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NCE there was a king who was blessed with a queen of surpassing beauty and virtue, and a son named Dalimkumar who was gifted with all princely qualities. The life of the queen was enclosed in a set of dice, and the fact was known by a Rakkhashi who lived in a palmyra tree close by. She was always on the alert to secure the dice and kill the queen.

At length an opportunity came. The king had gone out one day on a hunting expedition, leaving the prince at a game of dice with his friends. The Rakkhashi came where the game was going on, in the disguise of a mendicant, and asked the prince to give her the dice. Her request was granted, and by an incantation which she uttered, the dice were carried to a kingdom beyond the realm of Yama, where reigned her sister Pashabutty (one skilled at dice). The queen fell senseless in her room; and the Rakkhashi, entering it, killed her and assumed her form. Nobody became aware of the trick that had been played, and the Rakkhashi therefore was enabled successfully to impersonate her, after having put her corpse in an unfrequented room.

In course of time the Rakkhashi gave birth to seven sons who bore no mark of their origin in their appearance, but were very handsome youths. Gradually they grew up into young men, and one day asked permission of their father to go out and see the world. He gave them the required permission on condition that they should take their eldest brother,