IV.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 303 had cooked, Kalaketu praised her for her good cooking, what did she care that no food was left for her! Did she not feel gratified that ber husband was happy, though she might have to fast all day herself? And who was this woman that came now to rob her of her husband’s love—the
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only thing she prized in life? Alas, exposure and
hardship had sullied her youthful beauty ; could she
ever be a match for this paragon of beauty! She
had no qualifications to commend her to her hus-
band, except her love for him. What will she do
now? Her heart broke at these thoughts. But
Chandi was not at all moved by the accounts of
poverty. “Very well Phullara,” she said, “ from this
day there will be no more poverty in this house.
You see my jewels? With them I can buy a king-
dom. Come, do not grieve, you will have a share
of my wealthandI shall not be blamed for coming
here: for Kalaketu himself brought me, drawing
me hither by his noble qualities. ’
This was what Phullara understood her to say.
But indeed her words bore another sense, and in
that sense were true ; for she said Kglaketu himself
had brought her there dound with the string of
his bow. The word 4 in Bengali means both a
bow-string and noble qualities.
Grief was like torend Phullara’s heart at these
last words of Chandi. She could no longer suppress
her feelings. Great tears fell from her eyes, and
she turned and went weeping all the way to meet
Kalaketu at Golaghat. There, as the hunter was
negotiating the sale, Phuliara approached him with
tearful eves. He was struck with wonder—never
Phullar4
feels Jea-
lousy.
The Jea-
lous wife
and her
hungry
lord,