Brave Hiralalbasa

Once there was a Raja called Manikbasa Raja, or the Ruby King, who had
seven wives and seven children. One day he told his wives he would go
out hunting, and he rode on and on, a long, long way from his palace.
A Rakshas was sitting by the wayside, who, seeing the Raja coming,
quickly turned herself into a beautiful Rani, and sat there crying.
The Raja asked her, "Why do you cry?" And the Rakshas answered, "My
husband has gone away. He has been away many days, and I think he will
never come back again. If some Raja will take me to his house and
marry me, I shall be very glad." So the Raja said, "Will you come with
me?" And the Rakshas answered, "Very well, I will come." And then the
Raja took the pretended Rani home with him and married her. He gave
her a room to live in. Every night at twelve o'clock the Rakshas got
up and devoured an elephant, or a horse, or some other animal. The
Raja said, "What can become of my elephants and horses? Every day
either an elephant or a horse disappears. Who can take them away?" The
Rakshas-Rani said to him, "Your seven Ranis are Rakshases, and every
night at twelve o'clock they devour a horse, or an elephant, or some
other creature."

So the Raja believed her, and had a great hole dug just outside his
kingdom, into which he put the seven Ranis with their children, and
then he sent a sepoy to them and bade him take out all the Ranis'
eyes, and bring them to him. This the sepoy did. After a time the
poor Ranis grew so hungry that six of them ate their children, but the
seventh Rani, who was the youngest of them all, declared she would
never eat her child though she might die of hunger, "for," she said,
"I love him a great deal too much." God was very pleased with the
seventh Rani for this, and so every day he sent her a little food,
which she divided with the other Ranis. And every day her little boy
grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until he had become a strong lad,
when, as he thought it was very dark in the hole, he climbed out of it
and looked all about. Then he came back to his mothers (for he called
all the seven Ranis "Mother" now), who told him he was not to clamber
up out of the hole any more, for if he did, some one might kill him.
"Still, if you will go," they added, "do not go to your father's
kingdom, but stay near this place." The boy said, "Very well," and
every day he climbed out of the hole and only went where his seven
mothers told him he might go, and he used to beg the people about to
give him a little rice, and flour and bread, which they did.

One day he said to his mothers, "If you let me go now to my father's
kingdom, I will go." "Well, you may go," they said; "but come back
again soon." This he promised to do, and he went to his father's
kingdom. For some time he stood daily at the door of his father's
palace and then returned to the hole. One day the Rakshas-Rani was
standing in the verandah, and she thought, "I am sure that is the
Raja's son." The servants every day asked the boy, "Why do you always
stand at the door of the palace?" "I want service with the Raja," he
would reply. "If the Raja has any place he can give me, I will take
it."

The Rakshas-Rani said to the Raja, "The boy standing out there wants
service. May I take him into mine?" The Raja answered, "Very well,
send for him." So all the servants ran and fetched the boy. The
Rakshas-Rani asked him, "Are you willing to do anything I tell you?"
The boy said, "Yes." "Then you shall be my servant," she said, and
first she told him he must go to the Rakshas country to fetch some
rose-water for her. "I will give you a letter," she said, "so that no
harm may happen to you." The lad answered, "Very well, only you must
give me three shields full of money." She gave him the three shields
full of money, and he took them and went home to his mothers. Then he
got two servants for them, one to take care of them, and one to go to
the bazar. His mothers gave him food for the journey, and he left them
the remainder of his money, telling them to take great care of it. He
then returned to the Rakshas-Rani for his letter. She told the Raja
she was feeling ill, and would not be quite well until she got some
rose-water from the Rakshas country. The Raja said, "Then you had
better send this boy for it." So she gave him a letter, in which she
had written, "When this boy arrives among you, kill him and eat him
instantly," and he set out at once.

