Then Surya Bai pounded the rice, but the young Rakshas had not
returned by the time she had finished; so the old Rakshas said to her,
"If you are kind, grind this corn for me, for it is hard work for my
old hands."
Then she ground the corn, but still the young Rakshas came not; and
the old Rakshas said to her, "Sweep the house for me first, and then I
will give you the fire."
So Surya Bai swept the house; but still the young Rakshas did not
come.
Then his mother said to Surya Bai, "Why should you be in such a hurry
to go home? Fetch me some water from the well, and then you shall have
the fire."
And she fetched the water. When she had done so, Surya Bai said, "I
have done all your bidding, now give me the fire, or I will go
elsewhere and seek it."
The old Rakshas was grieved because her son had not returned home; but
she saw she could detain Surya Bai no longer, so she said, "Take the
fire and go in peace; take also some parched corn, and scatter it
along the road as you go, so as to make a pretty little pathway from
our house to yours"--and so saying, she gave Surya Bai several
handfuls of parched corn. The girl took them, fearing no evil, and as
she went she scattered the grains on the road. Then she climbed back
into the nest and shut the seven iron doors, and lighted the fire, and
cooked the food, and gave the dog and the cat some dinner, and took
some herself, and went to sleep.
No sooner had Surya Bai left the Rakshas's hut, than the young Rakshas
returned, and his mother said to him, "Alas, alas, my son, why did not
you come sooner? Such a sweet little lamb has been here, and now we
have lost her." Then she told him all about Surya Bai.
"Which way did she go?" asked the young Rakshas; "only tell me that,
and I'll have her before morning."
His mother told him how she had given Surya Bai the parched corn to
scatter on the road; and when he heard that, he followed up the track,
and ran, and ran, and ran, till he came to the foot of the tree.
There, looking up, he saw the nest high in the branches above them.
Quick as thought, up he climbed, and reached the great outer door; and
he shook it, and shook it, but he could not get in, for Surya Bai had
bolted it. Then he said, "Let me in, my child, let me in; I'm the
great Eagle, and I have come from very far, and brought you many
beautiful jewels; and here is a splendid diamond ring to fit your
little finger." But Surya Bai did not hear him--she was fast asleep.
He next tried to force open the door again, but it was too strong for
him. In his efforts, however, he had broken off one of his finger
nails (now the nail of a Rakshas is most poisonous), which he left
sticking in the crack of the door when he went away.
Next morning Surya Bai opened all the doors, in order to look down on
the world below; but when she came to the seventh door a sharp thing,
which was sticking in it, ran into her hand, and immediately she fell
down dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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