The Secret Garden
Ayah
Mary's Indian nursemaid
Mary's nursemaid in India, who is patient and fearful of displeasing her, and who is lost in the cholera outbreak.
Ayah is the Indian nursemaid who looks after Mary in the opening chapters. She is quiet, gentle, patient and fearful of displeasing her young charge. Mary is used to being waited on and expects Ayah to dress her and do whatever she asks.
Ayah is the first person Mary calls for when things go wrong, and a sign of how little Mary knows how to do for herself. When she arrives in Yorkshire, she still asks why her Ayah does not come.
In the story
Contains spoilers.
When cholera strikes the bungalow, Mary says that when Ayah comes back she will box her ears. Ayah does not return, and she dies of the sickness. Mary is left alone in the nursery until British officers find her.
On Mary's first morning at Misselthwaite, she asks Martha who will dress her, since her Ayah is not there. The loss of her nursemaid is the start of her long journey toward learning to look after herself.
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