Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/347

 TV.] BENGALI LANGUAGE. & LITERATURE. 311 accord and she could not give it up. The kite would have killed it and as she had saved its life, Dhana- pati had no right over it. The more the young merchant argued this point, the more did she smile sweetly and stood firm in her resolve not to return the pigeon. The charming smiles of this young and lovely damsel made Dhanapati’s head giddy. He forgot all about his pigeon and stood rooted to the spot lost in a reverie. The girl, however, returned the bird and disappeared with her maids. But the echo of her joyous laughter rang in _Dhanapati's ears after she had gone. - His first act on returning home was to fee Pep Janardana, -a Brahmin and _a match- maker, to propose to Laksapati that he should give him 1019 daughter in marriage. — Laksapati could make no objection to. such a proposal. Considering all points, where could he expect to find-a_ better birde-groom than. Dhana- pati? He had already a wife, it was true, but peo- ple of his rank and position were scarcely expected to remain contented with one wife, and this could not be held as a disqualification. Laksapati’s wife however, objected to give her fair daughter to Dha- napati, because she knew his wife Lahana, to be a termagant. “It would be better,” she said, ‘‘ to drown our Khullang in the Ganges than to give her away-to a man who has already a wife and that The astrologer 1) wife of the temper of Lahana. was called in; he examined the marks on the palm of Khullang and prophesied that if she were not given to a man who already had a wife, she was