.

[Decoration]

[Decoration]

XXVII.

PANWPATTI RANI.

In a country a big fair was held, to which came a great many people
and Rajas from all the countries round. Among them was a Raja who
brought his daughter with him. Opposite their tent another tent was
pitched, in which lived a Raja's son. He was very beautiful; so was
the little Rani, the other Raja's daughter.

Now, the Raja's son and the Raja's daughter did not even know each
other's names, but they looked at each other a great deal, and each
thought the other very beautiful. "How lovely the Raja's daughter is!"
thought the prince. "How beautiful the Raja's son is!" thought the
princess.

They lived opposite each other for a whole month, and all that time
they never spoke to each other nor did they speak of each other to any
one. But they thought of each other a great deal.

When the month was over, the little Rani's father said he would go
back to his own country. The Raja's son sat in his tent and watched
the servants getting ready the little Rani's palanquin. As soon as the
princess herself was dressed and ready for the journey, she came out
of her tent, and took a rose in her hand. She first put the rose to
her teeth; then she stuck it behind her ear; and lastly, she laid it
at her feet. All this time the Raja's son sat in his tent and looked
at her. Then she got into her palanquin and was carried away.

The Raja's son was now very sad. "How lovely the princess is!" he
thought. "And I do not know her name, or her father's name, or the
name of her country. So how can I ever find her? I shall never see her
again." He was very sorrowful, and determined he would go home to his
country. When he got home he laid himself down on his bed, and night
and day he lay there. He would not eat, or drink, or bathe, or change
his clothes. This made his father and mother very unhappy. They went
to him often, and asked him, "What is the matter with you? Are you
ill?" "I want nothing," he would answer. "I don't want any doctor, or
any medicine." Not one word did he say to them, or to any one else,
about the lovely little Rani.

The son of the Raja's kotwal[6] was the prince's great friend. The two
had always gone to school together, and had there read in the same
book; they had always bathed, eaten, and played together. So when the
prince had been at home for two days, and yet had not been to school
or seen his friend, the kotwal's son grew very anxious. "