The marriage day is generally a very gay one, and sometimes the brightness and the excitement help to make the little wife forget that she will have to leave her own home, and all those whom she has loved, and go away with a stranger, to be under the rule of her mother-in-law or aunts-in-law. But there were no marriage gaieties for Lakshmibai. She was handed over to Ananta, and went away with him, and she never saw her father or mother again. But though the case seemed a very hard one, her lot was really much better than a child wife’s often is, even when all sorts of gaieties and feasting take place, for Ananta was very kind to her, and took her carefully home to his mother, that she might teach her all the duties of a wife, and show her how to cook and to grind. When the daily work was done, Ananta wished to teach his wife to read and write. He tried again and again, but his own people always interfered, till he saw that it would be impossible for Lakshmibai to learn if she stayed in his father’s home. Many a man would have given in, but he would not give in. He went away from his home, and took his little wife with him far into the forest. There was no sign of the life of man where they rested during the first night. The little child lay in terror on the ground. All the stories she had ever heard of wild beasts and spirits came back to her, and it did not need memory to bring fear to her heart, for right across a ravine a tiger roared and prowled. Ananta watched by her through the long night. Soon he built a hut to be a home for them. Though Lakshmibai had not been long with her mother-in-law, she had learned all that she needed to know for the simple out-of-doors life. Now her other lessons began in earnest. She was a clever child, and Ananta found great joy in teaching her. The beauty of the old Indian poems seemed doubly great as he recited them to his wife, or listened to her repetitions of them. The days passed swiftly into years. Disciples gathered round Ananta, and soon a little dark-haired daughter was born and then a son. Both of them were taught along with the band of disciples just as if they had both been boys. Then another little baby girl was born into the home, but by this time, Ananta was so busy with the older two and with his disciples that he had no time to teach the baby Ramabai, and all her early lessons were given to her by her mother. But Lakshmibai too was busy. She had to fetch water, to cook, and to bake, and the only time at which she could be free to teach her little girl was when the faint light of the morning stole through the tree stems to the door of the forest-dwelling. Then Ramabai was wakened and lifted from her bed, and she learned all her earliest lessons in the dim morning light from her mother’s lips.