go back at once, he stopped, and hesitated, and debated what to do. And the Nautch people gave him a drink that was a very powerful spell, insomuch that he soon totally forgot about his own home, and was married to Moulee, the Nautch girl, and lived among the Nautch people for many months. At last, one day, Moulee's mother (the very Nautch woman who had gone with Coplinghee Ranee and the Sowkar's wife to find Mahadeo) said to Koila, 'Son-in-law, you are a lazy fellow; you have been here now for a long time, but you do nothing for your support; it is we who have to pay for your food, we who have to provide your clothes— go now and fetch us some money, or I will turn you out of the house and you shall never see your wife Moulee again. Koila had no money to give his mother-in-law; then, for the first time, he bethought him of his own country and of Chandra, and he said, 'My first wife, who lives in my own country, has on her feet two bangles of very great value; let me return home and fetch one of them to sell, which will more than pay whatever I owe you.' The Nautch people consented. So Koila returned to his own home, and told Chandra what he wanted the money for, and asked her to let him have one of her bangles, but she refused, saying, 'You have been away a long, long time and left me all alone, and chosen for your second wife one of the Nautch people, and become one of them, and now you want to take one of my bangles, the bangles that I had when a little child, that have grown with my growth, and never been taken off, and to give it to your other wife. This shall not be; go back if you will to your new friends, but I will not give you my bangle.'
He answered, 'They gave me an enchanted drink which made me forget you for a time, but I am weary of them all; let me but go and pay my mother-in-law the money I owe her for food and clothes, and I will return and live in my own land, for you are my first wife.'
'Very well,' she said, 'you may take the bangle and sell it, and give the money to your second wife's mother, but take me also with you when you go; do not leave me here all alone again.' Koila agreed, and they both set off together towards the Madura Tinivelly country.
As they journeyed, Krishnaswami,[1] who was playing at cards with his three wives, saw them, and when he saw them he laughed. Then his wives said to him, 'Why do you laugh? You have not
- ↑ The Hindoo god Krishna; an incarnation of Vishnu.
