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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Indian Fairy Tales, Edited by Joseph Jacobs,
+Illustrated by John D. Batten and Gloria Cardew
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Indian Fairy Tales
+
+
+Editor: Joseph Jacobs
+
+Release Date: March 13, 2003  [eBook #7128]
+Most recently updated: May 1, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team and revised by Sankar Viswanathan, Fritz
+Ohrenschall, Sania Ali Mirza, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(http://www.pgdp.net) using page images generously made available by
+Internet Archive (http://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the lovely original illustrations.
+      See 7128-h.htm or 7128-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7128/7128-h/7128-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7128/7128-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/indiantales00jacorich
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      A letter following a carat character is superscripted.
+      For example, in "2^e" the "e" is superscripted.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Indian Fairy Tales]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration: PRINCESS LABAM]
+
+
+INDIAN FAIRY TALES
+
+Selected and Edited by
+
+JOSEPH JACOBS
+
+Editor of "Folk Lore"
+
+Illustrated by John D. Batten
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+David Nutt, 270, 271 Strand
+1892
+
+
+
+
+_Only One Hundred and Sixty Copies of this
+Edition on Japanese Vellum Paper have been printed,
+of which One Hundred and Fifty are for Sale.
+
+This is No. 147_
+
+
+_The Illustrations in this Book were coloured by hand by
+Miss Gloria Cardew._
+
+
+
+
+   _TO
+   MY DEAR LITTLE PHIL_
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+From the extreme West of the Indo-European world, we go this year to
+the extreme East. From the soft rain and green turf of Gaeldom, we
+seek the garish sun and arid soil of the Hindoo. In the Land of Ire,
+the belief in fairies, gnomes, ogres and monsters is all but dead; in
+the Land of Ind it still flourishes in all the vigour of animism.
+
+Soils and national characters differ; but fairy tales are the same in
+plot and incidents, if not in treatment. The majority of the tales in
+this volume have been known in the West in some form or other, and the
+problem arises how to account for their simultaneous existence in
+farthest West and East. Some--as Benfey in Germany, M. Cosquin in
+France, and Mr. Clouston in England--have declared that India is the
+Home of the Fairy Tale, and that all European fairy tales have been
+brought from thence by Crusaders, by Mongol missionaries, by Gipsies,
+by Jews, by traders, by travellers. The question is still before the
+courts, and one can only deal with it as an advocate. So far as my
+instructions go, I should be prepared, within certain limits, to hold
+a brief for India. So far as the children of Europe have their fairy
+stories in common, these--and they form more than a third of the
+whole--are derived from India. In particular, the majority of the
+Drolls or comic tales and jingles can be traced, without much
+difficulty, back to the Indian peninsula.
+
+Certainly there is abundant evidence of the early transmission by
+literary means of a considerable number of drolls and folk-tales from
+India about the time of the Crusaders. The collections known in Europe
+by the titles of _The Fables of Bidpai_, _The Seven Wise Masters_,
+_Gesta Romanorum_, and _Barlaam and Josaphat_, were extremely popular
+during the Middle Ages, and their contents passed on the one hand into
+the _Exempla_ of the monkish preachers, and on the other into the
+_Novelle_ of Italy, thence, after many days, to contribute their quota
+to the Elizabethan Drama. Perhaps nearly one-tenth of the main
+incidents of European folk-tales can be traced to this source.
+
+There are even indications of an earlier literary contact between
+Europe and India, in the case of one branch of the folk-tale, the
+Fable or Beast Droll. In a somewhat elaborate discussion[1] I have
+come to the conclusion that a goodly number of the fables that pass
+under the name of the Samian slave, Æsop, were derived from India,
+probably from the same source whence the same tales were utilised in
+the Jatakas, or Birth-stories of Buddha. These Jatakas contain a large
+quantity of genuine early Indian folk-tales, and form the earliest
+collection of folk-tales in the world, a sort of Indian Grimm,
+collected more than two thousand years before the good German brothers
+went on their quest among the folk with such delightful results. For
+this reason I have included a considerable number of them in this
+volume; and shall be surprised if tales that have roused the laughter
+and wonder of pious Buddhists for the last two thousand years, cannot
+produce the same effect on English children. The Jatakas have been
+fortunate in their English translators, who render with vigour and
+point; and I rejoice in being able to publish the translation of two
+new Jatakas, kindly done into English for this volume by Mr. W. H. D.
+Rouse, of Christ's College, Cambridge. In one of these I think I have
+traced the source of the Tar Baby incident in "Uncle Remus."
+
+[Footnote 1: "History of the Æsopic Fable," the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's _Fables of Esope_ (London, Nutt, 1889).]
+
+Though Indian fairy tales are the earliest in existence, yet they are
+also from another point of view the youngest. For it is only about
+twenty-five years ago that Miss Frere began the modern collection of
+Indian folk-tales with her charming "Old Deccan Days" (London, John
+Murray, 1868; fourth edition, 1889). Her example has been followed by
+Miss Stokes, by Mrs. Steel, and Captain (now Major) Temple, by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, by Mr. Knowles and Mr. Campbell, as well as
+others who have published folk-tales in such periodicals as the
+_Indian Antiquary_ and _The Orientalist_. The story-store of modern
+India has been well dipped into during the last quarter of a century,
+though the immense range of the country leaves room for any number of
+additional workers and collections. Even so far as the materials
+already collected go, a large number of the commonest incidents in
+European folk-tales have been found in India. Whether brought there or
+born there, we have scarcely any criterion for judging; but as some of
+those still current among the folk in India can be traced back more
+than a millennium, the presumption is in favour of an Indian origin.
+
+From all these sources--from the Jatakas, from the Bidpai, and from
+the more recent collections--I have selected those stories which throw
+most light on the origin of Fable and Folk-tales, and at the same time
+are most likely to attract English children. I have not, however,
+included too many stories of the Grimm types, lest I should repeat
+the contents of the two preceding volumes of this series. This has to
+some degree weakened the case for India as represented by this book.
+The need of catering for the young ones has restricted my selection
+from the well-named "Ocean of the Streams of Story," _Katha-Sarit
+Sagara_ of Somadeva. The stories existing in Pali and Sanskrit I have
+taken from translations, mostly from the German of Benfey or the
+vigorous English of Professor Rhys-Davids, whom I have to thank for
+permission to use his versions of the Jatakas.
+
+I have been enabled to make this book a representative collection of
+the Fairy Tales of Ind by the kindness of the original collectors or
+their publishers. I have especially to thank Miss Frere, who kindly
+made an exception in my favour, and granted me the use of that fine
+story, "Punchkin," and that quaint myth, "How Sun, Moon, and Wind went
+out to Dinner." Miss Stokes has been equally gracious in granting me
+the use of characteristic specimens from her "Indian Fairy Tales." To
+Major Temple I owe the advantage of selecting from his admirable
+_Wideawake Stories_, and Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. have allowed
+me to use Mr. Knowles' "Folk-tales of Kashmir," in their Oriental
+Library; and Messrs. W. H. Allen have been equally obliging with
+regard to Mrs. Kingscote's "Tales of the Sun." Mr. M. L. Dames has
+enabled me add to the published story-store of India by granting me
+the use of one from his inedited collection of Baluchi folk-tales.
+
+I have again to congratulate myself on the co-operation of my friend
+Mr. J. D. Batten in giving beautiful or amusing form to the creations
+of the folk fancy of the Hindoos. It is no slight thing to embody, as
+he has done, the glamour and the humour both of the Celt and of the
+Hindoo. It is only a further proof that Fairy Tales are something more
+than Celtic or Hindoo. They are human.
+
+JOSEPH JACOBS.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+
+I.      THE LION AND THE CRANE                        1
+
+II.     HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM     3
+
+III.    THE LAMBIKIN                                 17
+
+IV.     PUNCHKIN                                     21
+
+V.      THE BROKEN POT                               38
+
+VI.     THE MAGIC FIDDLE                             40
+
+VII.    THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED                    46
+
+VIII.   LOVING LAILI                                 51
+
+IX.     THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL       66
+
+X.      THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON                         70
+
+XI.     HARISARMAN                                   85
+
+XII.    THE CHARMED RING                             90
+
+XIII.   THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE                      100
+
+XIV.    A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A PIECE OF ADVICE       103
+
+XV.     THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT                     112
+
+XVI.    THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS                     115
+
+XVII.   A LESSON FOR KINGS                          127
+
+XVIII.  PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL                   132
+
+XIX.    RAJA RASALU                                 136
+
+XX.     THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN                  150
+
+XXI.    THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER             152
+
+XXII.   THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD
+            AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN                  156
+
+XXIII.  THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR                    179
+
+XXIV.   WHY THE FISH LAUGHED                        186
+
+XXV.    THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR              194
+
+XXVI.   THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS       199
+
+XXVII.  SUN, MOON, AND WIND GO OUT TO DINNER        218
+
+XXVIII. HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED              221
+
+XXIX.   THE PIGEON AND THE CROW                     223
+
+        NOTES AND REFERENCES                        227
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Full-page Illustrations
+
+
+PRINCESS LABAM                              _Frontispiece_
+
+THE LION AND THE CRANE          _To face page_       2
+
+PUNCHKIN                                 "          36
+
+LOVING LAILI                             "          64
+
+THE CHARMED RING                         "          96
+
+THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS                  "         120
+
+RAJA RASALU                              "         146
+
+BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD                "         165
+
+DEMON WITH MATTED HAIR                   "         196
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     [Plates, vignettes, initials, and cuts are from "process"
+     blocks supplied by Messrs. J. C. Drummond & Co. of Covent
+     Garden.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+The Lion and the Crane
+
+
+The Bodhisatta was at one time born in the region of Himavanta as a
+white crane; now Brahmadatta was at that time reigning in Benares. Now
+it chanced that as a lion was eating meat a bone stuck in his throat.
+The throat became swollen, he could not take food, his suffering was
+terrible. The crane seeing him, as he was perched on a tree looking
+for food, asked, "What ails thee, friend?" He told him why. "I could
+free thee from that bone, friend, but dare not enter thy mouth for
+fear thou mightest eat me." "Don't be afraid, friend, I'll not eat
+thee; only save my life." "Very well," says he, and caused him to lie
+down on his left side. But thinking to himself, "Who knows what this
+fellow will do," he placed a small stick upright between his two jaws
+that he could not close his mouth, and inserting his head inside his
+mouth struck one end of the bone with his beak. Whereupon the bone
+dropped and fell out. As soon as he had caused the bone to fall, he
+got out of the lion's mouth, striking the stick with his beak so that
+it fell out, and then settled on a branch. The lion gets well, and
+one day was eating a buffalo he had killed. The crane thinking "I will
+sound him," settled on a branch just over him, and in conversation
+spoke this first verse:
+
+    "A service have we done thee
+      To the best of our ability,
+    King of the Beasts! Your Majesty!
+      What return shall we get from thee?"
+
+In reply the Lion spoke the second verse:
+
+    "As I feed on blood,
+      And always hunt for prey,
+    'Tis much that thou art still alive
+      Having once been between my teeth."
+
+Then in reply the crane said the two other verses:
+
+    "Ungrateful, doing no good,
+      Not doing as he would be done by,
+    In him there is no gratitude,
+      To serve him is useless.
+
+    "His friendship is not won
+      By the clearest good deed.
+    Better softly withdraw from him,
+      Neither envying nor abusing."
+
+And having thus spoken the crane flew away.
+
+_And when the great Teacher, Gautama the Buddha, told this tale, he
+used to add: "Now at that time the lion was Devadatta the Traitor, but
+the white crane was I myself."_
+
+[Illustration: THE LION AND THE CRANE]
+
+
+
+
+How the Raja's Son won the Princess Labam.
+
+
+In a country there was a Raja who had an only son who every day went
+out to hunt. One day the Rani, his mother, said to him, "You can hunt
+wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the
+fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth
+side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labam, and that then he
+would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess.
+
+The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time;
+but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was
+allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth
+side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to
+hunt on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle,
+and nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it.
