palace, stroking the glossy black crows that flocked around her, and weeping.
Then Ramchundra threw down his bundle of books, and said to his mother, putting his elbows on her knees, and looking up in her face, 'Mammy, dear, tell me why you are now crying, and what it is that makes you so often sad.' 'Oh, nothing, nothing,' she answered. 'Yes, dear mother,' said he, 'do tell me. Can I help you? If I can, I will.' Draupadí Bai shook her head: 'Alas! no, my son,' she said, 'you are too young to help me; and as for my grief, I have never told it to any one. I cannot tell it to you now.' But Ramchundra continued begging and praying her to tell him, until at last she did; relating to him all her own and his uncles' sad history; and, lastly, how they had been changed by a Rakshas into the black crows he saw around him. Then the boy sprang up and said, 'Which way did your brothers take when they met the Rakshas?' 'How can I tell?' she asked. 'Why,' he answered, 'I thought, perhaps, you might remember on which side they returned that first night to you, after being bewitched?' 'Oh,' she said, 'they came towards the tree from that part of the jungle which lies in a straight line behind the palace.' 'Very well,' cried Ramchundra joyfully; 'I also will go there, and find out this wicked old Rakshas, and learn by what means they may be disenchanted.' 'No, no, my son,' she answered, 'I cannot let you go: see, I have lost father and mother, and these my hundred brothers; and now, if you fall into the Rakskas' clutches as well as they, and are lost to me, what will life have worth living for?' To this he replied, 'Do not fear for me, mother; I will be wary and discreet.' And, going to his father, he said, 'Father, it is time I should see something of the world. I beg you to permit me to travel and see other lands.' The Rajah answered, 'You shall go. Tell me what attendants you would like to accompany you.' 'Give me,' said Ramchundra, 'a horse to ride, and a groom to take care of it.' The Rajah consented, and Ramchundra set off riding towards the jungle; but as soon as he got there, he sent his horse back by the groom with a message to his parents, and proceeded alone, on foot.
After wandering about for some time, he came upon a small hut, in which lay an ugly old woman fast asleep. She had long claws instead of hands, and her hair hung down all around her in a thick black tangle. Ramchundra knew, by the whole appearance of the place, that he must have reached the Rakshas' abode
