Page:Bengal Fairy Tales.djvu/98

78 will find there a tree of silver with fruit of gold. Two of these golden fruits you must bring down with an arrow, with your eyes towards the ground, and your breath suspended." The king, overjoyed at this revelation, did as ordered, with the exception that he forgot, when shooting the arrow, to hold his breath. This omission spoilt everything. The fruit did not fall from the tree, and the king fell senseless on the ground. Bidhátápúrush, the mendicant, who was standing by, revived him, and said, "O king, rise up and with eyes shut, stretch forth your palms, and a bird of gold will descend on one of them. Take the bird home and throwing away its wings and claws, have seven different kinds of curry made of it. Eat some of each of the seven and you will have a son godlike in appearance and endowed with many accomplishments. But under the earth you must build a mansion of stone, and here the queen, having passed the days of her confinement, must remain with the prince and his nurse for twelve years, secluded from the world."

The king carried out the instructions to the letter. The bird was eaten, the mansion of stone built, and the queen removed there to await the birth of the long-desired son. In due time the son was born, and named Madankumar, the Cupid-like youth. Rapidly he grew up both in mind and body. He had nearly completed the twelve years of seclusion prescribed when one day he expressed a desire to see the world outside; the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the other wonderful phenomena of nature of which he had read and heard from his nurse. His mother, remembering Bidhátápúrush's injunctions, refused compliance, but the boy's persistence at last prevailed. The consent of his father, however, had to be obtained, for there were still three days wanting for the completion of the twelve years. The father, unwilling to refuse his son's request, yet doubtful of the consequences, called and consulted a conclave of astrologers and other men of lore. They finally decided that the short period of only three days was not worth considering, and