to his messenger:  ’Go again, and say to the lady:  “Do you imagine that a person like me devoted to religious meditation, who have passed so many years in pilgrimages to holy places, would wish to lead you into sin?  Far from it.  I had heard that you were childless, and wishing for children, and I know of means through which your wish may be accomplished; but I thought it right to find out first whether you were worthy of such a service, and now that I have ascertained you to be virtuous and true to your husband, I will gladly assist you."’

“With this story the old cheat went again to the lady, who, believing her to be sincere, gladly accepted the offer, and she went on to say:  ’The reason of your being childless is that a spell has been laid upon your husband, which can only be removed by the means which I will indicate to you.  You must go at night to a clump of trees in the park.  I will come to you there, and will bring with me a man skilled in incantations.  You have only to stand for a moment, putting your foot into his hand while he utters certain charms, then go home, and, as if in play, strike your husband on the breast.  This will dissolve the spell, and by-and-by you will have children.’  Anxious to have the spell removed from her husband, Nitambavati consented to this, and went at night to the appointed place.  There she found Kalahakantaka waiting, and as the old woman had directed, put her foot into his hand while he knelt before her.

“No sooner had he got hold of it than he took off her anklet, and slipping his hand up her leg, inflicted a slight wound above the knee, and ran away.

“The poor lady, dreadfully frightened, blaming herself, and enraged with the old woman, who had so cruelly deceived her, got home as well as she could, washed and bound up the cut, and kept her bed for several days, having taken off the other anklet, that the loss might not be observed.

“Meanwhile the rascal took the anklet he had stolen to the husband, saying:  ‘I wish to dispose of this, will you buy it?’

“Recognising the ornament as having been his wife’s, he asked:  ’Where did you get this?’

“The man answered:  ’I will not tell you now, but if you are not satisfied that it is honestly mine, take me before the magistrates, and I will then declare how I came by it.’

“Upon this the merchant went to his wife and said:  ’Let me see your anklets.’

“With some confusion and alarm, she answered:  ’I have only one of them, the other being, as I suppose, loosely fastened, dropped off a few days ago when I was walking in the evening in the garden, and I have not been able to find it.’

“Dissatisfied with this answer, the husband went before the magistrates with the man who had offered the anklet for sale, and he being there questioned, said:  ’You know I was appointed not long ago to the care of the public cemetery, and as people come sometimes after dark to steal the clothes, or to lay a dead body on a pile prepared for another, and so cheat me of my fees, I have lately kept watch there at night.’