He went on and on till he came to a great river in which lived a huge
water-snake. When the water-snake saw him it began to weep very much,
and cried out to the boy, "If you go to the Rakshas country you will
be eaten up." The lad, whose name was Hiralalbasa, said, "I cannot
help it; I am the Rani's servant, so I must do what she tells me."
"Well," said the water-snake, "get on my back, and I will take you
across this river." So he got on the water-snake's back, and it took
him over the river. Then Hiralalbasa went on and on until he came to a
house in which a Rakshas lived. A Rani lived there too that the
Rakshas had carried off from her father and mother when she was a
little girl. She was playing in her father the Sondarbasa Raja's
garden, which was full of delicious fruits, which the Rakshas came to
eat, and when he saw Sonahri Rani he seized her in his mouth and ran
off with her. Only she was so beautiful he could never find it in his
heart to eat her, but brought her up as his own child. Her name was
Sonahri Rani, that is, the Golden Rani, because her teeth and her hair
were made of gold. Now the Rakshas who had carried her off, and whom
she called Papa, had a great thick stick, and when he laid this stick
at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it at her head, she
could move again.

When the Raja's son came up, Sonahri Rani was lying on her bed with
the thick stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw the Raja's son she
began to cry very much. "Oh, why have you come here? You will surely
be killed," she said. The Raja's son answered, "I cannot help that. I
am the Rani's servant, so I must do what she tells me." "Of course,"
said Sonahri Rani; "but put this stick at my head, and then I shall be
able to move." The Raja's son laid the stick at her head, and she got
up and gave him some food, and then asked him if he had a letter.
"Yes," he answered. "Let me see it," said the Sonahri Rani. So he gave
her the letter, and when she had read it she cried, "Oh, this is a
very wicked letter. It will bring you no good; for if the Rakshases
see it, they will kill you." "Indeed," said Hiralalbasa. And the
Sonahri Rani tore up the letter and wrote another in which she said,
"Make much of this boy. Send him home quickly, and give him a jug of
rose-water to bring back with him, and see that he gets no hurt." Then
the Raja's son set out again for the Rakshas-Rani's mother's house. He
had not gone very far when he met a very big Rakshas, and he cried out
to him, "Uncle." "Who is this boy," said the Rakshas, "who calls me
uncle?" And he was just going to kill him when Hiralalbasa showed his
letter, and the Rakshas let him pass on. He went a little further
until he met another Rakshas, bigger than the first, and the Rakshas
screamed at him and was just going to fall on him and kill him, but
the Raja's son showed the letter, and the Rakshas let him pass
unhurt. When Hiralalbasa came to the Rakshas-Rani's mother he showed
her the letter, and she gave him the rose-water at once and sent him
off. All the Rakshases were very good to him, and some carried him
part of the way home. When he came to Sonahri Rani's house she was
lying on her bed with the stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw
Hiralalbasa she laughed and said, "Oh, you have come back again? Put
this stick at my head." "Yes," said the Raja's son, "I've come back
again, but I was dreadfully frightened very often." Then he put the
stick at her head, and she gave him some food to eat. After he had
eaten it he went on again, and when he came to the river the
water-snake carried him across to the other side, and he travelled to
his father's kingdom. There he went to the Rakshas-Rani and gave her
the rose-water. She was very angry at seeing him, and said, "I'm sure
my father and my mother, my brothers and my sisters, don't love me one
bit."

And she said to Hiralalbasa, "You must go to-morrow to the Rakshas
kingdom to fetch me flowers." "I will go," said Hiralal, "but this
time I must have four shields full of rupees." The Rakshas-Rani gave
him the four shields full of rupees; and the Raja's son went to his
mother's hole and bought a quantity of food for them, enough to last
them all the time he should be away, and he hired two servants for
them, and said good-bye to his seven mothers and returned to
Manikbasa's palace for his letter. This the Rakshas-Rani gave him, and
in it she wrote, "Kill him and eat him at once. If you do not, and you
send him back to me, I will never see your faces again." Hiralal took
his letters and went on his way. When he reached the river the
water-snake took him across to the other side, and he walked on till
he came to Sonahri Rani's house. She was lying on the bed with the
stick at her feet. "Oh, why have you come here again?" she said. "How
can I help coming?" said the Raja's son. "I must do what my mistress
bids me." "So you must," said the Sonahri Rani; "but put this stick at
my head." This he did, and she got up and gave him food, and asked him
to let her see his letter, and when she had read it she cried, "This
is a very wicked letter. If you take it with you, you will surely
die." Then she tore up the letter and burnt it, and wrote another in
which she said, "You must all be very good to this boy. Show him all
the gardens and see that he is not hurt in any way." She gave it to
Hiralal, and he begged her to ask the Rakshas, her father, where he
kept his soul. Sonahri Rani promised she would. She then turned
Hiralal into a little fly, and put him into a tiny box, and put the
box under her pillow. When the Rakshas came home he began sniffing
about and said, "Surely there is a man here." "Oh, no," said Sonahri
Rani; "no one is here but me." The Rakshas was satisfied. When Sonahri
Rani and her father were in bed she asked, "Papa, where is your soul?"
"Why do you want to know?" said the Rakshas. "I will tell you another
day."

