After this the man used every day to go and bathe in a river, and each day when he bathed he threw one of his hairs into the water:  and his hairs were very long.  Lower down the river a princess used to bathe and one day she saw one of the hairs come floating down and vowed that she would marry no one but the owner of the hair.  So the father of the princess sent a Brahman up the river to look for the man with the long hair.  The Brahman was a very thin man with his ribs showing through his skin.  After some days he found our hero and was amazed at his shining appearance.  He told him that a princess wished to marry him:  he was invited to stay some days; he did so, living on the milk from the herd of cows and in a short time became very fat.  The cow told the man to take a basket and creep into the hole from which the snake had come he did so and at the bottom he found a heap of gold and silver:  he filled his basket with this and came back and gave it all to the Brahman, and told him to go home and inform his master that he would come in a few days and marry his daughter.  When the Raja saw the gold and silver and how fat the Brahman had got he was very pleased to think what a son-in-law he was getting.  In a few days the cow said that it was time to start and as he had no other conveyance he set out riding on the cow.  When they reached the boundary of the Raja’s kingdom the man woke up one morning and found that a great retinue of elephants and horses and palkis and sipahis had appeared during the night.  This was owing to the magic of the cow.  So the man mounted an elephant and went in state to the Raja and married his daughter with great ceremony.  After staying some days he decided to return home and started off with his wife and grand retinue.  When they reached the boundary of the kingdom all the elephants and horses and palkis and sipahis vanished into air, and the princess found that she and her husband had nothing but an old cow to ride upon.  At this she was very unhappy but she was ashamed to go back to her father, so she went on with her husband and helped to tend the cows in the jungle.

One morning they woke up and found that in the night a grand palace had sprung up fitted with wealth of every kind, this was the last gift of the cow which soon afterwards died.  Thus the man became a Raja and founded a kingdom and he gave a rupee to every one who would come and settle in his kingdom.  Many people came and among others his brother and sister-in-law who had fallen into great proverty.  When they saw their brother they were afraid and thought that they would be killed, but he forgave them and gave them clothes and land and they all lived happily ever after.

(8)—­The Belbati Princess.