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[ 44.]
proclaiming loudly that the princess, daughter of the king of that country, was going to choose a husband from among those assembled before her.
It was an old custom in India for princesses to choose husbands in this way; and each one of them naturally had certain ideas of the sort of man she wanted for a husband; some would the handsomest man ; others would have only the most learned; others would have the richest, and so on. This princess, in the most splendid array, was being carried on a throne,, and the announcement was made by criers that the princess so-and-so was about to choose her husband. Then all the princes of the neighbourhood put on their bravest attire and presented themselves before her. Sometimes they too had their own criers to enumerate their advantages and the reasons why they hoped the princess would choose them. As the princess was taken round and looked at them and heard what they had to offer, if she was not pleased with what she saw and heard, slie said to her bearers, "Move
