________________
The Magic Bird-Heart
335
the divine bird-king, comes there to drink water. The blast from his wings cures the younger brother. He gets down from the tree and goes in search of the elder.
The elder returning to the lake does not find the younger there. After vainly searching for him he returns to the city, where he is swindled of all his possessions by a vile merchant and accused of theft. He is saved by the childless wife of the police-chief, who adopts him. But the merchant prevails upon the king, and the elder brother is sent to assist the merchant's son on a commercial voyage, during which it can be planned to dispose him of.
The younger brother, guided by an ascetic's prediction, goes to the same city and stays with a woodcutter's family.
The elder along with the merchant's son reaches a distant port. The princess of the city falls in love with the elder and marries him against the king's wish. The king sends wrestlers and a wild horse to get rid of the commoner son-in-law, but he gets better of them. He reveals his story to the princess. Now convinced of his royalty, the king honours him and offers him the crown. But he first wants to find out the whereabouts of his younger brother. So taking the princess with him, he leaves the port along with the merchant's son.
Here the younger is chosen king by the divine cow-elephant, in place of the earlier king who died without an heir.
The merchant's son, with an eye on the princess and rich dowry, pushes the elder brother overboard in the mid-sea. Through the power of a religious charm, he is saved by a fish, who tooks him safely to the shore. He stays with a gardener's family.
The princess is stopped from ending her life by the Voice of the Sea, which forecast her reunion with her husband. The merchant's son returns to his city and passes the princess off as his wife. The elder brother reveals his identity to the princess by way of messages hidden in the flower-basket that the gardner's wife usually carries to the merchant's inner apartments.
The younger brother, now the king of the city, proclaims to give as reward half of his kingdom to whomever that gives him news of his elder brother.
