So the three wives were deserted, and had to manage as best they could
without their husbands, who did not even trouble to wish them goodbye.
The wives were at first very sad and lonely, but presently a great joy
came to one of them which made the other two very happy as well. This
joy was the birth of a little boy, whose two aunts loved him almost as
much as his mother did. The story does not tell how they all got food
whilst the famine was going on, though it is very evident that they
were not starved, for the baby boy grew fast and was a strong healthy
little fellow.
One night all the three wives had the same dream, a very wonderful one,
in which the god Siva, who is very much honoured in India, appeared to
them. He told them that, looking down from Heaven, he had noticed how
tenderly they cared for the new-born baby, and that he wished them to
call him Putraka. Besides this he astonished them by adding that, as a
reward for the unselfish way in which they had behaved, they would find
one hundred thousand gold pieces under the little child’s pillow every
morning, and that one day that little child would be a king.
3. Do you think the three women wanted to be rewarded for loving the
baby?
4. Is it a good thing to have a great deal of money?