her mother. "Greatly do I rue my having turned thy husband into a goat. I did not then recognize thee. Oh, how can I make amends for what I have done? Take the snake's seven heads, take this basket of flowers, and they will stand thee in good stead. Dear daughter, I have another confession to make. I turned into goats kings and kotáls, five thousand and two in number, of whom I have as a snake eaten all but one; and their bones are lying in a heap in my house. Wash the flowers in this basket in water, and sprinkle it on the bones. The dead will then rise into life. And as for thy lover in the goat, the touch of one of these flowers will bring him to his former self."
These were the last words of the witch. When she had finished speaking she fell down and expired. Pushpamala, sorely afflicted at the sad story of the witch, her mother, went to the garden in front of the house she had occupied, and being much wearied on account of the vigils she had kept for four successive nights, fell asleep with the snake's heads by her side. The gardener at dawn came there, and finding them, took them to the king, and said, " Mighty lord, you sent your sepoy, who is made much of, to kill the snake. There he is asleep in the flower garden, while I have done the work for which he was commissioned. Here are the snake's heads." The king believed what he heard, and having liberally rewarded the gardener, sent a body of soldiers to fetch the sepoy, to answer for neglect of duty. The soldiers went out, and finding him asleep, caught hold of his turban, and gave him such a pull as to displace his garments; whereupon the young soldier stood transformed into a girl of ravishing beauty. Pushpa hung down her head in shame, and followed the soldiers into the royal durbar. The king was astonished to behold the charming figure before him, and asked the gardener how she could have been found asleep in Ranjit's place, and what had become of him. The gardener was speechless; but the soldiers explained everything. The king then addressed Pushpa in these words:
