So saying the old woman led the princess from the forest and showed her the way to a great city where a Raja lived.  The princess went begging her way through the city to the Raja’s palace and there they engaged her as a servant.

Now her husband had also escaped from the jungle and sought employment as a labourer but no one would give him work for more than a day or two, and at last his search for work brought him to the city in which the princess was; and there he was engaged as a groom in the palace stables.  The prince had changed his name and he had no chance of knowing that his wife was in the palace, because she was confined to the women’s appartments; so some years passed without their having news of each other.

At last one day the princess happened to go on to the roof and looking down at the stables saw and thought she recognised her husband; then she leaned over and listened till she heard his voice and at that she was sure that it was he, so she hastened to the Raja and begged to be allowed to meet her husband, and the Raja sent to call the syce with the name which the princess had given but no one came, for the prince would not reveal himself.  Then the princess told their story and how her husband had gambled away his half of the kingdom.  The Raja ordered any one with such a history to come forward, as his wife was in the palace; but the prince did not reveal himself.

Then the princess said “Let all the syces cook rice and bring me a bit of each man’s cooking to taste.”  They did so, and when she tasted the rice cooked by her husband, she at once said that it was his; her husband was unable to deny it and admitted everything.  Then they took him away from his work in the stables and let him live with his wife.

After a time the Raja wrote to the younger brother asking whether he would restore the half of the kingdom which he had won; and the younger brother answered that he would gladly do so, if his brother would sign an agreement never to gamble any more; it was with this object in view and to teach him the folly of his ways that he had dispossessed him.  The elder brother gladly gave the required promise and returned to his kingdom with his faithful wife and lived happily ever afterwards.

XLIII.  The Raibar and the Leopard.

Once upon a time a Raibar was going backwards and forwards between two families arranging a marriage and part of the road which he used to travel ran through a forest.

One day as he was going to the bride’s house he took a sack with him intending to try and get the loan of some Indian corn from the bride’s relations; but as he was passing through the piece of jungle he suddenly met a leopard; he was terribly frightened but collecting his wits he addressed the animal thus “Leopard; I beg you not to eat me; I am engaged on a work of great merit, I am making two men out of one.”  This address amazed the leopard and he at once asked the raibar whether he could make him into two, and promised that if he could his life should be spared.  The raibar answered readily “Seeing that in pursuit of my profession I have made two men out of one all over the country, of course I can make you into two leopards if I try; all you have to do is to get into this sack and keep quiet; if you utter a sound you will spoil the charm.”