Sanskrit literature -- Translations into English; Tales -- India
Buddhi-Mati led her husband to the garden where she had found the
beetle, and Dhairya-Sila laid it tenderly on the ground, fetched some
food for it, such as he knew it loved, and there left it to take up its
old way of life. The rest of the day he spent quietly in his own home
with his wife, keeping out of sight of his servants, lest they should
report his return to his master. “You must never breathe a word to any
one of how I escaped,” Dhairya-Sila said, and his wife promised that
she never would.
11. When the vizier got this promise, what did he forget which could
betray how he got down from the tower, if any one went to look at it?
12. Do you think there was any need for the vizier to tell his wife to
keep his secret?
CHAPTER VII
All this time the Raja was feeling very unhappy, for he thought he had
himself caused the death of the one man he could trust. He was too
proud to let anybody know that he missed Dhairya-Sila, and was longing
to send for him from the tower before it was too late. What then was
his relief and surprise when a message was brought to him that the
vizier was at the door of the palace and begged for an interview.
“Bring him in at once,” cried Surya Pratap. And the next moment
Dhairya-Sila stood before his master, his hands folded on his breast
and his head bent in token of his submission. The attendants looked on,
eager to know how he had got down from the tower, some of them anything
but glad to see him back. The Raja took care not to show how delighted
he was to see him, and pretending to be angry, he said:
“How dare you come into my presence, and which of my subjects has
ventured to help you to escape the death on the tower you so richly
deserved?”
“None of your subjects, great and just and glorious ruler,” replied
Dhairya-Sila, “but the God who created us both, making you my master
and me your humble servant. It was that God,” he went on, “who saved
me, knowing that I was indeed guiltless of any crime against you. I had
not been long on the tower when help came to me in the form of a great
and noble eagle, which appeared above me, hovering with outspread
wings, as if about to swoop down upon me and tear me limb from limb. I
trembled greatly, but I need have had no fear; for instead of harming
me, the bird suddenly lifted me up in its talons and, flying rapidly
through the air, landed me upon the balcony of my home and disappeared.
Great indeed was the joy of my wife at my rescue from what seemed to be
certain death; but I tore myself away from her embraces, to come and
tell my lord how heaven had interfered to prove my innocence.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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