Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/149

Rh his promise. Nor was he less angry at the unfortunate accident which had marred the pleasure of the day, one moment reproaching the Queen, and another moment bitterly accusing the deer, but failing to see that his unhappiness was due to his own rashness. And so they returned to Ránithrod; but it was some days before their tempers were mollified and before perfect confidence was again restored.

Meanwhile the blue buck was planning a bitter revenge. Some twenty miles above Ránithrod, on the opposite bank of the Indus, a certain king named Hodi had built a border-fortress on the top of a peak, which, like Kôt Bhitaur, rose from the very margin of the river. This monarch was noted for his love of intrigue, as well as for his passion for the pleasures of the chase. Calling these circumstances to mind, the blue buck said, "Now I will betake me to the palace of Rájá Hodi, and I will graze there, and when the hue and cry is set up, and he begins to follow me, I will run to the castle of Rájá Rasálu."

So he swam the river, and made his way to Rájá Hodi's, and entering the King's garden he began to graze in it. Presently he was observed by a gardener, who at once reported the fact in the palace. In a few minutes Rájá Hodi had mounted his horse, and was in full chase after the blue buck, which had been on the alert, and which now led his pursuer in the direction of Ránithrod, all the time feigning a lameness in order to entice him on more and more with the hope of eventual capture. After an exciting run the blue buck jumped the river close to the palace of the Queen Koklán, and the noble horse of Rájá Hodi, roused by the chase, essayed and performed the same wonderful leap. But the deer then disappeared into a cave and hid himself, and when the King arrived at the spot he was no longer to be seen.

Abandoning the fruitless search Rájá Hodi dismounted at two immense mangoe-trees, and, tying his horse by the bridle, he sat down to rest beneath their shade. He then observed that these two trees grew beneath the walls of the fortress of Ránithrod, but he could perceive no approach. He was not only tired but hungry, and he wondered how he should obtain admission for food and drink. Just then the Queen happened to look out, and seeing a stranger under the mangoe-trees she cried: "Who are you?" She looked so exceedingly handsome that Rájá Hodi when he saw her became enamoured of her. "Robbers," said he, "are generally clad in poor