Page:Biographical Sketches of Dekkan Poets.djvu/122

Rh hour and decapitate him.—It so happened, that a hump-backed washerman was passing that way, and asked Ramlinga how he came to be so situated, "my good friend," replied the poet, "I was born a hunch-back like yourself and having long suffered the derision and scorn of ill-mannered individuals, I applied to a sage who had great knowledge of the occult sciences, and begged of him to relieve me from my misfortune, he informed me that if I should be buried up to my neck in this identical spot, that I should be entirely cured of my deformity, in pursuance of his direction, I got some of my friends to bury me here, and I really believe that I am cured already, I will thank you to remove the earth and see whether it be so or not." The washerman did as the poet requested, and was quite astonished to find Ramlinga a strait well made man, for he was a credulous fellow, and believed that the poet had been a hunch-back, and cured by being buried in that spot —"As one good action deserves another" said the washerman to the poet, "I will thank you to bury me in this place, that I may be cured of my afflic-