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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
straight towards the country where there was no king. Turi wept very much at the thought of leaving his younger brother in that desert place to die for want of water, and he tore the cloth he was wearing into small pieces and threw them down to mark the road, and called on all the gods to protect his brother; and all the time the elephant continued to take him away.
In the meantime Basanta wondered why his brother did not return, and began to think a tiger must have killed him. And so he remained for about eight hours, but still his brother did not co.ne; and he lamented his ill fate, not knowing what to do all alone in that jungle, nor in what direction to go, but he determined to try and find his brother at all hazards. So he started on his way crying, "Brother, brother!" all through the forest, but as the elephant was taking him away to be a king Turi could give no answer. In the course of his search Basanta came on the footsteps of his brother and the tracks of the elephant, and could not help thinking that the beast must have killed him. A little way further on he found the pieces of cloth; he did not understand that his brother had thrown them down to mark the way, but thought the elephant after killing him must have torn his clothes to pieces.
Now the elephant had arrived with Turi in the country where there was no king, and all the people turned out to see their new ruler,women, youths, old men, all assembled to greet him, and prepared sweetmeats, pán, betelnut, rice, oil, incense, ght, and lighted candles, and filled pots of earth and brass with water, and put them before him, and, wishing him happiness and prosperity, prostrated themselves before him. Turi was so pleased to find that the elephant had not taken him away to kill him, but to put him on the throne and give him men and women servants, that he quite forgot his brother was left in the jungle, and he began to sit in court every day, and was just and merciful; and in this way a month passed by, till Basanta, tracking his way by the pieces of cloth, came to his brother's capital. As he had not eaten for a long time, he was very thin, and dirty besides, and for clothes he wore the bark of a tree; and, standing at the door of the palace, he asked the porters whether they had heard or seen anything of his brother Tur.. They were so much displeased at hearing their king spoken of in such a way
[SEPTEMBER, 1875.
that the jemadâr ordered the others to beat him with a cane. He seized their hands and feet and implored them not to beat him any more, so the jemadar went and told the king that there was a madman standing at the gate, and asked what was to be done with him. The king ordered him to be put in jail. So Basanta was taken away and thrown into prison, where he remained a long time, and he thought he must be fated to endure all these hardships, and, as he expected to die soon, he was constantly praying to God. One day a merchant who lived in that place determined to go and trade, and he attempted to push his empty boat from the river bank into the water, but could not more it; two or three hundred men then tried, bu: they could not get it in; ten elephants pushed it, but they could not manage it. At last the merchant, not knowing what to do, told the king all about it, and how he had been informed in a dream that if he offered a human sacrifice the boat would move, and he asked the king to give him a man for the purpose. The king, not knowing it was his younger brother, ordered the madman to be given him so the servants gave Basanta to the merchant, who took him away to sacrifice him. Basanta was much distressed to hear it, and told the merchant that he would drag the boat into the water, and the merchant promised not
to kill him if he could do it. So Basanta went to the boat and said, "If I am a true man, move," and he thought on God and put his hand on the boat, and, as soon as he touched it,, it went into the water. When the merchant saw it, he thought Basanta could be no common man, so he invited him to go with him to trade, thinking that he would be useful if they came to any place where the current ran very strong. So he loaded the boat with merchandize, and, taking Basanta with him, went to another country to trade.
When he arrived at the place, he fastened his boat to the bank and went to shore. Now the king of that country had a very beautiful daughter whom he wished to marry: so he sent out invitations to kings in many different countries and built a house for the marriage, and there was a great commotion. The merchant went to the king to sell his goods, but the king told him that he had no time to look at them then, but would do so in two days' time after the marriage. So the merchant agreed to remain,
