Swiftly she went back and felt everywhere with her whole hand, even putting her fingers into the tiniest crannies, where a crab could hardly have taken shelter.
"No, he is not here," she cried. "How am I to live without him?" But the snake took no notice, and only answered, "Put in your other arm too."
"What is the use of that?" she asked, "when it has no hand to feel with?" but all the same she did as she was bid, and in an instant the wounded arm touched something round and soft, lying between two stones in a clump of reeds.
"My baby, my baby!" she shouted, and lifted him up, merry and laughing, and not a bit hurt or frightened.
"Have you found him this time?" asked the snake.
"Yes, oh, yes!" she answered, "and, why--why--I have got my hand back again!" and from sheer joy she burst into tears.
The snake let her weep for a little while, and then he said--
"Now we will journey on to my family, and we will all repay you for the kindness you showed to me."
"You have done more than enough in giving me back my hand," replied the girl; but the snake only smiled.
"Be quick, lest the sun should set," he answered, and began to wriggle along so fast that the girl could hardly follow him.
By and bye they arrived at the house in a tree where the snake lived, when he was not travelling with his father and mother. And he told them all his adventures, and how he had escaped from his enemy. The father and mother snake could not do enough to show their grat.i.tude. They made their guest lie down on a hammock woven of the strong creepers which hung from bough to bough, till she was quite rested after her wanderings, while they watched the baby and gave him milk to drink from the coconuts which they persuaded their friends the monkeys to crack for them. They even managed to carry small fruit tied up in their tails for the baby"s mother, who felt at last that she was safe and at peace. Not that she forgot her husband, for she often thought of him and longed to show him her son, and in the night she would sometimes lie awake and wonder where he was.
In this manner many weeks pa.s.sed by.
And what was the prince doing?
Well, he had fallen very ill when he was on the furthest border of the kingdom, and he was nursed by some kind people who did not know who he was, so that the king and queen heard nothing about him. When he was better he made his way slowly home again, and into his father"s palace, where he found a strange man standing behind the throne with the peac.o.c.k"s feathers. This was his wife"s brother, whom the king had taken into high favour, though, of course, the prince was quite ignorant of what had happened.
For a moment the king and queen stared at their son, as if he had been unknown to them; he had grown so thin and weak during his illness that his shoulders were bowed like those of an old man.
"Have you forgotten me so soon?" he asked.
At the sound of his voice they gave a cry and ran towards him, and poured out questions as to what had happened, and why he looked like that. But the prince did not answer any of them.
"How is my wife?" he said. There was a pause.
Then the queen replied:
"She is dead."
"_Dead!_" he repeated, stepping a little backwards. "And my child?"
"He is dead too."
The young man stood silent. Then he said, "Show me their graves."
At these words the king, who had been feeling rather uncomfortable, took heart again, for had he not prepared two beautiful tombs for his son to see, so that he might never, never guess what had been done to his wife?
All these months the king and queen had been telling each other how good and merciful they had been not to take her brother"s advice and to put her to death. But now, this somehow did not seem so certain.
Then the king led the way to the courtyard just behind the palace, and through the gate into a beautiful garden where stood two splendid tombs in a green s.p.a.ce under the trees. The prince advanced alone, and, resting his head against the stone, he burst into tears. His father and mother stood silently behind with a curious pang in their souls which they did not quite understand. Could it be that they were ashamed of themselves?
But after a while the prince turned round, and walking past them into the palace he bade the slaves bring him mourning. For seven days no one saw him, but at the end of them he went out hunting, and helped his father rule his people as before. Only no one dared to speak to him of his wife and son.
At last one morning, after the girl had been lying awake all night thinking of her husband, she said to her friend the snake:
"You have all shown me much kindness, but now I am well again, and want to go home and hear some news of my husband, and if he still mourns for me!" Now the heart of the snake was sad at her words, but he only said:
"Yes, thus it must be; go and bid farewell to my father and mother, but if they offer you a present, see that you take nothing but my father"s ring and my mother"s casket."
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Girl asks the Snakes for the ring & Casket]
So she went to the parent snakes, who wept bitterly at the thought of losing her, and offered her gold and jewels as much as she could carry in remembrance of them. But the girl shook her head and pushed the shining heap away from her.
"I shall never forget you, never," she said in a broken voice, "but the only tokens I will accept from you are that little ring and this old casket."
The two snakes looked at each other in dismay. The ring and the casket were the only things they did not want her to have. Then after a short pause they spoke.
"Why do you want the ring and casket so much? Who has told you of them?"
"Oh, n.o.body; it is just my fancy," answered she. But the old snakes shook their heads and replied:
"Not so; it is our son who told you, and, as he said, so it must be. If you need food, or clothes, or a house, tell the ring and it will find them for you. And if you are unhappy or in danger, tell the casket and it will set things right." Then they both gave her their blessing, and she picked up her baby and went her way.
She walked for a long time, till at length she came near the town where her husband and his father dwelt. Here she stopped under a grove of palm trees, and told the ring that she wanted a house.
"It is ready, mistress," whispered a queer little voice which made her jump, and, looking behind her, she saw a lovely palace made of the finest woods, and a row of slaves with tall fans bowing before the door.
Glad indeed was she to enter, for she was very tired, and, after eating a good supper of fruit and milk which she found in one of the rooms, she flung herself down on a pile of cushions and went to sleep with her baby beside her.
Here she stayed quietly, and every day the baby grew taller and stronger, and very soon he could run about and even talk. Of course the neighbours had a great deal to say about the house which had been built so quickly--so very quickly--on the outskirts of the town, and invented all kinds of stories about the rich lady who lived in it. And by and bye, when the king returned with his son from the wars, some of these tales reached his ears.
"It is really very odd about that house under the palms," he said to the queen; "I must find out something of the lady whom no one ever sees. I daresay it is not a lady at all, but a gang of conspirators who want to get possession of my throne. To-morrow I shall take my son and my chief ministers and insist on getting inside."
Soon after sunrise next day the prince"s wife was standing on a little hill behind the house, when she saw a cloud of dust coming through the town. A moment afterwards she heard faintly the roll of the drums that announced the king"s presence, and saw a crowd of people approaching the grove of palms. Her heart beat fast. Could her husband be among them? In any case they must not discover her there; so just bidding the ring prepare some food for them, she ran inside, and bound a veil of golden gauze round her head and face. Then, taking the child"s hand, she went to the door and waited.
In a few minutes the whole procession came up, and she stepped forward and begged them to come in and rest.
"Willingly," answered the king; "go first, and we will follow you."
They followed her into a long dark room, in which was a table covered with gold cups and baskets filled with dates and coconuts and all kinds of ripe yellow fruits, and the king and the prince sat upon cushions and were served by slaves, while the ministers, among whom she recognised her own brother, stood behind.
"Ah, I owe all my misery to him," she said to herself. "From the first he has hated me," but outwardly she showed nothing. And when the king asked her what news there was in the town she only answered: