Читать книгу Simla Village Tales; Or, Folk Tales from the Himalayas - Alice Dracott - Страница 14

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The Vizier’s and the Rajah’s son were great friends, and always together. This made the Rajah very jealous, and he called an old woman whom he knew, and asked her to separate the two.

This was a difficult task, as they were such fast friends, but the old woman was anxious to gain a reward, and said she would do it; so she called the Vizier’s son, and when he asked her what she required, remained silent. Then she called the Rajah’s son, and did the same.

After she had gone, the two questioned each other as to what she had said, and neither would believe the other when he declared she had said nothing at all; so they began to suspect one another of deceit, and quarrelled.

Thus the old woman sowed dissension in their hearts, and after a time, instead of being friends, they became bitter enemies. The Rajah’s son said he insisted on knowing what the old woman had said to the Vizier’s son, and if he would not tell it, he must be put to death at the hands of a sweeper, or, in India, low-caste man.

The sweeper was just about to do this cruel deed, when the Goddess Parbatti saw him, and implored of Mahadeo, her husband, to intercede; so he sent a large stag to the jungle, and it stood near at hand.

When the sweeper saw it, he killed it instead with the bow and arrows, and, taking out its eyes, carried them to the Rajah, and said they were the eyes of the Vizier’s son.

Thus the Prince was appeased, and again ate, drank, and was merry, until one day, walking in the garden, he saw an earthen vessel, and in it a lock of hair and a small lamp. This, he felt sure, had some significance, so he longed to ask the Vizier’s son, who was clever, and would have told him all about it; but he remembered that the Vizier’s son was taken away and killed, and he himself had seen his eyes brought back in proof of the deed.

Nevertheless he wept day and night, and would not be comforted, so the Rajah, his father, in great distress, sent for the sweeper who had been told to kill the Vizier’s son, and implored him to declare the truth concerning his end. Then the man confessed everything, and went and searched for the lad, and brought him back. The two boys became fast friends as before, and the Rajah’s son enquired the meaning of the lock of woman’s hair and lamp.

“It means,” said the Vizier’s son, “the name of a beautiful Princess called ‘Princess of the Lamp,’ and she lives in a distant country.”

So they set out to seek her, and soon found the Palace in which she lived, and outside a girl making a wreath of flowers for the Princess. The Rajah’s son begged the girl to let him make the hal or wreath, and, in making it, he placed a letter inside.

The Princess was very angry when she found the letter, and made the girl tell her the truth; but she would not receive the Prince after what he had done, so he had to return to his own country: thus was he punished for his cruelty to the Vizier’s son.