+The young Raja shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up
+to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Raja, who was
+called Hiraman parrot.
+
+When Hiraman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the
+other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Raja's son
+shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labam."
+
+Then the parrots all flew back to their Raja, chattering. The prince
+was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he
+said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labam? Where does she live?"
+But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never get
+to the Princess Labam's country." That is all they would say.
+
+The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more;
+and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would
+not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed
+very ill.
+
+At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the
+Princess Labam. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like.
+Tell me where her country is."
+
+"We do not know where it is," answered his father and mother.
+
+"Then I must go and look for it," said the prince.
+
+"No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only son.
+Stay with us. You will never find the Princess Labam."
+
+"I must try and find her," said the prince. "Perhaps God will show me
+the way. If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but
+perhaps I shall die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I
+must go."
+
+So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with
+him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And
+he took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other
+weapons, "for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him
+plenty of rupees.
+
+Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said
+good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her
+handkerchief and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her
+son. "My child," she said to him, "When you are hungry eat some of
+these sweetmeats."
+
+He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a
+jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his
+horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to
+himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I
+will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He opened
+his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in it. He
+took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid the two
+sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and another, and
+another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he found an ant.
+"Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the ants shall eat
+them." Then the Ant-Raja came and stood before him and said, "You have
+been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and we will
+come to you."
+
+The Raja's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his
+journey. He rode on and on until he came to another jungle, and there
+he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly
+from the pain.
+
+"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Raja. "What is the matter
+with you?"
+
+"I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered the tiger,
+"and it hurts me so; that is why I roar."
+
+"Well," said the Raja's son, "I will take it out for you. But
+perhaps, as you are a tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat
+me?"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Oh, no," said the tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well."
+
+Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn
+out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than
+ever--so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came
+bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming,
+and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife.
+
+"No one hurt me," answered the husband; "but a Raja's son came and
+took the thorn out of my foot."
+
+"Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife.
+
+"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger.
+
+"I won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife.
+
+Then the tiger called the Raja's son, and when he came the tiger and
+his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good
+dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at
+the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said
+good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in
+trouble, think of me, and we will come to you."
+
+The Raja's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he
+found four fakirs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four
+things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he
+wished to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels,
+food, or clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he
+wanted, no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and
+rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war
+on him, "Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the
+stick would beat them and the rope would tie them up.
+
+The four fakirs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, "I
+want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so
+on.
+
+The Raja's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will
+shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets
+to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets
+to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets
+to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who
+gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and
+rope." To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his first arrow.
+Away raced the fakirs to get it. When they brought it back to him he
+shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he
+shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot
+off the fourth.
+
+While they were away looking for the fourth arrow the Raja's son let
+his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl,
+the stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish
+to go to the Princess Labam's country." The little bed instantly rose
+up into the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to
+the Princess Labam's country, where it settled on the ground. The
+Raja's son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?"
+
+"The Princess Labam's country," they answered. Then the prince went on
+till he came to a house where he saw an old woman.
+
+"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from?"
+
+"I come from a far country," he said; "do let me stay with you
+to-night."
+
+"No," she answered, "I cannot let you stay with me; for our king has
+ordered that men from other countries may not stay in his country. You
+cannot stay in my house."
+
+"You are my aunty," said the prince; "let me remain with you for this
+one night. You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then
+the wild beasts will eat me."
+
+"Well," said the old woman, "you may stay here to-night; but to-morrow
+morning you must go away, for if the king hears you have passed the
+night in my house, he will have me seized and put into prison."
+
+Then she took him into her house, and the Raja's son was very glad.
+The old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her, "Aunty," he
+said, "I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying,
+"Bag, I want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious
+dinner, served up on two gold plates. The old woman and the Raja's son
+then dined together.
+
+When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch
+some water."
+
+"Don't go," said the prince. "You shall have plenty of water
+directly." So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want some
+water," and then it filled with water. When it was full, the prince
+cried out, "Stop, bowl," and the bowl stopped filling. "See, aunty,"
+he said, "with this bowl I can always get as much water as I want."
+
+By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Raja's son, "why don't
+you light a lamp?"
+
+"There is no need," she said. "Our king has forbidden the people in
+his country to light any lamps; for, as soon as it is dark, his
+daughter, the Princess Labam, comes and sits on her roof, and she
+shines so that she lights up all the country and our houses, and we
+can see to do our work as if it were day."
+
+When it was quite black night the princess got up. She dressed herself
+in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and across her
+head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone like the
+moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her room, and sat
+on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came out of her
+house; she only came out at night. All the people in her father's
+country then went about their work and finished it.
+
+The Raja's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He
+said to himself, "How lovely she is!"
+
+At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down
+from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and
+asleep, the Raja's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. "Bed," he
+said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labam's bed-room." So the
+little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep.
+
+The young Raja took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of
+betel-leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he
+laid near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back
+to the old woman's house.
+
+Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and
+began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the
+princess.
+
+"We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody knew the
+prince had come in the night and put it all there.
+
+In the morning the old woman came to the Raja's son. "Now it is
+morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the king finds out all I
+have done for you, he will seize me."
+
+"I am ill to-day, dear aunty," said the prince; "do let me stay till
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"Good," said the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner
+out of the bag, and the bowl gave them water.
+
+When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve
+o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was
+soon fast asleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed, and it carried
+him to the princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most
+lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the
+princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house
+and slept till morning.
+
+In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl she was delighted.
+"See, mother," she said; "Khuda must have given me this shawl, it is
+so beautiful." Her mother was very glad too.
+
+"Yes, my child," she said; "Khuda must have given you this splendid
+shawl."
+
+When it was morning the old woman said to the Raja's son, "Now you
+must really go."
+
+"Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let me stay a few
+days longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that no one may
+see me." So the old woman let him stay.
+
+When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and
+jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went
+to sleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room.
+There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring."
+The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labam's
+hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much
+frightened.
+
+"Who are you?" she said to the prince. "Where do you come from? Why do
+you come to my room?"
+
+"Do not be afraid, princess," he said; "I am no thief. I am a great
+Raja's son. Hiraman parrot, who lives in the jungle where I went to
+hunt, told me your name, and then I left my father and mother, and
+came to see you."
+
+"Well," said the princess, "as you are the son of such a great Raja,
+I will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that
+I wish to marry you."
+
+The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning
+came the princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Raja has
+come to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this
+to the king.
+
+"Good," said the king; "but if this Raja's son wishes to marry my
+daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I will kill
+him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, and out of
+this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this he shall
+die."
+
+In the morning the Raja's son told the old woman that he intended to
+marry the princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this
+country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rajas and
+Rajas' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them
+all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do
+whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if
+he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things
+the king tells him to do; so all the Rajas and Rajas' sons who have
+tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do
+go away." But the prince would not listen to anything she said.
+
+The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his
+servants brought the Raja's son to the king's court-house to the king.
+There the king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to
+crush all the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him
+to the court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to
+the prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have
+him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard
+seed, you will die."
+
+The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil
+out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if
+I do not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old
+woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the
+Ant-Raja, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Raja and his ants came to
+him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Raja.
+
+The prince showed him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I
+crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not
+take the oil to the king to-morrow morning, he will kill me."
+
+"Be happy," said the Ant-Raja; "lie down and sleep; we will crush all
+the oil out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall
+take it to the king." The Raja's son lay down and slept, and the ants
+crushed out the oil for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the
+oil.
+
+The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the
+king said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so,
+you must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a
+long time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what
+to do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let
+them loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country;
+and he did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons
+who wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these
+demons; "for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be
+killed, and then I shall be rid of them."
+
+When he heard of the demons the Raja's son was very sad. "What can I
+do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then
+he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and
+said, "Why are you so sad?" The Raja's son answered, "The king has
+ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do
+this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my
+wife will fight with them for you."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then the Raja's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were
+all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he
+put on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the
+king, and said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?"
+"Yes," said the king, who did not care in the least who killed his
+demons, provided they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the
+Raja's son, "and these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and
+the tigers and the demons fought and fought until the tigers had
+killed the demons.
+
+"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before
+I give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must
+go and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you."
+
+The Raja's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old
+woman's house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the
+sky is the king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up
+with him, and the Raja's son beat the drum, and the king heard him.
+Still, when he came down, the king would not give him his daughter.
+"You have," he said to the prince, "done the three things I told you
+to do; but you must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the
+Raja's son.
+
+Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his
+court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax
+hatchet, and said, "To-morrow morning you must cut this trunk in two
+with this wax hatchet."
+
+The Raja's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad,
+and thought that now the Raja would certainly kill him. "I had his oil
+crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons killed
+by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But now what
+can I do? How can I cut that thick tree-trunk in two with a wax
+hatchet?"
+
+At night he went on his bed to see the princess. "To-morrow," he said
+to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the princess.
+
+"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet.
+How can I ever do that?" said the Raja's son. "Do not be afraid," said
+the princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite
+easily."
+
+Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince.
+"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the
+tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labam commands you to let yourself be cut in
+two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax
+hatchet's blade."
+
+The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the
+minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade
+touched the tree-trunk it split into two pieces.
+
+The king said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took
+place. All the Rajas and kings of the countries round were asked to
+come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the
+prince's son said to his wife, "Let us go to my father's country." The
+Princess Labam's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and
+rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's
+country, where they lived happily.
+
+The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only, as no one
+ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick.
+
+
+
+
+The Lambikin
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a wee wee Lambikin, who frolicked about on
+his little tottery legs, and enjoyed himself amazingly.
+
+Now one day he set off to visit his Granny, and was jumping with joy
+to think of all the good things he should get from her, when who
+should he meet but a Jackal, who looked at the tender young morsel and
+said: "Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk and said:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Jackal thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+By-and-by he met a Vulture, and the Vulture, looking hungrily at the
+tender morsel before him, said: "Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk, and said:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Vulture thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+And by-and-by he met a Tiger, and then a Wolf, and a Dog, and an
+Eagle, and all these, when they saw the tender little morsel, said:
+"Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But to all of them Lambikin replied, with a little frisk:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+At last he reached his Granny's house, and said, all in a great hurry,
+"Granny, dear, I've promised to get very fat; so, as people ought to
+keep their promises, please put me into the corn-bin _at once_."
+
+So his Granny said he was a good boy, and put him into the corn-bin,
+and there the greedy little Lambikin stayed for seven days, and ate,
+and ate, and ate, until he could scarcely waddle, and his Granny said
+he was fat enough for anything, and must go home. But cunning little
+Lambikin said that would never do, for some animal would be sure to
+eat him on the way back, he was so plump and tender.
+
+"I'll tell you what you must do," said Master Lambikin, "you must make
+a little drumikin out of the skin of my little brother who died, and
+then I can sit inside and trundle along nicely, for I'm as tight as a
+drum myself."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+So his Granny made a nice little drumikin out of his brother's skin,
+with the wool inside, and Lambikin curled himself up snug and warm in
+the middle, and trundled away gaily. Soon he met with the Eagle, who
+called out:
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Mr. Lambikin, curled up in his soft warm nest, replied:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin.  Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+"How very annoying!" sighed the Eagle, thinking regretfully of the
+tender morsel he had let slip.
+
+Meanwhile Lambikin trundled along, laughing to himself, and singing:
+
+    "Tum-pa, tum-too;
+    Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Every animal and bird he met asked him the same question:
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And to each of them the little slyboots replied:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin. Tum-pa, tum too;
+    Tum-pa, tum-too; Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Then they all sighed to think of the tender little morsel they had let
+slip.
+
+At last the Jackal came limping along, for all his sorry looks as
+sharp as a needle, and he too called out--
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Lambikin, curled up in his snug little nest, replied gaily:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin! Tum-pa----"
+
+But he never got any further, for the Jackal recognised his voice at
+once, and cried: "Hullo! you've turned yourself inside out, have you?
+Just you come out of that!"
+
+Whereupon he tore open Drumikin and gobbled up Lambikin.
+
+
+
+
+Punchkin
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven beautiful daughters.
