Then Puran was thrown into a pit and there left.
A Guru, or Priest, who lived near that place used to send his followers daily to bring food and water for him, and one of them, mistaking the dry pit for a well, let down his chattie for water. Whereupon Puran, whose hands and feet had been restored by the Almighty, caught hold of the chattie and would not let it go.
The Guru called out: “Let go, or I will bring my book of incantations and crush you into dust.”
“Try,” replied a voice from the bottom of the pit, “for I too can bring my books and crush you to dust.”
The Guru was frightened, and, returning to the head Guru, his master, told him what had happened.
Then the old Guru said: “It must be Puran; I will go and see.” So, taking with him a ball of raw cotton, he called out at the top of the pit: “Puran, is that you? If so, and you are an innocent man, I will let down a thread of raw cotton, and you will be able to climb up by it, for it will not break if used by the innocent.”
“Let it down,” replied Puran, and he climbed up safely.
The Guru looked at him as he stood up, and then quietly returned to his own home.
There he met all his pupils or followers, who are called “Cheelas,” and sent them out to bring stores. There were one hundred and thirty-five Cheelas, and before they left he warned them, saying: “Go everywhere except to that magic country where those women live who practise witchcraft.”
But the men were curious, and, in spite of the warning, went to the witches’ country.