Page:Santal Folk Tales.djvu/93

This page needs to be proofread.

THE STORY OF LELHA. 81

A short distance from where he reached the ground, he found a door, which was guarded by an elephant bound by the foot to a staka To him he threw a bundle of grass and passed on. At the next door he found a tiger, likewise chained, and as he approached, it opened its jaws as if to devour him. To it, he gave a goat, and was allowed to pass. At the third door was a dog. He threw a shoe to it, and when the dog was engaged biting it, he passed through. Then he saw the hira sparkling upon the bosom of the sleeping Indarpuri Kuri. Going near, he snatched it up, and fled. The dog, however, barred his exit but he threw the other' shoe to it, and passed on. The tiger had devoured the goat he had given to it, and was now alert. To it he gave the other goat, and hurried on. The elephant then opposed him, but the remaining bundle of grass was sufficient to divert his attention, and he passed through the last door. Then violently shaking the rope his brothers speedily hauled him up.

Then they went to their boat, and rowed to another part of the island, where the Sinjo tree grew. They all climbed the tree, but Lelha plucked the five fruits on the branch to the South, while his brothers plucked a large number from the North side.

They then returned to their boat and rowed back to the place from which they had started. From there they went to the house of Lelha's bride. When she heard of their arrival she ordered refreshments to be prepared for them. Her servants also all came, and gave Lelha and his brothers oil, and sent them to hatha On their return from bathing, their feet were washed by servants,, and they were then taken into the house.

After they were seated Lelha's brothers began to whisper to each other, saying, " We do not know of what caste these people are, to whose house he has brought us to eat food. He will cause us to lose caste." Lelha heard what they were say-ing, and in explanation said, " Not so, brothers. This is my wife's house." They replied, " It is all right then." So they ate and drank heartily, and afterwards prepared to return home.

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.