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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JUNE, 1891.
as usual. We have never heard her say 'ha' before in her sleep; so I have come running to consult you as to the cause of it," gasped the maid,
The minister pondered a while and said: "The utterance of 'ha' usually succeeds a poisonous bite. I fear that some serpent has stung Her Majesty. But let us not be rash. You had better fly back to her again and continue your strict watch. If again you observe her say ha' in her sleep and turn on her side, report it at once to me. Be off at once to your duty."
The maid ran away, and the minister, thinking it unwise to sleep that night, kept wide awake. If a leaf was stirred by the breeze, he imagined it to be the maid coming in again. And at last even so it was, for she appeared again at the fifteenth ghatika, and reported that a second ha' was uttered in her sleep by the Rani,
"Be not confused! Patience is the motto of great men! Let us hear it a third time, and then we shall be certain that the poison is working. And it won't be too late to commence the cure. Go and watch over Her Majesty,"
Thus the minister again dismissed the maid, but two ghatikás were scarcely over before the maid appeared for the third time, with tears in her eyes and said: "Alas! minister, God is cruel! We are all undone! The Rani uttered ha ha; twice, this time! What shall we do ?"
The minister did not know what to do, and despatched a hasty messenger to fetch the serpent-doctor.
"Say that the minister requires his services to attend on the Râni, who has been bitten by a serpent," said the minister, and off the messenger flew with the swiftness of a kite.
The doctor's house was reached, but he was not at home, for he had gone out on the previous evening to a neighbouring village five kos off, and a messenger went in pursuit of him. Meanwhile the doctor's son, who was also a serpent-doctor on a smaller scale than his father came to the minister.
"Your father is not here then ?" said the minister.
"No, my lord; but he will be here early in the morning; but what does your lordship require? My services are at your disposal. I have been for the last ten years a regular student at the feet of my venerable father," replied the boy-doctor,
"Then," said the minister; "the Rânî is stung by a serpent, You must cure Her Majesty at once of the poison."
"Alas," continued the boy, "I have not yet come to that chapter of the book, but I have heard my father say often that the curing of poisonous bites is an extremely easy thing, provided that the poison has not ascended up to the head, So, as a precaution, I would advise that the head he separated from the body, so as to make sure that the venom has not ascended there. If this advice is followed, the cure may be commenced at any time."
"You are a clever doctor, though still a boy. It is most unfortunate that your studies have not yet reached the chapter on poisons, But let us not be wasting time. Well, maid, go back at once to the seraglio, and without the least disturbance sever the head of the queen from her body and keep it detached. We shall know if the poison has killed her, when the doctor arrives in the morning. Here is my signet-ring, which will stop any one who might want to prevent you from carrying out my orders."
Thus, giving his signet-ring to the maid-servant and sending the boy-doctor home, the minister retired for a short sleep.
The head of the Rânî was, alas!, in strict accordance with the orders of the minister, severed from her body, and in a second life went out of her, for no other cause but that of the