+They were all good girls; but the youngest, named Balna, was more
+clever than the rest. The Raja's wife died when they were quite little
+children, so these seven poor Princesses were left with no mother to
+take care of them.
+
+The Raja's daughters took it by turns to cook their father's dinner
+every day, whilst he was absent deliberating with his Ministers on the
+affairs of the nation.
+
+About this time the Prudhan died, leaving a widow and one daughter;
+and every day, every day, when the seven Princesses were preparing
+their father's dinner, the Prudhan's widow and daughter would come and
+beg for a little fire from the hearth. Then Balna used to say to her
+sisters, "Send that woman away; send her away. Let her get the fire at
+her own house. What does she want with ours? If we allow her to come
+here, we shall suffer for it some day."
+
+But the other sisters would answer, "Be quiet, Balna; why must you
+always be quarrelling with this poor woman? Let her take some fire if
+she likes." Then the Prudhan's widow used to go to the hearth and take
+a few sticks from it; and whilst no one was looking, she would quickly
+throw some mud into the midst of the dishes which were being prepared
+for the Raja's dinner.
+
+Now the Raja was very fond of his daughters. Ever since their mother's
+death they had cooked his dinner with their own hands, in order to
+avoid the danger of his being poisoned by his enemies. So, when he
+found the mud mixed up with his dinner, he thought it must arise from
+their carelessness, as it did not seem likely that any one should have
+put mud there on purpose; but being very kind he did not like to
+reprove them for it, although this spoiling of the curry was repeated
+many successive days.
+
+At last, one day, he determined to hide, and watch his daughters
+cooking, and see how it all happened; so he went into the next room,
+and watched them through a hole in the wall.
+
+There he saw his seven daughters carefully washing the rice and
+preparing the curry, and as each dish was completed, they put it by
+the fire ready to be cooked. Next he noticed the Prudhan's widow come
+to the door, and beg for a few sticks from the fire to cook her
+dinner with. Balna turned to her, angrily, and said, "Why don't you
+keep fuel in your own house, and not come here every day and take
+ours? Sisters, don't give this woman any more wood; let her buy it for
+herself."
+
+Then the eldest sister answered, "Balna, let the poor woman take the
+wood and the fire; she does us no harm." But Balna replied, "If you
+let her come here so often, maybe she will do us some harm, and make
+us sorry for it, some day."
+
+The Raja then saw the Prudhan's widow go to the place where all his
+dinner was nicely prepared, and, as she took the wood, she threw a
+little mud into each of the dishes.
+
+At this he was very angry, and sent to have the woman seized and
+brought before him. But when the widow came, she told him that she had
+played this trick because she wanted to gain an audience with him; and
+she spoke so cleverly, and pleased him so well with her cunning words,
+that instead of punishing her, the Raja married her, and made her his
+Ranee, and she and her daughter came to live in the palace.
+
+Now the new Ranee hated the seven poor Princesses, and wanted to get
+them, if possible, out of the way, in order that her daughter might
+have all their riches, and live in the palace as Princess in their
+place; and instead of being grateful to them for their kindness to
+her, she did all she could to make them miserable. She gave them
+nothing but bread to eat, and very little of that, and very little
+water to drink; so these seven poor little Princesses, who had been
+accustomed to have everything comfortable about them, and good food
+and good clothes all their lives long, were very miserable and
+unhappy; and they used to go out every day and sit by their dead
+mother's tomb and cry--and say:
+
+"Oh mother, mother, cannot you see your poor children, how unhappy we
+are, and how we are starved by our cruel step-mother?"
+
+One day, whilst they were thus sobbing and crying, lo and behold! a
+beautiful pomelo tree grew up out of the grave, covered with fresh
+ripe pomeloes, and the children satisfied their hunger by eating some
+of the fruit, and every day after this, instead of trying to eat the
+bad dinner their step-mother provided for them, they used to go out to
+their mother's grave and eat the pomeloes which grew there on the
+beautiful tree.
+
+Then the Ranee said to her daughter, "I cannot tell how it is, every
+day those seven girls say they don't want any dinner, and won't eat
+any; and yet they never grow thin nor look ill; they look better than
+you do. I cannot tell how it is." And she bade her watch the seven
+Princesses, and see if any one gave them anything to eat.
+
+So next day, when the Princesses went to their mother's grave, and
+were eating the beautiful pomeloes, the Prudhan's daughter followed
+them, and saw them gathering the fruit.
+
+Then Balna said to her sisters, "Do you not see that girl watching us?
+Let us drive her away, or hide the pomeloes, else she will go and tell
+her mother all about it, and that will be very bad for us."
+
+But the other sisters said, "Oh no, do not be unkind, Balna. The girl
+would never be so cruel as to tell her mother. Let us rather invite
+her to come and have some of the fruit." And calling her to them,
+they gave her one of the pomeloes.
+
+No sooner had she eaten it, however, than the Prudhan's daughter went
+home and said to her mother, "I do not wonder the seven Princesses
+will not eat the dinner you prepare for them, for by their mother's
+grave there grows a beautiful pomelo tree, and they go there every day
+and eat the pomeloes. I ate one, and it was the nicest I have ever
+tasted."
+
+The cruel Ranee was much vexed at hearing this, and all next day she
+stayed in her room, and told the Raja that she had a very bad
+headache. The Raja was deeply grieved, and said to his wife, "What can
+I do for you?" She answered, "There is only one thing that will make
+my headache well. By your dead wife's tomb there grows a fine pomelo
+tree; you must bring that here, and boil it, root and branch, and put
+a little of the water in which it has been boiled, on my forehead, and
+that will cure my headache." So the Raja sent his servants, and had
+the beautiful pomelo tree pulled up by the roots, and did as the Ranee
+desired; and when some of the water, in which it had been boiled, was
+put on her forehead, she said her headache was gone and she felt quite
+well.
+
+Next day, when the seven Princesses went as usual to the grave of
+their mother, the pomelo tree had disappeared. Then they all began to
+cry very bitterly.
+
+Now there was by the Ranee's tomb a small tank, and as they were
+crying they saw that the tank was filled with a rich cream-like
+substance, which quickly hardened into a thick white cake. At seeing
+this all the Princesses were very glad, and they ate some of the cake,
+and liked it; and next day the same thing happened, and so it went on
+for many days. Every morning the Princesses went to their mother's
+grave, and found the little tank filled with the nourishing cream-like
+cake. Then the cruel step-mother said to her daughter: "I cannot tell
+how it is, I have had the pomelo tree which used to grow by the
+Ranee's grave destroyed, and yet the Princesses grow no thinner, nor
+look more sad, though they never eat the dinner I give them. I cannot
+tell how it is!"
+
+And her daughter said, "I will watch."
+
+Next day, while the Princesses were eating the cream cake, who should
+come by but their step-mother's daughter. Balna saw her first, and
+said, "See, sisters, there comes that girl again. Let us sit round the
+edge of the tank and not allow her to see it, for if we give her some
+of our cake, she will go and tell her mother; and that will be very
+unfortunate for us."
+
+The other sisters, however, thought Balna unnecessarily suspicious,
+and instead of following her advice, they gave the Prudhan's daughter
+some of the cake, and she went home and told her mother all about it.
+
+The Ranee, on hearing how well the Princesses fared, was exceedingly
+angry, and sent her servants to pull down the dead Ranee's tomb, and
+fill the little tank with the ruins. And not content with this, she
+next day pretended to be very, very ill--in fact, at the point of
+death--and when the Raja was much grieved, and asked her whether it
+was in his power to procure her any remedy, she said to him: "Only one
+thing can save my life, but I know you will not do it." He replied,
+"Yes, whatever it is, I will do it." She then said, "To save my life,
+you must kill the seven daughters of your first wife, and put some of
+their blood on my forehead and on the palms of my hands, and their
+death will be my life." At these words the Raja was very sorrowful;
+but because he feared to break his word, he went out with a heavy
+heart to find his daughters.
+
+He found them crying by the ruins of their mother's grave.
+
+Then, feeling he could not kill them, the Raja spoke kindly to them,
+and told them to come out into the jungle with him; and there he made
+a fire and cooked some rice, and gave it to them. But in the
+afternoon, it being very hot, the seven Princesses all fell asleep,
+and when he saw they were fast asleep, the Raja, their father, stole
+away and left them (for he feared his wife), saying to himself: "It is
+better my poor daughters should die here, than be killed by their
+step-mother."
+
+He then shot a deer, and returning home, put some of its blood on the
+forehead and hands of the Ranee, and she thought then that he had
+really killed the Princesses, and said she felt quite well.
+
+Meantime the seven Princesses awoke, and when they found themselves
+all alone in the thick jungle they were much frightened, and began to
+call out as loud as they could, in hopes of making their father hear;
+but he was by that time far away, and would not have been able to hear
+them even had their voices been as loud as thunder.
+
+It so happened that this very day the seven young sons of a
+neighbouring Raja chanced to be hunting in that same jungle, and as
+they were returning home, after the day's sport was over, the youngest
+Prince said to his brothers: "Stop, I think I hear some one crying and
+calling out. Do you not hear voices? Let us go in the direction of
+the sound, and find out what it is."
+
+So the seven Princes rode through the wood until they came to the
+place where the seven Princesses sat crying and wringing their hands.
+At the sight of them the young Princes were very much astonished, and
+still more so on learning their story; and they settled that each
+should take one of these poor forlorn ladies home with him, and marry
+her.
+
+So the first and eldest Prince took the eldest Princess home with him,
+and married her.
+
+And the second took the second;
+
+And the third took the third;
+
+And the fourth took the fourth;
+
+And the fifth took the fifth;
+
+And the sixth took the sixth;
+
+And the seventh, and the handsomest of all, took the beautiful Balna.
+
+And when they got to their own land, there was great rejoicing
+throughout the kingdom, at the marriage of the seven young Princes to
+seven such beautiful Princesses.
+
+About a year after this Balna had a little son, and his uncles and
+aunts were so fond of the boy that it was as if he had seven fathers
+and seven mothers. None of the other Princes and Princesses had any
+children, so the son of the seventh Prince and Balna was acknowledged
+their heir by all the rest.
+
+They had thus lived very happily for some time, when one fine day the
+seventh Prince (Balna's husband) said he would go out hunting, and
+away he went; and they waited long for him, but he never came back.
+
+Then his six brothers said they would go and see what had become of
+him; and they went away, but they also did not return.
+
+And the seven Princesses grieved very much, for they feared that their
+kind husbands must have been killed.
+
+One day, not long after this had happened, as Balna was rocking her
+baby's cradle, and whilst her sisters were working in the room below,
+there came to the palace door a man in a long black dress, who said
+that he was a Fakir, and came to beg. The servants said to him, "You
+cannot go into the palace--the Raja's sons have all gone away; we
+think they must be dead, and their widows cannot be interrupted by
+your begging." But he said, "I am a holy man, you must let me in."
+Then the stupid servants let him walk through the palace, but they did
+not know that this was no Fakir, but a wicked Magician named Punchkin.
+
+Punchkin Fakir wandered through the palace, and saw many beautiful
+things there, till at last he reached the room where Balna sat singing
+beside her little boy's cradle. The Magician thought her more
+beautiful than all the other beautiful things he had seen, insomuch
+that he asked her to go home with him and to marry him. But she said,
+"My husband, I fear, is dead, but my little boy is still quite young;
+I will stay here and teach him to grow up a clever man, and when he is
+grown up he shall go out into the world, and try and learn tidings of
+his father. Heaven forbid that I should ever leave him, or marry you."
+At these words the Magician was very angry, and turned her into a
+little black dog, and led her away; saying, "Since you will not come
+with me of your own free will, I will make you." So the poor Princess
+was dragged away, without any power of effecting an escape, or of
+letting her sisters know what had become of her. As Punchkin passed
+through the palace gate the servants said to him, "Where did you get
+that pretty little dog?" And he answered, "One of the Princesses gave
+it to me as a present." At hearing which they let him go without
+further questioning.
