e boy of two, and a little boy only one year old. Last of
all the seventh demon Asura rode up with a newly-born baby boy. The
demons placed the bodies in front of the serpent-maidens from Patala
and of the wood-nymphs. And first of all the little boy of six came to
life and got up and ran to his mother. Next the little boy of five,
and then the little boy of four, and then the little boy of three
came to life and ran to their mother. Then the little boy of two
came to life and got up, but he could only walk to his mother. Next
the little one-year-old boy came to life, but he could not get up,
so he lay on his back and kicked up his legs. And last of all the
newly-born baby came to life, but he could not even kick up his
legs. And they were all delighted to see their mother, and she was
overjoyed to have all her sons again. But the serpent-maidens from
Patala and the wood-nymphs warned her that she must pray to the
sixty-four Yoginis, the attendants who wait on Durga, the Goddess
of Death, or else her children would be snatched from her again. And
they told her to pray her hardest, for her prayer had to travel down
to the depths of Hell. So the Brahman woman prayed her hardest to
the sixty-four Yoginis, and then she prostrated herself before the
serpent-maidens from Patala, and the wood-nymphs, and their train of
demon Asuras. And then she took the little one-year-old boy on her hip,
and the newly-born baby boy in her arms, and she walked with her other
five sons to the village. When the villagers saw her coming they ran
and said to the Brahman, "Bhatji, Bhatji, your daughter-in-law is
coming back home." And the Brahman became very angry and vowed that
he would drive her away again. So he watched for her coming. But
first of all he saw walking towards his house a little boy of six,
and then a little boy of five, and then a little boy of four, and
then two other little boys of three and two. Last of all he saw his
daughter-in-law with a one-year-old boy on her hip and a newly-born
baby in her arms. He rose and fetched a cauldron of water and two
handfuls of rice from his house. And he waved his hands filled with
rice round the heads of his daughter-in-law and of all her children,
and last of all he washed their feet. In this way he welcomed back to
his house his grandchildren and their mother. And he made her tell
him all her story; and she, and her children, and the Brahman spent
the rest of their lives in great peace and