wits and galloped home with his one mango. His wife ate it, and in nine
months she presented her husband with a son. When the little boy was
eight years old his sacred thread was put on, and his mother said,
"It is time to think of his marriage." But the bania said, "I dare
not marry him unless he first makes a pilgrimage to Benares." His
maternal uncle agreed to take the little boy to Benares.

So off they started together, and some days later the uncle and nephew
halted at a village where some little girls were playing. One of
the little girls said to the other, "You are nothing but a wretched
little widow." But the other little girl said, "Oh no! there are
never any widows in our family. Mother worships Parwati and so I
can never be a widow." The uncle heard this, and thought that if his
nephew could only marry a little girl who could not become a widow,
he would not die young. So he began to think how he could bring
about the marriage. Now it so happened that the little girl was
to be married that day. But in the morning the boy to whom she was
betrothed fell ill. Her parents were in great trouble, but at last
they thought that, rather than postpone the wedding and disappoint
all the guests, it would be better to marry their little daughter to
the first traveller who passed through the village. So they went to
the rest-house to inquire if any one was there. There they found the
uncle and nephew, and they married their little girl to the latter
that very evening when the cows were homing. They drew on the wall
a picture of Shiva and Parwati, and they put the children to bed
beneath it. Parwati appeared to the little girl in her sleep. The
goddess said, "My child, a snake will come to bite your husband: give
it milk to drink. Then put near it a new earthen jar. When the snake
has finished drinking, it will enter the earthen jar. Then at once
pull off your bodice and stuff it into the jar's mouth. Next morning