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406 him, and said: "Dear friend, if you do not give me your love, you will be the murderer of a Brahman woman." "But what can you do with an invalid like me?" asked the cripple. "Be still," said she, "you must make me your bride." And hearing her words, he did so. Thereupon she said: "From this moment I give you my person for life. You must accompany us with this understanding." "Very well," said he.

Then when the Brahman returned with food and began to eat with her, she said: "This cripple is hungry. Please give him a bite, too." When this was done, the lady said: "Brahman, when you go alone to another village, I have no one to talk to. Suppose we take this cripple with us." But he replied: "I cannot even carry myself, to say nothing of this cripple." "I will carry him," said she, "if he will get into a basket." And the Brahman agreed, his judgment being bewildered by her artful argument.

One day thereafter, as they rested near a well, the wife, aided by the cripple, gave the Brahman a push and plunged him in. And she took the cripple and went to a city. There the policemen, making their rounds to attend to taxes, robberies, and protection, saw the basket on her head, snatched it from her, and took it to the king. And as soon as the king had it opened, he saw the cripple.

Presently the Brahman's wife arrived, weeping and wailing, for she had followed on the heels of the policemen. And when the king asked, "What does