“Those are very handsome jewels,” said he. “I have never seen finer. Even I myself have none like them. Tell me, how did you come by them?”
“They are not mine,” answered the bangle-seller; “they belong to an old seven-headed cobra who lives down by the river. He gave them to me to make into bangles for a young prince named Muchie Lal, who lives with him.”
The Rajah was very much surprised at what the bangle-seller told him. “This is a strange story,” said he. “I will go with you, for I should like to see this young prince who lives in a cobra’s hole.”
So Muchie Rajah went down to the river bank with the bangle-seller. Muchie Lal was there playing close to the cobra’s hole with the young cobras. When he saw the bangle-seller he ran to meet him, calling to him to know whether he had brought the bangles; and the young prince was so exactly like his mother, the beautiful Balna, that the Rajah was filled with joy and sorrow.
“Tell me, child,” he cried, “who are you, and who was your mother?”
“I am Muchie Lal,” answered the boy, “and my mother is the Ranee Balna, and we live here by the river in the hole of an old seven-headed cobra.”
Then Muchie Rajah knelt down by the cobra’s hole and called, “Oh, my dear wife, if it is you, and you are still alive, answer me!”
Balna heard his voice down in the cobra’s hole, and came running out and threw herself into his arms.
“Oh, I have waited for you so long,” she cried, “but you have come at last, and now I can go back with you to the palace.”
So they were very happy. Only the cobra was sad to have them go, and the cobra’s children were grieved to lose their little playmate. But he promised them to come back sometimes and play with them there by the river.