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164
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JUNE, 1891.
me: Ard, Dhobi, to whom belongs this Raj!' and with an involuntary impulso, for which I cannot account, my lips utter this reply, whether I be asleep or awake: To Dêvki Rini!' At this the bird laughs a sweet ringing laugh like that of a young lady, and with it throws forth from its mouth the rarest rubies that ever were seen."
The Rajá listened with wrapt attention and surprise, while the Dhôi continued :" As soon as it has done laughing, I again hear its voice asking me another question. "Are, Dhobî, who occupies the gadi now?' To which I am again compelled to reply instinctively: Mutkuli Râni. At this the little bird sobs and weeps and sheds numberless larga bright pearls for tears. After this short dialogue it flies away and I sleep on, taking care to rise before day break and collect the jewels and pearls, for I believe that I have an exclusive right to them."
"Nobody dare dispute your right to them, Dhobi," said the Rajâ re-assuringly after this frank avowal of the honest fellow, "but what I want is the little bird itself. So let me watch with you to-night, and see if I can contrive to get possession of the sweet prattler."
"O! that can easily be done, Maharaj, by placing some bird-lime on the line, and throwing a handkerckief over the bird just as it has done speaking," suggested the Dhobi readily.
That same night the Raja went to the Dhobi's yard with a couple of his attendants, and laid himself down, covered from head to foot, in a sort of bower shaded over by a jossamine creeper, just underneath the very spot where the line on which the bird was wont to perch, was stretched. The Dhobi had already smeared it with bird-lime, so that there was nothing for the Raja to do, but to lie in wait till the bird's arrival.
Exactly at the hour mentioned by the Dhobî the bird came and perched itself on its favourite line just over the Raja's lead, and at once began to ask the usual questions: "Are, Dhobi, to whom belongs this Raj!" And the Dhobi, who had all the time been snoring regardless of the Raja's presence, replied as before: "To Dêvkî Râni." And, sure as the Dhobi had said, she laughed a light silvery laugh that went straight to the heart of the young Raja, and brought him out of the recess in spite of himself ! But the bird heeded him not, and went on: "Arê, Dhobi, who is the present occupant of the gadi ?" The answer as before was: "Mutkuli Rani!” And the bird began to sob and weep in a manner that very nearly broke the heart of her listener, and would have flown away, had it not found its tiny feet stuck to the line, and its body covered over with a large cloth thrown over it from behind !
In a twinkling it was a prisoner in the hands of the king, who pressed it to his heart, and walked away with it to his palace, leaving the Dhobi to rise at his usual hour and collect the rubies and pearls that had dropped from the mouth of his nocturnal guest.
Never was the prince happier than on that morning, as he sat stroking the bird's head, for he felt an unaccountable regard and affection for it. All of a sudden, however, he discovered what looked like a needle stuck into the bird's head, and on pulling it out, what was his joy to find his feathered friend transformed into his own long lost bride!
Between her smiles and her tears - showers of rubies and pearls - Dévki Rani related to her lover the trick that had been played upon her by her step-mother. The Râjâ was so angry at this that he forth with ordered Mutkuli Râni and her mother to be summoned before him, and having had their noses and ears cut off, banished them his kingdom.
He then took Dêvki Rani into the presence of her kind friend and guardian, the cow, and with her consent, soon celebrated his nuptials with the beautiful lady with due pomp and iclat, and lived happily with her ever afterwards.
