Indian Antiquary Vol 18

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 34

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1889.
and keep a few servants, and you will soon see that you will find credit in the city. Nor will you have cause any longer to complain of the coldness of your sister, for, if you do as I tell you, she will lose no time in owning you as her brother.
The rich man's son was greatly touched with his poor old friend's generosity, and accepted his offer with the greatest reluctance. At the same time the second of those dearly-bought sentences "a sister in prosperity, a true friend in adversity," came to his recollection, and he praised the wisdom of the old man.
This newly found friend took the opportunity of warning our young hero against the apparent kindness and friendship of the owner of the floating palace, who, he informed him, was one of the ministers of the state, but was known to be a very dangerous character. So at parting, the young merchant made a promise to his friend to bid good-bye to his host and his daughter as early as circumstances permitted.
Shortly after this his host, the minister, who had long since found out that his guest was worth nothing to him, but was on the contrary continuing to be a burden upon him, set about thinking of some method by which to get rid of him. At last he hit upon a plan by which to dispose of him effectually.
The king, his master, had an only daughter who was afflicted with an incurable disease, which had baffled the skill of a great many physicians, who had come from far and near to cure her and win the promised reward. This reward was nothing less than the hand of the fair Princess herself and the sovereignty of half her father's kingdom. Nearly every day a physician presented himself before the king and obtained permission to watch by the Princess's bed and find out what it was she was suffering from, with a view to cure her, but before next morning he was found lying dead in the chamber. So the wily minister thought this a very feasible mode of doing away with his young guest, and going up to the king one day, he told him that he had a man staying with him, who was proficient in the healing art, but pretended for some reason or other to be ignorant of it, and that, therefore, if the king wished to secure his services he had only to send his men to bring him into the royal presence, and see if he could not induce him by threats and promises to undertake the cure of the Princess.
The king agreed to this, and sent armed men to the floating palace to seize the stranger and bring him into his presence.
When the guards seized hold of the unsuspecting young man, he, in his fright, asked, his host to interfere and save him, but the doublefaced villain, still pretending to be his friend, advised him to obey the king's mandate without opposition and leave the rest to fate.
Acting upon this advice the young man went with the guards and stood before the king who questioned him as to the extent of his knowledge of medicine and offered him the promised reward if he took the Princess's case in hand and cured her. But our hero declared himself quite ignorant of any knowledge of medicine and related how he was only a merchant's son. The king, however, would not believe him, and the more the poor fellow declared himself ignorant, the more the deluded king disbelieved him, so much was his mind prejudiced by the minister's story.
At last, partly by threats and partly by promises, the monarch induced the young man to consent to keep watch by the Princess's bed for one day at least and leave chance to do the rest, hoping that the sight of the poor lady's misery would melt his heart and induce him to try his remedies on her.
So the supposed physician went with the attendants into the chamber where the sick Princess lay and was there left alone with her. Not knowing what to do, he sat for some time narrowly watching the fair patient. He saw that her abdomen was swollen to an enormons height, and heard groans of great agony issuing from her mouth. In other respects, however, she appeared to be all right, for her highly beautiful face was calm and serene, and she looked as if she were wrapped in sweet slumber, in which state, as he had been told by the attendants who had led him into the chamber, she had been lying for months past, taking no other food but milk, which too had to be poured down her throat. The young man felt greatly for her,