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title: Opening, part 4 — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · full text with trees
description: Opening, part 4, «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: He must have been a bad man indeed, and no knight at all, in that even the vision of Perfect Beauty had not t
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# Opening, part 4

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Opening, part 4 of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji: the whole text, 152 sentences and 2615 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself.

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**1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/4/page/2/)

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He must have been a bad man indeed, and no knight at all, in that even the vision of Perfect Beauty had not the power to kill in him that which was base and self-seeking.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") So yet once more, he sallied forth against Chittore long years afterwards, when the Baby-King was full grown, and with his twelve brave sons, and Bhimsi, and the other brave Rajput princes, kept faithful guard over the honour of knighthood in Rajputana.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics")

And Ala-ud-din took with him mighty armies and great engines of war, and by sheer force of numbers and deadly weapons he bore down the brave little body of knights fighting on the walls of their beloved city.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics")

Then again the knights sat in council.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") “Our weak and defenceless ones shall not,” they said, “fall into the hands of a coward enemy.”[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics")

And they took their women down into the vaults beneath the city, where the Rajput woman was wont to go through fire to meet her lord who had died in battle.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") And they left them enough wood and fire for the sacrifice.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics")

And the women wore their most beautiful garments, to walk down to the vaults, a long line of beauty and courage led by the queen of beauty, the Lotus-Lady herself.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics")

And now it was the turn of the men.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") And the King and his sons and his brave knights all strove as to who should be first to meet single-handed the enemy at the gates.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") And they cast lots: and went one by one clad in the Rajput saffron robe of conquest: and single-handed each hewed his way through the gates, strewing the moat and outworks with the bodies of the slain.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics")

But Ayeshi, his beloved son, had the King sent secretly beforehand to a place of safety, that the race of warriors might still continue.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") And when night fell, the last of the Rajputs had left the city, having laid, each man, at the feet of the true knight and champion of the defenceless, a full sheaf of the unknightly ones.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics")

And Ala-ud-din came walking carefully across this carpet of the dead, into a fortress of which the gates were wide.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") But no man nor woman nor child found he anywhere in Chittore.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") All was emptiness--palace and hut, and bathing-ghat, and council chamber, and garden and marble-latticed roof--empty, all empty.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics")

Then at last did he realize that what was in his hands was not victory but defeat; and that the beauty and goodness of which we are not worthy, may not, in this life or the next, be taken by violence.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics")

The Perfect Host[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics")

Rasmal Rana of Marwar had three sons--Sanga, Prithi Raj, and Jismal.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") And Prithi Raj was ambitious, and would boast that Fate meant him to lead the sons of Marwar.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics")

One day when he was boasting on this wise his eldest brother Sanga said:[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics")

“Let the gods decide between us, brother.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") Although I am the eldest, you are welcome to my birthright, if so it is written.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") At the Tiger’s Mount lives the priestess who sees the future.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") Let us ask her who is to lead the ten thousand towns of Marwar when our father is dead.”[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics")

So they rode on together to the Tiger’s Mount.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") The cave was empty, and they sat down to await the priestess.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics")

The cave was simply furnished--a bed, a panther’s skin, a beggar’s bowl of water.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") Prithi Raj made for the bed, but Sanga sought the hearth-rug.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics")

And the priestess entered and looked at Sanga.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics")

“In olden times,” she said, “the panther’s skin was the seat of princes.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") As now you sit on this skin, so one day shall you sit on the throne of Marwar.”[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics")

At this Prithi Raj drew his sword and would have slain his brother, but their uncle stepped between, and Sanga escaped.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics")

He rode hard, his horse bleeding from sword-thrusts, for Jismal, his younger brother, was after him, while the uncle engaged Prithi Raj.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics")

A long way from the mount he came upon a very holy sanctuary.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") At its gates stood Rahtore Beeda, the perfect host: his horse stood beside him ready for a journey.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics")

“I am Sanga, son of Rasmal Rana: my brothers seek to kill me,” said Sanga.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics")

“Have no fear,” said Rahtore Beeda.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") “I will defend the sanctuary while you get away.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") See, there is my horse.”[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics")

And even as he spoke his eyes travelled to the speck of dust on the horizon.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics")

And now Jismal and his men had come up.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") But Rahtore Beeda stood alone at the door of the sanctuary.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics")

“We want Sanga.”[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics")

“He is my guest.”[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics")

“Then let us seek for him.”[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics")

“Nay--not while he is my guest,” said Rahtore Beeda, the perfect host, drawing his sword.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics")

Alone he stood against them.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") And when at last they forced their way into the sanctuary over his dead body, Sanga was far away in safety.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics")

And the perfect host had kept his tradition of hospitality.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics")

The Dove-Girl and the Prince[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics")

There was once a Persian Prince of noble birth who lost all his money: so he left his country and came to India, bringing with him his wife and three children.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics")

“It will not”, he said, “be so hard to be poor in a strange country.”[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics")

He travelled with a great many other people, all coming through the snow mountains and passes, and wild bleak places of Afghanistan.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") The women rode on camels, slung in cages on either side of the driver; and most of their luggage also was carried in this way.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") The men walked, and the journey took a weary long time for man and beast.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") The travellers halted to cook their food, and they halted again to sleep by great watch-fires, till the dawn-star told them that it was time to go on once more.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics")

One day a baby was born to the wife of the Persian, and he was very cross.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") “It is only a girl,” he said, “and no use at all.”[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") So when no one was looking he laid it on the grass by the roadside, and meant to go away and leave it there to die.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics")

Now it happened that a great man known at the Court of the Emperor Akbar, was also travelling with the pilgrims for safety; for there were many robbers in those days, and only if a man travelled with a crowd of people in what was called a Caravan, could he be safe.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics")

And the great man saw the poor little baby lying alone on the grass, and, as it seemed to belong to no one, he said he would take it for his own.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") And he looked about among the women in the Caravan for a nurse.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics")

And the baby’s mother came forward and said: “Please let me be nurse.”[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") So the baby had its own mother after all to care for it.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics")

Now the great man from Akbar’s Court was so kind that the woman told him all her story, and he asked to see her husband and her sons, and sent them all to the Emperor himself for protection.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") So it came to pass that the man from Persia got work and honour at the Emperor’s Court.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics")

And the baby born by the roadside grew very beautiful, and was called \_Mihr-un-Nisa\_, which means “the Sun of Womankind”.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") She lived near the Palace, and would go with the women into the Palace gardens, whenever the great Fairs took place, where the zenana women sold their lovely work and embroideries.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics")

And at one of these Fairs, Prince Salim, the Emperor’s son, lost his way in an empty part of the garden, where he could see no one but a small girl at play.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") He had in his hands his two favourite doves, and, wanting to fly kites with the boys at the fair, he told the little girl, who was our “Sun of Womankind”, to hold the doves till he should return.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") “Take care,” he said; “don’t let them fly.”[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics")

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