and drink some
water." So both the Rakshas and his wife went to a well which was
close to the house, and began letting down jars into it, and drawing
up the water and drinking it. And the Princesses, who were on the top
of the house, saw them. Now the youngest of the two Princesses was a
very wise girl, and when she saw the Rakshas and his wife by the well,
she said to her sister, "I will do something now that will be good for
us both"; and, running down quickly from the top of the house, she
crept close behind the Rakshas and his wife as they stood on tip-toe
more than half over the side of the well, and, catching hold of one of
the Rakshas's heels and one of his wife's, gave each a little push,
and down they both tumbled into the well and were drowned--the Rakshas
and the Rakshas's wife! The Princess then returned to her sister and
said, "I have killed the Rakshas." "What! both?" cried her sister.
"Yes, both," she said. "Won't they come back?" said her sister. "No,
never," answered she.

The Rakshas being thus killed, the two Princesses took possession of
the house, and lived there very happily for a long time. In it they
found heaps and heaps of rich clothes and jewels, and gold and silver,
which the Rakshas had taken from people he had murdered; and all
round the house were folds for the flocks and sheds for the herds of
cattle which the Rakshas owned. Every morning the youngest Princess
used to drive out the flocks and herds to pasturage, and return home
with them every night, while the eldest stayed at home, cooked the
dinner and kept the house; and the youngest Princess, who was the
cleverest, would often say to her sister, on going away for the day,
"Take care, if you see any stranger (be it man, woman or child) come
by the house, to hide, if possible, that nobody may know of our living
here; and if anyone should call out and ask for a drink of water, or
any poor beggar pray for food, before you give it to him be sure you
put on ragged clothes and cover your face with charcoal, and make
yourself look as ugly as possible, lest, seeing how fair you are, he
should steal you away, and we never meet again." "Very well," the
other Princess would answer, "I will do as you advise."

But a long time passed, and no one ever came by that way. At last one
day, after the youngest Princess had gone out, a young Prince, the son
of a neighbouring Rajah, who had been hunting with his attendants for
many days in the jungles, c