A Wonderful Story

Once there lived two wrestlers, who were both very very strong. The
stronger of the two had a daughter called Ajit; the other had no
daughter at all. These wrestlers did not live in the same country, but
their two villages were not far apart.

One day the wrestler that had no daughter heard of the wrestler that
had a daughter, and he determined to go and find him and wrestle with
him, to see who was the stronger. He went therefore to Ajit's father's
country, and when he arrived at his house, he knocked at the door and
said, "Is any one here?" Ajit answered, "Yes, I am here;" and she came
out. "Where is the wrestler who lives in this house?" he asked. "My
father," answered Ajit, "has taken three hundred carts to the jungle,
and he is drawing them himself, as he could not get enough bullocks
and horses to pull them along. He is gone to get wood." This
astonished the wrestler very much. "Your father must indeed be very
strong," he said.

Then he set off to the jungle, and in the jungle he found two dead
elephants. He tied them to the two ends of a pole, took the pole on
his shoulder, and returned to Ajit's house. There he knocked at the
door, crying, "Is any one here?" "Yes, I am here," said Ajit. "Has
your father come back?" asked the wrestler. "Not yet," said Ajit, who
was busy sweeping the room. Now, her father had twelve elephants.
Eleven were in the stables, but one was lying dead in the room Ajit
was sweeping; and as she swept, she swept the dead elephant without
any trouble out of the door. This frightened the wrestler. "What a
strong girl this is!" he said to himself. When Ajit had swept all the
dust out of the room, she came and gathered it and the dead elephant
up, and threw dust and elephant away. The wrestler was more and more
astonished.

He set off again to find Ajit's father, and met him pulling the three
hundred carts along. At this he was still more alarmed, but he said to
him, "Will you wrestle with me now?" "No," said Ajit's father, "I
won't; for here there is no one to see us." The other again begged him
to wrestle at once, and at that moment an old woman bent with age came
by. She was carrying bread to her son, who had taken his mother's
three or four thousand camels to browse.

The first wrestler called to her at once, "Come and see us wrestle."
"No," said the old woman, "for I must take my son his dinner. He is
very hungry." "No, no; you must stay and see us wrestle," cried both
the wrestlers. "I cannot stay," she said; "but do one of you stand on
one of my hands, and the other on the other, and then you can wrestle
as we go along." "You carry us!" cried the men. "You are so old, you
will never be able to carry us." "Indeed I shall," said the old woman.
So they got up on her hands, and she rested her hands, with the
wrestlers standing on them, on her shoulders; and her son's
flour-cakes she put on her head. Thus they went on their way, and the
men wrestled as they went.

Now the old woman had told her son that if he did not do his work
well, she would bring men to kill him; so he was dreadfully frightened
when he saw his mother coming with the wrestlers. "Here is my mother
coming to kill me," he said: and he tied up the three or four
thousand camels in his cloth, put them all on his head, and ran off
with them as fast as he could. "Stop, stop!" cried his mother, when
she saw him running away. But he only ran on still faster, and the old
woman and the wrestlers ran after him.

Just then a kite was flying about, and the kite said to itself, "There
must be some meat in that man's cloth," so it swept down and carried
off the bundle of camels. The old woman's son at this sat down and
cried.

The wrestlers soon came up to him and said, "What are you crying for?"
"Oh," answered the boy, "my mother said that if I did not do my work,
she would bring men to kill me. So, when I saw you coming with her, I
tied all the camels up in my cloth, put them on my head, and ran off.
A kite came down and carried them all away. That is why I am crying."
The wrestlers were much astonished at the boy's strength and at the
kite's strength, and they all three set off in the direction in which
the kite had flown.

Meanwhile the kite had flown on and on till it had reached another
country, and the daughter of the Raja of this country was sitting on
the roof of the palace, combing her long black hair. The princess
looked up at the kite and the bundle, and said, "There must be meat in
that bundle." At that moment the kite let the bundle of camels fall,
and it fell into the princess's eye, and went deep into it; but her
eye was so large that it did not hurt her much. "Oh, mother! mother!"
she cried, "something has fallen into my eye! come and take it out."
Her mother rushed up, took the bundle of camels out of the princess's
eye, and shoved the bundle into her pocket.

The wrestlers and the old woman's son now came up, having seen all
that had happened. "Where is the bundle of camels?" said they, "and
why do you cry?" they asked the princess. "Oh," said her mother, "she
is crying because something fell into her eye." "It was the bundle of
camels that fell into her eye, and the bundle is in your pocket," said
the old woman's son to the Rani: and he put his hand into her pocket
and pulled out the bundle. Then he and the wrestlers went back to
Ajit's father's house, and on the way they met his old mother, who
went with them.

