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807
NOVEMBER, 1893.]
FOLKLORE IN SALSETTE; No. 17.
in the same way and put in a great quantity of salt. On a third day she put in a lot of earth. And so on for many days. The king used to be surprised to find his food cooked in such a way, and thought that, because he would not marry a second time, the princess was doing it on purpose to vex him and to force him to marry. However, he thought it best to make himself sure as to who was really doing the mischief. So one day he left the house in the presence of the princess, and, returning quietly by another door, hid himself in such a position as to watch everything that was being done in the kitchen. The princess put a pot of rice on the oven to boil, and went to a well close by to fetch water. In the meantime the widow, who had seen the princess going to the well, came in and threw in the pot a lot of sand, and went away. The king, who had seen everything, now came out of his hiding place, and, after the princess came back with the water, he returned to the house, as if he had come from a distance.
In another half hour the dinner was ready, and the princess laid it on the table, and they sat down to partake of it. While they were eating, the king said: -
"My dear daughter, now tell me, who is it that tells you to say to me that I must marry? Is it your own idea, or has any one else suggested it to you ?"
The princess replied: - "Father, it is our neighbour, the widow, who tells me to speak to you in that way. And I think it is only reasonable that you should marry."
"But," said the king, "as I told you before, your step-mother may treat you very badly." And the princess said: "No, father, it will not be so."
The king then said to her:-"Very well, I will marry again; but should you complain of any ill-treatment at the hands of your step-mother, I will pay no heed to it. In fact, I will not even look at you."
Thus said the king, and it was settled that the king should marry again. And it happened that his choice fell on the widow, who was so kind to the princess.
Preparations were now made for the grand occasion, and on the appointed day the king was married to the widow with all possible éclat, and henceforth she must be called the queen. The queen continued to treat the princess with the same kindness as before for a few days, and then, as is usual with step-mothers, began to ill-treat her. She made her own daughter wear all the nice clothes of the princess, and do nothing all day but sit idle and eat sweets and such like things; while the princess had to go in rags and bear the drudgery of the cookhouse and other domestic work. The prince, too, was, under plea of being a mischievous child, sent to some school, where he was kept like an orphan.
Day after day the queen took a greater dislike to the princess and ill-treated her farther. Her hatred went so far that she could not even bear the sight of her, and she, therefore, began to devise means to keep her out of sight, if not altogether, at least during the day. So she one day told the king to buy her a cow. The king, at first, refused to do so, saying they had no business with a cow, but the queen insisted on having a cow, and, at last, the king was persuaded upon to buy one. As soon as the cow was bought and brought home, the princess was ordered by her step-mother, the queen, to take her out to graze every morning, and not to return home till dusk. For her own food during the whole day she was given bread made of bajri. The poor princess had no alternative but to obey. In fact she was only too glad, for it would keep her away the whole day, and save her the abuse she was wont to receive from her step-mother.
Every day, as soon as she got up in the morning, the princess could be seen with a bundle of bajri cakes in one hand and with the other leading the cow to the grazing ground some miles distant from the palace. Now it happened that the princess daily fed the cow with the bajri
* Bread made of bajrt is eaten only by the very poor classes.
