So he stayed there a long time, but meanwhile the buffaloes all got weak and ill for want of some one to look after them.  One day Ledha set off to the jungle with his wife to see them and when he saw how ill the buffaloes were, he decided to build a house in the jungle and live there.  And the Raja sent them money and horses and cattle and elephants and servants and they built a palace and Ledha subdued all the jungle and became a great Raja; and he made a highway to his father-in-law’s home and used to go to and fro on it.

IV.  The Cruel Stepmother.

There was once a Raja whose wife died leaving him with one young child.  He reared it with great care and when it could toddle about it took a great fancy to a cat; the child was always playing with it and carrying it about.

All his friends begged the Raja to marry again, but he said that he was sure that a stepmother would be cruel to his child; at last they persuaded him to promise to marry again, if a bride could be found who would promise to care for the child as her own, so his friends looked out for a bride; but though they found plenty of girls who were anxious to marry the Raja, not one would promise to care for his child as her own.  There was a young widow in a certain village who heard of what was going on, and one day she asked whether a bride had been found for the Raja and she was told that no one was willing to take charge of the child.  “Why don’t they agree,” said she, “I would agree fast enough.  If I were Rani I should have nothing to do but look after the child and I would care for it more than its own mother could.”  This came to the ears of the Raja and he sent for the widow and was pleased with her looks, and when she promised to love his child as her own, he married her.

At first no one could be kinder to the child than she was, but in the course of time she had a child of her own and then she began to be jealous of the elder child; and she thought daily how she could get rid of him.  He was still devoted to his cat and one day when he came back to the house, he asked his stepmother where the cat was.  She answered angrily, “The cat has bewitched the boy!  It is ‘cat, cat,’ all day long.”  At this the child began to cry; so she found the cat and threw it to him, saying, “Here is your cat:  you are mad about your cat.”  But the boy hugged it in his arms and kept on crying at his stepmother’s cross words.  As he would not keep quiet his stepmother got more angry still; and catching hold of the cat she scratched her own arms and legs with the cat’s claws until the blood flowed; then she began to cry and scold and when the neighbours came to see what was the matter, she told them that the boy had let his cat scratch her; and the neighbours saw that she was not loving the boy as she promised.