as she thought, the little girl would never have married and would
not have stolen the lid of the sacred casket. One day the wife met
her son-in-law on the road, and she gave him such a fearful slap in
the face that he instantly fell on the ground and became a corpse
again. His mother-in-law then-snatched from him the lid of the casket,
which he happened to have in his hand, and ran away home. There he
lay until the little girl, his wife, began to search for him. When
she found him she prayed to the goddess, and by her aid and by means
of the merit which she had acquired by worshipping the lid of the
casket while she had it, she restored her husband to life. But the
twin and his wife went on becoming poorer and poorer. And at last
they went back to his brother's house and asked him why it was that
the younger twin was always losing his wealth as fast as he gained
it. The elder brother listened to the whole story and then he said,
"I do not wonder at it. First you lost the lid of the casket, then,
in order to get it back, your wife killed a Brahman. Your only chance
now is to worship Parwati harder than ever, and perhaps in the end
you may recover your good estate." So the younger brother went home
and worshipped Parwati with greater vigour than ever. And at last
she relented and gave him her blessing. He recovered his wealth and
came by all that his heart desired. And he and his wife lived happily
ever afterwards.

CHAPTER XIX

The Brahman Wife and Her Seven Sons

Once upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a
poor Brahman who used always to perform Shradh or memorial ceremonies
to his father on the last day of the month of Shravan. When performing
these ceremonies he always invited other Brahmans to dine. But it so
happened that on every last day of the month of Shravan, [22] from the
day of his father's death onwards, his daughter-in-law gave birth to a
little boy. And just as the Brahmans had begun to enjoy their dinner,
the child would die. So all the Shradh ceremonies had to cease,
and the poor Brahmans had to be sent away feeling most dreadfully
hungry. This happened regularly for six years. But, when the seventh
little boy was born only to die just as his guests were beginning
to enjoy their dinner, the poor Brahman lost all patience. He took
the newly-born child and placed it in his daughter-in-law's lap and
then drove her out of the house and into the jungle. The poor woman
walked a