Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/274

 September, 1875.] TEE TWO BROTHERS ; A ilANlPL'Rl STORY. 2G1 into the house of the woman who nursed them while their mother was alive, to drink some water, and the slaves, armed with and bows and arrows, came and found them there, aud told them how the king had ordered them to be killed that the queen might bathe in their blood. Turi, who was a little the bigger, wept very much at hearing this, and lamented his ill fate, but his younger brother Basanta did not nnderstand that he was to be killed, and went on playing. So the king's slaves put Turi and Basanta in front of them and went. away. On the road Turi said to them, tl Sirs, do not kill my little brother, only kill mo ; he does not understand anything about it, and you see he is still laughing." He fell at their feet and entreated them much, till at last they tblt pity for him, and one of them proposed to let the boys go, and kill a dog and put its blood in a chmuja and take it to the king instead. The other slaves agreed to this; and all went together into a lonely forest, where they killed the dog and released Turi and Basanta, telling them they must never return to the kingdom, as the king their father would suppose them to be dead. So they returned to the king with the dog's blood, ami told him it was the blood of his sons, and he made the queen bathe in it, and as there was nothing really the matter with her she was very soon .veil, aud the king was much pleased at her recovery. In the meantime Turi and Basanta travelled a long way, and became very hungry and thirsty, BO that they plucked young leaves ofl" the trees to eat. They journeyed on till sun- set, when they stopped beneath a tree for the b, and the elder brother told the younger to lie down and ho would keep watch. The you nirer brother spread his cloth on the ground and was soon asleep, while Turi sat at the foot of the tree and collected some wood, and struck a light by rubbing sticks together, and made a fire. Now a pair of parrot© had perched in that tree, and about midnight the cock called to the hen : • Listen, wife ! What will happen to the man who eate yon r" And she answered : '« The man who eats me will first experience great distress, and afterwards great happi- ness; but what will happen to the man who eats you ? M The cock replied : " He will •ry happy and will be made king." Turi heard all that the two parrots had said, aud he took a knife from his cloth and made a bow and arrow, aud killed both of them at one shot, and they fell to the ground. He roasted them while his brother Basanta was still asleep, but, as he did not wish tu eat them both himself, he put them aside till his brother should wake. A little after midnight he became very sleepy, and, as there were many tigers, bears, aud wild boars in tho jungle, he woke his brother i told him to keep wateh, but he was so sl> himself that he quite forgot to eat the birds he had roasted. Basanta afterwards found them, and, thinking his brother had put them there for him, he put the cock aside and ate the hen, which was fated to bring sorrow upon him. when he had finished eating, morning came. Turi rose up, and Basanta said he had eaten one bird himself, and put the other aside for him ; so Turi ate the one by which happiness was promised. After they had eaten, the two brothers set out for another country, and tra- velled together for a long way till the sun be- came very hot, and Basanta feeling thirsty asked his brother for water, but Turi told him they could not find it there on the top of a mountain, and they must go on a little further. So they went on till Basanta grew so hungry and thirsty that he could not move another step, and he sat down on tho mountain and asked his brother to search for water for him, and Turi went to look for it. Now the king of that country was dead, and his principal elephant had gone into the jungles to search for anew king.* Turi, hearing the sound of water, had gone in the same direc- the mountain he met the elephant^ who deter- mined to make him king and stood before him in the path. Turi went to one side to pass, but the elephant followed him to the same side and then sat down in front of him, and ermtinued to follow him and sit before him, so that the boy might climb on his back. At last Turi told him that ho was going to search for water for his brother Basanta, and asked him to leave the road. The elephant told him to climb on his back and he would take him; but as soon as Tnri mounted, the animal took hin> • This mu A conmon custom, or n all eTeufc i-w^oaed to be so: cuaf. Ind, Ant. vol. III. p. 11.
 * iriii, aad as he was coming down the side of