Atondido Stories
Her father then stood up, and said to them all, "I promised my
daughter she should marry any one she pleased, and as she has
twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall marry him." And
so the princess and the boy were married with great pomp and
splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her
choice; and the Kings, the Rajas and their sons, all returned to
their homes.
Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes,
and they laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband
as hers seemed to be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See!
our sister has married this poor, common man!" Their six hus-
bands used to go out hunting every day, and every evening they
brought home quantities of all kinds of game to their wives, and
the game was cooked for their dinner and for the King's; but the
husband of the youngest princess always stayed at home in the
palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made her very
sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt every
day, but my husband never hunts at all."
At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as
my sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring
home quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at
home, instead of doing as they do?"
One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air."
"Very good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses."
"No," said the young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk."
Then he went to the jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who
all this time had seemed to be a donkey, and he told Katar every-
thing. "Listen," he said; "I have married the youngest princess;
and when we were married everybody laughed at her for choos-
ing me, and said, 'What a very poor, common man our princess
has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife is very sad, for
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