Page:Tales of the Punjab.pdf/117

Rh his mothers' eyes, he was dragged into the presence-chamber.

No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she blushed, and, turning to the King, said, 'Dear father, this is my choice!'

Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.The inhabitants nearly went wild with joy, but the son of seven mothers said he would not marry the Princess unless they ﬁrst let him recover his mothers' eyes.Now when the beautiful bride heard his story, she asked to see the potsherd, for she was very learned and clever; so much so that on seeing the treacherous words, she said nothing, but taking another similarly-shaped bit of potsherd, wrote on it these words'Take care of this lad, give him all he desires,' and returned it to the son of seven mothers, who, none the wiser, set on“ on his quest.

Ere long, he arrived at the hovel in the ravine, where the white witch's mother, a hideous old creature, grumbled dreadfully on reading the message, especially when the lad asked for the necklace of eyes. Nevertheless she took it off, and gave it him, saying, 'There are only thirteen of 'em now, for I ate one last week, when I was hungry.'

The lad, however, was only too glad to get any at all, so he hurried home as fast as he could to his seven mothers, and gave two eyes apiece to the six elder Queens; but to the youngest he gave one, saying, 'Dearest little mother!I will be your other eye always!'

After this he set off to marry the Princess, as he had promised, but when passing by the white Queen's