CHAPTER XIV


It was very difficult to persuade Putraka to go, but at last he
flew away. Every night after that, however, he came to see Patala,
spending the days sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, and
using his magic bowl to supply himself with food. Alas, he forgot
all about the dear old woman to whom he owed all his happiness,
and she slowly gave up hope of ever seeing him again. He might quite
easily have flown to her cottage and cheered her with his presence;
but he was so wrapped up in his love for Patala that everything else
went out of his head. This selfishness on his part presently got him
into serious trouble, for he became careless about making himself
invisible when he flew up to the princess' window. So that one night
he was discovered by a guardian of the palace. The matter was at once
reported to the king, who could not at first believe such a thing
was possible. The man must have seen a big bird, that was all. The
king, however, ordered one of his daughter's ladies to keep watch
every night in an ante-room, leaving the door open with the tapestry,
in which there was a slit, drawn carefully over it, and to come and
tell him in the morning if she had seen or heard anything unusual.

Now the lady chosen loved the princess, and, like many of her
fellow-attendants, thought it was very cruel of the king to punish his
own child for being so beautiful, by shutting her up as he did. It
so happened that the very first night she was on guard, Putraka had
flown a very, very long way, not noticing where he was going, because
he was thinking so earnestly of Patala. When at last he flew in at