The next day at nine in the morning the Rakshas went away, and Sonahri
Rani took Hiralal and restored him to his human shape, and gave him
some food, and he travelled on till he reached the Rakshas-Rani's
mother, whom he called Grannie. She welcomed him very kindly and
showed him the garden, which was very large. The Raja's son noticed a
number of jugs and water-jars. So he said, "Grannie, what is there in
all these jars and jugs?" She answered, showing them to him one by
one, "In this is such and such a thing," and so on, telling him the
contents of each, till she came to the water-jar in which were his
mothers' eyes. "In this jar," said the Rakshas, "are your seven
mothers' eyes." "Oh, grannie dear!" said Hiralal, "give me my mothers'
eyes." "Very well, dear boy," said the old Rakshas, "you shall have
them." She gave him, too, some ointment, and told him to rub the eyes
with it when he put them into his mothers' heads, and that then they
would see quite well; and he took the eyes and tied them up in a
corner of his cloth. His grannie gave him the flowers, and he went
back to Sonahri Rani. She was lying on her bed with the stick at her
feet, and when she saw him she laughed and said, "Oh, so you have come
back again?" "Yes, I have," said Hiralal; "and I have got the flowers,
and my seven mothers' eyes too." "Have you indeed?" said Sonahri Rani.
"Put this stick at my head." He did so, and she got up and gave him
some food, and he told her to ask her father the Rakshas where his
soul was. She promised she would, and she changed him into a little
fly, and shut him up in a tiny box, and put the tiny box under her
pillow. By and by home came the Rakshas, and began to sniff about
crying, "A man is here!" "Oh, no," said Sonahri Rani; and she gave him
some dinner, and when they were in bed she asked him, "Papa, where is
your soul?" "I'll tell you another day," said the Rakshas. The next
day, when he had gone out to find food, Sonahri Rani took the little
fly, Hiralal, and restored him to his human shape, and gave him some
food and sent him on his way. When he reached the river, the
water-snake took him over to the other side, and he journeyed on till
he came to his father's kingdom. First he went to his mothers' hole
and gave them their fourteen eyes, and he put them into their heads
with the ointment which the Rakshas-grannie had given him. Then he
went to Manikbasa Raja's palace, and when the Rakshas-Rani saw him she
was furious. "I am sure my father and my mother, my sisters and my
brothers, do not love me one bit. I will never see their faces again.
But I'll send him to them once more."

This is what she thought, but she took the flowers and said, "You must
go a third time to the Rakshas country."

"I will," said the boy: "only I'll not go till the fourth day from
to-day, for I am very tired. And you must give me four shields full of
rupees." "Good," said the Rakshas-Rani. "This time you must get me a
sari."[2] And she gave him the four shields full of money. Then he
went to his mothers, and bought them a house and got food for them,
and stayed with them four days.

At the end of the four days he went to the Rakshas-Rani, who gave him
a letter in which she had written, "If you do not kill and eat this
boy as soon as he arrives, I will never see your faces again." The
Raja's son took the letter and set out on his journey.

