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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(MARCH, 1997.
Our hero soon reached Tanjore, and had a happy meeting with his anxious wife and child, for had not the long-absent husband returned with two beautiful necklaces of gold? The wife and the child each took her necklaces. The former went into the house to cook the usual meal, and the latter outside to play, and to show to her neighbours her father's present. Sittig before the fire, the wife took the necklace from her neck, and weighed it often in her hand, and thb more she did so the more she began to suspect that all was not right about it. There was no harm in examining one of the beads, thought she, and she took one off the string. She put it into the fire, and after a second there was a slight fizz and smoke, and it began to burn like lighted lac. She was horrified to see that her husband had been duped by a wily goldsmith. She pitied him, and, after some time, related in a calm way the trick that had been played upon him. But the poor Brâhman's peace of mind was gone as soon as he came to know of the trick. The idea that all his hard-earned money had been thrown away mada him mad, and he had afterwards one fixed idea in his head, that goldsmiths are never to be trusted.
On the morning of the third day, after the discovery of the trick, he asked his wife how she had managed to live during his absence in Banaras. Said she :-“I bought a buffalo from Ponnásåri, the goldsmith, that lives in the Car Street."
“What! from: PonnAsari, the goldsmith !"""
" Yes, my lord: From its milk I made batter, and from the sale-proceeds of the butter and ghi I managed to live very comfortably. She gives us two measures of milk every morning and evening."
"You poor innocent woman! You have not examined it. It is not a true buffalo. It is a buffalo made of lac !"
"No, my husband. It gives us milk, and, therefore, it cannot be one made of lac."
“ Therefore, I say, women are fools! What if it gives you milk! It is still made of lac. You are a fool not to see through the tricks of goldsmiths."
"No, my lord. It grazes apon grass, therefore it is not made of lao."
“O my good wife! You have no brains to guess at the tricks of goldsmiths. I say it is still made of lac. Say no more."
"No, my lord. After it came to as it has given us two calves. How can it be then a buffalo made of lac."
"You stupid woman. You do not know the tricks of these goldsmitbs. In your own innocent way you believe the animal to be a living one. No. Whatever you may say, I am as certain as certain can be that it is still made of lac. Now hold your tongue and gainsay ne no further?" • The poor wife could only pity her lord for his state of mind. It was impossible for her to convince him by any argament, so much was the goldsmith's trick reigning predominant in his mind. She went to the backyard, dragged: the poor animal into the house, made a small cut in one of its ears, and produced the red blood ag evidence that it was a living animal. Her husband, as soon as he saw the blood, broke out in a most vehement language: "You foolish woman! Do you still continne to think that the buffalo of Pornåsari is not made of lac? What you show me now is blood, yon think! Is it not of the colour of lac, and is not Ponnasiri's buffalo a buffalo made of lac? Do you, too, want to deceive me?"
Several of the best known men of Tanjore came to convince our hero that the buffalo in his house was a living animal. But he persisted in his belief that it was not, and must be are made of lac as long as it was purchased from Ponnå siri.
