The next morning, Heer and her girlfriends arrived at the river, sweeping down on the ferry "as a hailstorm sweeps over a field." Noticing Ranjha asleep on her couch, Heer castigated Ludan loudly, then threatened to have Ranjha beaten for his insolence.
But when Ranjha opened his beautiful eyes, Heer changed her tune. And Ranjha fell in love with Heer at first sight, too.

She had a face like the full moon, eyes that sparkled like precious gems, teeth so white like the petals of the jasmine flower, lips like red rubies….
They spent the rest of the day together; Ranjha told Heer his life story. By the end of the day, Heer swore to be Ranjha's forever.
The next day Heer brought Ranjha to her father, Mihr Chuchak, saying "Father, I have found someone to herd the buffaloes."
Chuchak was skeptical: Ranjha, with his beautiful long oiled hair and smooth skin, looked more like a rich man's son (which he was) than like a herder or a laborer. But Chuchak loved his daughter and trusted her judgement, so he hired Ranjha.
Every day, Heer brought Ranjha milk and bread, or sweets and rice, and spent the whole day with him in the forest. She neglected her spinning and her household chores, she abandoned all her girl friends. Soon gossip spread throughout the village. Who was this mysterious buffalo herder who insisted that only Mihr Chuchak's daughter bring him food, and who oiled his long hair every day with almost a quart of ghee?

The gossip reached the ears of Kaidu, Heer's uncle, who began to lurk in the forest, trying to catch the two together. One day Kaidu found Ranjha alone in the forest, and came up to him, pretending to be a beggar. Ranjha, remembering the days on the road when he, too, had to beg for food and shelter, gave Kaidu half a pastry — a pastry that Heer had made for him.
Kaidu took the pastry and brought it before the village elders as proof of Heer's disobedience and wanton behavior.
I have seen Heer and Ranjha in the forests, and I tell no lies.
Ranjha will take away Heer, and there will be shame to the Siyals.
The elders went to Chuchak and told him about Kaidu's accusation. Chuchak was furious. "Kaidan is a talebearer and a liar," he said. "He chases moths all day."
But Kaidan went to Heer's mother, urging her to do something. In the face off all the family pressure, Chuchak called Ranjha to him one night after Ranjha had returned with the buffaloes. In front of all his kinsmen, Chuchak dismissed Ranjha. Ranjha threw down his staff in a rage.
"For twelve years [!!] I have tended your buffalo and now you turn me away without wages!"
And Ranjha turned on his heel and left.
But now all the village folk began to talk, criticizing Chuchak for dismissing Ranjah without even paying his wages; and of course Heer was inconsolable. To calm the situation down, Chuchak relented. He took Ranjha back into his service — and more.
Before 70 Khans and 72 nobles Chuchak betrothed
Heer to Ranjha, saying:
"As long as thou shalt live she is thine, and when thou art dead she will not deny it.
If any one tear Heer from thee I will bear witness against him in the Court of God."
But Heer's mother and uncle brought Heer before the qazi, the judge, who reminded Heer of her duty to respect her family and their position in the village. It was beneath her to consort with buffalo herders. Heer refused to give up Ranjha.
As wine-bibbers cannot desert the bottle, as opium-eaters cannot be without their drug, so I cannot live without Ranjha.
After much back-and-forth, the qazi still couldn't change Heer's mind. Frustrated, he told the Siyals that Heer was too stubborn, and to avoid further scandal they should marry her off right away. The Siyals called a clan meeting.
Chuchak wanted to marry Heer to Ranjha, but his kinsmen overruled him. Even if the buffalo herder were noble-born, he was only a Ranjha of Takht Hazara — too lowly a family to marry a Siyal. The family decided to marry Heer off to Saida, of the Khera clan.

The Siyals and the Kheras arranged the match, but on the day of the wedding ceremony Heer refused to say "I do," saying loudly (at the wedding!) that she had been betrothed to Ranjha and that their union had been blessed by Heaven and the saints.
Muhammad formed the marriage procession and Brahma set up the posts of the marriage canopy.
The angels sang songs of rejoicing and fairies brought the henna.
The Panj Pir [Five Saints] performed the ceremony and Khizar [Khidr] was witnes.But it was no use. Heer's parents signed the marriage papers anyway, and the Kheras took Heer back to Rangpur, to Saida's house.
In the meantime, a heartbroken Ranjha had returned to Takht Hazara, but he couldn't forget Heer. Resolving to search for her, Ranjha made his way to Tilla Jogian, the temple where the jogi Gorakh Nath lived. Bowing before Gorakh Nath, Ranjha asked to become a jogi, a beggar monk. At first, Gorakh Nath refused, as he recognized that Ranjha was noble-born; he doubted (correctly) that Ranjha had the humble nature of the true jogi.
So Ranjha stole Gorakh Nath's conch, the one Gorakh Nath used to call his followers in for their evening meal. He buried the conch, committing it to the care of Mother Earth and Saint Khizar. Without the conch, Gorakh Nath couldn't summon his jogis. To keep his followers from starving, Gorakh Nath agreed to let Ranjha become a jogi.
Then Ranjha dug up the conch and blew it, once to the east and once to the west, to summon the jogis to their meal (he kept the conch, too). Then Gorakh Nath rubbed Ranjha with ashes, shaved his head, pierced his ears, and gave him a begging bowl. He told Ranjha, "Call the young women 'sister' and the married women 'mother.' Beg throughout the city and bring no shame on the profession of begging."
But Ranjha threw away the begging bowl and earrings and rubbed off the ashes. "I was right about you!" exclaimed the guru. But Ranjha only laughed.
We Jatts are cunning — we use all means to get what we want. What can I do with a beggar's bowl, whose heart is set only on plowing? How can I call her 'mother' for whose sake I would become a jogi?
At first, the guru was angry, but then he realized how deeply in love Ranjha was, and how desperate. Moved to pity, Gorkah Nath blessed Ranjha and prayed that he would achieve his desire. At Ranjha's request, Gorakh Nath sent forth his crow, to search for Heer.
The crow flew from town to town, from house to house, until it arrived in Rangpur and found Heer, wasting away in Saida Khera's house. After telling Heer of Ranjha's faithfulness (yes, the bird talked), the crow returned to Tilla, bringing the news back to Ranjha.
Ranjha made his way to Rangpur, disguised as a jogi, begging at each village on the way. When he arrived in Rangpur, all the women noticed this beautiful young jogi and flocked to him. They poured out their troubles: with their in-laws, their husbands, their neighbors. Ranjha listened to it all and counseled the women, while he searched for the Khera household.

When he found the right house, he knocked on the door, pretending to beg for alms. Heer's sister-in-law Sehti answered. Watching Heer's and Ranjha's reactions when they saw each other, Sehti quickly figured out who this handsome jogi really was. She agreed to help them — if they would help her escape to her lover, a Balochi camel driver named Murad.
Heer and Sehti hatched a plan. Heer cut her own foot as the two women walked in the garden, and pretended that she had been bitten by a snake. Sehti told the family that there was a wise jogi staying in the village, and convinced Saida, Heer's husband, to bring the jogi to the house to cure Heer. Saida agreed. The lovers reunited as Ranjha "cured" Heer of the snakebite.