THE CAT WHO BECAME A QUEEN.[1]
"Ah me! Ah me! What availeth my marriage with all these women? Never a son has the Deity vouchsafed me. Must I die, and my name be altogether forgotten in the land?" Thus soliloquized one of the greatest monarchs that ever reigned in Kashmír, and then went to his zanána, and threatened his numerous wives with banishment if they did not bear him a son within the next year. The women prayed most earnestly to the god Shiva to help them to fulfil the king's desire, and waited most anxiously for several months, hoping against hope, till at last they knew that it was all in vain, and that they must dissemble matters if they wished to remain in the royal household. Accordingly, on an appointed time, word was sent to the king that one of his wives was enciente, and a little while afterwards the news was spread abroad that a little princess was born. But this, as we have said, was not so. Nothing of the kind had happened. The truth was, that a cat had given birth to a lot of kittens, one of which had been appropriated by the king's wives. When his majesty heard the news he was exceedingly glad, and ordered the child to be brought to him —a very natural request, which the king's wives had anticipated, and therefore were quite prepared with a reply. "Go and tell the king," said they to the messenger, "that the Bráhmans have declared that the child must not be seen by her father until she is married." Thus the matter was hushed for a time. Constantly did the king inquire after his
- ↑ Narrator's name, Rázi, a panḍitání, living in Srínagar. Collected by Pandit Ánand Kol of Zainah Kadal, Srínagar
