impaled, and the drums were beaten. And Pearl, the merchant's
daughter, saw him from her balcony. All bloody and dusty as he
was, she went mad with love, found her father, and said to him:
"Father, I am going to marry that thief who is being led to
execution. You must save him from the king. Otherwise I shall die
with him."

But her father said: "What do you mean, my daughter? That thief
stole everything the citizens had, and the king's men are going to
kill him. How can I save him from the king? Besides, what
nonsense are you talking?" But the more he scolded, the more
determined she became. And as he loved his daughter, he went to
the king and offered all he had for the release of the thief.

But the king would not be tempted by millions. He would not
release the thief who stole everything, whom he had captured at
the risk of his life. So the father returned home sadly. And the girl,
not heeding the arguments of her relatives, took a bath, entered a
litter, and went to the death-scene of the rogue, to die with him.
Her parents and her relatives followed her, weeping.

At that moment the executioners impaled the thief. As his life
ebbed away, he saw the girl and the people with her, and learned
her story. Then the tears rolled down his cheeks, but he died with a
smile on his lips.

The faithful girl took the thief's body from the stake, and mounted
the pyre to burn herself. But the blessed god Shiva was staying
invisibly in the cemetery, and at that moment he spoke from the
sky: "O faithful wife, I am pleased with your constancy to the