ANOTHER of the five ladies being now charged with the bramin’s tuition, conducted him to her house, and said to her husband, “To-day the wife of a certain green-grocer having in a company of city ladies praised her husband, said, ‘Although his good qualities are beyond the reach of calculation, and his accomplishments exceed the power of relation; yet one of his unrivalled feats is this — He milks a cow with his eyes blindfolded, and does not shed a drop from the vessel.’ I could not contain myself, and said, ‘This is not a matter worthy of praise, or such boasting, for my husband also, in a much superior way, can perform this feat.’ The green-grocer’s wife denied my assertion, and I grew warm in repetition of it; till at length a wager was laid between us. I am now just come home and this young man is the arbitrator. I trust, that this instant, in his impartial presence, according to the abovementioned mode, thou wilt milk the cow, and not make me ridiculous in the eyes of my townswomen.”
The perfectly wise husband exclaimed, “This is no difficult matter, for which thou hast admitted all this anxiety into thy mind. Surely, my abilities cannot be inferior in this business to those of a green-grocer, a paltry seller of herbs, that I should permit thy humiliation before women of the same cast and rank.” The deceitful woman, upon this, exulted like the rose from the western gale, and in an instant blindfolding the eyes of her inwardly blind husband, gave into his hands a vessel, and tying a cord about the feet of the cow, made her stand before him. She then beckoned to the bramin, who quickly advanced, and studied the second section of the Tirrea Bede.
When she had finished her instructions, she untied the band from her husband’s eyes, kissed his hands, and signified joy and satisfaction beyond measure. The husband was still more rejoiced, that he had executed such a difficult affair blindfolded. The cunning wife exclaimed to the bramin, “Now thou hast beheld the cleverness of my husband:” and the conceited dotard, from pride in his own wisdom, smilingly lent an ear to his own praises, and requested impartiality of the arbitrator. From excess of delight, he swelled within his vest, nay, could scarcely be contained within it. To make short of the story, the fascinating woman dismissed the arbitrating bramin.
The following morning, when the golden-zinarred* bramin of the heavens arose from the temple of the east, the five women attended at the draw-well, and the pure-vested lady, having related to them her stratagems and successful artifices, became the object of praise.