But
to the ugly little daughter-in-law he gave nothing but scraps from
his table and thick, coarse clothes to wear. He would not even let her
sleep inside the house, but made her sleep in the stable and look after
the cows. The poor ugly daughter-in-law grew so unhappy that, when the
first Monday in Shravan [26] came, she ran out of the palace, and out
of the town, and then away as fast as her fat little legs would carry
her. At last she went and hid herself in the woods. Now it so happened
that that very day a band of serpent-maidens [27] had come up from
Patala. After wandering through the forest and bathing in the running
streams, they had joined a bevy of wood-nymphs and were coming in her
direction. At first she was too terrified to say a single word. But at
last she asked, "Ladies, ladies, where are you going?" "To the temple
of Shiva," they replied, "to worship the god. For by doing that, one
wins the love of one's husband, one obtains children, and one comes by
the wish of one's heart." When the ugly daughter-in-law heard that by
doing what the serpent-maidens and the wood-nymphs were about to do
she could win love for herself, she at once thought that in this way
she, too, might win the love of her father-in-law.
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