Jeweller must have kept my bangle and brought this one in its place. No human goldsmith's hands made this; for it is none other than Chandra's.' Then she begged the Rajah to inquire further about it.
But they all thought her mad; and the Jeweller said, 'It is the Ranee's fancy, for this is the same bangle she gave me to clean.' The other people also agreed that both the bangles were almost exactly alike, and must be a pair; and it being certain that Koila had had the bangle when he was seized by the police, the Rajah ordered him to be instantly executed. But the Ranee took Chandra's bangle and locked it away in a strong cupboard, apart from all her other jewels.
Then they took Koila out into the jungle and would have cut off his head, but he said to his guards, 'If I must die, let me die by my own hands,' and drawing his sword he fell upon it, and as the sword was very sharp it cut his body in two—one half fell on one side of the sword, and the other half on the other side—and they left his body where it fell.
When news of what had taken place came to the town, many people who had seen Koila selling his bangle the day before began to murmur, saying, 'There must be some injustice here—the Rajah has been over-hasty. Most likely the poor man did not steal the bangle. He would not have tried to sell it openly before us all in the bazaar if it had been stolen property. How cruel of the Rajah to put such a handsome, gentle, noble-looking youth to death and he was a stranger too!' And many wept at thought of his hard fate. When the Rajah heard of this he was very angry, and sent and commanded that the matter should be no further discussed in the town, saying, 'If any one speaks another word of what has been done, or laments or sheds tears for the dead, he shall be instantly hanged.' Then the people all felt very frightened, and not a soul dared to speak of Koila, though every one thought about him much.
Early the very morning that this happened, the old milk-seller (at whose house, which was a little out of the town, Chandra had been sleeping), took her guest a bowl full of milk to drink; but no sooner had Chandra tasted it than she began to cry, saying, 'Good mother, what have you done? my mouth is full of blood!'— 'No, no, my daughter,' answered the old woman; 'you must have been dreaming some bad dream. See, this is pure, fresh, warm milk I have brought you; drink again.' But when Chandra
