him and there was no visible wound. The two women then
chopped up the liver and heart and cooked and ate them.

That night when the village youths came round to the house, singing,
Chandrai slipped out with them unperceived and hastened home. Two or
three days later the bewitched man became seriously ill; medicines
and sacrifices did him no good; the _ojhas_ were called in but could
make nothing of the illness. The villagers were very angry with them
for the failure and the headman told them that they must ascertain
by means of the oiled leaf who had caused the illness, or it would
be the worse for them. So the _ojhas_ went through their ceremonies
and after a time declared that the oiled leaf showed the faces of
the two girls Rupi and Bindi; and that it was they who were eating
up the sick man. So the two girls were sent for and questioned but
they solemnly swore that they knew nothing about the matter. No one
believed their protestations and the headman ordered that filth should
be put into their mouths and that they should be well beaten to make
them confess. However before any harm was done them Chandrai sprang
up and called out to the headman: "You have proof that these girls
are witches, but I will not let you beat them here. Let us take them
to yonder open field; the token of their oath is there and we will
make them first remove it. If we beat them first they will probably
refuse to remove the oath." "How do you know about their oath?" asked
the headman. "Never mind, I do know." The villagers were convinced by
his confident manner and all went with the two girls to the open field.

Chandrai's object was to get away from the witches' house for he was
afraid to speak there; but when they were out in the open he stood up
and told the villagers all that he had seen and heard the two witches
do; they remembered that he had been missing for a whole day during
the Sohrai festival and believed him. So the sick man's wife and
mother were fetched and well beaten to make them restore the sick
man to health; but his liver and heart had been eaten so that the
case was hopeless and in a few days he was dead. His relations in
revenge soon killed the two witches.

Rupi and Bindi whose lives had been saved by Chandrai went and
established themselves in his house, for they declared that as they
owed their lives to him it was plain that he must marry them.

CLXXXII. The Sister-in-Law Who Was a Witch.

There were once