The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-04-05

/
/ ing his throne should publicly kiss his
/ queen. who generally sat with her women
/ on purple dais at the western extremity
of the throneroom.
! Wishing to dispense with this ceremony
on such days as Dato represented him, he
( informed his beautiful young wife. TO
whom he was only a short time married,
that it would sometime be his pleasure TO
omit the pleasing duty of publicly salut-
ing her The queen Of several occasions
submitted to this apparent slight with as
good grace as possible, until at length,
fired by the representations of her women
who Wickedly insfuuated that she had a
! rival in some quarter. to whom the ajah
I had transferred his affections. she deter
mined to burst through the cold restraints
Of royalty and act as her heart dictated.
The next time that Dato occupied the
throne the queen, in all the virgin fresh
ness of youth and beauty arose from her
chair, and ascending the throne, flung
her jeweled arms around his neck. This
was nice predicament for a virtuous
young man 70 be placed in. What must
be done? Should he boldly cast off the
mask and expose the deception? No; that
would not do, because the rajah had
more than once gently reminded him that
II ever he should betray the secret, his
head would be found in the skittle ground.
For moment his mind traversed back
to the worthless terma gent of q wife at
home, who had been the plague of his life
and, oh, ecstasy supreme. to be in the
fond embrace of the loveliest woman in
India, and that woman a queen-why, it
was a foretaste of heaveni Win any of
my readers feel surprised that, under the
pressure Of such circumstances the sell
fishness of Dato's icy nature warmed to
the Sheba and paid bac4- her embraces
with interest. Indeed, so frequent and
tender We're those salutations exchanged
that the courtiers could not suppress
their JOY and admiration, but whispered,
How they love each other!" Never be-.
fore did such a shout of laughter ring
through the vaulted corridors Of the pal
ace as at that moment assailed the ears
of the assembly. What meant that hol-
low mockery? It was repeated again and
again, until all eyes mechanically turned
toward the palace gates where could be
discerned the porter rolling on his back
his hands and feet beating the air and his
face purple from the excitement Of i'm
moderate laughter. For a moment DatO
appeared nervous and irresolute, but fin
ally called out in a firm voice: He
guardsl Who is that fellow at the gate?
Off with his head Fifty blades flashed
in the sunlight, and the rajah's head roll
ed from his shoulders. The royal wrath
was appeased the mobiles were delighted
and the queen was radiant with smiles az
the result of her victory. Feasting and
dancing were kept up till a late hour,
when the royal couple retired to their
chamber and the travellers departed. The
next day the head of the luckless mon
arch garnished the palace gates. while
the trunk was conveyed to Dato resi-
dence and delivered to his wife. To her
credit, be it recorded this estimable wo-
man exhibited no symptoms of weakness
at this sudden bereavement, but, on the
contrary, piOusly expressed the hope of
being able TO get along quite as well with
out the dirty lOafer." Toward noon she
was not little surprised to find that
there were five perfect fingers on the
right hand, instead Of four; for she had
affectionately bitten off the last phalange
Of her husbands small finger in a little
domestic skirmish month before, max
ing the neighborhood quite lively and the
house too hot to hold her spouse.
This circumstance puzzled her not a lit
tie. She next discovered that the rajah's
signet ring was on the left hand. What
could al this mean? She was at her wit s
end. The more she considered the sub
ject the more perplexed she became, until
at length Sc gave it up IN despair. She
was by no means remarkable for her in
tegrity Of character, but she knew that Il
this ring We're found in her possession the
FASTENED before the rajah on the second
day, and prostrating herself before him,
yielded UP the ring. In accepting Il,
however, he unconsciously exposed the
imperfect finger. Dato's wife was loud in
her prosecutions that the headless trunk
was not her adorable husbands for" she
said, he has only four fingers and part
of another on his right hand, just ike
your majesty, and he had blernish over
his left eve whore UOu have got that Mas
ter"
The rafah gelt uneasy and turned pale
as he asked what caused the blemish. She
answered, "the scratch Of a mistletoe.'
And what happened to his hnger?' he
demanded. "A tigress bit of its top.
.'Liarh' exclaimed the rajah, regafning
his courage. Il know your husband S
history. You are the tigress that bit of
his finger, and the mistletoe bleInish is
the result Of a wound from a form which
YOU flung at him. Further this ring
which you have just returned me is a tai
isman I lent him but three days since for
the purpose of restoring the lost phalange
which work it had accomplished, and il
the fool had had only more wisdom and
kept his mouth shut. he would be alive
and doing vel today. Begone from my
presence, vile woman, and never let me
see your face again, or by the bearded
Mohammed, your head shall keep com
pany with the pOrter's over the palace
gate. Mrs Dato picked herself up ex-
ceedfnglv quick and hurried from the
royal presence and the Ta5ah breathed
more freely. The body OF the defunct
was decentiy inferred al the ex-
pense Of the ratah. and all good citizens
united ia extolllng the nagnanimity q
their sovereign, when the last act % the
worthless porter had been one OF unpar-
auea insult 20 the ra1ah ana hts queen
Unfortunately for p5sterity. the rec
ords from which 1 compiled this singular
narrative do not specify the number Of
years that Dato reiEned; nor co they
state ~ what circumstance the fraud
was discovered: but that Il had been dis
covered admits Of no doubt else we should
know nothing CT the history. trewnle
To think what must have been the result
Of the shock produced upon the nervous
system OF the queen when this discovery
vas made. Il was Q pity % mar Sc bright
deluslon where all was happiness and s1a-
shine with her. But I stand on delicate
ground. and must not anticipate. sup
pose We close the page and leave the hap
pv couple IN possession OF al the radiant
eajoyueuts that marked thelr frst al
vent IL this story
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