Deccan Nursery Tales eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 94 pages of information about Deccan Nursery Tales.

Deccan Nursery Tales eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 94 pages of information about Deccan Nursery Tales.

But some days later she fell asleep and dreamt that Budh [6] and Brahaspati came to her bedside and said, “Little girl, little girl, your husband has been made king over a great country.  Go to him, and, when you have found him, do not forget to worship us and to give feast to the Brahmans.”  Then the little girl woke up and she told the other six daughters-in-law.  But they were jealous of her, and they became very angry; and they kicked her so often and boxed her ears so hard that she forgot all about drawing the cow’s feet on her money-box and on the corn-bin.  So she never found any money in the box or any corn in the bin.  And every day they became poorer and poorer.  First all the men servants ran away, then the male members of the family left, and at last the seven daughters-in-law were left alone in the house.  They were starving, but they did not know how to get any food.  One day they heard that a king in a neighbouring country wished to construct a tank and was calling for labourers.  So they decided to go to the tank and work there just like common coolie women.  Now who do you think the king was?  He was the youngest son of the prince of Atpat and the husband of the youngest daughter-in-law.  When the prince had lost all his money, his youngest son left the house and set off on a journey.  As he travelled he came to a city, the king of which had just died without leaving any children or relatives.  His subjects did not know how to choose a successor.  At last they gave a garland of flowers to a she-elephant and turned it loose.  The elephant walked straight to the prince’s son and put the garland round his neck.  The townspeople were very angry.  They snatched away the garland and drove away the prince’s son.  They again gave the garland to the elephant, but the elephant again put the garland round the neck of the prince’s son.  The townspeople again snatched away the garland.  But when the elephant put it round the young man’s neck for the third time, they lifted him high in the air and declared him to be their king.  At first he was so pleased at being king that he forgot all about his poor little wife.  But one night Budh and Brahaspati appeared to him in a dream and reminded him of her and told him how poor she was.  But he could not leave his kingdom to go and look for her.  So he thought that he would dig a tank and call together labourers from every quarter.  And every day he used to go to the tank and search among the labourers to see if his wife was there.  One day he recognised his wife and called her to him.  Then they told each other how Budh and Brahaspati had appeared to each of them in a dream.  And the king was so delighted at finding his wife that he at once proclaimed her queen of the country.

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Deccan Nursery Tales from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.