in order to get a son. There was only one thing that would have made me
go into the forest, and that was to get away from my tutor!

But the king left behind with his queen a small girl, who grew up into a
beautiful princess.

Twelve years pass away, and the king goes on practising austerities, and
never thinks all this while of his beautiful daughter. The princess has
reached the full bloom of her youth. The age of marriage has passed,
but the king does not return. And the queen pines away with grief and
cries : "Is my golden daughter destined to die unmarried? Ah me! What
a fate is mine."

Then the queen sent men to the king to entreat him earnestly to come
back for a single night and take one meal in the palace. And the king
consented.

The queen cooked with her own hand, and with the greatest care, sixty-
four dishes, and made a seat for him of sandal-wood, and arranged the
food in plates of gold and cups of silver. The princess stood behind
with the peacock-tail fan in her hand. The king, after twelve years'
absence, came into the house, and the princess waved the fan, lighting
up all the room with her beauty. The king looked in his daughter's
face, and forgot to take his food.

At last he asked his queen: "Pray, who is this girl whose beauty shines
as the gold image of the goddess? Whose daughter is she?"

The queen beat her forehead, and cried: "Ah, how evil is my fate
! Do you not know your own daughter?"