+
+Soon after this, the six elder Princesses heard the little baby, their
+nephew, begin to cry, and when they went upstairs they were much
+surprised to find him all alone, and Balna nowhere to be seen. Then
+they questioned the servants, and when they heard of the Fakir and the
+little black dog, they guessed what had happened, and sent in every
+direction seeking them, but neither the Fakir nor the dog were to be
+found. What could six poor women do? They gave up all hopes of ever
+seeing their kind husbands, and their sister, and her husband, again,
+and devoted themselves thenceforward to teaching and taking care of
+their little nephew.
+
+Thus time went on, till Balna's son was fourteen years old. Then, one
+day, his aunts told him the history of the family; and no sooner did
+he hear it, than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of
+his father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to
+bring them home again. His aunts, on learning his determination, were
+much alarmed and tried to dissuade him, saying, "We have lost our
+husbands, and our sister and her husband, and you are now our sole
+hope; if you go away, what shall we do?" But he replied, "I pray you
+not to be discouraged; I will return soon, and if it is possible bring
+my father and mother and uncles with me." So he set out on his
+travels; but for some months he could learn nothing to help him in
+his search.
+
+At last, after he had journeyed many hundreds of weary miles, and
+become almost hopeless of ever hearing anything further of his
+parents, he one day came to a country that seemed full of stones, and
+rocks, and trees, and there he saw a large palace with a high tower;
+hard by which was a Malee's little house.
+
+As he was looking about, the Malee's wife saw him, and ran out of the
+house and said, "My dear boy, who are you that dare venture to this
+dangerous place?" He answered, "I am a Raja's son, and I come in
+search of my father, and my uncles, and my mother whom a wicked
+enchanter bewitched."
+
+Then the Malee's wife said, "This country and this palace belong to a
+great enchanter; he is all powerful, and if any one displeases him, he
+can turn them into stones and trees. All the rocks and trees you see
+here were living people once, and the Magician turned them to what
+they now are. Some time ago a Raja's son came here, and shortly
+afterwards came his six brothers, and they were all turned into stones
+and trees; and these are not the only unfortunate ones, for up in that
+tower lives a beautiful Princess, whom the Magician has kept prisoner
+there for twelve years, because she hates him and will not marry him."
+
+Then the little Prince thought, "These must be my parents and my
+uncles. I have found what I seek at last." So he told his story to the
+Malee's wife, and begged her to help him to remain in that place
+awhile and inquire further concerning the unhappy people she
+mentioned; and she promised to befriend him, and advised his
+disguising himself lest the Magician should see him, and turn him
+likewise into stone. To this the Prince agreed. So the Malee's wife
+dressed him up in a saree, and pretended that he was her daughter.
+
+One day, not long after this, as the Magician was walking in his
+garden he saw the little girl (as he thought) playing about, and asked
+her who she was. She told him she was the Malee's daughter, and the
+Magician said, "You are a pretty little girl, and to-morrow you shall
+take a present of flowers from me to the beautiful lady who lives in
+the tower."
+
+The young Prince was much delighted at hearing this, and went
+immediately to inform the Malee's wife; after consultation with whom
+he determined that it would be more safe for him to retain his
+disguise, and trust to the chance of a favourable opportunity for
+establishing some communication with his mother, if it were indeed
+she.
+
+Now it happened that at Balna's marriage her husband had given her a
+small gold ring on which her name was engraved, and she had put it on
+her little son's finger when he was a baby, and afterwards when he was
+older his aunts had had it enlarged for him, so that he was still able
+to wear it. The Malee's wife advised him to fasten the well-known
+treasure to one of the bouquets he presented to his mother, and trust
+to her recognising it. This was not to be done without difficulty, as
+such a strict watch was kept over the poor Princess (for fear of her
+ever establishing communication with her friends), that though the
+supposed Malee's daughter was permitted to take her flowers every day,
+the Magician or one of his slaves was always in the room at the time.
+At last one day, however, opportunity favoured him, and when no one
+was looking, the boy tied the ring to a nosegay, and threw it at
+Balna's feet. It fell with a clang on the floor, and Balna, looking to
+see what made the strange sound, found the little ring tied to the
+flowers. On recognising it, she at once believed the story her son
+told her of his long search, and begged him to advise her as to what
+she had better do; at the same time entreating him on no account to
+endanger his life by trying to rescue her. She told him that for
+twelve long years the Magician had kept her shut up in the tower
+because she refused to marry him, and she was so closely guarded that
+she saw no hope of release.
+
+Now Balna's son was a bright, clever boy, so he said, "Do not fear,
+dear mother; the first thing to do is to discover how far the
+Magician's power extends, in order that we may be able to liberate my
+father and uncles, whom he has imprisoned in the form of rocks and
+trees. You have spoken to him angrily for twelve long years; now
+rather speak kindly. Tell him you have given up all hopes of again
+seeing the husband you have so long mourned, and say you are willing
+to marry him. Then endeavour to find out what his power consists in,
+and whether he is immortal, or can be put to death."
+
+Balna determined to take her son's advice; and the next day sent for
+Punchkin, and spoke to him as had been suggested.
+
+The Magician, greatly delighted, begged her to allow the wedding to
+take place as soon as possible.
+
+But she told him that before she married him he must allow her a
+little more time, in which she might make his acquaintance, and that,
+after being enemies so long, their friendship could but strengthen by
+degrees. "And do tell me," she said, "are you quite immortal? Can
+death never touch you? And are you too great an enchanter ever to feel
+human suffering?"
+
+"Why do you ask?" said he.
+
+"Because," she replied, "if I am to be your wife, I would fain know
+all about you, in order, if any calamity threatens you, to overcome,
+or if possible to avert it."
+
+"It is true," he added, "that I am not as others. Far, far away,
+hundreds of thousands of miles from this, there lies a desolate
+country covered with thick jungle. In the midst of the jungle grows a
+circle of palm trees, and in the centre of the circle stand six
+chattees full of water, piled one above another: below the sixth
+chattee is a small cage which contains a little green parrot; on the
+life of the parrot depends my life; and if the parrot is killed I must
+die. It is, however," he added, "impossible that the parrot should
+sustain any injury, both on account of the inaccessibility of the
+country, and because, by my appointment, many thousand genii surround
+the palm trees, and kill all who approach the place."
+
+Balna told her son what Punchkin had said; but at the same time
+implored him to give up all idea of getting the parrot.
+
+The Prince, however, replied, "Mother, unless I can get hold of that
+parrot, you, and my father, and uncles, cannot be liberated: be not
+afraid, I will shortly return. Do you, meantime, keep the Magician in
+good humour--still putting off your marriage with him on various
+pretexts; and before he finds out the cause of delay, I will be here."
+So saying, he went away.
+
+Many, many weary miles did he travel, till at last he came to a thick
+jungle; and, being very tired, sat down under a tree and fell asleep.
+He was awakened by a soft rustling sound, and looking about him, saw a
+large serpent which was making its way to an eagle's nest built in the
+tree under which he lay, and in the nest were two young eagles. The
+Prince seeing the danger of the young birds, drew his sword, and
+killed the serpent; at the same moment a rushing sound was heard in
+the air, and the two old eagles, who had been out hunting for food for
+their young ones, returned. They quickly saw the dead serpent and the
+young Prince standing over it; and the old mother eagle said to him,
+"Dear boy, for many years all our young ones have been devoured by
+that cruel serpent; you have now saved the lives of our children;
+whenever you are in need, therefore, send to us and we will help you;
+and as for these little eagles, take them, and let them be your
+servants."
+
+At this the Prince was very glad, and the two eaglets crossed their
+wings, on which he mounted; and they carried him far, far away over
+the thick jungles, until he came to the place where grew the circle of
+palm trees, in the midst of which stood the six chattees full of
+water. It was the middle of the day, and the heat was very great. All
+round the trees were the genii fast asleep; nevertheless, there were
+such countless thousands of them, that it would have been quite
+impossible for any one to walk through their ranks to the place; down
+swooped the strong-winged eaglets--down jumped the Prince; in an
+instant he had overthrown the six chattees full of water, and seized
+the little green parrot, which he rolled up in his cloak; while, as
+he mounted again into the air, all the genii below awoke, and finding
+their treasure gone, set up a wild and melancholy howl.
+
+Away, away flew the little eagles, till they came to their home in the
+great tree; then the Prince said to the old eagles, "Take back your
+little ones; they have done me good service; if ever again I stand in
+need of help, I will not fail to come to you." He then continued his
+journey on foot till he arrived once more at the Magician's palace,
+where he sat down at the door and began playing with the parrot.
+Punchkin saw him, and came to him quickly, and said, "My boy, where
+did you get that parrot? Give it to me, I pray you."
+
+But the Prince answered, "Oh no, I cannot give away my parrot, it is a
+great pet of mine; I have had it many years."
+
+Then the Magician said, "If it is an old favourite, I can understand
+your not caring to give it away; but come what will you sell it for?"
+
+"Sir," replied the Prince, "I will not sell my parrot."
+
+Then Punchkin got frightened, and said, "Anything, anything; name what
+price you will, and it shall be yours." The Prince answered, "Let the
+seven Raja's sons whom you turned into rocks and trees be instantly
+liberated."
+
+"It is done as you desire," said the Magician, "only give me my
+parrot." And with that, by a stroke of his wand, Balna's husband and
+his brothers resumed their natural shapes. "Now, give me my parrot,"
+repeated Punchkin.
+
+"Not so fast, my master," rejoined the Prince; "I must first
+beg that you will restore to life all whom you have thus imprisoned."
+
+[Illustration: Punchkin's Prisoners are set free.]
+
+The Magician immediately waved his wand again; and, whilst he cried,
+in an imploring voice, "Give me my parrot!" the whole garden became
+suddenly alive: where rocks, and stones, and trees had been before,
+stood Rajas, and Punts, and Sirdars, and mighty men on prancing
+horses, and jewelled pages, and troops of armed attendants.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried Punchkin. Then the boy took hold of the
+parrot, and tore off one of its wings; and as he did so the Magician's
+right arm fell off.
+
+Punchkin then stretched out his left arm, crying, "Give me my parrot!"
+The Prince pulled off the parrot's second wing, and the Magician's
+left arm tumbled off.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried he, and fell on his knees. The Prince
+pulled off the parrot's right leg, the Magician's right leg fell off:
+the Prince pulled off the parrot's left leg, down fell the Magician's
+left.
+
+Nothing remained of him save the limbless body and the head; but still
+he rolled his eyes, and cried, "Give me my parrot!" "Take your parrot,
+then," cried the boy, and with that he wrung the bird's neck, and
+threw it at the Magician; and, as he did so, Punchkin's head twisted
+round, and, with a fearful groan, he died!
+
+Then they let Balna out of the tower; and she, her son, and the seven
+Princes went to their own country, and lived very happily ever
+afterwards. And as to the rest of the world, every one went to his own
+house.
+
+
+
+
+The Broken Pot
+
+
+There lived in a certain place a Brahman, whose name was
+Svabhavak_ri_pa_n_a, which means "a born miser." He had collected a
+quantity of rice by begging, and after having dined off it, he filled
+a pot with what was left over. He hung the pot on a peg on the wall,
+placed his couch beneath, and looking intently at it all the night, he
+thought, "Ah, that pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if there should
+be a famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. With this
+I shall buy a couple of goats. They will have young ones every six
+months, and thus I shall have a whole herd of goats. Then, with the
+goats, I shall buy cows. As soon as they have calved, I shall sell the
+calves. Then, with the calves, I shall buy buffaloes; with the
+buffaloes, mares. When the mares have foaled, I shall have plenty of
+horses; and when I sell them, plenty of gold. With that gold I shall
+get a house with four wings. And then a Brahman will come to my house,
+and will give me his beautiful daughter, with a large dowry. She will
+have a son, and I shall call him Somasarman.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+When he is old enough to be danced on his father's knee, I shall sit
+with a book at the back of the stable, and while I am reading, the boy
+will see me, jump from his mother's lap, and run towards me to be
+danced on my knee. He will come too near the horse's hoof, and, full
+of anger, I shall call to my wife, 'Take the baby; take him!' But she,
+distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me. Then I get up, and
+give her such a kick with my foot." While he thought this, he gave a
+kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell over him, and
+made him quite white. Therefore, I say, "He who makes foolish plans
+for the future will be white all over, like the father of
+Somasarman."
