Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/297

 Rh not only that, but, by giving you three measures full, and the last three-quarters full, she meant to tell you of a domed tomb outside the town, which has three minarets whole, and the fourth broken, and that she will come there to meet you in the evening." In the evening they went to the tomb, and sat there till after midnight, when Naina Bai came, and went in. The goatherd came out, leaving the prince and Naina Bai together. Now, in front of that tomb there dwelt a faqlr. The goatherd went to him and gave him three or four rupees, and said, "Do this for me; if you see anyone coming towards the tomb, call out thus: 'O owner of the dun bull, if you have understood, 'tis well, and if not, in the morning the bull will become public property,' and then I shall know, but do not call out if there is no need." Now, the king of that town was in love with Naina Bai, and had consulted a soothsayer, and asked him to tell by augury what Naina Bai was doing at that moment, whether she was asleep, or awake, or what; and the soothsayer, after examining the omens, said, "O king! Naina Bai, at this moment, is sitting with a strange man, in such-and-such a tomb." On this the king ordered his army to go out and surround that tomb, and let no one pass in or out, and said he would come himself in the morning and open the door, and see for himself who was there. The army came and surrounded the tomb on all four sides. On this, the faqīr called out as he had been instructed by the goatherd. As soon as the goatherd heard the call, he went up to the top of the house, and, looking round, he saw a merchant's wife spinning thread, and said to her, "Lend me your jewellery and clothes, and I'll leave a thousand rupees with you as security. If I bring them back I'll give you a hundred rupees as your profit on the business, and if I don't come, you can keep the thousand." She agreed, and he put on her clothes and jewels, and left his own clothes there. He then went off to the bazaar and bought some sweetmeats, and an intoxicating drug which he mixed up with the sweetmeats. Then he placed the