Page:The Enchanted Parrot.djvu/36

32 "And if you can't find out the answer send for me. At any rate you cannot possibly doubt the queen's fidelity, seeing that she never goes out of doors."

Neither the king nor his wise men had the slightest idea what these verses meant, and so the Brâhman's clever daughter went away, and left them in their bewilderment.

The king spent a sleepless night trying to puzzle out the meaning of the verses. For, as it has been said—

"How should one sleep who is overwhelmed with debt, who has a disagreeable wife, who is surrounded by enemies?"

So after a miserable night the king sent again for the wise maiden and said: "I cannot make out what the fish meant by their laughter."

"Your majesty had better not ask me," she replied, "or perhaps you may repent of it as the merchant's wife did when she was determined to find out where the cakes came from." The king