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JANUARY, 1910.)
LEGENDS FROM THE PANJAB.
With Rai Has went the Dum, the bard, the Brahman, the barber, but when they had gone a little way, the bard said his lance had got left behind, and how could he recite verges without it? So the Raja told him to go and fetch it. The musician said he had left his olub and bag of hemp behind, and whence was he to beg for them? The barber said he had forgotten his case, and what was he to do? So the Râjâ told him, too, to go and fetch it. Thus they all went off and only the Raja and Rûp Chand were left. The latter remarked that they had all thrown up the job and gone off, and if the RAJA was going on, he thought he had better go back, too, to his Brahmani, and take it easy. When Rap Chand had left Rai Majhâr's city, it occurred to Rai Hasnt that he would be certain to bring back her brother into his enemies' city. Thinking of this, she went up to the top of the palace an I kept a look-out. Whon she saw him, she resolved to frighten him into going away from the city, and so when the party got near she said to her Brahman :
Bait. "Rais kato, Bahmanan, wair núi le dndd kere
than. Itthe duchan de Dere Máwie, ghore atthara
hazár. Alchan agge wer márid ; than na dekhe tera
dágh. Waste Nirankar dd wagan mor ghar da nuk jde.”
Verse. "It is a pity, Brâhman, that thou didst bring my
brother to such a place. Here comes the procession of Dera M&wia, with
eighteen thousand horses. A brother slain before ber eyes : a sister cannot
bear thy disgrace, For the sake of God, turn thy horges back."
The Brahinan said to Bai Hag, that his sister, on whose aid he had counted, had point-blank / refused to help him, and asked if his heart failed him. The RajA said to his sister :
Bait.
Verse. Pal do ande tainun kapre, sone has ghard. "I have brought thee silken clothes md
ornaments of gold. Ki karen Dere Mawid ? Ki karest Rdi Majhar ? What can Dera Mawia do? What will Rai
Majhar do ? Teghda mdren aulid-sulián, jane kul jahdi. We can strike our swords hither and thither, ag
all the world knowa. tagge matthe na chalaan, how di katak hazdr" I will not turn back, be there a thousand robbers."
His sister concealed Rai Has with Rûp Chand inside, and sent for four goats, which were slaughtered, and then she had the blood put into platters and the meat well minced. Then she sent for plantain leaves and had half the meat pat on top and half below. Then she put some more leaves over it and placed it in a dark room. Having made her brother bathe, she got him to go to sleep.
Rap Chand said: "You have treated your brother very well. What about Rúp Chand ?" She told told him to go up to the upper room and sleep.
She thought her scald-headed and wall-eyed servants had seen them both coming and would probably reveal the secret, so it would be better if she killed them. For the Ránt had two servants, one with one eye and the other bald, as waiting-men85 and chief of 500 men. So she said to them :" My brother's mare has had nothing to eat since yesterday, bring her some grass from outside." The scald-headed and wall-eyed servants said they would get some green grass, but the Râni said
NI.., the Dům or Mirdet.
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A5 Char.
