Page:Old Deccan Days.djvu/117

 Rh But within a little while Vicram Maharajah said to Butti, 'I have again a great desire to see the world.'

'What!' said Butti, 'so soon again to leave your home! So soon to care to go away from your young wife!'

'I love her and my people dearly,' answered the Rajah; 'but I cannot help feeling that I have this supernatural power of taking any form I please, and longing to use it.'

'Where and how will you go?' asked the Wuzeer.

'Let it be the day after to-morrow,' answered Vicram Maharajah. 'I shall again take the form of a parrot, and see as much of the world as possible.'

So it was settled that the Rajah should go. He left his kingdom in the Wuzeer's sole charge, and also his wife, saying to her, 'I don't know for how long I may be away; perhaps a day, perhaps a year, perhaps more. But if, while I am gone, you should be in any difficulty, apply to the Wuzeer. He has ever been like an elder brother or a father to me; do you therefore also regard him as a father. I have charged him to take care of you as he would of his own child.'

Having said these words, the Rajah caused a beautiful parrot to be shot (it was a very handsome bird, with a tuft of bright feathers on its head and a ring about its neck). He then cut a small incision in his arm and rubbed into it some of the magic preservative given him by Gunputti to keep his body from decaying, and, transporting his soul into the parrot's body, he flew away.

No sooner did the Carpenter's son hear that the Rajah was as dead, than, knowing the power of which Vicram Maharajah and he were alike possessed, he felt certain that the former had made use of it, and determined himself likewise to turn it to account. Therefore, directly the Rajah entered the parrot's body, the Carpenter's son entered the Rajah's body, and the world at large imagined that the Rajah had only swooned and recovered. But the Wuzeer was wiser than they, and immediately thought to himself, 'Some one besides Vicram Maharajah must have become acquainted with this spell, and be now making use of it, thinking it would be very amusing to play the part of Rajah for a while; but I'll soon discover if this be the case or no.'

So he called Anar Ranee, and said to her, 'You are as well assured as I am that your husband left us but now in the form of a parrot; but scarcely had he gone before his deserted body arose, and he now appears walking about, and talking, and as much alive