At hearing this the Rajah commanded them all to return with him to the palace. He gave Surya Bai’s father a village, and ennobled the family; and he said to Surya Bai’s old attendant, “For the good service you have done you shall be palace housekeeper,” and he gave her great riches; adding, “I can never repay the debt I owe you, nor make you sufficient recompense for having caused you to be unjustly cast into prison.” But she replied, “Sire, even in your anger you were temperate; if you had caused me to be put to death, as some would have done, none of this good might have come upon you; it is yourself you have to thank.”
The wicked first Ranee was cast, for the rest of her life, into the prison in which the old attendant had been thrown; but Surya Bai lived happily with her husband the rest of her days; and in memory of her adventures, he planted round their palace a hedge of sunflowers and a grove of mango trees.
FOOTNOTE:
VII.
THE WANDERINGS OF VICRAM MAHARAJAH.
THERE was once upon a time a Rajah named Vicram Maharajah,[55] who had a Wuzeer named Butti.[56] Both the Rajah and his minister were left orphans when very young, and ever since their parents’ death they had lived together: they were educated together, and they loved each other tenderly—like brothers.
Both were good and kind—no poor man coming to the Rajah was ever known to have been sent away disappointed, for it was his delight to give food and clothes to those in need. But whilst the Wuzeer had much judgment and discretion, as well as a brilliant fancy, the Rajah was too apt to allow his imagination to run away with his reason.