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198 were consulted, but to no purpose. At length the Brahmin was sent for. He trembled with fear, and cursed the day on which he had first set himself up as an astrologer. But it could not be helped. The king's summons must be obeyed; and the Brahmin entered the court, seemingly with boldness, but internally as cowed down as a goat led to be sacrificed. He asked two days' time of the king, on the pretext of consulting the gods; and the time being granted, he returned home, not knowing how to extricate himself from the difficulty. He touched no food, took no rest, and shutting himself up in his room, fell prostrate on the ground, calling thus upon his tutelary goddess, "O Mother Juggodamba (a name of Durga), save me from death, or at best imprisonment. Is it thy intention that I shall be ruined? Juggodamba, put me into the way of finding out the princess's lost necklace." The Brahmin's stars were in the ascendant, and though we cannot say whether the goddess Juggodamba listened to his prayers or not, there was one that did so, and that was her namesake, the wife of the king's gardener, who, passing by his house, overheard his utterances. She had purloined the necklace and hid it, and she thought that he, having detected this, was demanding of her the restitution of the ornaments. In great terror she ran into his house, clasped his legs, and with tears exclaimed, "Worshipful Brahmin, I adjure you in the name of the gods to spare me. Do not inform the king of my crime, and I will ever remain your slave." Greatly surprised at what he saw, the Brahmin asked her what she meant; at which the woman said, "Father, you have discovered all. I will never commit theft again. Save me out of your pity. Prompted by avarice I stole the necklace, but I am ready to deliver it into your hands." The Brahmin now understood everything; and assuming a very kind tone, told the woman that she need not fear any injury at his hands if she would put the necklace into a harhi and deposit it in the tank close to the palace. Happy at escaping punishment she did not delay in carrying