They came, and the
boy's mother threw herself at her daughter-in-law's feet and thanked
her for saving her son. Then there was a great feast and everybody
was very happy indeed, and at the end they all worshipped Parwati,
[5] so she became as pleased as everybody else.
CHAPTER IV
The Wednesday and Thursday Story
There was once upon a time a town called Atpat. In it there lived
a prince who had seven sons and seven daughters-in-law. Every day
there used to come to the prince's house two Brahmans, an uncle and a
nephew. But when they asked for alms the daughters-in-law sent word
that they were too busy to give them any. Some time afterwards the
prince lost all his riches and became very poor. The two Brahmans
again came to beg, but the elder daughter-in-law said to them,
"We are no longer busy, but we have nothing to give you. If we had,
we should give it to you." The youngest daughter-in-law, however,
was a clever little girl, and she thought to herself, "The Brahmans
will get very angry with us. When we had money, we gave them nothing;
and now we give them nothing because we have nothing to give.
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