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2 The plan the Raja had devised promised success, for within a short time there appeared before him a man named Golami who said that he knew the answers. But he would not give them save in the presence of the Emperor himself. Failing to solve the riddle himself, the Raja was forced to send for him to the imperial court. Golami further demanded a very large sum of money and the choicest jewels of great value, in order to bring the matter to a happy issue, and, being furnished with all that he desired, he started on his journey, which he accomplished in about a fortnight. He then hired one of the grandest houses in the Emperor's capital, kept a mistress, and ingratiating himself with the smartest and most fashionable characters there, opened his doors wide to all comers. Pleasure succeeded pleasure, entertainments of all kinds were given on the grandest scale and alms and loans generously distributed, so that Golami soon became one of the most popular men in the city.

Spending a week in this way, he one day called his friends to him, and said that he desired to marry, and that he depended upon their selection. They said that there was a bride, in every way worthy of him, who, however, would not in consequence of a vow listen to the proposal, except upon the receipt of twenty-five thousand rupees in advance. Golami at once loosened his purse-strings, and handed over the sum, not a pice of which, however, found its way into the girl's hands, the entire sum being divided among his false friends. To keep Golami still in their power, they found for him a girl of the vilest and most treacherous nature, and her he brought into his house as his wife, though he knew her to be a bad woman as soon as he cast eyes upon her.

On the third day after the marriage, Golami, who had been out, returned from his banker with a vast sum of money and some jewels and gems of the first water. These he had previously received from his employer, and had deposited in the bank. He showed them to his wife, and told her that they were the effects of a robbery perpetrated by him on a