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144
JAINA STORIES
girls Sometimes they would be on the swings dangling in the air, sometimes in the garden plucking beautiful flowers, and sometimes in the lake enjoyiog a bath in the company of the girls. One day the seven met together to consider the taboo imposed on their movement in the eastern direction, and they decided to go thither to unfold the mystery behind it. They started on horse back, all the seven together. Hardly they had gone some distance, they saw piles of human bones as far as the eyes could reach They now looked at each other Just at that moment, the hoof of one of the horses struck against a skull and the skull at once laughed aloud and said,
“I too once enjoyed the same horses and the same girls”
Everybody was afraid and surprised. But Dhista gathered courage and said,
"Who are these horses, pray, and who are these girls ? Who was the lady we met at the palace gate and how is this place so much infested with human bones ?”
The skull. This shameless witch is a notorious devil. She has killed us all If you have love for your life, fly away at once."
At these words, all the seven got so much terrified that they ran at once Without so much as turning their faces even once, all the seven were on their borses till the sun was high up in the middle of the sky
Finding the men not come back, the seven girls at once reported to the guardian lady. She at once picked up her enchanted drum and reached the top of the mansion. There. from she could detect at a great distance all the seven men fleeing She started beating on the drum to turn the horses and she was readily effective. The seven tried to jump down from their horses but could not. They now sat helpless on their horses as the lady recalled them near her and thundered,
“Fools' Why did you flee from my trap ? Try it agaib if you can."
