nd told his wife and she said,
"This is excellent: I have a younger sister in the mountain, her name
is Chandmoni and it was she who planted the Chandmoni Kusum flower;
when you get there call her by her name and she will certainly give
you the flower."
So Lela started off and when he was gone his wife fell ill, and
her body became a mass of sores. Directly Lela was out of the way,
the Raja sent the old woman to see what his wife was doing and she
brought back word that she was afflicted with illness; so the Raja
sent medicines and told the old woman to nurse her. Lela went off and
came to the cave in the mountain where Chandmoni lived with the Rakhas;
and the Rakhas was away hunting men, so Lela called out Chandmoni and
told her who he was and begged her to hide him; then they planned how
they should kill the Rakhas, and she hid him in the cave; presently
the Rakhas returned and said to Chandmoni "I smell a man: where is
he?" But Chandmoni said that there was no one there but herself;
and that the smell was probably due to the Rakhas having been eating
human flesh and recommended her to anoint herself with hot ghee. The
Rakhas agreed: so Chandmoni put a great iron pan of ghee on to boil,
and when it was boiling she called the Rakhas, and as the Rakhas was
leaning over the pan, Lela ran out and pushed her into the boiling
ghee and she died. Then Chandmoni asked Lela why he had come, and
he told her, "to fetch the flower." She promised to give it to him
but asked what was to become of her now that the ogress with whom she
lived was dead. Lela promised to take her with him, so they cut off the
tongue and ears and claws of the Rakhas and returned to the city. And
directly Lela returned, his first wife recovered from her illness.
Then the Raja saw that it was useless to contend with Lela, and he
gave him half his kingdom and married him to his sister according
to his bond. So Lela lived with his three Ranis and they bore him
children and after some years he told them that he was the son of a
Raja and he wished to visit his own country and see whether his father
was alive. So they set out in great style with horses and elephants
and came to the town where Lela's father lived. Now five or six days
after abandoning Lela, his father had become blind and, he made over
the management of his kingdom to a Dewan, and the Dewan and the Rani
managed everything. When the Dewan heard that Lela had come with a
great force he thought
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