+
+
+
+
+The Magic Fiddle
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived seven brothers and a sister. The brothers
+were married, but their wives did not do the cooking for the family.
+It was done by their sister, who stopped at home to cook. The wives
+for this reason bore their sister-in-law much ill-will, and at length
+they combined together to oust her from the office of cook and general
+provider, so that one of themselves might obtain it. They said, "She
+does not go out to the fields to work, but remains quietly at home,
+and yet she has not the meals ready at the proper time." They then
+called upon their Bonga, and vowing vows unto him they secured his
+good-will and assistance; then they said to the Bonga, "At midday when
+our sister-in-law goes to bring water, cause it thus to happen, that
+on seeing her pitcher the water shall vanish, and again slowly
+re-appear. In this way she will be delayed. Let the water not flow
+into her pitcher, and you may keep the maiden as your own."
+
+At noon when she went to bring water, it suddenly dried up before her,
+and she began to weep. Then after a while the water began slowly to
+rise. When it reached her ankles she tried to fill her pitcher, but it
+would not go under the water. Being frightened she began to wail and
+cry to her brother:
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise until it reached her knee, when she began
+to wail again:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise, and when it reached her waist, she cried
+again:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water still rose, and when it reached her neck she kept on crying:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+At length the water became so deep that she felt herself drowning,
+then she cried aloud:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water measures a man's height,
+    Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill."
+
+The pitcher filled with water, and along with it she sank and was
+drowned. The Bonga then transformed her into a Bonga like himself, and
+carried her off.
+
+After a time she re-appeared as a bamboo growing on the embankment of
+the tank in which she had been drowned. When the bamboo had grown to
+an immense size, a Jogi, who was in the habit of passing that way,
+seeing it, said to himself, "This will make a splendid fiddle." So one
+day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin,
+the bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up." When
+he lifted his axe to cut high up the stem, the bamboo cried out, "Do
+not cut near the top, cut at the root." When the Jogi again prepared
+himself to cut at the root as requested, the bamboo said, "Do not cut
+at the root, cut higher up;" and when he was about to cut higher up,
+it again called out to him, "Do not cut high up, cut at the root." The
+Jogi by this time felt sure that a Bonga was trying to frighten him,
+so becoming angry he cut down the bamboo at the root, and taking it
+away made a fiddle out of it. The instrument had a superior tone and
+delighted all who heard it. The Jogi carried it with him when he went
+a-begging, and through the influence of its sweet music he returned
+home every evening with a full wallet.
+
+He now and then visited, when on his rounds, the house of the Bonga
+girl's brothers, and the strains of the fiddle affected them greatly.
+Some of them were moved even to tears, for the fiddle seemed to wail
+as one in bitter anguish. The elder brother wished to purchase it, and
+offered to support the Jogi for a whole year if he would consent to
+part with his wonderful instrument. The Jogi, however, knew its value,
+and refused to sell it.
+
+It so happened that the Jogi some time after went to the house of a
+village chief, and after playing a tune or two on his fiddle asked for
+something to eat. They offered to buy his fiddle and promised a high
+price for it, but he refused to sell it, as his fiddle brought to him
+his means of livelihood. When they saw that he was not to be prevailed
+upon, they gave him food and a plentiful supply of liquor. Of the
+latter he drank so freely that he presently became intoxicated. While
+he was in this condition, they took away his fiddle, and substituted
+their own old one for it. When the Jogi recovered, he missed his
+instrument, and suspecting that it had been stolen asked them to
+return it to him. They denied having taken it, so he had to depart,
+leaving his fiddle behind him. The chief's son, being a musician, used
+to play on the Jogi's fiddle, and in his hands the music it gave forth
+delighted the ears of all who heard it.
+
+When all the household were absent at their labours in the fields, the
+Bonga girl used to come out of the bamboo fiddle, and prepared the
+family meal. Having eaten her own share, she placed that of the
+chief's son under his bed, and covering it up to keep off the dust,
+re-entered the fiddle. This happening every day, the other members of
+the household thought that some girl friend of theirs was in this
+manner showing her interest in the young man, so they did not trouble
+themselves to find out how it came about. The young chief, however,
+was determined to watch, and see which of his girl friends was so
+attentive to his comfort. He said in his own mind, "I will catch her
+to-day, and give her a sound beating; she is causing me to be ashamed
+before the others." So saying, he hid himself in a corner in a pile of
+firewood. In a short time the girl came out of the bamboo fiddle, and
+began to dress her hair. Having completed her toilet, she cooked the
+meal of rice as usual, and having eaten some herself, she placed the
+young man's portion under his bed, as before, and was about to enter
+the fiddle again, when he, running out from his hiding-place, caught
+her in his arms. The Bonga girl exclaimed, "Fie! Fie! you may be a
+Dom, or you may be a Hadi of some other caste with whom I cannot
+marry." He said, "No. But from to-day, you and I are one." So they
+began lovingly to hold converse with each other. When the others
+returned home in the evening, they saw that she was both a human being
+and a Bonga, and they rejoiced exceedingly.
+
+Now in course of time the Bonga girl's family became very poor, and
+her brothers on one occasion came to the chief's house on a visit.
+
+The Bonga girl recognised them at once, but they did not know who she
+was. She brought them water on their arrival, and afterwards set
+cooked rice before them. Then sitting down near them, she began in
+wailing tones to upbraid them on account of the treatment she had been
+subjected to by their wives. She related all that had befallen her,
+and wound up by saying, "You must have known it all, and yet you did
+not interfere to save me." And that was all the revenge she took.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+The Cruel Crane Outwitted
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Long ago the Bodisat was born to a forest life as the Genius of a tree
+standing near a certain lotus pond.
+
+Now at that time the water used to run short at the dry season in a
+certain pond, not over large, in which there were a good many fish.
+And a crane thought on seeing the fish:
+
+"I must outwit these fish somehow or other and make a prey of them."
+
+And he went and sat down at the edge of the water, thinking how he
+should do it.
+
+When the fish saw him, they asked him, "What are you sitting there
+for, lost in thought?"
+
+"I am sitting thinking about you," said he.
+
+"Oh, sir! what are you thinking about us?" said they.
+
+"Why," he replied; "there is very little water in this pond, and but
+little for you to eat; and the heat is so great! So I was thinking,
+'What in the world will these fish do now?'"
+
+"Yes, indeed, sir! what _are_ we to do?" said they.
+
+"If you will only do as I bid you, I will take you in my beak to a
+fine large pond, covered with all the kinds of lotuses, and put you
+into it," answered the crane.
+
+"That a crane should take thought for the fishes is a thing unheard
+of, sir, since the world began. It's eating us, one after the other,
+that you're aiming at."
+
+"Not I! So long as you trust me, I won't eat you. But if you don't
+believe me that there is such a pond, send one of you with me to go
+and see it."
+
+Then they trusted him, and handed over to him one of their number--a
+big fellow, blind of one eye, whom they thought sharp enough in any
+emergency, afloat or ashore.
+
+Him the crane took with him, let him go in the pond, showed him the
+whole of it, brought him back, and let him go again close to the other
+fish. And he told them all the glories of the pond.
+
+And when they heard what he said, they exclaimed, "All right, sir! You
+may take us with you."
+
+Then the crane took the old purblind fish first to the bank of the
+other pond, and alighted in a Varana-tree growing on the bank there.
+But he threw it into a fork of the tree, struck it with his beak, and
+killed it; and then ate its flesh, and threw its bones away at the
+foot of the tree. Then he went back and called out:
+
+"I've thrown that fish in; let another one come."
+
+And in that manner he took all the fish, one by one, and ate them,
+till he came back and found no more!
+
+But there was still a crab left behind there; and the crane thought he
+would eat him too, and called out:
+
+"I say, good crab, I've taken all the fish away, and put them into a
+fine large pond. Come along. I'll take you too!"
+
+"But how will you take hold of me to carry me along?"
+
+"I'll bite hold of you with my beak."
+
+"You'll let me fall if you carry me like that. I won't go with you!"
+
+"Don't be afraid! I'll hold you quite tight all the way."
+
+Then said the crab to himself, "If this fellow once got hold of fish,
+he would never let them go in a pond! Now if he should really put me
+into the pond, it would be capital; but if he doesn't--then I'll cut
+his throat, and kill him!" So he said to him:
+
+"Look here, friend, you won't be able to hold me tight enough; but we
+crabs have a famous grip. If you let me catch hold of you round the
+neck with my claws, I shall be glad to go with you."
+
+And the other did not see that he was trying to outwit him, and
+agreed. So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely
+as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, "Off with you,
+now!"
+
+And the crane took him and showed him the pond, and then turned off
+towards the Varana-tree.
+
+"Uncle!" cried the crab, "the pond lies that way, but you are taking
+me this way!"
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" answered the crane. "Your dear little uncle,
+your very sweet nephew, you call me! You mean me to understand, I
+suppose, that I am your slave, who has to lift you up and carry you
+about with him! Now cast your eye upon the heap of fish-bones lying at
+the root of yonder Varana-tree. Just as I have eaten those fish, every
+one of them, just so I will devour you as well!"
+
+"Ah! those fishes got eaten through their own stupidity," answered the
+crab; "but I'm not going to let you eat _me_. On the contrary, is it
+_you_ that I am going to destroy. For you in your folly have not seen
+that I was outwitting you. If we die, we die both together; for I will
+cut off this head of yours, and cast it to the ground!" And so saying,
+he gave the crane's neck a grip with his claws, as with a vice.
+
+Then gasping, and with tears trickling from his eyes, and trembling
+with the fear of death, the crane beseeched him, saying, "O my Lord!
+Indeed I did not intend to eat you. Grant me my life!"
+
+"Well, well! step down into the pond, and put me in there."
+
+And he turned round and stepped down into the pond, and placed the
+crab on the mud at its edge. But the crab cut through its neck as
+clean as one would cut a lotus-stalk with a hunting-knife, and then
+only entered the water!
+
+When the Genius who lived in the Varana-tree saw this strange affair,
+he made the wood resound with his plaudits, uttering in a pleasant
+voice the verse:
+
+    "The villain, though exceeding clever,
+    Shall prosper not by his villainy.
+    He may win indeed, sharp-witted in deceit,
+    But only as the Crane here from the Crab!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+Loving Laili
+
+
+Once there was a king called King Dantal, who had a great many rupees
+and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnun,
+who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red
+cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing
+with the Wazir's son, Husain Mahamat, in King Dantal's garden, which
+was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees.
+They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat
+them. King Dantal had a teacher for them to teach them to read and
+write.
+
+One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnun said
+to his father, "Husain Mahamat and I should like to go and hunt." His
+father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else
+they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phalana country,
+hunting all the way, but they only founds jackals and birds.
+
+The Raja of the Phalana country was called Munsuk Raja, and he had a
+daughter named Laili, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and
+black hair.
+
+One night, some time before Prince Majnun came to her father's
+kingdom, as she slept, Khuda sent to her an angel in the form of a man
+who told her that she should marry Prince Majnun and no one else, and
+that this was Khuda's command to her. When Laili woke she told her
+father of the angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid
+no attention to her story. From that time she began repeating,
+"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun," and would say nothing else. Even as
+she sat and ate her food she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want
+Majnun." Her father used to get quite vexed with her. "Who is this
+Majnun? who ever heard of this Majnun?" he would say.
+
+"He is the man I am to marry," said Laili. "Khuda has ordered me to
+marry no one but Majnun." And she was half mad.
+
+Meanwhile, Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to hunt in the Phalana
+country; and as they were riding about, Laili came out on her horse to
+eat the air, and rode behind them. All the time she kept saying,
+"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." The prince heard her, and turned
+round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this Laili looked at him, and
+the moment she saw him she fell deeply in love with him, and she said
+to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince Majnun that Khuda says I am
+to marry." And she went home to her father and said, "Father, I wish
+to marry the prince who has come to your kingdom; for I know he is the
+Prince Majnun I am to marry."
