After some years the woman had two sons, and when they had grown to
be big boys, she died. Her husband had forgotten her conversation
about the birds, and he married another wife.
One day the eldest boy was playing with a ball, when it fell into his
stepmother's room. He asked if he might fetch it; but when he went
inside, she made it an occasion for all sorts of complaints against
him to his father, so his father turned him out of the house, and he
went away with his little brother.
As they rested that night in the forest, the younger brother lay awake
and overheard a conversation between two Night Jars. They talked on
many subjects. At length one of the birds remarked: "How little do
people guess that he who eats me will become a Rajah, and he who eats
you will become a Prime Minister."
On hearing this the youngest brother crept out of bed, and taking his
gun, shot both birds and cooked them. He ate the female himself, and
kept the male for his brother. But while he slept, a venomous snake,
which lived in the tree, came down and bit him, so that he died as
he slept.
In the morning his elder brother awoke, and found a meal prepared for
him, so he ate the bird, and then tried to wake his companion, but
soon discovered that the boy was dead. This grieved him very much,
and he wept bitterly, and determined to wait till he could return
and burn his brother in a way befitting to a good caste Hindu, so he
placed him in the branches of the tree and went his way.
The same day Mahadeo and Parbatti were passing that way, and Parbatti,
who is ever described as a wilful Goddess, always wanting her own
way, asked Mahadeo to see what was in the tree. They soon found the
dead boy; and Parbatti insisted that he should be made alive again,
so Mahadeo sprinkled a few drops of blood upon him, and he sat up
alive and well.
Close to this place a Rajah had just died, and his people placed
his crown in the trunk of an elephant, leaving it to him to place it
upon the head of any man there; and that man would be their future
King. The elephant looked upon them all, and then, walking up to Rupa,
placed the crown upon his head.
At first the people objected, because he was a stranger, and did not
belong to their town, but after a while they accepted him as their
King, and thus the words of the bird were fulfilled.
In the meantime, Bisuntha came to the same city, and begged a night's
shelter. The people were fully aware that night after night a fierce
man-eating tiger came to that town, and demanded a man to eat. They did
not wish to give one of the men belonging to the town, so Bisuntha,
being a stranger, was selected for the tiger, and told to go and
sleep in the place where it was likely to come.
At night he lay awake thinking, and the tiger came; but Bisuntha had
his sword beside him, so he promptly killed the tiger, and placed
its ears and whiskers in his pocket.
In the morning a sweeper came, thinking to find the stranger dead and
his bones scattered about, but, instead, he found the tiger dead,
and the stranger lying fast asleep; so he resolved to take all the
honour of killing the tiger to himself, and went back to the city
with the news that he had killed the tiger single-handed, and saved
the man. This story was believed, and the sweeper richly rewarded,
but Bisuntha heard nothing.
Now there lived in that city a merchant who owned a ship and went
to distant cities to trade, but sometimes the ship stuck in the
sandbanks, and could not be moved. At such times it was necessary to
kill a man, and then the sand was pleased at the sacrifice and let
the ship go. It was always difficult to find a man for the purpose,
and the Rajah was often asked to select one.
Bisuntha, at this time, had taken up service in the house of an oil
merchant, and being a stranger, he was selected for a second time, and
sent by the Rajah to accompany the merchant, at the risk of his life.
At the first sandbank, when the ship was in difficulties and could
not be moved, the merchant told Bisuntha he must prepare to die; but
Bisuntha said: "You desire your ship to move, whether I die or whether
I do not. If I can make it move on for you, will you spare my life?"
To this the merchant agreed; and Bisuntha cut his finger, and dropped
a few drops of blood into the sea. As soon as he did this the ship
moved on, and so the merchant would not part with him, or kill him,
but kept him during the whole voyage, and brought him back to the town.
Rupa had half forgotten his brother all this while, but one day
he was stricken with remorse, and determined to find out what had
happened after he had left the forest, with the intention of burning
the remains of Bisuntha.
In order to get news of him, he sent out a notice that he would pay
any one who would come daily and talk with him, for he hoped in the
course of conversation that some one would mention the circumstance
of the boy who was found dead in a tree in the forest.
At length Bisuntha himself came to hear what the Rajah his brother
was doing, so he disguised himself as a girl, and went to the Palace.
When the Rajah saw him he said: "What have you to say, O my
daughter?" and Bisuntha said: "Do you wish me to talk on general
subjects or only of myself?"
"Of yourself," said Rupa.
So the lad began. "There were once two brothers, whose names were
Rupa and Bisuntha, and they had a stepmother."
Rupa's interest was now breathless, but after telling a small part of
the story Bisuntha said he was tired, and would tell the rest next day.
The next day he continued, and told how a snake had bitten Bisuntha,
and how he had died in the forest, and had been raised to life by
Mahadeo and Parbatti. Rupa was now full of anxiety to know the rest,
but Bisuntha said he had forgotten it, so nothing could be done.
When he came again, he said he remembered that Bisuntha came to a
certain town, where the Rajah ordered him to be given to a tiger; how
he had escaped the tiger and all other dangers, and had in his pocket
the proof. Thus saying he took out the tiger's ears and whiskers,
and, as his eyes met his brother's, they recognised each other,
and fell upon each other's necks.