Page:Indian Fairy Tales (Suniti Devi).djvu/14

mother say there is nobody like the husband to a woman, and that she can love no one more than her husband. I often wonder if I shall ever get married."

"And why not?" said the sisters, "Of course, we all shall, some day."

"Then," said the youngest sister, "I would love my husband most, and would always like to be with him."

"Oh, don't, don't!" they all cried aloud. "Both father and mother, hearing you speak like that, would turn you out of the house."

"Try and forget what you said," the sisters continued, "You cannot possibly love your husband more than you love us."

"Yes, I will," said the girl. "I will love my husband more than any one in this world."

"Very well, then, we will go and tell mother what you have said."

The little sister said: "Don't you know, dear sisters, how mother speaks of her childhood, how happy she was with her brothers and sisters? And now mother says that nothing would make her leave father and go back to the happy home she had in her childhood. My ideal of happiness is my mother's. I don't think any woman could be happier than mother is, and my ambition is to be like my mother."