26 
The Bengali Poem , Candl. 
Lilavati now begins to doubt as to the potency of her spells in such 
a desperate case as the present one; and the pair finally resolve to forge 
a letter as coming from the absent merchant to his elder wife at home. 
In it he is represented as lamenting his long absence and the continual 
expense it involves, and he asks her to send him some of Khullana’s gold 
ornaments; while Khullana herself is to be set to tend the goats, and to 
wear the meanest clothes, and to sleep in the shed where the rice is 
shelled, in order to avert the malignant machinations of the demons. By 
this device the two conspirators hope that Khullana’s beauty will be spoiled, 
and thus her influence over the merchant brought to an end. 
Ten days she kept the letter in its place, 
Then went to Khullana with a fond embrace, 
"With downcast looks and many a lying tear: 
“ 0 sister, can I tell you what I hear? 
Hear for yourself this letter full of woe— 
How can you hope to ’scape this cruel blow.” 
She read the lines, but only smiled—she knew 
The letter had a look that was not true. 
“ I have no fear, good sister,” answered she; 
“ Who has been writing this to frighten me ? 
My husband forms his strokes in different wise— 
Who has been tricking us with forgeries ? ” 
“ Surely our lord dictated what is writ. 
Although another’s hand indited it; 
Think of the many servants he has got, 
Ready to do his bidding on the spot. 
You must e’en tend the goats as best you may; 
His orders, like the king’s, brook no delay.” 
“ Crowned as a bride I came, Unthinking, glad; 
How short an hour of wifehood have I had! 
What fault of mine deserved such punishment ? 
Why such a cruel letter has he sent ? 
Go, Lahana, mind your own concerns in peace, 
And all these domineering meddlings cease.” 
‘ ‘ Little you know, you rakshasi accurst; 
Ill was the hour you showed your face here first; 
