Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/68

 Febbuajit, 1875.] LEGENDS FROM DTSAJPUB. 55 tating on. it, so Ms men-servants and maid- servants and the prince came to him with folded hands and invited him to rise, but he paid no attention to any of them, and still continued to think abonfc the dream. Meanwhile the prime minister, divan t and other officers of state were waiting in ccnrt, and wondering why the king wag so late in coming — they thought he must be angry with some of them : so the prime minister said he would go and call the king. He «d the palace and asked the king why he was so late ia rising, and requested him to be good enough to tell him about what he was meditating. The king told him he was medi- tating on a very wonderful dream which he had seen in the night, and said, " I thought I saw a large two-storied house surrounded on all sides by all kinds of flowers. A very beauti- ful woman was lying inside it,— her beauty was such that it lighted np the whole house ; at every breath she took while she slept, a flame like a flower issued from her nostril, and when she drew in her breath the flower of flame was again withdrawn. I have been thinking of this dream ever since, and it will be well fur yon if you can show it me, for if* you do not I will put yon. to death." The prime minister replied that, since the king had seen the dream, it must exist somewhere, and he would take the prince and go in search of it, and meanwhile tho king must rise and go to court. So the king rose and washed his bands and face and went to court, but the whole day he did nothing but talk about the dream, so that the business of the kingdom was entirely stopped. The king then appointed a day, and tho prune minister and Chandra starleil to find tho dream, taking with them abundance of provisions, elephants, horses, silver sticks, flags, weapons, and soldiers. They travelled for six months towards the south, when they came to a terrible jungle which they were unable to penetrate : it was full of Ii'ik- Bhasas, and there was no road in it. They set a great many labourers to work, but tho more jungle they cut, the more there seemed to be left. Meanwhile Durani's eon, Sum [J As-, heard of the dream and asked his mother about it, and she told him all the king had seen, and how the prime minister and Chandra had gone in search of it. Siva Das said that although the king could not bear to look on him, still he was his father, and if Chandra had gone to try and find the dream he would go too. Duraui replied, " My child, you are the only wealth 1 lu my poverty, if you go away I cannot bear to Eve alone without yon : moreover, how can yon support yourself ? Yon cannot go. " Siva Das paid no attention to his mother's words, but de- termined that as he was the king's son he would go to him and obtain his consent to search for the dream. So he went to court, but, not having sufficient courage to approach the king, he sent a message through an attendant to say what his request was. When the king heard it he said, '" A hy has Dnrani's son come to me ? he may go if he likes : I shall not be sorry if he dies; he is no child of mine." Siva Das was satisfied with that, and went to Jus mother to as her consent, and told her that his father had agreed to let him go ; she would not at first consent, but at last gave him leave to go. So he took his sword and went into a field, and sat on the sword and said, " Sword given by Siva, take me to the place where Chandra and the prime minister now are." The sword instantly lifted him up and took him to the place where they were, finishing a six-months" journey in one day. Siva Das went to Chandra and sainted him, end asked whether he hud succeeded in rinding the dream ; bnt he replied that they had come across the jungle, and, not finding a road through it, had been unable to discover anything concerning the dream, and that the jungle was full of Rakshasas, and the more they cut it the more it grew. I lie would go to the west of the jungle and see if there was any road or not. So At a little way, but saw nothing but jungle on every side ; he then cut a road with his sword till he came to the other side, but the jungle grew up behind him as fast as he cut it. All this time Chandra was in the same place, still clearing jungle, When Siva Das came into tho open country he could see no village or people, so he travelled on to the west for five days till he came to a village, which he entered, and impiived who was the king of the country and whether there was any bazar. The people told him there was a great king there, and also a bazar: so he went to the bazar and bought a house, in which he lived, and after he had eaten he bought a shield and a necklace of beads and put on the dress of an