THE PALACE BAZAAR
and ask thy husband, for here he comes." And the Rajput dame drew down her veil.
"Ha! Ha! Doth my gifted Queen unbend herself from the arduous task grateful to the Muses, and cast her eyes on the frivolities of this world? But she hath a shrewd one to deal with if that fair vendor is a lady from Amber, as I guess she is. Amber is well skilled, I can tell thee, Queen, to draw gold from the treasure vaults of Agra."
"So I find, my lord. And if the men of Amber have a grasping hand, the women of Amber have a clever tongue too. Twenty pieces of gold this shrewd woman asks for a tinsel bracelet which is scarcely worth ten, and I like a simpleton have offered fifteen. Beware, great Emperor, of bargaining with the ladies of Amber, with their sharp tongues and their dark eyes too; thou mayst easily bargain away thy empire."
"What sayst thou, my fair Rajput dame, to that?" asked the Emperor.
"I say, my Sovereign," replied the lady, proudly, but in a low voice, and with her eyes modestly fixed on the pavement—"I say that if the gold of Agra sometimes finds its way to Amber, the steel of Amber is oftener needed in Agra. And if the women of Amber can sometimes use their tongues, the men of Amber can oftener use their lances."
"Why, that is well said, Rajput lady, and Akbar will never deny what Rajputs have done for the Empire. But let us know the real price of this bracelet, good dame. The fair witches of Rajasthan are ever stealing our hearts; spare our purses, fair one."
"The palace is well guarded, sire," replied the witty Rajputanee with the same assumed modesty, "and
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