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missed him. Madanamanjari bowed before the feet of her father and mother, and, with her lotus-like face full of joy, went out of the palace. While Madanamanjarí was walking along with her husband, the leper fell down in the main street, and remained lying there.* The leper said to his wife : 'Princess, I cannot move a step from this place.' Then Madanamanjarí said: 'My lord, do not be unhappy; get upon my back, in order that I may carry you where you wish to go. The leper, perceiving her disposition, said: "We will remain here to-day ; to-morrow we will do what is fitting.' At this moment a great multitude of men went to the king's palace, and said to the king: Grant, your majesty, that we may build a straw hut for your sonin-law, and give it to him. The king permitted it. Then the crowd built the couple a hut, and made it over to them; and in it the leper lived with his wife. In the meanwhile that leper thought in his heart: 'I wonder whether this wife of mine is attached to me or not; so I will test her affection or aversion. Then he began to speak: 'Princess, hear this one speech of mine with attentive heart; from associating with me you will in & short time become leprous, since these diseases are contagious-herpes, consumption, leprosy, jaundice, ophthalmia: these five diseases are propagated by contagion. Owing to leprosy, your hair, which is as black as a swarm of bees or lampblack, will perish ; your lotus-like face will lose its bloom; your two eyes, which are like a couple of petals of full-blown blue water-lilies, will close up. Ah! slender one, your lip, which resembles a ripe bimba-fruit, will not retain its hue. To speak briefly, your body will be destroyed in every way by association with me, as & mango-fruit is spoiled by the neighbourhood of a poisonous tree. So, seek the protection of your mother and her brothers; why should you perish for my sake ? When the leper had said this, he remained silent. Then Madanamanjarí said : 'My lord, why do you utter such an im
* The tests to which the leper subjects his wife remind one of Grimm's story No. 52, König Drosselbart.'
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