Page:The Enchanted Parrot.djvu/117

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THERE was a certain merchant who lived in a village called Khorasama. His wife's name was Tejukâ, very good-looking, but frivolous and light-minded. One day she went with some of her friends to see a religious procession, and she came across a very handsome man, for whom she immediately conceived a violent attachment. For —

"At a wedding, in the king's palace, in the house of another, a woman is sure to get into mischief." Again, it has been said — " At home; in the desert; at a sacrifice; in a pilgrimage; at a festival; in a crowd; in a desert; in a town; in a village; free to roam about; shut up at home; in the field; in the threshingfloor; coming in, going out; by day or by night; it matters not where, a woman is certain to go wrong."

So Tejukâ, seeing this man, made signs and called him to her, and said: " I am a good deal taken with you; but my husband is a very disagreeable, ill-tempered man, and he won't let me go out of doors. You come outside the house, and throw in a pot with a serpent in it. The serpent will escape, and I shall cry out that I have been bitten. Then you must come by disguised as a doctor, and my husband will call you in." So he did exactly as had been arranged, came to the house and threw the