+
+"Very well, you shall have him for your husband," said Munsuk Raja.
+"We will ask him to-morrow." Laili consented to wait, although she was
+very impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phalana kingdom
+that night, and when Laili heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She
+would not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants
+said to her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to
+jungle, till she got farther and farther away from her own country.
+All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun;" and so
+she wandered about for twelve years.
+
+At the end of the twelve years she met a fakir--he was really an
+angel, but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always
+say, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun'?" She answered, "I am the
+daughter of the king of the Phalana country, and I want to find Prince
+Majnun; tell me where his kingdom is."
+
+"I think you will never get there," said the fakir, "for it is very
+far from hence, and you have to cross many rivers to reach it." But
+Laili said she did not care; she must see Prince Majnun. "Well," said
+the fakir, "when you come to the Bhagirathi river you will see a big
+fish, a Rohu; and you must get him to carry you to Prince Majnun's
+country, or you will never reach it."
+
+She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhagirathi river.
+There was a great big fish called the Rohu fish. It was yawning just
+as she got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat into its
+stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun." At this the
+Rohu fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast as he
+could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came and
+perched on his back, and said "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said the
+poor fish "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise."
+
+"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down
+and see." So the Rohu opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he
+came up again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said
+the crow, and he flew away. This news did not comfort the poor Rohu,
+and he swam on and on till he came to Prince Majnun's country. There
+he stopped. And a jackal came down to the river to drink. "Oh,
+jackal," said the Rohu, "do tell me what I have inside me."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"How can I tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside
+you." So the Rohu opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down
+his throat; but he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and
+saying, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away
+quickly, I am afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal
+came an enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have
+in my stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun.'"
+
+The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go down and see what
+it is." The snake went down: when he returned he said, "You have a
+Rakshas in your stomach, but if you will let me cut you open, it will
+come out of you." "If you do that, I shall die," said the Rohu. "Oh,
+no," said the snake, "you will not, for I will give you a medicine
+that will make you quite well again." So the fish agreed, and the
+snake got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped Laili.
+
+She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle,
+and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohu; and she was no
+longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his
+back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and
+she wandered on and on till she got to Majnun's court-house, where
+King Majnun was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want
+King Majnun," she said.
+
+So they went in and said to Prince Majnun, "An old woman outside says
+she wants you." "I cannot leave this place," said he; "send her in
+here." They brought her in and the prince asked her what she wanted.
+"I want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four years ago you came
+to my father the Phalana Raja's country, and I wanted to marry you
+then; but you went away without marrying me. Then I went mad, and I
+have wandered about all these years looking for you." Prince Majnun
+said, "Very good."
+
+"Pray to Khuda," said Laili, "to make us both young again, and then we
+shall be married." So the prince prayed to Khuda, and Khuda said to
+him, "Touch Laili's clothes and they will catch fire, and when they
+are on fire, she and you will become young again." When he touched
+Laili's clothes they caught fire, and she and he became young again.
+And there were great feasts, and they were married, and travelled to
+the Phalana country to see her father and mother.
+
+Now Laili's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter that
+they had become quite blind, and her father kept always repeating,
+"Laili, Laili, Laili." When Laili saw their blindness, she prayed to
+Khuda to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as the
+father and mother saw Laili, they hugged her and kissed her, and then
+they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince
+Majnun and Laili stayed with Munsuk Raja and his wife for three years,
+and then they returned to King Dantal, and lived happily for some time
+with him.
+
+They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country to
+country to eat the air and amuse themselves.
+
+One day Prince Majnun said to Laili, "Let us go through this jungle."
+"No, no," said Laili; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will
+happen to me." But Prince Majnun laughed, and went into the jungle.
+And as they were going through it, Khuda thought, "I should like to
+know how much Prince Majnun loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if
+she died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one
+of his angels in the form of a fakir into the jungle; and the angel
+went up to Laili, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she
+fell to the ground a heap of ashes.
+
+Prince Majnun was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Laili
+turned into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his
+father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a
+great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go
+again into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahamat. King
+Dantal wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Laili for my
+wife; I will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnun.
+
+"How can you marry Laili? Laili is dead. She will never come back to
+you," said the father.
+
+"Then I'll not have any wife at all," said Prince Majnun.
+
+Meanwhile Laili was living in the jungle where her husband had left
+her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnun had gone, the fakir had
+taken her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay
+and water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them,
+and so Laili regained her human form, and Khuda sent life into it. But
+Laili had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long
+nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her
+teeth, as she had been when she came out of the Rohu fish; and she
+lived in the jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on
+saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun."
+
+At last the angel who had come as a fakir and thrown the powder at
+her, said to Khuda, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in
+the jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun,'
+and eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnun."
+"Well," said Khuda, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not
+speak to Majnun if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if
+he is afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the
+next day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her
+human shape when Prince Majnun loves her, feeds her with his own food,
+and lets her sleep in his bed."
+
+So the angel came to Laili again as a fakir and carried her to King
+Dantal's garden. "Now," he said, "it is Khuda's command that you stay
+here till Prince Majnun comes to walk in the garden, and then you may
+show yourself to him. But you must not speak to him, if he is afraid
+of you; and should he be afraid of you, you will the next day become a
+little white dog." He then told her what she must do as a little dog
+to regain her human form.
+
+Laili stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince
+Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to walk in the garden. King Dantal was
+now a very old man, and Husain Mahamat, though he was really only as
+old as Prince Majnun, looked a great deal older than the prince, who
+had been made quite young again when he married Laili.
+
+As Prince Majnun and the Wazir's son walked in the garden, they
+gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit
+the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnun was busy
+eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahamat, he
+turned towards him and saw Laili walking behind the Wazir's son. "Oh,
+look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas or
+a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Laili looked at him
+beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness;
+but this only frightened Majnun the more. "It is a Rakshas, a
+Rakshas!" he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazir's
+son; and as they ran away, Laili disappeared into the jungle. They ran
+to King Dantal, and Majnun told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in
+the garden that had come to eat them.
+
+"What nonsense," said his father. "Fancy two grown men being so
+frightened by an old ayah or a fakir! And if it had been a Rakshas, it
+would not have eaten you." Indeed King Dantal did not believe Majnun
+had seen anything at all, till Husain Mahamat said the prince was
+speaking the exact truth. They had the garden searched for the
+terrible old woman, but found nothing, and King Dantal told his son he
+was very silly to be so much frightened. However, Prince Majnun would
+not walk in the garden any more.
+
+The next day Laili turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape
+she came into the palace, where Prince Majnun soon became very fond of
+her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out
+hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnun fed her
+with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the
+little dog slept in his bed.
+
+But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay
+the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and
+now Prince Majnun was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or
+some such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried
+out, "What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Laili
+answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Laili, and I want to
+marry you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle,
+though I begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm
+would happen to me, and then a fakir came and threw powder in my face,
+and I became a heap of ashes. But Khuda gave me my life again, and
+brought me here, after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle
+crying for you, and now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you
+will marry me, I shall not be a little dog any more." Majnun, however,
+said "How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you be Laili? I
+am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in
+great terror.
+
+In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the
+prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old
+woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do
+nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so
+easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in
+great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would came
+back at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you
+can make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old
+woman as you are?"
+
+That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there
+in place of the dog, crying "Majnun, Majnun, I want to marry you. I
+have loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's
+kingdom a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me,
+and we should have been married then if you had not gone away so
+suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you." "Well," said
+Majnun, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I will marry
+you."
+
+Laili said, "Oh, that is quite easy. Khuda will make me a young girl
+again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you
+will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your
+room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it
+when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite
+alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at
+all on." In the morning Laili took her little dog's form, and
+disappeared in the garden.
+
+Prince Majnun told all this to his father, who told him to do all the
+old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazir's son
+walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit.
+"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit."
+Husain Mahamat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till
+he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and
+gather it." So Majnun went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and
+he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am
+afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that
+will eat me."
+
+"No," said King Dantal; "remember, Laili will be naked; you must go
+alone and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in the fruit,
+for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call me with a
+loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not be able to
+eat you."
+
+Then Majnun took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for
+he shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Laili, young
+and far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her
+extreme beauty, Majnun fell backwards fainting on the floor.
+
+Laili took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sari
+(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantal,
+and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnun fallen down like this? Why will
+he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen
+me so many, many times."
+
+King Dantal answered, "It is because you are so beautiful. You are
+far, far more beautiful than you ever were. But he will be very happy
+directly." Then the King got some water, and they bathed Majnun's face
+and gave him some to drink, and he sat up again.
+
+Then Laili said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am Laili?"
+
+"Oh!" said Prince Majnun, "I see you are Laili come back to me, but
+your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted when I
+saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantal had all the
+drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments played
+on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to the
+servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakirs.
+
+After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnun and his wife
+went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a
+groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden.
+"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnun.
+
+"No, no," said Laili; "it belongs to a bad Raja, Chumman Basa, a very
+wicked man." But Majnun insisted on going in, and in spite of all
+Laili could say, he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as
+he was looking at the flowers, Laili saw Chumman Basa coming towards
+them, and she read in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and
+seize her. So she said to Majnun, "Come, come, let us go; do not go
+near that bad man. I see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he
+will kill you to seize me."
+
+"What nonsense," said Majnun. "I believe he is a very good Raja.
+Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away."
+
+"Well," said Laili, "it is better that you should be killed than I,
+for if I were to be killed a second time, Khuda would not give me my
+life again; but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now
+Chumman Basa had come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought
+Prince Majnun; but when he was speaking to Majnun, he drew his
+scimitar and cut off the prince's head at one blow.
+
+Laili sat quite still on her horse, and as the Raja came towards her
+she said, "Why did you kill my husband?"
+
+"Because I want to take you," he answered.
+
+"You cannot," said Laili.
+
+"Yes, I can," said the Raja.
+
+"Take me, then," said Laili to Chumman Basa; so he came quite close
+and put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she
+put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long
+as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant
+till it was such a length! and then Laili made a great sweep with her
+arm and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Basa's head at one
+touch.
+
+Then Laili slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnun's dead
+body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from
+the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like
+healing medicine. Then she put Majnun's head on his shoulders, and
+smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnun woke up and
+said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had
+slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Raja's dead body by
+Laili's horse.
+
+"What's that?" said Majnun.
+
+"That is the wicked Raja who killed you to seize me, just as I said he
+would."
+
+"Who killed him?" asked Majnun.
+
+"I did," answered Laili, "and it was I who brought you to life."
+
+"Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do so," said Majnun.
+
+"No," said Laili, "for he is a wicked man, and will try to do you
+harm." But Majnun asked her for such a long time, and so earnestly to
+bring the wicked Raja to life, that at least she said, "Jump up on the
+horse, then, and go far away with the groom."
+
+"What will you do," said Majnun, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you."
+
+"I will take care of myself," said Laili; "but this man is so wicked,
+he may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnun got up on the
+horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Laili.
+Then she set the wicked Raja's head straight on his shoulders, and
+she squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine
+came out of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife
+had passed, and just as she saw the Raja opening his eyes, she began
+to run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Raja, who
+tried to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband,
+and they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantal's
+palace.
+
+[Illustration: How Loving Laili became young again]
+
+There Prince Majnun told everything to his father, who was horrified
+and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said.
+"Why did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now
+dead." Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's
+safety, and gave many, many rupees to the fakirs. And he made so much
+of Laili. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he
+built a splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of
+ground about it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and
+heaps of servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but
+their servants to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not
+allow Majnun to go out of them, nor Laili; "for," said King Dantal,
+"Laili is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take
+her away."
+
+
+
+
+The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to
+get out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when
+he failed.
+
+By chance a poor Brahman came by. "Let me out of this cage, oh pious
+one!" cried the tiger.
+
+"Nay, my friend," replied the Brahman mildly, "you would probably eat
+me if I did."
+
+"Not at all!" swore the tiger with many oaths; "on the contrary, I
+should be for ever grateful, and serve you as a slave!"
