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MAT, 1889.)
FOLKLORE IN WESTERN INDIA.
149
For a few days after this it appeared to the old lady, the hostess, that the suspicions of her gon had been laid at rest, for he did not trouble her any more about the matter. But she was mistaken, for ber son had all along been carefully watching every movement of his guest, so that one day a chance utterance or movement of the disguised lady confirmed his suspicions. So going up again to his mother, he said : Oh, mother! mother! believe me, our guest is a woman, and the sweetest creature that ever the sun shone upon! I want to tell it her to her face and to win her love, for I have never before known a woman half so fascinating.
"Really my son, I am getting tired of your strange fancies," replied his mother, "after the convincing proofs I have given you regarding the sex of the young merchant; surely you don't expect me or your father to insult our guest by asking him point-blank whether he is a man or woman. Yet stay, I have another idea. I know of a certain flower which fades and withers away as soon as it is touched by a woman's hand, while it remains fresh and fragrant if touched by a man's. I shall order our florist to weave eight nets of such flowers, and get one spread upon each of our guest's beds to-night, and we shall then see whether you or I am right.
The faithful parrot, who had overheard this dialogue between the mother and her son, at once flew away to where its mistress was and told her every word of it. Our heroine was not a little flattered at the high encomiums passed on her beauty and charms by her husband, and felt half-inclined to reveal herself to him. On second thoughts, however, she changed her mind and sat down, thinking how she could come unscathed out of this rather difficult ordeal. But her favourite parrot came to her aid, and showed her a way out of the difficulty. It went and brought away from another florist a net woven with the same kind of flowers, and placed it high upon the roof, where its mistress's hand could not reach. When the day dawned and the lady rose from her bed, the sagacious bird asked her to remove the crampled and faded sheet of flowers from it, and spread on it, with its own beak and claws as neatly and as cleverly as any lady's maid ever did, the second net of lowers that was in readiness. The lady then folded the faded net into a small bundle and the parrot took it into its beak, and flying far away into the sea with it, consigned it to the waves, so that no trace of it might renain.
The hostess and her son lost no time in examining the bed-chamber of our heroine, when she vacated it, and the old lady was now more than ever convinced that the object of her son's suspicions was no other than what he appeared to be a handsome and intelligent young gentleman. But the fond young man did not at all relish acknowledging his mistake; hè did so with a very bad grace, and continued moody and dejected ever afterwards, for in his heart of hearts he still cherished the belief that his father's guest belonged to the softer sex, on which account, therefore, he continued to treat our fair friend with the greatest affection and regard.
A few days after our heroine had gone through her last ordeal, her cousins began to make preparations for their homeward voyage, in which she also joined them, for she had already disposed of all her stock to very great advantage, and gold was daily pouring into her coffers in heaps.
The enamoured young man was not a little disconcerted at hearing of this intended departure of the little party, and he begged hard of his disguised wife to remain under his roof a little longer. But she excused herself as best she could, and on the day appointed for their departure, went on board her ship, followed by the tears and blessings of her love-lorn husband.
When the eight ships stood abreast of one another in the harbour, waiting to raise their anchors simultaneously at a given signal, our heroine whispered something in the parrot's ears, and off flew the little bird with a bright little golden cup set with pearls and diamonds in its beak, and depositing it right into the hold of one of the seven ships of the brothers, immediately came back and perched upon its mistress's shoulder as if nothing had happened. Now just before the parrot performed this clever trick, all the seven brothers were assembled on the deck of our heroine's ship, for there they had arranged a grand feast in honour of their departure, and were eating and drinking merrily.
After holding high revel for some time the seven brothers took leave of their cousin, and
