daughter to help me.' Then Surya Bai pounded the rice, but the young Rakshas had not returned by the time she had finished; so the old Rakshas said to her, 'If you are kind, grind this corn for me, for it is hard work for my old hands.' Then she ground the corn, but still the young Rakshas came not; and the old Rakshas said to her, 'Sweep the house for me first, and then I will give you the fire.' So Surya Bai swept the house; but still the young Rakshas did not come.
Then his mother said to Surya Bai, 'Why should you be in such a hurry to go home? fetch me some water from the well and then you shall have the fire.' And she fetched the water. When she had done so, Surya Bai said, 'I have done all your bidding; now give me the fire, or I will go elsewhere and seek it.'
The old Rakshas was grieved because her son had not returned home: but she saw she could detain Surya Bai no longer, so she said, 'Take the fire and go in peace; take also some parched corn, and scatter it along the road as you go, so as to make a pretty little pathway from our house to yours;' and so saying she gave Surya Bai several handfuls of parched corn. The girl took them, fearing no evil, and as she went she scattered the grains on the road. Then she climbed back into the nest and shut the seven iron doors, and lighted the fire, and cooked the food, and gave the dog and the cat some dinner, and took some herself, and went to sleep.
Scarcely had Surya Bai left the Rakshas' hut, when the young Rakshas returned, and his mother said to him, 'Alas, alas, my son! why did not you come sooner? Such a sweet little lamb has been here, and now we have lost her.' Then she told him all about Surya Bai. 'Which way did she go?' asked the young Rakshas; 'only tell me that, and I'll have her before morning.'
His mother had told him how she had given Surya Bai the parched corn to scatter on the road; and when he heard that, he followed up the track, and ran, and ran, and ran, till he came to the foot of the tree.
There, looking up, he saw the nest high in the branches above him.
Quick as thought, up he climbed, and reached the great outer door; and he shook it, and shook it, but he could not get in, for Surya Bai had bolted it. Then he said, 'Let me in, my child, let me in; I'm the great Eagle, and I have come from very far, and brought you many beautiful jewels; and here is a splendid
