________________
306
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1893.
40. Chakiyê not chakaye is the real reading. The first sign of kamaminená is half gone. There is no ya after it.
41. Chakye looks almost like takyé, because the cha has been made triangular and the lower line is fainter than the two others.
42. The Anusvåra of amitá is not certain, the other two signs are faint, but recognisable.
FOLKLORE IN SALSETTE.
BY GEO. FR. D'PENHA. No. 17.-A Cinderella Variant.1
Once upon a time there lived a king with his queen and two children, the elder a daughter of about ten or twelve years of age, and the younger a boy about seven years old. At this time the princess and the prince had the misfortune to lose their mother. The princess supplied her place, in the way of taking care of her brother, and other domestic affairs; and everything went on smoothly, so much so that the king forgot his affliction, and made up his mind not to marry again, for fear his second wife should ill-treat his daughter and son.
Now it happened that there lived close to the palace a widow, who also had a daughter of about the same age as the princess, and so like her that little or no difference could be seen between the two. The princess, after she had finished her domestic duties, was in the habit of visiting this widow and spending some time there. The widow, too, took a great liking to the princess, and every time she was visited by the girl, she would dress her hair, deck her with wreaths of flowers and shew her much kindness. While treating the princess in this manner, she would often say :
"My dear princess, are you not tired of your life, cooking and doing all the household work? You must ask your father to marry again, when you will have less work to do, and be more happy."
But the princess would say: "I like to do the household work, and my father loves me the more for it. As for his marriage, I cannot tell why he does not marry,"
Things went on like this for several months, and the widow said the same thing every day to the princess. So one day the princess said to her father:
"Father, why don't you marry another wife ?"
The king, however, said: "My dear child, I do not want to marry for the sake of you and your brother. There is every probability that your step-mother may ill-treat you, and injure you."
The following day, when the princess visited the widow, she told her what the king said, but the widow said to her:--
"Oh, what an idea for your father to have. Do not believe a word of it. Ask him again to marry, and if he says that he is afraid of your being ill-treated, say it will not be so."
So in the evening, at supper, the princess, again, said to her father:-"Why don't you marry again?"
And the king repeated the same reason. Upon this the princess said :-"No, no, father, it will not be so. On the contrary, it will be a relief to me in my domestic duties."
But the king seemed to pay no heed to the princess's words, and so the widow resorted to other tricks.
One day, as the princess was cooking something, she happened to leave the kitchen for a little while, and the widow came and put in the pot a handful of sand. Another day, she came
1 [It must be remembered that this in an Indian Christian tale.-ED.]