They invited a great many people to dinner, and Ajit took a large
quantity of flour and made it into flat cakes. Then she handed a cake
to the wrestler who had come to see her father, and gave one to
everybody else. "I can't eat such a big cake as this," said the
wrestler. "Can't you?" said Ajit. "I can't indeed," he answered; "it
is much too big." "Then I will eat it myself," said Ajit, and taking
it and all the other cakes she popped them into her mouth together.
"That is not half enough for me," she said. Then she offered him a can
of water. "I cannot drink all that water," he said. "Can't you?" said
Ajit; "I can drink much more than that." So she filled a large tub
with water, lifted it to her mouth, and drank it all up at a draught.

The wrestler was very much astonished, and said to her, "Will you come
to my house? I will give you a dinner." "You will never be able to
give me enough to eat and drink," said Ajit. "Yes, I shall," he said.
"You will not be able to give me enough, I am sure," said Ajit; "I
cannot come." "Do come," he said. "Very well," she answered, "I will
come; but I know you will never be able to give me enough food."

So they set off to his house. But when they had gone a little way, she
said, "I must have my house with me." "I cannot carry your house,"
said the wrestler. "You must," said Ajit, "if you don't, I cannot go
with you." "But I cannot carry your house," said the wrestler. "Well,
then," said Ajit, "I will carry it myself." So she went back, dug up
her house, and hoisted it on her head. This frightened the wrestler.
"What a strong woman she must be!" he thought. "I will not wrestle
with her father; for if I do, he will kill me."

Then they all went on till they came to his house. When they got to
it, Ajit set her house down on the ground, and the wrestler went to
get the dinner he had promised her. He brought quantities of
things--all sorts of things--everything he could think of. Three kinds
of flour, milk, dhall, rice, curries, and meat. Then he showed them
all to Ajit. "That is not enough for my dinner," she said. "Why, that
would be hardly enough for my mice!"

The wrestler wondered very much at this, and asked, "Are your mice so
very big?" "Yes, they are very big," she answered; "come and see." So
he took up all the food he had brought, and laid it on the floor of
Ajit's house. Then at once all the mice came and ate it up every bit.
The wrestler was greatly surprised; and Ajit said, "Did I not tell you
true? and did I not tell you, you would never be able to get me enough
to eat?" "Come to the Nabha Raja's country," said the wrestler. "There
you will surely get enough to eat."

To this she agreed; so she, her father, and the wrestler went off to
the Nabha Raja's country. "I have brought a very strong girl," said
the wrestler to the Nabha Raja. "I will try her strength," said the
Raja. "Give me three elephants," said Ajit, "and I will carry them for
you." Then the Raja sent for three elephants, and said to her, "Now,
carry these." "Give me a rope," said Ajit. So they gave her a rope,
and she tied the three elephants together, and flung them over her
shoulder. "Now, where shall I throw them?" she said to the astonished
Raja. "Shall I throw them on to the roof of your palace? or on to the
ground? or away out there?" "I don't know," said the Raja. "Throw them
upon my roof." She threw the elephants up on to the roof with such
force that it broke, and the elephants fell through into the palace.

"What have you done?" cried the Raja. "It is not my fault," answered
Ajit. "You told me to throw the elephants on to your roof, and so I
did." Then the Raja sent for a great many men and bullocks and horses
to pull the elephants out of his palace. But they could not the first
time they pulled; then they tried a second time and succeeded, and
they threw the elephants away.

Then Ajit went home. "What shall I do with this dreadful woman?" said
the Nabha Raja. "She is sure to kill me, and take all my country. I
will try to kill her." So he got his sepoys and guns into order, and
went out to kill Ajit. She was looking out of her window, and saw them
coming. "Oh," she said, "here is the Nabha Raja coming to kill me."
Then she went out of her house and asked him why he had come. "To kill
you," said the Raja. "Is that what you want to do?" she said; and with
one hand she took up the Raja, his guns, and his sepoys, and put them
all under her arm: and she carried them all off to the Nabha Raja's
country. There she put the Raja into prison, and made herself Rani of
his kingdom. She was very much pleased at being Rani of the Nabha
country; for it was a rich country, and there were quantities of
fruits and of corn in it. And she lived happily for a long, long time.