Page:Old Deccan Days.djvu/130

 90 than any we know, may come to this country, and wish to marry the girl; we shall then be glad that we had not obliged her to marry any of her present suitors.'

No sooner had Vicram Maharajah come to the Palace gate and sat down there with the beggars, than the Princess Buccoulee, looking out of the window, saw him, and cried, 'There is the husband I saw in my dreams; there is the Rajah Vicram.' 'Where, child, where?' said her mother; 'there's no Rajah there; only a parcel of beggars.'

But the Princess persisted that one of them was the Rajah Vicram. Then the Ranee sent for Vicram Maharajah, and questioned him.

He said his name was 'Rajah Vicram.' But the Rajah and Ranee did not believe him; and they were very angry with the Princess because she persisted in saying that him, and no other, would she marry. At last they got so enraged with her, that they said, 'Well, marry your beggar husband if you will, but don't think to remain any longer here as our daughter after becoming his wife; if you marry him it must be to follow his fortunes in the jungle; we shall soon see you repent your obstinacy.'

'I will marry him, and follow him wherever he goes,' said the Princess.

So Vicram Maharajah and the Princess Buccoulee were married, and her parents turned her out of the house; nevertheless, they allowed her a little money, for, they said, 'She will soon enough find the difference between a king's daughter and a beggar's wife, without wanting food.'

Vicram built a little hut in the jungle, and there they lived; but the poor Princess had a sad time of it, for she was neither accustomed to cook nor wash, and the hard work tired her very much. Her chief grief, however, was that Vicram should have such a hideous tormentor as the Cobra in his throat; and often and often of a night she sat awake, trying to devise some means for catching it, but all in vain.

At last, one night when she was thinking about it, she saw, close by, two Cobras come out of their holes, and as they began to talk she listened to hear what they would say.

'Who are these people?' said the first Cobra.—'These,' said the second, 'are the Rajah Vicram, and his wife the Princess Buccoulee.'—'What are they doing here? why is the Rajah so far from his kingdom?' asked the first Cobra,