from him there
was anything to be feared.

Then the figure dissolving as a cloud in the sky, the mother said--

"Forget not this god-like form. Though benevolent, he will be the
cause of thy misery; therefore avoid him as a snake."

Again pointing to the heavens she continued--

"Look hither."

Kunda, looking, saw a second figure sketched before her, not this time
that of a man, but a young woman of bright complexion and lotus-shaped
eyes. At this sight she felt no fear; but the mother said--

"This dark figure in a woman's dress is a _Rakshasi_.[2] When thou
seest her, flee from her."

[Footnote 2: A female demon.]

As she thus spoke the heavens suddenly became dark, the halo
disappeared from the sky, and with it the bright figure in its midst.

Then Kunda awoke from her sleep.

Nagendra went to the village, the name of which he heard was
Jhunjhunpur. At his recommendation and expense, some of the villagers
performed the necessary rites for the dead, one of the female
neighbours remaining with the bereaved girl. When Kunda saw that they
had taken her father away, she became convinced of his death, and
gave way to ceaseless weeping.

In the morning the neighbour returned to her own house, but sent her
daughter Champa to comfort Kunda Nandini.

Champa was of the same age as Kunda, and her friend. She strove to
divert her mind by talking of various matters, but she saw that Kunda
did not attend. She wept constantly, looking up every now and then
into the sky as though in expectation.

Champa jestingly asked, "What do you see that you look into the sky a
hundred times?"

Kunda replied, "My mother appeared to me yesterday, and bade me go
with her, but I feared to do so; now I mourn that I did not. If she
came again I would go: therefore I look constantly into the sky."

Champa said, "How can the dead return?"

To which Kunda replied by relating her vision.

Greatly astonished, Champa asked, "Are you acquainted with the man and
woman whose forms you saw in the sky?"

"No, I had never seen them. There cannot be anywhere a man so
handsome; I never saw such beauty."

On rising in the morning, Nagendra inquired of the people in the
village what would become of the dead man's daughter, where she would
live, and whether she had any relatives. He was told that there was no
dwelling-place for her, and that she had no relatives.

Then Nagendra said, "Will not some of you receive her and give her in
marriag