+
+Now when the tiger sobbed and sighed and wept and swore, the pious
+Brahman's heart softened, and at last he consented to open the door of
+the cage. Out popped the tiger, and, seizing the poor man, cried,
+"What a fool you are! What is to prevent my eating you now, for after
+being cooped up so long I am just terribly hungry!"
+
+In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a
+promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to
+question as to the justice of the tiger's action.
+
+So the Brahman first asked a _pipal_ tree what it thought of the
+matter, but the _pipal_ tree replied coldly, "What have you to
+complain about? Don't I give shade and shelter to every one who passes
+by, and don't they in return tear down my branches to feed their
+cattle? Don't whimper--be a man!"
+
+Then the Brahman, sad at heart, went further afield till he saw a
+buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it, for it
+answered, "You are a fool to expect gratitude! Look at me! Whilst I
+gave milk they fed me on cotton-seed and oil-cake, but now I am dry
+they yoke me here, and give me refuse as fodder!"
+
+The Brahman, still more sad, asked the road to give him its opinion.
+
+"My dear sir," said the road, "how foolish you are to expect anything
+else! Here am I, useful to everybody, yet all, rich and poor, great
+and small, trample on me as they go past, giving me nothing but the
+ashes of their pipes and the husks of their grain!"
+
+On this the Brahman turned back sorrowfully, and on the way he met a
+jackal, who called out, "Why, what's the matter, Mr. Brahman? You look
+as miserable as a fish out of water!"
+
+The Brahman told him all that had occurred. "How very confusing!" said
+the jackal, when the recital was ended; "would you mind telling me
+over again, for everything has got so mixed up?"
+
+The Brahman told it all over again, but the jackal shook his head in a
+distracted sort of way, and still could not understand.
+
+"It's very odd," said he, sadly, "but it all seems to go in at one ear
+and out at the other! I will go to the place where it all happened,
+and then perhaps I shall be able to give a judgment."
+
+So they returned to the cage, by which the tiger was waiting for the
+Brahman, and sharpening his teeth and claws.
+
+"You've been away a long time!" growled the savage beast, "but now let
+us begin our dinner."
+
+"_Our_ dinner!" thought the wretched Brahman, as his knees knocked
+together with fright; "what a remarkably delicate way of putting it!"
+
+"Give me five minutes, my lord!" he pleaded, "in order that I may
+explain matters to the jackal here, who is somewhat slow in his wits."
+
+The tiger consented, and the Brahman began the whole story over again,
+not missing a single detail, and spinning as long a yarn as possible.
+
+"Oh, my poor brain! oh, my poor brain!" cried the jackal, wringing its
+paws. "Let me see! how did it all begin? You were in the cage, and the
+tiger came walking by----"
+
+"Pooh!" interrupted the tiger, "what a fool you are! _I_ was in the
+cage."
+
+"Of course!" cried the jackal, pretending to tremble with fright;
+"yes! I was in the cage--no I wasn't--dear! dear! where are my wits?
+Let me see--the tiger was in the Brahman, and the cage came walking
+by----no, that's not it, either! Well, don't mind me, but begin your
+dinner, for I shall never understand!"
+
+"Yes, you shall!" returned the tiger, in a rage at the jackal's
+stupidity; "I'll _make_ you understand! Look here--I am the tiger----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the Brahman----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the cage----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And I was in the cage--do you understand?"
+
+"Yes--no---- Please, my lord----"
+
+"Well?" cried the tiger impatiently.
+
+"Please, my lord!--how did you get in?"
+
+"How!--why in the usual way, of course!"
+
+"Oh, dear me!--my head is beginning to whirl again! Please don't be
+angry, my lord, but what is the usual way?"
+
+At this the tiger lost patience, and, jumping into the cage, cried,
+"This way! Now do you understand how it was?"
+
+"Perfectly!" grinned the jackal, as he dexterously shut the door, "and
+if you will permit me to say so, I think matters will remain as they
+were!"
+
+
+
+
+The Soothsayer's Son
+
+
+A soothsayer when on his deathbed wrote out the horoscope of his
+second son, whose name was Gangazara, and bequeathed it to him as his
+only property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son. The
+second son thought over the horoscope, and said to himself:
+
+"Alas! am I born to this only in the world? The sayings of my father
+never failed. I have seen them prove true to the last word while he
+was living; and how has he fixed my horoscope! 'FROM MY BIRTH
+POVERTY!' Nor is that my only fate. 'FOR TEN YEARS, IMPRISONMENT'--a
+fate harder than poverty; and what comes next? 'DEATH ON THE
+SEA-SHORE'; which means that I must die away from home, far from
+friends and relatives on a sea-coast. Now comes the most curious part
+of the horoscope, that I am to 'HAVE SOME HAPPINESS AFTERWARDS!' What
+this happiness is, is an enigma to me."
+
+Thus thought he, and after all the funeral obsequies of his father
+were over, took leave of his elder brother, and started for Benares.
+He went by the middle of the Deccan, avoiding both the coasts, and
+went on journeying and journeying for weeks and months, till at last
+he reached the Vindhya mountains. While passing that desert he had to
+journey for a couple of days through a sandy plain, with no signs of
+life or vegetation. The little store of provision with which he was
+provided for a couple of days, at last was exhausted. The chombu,
+which he carried always full, filling it with the sweet water from the
+flowing rivulet or plenteous tank, he had exhausted in the heat of the
+desert. There was not a morsel in his hand to eat; nor a drop of water
+to drink. Turn his eyes wherever he might he found a vast desert, out
+of which he saw no means of escape. Still he thought within himself,
+"Surely my father's prophecy never proved untrue. I must survive this
+calamity to find my death on some sea-coast." So thought he, and this
+thought gave him strength of mind to walk fast and try to find a drop
+of water somewhere to slake his dry throat.
+
+At last he succeeded; heaven threw in his way a ruined well. He
+thought he could collect some water if he let down his chombu with the
+string that he always carried noosed to the neck of it. Accordingly he
+let it down; it went some way and stopped, and the following words
+came from the well: "Oh, relieve me! I am the king of tigers, dying
+here of hunger. For the last three days I have had nothing. Fortune
+has sent you here. If you assist me now you will find a sure help in
+me throughout your life. Do not think that I am a beast of prey. When
+you have become my deliverer I will never touch you. Pray, kindly lift
+me up." Gangazara thought: "Shall I take him out or not? If I take him
+out he may make me the first morsel of his hungry mouth. No; that he
+will not do. For my father's prophecy never came untrue. I must die on
+a sea coast, and not by a tiger." Thus thinking, he asked the
+tiger-king to hold tight to the vessel, which he accordingly did, and
+he lifted him up slowly. The tiger reached the top of the well and
+felt himself on safe ground. True to his word, he did no harm to
+Gangazara. On the other hand, he walked round his patron three times,
+and standing before him, humbly spoke the following words: "My
+life-giver, my benefactor! I shall never forget this day, when I
+regained my life through your kind hands. In return for this kind
+assistance I pledge my oath to stand by you in all calamities.
+Whenever you are in any difficulty just think of me. I am there with
+you ready to oblige you by all the means that I can. To tell you
+briefly how I came in here: Three days ago I was roaming in yonder
+forest, when I saw a goldsmith passing through it. I chased him. He,
+finding it impossible to escape my claws, jumped into this well, and
+is living to this moment in the very bottom of it. I also jumped in,
+but found myself on the first ledge of the well; he is on the last and
+fourth ledge. In the second lives a serpent half-famished with hunger.
+On the third lies a rat, also half-famished, and when you again begin
+to draw water these may request you first to release them. In the same
+way the goldsmith also may ask you. I beg you, as your bosom friend,
+never assist that wretched man, though he is your relation as a human
+being. Goldsmiths are never to be trusted. You can place more faith in
+me, a tiger, though I feast sometimes upon men, in a serpent, whose
+sting makes your blood cold the very next moment, or in a rat, which
+does a thousand pieces of mischief in your house. But never trust a
+goldsmith. Do not release him; and if you do, you shall surely repent
+of it one day or other." Thus advising, the hungry tiger went away
+without waiting for an answer.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Gangazara thought several times of the eloquent way in which the tiger
+spoke, and admired his fluency of speech. But still his thirst was not
+quenched. So he let down his vessel again, which was now caught hold
+of by the serpent, who addressed him thus: "Oh, my protector! Lift me
+up. I am the king of serpents, and the son of Adisesha, who is now
+pining away in agony for my disappearance. Release me now. I shall
+ever remain your servant, remember your assistance, and help you
+throughout life in all possible ways. Oblige me: I am dying."
+Gangazara, calling again to mind the "DEATH ON THE SEA-SHORE" of the
+prophecy lifted him up. He, like the tiger-king, walked round him
+thrice, and prostrating himself before him spoke thus: "Oh, my
+life-giver, my father, for so I must call you, as you have given me
+another birth. I was three days ago basking myself in the morning sun,
+when I saw a rat running before me. I chased him. He fell into this
+well. I followed him, but instead of falling on the third storey where
+he is now lying, I fell into the second. I am going away now to see my
+father. Whenever you are in any difficulty just think of me. I will be
+there by your side to assist you by all possible means." So saying,
+the Nagaraja glided away in zigzag movements, and was out of sight in
+a moment.
+
+The poor son of the Soothsayer, who was now almost dying of thirst,
+let down his vessel for a third time. The rat caught hold of it, and
+without discussing he lifted up the poor animal at once. But it would
+not go away without showing its gratitude: "Oh, life of my life! My
+benefactor! I am the king of rats. Whenever you are in any calamity
+just think of me. I will come to you, and assist you. My keen ears
+overheard all that the tiger-king told you about the goldsmith, who is
+in the fourth storey. It is nothing but a sad truth that goldsmiths
+ought never to be trusted. Therefore, never assist him as you have
+done to us all. And if you do, you will suffer for it. I am hungry;
+let me go for the present." Thus taking leave of his benefactor, the
+rat, too, ran away.
+
+Gangazara for a while thought upon the repeated advice given by the
+three animals about releasing the goldsmith: "What wrong would there
+be in my assisting him? Why should I not release him also?" So
+thinking to himself, Gangazara let down the vessel again. The
+goldsmith caught hold of it, and demanded help. The Soothsayer's son
+had no time to lose; he was himself dying of thirst. Therefore he
+lifted the goldsmith up, who now began his story. "Stop for a while,"
+said Gangazara, and after quenching his thirst by letting down his
+vessel for the fifth time, still fearing that some one might remain in
+the well and demand his assistance, he listened to the goldsmith, who
+began as follows: "My dear friend, my protector, what a deal of
+nonsense these brutes have been talking to you about me; I am glad you
+have not followed their advice. I am just now dying of hunger. Permit
+me to go away. My name is Manikkasari. I live in the East main street
+of Ujjaini, which is twenty kas to the south of this place, and so
+lies on your way when you return from Benares. Do not forget to come
+to me and receive my kind remembrances of your assistance, on your way
+back to your country." So saying, the goldsmith took his leave, and
+Gangazara also pursued his way north after the above adventures.
+
+He reached Benares, and lived there for more than ten years, and quite
+forgot the tiger, serpent, rat, and goldsmith. After ten years of
+religious life, thoughts of home and of his brother rushed into his
+mind. "I have secured enough merit now by my religious observances.
+Let me return home." Thus thought Gangazara within himself, and very
+soon he was on his way back to his country. Remembering the prophecy
+of his father he returned by the same way by which he went to Benares
+ten years before. While thus retracing his steps he reached the ruined
+well where he had released the three brute kings and the goldsmith. At
+once the old recollections rushed into his mind, and he thought of the
+tiger to test his fidelity. Only a moment passed, and the tiger-king
+came running before him carrying a large crown in his mouth, the
+glitter of the diamonds of which for a time outshone even the bright
+rays of the sun. He dropped the crown at his life-giver's feet, and,
+putting aside all his pride, humbled himself like a pet cat to the
+strokes of his protector, and began in the following words: "My
+life-giver! How is it that you have forgotten me, your poor servant,
+for such a long time? I am glad to find that I still occupy a corner
+in your mind. I can never forget the day when I owed my life to your
+lotus hands. I have several jewels with me of little value. This
+crown, being the best of all, I have brought here as a single ornament
+of great value, which you can carry with you and dispose of in your
+own country." Gangazara looked at the crown, examined it over and
+over, counted and recounted the gems, and thought within himself that
+he would become the richest of men by separating the diamonds and
+gold, and selling them in his own country. He took leave of the
+tiger-king, and after his disappearance thought of the kings of
+serpents and rats, who came in their turn with their presents, and
+after the usual greetings and exchange of words took their leave.