When he came to the river, the water-snake took him across; and when
he arrived at Sonahri Rani's house, there she was lying on her bed
with the thick stick at her feet. She said, "Oh, you have come here
again, have you?" "Yes," he said, "I have come for the last time."
"Put the stick at my head," said she. So he laid the stick at her
head. Then she gave him some food, and just before the Rakshas came
home, he bade her ask him where he kept his soul. When she saw him
coming, Sonahri Rani turned Hiralalbasa into a little fly, put him in
a tiny box, and put the box under her pillow. As soon as she and the
Rakshas had gone to bed, she asked him, "Papa, where do you keep your
soul?" "Sixteen miles away from this place," said he, "is a tree.
Round the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and snakes; on
the top of the tree is a very great fat snake; on his head is a little
cage; in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in that bird." The little
fly listened all the time. The next morning, when the Rakshas had
gone, Sonahri Rani took the fly and gave him back his human form, gave
him some food, and then asked to see his letter. When she had read it
she screamed and said, "Oh! if you go with this letter you will
surely die." So she tore it up into little bits and threw it into the
fire. And she wrote another in which she said, "Make a great deal of
this boy; see that he gets no hurt; give him the sari for me; show him
the garden; and be very kind to him." She then gave Hiralal the
letter, and he journeyed on in safety till he reached his
Rakshas-grannie's house.

The Rakshas-grannie was very good to him; showed him the garden, and
gave him the sari; and he then said his mother, the Rakshas-Rani, was
in great trouble about her soul, and wanted very much to have it. So
the Rakshas-grannie gave him a bird in which was the Rakshas-Rani's
soul, charging him to take the greatest care of it. Then he said, "My
mother, the Rakshas-Rani, also wants a stone such that, if you lay it
on the ground, or if you put it in your clothes, it will become gold,
and also your long heavy gold necklace that hangs down to the waist."
Both these things the Rakshas-grannie gave to Hiralal. Then he
returned to Sonahri Rani's house, where he found her lying on her bed
with the thick stick at her feet. "Oh, there you are," said Sonahri
Rani, laughing. "Yes," he said, "I have come." And he put the stick at
her head, and she got up and gave him some food.

He told her he was going to fetch her Rakshas-father's soul, but that
he did not quite know how to pass through the tigers and bears, and
scorpions and snakes, that guarded it. So she gave him a feather, and
said, "As long as you hold this feather straight, you can come to no
harm, for you will be invisible. You will see everything, but nothing
will see you."

He carried the feather straight as she had bidden him and reached the
tree in safety. Then he climbed up it, took the little cage, and came
down again. Though the Rakshas was far off, he knew at once something
had happened to his bird. Hiralal pulled off the bird's right leg, and
the Rakshas' right leg fell off, but on he hopped on one leg. Then
the Raja's son pulled off the bird's left leg, and off fell the
Rakshas' left leg, but still he went on towards his house on his
hands. Then Hiralal pulled off the bird's wings, and the Rakshas' two
arms fell off. And then, just as the Rakshas reached the door of his
house, Hiralal wrung the bird's neck, and the Rakshas fell dead.
Sonahri Rani was greatly frightened when she heard such a heavy thing
fall thump on the ground so close to the house, but she could not
move, for the thick stick lay at her feet. Hiralal ran as fast as he
could to Sonahri Rani. When he arrived at the door of her house he saw
the Rakshas lying dead, and he went in and told Sonahri Rani that her
Rakshas-father was killed. "Nonsense," she said. "It is true," said
Hiralal; "come and see." So he put the stick at her head. "I am sure
you are telling a lie," said Sonahri Rani. "I should be very glad if
he were dead, for I do not like living with him, I am so afraid of
him." "Indeed he's dead. Do come and see," said Hiralal. Then they
went outside, and when Sonahri Rani saw her Rakshas-father lying there
dead, she was exceedingly happy, and said to Hiralal, "I will go home
with you, and be your wife." So they were married, and then they went
into Sonahri Rani's Rakshas-father's house and took all the money and
jewels they could find. And Hiralal gave the sari, the stone, and the
necklace to Sonahri Rani, and he took some flowers for the
Rakshas-Rani.

