has country. The Raja said, "Then you had
better send this boy for it." So she gave him a letter, in which she
had written, "When this boy arrives among you, kill him and eat him
instantly," and he set out at once.

He went on and on till he came to a great river in which lived a huge
water-snake. When the water-snake saw him it began to weep very much,
and cried out to the boy, "If you go to the Rakshas country you will
be eaten up." The lad, whose name was Hiralalbasa, said, "I cannot
help it; I am the Rani's servant, so I must do what she tells me."
"Well," said the water-snake, "get on my back, and I will take you
across this river." So he got on the water-snake's back, and it took
him over the river. Then Hiralalbasa went on and on until he came to a
house in which a Rakshas lived. A Rani lived there too that the
Rakshas had carried off from her father and mother when she was a
little girl. She was playing in her father the Sondarbasa Raja's
garden, which was full of delicious fruits, which the Rakshas came to
eat, and when he saw Sonahri Rani he seized her in his mouth and ran
off with her. Only she was so beautiful he could never find it in his
heart to eat her, but brought her up as his own child. Her name was
Sonahri Rani, that is, the Golden Rani, because her teeth and her hair
were made of gold. Now the Rakshas who had carried her off, and whom
she called Papa, had a great thick stick, and when he laid this stick
at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it at her head, she
could move again.

When the Raja's son came up, Sonahri Rani was lying on her bed with
the thick stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw the Raja's son she
began to cry very much. "Oh, why have you come here? You will surely
be killed," she said. The Raja's son answered, "I cannot help that. I
am the Rani's servant, so I must do what she tells me." "Of course,"
said Sonahri Rani; "but put this stick at my head, and then I shall be
able to move." The Raja's son laid the stick at her head, and she got
up and gave him some food, and then asked him if he had a letter.
"Yes," he answered. "Let me see it," said the Sonahri Rani. So he gave
her the letter, and when she had read it she cried, "Oh, this is a
very wicked letter. It will bring you no good; for if the Rakshases
see it, they will kill you." "Indeed," said Hiralalbasa. And the
Sonahri Rani tore up the letter and wrote another in which she said,
"Make much of this boy. Send hi