I solemnly attested her innocence, and told the real cause of the shaving of her hair; when a universal burst of surprise took place, every one exclaiming, how monstrous it was that a married woman should be so degraded, without having committed the crime of infidelity.  “Either this man,” said they, “must be a liar, or he is the greatest fool on the face of the earth!” Such, I daresay, gentlemen, you will think me, and I am sure you will consider my folly [looking with great disdain on the first speaker] as being far superior to that of the render of body-clothing.

The court agreed that the speaker had put in a very strong case; but justice required that the other two should also be heard.  The third claimant was indeed burning with impatience for his turn, and as soon as he had permission, he thus spoke: 

 Story of the Third Brahman.

My name was originally Anantya; now all the world call me Betel Anantya, and I will tell you how this nickname arose.  My wife, having been long detained at her father’s house, on account of her youth, had cohabited with me but about a month when, going to bed one evening, I happened to say (carelessly, I believe), that all women were babblers.  She retorted, that she knew men who were not less babblers than women.  I perceived at once that she alluded to myself; and being somewhat piqued at the sharpness of her retort, I said, “Now let us see which of us shall speak first.”  “Agreed,” quoth she; “but what shall be the forfeit?” “A leaf of betel,” said I. Our wager being thus made, we both addressed ourselves to sleep, without speaking another word.

Next morning, as we did not appear at our usual hour, after some interval, they called us, but got no answer.  They again called, and then roared stoutly at the door, but with no success.  The alarm began to spread in the house.  They began to fear that we had died suddenly.  The carpenter was called with his tools.  The door of our room was forced open, and when they got in they were not a little surprised to find both of us wide awake, in good health, and at our ease, though without the faculty of speech.  My mother was greatly alarmed, and gave loud vent to her grief.  All the Brahmans in the village, of both sexes, assembled, to the number of one hundred; and after close examination, every one drew his own conclusion on the accident which was supposed to have befallen us.  The greater number were of opinion that it could have arisen only from the malevolence of some enemy who had availed himself of magical incantations to injure us.  For this reason, a famous magician was called, to counteract the effects of the witchcraft, and to remove it.  As soon as he came, after steadfastly contemplating us for some time, he began to try our pulses, by putting his finger on our wrists, on our temples, on the heart, and on various other parts of the body; and after a great variety of grimaces, the remembrance of which excites my laughter, as often as I think of him, he decided that our malady arose wholly from the effect of malevolence.  He even gave the name of the particular devil that possessed my wife and me and rendered us dumb.  He added that the devil was very stubborn and difficult to allay, and that it would cost three or four pagodas for the offerings necessary for compelling him to fly.