the ground, and the heads of the Rakkhushes and Rakkhashis fell at the same moment from off their bodies. The prince and the princess then left the place with the things that the former had come in search of, together with the parrot in which the life of the Rakkhashi in the palace was hid, and reached the kingdom whence the prince had been deputed. He saw the king, and told him that the things required for the queen's recovery had been obtained; that a Durbar should be held, before which certain circumstances connected with them should be told in order to increase their power as remedies, and that they should then be handed over to the patient in the presence of all assembled. The Durbar was called, and the queen came. But what was her terror when she found the things and the parrot? It was clear to her that her whole race had been destroyed, and that her own life was hanging by a thread; and, to make the most of her superhuman powers, she assumed her natural form, and as about to devour them all, when the prince brought the parrot out of its cage and put his hand on its neck to twist it. The Rakkhashi, finding herself completely at his mercy, implored him to spare her life. Whereupon he demanded that his friends with their horses should be restored to him, and she forthwith ejected them from her mouth quite uninjured. No mercy, however, was shown her. The parrot was killed, and with it the giantess.
The king, in gratitude to the prince for saving him and his subjects from the hands of the Rakkhashi, offered his deliverer the greater part of his treasures, but the offer was modestly refused. The four friends, without delay, returned to their own country, and were gladly received back by their parents and friends. The princess who had been rescued from the Rakkhushpuri (the house of the Rakkhushes) was with great éclat married to the prince, and their wedded life was one of joy and happiness.
