ay into the jungle because of her
cruel stepmother, and, finding the house, had lived there ever since;
and having finished her story, she began to cry. Then the Prince said
to her, "Pretty lady, forgive me for my roughness; do not fear. I will
take you home with me, and you shall be my wife." But the more he
spoke to her the more frightened she got, so frightened that she did
not understand what he said, and could do nothing but cry. Now she had
said nothing to the Prince about her sister, nor even told him that
she had one, for she thought, "This man says he will kill me; if he
hears that I have a sister, he will kill her, too." So the Prince, who
was really kind-hearted, and would never have thought of separating
the two little sisters who had been together so long, knew nothing at
all of the matter, and only seeing she was too much alarmed even to
understand gentle words, said to his servants, "Place this lady in one
of the palkees, and let us set off home." And they did so. When the
Princess found herself shut up in the palkee, and being carried she
knew not where, she thought how terrible it would be for her sister to
return home and find her gone, and determined, if possible, to leave
some sign to show her which way she had been taken. Round her neck
were many strings of pearls. She untied them, and tearing her saree
into little bits, tied one pearl in each piece of the saree, that it
might be heavy enough to fall straight to the ground; and so she went
on, dropping one pearl and then another and another and another, all
the way she went along, until they reached the palace where the Rajah
and Ranee, the Prince's father and mother lived. She threw the last
remaining pearl down just as she reached the palace gate. The old
Rajah and Ranee were delighted to see the beautiful Princess their son
had brought home; and when they heard her tale they said, "Ah, poor
thing! what a sad story! but now she has come to live with us, we will
do all we can to make her happy." And they married her to their son
with great pomp and ceremony, and gave her rich dresses and jewels,
and were very kind to her. But the Princess remained sad and unhappy,
for she was always thinking about her sister, and yet she could not
summon courage to beg the Prince or his father to send and fetch her
to the palace.

Meantime, the younger Princess, who had been out with her flocks and
herds when the Prince took her sister away, had returned home. When