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43
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1894.
and must shut the doors that are now open. The torch that is now burning, you must now put out, and from the third story, you must now ascend to the seventh."
All their prayers were granted, and they told the Brahmaņs to take their hands from their eyes and ears. When they had done so, they observed, with great surprise, that one of their ears had become deaf, that one of their eyes had become blind, and that one of their legs had become lame. Then the two brothers left the yard of the Bhůta's gudi, and, crossing a bridge of ropes on the way, came to where they had concealed Channayya of Edambůr under the leaves of a tree; and accompanied by him went on to the verandah of the Ballal of Edambar, who was sitting on his seat with much enjoyment.
“Ah, Channayya of Edambûr, have you brought the heroes along with you ?” asked Ballal. "I have, my lord,” replied Channayya.
The two heroes then formally saluted the Ballal, and the BallA! caused a bed of flowers to be spread, and asked them to sit down on it. They sat down on the bed and placed their dagger on the ground.
The Baila! then said to them: - "I know by hearsay that you have been imprisoned in Pañje. Is it true ?"
“We have been imprisoned, my lord !" answered the heroes. "We know by hearsay that you are a very weak king, and that your kingdom is but very small."
"O heroes, it now behoves you to remain in my kingdom. Do you want the field called Berampolli cultivated by the Brühmaņs, or that called Guttuberke cultivated by the Bants, or that called Nattil Nalaja cultivated by the Billavars P" asked the Balla!.
The brothers replied:-"If you give us the field Nattil Nålaja, cultivated by the Billavars, our own caste people will become our enemies. If you give us the field Guttuberke, cultivated by the Bants, it will be like setting a dog against a dog. If you give us the field Berpodi, cultivated by the Brahmans, you will be only setting the cobra against the serpent. Therefore, if there is any waste land, or any land overgrown with the plants tumbe and nekki, give us that. If there is any land such as is named by ns, favour us with that."
"O heroes! there is the land called Ekkadka Erryangada," said the Ballâl. "Then give us that, and mark out its boundaries," said the brothers.
Accordingly the Ballal marked out its boundaries, and when he had done so, they went and inhabited that desolate land. Their cook was Syami Baidyadi, the woman that had nourished them.
When eighteen days of the month Paggu had passed, they gathered all the rubbish in the fields and set fire to it. They then ploughed them with four he-buffaloes, and in a corner of the field, they sowed some seed to prepare plants for transplanting.
“We must transplant them in the proper time, and we must reap the crop with songs," said the brothers to each other. They thus cultivated the yanéla crop, bat when, on a day, they went to see the state of the crop, they found it all destroyed by wild beasts.
“We had only heard up to this time that the Ballal of Edambůr was a very poor king, and that his kingdom was in a very bad condition. Now, we actually see it. In this country, there is no practice of hunting. There are no great festivals, nor the sport of driving he-buffaloes in fields. The food that we eat is liko an anchor in our hearts, suspended by the chain of the water that we drink. Our clothes do not become dirty, and our dagger gets rusty." So spake these brothers to one another.
Meanwhile the Balla! of Edambůr had sent a spy to see what his new guests were saying about him. The spy came back and spoke to his master thus :-"O my lord, they are finding fault with you. They are sorry for having remained in your country."
