THE TWO SISTERS
(From the Hindoo Folk Lore)
THERE was once a rajah who had two daughters who were as beautiful as two stars, and who loved each other so dearly that they could not bear to be apart even for an hour. The ranee who was their mother died, and in time the rajah married again, and brought home a new ranee to the palace.
This new wife was very cruel to the two girls. She did not give them enough to eat, they had only rags to wear, and sometimes they were beaten. The rajah was so in love with the new ranee that he took no notice of the two girls, nor of how unhappy they were.
One day the younger princess, whose name was Balna, said to her sister, “Why should we be so unhappy here? Our father no longer loves us, and we are so ill-treated that it would be better to die in the jungle than to live in this way. Let us run away.”
The elder sister agreed with her, so early one morning they ran away from the palace, and into the great jungle that lay over beyond it. All day they wandered on and on, and that night they climbed up into a tree that they might be safe from wild beasts.
The next day they journeyed on again, but they had not gone far when they came to a magnificent palace there in the midst of the wilderness. The younger sister wished to knock, but the elder was afraid. “This palace can only belong to a rakshas,” she said, “and if he sees us he will surely kill us and eat us.”
“As well that,” answered Balna, “as for us to die of hunger and exhaustion.” So in spite of all her sister could say she knocked at the door. There was no answer, and after she had knocked several times she opened the door and led the way in.