" The third Monday in Shravan, the ugly little
daughter-in-law again started from the palace with her flowers and
incense, her betel-nut and bel leaves, her rice and sesamum, in order
to meet the serpent-maidens of Patala and the bevy of wood-nymphs, and
with them to worship the god in the hidden depths of the forest. This
time the king and her other male relatives followed her and said
to her, "Ugly little daughter-in-law, take us with you and show us
your god." But the temple of Shiva was ever so far from the king's
palace. The ugly daughter-in-law did not mind, for she was used to
cruel treatment. She had also walked to the temple twice before, and
her feet had got as hard as two little stones. But the king and his
relatives were tired to death; and their feet swelled up to the size
of an elephant's, and they became as full of thorns as the back of a
porcupine. And they muttered to each other, "How on earth does that
ugly little daughter-in-law manage to walk as she does through the
heart of the forest?" The ugly daughter-in-law at last felt sorry for
them.
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