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Now the elder, by name Queen Achhra, had a fair young son called Prince Puran; but the younger, by name Lona, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine, had never a child to gladden her eyes.
Nevertheless, Puran did not die, as no doubt the enraged father hoped and expected; for God preserved the innocent Prince, so that he lived on, miraculously, at the bottom of the well, until, years after, the great and holy Guru Goraknath came to the place, and finding Prince Puran still alive, not only released him from his dreadful prison, but, by the power of magic, restored his hands and feet.
So, being a bad, deceitful woman, envy and rage took possession of her heart, and she so poisoned Raja Salbahan's mind against his son, young Puran, that just as the Prince was growing to manhood, his father became madly jealous of him, and in a fit of anger ordered his hands and feet to be cut off. Not content even with this cruelty, Raja Salbahan had the poor young man thrown into a deep well.
When the villagers, aroused by the roar of the rifle and led by Khusru and Puran and Little Shikara's father, rushed down with their firebrands to the ford, their first thought was that they had come only to the presence of the dead. Three human beings lay very still beside the stream, and fifty feet in the shadows something else, that obviously was not a human being, lay very still, too.
Then Puran, in gratitude for this great boon, became a faqir, and placing the sacred earrings in his ears, followed Goraknath as a disciple, and was called Puran Bhagat.
He went up to one of the younger beaters who had told and retold a story of catching a glimpse of Nahara in the thickets until no one was left to tell it to. He was standing silent, and Little Shikara thought it possible that he might reach his ears. "Give ear, Puran," he pleaded. "Didst thou look for his body beside the ford over Tarai stream?"
Therefore, little knowing from whom she asked the boon, she fell on the ground before Puran Bhagat, begging him to cure her; and, lo! almost before she asked, it was done, and she saw plainly.
Then deceitful Queen Lona, who all these years had been longing vainly for a son, when she saw what mighty power the unknown faqir possessed, fell on the ground also, and begged for an heir to gladden the heart of Raja Salbahan. Then Puran Bhagat spoke, and his voice was stern, 'Raja Salbahan already has a son. Where is he? What have you done with him?
Then Puran Bhagat rose to his feet, stretched out his hands towards her, and a smile was on his face, as he said softly, 'Even so, Queen Lona! even so! And behold! I am Prince Puran, whom you destroyed and God delivered! I have a message for you.
"Dead men could not call, but at least ye might have frightened Nahara from the body. But perhaps he is wounded, unable to speak, and lies there still " But Puran had found another listener for his story, and speedily forgot the boy. He hurried over to another of the villagers, Khusru the hunter. "Did no one look by the ford?" he asked, almost sobbing. "For that is the place he had gone."
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