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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. night at the next new-moon. Now, it is always the rule in such rites that the person who is possessed should go alone to the cremation-ground, and, accordingly, on the night of the next new moon, Chandralekha went to the burning-ground with a basket containing all the necessary things of worship and a light. Near Kaivalyam, at a distance of five kos from it, was a great forest called Khandavam. In it there dwelt eight robbers, who used to commit the greatest havoc in the country round. At the time when Chandralekha proceeded to the cremation-ground, these eight robbers also happened to go there to conceal what they had stolen in the earlier part of that night. Then, being relieved of their burden, they determined to go to some other place to plunder during the latter half of the night also. When Chandralekha heard the sound of footsteps at a distance she feared something wrong, and, covering up her glittering light by means of her empty basket concealed herself in a hollow place. The thieves came and looked round about them. They found nobody, but, fearing that some one might be near, one of them took out an instrument called kannakkôl, and, whirling it round his head, threw it towards the east. This kannakkól is the instrument by which these robbers bore holes in walls and enter buildings, and some robbers say they get it from a thunderbolt. During a stormy day they make a large heap of cow-dung, into which a thunder-bolt falls and leaves a rod in the middle, which is so powerful that it can bore even through stone-walls without making any noise. It has also the attribate of obeying its master's orders. So when the chief of the eight robbers threw his kannakkôl towards the east, true to its nature, it came into the hole in which Chandralekha was lurking, and began to pierce her in her back. As soon as she felt it, she dragged it out by both her hands without making the slightest noise, and, throwing it under her feet, stood firmly over it. The robbers, having concealed the eight boxes of wealth they had brought with them in the sands near the cremation
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In stories of a master falling in love with the girl he has been teaching, he is usually himself made a soothsayer. In that capacity he asks the guardian (father or mother) to put the girl in a light box and to float her down a river. The girl in the box is taken by a young man, sometimes a prince, and becomes his wife. A tiger or a lion is then put into the box, and when the teacher, a
[JULY, 1888.
ground, went away to spend the remaining part of the night usefully in their own fashion.
As soon as the robbers had left the place Chandralekha came out, and, taking possession of the robbers' rod, took out the eight boxes that the robbers had buried. With these she quickly hastened home, where her mother was awaiting her return. She soon made her appearance, and related all that had occurred during the night to her mother. They soon removed the contents of the boxes and locked them up safely. Then, taking the empty boxes, she filled them up with stones, old iron and other useless materials, and, arranging them two and two by the side of each leg of her cot, went to sleep on it.
As the night was drawing to a close, the robbers, with still more booty, came to the ground, and were thunderstruck when they missed their boxes. But as the day was dawning they went away into the jungle, leaving the investigation of the matter to the next night. They were astonished at the trick that had been played upon them and were very anxious to find out the thief who had outwitted thieves. Now they were sure that their boring-rod, which they had aimed against the unknown person who might be lurking in the smaśánam (cremation-ground), must have wounded him. So one of them assumed the guise of an ointment-seller, and, with some ointment in a cocoanut-bottle, began to walk the streets of Kaivalyam city, crying out "Ointment to sell. The best of ointments to cure new wounds and old sores. Please buy my ointment." And the other seven thieves assumed seven different disguises and also went wandering round the streets of the city. A maid-servant of Chandralêkha had seen that her mistress was suffering from the effects of a wound in her back, and never suspecting a thief in the medicine-seller, called out to the ointment-man, and took him inside the house. She then informed Chandralêkhâ that she had brought in an ointment man, and that she would do well to buy a little of his medicine for her wound. The clever Chandralê khâ at once recognised the thief in the
great way down the river, takes the box and wishes to run away with the girl inside, he is torn to pieces, as a fit reward for his evil intentions, by the beast. But here the story takes a different turn.
From this point up to the end we shall find the story to be similar to " Alt Baba and the Forty Thieves" in the Arabian Nights, though the plot is different.
