. The plum-tree’s thorns defeat her final attempt to gather fruit. She reaches home hungry, soaked and injured. The narrator’s suggestion that Peasie nurses her is explicitly conjectural. Beansie is a human girl within an animated landscape; her pulse-derived name does not make her a bean creature.
Origins & earliest records
Flora Annie Steel, Tales of the Punjab: Told by the People; notes and analysis by R. C. Temple
Records & interpretation
Complete tale Peasie and Beansie, pp. 167–172; both historical notes, full analysis XX, preface and To the Little Reader read in the university-hosted transcription.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tales of the Punjab: Told by the People
Macmillan and Co., London and New York, 1894 edition; Peasie and Beansie, pp. 167–172. Edition year from university transcription heading; not a first-publication claim.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- University-hosted original historical edition transcriptionSteel and Temple, 1894 — Peasie and Beansie, complete tale, notes, analysis and framingResearch access: 2026-10-21
Image credits
AI-generated illustrationAI-generated interpretation of Steel’s tale; appearance and clothing are imagined.
