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KANCHANMALA
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Ruplal, returning home, described to his father and his friends the beauty he had seen in his dream, and said that he would never marry any one except the facsimile of his vision. The father, though afraid that a girl of that description could not be found, sent messengers to see if they were able to find one. They came back unsuccessful, and the merchant was in despair, when the malini informed him of her niece, whose charms, she said, were no less attractive than those of her whom his son had dreamed of.

Ruplal's dream was not a fiction. There was actually in a country far off a princess in every particular corresponding to the image in his mind. Her name was Kanchanmala, and at the very moment he dreamed of her she had also seen him in a vision. The next morning she appeared before her father, and informed him that a young man named Ruplal, who had appeared before her in a dream, was according to the decrees of fate, her husband; and that he must be found out, not only to make her happy, but even to preserve her life. The king and his ministers were astounded to hear her, and messengers were despatched in every direction to find out who and where Ruplal was. They crossed seas, rivers and mountains, till at last they reached the foot of a banyan tree. Here they rested; when another body of men approached them, and the latter, being asked whence and with what object they came, said, "For months and months we have been travelling, and are fatigued to death. Oh, what a dream of our master's son that was! There may be in the world no such Kanchanmala as he dreamed of. Can you, brothers, throw light on the matter?" Those addressed exclaimed in surprise, "What do you say? Are you looking for Kanchanmala? Our princess bears that name, and we have been out for months seeking for a solution of the mystery. One morning she said to her father, our king, that she had dreamt of one Ruplal, and that she should die if he were not brought to her. Hence we are trying to discover his whereabouts." Both the parties, understanding that their mission was at an end, embraced one