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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[MAY, 1920
om.
left him in poverty. The Raja was obliged to go and borrow some flour from the wood. cutters to make a meal for his wife and himself. He then wished to go to his own land, but the Rani said :-"We cannot go till we have returned the flour to the woodoutters." The Raja wert into the forest to cut wood, and the first tree he touched turned out to be a sandal tree. This he sold, and every day he used to cut & sandal tree, till he gained great wealth and his father-in-law recognised him and gave him half his kingdom.
One day two awans were sitting on a tree above the original palace of Raja Bhoj, and one gnid to the other :-“This is a splendid palace." The other said "The palace of Raja Bhoj is much finer." The Sadhu was listening and knew that Raja Bhoj must be alive. So he and the Rani disguised themselves and went in search of Raja Bhoj to slay him. Bandu Patwa knew their plan and he followed them. He said to Raja Bhoj :-" The Sadhu and your Rani are coming to this city, disguised as dancers, and they have planned to turn you into some vile beast and slay you. Whon they come and dance before you, they will ask as their reward your Naulakha (necklace). Do not give then the whole necklace, but keep two beads of it."
Ho did as Bandu Patwa advised, and when he had given the Sadhu and his Rani the necklace, all but two beads, he threw one bead at the Sadhu and the other at Bandu Patwa, whereupon the Sadhu became a fowl and Bandu a cat, which devoured the fowl. And that was the end of the Sadhu.
Then Raja Bhoj said to Bandu Patwa :-“ What should be done to my false Rani?" He said :-"Slay her and bury her at the cross roads, that every one's feet may fall upon her."
So it was done, and Raja Bhoj got back his kingdom and lived long and happily with his new Rani.
46. The Quest of the Princess.
(Told by Lala Hardwari Mal, teacher, Fatehpur.) There was once a Raja who had a son, and in his old age he said to himn :-"I am shutting up two rooms in thy presence. Open thein when I am dead." A few days later the Raja died; and when they saw that the prince was only a youth, the soldiers and the courtiers began to loot every thing which was in the palace. An old man was standing close by, and the prince said to him :-"Why do you not take the chance and plunder something?" The old man answered :-"I have eaten thy salt and I cannot do this." A short time after, the prince reinembered the words of his father, and he called the old man and told him to open the rooms. When he opened one room they found it full of old shoes. Then the prince told him to open the other room, and when they unlocked the door, they found a cock tied by its legs to one of the roof beams. When the cock saw them, it began to crow, and the old man said to the prince :-"It is possessed by a demon; do not touch it." The prince untied the cock and gave it to the old man to sell in the bazar.
The old man sat in the bazar by the wayside with the cock in his lap. The people began to jest at him, and one said: "For how many cowries will you sell this cock ?" He answered :-"Give me your daughter or sister for the bird and take it away." The old man did all he could to sell the cock, but no one would buy it. Then a Raja came into the bazar and asked the price of the cook. "A thousand rupees," said the old man. The Raja paid down the money and gave it to the Bhathiy Arin of an inn close by. She asked :-"Who will buy the flesh of this cock ?" The Raja replied :-"He of the bald head, the cripple, the blind and the deaf and dumb."
Then the old man got his hair shaved, bent his back and put on his eyes the web of a spider and came to the Bhathiyarin and said :-"Bibi, give me the meat of the cock. The Raja wants it." She was very glad to get rid of it, and she gave the old man the meat and the
