Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/85

 XXXVI.

AN HONEST SERVANT. There was a king at Anantapur, Kunthibhoja by name. While he was holding his darbar, being seated on his throne, and surrounded by a host of pundits, ministers, and others, a Kshatriya came and bowed and said that he was an expert in archery, and that he came there to serve the king as he was not able to get a living elsewhere. The king engaged his services at one hundred rupees per month. From that day forwards he kept a vigilant watch over the king's palace. On a certain midnight, while the king was sleeping comfortably upstairs, he heard the cries of a woman, called his attendant and asked him what it was. The archer said that he, too, had heard the same cries for ten days past, but, could not say why it was, but that he would make enquiries, should the king command him to do so. The king consented, and followed him incognito to see whither he went. He went outside the