Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/25



VII.

DREAM CONSCIOUSNESS.

There was a harlot in the city of Kalyanapura, who was in the habit of fleecing a hundred pagodas from whomsoever might appear to her in her dreams. It came to pass that on a certain night a Brahman appeared to her in a dream. She described him to her servants, and told them to fetch him and extort the money from him. They seized the Brahman as he was going along the road, and told him of the affair, and demanded the money. The Brahman was very much troubled, and pleaded poverty, but they would not let him go under any circumstances. He accordingly represented his grievances to the king who sent for the woman and demanded an explanation of her procedure.

She replied that she demanded the money as the Brahman appeared to her in her dream. The king said that he would pay her the amount if she should wait a little. He accordingly