Deccan nursery tales; or, Fairy tales from the south . thetemple of Shiva was ever so far from the kingspalace. The ugly daughter-in-law did notmind, for she was used to cruel had also walked to the temple twice before,and her feet had got as hard as two littlestones. But the king and his relatives weretired to death ; and their feet swelled up to thesize of an elephants, and they became as fullof thorns as the back of a porcupine. Andthey muttered to each other, How on earthdoes that ugly little daughter-in-law manageto walk as she does through the heart of theforest ? The ugly
Deccan nursery tales; or, Fairy tales from the south . thetemple of Shiva was ever so far from the kingspalace. The ugly daughter-in-law did notmind, for she was used to cruel had also walked to the temple twice before,and her feet had got as hard as two littlestones. But the king and his relatives weretired to death ; and their feet swelled up to thesize of an elephants, and they became as fullof thorns as the back of a porcupine. Andthey muttered to each other, How on earthdoes that ugly little daughter-in-law manageto walk as she does through the heart of theforest ? The ugly daughter-in-law at lastfelt sorry for them. She prayed to the godShiva to build a temple near at hand. Thegod consented, and, with the help of theserpent-maidens of Patala and of the wood-nymphs, he created suddenly a beautifultemple all of pure, yellow gold. Its pillarswere studded with jewels, and the jars in itwere all of crystal. In the middle there rosefrom the ground an altar to the god last of all the god revealed himself to the 132. THE GOD KKVEALED HIMSELF TO THE KIN(; AND HISCOMPANKJNS IN ALL HIS GLORV AND SPLENDOUR. THE GOLDEN TEMPLE king and his companions in all his glory andsplendour. For a moment only they saw him;and then he vanished. The king and hiscompanions stared, too astonished to moveor speak. But the ugly little daughter-in-lawprostrated herself and offered to the godflowers and incense. Then she cried out, O God Shiva, please, please vouchsafe myprayer and make my father-in-law and mymother-in-law, my brothers-in-law and mysisters-in-law Hke me as much as they nowdislike me. When the king heard herprayer his heart softened to her, and he spokekindly to her and gave her jewelry and a little while he took off his turban and,placing it on a peg, walked out to look at alovely lake which, unnoticed by any onebefore, now stretched out close by the behind him strolled out his when they had gone out of sight, theb
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondonmacmillan
