Page:Old Deccan Days.djvu/171

 Rh soon!'—'I merely came to see how you were,' answered the Brahman, 'and to tell you how poor we are; and how glad we should be of any help you can give us.'—'What have you done with the melons I gave you?' asked the Jackal. 'Ah,' answered the Brahman, 'that is a sad story!' And beginning at the beginning, he related how they had sold almost all the melons without knowing their value; and how the few precious stones they had found had been taken from him by the jeweller. When the Jackal heard this, he laughed very much, and said, 'I see it is no use giving such unlucky people as you gold or jewels, for they will only bring you into trouble. Come, I'll give you a more useful present.' So, running into his cave, he fetched thence a small chattee, and gave it to the Brahman, saying, 'Take this chattee; whenever you or any of the family are hungry, you will always find in it as good a dinner as this.' And putting his paw into the chattee, he extracted thence currie, and rice, and pilau, and all sorts of good things, enough to feast a hundred men; and the more he took out of the chattee, the more remained inside.

When the Brahman saw the chattee, and smelt the good dinner, his eyes glistened for joy; and he embraced the Jackal, saying, 'Dear son-in-law, you are the only support of our house.' And he took his new present carefully home with him.

After this, for some time, the whole family led a very happy life, for they never wanted good food; every day the Brahman, his wife, and his six daughters, found inside the chattee a most delicious dinner; and every day when they had dined they placed it on a shelf, to find it replenished when next it was needed. But it happened that hard by there lived another Brahman, a very great man who was much in the Rajah's confidence; and this man smelt daily the smell of a very nice dinner, which puzzled him a good deal. The rich Brahman thought it smelt even nicer than his own dinner, for which he paid so much; and yet it seemed to come from the poor Brahman's little cottage. So one day he determined to find out all about it; and, going to call on his neighbour, he said to him, 'Every day, at about twelve o'clock, I smell such a very nice dinner—much nicer than my own; and it seems to come from your house. You must live on very good things, I think, although you seem so poor.'

Then, in the pride of his heart, the poor Brahman invited his rich neighbour to come and dine with him; and lifting the magic