Page:Old Deccan Days.djvu/139

 Rh Whilst he was thus thinking, his wife awoke, and asked him what was the matter. He told her, and she said, 'That is a strange dream. If I were you, I'd ask the old parrot about it; he is a wise bird, and perhaps he knows.' This parrot of which she spoke was the most wise of all the thousand wooden parrots. The Rajah took his wife's advice, and when all the birds came home that evening, he called the old parrot, and told him his dream, saying, 'Can this be true?' To which the parrot replied, 'It is all true. The Panch-Phul Ranee's country lies beyond the Red Sea, and is surrounded by seven seas, and she dwells in a house built in the centre of her father's kingdom. Round her house are seven ditches and seven hedges made of spears, and she has vowed not to marry any man who cannot jump these seven ditches and seven hedges; and because she is very beautiful many great and noble men have tried to do this, but in vain.

'The Rajah and Ranee, her father and mother, are very fond of her, and proud of her. Every day she goes to the palace to see them, and they weigh her in a pair of scales. They put her in one scale, and five lotus-flowers in the other, and she is so delicate and fragile, she weighs no heavier than the five little flowers, so they call her the Panch-Phul Ranee. Her father and mother are very proud of this.'

'I should like to go to that country and see the Panch-Phul Ranee,' said the Rajah; 'but I don't know how I could cross the seven seas.' 'I will show you how to manage that,' replied the old parrot. 'I and another parrot will fly close together, I crossing my left over his right wing; so as to move along as if we were one bird (using only our outside wings to fly with); you shall then sit on a chair made of our interlaced wings, and we will carry you safely across the seven seas. On the way, we will every evening alight in some high tree and rest, and every morning we can go on again.' 'That sounds a good plan; I have a great desire to try it,' said the Rajah. 'Wife, what should you think of my going to the Panch-Phul Ranee's country, and seeing if I can jump the seven ditches and seven hedges made of spears? Will you let me try?'

'Yes,' she answered. 'If you like to go and marry her, go; only take care that you do not kill yourself; and mind you come back some day.' And she prepared food for him to take with him, and took off her gold and silver bangles, which she placed in a bundle of warm things, that he might be in need neither of