tter
go home, my good fellow, for there's no welcome for you here!" But the
Rajah continued calling till the Malee opened the door; who then was
indeed surprised, seeing it was truly no other than the Rajah, and he
asked what he could do for him.

The Rajah said, "I wish to marry your beautiful daughter, Guzra Bai."

"No, no," said the Malee, "this joke won't do. None of your Princes in
disguise for me. You may think you are a great Rajah and I only a poor
Malee, but I tell you that makes no difference at all to me. Though
you were king of all the earth, I would not permit you to come here
and amuse yourself chattering to my girl, only to fill her head with
nonsense, and to break her heart."

"In truth, good man, you do me wrong," answered the Rajah humbly: "I
mean what I say; I wish to marry your daughter."

"Do not think," retorted the Malee, "that I'll make a fool of myself
because I'm only a Malee, and believe what you've got to say, because
you're a great Rajah. Rajah or no Rajah is all one to me. If you mean
what you say, if you care for my daughter and wish to be married to
her, come and be married; but I'll have none of your new-fangled forms
and court ceremonies hard to be understood; let the girl be married by
her father's hearth and under her father's roof, and let us invite to
the wedding our old friends and acquaintances whom we've known all our
lives, and before we ever thought of you."

The Rajah was not angry, but amused, and rather pleased than otherwise
at the old man's frankness, and he consented to all that was desired.

The village beauty, Guzra Bai, was therefore married with as much pomp
as they could muster, but in village fashion, to the great Rajah, who
took her home with him, followed by the tears and blessings of her
parents and playmates.

The twelve kings' daughters were by no means pleased at this addition
to the number of the Ranees; and they agreed amongst themselves that
it would be highly derogatory to their dignity to permit Guzra Bai to
associate with them, and that the Rajah their husband, had offered
them an unpardonable insult in marrying a Malee's daughter, which was
to be revenged upon her the very first opportunity.

Having made this league, they tormented poor Guzra Bai so much that,
to save her from their persecutions, the Rajah built her a little
house of her own, where she lived very, very happily for a short time.

At last one day he had occasion to go and visit