On seeing the
woman, he exclaimed: "This is my own wife, whom you have stolen from
me," and compelled them to come before the kutwal, who, on viewing her
beauty, in his turn claimed her as the wife of his brother, who had been
waylaid and murdered in the desert. The kutwal took them all, with the
woman, before the kazi, who declared that she was his slave, who had
absconded from his house with a large sum of money. An old man who was
present suggested that they should all seven appeal to the Tree of
Decision, and thither they went accordingly; but no sooner had they
stated their several claims than the trunk of the tree split open, the
woman ran into the cleft, and on its reuniting she was no more to be
seen. A voice proceeded from the tree, saying: "Everything returns to
its first principles"; and the seven suitors of the woman were
overwhelmed with shame.[45]
[45] So, too, Boethius, in his _De Consolatione Philosophiae_,
says, according to Chaucer's translation: "All thynges
seken ayen to hir [i.e. their] propre course, and all
thynges rejoysen on hir retournynge agayne to hir
nature."--A tale current in Oude, and given in _Indian
Notes and Queries_ for Sept. 1887, is an illustration of
the maxim that "everything returns to its first
principles": A certain prince chose his friends out of
the lowest class, and naturally imbibed their principles
and habits.
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