Page:Bengal Fairy Tales.djvu/153

Rh what sin have I been thus punished? Why are you so cruel? You have separated me from my husband and home, and behold now I am the most wretched of my sex! O Bidhátá-púrush, why didst thou unexpectedly give me a child, and hast now robbed me of it?"

While her cries were rending the air, her husband's garland of shells suddenly fell into the sea; and the witch of a midwife, with the wood-cutter's wife, reached the palace where the queen, who had for some time been in labour and given birth to a dead child, was herself dead. The midwife on entering the room of confinement and finding how matters stood, made the wood-cutter's wife put on the Rani's sari, and ordered her to play the august lady's part by taking into her breast Shakti's baby, who was substituted for the still-born child of the king. The midwife then ran to him and announced the birth of an heir, and the whole palace resounded with the beat of drums and the blowing of trumpets. The king entered the room of confinement and feasted his eyes with the sight of the boy.

The wood-cutter's wife admirably acquitted herself as the queen. No one detected her. The babe thrived and was named Neelmanik. With his growth, grew the wealth and prosperity of his reputed father. At length, he was put into the pathsala in the palace, and his progress in learning far surpassed that of boys of the same age. His intelligence was so remarkable that the king invited him to his durbar, to take part in its discussions.

Going back over the past twelve years, we find the garland of shells fallen from Shankha's neck and carried by the waves to Manik's nest near the shore, where his mate hid it. The loss of the garland produced consequences very unfavourable for Shakti. No longer under its talismanic power, her husband quite forgot her, and pursued his business without for a moment remembering that he had left at home his spouse, as loving and beautiful as any wife could ever be. Manik,