Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/74

 went away alone to the house of her paramour, intent on enjoying herself without being interfered with. When the lady's husband returned, the maid, who had been well schooled beforehand, said with a voice choked with tears; " Your wife is dead and burnt " She then took him to the burning-ghaut, and shewed him the bones belonging to the pyre of some other person; the fool brought them homo with tears, and after bathing at the sacred bathing-places, and strewing her bones there, he proceeded to perform her śráddha. And he made his wife's paramour the officiating Bráhman at the ceremony, as the maid brought him, saying that he was an excellent Brahman. And every month his wife came with that Bráhman, splendidly dressed, and ate the sweetmeats. And then the maid said to him, " See, master, by virtue of her chastity your wife is enabled to return from the other world, and eat with the Bráhman." And the matchless fool believed most implicitly what she said.

" In this way people of simple dispositions are easily imposed upon by wicked women. You have heard about the simpleton and the bones; now hear the story of the Chandála maiden".

Story of the ambitious Chandála maiden.:—There was once a simple but maiden. good-looking Chandála maiden. And she formed in her heart the determination to win for her bridegroom a universal monarch. Once on a time, she saw the supreme sovereign go out to make a progress round his city, and she proceeded to follow him, with the intention of making him her husband. At that moment a hermit came that way; and the king, though mounted on an elephant, bowed at his feet, and returned to his own palace. When she saw that, she thought that the hermit was a greater man even than the king, and abandoning him, she proceeded to follow the hermit. The hermit, as he was going along, beheld in front of him an empty temple of Śiva, and kneeling on the ground, he worshipped Śiva, and then departed. Then the Chandála maiden thought that Śiva was greater even than the hermit, and she left the hermit, and attached herself to the god, with the intention of marrying him. Immediately a dog entered, and going up on to the pedestal of the idol, lifted up his leg, and behaved after the manner of the dog tribe. Then the Chandála maiden thought that the dog was superior even to Śiva, and leaving the god, followed the departing dog, desiring to marry him. And the dog entered the house of a Chandála, and out of affection rolled at the feet of a young Chandála whom it knew. When she saw that, she concluded that the young Chandála was superior to the dog, and satisfied with her own caste, she chose him as her husband.

" So fools, after aspiring high, fall into their proper place. And now hear in a few words the tale of the foolish king."