Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 11 · page 21 2101Here, take this," he continued, scribbling a few lines on some paper, and then handing it to her, "and give it to the king.102You will see that he will give you a lac of rupees for it."103Thus saying he dismissed her, and the woman left.104On this scrap of paper were written three pieces of advice--First, If a person is travelling and reaches any strange place at night, let him be careful where he puts up, and not close his eyes in sleep, lest he close them in death.105Secondly, If a man has a married sister, and visits her in great pomp, she will receive him for the sake of what she can obtain from him; but if he comes to her in poverty, she will frown on him and disown him.106Thirdly, If a man has to do any work, he must do it himself, and do it with might and without fear.107On reaching her home the Brahmani told her parents of her meeting with her husband, and what a valuable piece of paper he had given her; but not liking to go before the king herself, she sent one of her relations.108The king read the paper, and ordering the man to be flogged, dismissed him.109The next morning the Brahmani took the paper, and while she was going along the road to the darbar reading it, the king's son met her, and asked what she was reading, whereupon she replied that she held in her hands a paper containing certain bits of advice, for which she wanted a lac of rupees.110The prince asked her to show it to him, and when he had read it gave her a parwana for the amount, and rode on.111The poor Brahmani was very thankful.112That day she laid in a great store of provisions, sufficient to last them all for a long time.113In the evening the prince related to his father the meeting with the woman, and the purchase of the piece of paper.114He thought his father would applaud the act.115But it was not so.116The king was more angry than before, and banished his son from the country.117So the prince bade adieu to his mother and relations and friends, and rode off on his horse, whither he did not know.118At nightfall he arrived at some place, where a man met him, and invited him to lodge at his house.119The prince accepted the invitation, and was treated like a prince.120Matting was spread for him to squat on, and the best provisions set before him.121"Ah!" thought he, as he lay down to rest, "here is a case for the first piece of advice that the Brahmani gave me.122I will not sleep to-night."123It was well that he thus resolved, for in the middle of the night the man rose up, and taking a sword in his hand, rushed to the prince with the intention of killing him.124But he rose up and spoke.125"Do not slay me," he said. "126What profit would you get from my death?127If you killed me you would be sorry afterwards, like that man who killed his dog."128"What man?129What dog?" he asked.130"I will tell you," said the prince, "if you will give me that sword."131So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:132"Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant who had a pet dog.133He was suddenly reduced to poverty, and had to part with his dog.checked by a teacher134He got a loan of five thousand rupees from a brother merchant, leaving the dog as a pledge, and with the money began business again.135Not long after this the other merchant's shop was broken into by thieves and completely sacked.136There was hardly ten rupees' worth left in the place.137The faithful dog, however, knew what was going on, and went and followed the thieves, and saw where they deposited the things, and then returned.138"In the morning there was great weeping and lamentation in the merchant's house when it was known what had happened.139The merchant himself nearly went mad.140Meanwhile the dog kept on running to the door, and pulling at his master's shirt and paijamas, as though wishing him to go outside.141At last a friend suggested that, perhaps, the dog knew something of the whereabouts of the things, and advised the merchant to follow its leadings.142The merchant consented, and went after the dog right up to the very place where the thieves had hidden the goods.143Here the animal scraped and barked, and showed in various ways that the things were underneath.144So the merchant and his friends dug about the place, and soon came upon all the stolen property.checked by a teacher145Nothing was missing.146There was everything just as the thieves had taken them.1 2← previousDemon With Matted Hair " 196, part 10next →Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 12↑ back to Indian Fairy TalesThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7128/17/page/2/