men servants ran away, then the male members of the family left, and
at last the seven daughters-in-law were left alone in the house. They
were starving, but they did not know how to get any food. One day
they heard that a king in a neighbouring country wished to construct
a tank and was calling for labourers. So they decided to go to the
tank and work there just like common coolie women. Now who do you
think the king was? He was the youngest son of the prince of Atpat
and the husband of the youngest daughter-in-law. When the prince had
lost all his money, his youngest son left the house and set off on
a journey. As he travelled he came to a city, the king of which had
just died without leaving any children or relatives. His subjects
did not know how to choose a successor. At last they gave a garland
of flowers to a she-elephant and turned it loose. The elephant walked
straight to the prince's son and put the garland round his neck. The
townspeople were very angry. They snatched away the garland and drove
away the prince's son. They again gave the garland to the elephant,
but the elephant again put the garland round the neck of the prince's
son. The townspeople again snatched away the garland. But when the
elephant put it round the young man's neck for the third time, they
lifted him high in the air and declared him to be their king. At first
he was so pleased at being king that he forgot all about his poor
little wife. But one night Budh and Brahaspati appeared to him in a
dream and reminded him of her and told him how poor she was. But he
could not leave his kingdom to go and look for her. So he thought that
he would dig a tank and call together labourers from every quarter. And
every day he used to go to the tank and search among the labourers to
see if his wife was there. One day he recognised his wife and called
her to him. Then they told each other how Budh and Brahaspati had
appeared to each of them in a dream. And the king was so delighted at
finding his wife that he at once proclaimed her queen of the country.