Page:Old Deccan Days.djvu/191

 Rh house; and the youngest Princess, who was the cleverest, would often say to her sister on going away for the day, 'Take care if you see any stranger (be it man, woman, or child) come by the house, to hide, if possible, that nobody may know of our living here; and if any one should call out and ask for a drink of water, or any poor beggar pray for food, before you give it them be sure you put on ragged clothes, and cover your face with charcoal, and make yourself look as ugly as possible, lest, seeing how fair you are, they should steal you away, and we never meet again.'—'Very well,' the other Princess would answer, 'I will do as you advise.' But a long time passed, and no one ever came by that way.

At last one day, after the youngest Princess had gone out as usual to take the cattle to pasturage, a young Prince, the son of a neighbouring Rajah, who had been hunting with his attendants for many days in the jungles, came near the place when searching for water (for he and his people were tired with hunting, and had been seeking all through the jungle for a stream of water, but could find none). When the Prince saw the fine palace, standing all by itself, he was very much astonished, and said, 'It is a strange thing that any one should have built such a house as this in the depths of the forest! Let us go in; the owners will doubtless give us a drink of water.'—'No, no, do not go,' cried his attendants; 'this is most likely the house of a Rakshas.'—'We can but see,' answered the Prince. 'I should scarcely think anything very terrible lived here, for there is not a sound stirring, nor a living creature to be seen.' So he began tapping at the door, which was bolted, and crying, 'Will whoever owns this house give me and my people some water to drink, for the sake of kind charity?' But nobody answered, for the Princess, who heard him, was busy up in her room, blacking her face with charcoal, and covering her rich dress with rags. Then the Prince got impatient, and shook the door, saying angrily, 'Let me in, whoever you are! If you don't I'll force the door open.' At this the poor little Princess got dreadfully frightened; and having blacked her face, and made herself look as ugly as possible, she ran downstairs with a pitcher of water, and unbolting the door, gave the Prince the pitcher to drink from; but she did not speak, for she was afraid. Now the Prince was a very clever man, and as he raised the pitcher to his mouth to drink the water, he thought to himself, 'This is a very strange-looking creature who has brought me this jug of water. She would be pretty, but that her face seems to want washing, and