The Lucky Sneeze

Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in
Benares, he had in his service a brahmin who professed
to tell whether swords were lucky or not, and all came to
pass as in the Introductory Story 1 . And the king called
in the surgeons and had him fitted with a false tip to his
nose which was cunningly painted for all the world like
a real nose; and then the brahmin resumed his duties
again about the king. Now Brahmadatta had no son,
only a daughter and a nephew, whom he had brought up
under his own eye. And when these two grew up, they
fell in love with one another. So the king sent for his
councillors and said to them, "My nephew is heir to the
throne. If I give him my daughter to wife, he shall be
anointed king."

But, on second thoughts, he decided that as in any
case his nephew was like a son, he had better marry him
to a foreign princess, and give his daughter to a prince
of another royal house. For, he thought, this plan would
give him more grandchildren and vest in his line the
sceptres of two several kingdoms. And, after consulting
with his councillors, he resolved to separate the two, and
they were accordingly made to dwell apart from one
another. Now they were sixteen years old and very much
in love, and the young prince thought of nothing but how
to carry oif his cousin from her father's palace. At last
the plan struck him of sending for a wise woman, to whom
he gave a pocketful of money.

" And what am I to do for this ? " said she.

" There is nothing you can't do, tell me how you can get
my uncle to let his daughter out of the palace."

And she promised to help him, and said that she
would tell the king that his daughter was under the
influence of witchcraft, but that, as the demon had
possessed her so long that he was off his guard, she
would take the princess one day in a carriage to the
cemetery with a strong escort under arms, and there in
a magic circle lay the princess on a bed with a dead man
under it, and with a hundred and eight douches of
scented water wash the demon out of her. "And when
on this pretext I bring the princess to the cemetery,"
continued the wise woman, " mind that you just reach the
cemetery before us in your carriage with an armed escort,
taking some ground pepper with you. Arrived at the
cemetery, you will leave your carriage at the entrance,
and despatch your men to the cemetery grove, while you
will yourself go to the top of the mound and lie down
as though dead. Then I will come and set up a bed over
you on which I will lay the princess. Then will come the
time when you must sniff at the pepper till you sneeze
two or three times, and when you sneeze we will leave the
princess and take to our heels. Thereon you and the
princess must bathe all over, and you must take her
home with you." "Capital," said the prince; "a most
excellent device."

So away went the wise woman to the king, and he fell
in with her idea, as did the princess when it was explained
to her. When the day came, the old woman told the
princess their errand, and said to the guards on the road
in order to frighten them, " Listen. Under the bed that
I shall set up, there will be a dead man ; and that dead
man will sneeze. And mark well that, so soon as he has
sneezed, he will come out from under the bed and seize
on the first person he finds. So be prepared, all of you."

Now the prince had already got to the place and got
under the bed as had been arranged.

Next the crone led off the princess and laid her upon
the bed, whispering to her not to be afraid. At once the
prince sniffed at the pepper and fell a-sneezing. And
scarce had he begun to sneeze before the wise woman left
the princess and with a loud scream was off, quicker than
any of them. Not a man stood his ground ; one and all
they threw awav their arms and bolted for dear life.

Hereon the prince came forth and bore off the princess
to his home, as had been before arranged. And the old
woman made her way to the king and told him what had
happened.

" Well," thought the king, " I always intended her for
him, and they've grown up together like ghee in rice-
porridge." So he didn't fly into a passion, but in course
of time made his nephew king of the land, with his
daughter as queen-consort.

Now the new king kept on in his service the brahmin
who professed to tell the temper of swords, and one day
as he stood in the sun, the false tip to the brahmin's nose
got loose and fell off. And there he stood, hanging his
head for very shame. " Never mind, never mind," laughed
the king. " Sneezing is good for some, but bad for others.
One sneeze lost you your nose ; whilst I have to thank a
sneeze for both my throne and queen." So saying he
uttered this stanza:

Our diverse fates this moral shew,
-What brings one weal, may work another woe.

So spake the king, and after a life spent in charity
and other good works, he passed away to fare according
to his deserts.