as, and how she and her brothers had
come to the jungle and had lived there happily enough until they were
changed into crows; and then of how the Rajah had found her and
brought her home with him to the palace.

"I can easily see," said Ramchundra, when she had ended the tale,
"that my uncles must have met a Rakshas somewhere in the forest and
have been enchanted. Tell me exactly where the tree was--the tree
where you lived--and what kind it was?"

The Ranee told him.

"And in which direction did your brothers go when they left you?"

This also his mother told him. "Why do you ask me these questions, my
son?" she asked.

"I wish to know," said Ramchundra, "for sometime I intend to set out
and find that Rakshas and force her to free my uncles from her
enchantment and change them back to their natural shapes again."

His mother was terrified when she heard this, but she said very little
to him, hoping he would soon forget about it and not enter into such a
dangerous adventure.

Not long afterward Ramchundra went to his father and said, "Father, I
am no longer a child; give me your permission to ride out into the
world and see it for myself."

The Rajah was willing for him to do this and asked what attendants his
son would take with him.

"I wish for no attendants," answered Ramchundra. "Give me only a
horse, and a groom to take care of it."

The Rajah gave his son the handsomest horse in his stables and also a
well-mounted groom to ride with him. Ramchundra, however, only allowed
the groom to go with him as far as the edge of the jungle, and then he
sent him back home again with both the horses.

The Prince went on and on through the forest for a long distance until
at last he came to a tree that he felt sure was the one his mother had
told him of. From there he set forth in the same direction she told
him his uncles had taken. He went on and on, ever deeper and deeper
into the forest, until at last he came to a miserable looking hut. The
door was open, and he looked in. There lay an ugly old hag fast
asleep. She had only one eye in the middle of her forehead, and her
gray hair was tangled and matted and fell over her face. The Prince
entered in very softly, and sitting down beside her, he began to rub
her head. He suspected that this was the Rakshas who had bewitched his
uncles, and it was indeed she.

Presently the old woman awoke. "My pretty lad," said she, "you have a
kind heart. Stay with me here and