Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 505

AWARDING THE PALM
465
not been forewarned of their coming, and escaped from
Being them-
their furious vengeance by a speedy flight.
selves unable to avenge the wrong done, they laid the
matter before the heads of the caste, who unanimously
found me guilty, and sentenced me to pay a fine of two
hundred pagodas as compensation for the injury done to
Moreover, a proclamation
the honour of my father-in-law.
was issued by which everybody was forbidden, under pain
of excommunication, ever to give any woman in marriage
I was, therefore, condemned
to such an idiot as myself.
It was lucky
to remain a widower for the rest of my life.
for me, indeed, that I was not altogether outcasted, a favour
which I owed to the great respect and esteem in which my
had been held.
must now leave you to judge if this instance of foolish-
ness on my part is in any way inferior to those with which
my rivals have been entertaining you, and if the honour
of being the biggest fool is not justly due to me.'
The assembly, after mature deliberation, decided that all
four suitors had given such absolute proofs of folly that
each was justly entitled to claim superiority in his own
way over the others and that each was at liberty to call
himself the greatest fool of all, and to attribute to himself
Each of you has gained his
the greeting of the soldier.
so you may now continue
suit,' remarked the president,
father
'
I
;
'
'
your journey in peace, if that is possible.'
Delighted with so equitable a judgement, the travellers
I
left the court, each shouting louder than the other
have gained my suit, I have gained my suit
'
:
'
!
The Story
of
Appaji, Prime Minister of King Krishna Roy a
1
.
Before the invasion of the Mussulmans, at a time when
the Hindus enjoyed the happiness of being ruled by princes
1
have included this little story in the collection of Hindu fiction,
I found it in the same book from which I extracted the others.
However, well-informed Hindus have told me that the story has been
clothed in the form of fiction simply in order to make it more popular,
and that it is really founded on historical fact. The memory of the
good King Krishna Roya, and of his faithful minister Appaji, is still
cherished by the people of India, who speak of him as a prince whose
sole care was to render his people happy, in which good work he was
most powerfully seconded by his minister. The period of his reign is
1
because