Page:Indian tales of the great ones.djvu/60

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52
Raziya, Queen of Delhi

have won it back, but for a sad thing that befell her.

In the battle which she waged she was defeated, and fled alone to the jungles.

Passing through a field, she saw an old peasant at work, and begged for some food, for she was starving.

The man gave her a piece of bread, which she ate gladly; and then being worn out, she tied her horse to a tree and lay down in the field to take a short rest. She wore the dress of a man; but the peasant saw her jewels gleaming, as she slept unprotected in that lonely spot. He knew that she was a woman; and no more afraid of her, he killed her and buried her there, in a corner of a field outside the walls of that Delhi which she had ruled.

So Raziya lost her kingdom because she was not enough of a woman