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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1891.
elated at the thorough success of his tricks, and that he had won a princess for a daughter in-law and an empire for his son.
Meanwhile the princess swore in her heart to be virtuous, if the great god would give her back her real husband. She sat now with a sham husband merely to preserve her family dignity. Her heart was not in the affair, and she would rather murder the substituted husband with her own hands than prove false to the true one. The second day also drew to a close, and, in accordance with the custom, in the early part of the night, the minister's son and the princess were conducted to the bridal-chamber and the door was locked. But now that the princess was alone with her sham husband her anger knew no bounds. She was the first to speak :
"Stand there at the door, and don't stir one step and sully my room ! Tell me the honest truth. Who are you? If you are & mean wretch, placed in this position by others, I shall pity and release you."
The minister's son replied :-"I am your husband."
Before he had closed his mouth she had unsheathed a sword, and at the very sight of it an epileptic fit began. Seeing the poor wretch in such a helpless plight she put the sword back into its sheath, and raised an alarm. The door was immediately opened.
"There, take away your son-in-law. He has got epilepay," said the princess, standing at the remotest corner of the room, to her mother.
Now no one knew the cause of this but the minister, who was still there, for the whole thing bad happened so quickly that none of the party outside the hall had had time to go home. Cursing his fate, which had brought on the attack so quickly, the minister carried the bridegroom home.
« What is the matter, daughter P" said the queen.
"Mother, dear; if you wish me to live in this world, do not, please, talk upon this subject till I tell you everything," replied the daughter.
There was now confusion and dismay throughout the palace, but still no one knew the cause of the strange occurrence on the second day of the marriage.
Still, the ceremonials could not be neglected, and those of the third day were continued. The princess and the minister's son, again sat together in the hall, and, again entered the bed chamber : the third time for the princess, the second time for the minister's son.
Said the princess to him just as the door was being shut :- "Fool that you are, that dare to approach again the bridal-chamber! I have allowed you'admittance to-night, as I wanted to give you certain advice. Stand there in the place you stood last night, and hear what I have to say. You are not fit even to be the dust on my lord's feet. How did you dare, then, to 298ume this position P Tell me the whole truth, or you shall soon know the consequences of refusal !"
The minister's son, seeing that his life was in danger, and, giving up all hope of ever winning the princess for his wife, related, with fear and agitation, everything, except that about her real husband he could give the princess no more information than that he was a poor Brahman hoy, picked up for the occasion by the minister, and that he had been safely conducted out of the Chandragiri dominions by the orders of his father.
This news gave the greatest consolation to the princess. She was glad to hear that her lord was still alive, and that there was no fear for his life for the present. So great a soul would, of course, prosper wherever he might go.
Then, turning to the minister's son, she said :-“Never, again, set your feet in my room. You may attend my father's court as the king's son-in-law, and receive the
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