When they came to the river, the water-snake carried them across to
the other side, and they travelled on till they came to Manikbasa
Raja's kingdom. There Hiralal went first of all to his mothers, and
when they saw Sonahri Rani they wondered who the beautiful woman could
be that their son had brought home. He said to them, "This is Sonahri
Rani, my wife. But for her I should have died." Then he bought a grand
house for Sonahri Rani and his seven mothers to live in, and he got
four servants for Sonahri Rani, two to cook, and two to wait on her.
The seven mothers and Sonahri used all to sit on a beautiful, clean
quilted cushion, as big as a carpet, Sonahri Rani in the middle and
the seven mothers round her, while they sewed, or wrote, and talked.
Hiralal then went to the Rakshas-Rani and said, "I could not get the
sari you sent me for, so I brought you these flowers instead." When
she saw the flowers she was frantic. She said, "My father, my mother,
my sisters, my brothers, don't care for me, not one bit! not one
scrap! I will never see their faces again--never! never! I will send
some other messenger to them."

One day the Raja's son came to Manikbasa and said, "Would you like to
see a grand sight?" Manikbasa Raja said, "What sight?" Hiralal said,
"If you would like to see a really grand sight you must do what I tell
you." "Good," answered Manikbasa, "I will do whatever you tell me."
"Well, then," said his son, "you must build a very strong iron house,
and round it you must lay heaps of wood. In that house you must put
your present Rani." So Manikbasa Raja had a very strong iron house
built, round which he set walls of wood. Then he went to his
Rakshas-Rani and said, "Will you go inside that iron house, and see
what it is like?" "Yes, I will," answered she. The Raja had had great
venetians made for the house, and only one door. As soon as the
Rakshas-Rani had gone in, he locked the door. Then Hiralal took the
little bird, a cockatoo, in which was the Rakshas-Rani's soul, and
showed it to the Rakshas-Rani from afar off. When she saw it she
turned herself into a huge Rakshas as big as a house. She could not
turn in the iron house because she was so huge. Manikbasa was
dreadfully frightened when he saw his Rani was a horrible Rakshas.
Then Hiralal pulled off the bird's legs, and as the Rakshas was
breaking through the iron house to seize Hiralal, he wrung the
cockatoo's neck, and the Rakshas died instantly. They set fire to the
walls of wood, and the body of the wicked Rakshas was burnt to fine
ashes.

The Raja's Wazir turned to the Raja and said, "What a fool you were to
marry this Rakshas, and at her bidding to send your seven wives and
your seven sons away into the jungle, taking out your seven wives'
eyes, and being altogether so cruel to them! You are a great, great
fool!" The poor Raja wept, and then the Wazir, pointing to Hiralal,
said, "This is your seventh and youngest Rani's son." The Raja then
embraced Hiralalbasa and asked his forgiveness. And Hiralal told him
his story, how he and his mothers had lived a long, long time in the
hole; how six of the Ranis had eaten their children; how his mother
had not had the heart to eat him; how he had got his seven mothers'
eyes from the Rakshas-grannie; and lastly, how he had married Sonahri
Rani. Then the Raja ordered seven litters for his seven Ranis, and a
beautiful litter with rich cloth for Sonahri Rani. The Raja and his
Wazir and his attendants, and his son, all went with the litters to
Hiralal's house; and when the Raja saw Sonahri Rani he fell flat on
his face, he was so struck by her beauty. For she had a fair, fair
skin, rosy cheeks, blue eyes, rosy lips, golden eyelashes, and golden
eyebrows, and golden hair. When she combed her hair, she used to put
the hair she combed out in paper and to lay the paper on the river,
and it floated down to where the poor people caught it, and sold it,
and got heaps of money for it. Her sari was of gold, her shoes were of
gold, for God loved her dearly. Then the Raja rose and embraced all
his wives and Sonahri Rani, and the seven Ranis walked into the seven
litters; but Sonahri Rani was carried to hers, for fear she should
soil her feet, or get hurt. Then Manikbasa Raja gave Hiralal's house
to his Wazir, while his seven Ranis and Hiralal and Sonahri Rani lived
with him in his palace. And they lived happily for ever after.