264 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. Chand knew that he would lose his dear son on the marriage-day yet could not resist the wishes The steel of his poor queen. He built a house of steel on house on mount mount Santali, taking precautions that there was no Santall. crevice left in it for even a pin to pass through. The steel-house was guarded by armed sentinels ; weasels and peacocks were let loose all around it to kill snakes, should they come into its neighbour- hood. All kinds of medicinal herbs which were known to be antidotes to snake-poison and the strong scent of which would make snakes and_ reptiles shudder and shrink into a corner, were strewn round the house, and snake-charmers and_ phy- sicilans were assembled there from all parts of the world, to guard the place against all species of creeping animals. Manasa Devi paid a visit to the man who had made the steel-house, and asked him to keep an opening in it through which a hair might pass. The 9722 builder said that the house was now complete and opening. that he had received wages and rewards from the merchant king; how could he again go there and make an opening? The goddess threatened to kill him and all the members of his family on the spot. So he obeyed. He went back to mount Santali on the pretext of inspecting the building more thoroughly and with a few strokes of his chisel made a_ small opening, which he filled up with powdered coal. When Laksmindara was about to set out with the nuptial party for marriage, the bridegroom's crown Thefirst that he wore, bedecked with jewels and flowers, ominous | পু ূ রর sign. fell from his head: andthis was the first ominous sign.
