_A FUNNY STORY._
Once upon a time there were a Rajah and Ranee who were much grieved
because they had no children, and the little dog in the palace had
also no little puppies. At last the Rajah and Ranee had some children,
and it also happened that the pet dog in the palace had some little
puppies; but, unfortunately, the Ranee's two children were two little
puppies! and the dog's two little puppies were two pretty little
girls! This vexed her majesty very much; and sometimes when the dog
had gone away to its dinner, the Ranee used to put the two little
puppies (her children) into the kennel, and carry away the dog's two
little girls to the palace. Then the poor dog grew very unhappy, and
said, "They never will leave my two little children alone. I must take
them away into the jungle, or their lives will be worried out." So one
night she took the little girls in her mouth and ran with them to the
jungle, and there made them a home in a pretty cave in the rock,
beside a clear stream; and every day she would go into the towns and
carry away some nice currie and rice to give her little daughters; and
if she found any pretty clothes or jewels that she could bring away in
her mouth, she used to take them also for the children.
Now it happened some time after this, one day, when the dog had gone
to fetch her daughters' dinner, two young Princes (a Rajah and his
brother) came to hunt in the jungle, and they hunted all day and found
nothing. It had been very hot, and they were thirsty; so they went to
a tree which grew on a little piece of high ground, and sent their
attendants to search all round for water; but no one could find any.
At last one of the hunting dogs came to the foot of the tree quite
muddy, and the Rajah said, "Look, the dog is muddy: he must have found
water: follow him, and see where he goes." The attendants followed the
dog, and saw him go to the stream at the mouth of the cave where the
two children were; and the two children also saw them, and were very
much frightened and ran inside the cave. Then the attendants returned
to the two Princes, and said, "We have found clear, sparkling water
flowing past a cave, and, what is more, within the cave are two of the
most lovely young ladies that eye ever beheld, clothed in fine dresses
and covered with jewels; but when they saw us they were frightened and
ran away." On hearing this the Princes bade their servants lead them
to the place; and when they saw the two young girls, they were quite
charmed with them, and asked them to go to their kingdom and become
their wives. The maidens were frightened; but at last the Rajah and
his brother persuaded them, and they went, and the Rajah married the
eldest sister, and his brother married the youngest.
When the dog returned, she was grieved to find her children gone, and
for twelve long years the poor thing ran many, many miles to find
them, but in vain. At last one day she came to the place where the
two Princesses lived. Now it chanced that the eldest, the wife of the
Rajah, was looking out of the window, and seeing the dog run down the
street, she said, "That must be my dear long-lost mother." So she ran
into the street as fast as possible, and took the tired dog in her
arms, and brought her into her own room, and made her a nice
comfortable bed on the floor, and bathed her feet, and was very kind
to her. Then the dog said to her, "My daughter, you are good and kind,
and it is a great joy to me to see you again; but I must not stay; I
will first go and see your younger sister, and then return." The Ranee
answered, "Do not do so, dear mother; rest here to-day; to-morrow I
will send and let my sister know, and she, too, will come and see
you." But the poor, silly dog would not stay, but ran to the house of
her second daughter. Now the second daughter was looking out of the
window when the unfortunate creature came to the door, and seeing the
dog she said to herself, "That must be my mother. What will my husband
think if he learns that this wretched, ugly, miserable-looking dog is
my mother?" So she ordered her servants to go and throw stones at it,
and drive it away, and they did so; and one large stone hit the dog's
head, and she ran back, very much hurt, to her eldest daughter's
house. The Ranee saw her coming, and ran out into the street and
brought her in in her arms, and did all she could to make her well,
saying, "Ah, mother, mother! why did you ever leave my house?" But all
her care was in vain: the poor dog died. Then the Ranee thought her
husband might be vexed if he found a dead dog (an unclean animal) in
the palace; so she put the body in a small room into which the Rajah
hardly ever went, intending to have it reverently buried; and over it
she placed a basket turned topsy-turvy.
It so happened, however, that when the Rajah came to visit his wife,
as chance would have it, he went through this very room: and tripping
over the upturned basket, called for a light to see what it was. Then,
lo and behold! there lay the statue of a dog, life size, composed
entirely of diamonds, emeralds, and other precious stones, set in
gold! So he called out to his wife, and said, "Where did you get this
beautiful dog?" And when the Ranee saw the golden dog, she was very
much frightened, and, I'm sorry to say, instead of telling her husband
the truth, she told a story, and said, "Oh, it is only a present my
parents sent me."
