She was not dead—not even hurt. What joy! I shuffled my feet, and teetered foolishly from side to side, and flapped my ears, having no other way of expressing my satisfaction.
"Iravata," said the Queen, stroking my forehead with her gentle hand, "We will find out what has happened, and you shall assist us in doing so. Never, never could I doubt thee, or believe that thou hadst been guilty of a wicked action. Perhaps it will prove that I shall again have to thank thee; it may be that I owe to thee the life of my Daughter, as I already owe that of my Husband!"
It was true; without me our lovely little flower would have been lost! If I had unfortunately been away from the palace at the moment, wandering in the forest, or in the bath, or eating a meal—or even absent-minded, and looking in another direction, it would have been a dead little girl that would have been taken out of the water. I shivered at the thought! and made up my mind never to lose sight of her again, and for this purpose I determined to give up my excursions, and my trips outside of the city.
The disturbance in the palace had attracted the notice of the King, and it had been impossible to conceal from him the accident which had happened to the Princess. He came in, much agitated; but Parvati ran to him, laughing, and quite recovered, delighted with the long golden veil in which she was wrapped, and which trailed behind her, making a noise on the carpet!
After having tenderly embraced his daughter, Alemguir asked for details of the accident, and as no one could furnish any, he directed that a search be made at once of the locality where it had occurred.
"Iravata," said he, "conduct us to the spot."
I obeyed immediately. The King, who carried Parvati in his arms, the Queen, and all the guests followed me, deeply interested.
Having reached the borders of the lake, I showed the King the overturned checker-board, and all the pieces scattered about, as when the game was interrupted. But they failed to understand what this had to do with the Princess having fallen into the water.
They examined with much emotion the spot where she fell—the broken lotus flowers, and the turf all trampled by my feet.