"From there having brought the Queen, while you were giving her the
punishment the Queen had previously reared two field rats. The two
having come, dug [under] the brick wall, and the Queen went away
from there.
"Having gone away, and been in a party of dancing women, while
she was in it one day they came here, the Queen and those women,
to dance. Having come and caused the Queen to stay, those women went
away. After three or four months the women came back, and calling her,
went away with her. While she was here, [63] I was born to you."
Afterwards the grandfather said, "You yourself remain exercising the
sovereignty. My son cannot; a fool."
He having said this, the Prince himself received the sovereignty.
North-western Province.
In The Story of Madana Kama Raja (Natesa Sastri), p. 246, a Prince
told an oilmonger's daughter that he would marry her and imprison
her for life. She retorted that she would bear him a son who should
chastise him after first tying him up in a sack. When they were married
the Prince shut her up in a room, her food being supplied through
a small window. She escaped by a tunnel made by her father for her,
learnt rope-dancing, and in disguise made a display of it before the
court. The Prince fell in love with her, visited her daily, and she
obtained from him his pearl necklace, diamond necklace, and ring. When
the rope-dancers left, the girl rejoined her father, and bore a son,
who learnt robbery and committed such daring thefts that the Prince,
his father, determined to seize him himself at night. By a trick he got
the Prince to enter a sack, dressed himself in the Prince's clothes,
and handed it to the soldiers as containing the thief. In the morning
he opened the sack and struck the Prince gently with the cord. The
robber then explained everything to the King and Prince, his mother
when fetched produced the articles given to her, and all ended happily.
In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 216, a merchant on leaving
home on a long journey told his wife that on his return he expected
to find that she had built a grand well, and had a son for him. By a
trick she got money and built the well. Disguised as a milk-girl she
met with her husband's boat, and sold milk at the river bank until
he fell in love with her, married her, and took her to live on his
boat. When he left after three months, giving her his cap and portrait,
she returned home. On his arrival there she presented to him his son,
and produced his gifts.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 620, a Brahmana told
his bride, who had played a trick on him, that he would desert her;
she retorted that a son whom she would bear him should bring him
back. He put his ring on her finger while she slept, and went away
to his own city, Ujjayini. She followed, and established herself
as a courtesan, sending away each visitor without seeing her, until
her husband came and, without recognising her, stayed some days with
her. After returning home she bore a son, to whom she told the whole
story. The boy went in search of his father, and by a wager made him
his slave, took him back to his mother, and they were reconciled.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 104, a King of Kashmir
and a girl whom he met while hunting made jokes at each other. The King
married her and ignored her presence in his harem, so she returned to
her parents. After three years she visited Kashmir, and stayed at the
palace, where the King, who did not recognise her, fell in love with
her. They exchanged rings, and she got his handkerchief, went home, and
bore a son who became an expert thief, stealing an egg out of a hawk's
nest without disturbing the bird. [64] He committed many impudent
robberies in Kashmir, getting the high officials into ridiculous
positions, and when the King offered his daughter in marriage and half
the country if the thief would come forward, he confessed everything
and restored the stolen money and goods. His mother came, explained
everything and the impossibility of the marriage to his half-sister,
produced the ring and handkerchief, and he became heir to the throne.