Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/87

79 then requested Durga to spare the life of king Kunthibhoja, and to bless him with long life and prosperity. Durga gave him the boon sought for and disappeared. The archer, overcome with joy. sent his son home, and went to the king's palace. The king, who witnessed incognito everything that had transpired, quietly reached his palace, went upstairs, and pretended to be asleep. The archer went to the king and said that a woman who had had a quarrel with her husband was weeping bitterly, and that he had pacified her and sent her home. The king feeling grateful to the archer, raised him to the rank of Commander-in-Chief of his forces.

Moral:—Honest servants will not fail to risk their own lives when calamities befall their masters.