XXI.
SODEWA BAI.
ONCE upon a time there lived a Rajah and Ranee, who had only one daughter, and she was the most beautiful Princess in the world. Her face was as fair and delicate as the clear moonlight, and they called her Sodewa Bai.[91] At her birth her father and mother had sent for all the wise men in the kingdom to tell her fortune, and they predicted that she would grow up richer and more fortunate than any other lady; and so it was, for from her earliest youth she was good and lovely, and whenever she opened her lips to speak pearls and precious stones fell upon the ground, and as she walked along they would scatter on either side of her path, insomuch that her father soon became the richest Rajah in all that country, for his daughter could not go across the room without shaking down jewels worth a dowry. Moreover, Sodewa Bai was born with a golden necklace about her neck, concerning which also her parents consulted astrologers, who said, “This is no common child; the necklace of gold about her neck contains your daughter’s soul: let it therefore be guarded with the utmost care, for if it were taken off and worn by another person she would die.” So the Ranee, her mother, caused it to be firmly fastened round the child’s neck, and as soon as she was old enough to understand, instructed her concerning its value, and bade her on no account ever to allow it to be taken off.
At the time my story begins this Princess was fourteen years old, but she was not married, for her father and mother had promised that she should not do so until it pleased herself; and although many great rajahs and nobles sought her hand, she constantly refused them all.
Now Sodewa Bai’s father, on one of her birth-days, gave her a lovely pair of slippers made of gold and jewels. Each slipper was worth a hundred thousand gold mohurs. There were none like them in all the earth. Sodewa Bai prized these slippers very much, and always wore them when she went out walking, to protect her tender feet from the stones; but one day, as she was wandering with her ladies upon the side of the mountain on which the palace was built, playing and picking the wild flowers, her foot slipped and one of the golden slippers fell down, down, down the steep hill-slope, over rocks and stones, into the jungle below. Sodewa Bai sent attendants to search for it, and the Rajah caused criers to go throughout the town and proclaim that whoever discovered the Princess’ slipper should receive a great reward; but though it was hunted for far and near, high and low, it could not be found.
It chanced, however, that not very long after this a young Prince, the eldest son of a Rajah who lived in the plains, was out hunting, and in the jungle he picked up the very little golden slipper which Sodewa Bai had lost, and which had tumbled all the way from the mountain-side into the depths of the forest. He took it home with him, and showed it to his mother, saying, “What a fairy foot must have worn this tiny slipper!” “Ah, my boy,” she said, “this must have belonged to a lovely Princess, in truth (if she is but as beautiful as her slipper); would that you could find such a one to be your wife!” Then they sent into all the towns of the kingdom to inquire for the owner of the lost slipper, but she could not be found. At last, when many months had gone by, it happened that news was brought by travelers to the Rajah’s capital, of how, in a far distant land, very high among the mountains, there lived a beautiful Princess who had lost her slipper, and whose father had offered a great reward to whoever should restore it; and from the description they gave all were assured it was the one that the Prince had found.
Then his mother said to him, “My son, it is certain that the slipper you found belongs to none other than the great Mountain Rajah’s daughter; therefore take it to his palace, and when he offers you the promised reward, say that you wish for neither silver nor gold, but ask him to give you his daughter in marriage. Thus you may gain her for your wife.”
The Prince did as his mother advised; and when, after a long, long journey, he reached the court of Sodewa Bai’s father, he presented the slipper to him, saying, “I have found your daughter’s slipper, and for restoring it I claim a great reward.” “What will you have?” said the Rajah. “Shall I pay you in horses? or in silver? or in gold?” “No,” answered the Prince, “I will have none of these things. I am the son of a Rajah who lives in the plains, and I found this slipper in the jungle where I was hunting, and have traveled for many weary days to bring it you; but the only payment I care for is the hand of your beautiful daughter; if it pleases you, let me become your son-in-law.” The Rajah replied, “This only I cannot promise you; for I have vowed I will not oblige my daughter to marry against her will. This matter depends upon her alone. If she is willing to be your wife, I also am willing; but it rests with her free choice.” Now it happened that Sodewa Bai had from her window seen the Prince coming up to the palace gate, and when she heard his errand, she said to her father, “I saw that Prince, and I am willing to marry him.” So they were married with great pomp and splendor. When all the other Rajah’s, Sodewa Bai’s suitors, heard of this, they were, however much astonished as well as vexed, and said, “What can have made Sodewa Bai take a fancy to that young Prince? He is not so wonderfully handsome, and he is very poor. This is a most foolish marriage.” But they all came to it, and were entertained at the palace, where the wedding festivities lasted many days. After Sodewa Bai and her husband had lived there for some little time, he one day said to his father-in-law, “I have a great desire to see my own people again and to return to my own country. Let me take my wife home with me.”