t her
head. Then she gave him some food, and just before the Rakshas came
home, he bade her ask him where he kept his soul. When she saw him
coming, Sonahri Rani turned Hiralalbasa into a little fly, put him in
a tiny box, and put the box under her pillow. As soon as she and the
Rakshas had gone to bed, she asked him, "Papa, where do you keep your
soul?" "Sixteen miles away from this place," said he, "is a tree.
Round the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and snakes; on
the top of the tree is a very great fat snake; on his head is a little
cage; in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in that bird." The little
fly listened all the time. The next morning, when the Rakshas had
gone, Sonahri Rani took the fly and gave him back his human form, gave
him some food, and then asked to see his letter. When she had read it
she screamed and said, "Oh! if you go with this letter you will
surely die." So she tore it up into little bits and threw it into the
fire. And she wrote another in which she said, "Make a great deal of
this boy; see that he gets no hurt; give him the sari for me; show him
the garden; and be very kind to him." She then gave Hiralal the
letter, and he journeyed on in safety till he reached his
Rakshas-grannie's house.

The Rakshas-grannie was very good to him; showed him the garden, and
gave him the sari; and he then said his mother, the Rakshas-Rani, was
in great trouble about her soul, and wanted very much to have it. So
the Rakshas-grannie gave him a bird in which was the Rakshas-Rani's
soul, charging him to take the greatest care of it. Then he said, "My
mother, the Rakshas-Rani, also wants a stone such that, if you lay it
on the ground, or if you put it in your clothes, it will become gold,
and also your long heavy gold necklace that hangs down to the waist."
Both these things the Rakshas-grannie gave to Hiralal. Then he
returned to Sonahri Rani's house, where he found her lying on her bed
with the thick stick at her feet. "Oh, there you are," said Sonahri
Rani, laughing. "Yes," he said, "I have come." And he put the stick at
her head, and she got up and gave him some food.

He told her he was going to fetch her Rakshas-father's soul, but that
he did not quite know how to pass through the tigers and bears, and
scorpions and snakes, that guarded it. So she gave him a feather, and
said, "As long as you hold this feather straight, you can come to no
harm, for you will be invisible. You will see everyt