Two months after this, the Brahman's wife, not having heard any news
of her husband, left the house and went in quest of him. By a happy
fate she arrived at the very place that he had reached, where she
heard that every morning at the golden temple a golden rupee was given
in the king's name to any beggar who chose to go for it. Accordingly,
on the following morning she went to the place and met her husband.
"Why have you come here?" he asked. "Why have you left my parents?
Care you not whether they curse me and I die? Go back immediately, and
await my return."
"No, no," said the woman. "I cannot go back to starve and see your old
father and mother die. There is not a grain of rice left in the
house."
"O Bhagawant!" exclaimed the Brahman. "Here, take this," he continued,
scribbling a few lines on some paper, and then handing it to her, "and
give it to the king. You will see that he will give you a lac of
rupees for it." Thus saying he dismissed her, and the woman left.
On this scrap of paper were written three pieces of advice--First, If
a person is travelling and reaches any strange place at night, let him
be careful where he puts up, and not close his eyes in sleep, lest he
close them in death. Secondly, If a man has a married sister, and
visits her in great pomp, she will receive him for the sake of what
she can obtain from him; but if he comes to her in poverty, she will
frown on him and disown him. Thirdly, If a man has to do any work, he
must do it himself, and do it with might and without fear.
On reaching her home the Brahmani told her parents of her meeting with
her husband, and what a valuable piece of paper he had given her; but
not liking to go before the king herself, she sent one of her
relations. The king read the paper, and ordering the man to be
flogged, dismissed him. The next morning the Brahmani took the paper,
and while she was going along the road to the darbar reading it, the
king's son met her, and asked what she was reading, whereupon she
replied that she held in her hands a paper containing certain bits of
advice, for which she wanted a lac of rupees. The prince asked her to
show it to him, and when he had read it gave her a parwana for the
amount, and rode on. The poor Brahmani was very thankful. That day she
laid in a great store of provisions, sufficient to last them all for a
long time.
In the evening the prince related to his father the meeting with the
woman, and the purchase of the piece of paper. He thought his father
would applaud the act. But it was not so. The king was more angry than
before, and banished his son from the country.
So the prince bade adieu to his mother and relations and friends, and
rode off on his horse, whither he did not know. At nightfall he
arrived at some place, where a man met him, and invited him to lodge
at his house. The prince accepted the invitation, and was treated like
a prince. Matting was spread for him to squat on, and the best
provisions set before him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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