Now see what trouble she got into for not telling the truth.
"_Only!_" said the Rajah; "why this is valuable enough to buy the
whole of my kingdom. Your parents must be very rich people to be able
to send you such presents as this. How is it you never told me of
them? Where do they live?" (Now she had to tell another story to cover
the first.) She said, "In the jungle." He replied, "I will go and see
them; you must take me and show where they live." Then the Ranee
thought, "What will the Rajah say when he finds I have been telling
him such stories? He will order my head to be cut off." So she said,
"You must first give me a palanquin, and I will go into the jungle and
tell them you are coming;" but really she determined to kill herself,
and so get out of her difficulties. Away she went; and when she had
gone some distance in her palanquin, she saw a large white ants'
nest, over which hung a cobra, with its mouth wide open; then the
Ranee thought, "I will go to that cobra and put my finger in his
mouth, that he may bite me, and so I shall die." So she ordered the
palkee-bearers to wait, and said she would be back in a while, and got
out, and ran to the ants' nest, and put her finger in the cobra's
mouth. Now a large thorn had run, a short time before, into the
cobra's throat, and hurt him very much; and the Ranee, by putting her
finger into his mouth, pushed out this thorn; then the cobra, feeling
much better, turned to her, and said, "My dear daughter, you have done
me a great kindness; what return can I make you?" The Ranee told him
all her story, and begged him to bite her, that she might die. But the
cobra said, "You did certainly very wrong to tell the Rajah that
story; nevertheless, you have been very kind to me. I will help you in
your difficulty. Send your husband here. I will provide you with a
father and mother of whom you need not be ashamed." So the Ranee
returned joyfully to the palace, and invited her husband to come and
see her parents.
When they reached the spot near where the cobra was, what a wonderful
sight awaited them! There, in the place which had before been thick
jungle, stood a splendid palace, twenty-four miles long and
twenty-four miles broad, with gardens and trees and fountains all
round; and the light shining from it was to be seen a hundred miles
off. The walls were made of gold and precious stones, and the carpets
cloth of gold. Hundreds of servants, in rich dresses, stood waiting in
the long, lofty rooms; and in the last room of all, upon golden
thrones, sat a magnificent old Rajah and Ranee, who introduced
themselves to the young Rajah as his papa and mamma-in-law. The Rajah
and Ranee stayed at the palace six months, and were entertained the
whole of that time with feasting and music; and they left for their
own home loaded with presents. Before they started, however, the Ranee
went to her friend, the cobra, and said, "You have conjured up all
these beautiful things to get me out of my difficulties, but my
husband, the Rajah, has enjoyed his visit so much that he will
certainly want to come here again. Then, if he returns and finds
nothing at all, he will be very angry with me." The friendly cobra
answered, "Do not fear. When you have gone twenty-four miles on your
journey, look back, and see what you will see." So they started; and
on looking back at the end of twenty-four miles, saw the whole of the
splendid palace in flames, the fire reaching up to heaven. The Rajah
returned to see if he could help anybody to escape, or invite them in
their distress to his court; but he found that all was burnt down--not
a stone nor a living creature remained!
Then he grieved much over the sad fate of his parents-in-law.
When the party returned home, the Rajah's brother said to him, "Where
did you get these magnificent presents?" He replied, "They are gifts
from my father and mother-in-law." At this news the Rajah's brother
went home to his wife very discontented, and asked her why she had
never told him of her parents, and taken him to see them, whereby he
might have received rich gifts as well as his brother. His wife then
went to her sister, and asked how she had managed to get all the
things. But the Ranee said, "Go away, you wicked woman. I will not
speak to you. You killed the poor dog, our mother."
But afterward she told her all about it.
The sister then said, "I shall go and see the cobra, and get presents
too." The Ranee then answered,--"You can go if you like."
So the sister ordered her palanquin, and told her husband she was
going to see her parents, and prepare them for a visit from him. When
she reached the ants' nest, she saw the cobra there, and she went and
put her finger in his mouth, and the cobra bit her, and she died.
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