+Gangazara was extremely delighted at the faithfulness with which the
+brute beasts behaved, and went on his way to the south. While going
+along he spoke to himself thus: "These beasts have been very faithful
+in their assistance. Much more, therefore, must Manikkasari be
+faithful. I do not want anything from him now. If I take this crown
+with me as it is, it occupies much space in my bundle. It may also
+excite the curiosity of some robbers on the way. I will go now to
+Ujjaini on my way. Manikkasari requested me to see him without failure
+on my return journey. I shall do so, and request him to have the crown
+melted, the diamonds and gold separated. He must do that kindness at
+least for me. I shall then roll up these diamonds and gold ball in my
+rags, and wend my way homewards." Thus thinking and thinking, he
+reached Ujjaini. At once he inquired for the house of his goldsmith
+friend, and found him without difficulty. Manikkasari was extremely
+delighted to find on his threshold him who ten years before,
+notwithstanding the advice repeatedly given him by the sage-looking
+tiger, serpent, and rat, had relieved him from the pit of death.
+Gangazara at once showed him the crown that he received from the
+tiger-king, told him how he got it, and requested his kind assistance
+to separate the gold and diamonds. Manikkasari agreed to do so, and
+meanwhile asked his friend to rest himself for a while to have his
+bath and meals; and Gangazara, who was very observant of his religious
+ceremonies, went direct to the river to bathe.
+
+How came the crown in the jaws of the tiger? The king of Ujjaini had a
+week before gone with all his hunters on a hunting expedition. All of
+a sudden the tiger-king started from the wood, seized the king, and
+vanished.
+
+When the king's attendants informed the prince about the death of his
+father he wept and wailed, and gave notice that he would give half of
+his kingdom to any one who should bring him news about the murderer of
+his father. The goldsmith knew full well that it was a tiger that
+killed the king, and not any hunter's hands, since he had heard from
+Gangazara how he obtained the crown. Still, he resolved to denounce
+Gangazara as the king's murderer, so, hiding the crown under his
+garments, he flew to the palace. He went before the prince and
+informed him that the assassin was caught, and placed the crown before
+him. The prince took it into his hands, examined it, and at once gave
+half the kingdom to Manikkasari, and then inquired about the murderer.
+"He is bathing in the river, and is of such and such appearance," was
+the reply. At once four armed soldiers flew to the river, and bound
+the poor Brahman hand and foot, while he, sitting in meditation, was
+without any knowledge of the fate that hung over him. They brought
+Gangazara to the presence of the prince, who turned his face away from
+the supposed murderer, and asked his soldiers to throw him into a
+dungeon. In a minute, without knowing the cause, the poor Brahman
+found himself in the dark dungeon.
+
+It was a dark cellar underground, built with strong stone walls, into
+which any criminal guilty of a capital offence was ushered to breathe
+his last there without food and drink. Such was the cellar into which
+Gangazara was thrust. What were his thoughts when he reached that
+place? "It is of no use to accuse either the goldsmith or the prince
+now. We are all the children of fate. We must obey her commands. This
+is but the first day of my father's prophecy. So far his statement is
+true. But how am I going to pass ten years here? Perhaps without
+anything to sustain life I may drag on my existence for a day or two.
+But how pass ten years? That cannot be, and I must die. Before death
+comes let me think of my faithful brute friends."
+
+So pondered Gangazara in the dark cell underground, and at that moment
+thought of his three friends. The tiger-king, serpent-king, and
+rat-king assembled at once with their armies at a garden near the
+dungeon, and for a while did not know what to do. They held their
+council, and decided to make an underground passage from the inside
+of a ruined well to the dungeon. The rat raja issued an order at once
+to that effect to his army. They, with their teeth, bored the ground a
+long way to the walls of the prison. After reaching it they found that
+their teeth could not work on the hard stones. The bandicoots were
+then specially ordered for the business; they, with their hard teeth,
+made a small slit in the wall for a rat to pass and repass without
+difficulty. Thus a passage was effected.
+
+The rat raja entered first to condole with his protector on his
+misfortune, and undertook to supply his protector with provisions.
+"Whatever sweetmeats or bread are prepared in any house, one and all
+of you must try to bring whatever you can to our benefactor. Whatever
+clothes you find hanging in a house, cut down, dip the pieces in
+water, and bring the wet bits to our benefactor. He will squeeze them
+and gather water for drink! and the bread and sweetmeats shall form
+his food." Having issued these orders, the king of the rats took leave
+of Gangazara. They, in obedience to their king's order, continued to
+supply him with provisions and water.
+
+The snake-king said: "I sincerely condole with you in your calamity;
+the tiger-king also fully sympathises with you, and wants me to tell
+you so, as he cannot drag his huge body here as we have done with our
+small ones. The king of the rats has promised to do his best to
+provide you with food. We would now do what we can for your release.
+From this day we shall issue orders to our armies to oppress all the
+subjects of this kingdom. The deaths by snake-bite and tigers shall
+increase a hundredfold from this day, and day by day it shall continue
+to increase till your release. Whenever you hear people near you, you
+had better bawl out so as to be heard by them: 'The wretched prince
+imprisoned me on the false charge of having killed his father, while
+it was a tiger that killed him. From that day these calamities have
+broken out in his dominions. If I were released I would save all by my
+powers of healing poisonous wounds and by incantations.' Some one may
+report this to the king, and if he knows it, you will obtain your
+liberty." Thus comforting his protector in trouble, he advised him to
+pluck up courage, and took leave of him. From that day tigers and
+serpents, acting under the orders of their kings, united in killing as
+many persons and cattle as possible. Every day people were carried
+away by tigers or bitten by serpents. Thus passed months and years.
+Gangazara sat in the dark cellar, without the sun's light falling upon
+him, and feasted upon the breadcrumbs and sweetmeats that the rats so
+kindly supplied him with. These delicacies had completely changed his
+body into a red, stout, huge, unwieldy mass of flesh. Thus passed full
+ten years, as prophesied in the horoscope.
+
+Ten complete years rolled away in close imprisonment. On the last
+evening of the tenth year one of the serpents got into the bed-chamber
+of the princess and sucked her life. She breathed her last. She was
+the only daughter of the king. The king at once sent for all the
+snake-bite curers. He promised half his kingdom and his daughter's
+hand to him who would restore her to life. Now a servant of the king
+who had several times overheard Gangazara's cries, reported the matter
+to him. The king at once ordered the cell to be examined. There was
+the man sitting in it. How had he managed to live so long in the cell?
+Some whispered that he must be a divine being. Thus they discussed,
+while they brought Gangazara to the king.
+
+The king no sooner saw Gangazara than he fell on the ground. He was
+struck by the majesty and grandeur of his person. His ten years'
+imprisonment in the deep cell underground had given a sort of lustre
+to his body. His hair had first to be cut before his face could be
+seen. The king begged forgiveness for his former fault, and requested
+him to revive his daughter.
+
+"Bring me within an hour all the corpses of men and cattle, dying and
+dead, that remain unburnt or unburied within the range of your
+dominions; I shall revive them all," were the only words that
+Gangazara spoke.
+
+Cartloads of corpses of men and cattle began to come in every minute.
+Even graves, it is said, were broken open, and corpses buried a day or
+two before were taken out and sent for their revival. As soon as all
+were ready, Gangazara took a vessel full of water and sprinkled it
+over them all, thinking only of his snake-king and tiger-king. All
+rose up as if from deep slumber, and went to their respective homes.
+The princess, too, was restored to life. The joy of the king knew no
+bounds. He cursed the day on which he imprisoned him, blamed himself
+for having believed the word of a goldsmith, and offered him the hand
+of his daughter and the whole kingdom, instead of half, as he
+promised. Gangazara would not accept anything, but asked the king to
+assemble all his subjects in a wood near the town. "I shall there call
+in all the tigers and serpents, and give them a general order."
+
+When the whole town was assembled, just at the dusk of evening,
+Gangazara sat dumb for a moment, and thought upon the Tiger King and
+the Serpent King, who came with all their armies. People began to take
+to their heels at the sight of tigers. Gangazara assured them of
+safety, and stopped them.
+
+The grey light of the evening, the pumpkin colour of Gangazara, the
+holy ashes scattered lavishly over his body, the tigers and snakes
+humbling themselves at his feet, gave him the true majesty of the god
+Gangazara. For who else by a single word could thus command vast
+armies of tigers and serpents, said some among the people. "Care not
+for it; it may be by magic. That is not a great thing. That he revived
+cartloads of corpses shows him to be surely Gangazara," said others.
+
+"Why should you, my children, thus trouble these poor subjects of
+Ujjaini? Reply to me, and henceforth desist from your ravages." Thus
+said the Soothsayer's son, and the following reply came from the king
+of the tigers: "Why should this base king imprison your honour,
+believing the mere word of a goldsmith that your honour killed his
+father? All the hunters told him that his father was carried away by a
+tiger. I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck.
+I did it, and gave the crown to your honour. The prince makes no
+inquiry, and at once imprisons your honour. How can we expect justice
+from such a stupid king as that? Unless he adopt a better standard of
+justice we will go on with our destruction."
+
+The king heard, cursed the day on which he believed in the word of a
+goldsmith, beat his head, tore his hair, wept and wailed for his
+crime, asked a thousand pardons, and swore to rule in a just way from
+that day. The serpent-king and tiger-king also promised to observe
+their oath as long as justice prevailed, and took their leave. The
+goldsmith fled for his life. He was caught by the soldiers of the
+king, and was pardoned by the generous Gangazara, whose voice now
+reigned supreme. All returned to their homes.
+
+The king again pressed Gangazara to accept the hand of his daughter.
+He agreed to do so, not then, but some time afterwards. He wished to
+go and see his elder brother first, and then to return and marry the
+princess. The king agreed; and Gangazara left the city that very day
+on his way home.
+
+It so happened that unwittingly he took a wrong road, and had to pass
+near a sea-coast. His elder brother was also on his way up to Benares
+by that very same route. They met and recognised each other, even at a
+distance. They flew into each other's arms. Both remained still for a
+time almost unconscious with joy. The pleasure of Gangazara was so
+great that he died of joy.
+
+The elder brother was a devout worshipper of Ganesa. That was a
+Friday, a day very sacred to that god. The elder brother took the
+corpse to the nearest Ganesa temple and called upon him. The god came,
+and asked him what he wanted. "My poor brother is dead and gone; and
+this is his corpse. Kindly keep it in your charge till I finish
+worshipping you. If I leave it anywhere else the devils may snatch it
+away when I am absent worshipping you; after finishing the rites I
+shall burn him." Thus said the elder brother, and, giving the corpse
+to the god Ganesa, he went to prepare himself for that deity's
+ceremonials. Ganesa made over the corpse to his Ganas, asking them to
+watch over it carefully. But instead of that they devoured it.
+
+The elder brother, after finishing the puja, demanded his brother's
+corpse of the god. The god called his Ganas, who came to the front
+blinking, and fearing the anger of their master. The god was greatly
+enraged. The elder brother was very angry. When the corpse was not
+forthcoming he cuttingly remarked, "Is this, after all, the return for
+my deep belief in you? You are unable even to return my brother's
+corpse." Ganesa was much ashamed at the remark. So he, by his divine
+power, gave him a living Gangazara instead of the dead corpse. Thus
+was the second son of the Soothsayer restored to life.
+
+The brothers had a long talk about each other's adventures. They both
+went to Ujjaini, where Gangazara married the princess, and succeeded
+to the throne of that kingdom. He reigned for a long time, conferring
+several benefits upon his brother. And so the horoscope was fully
+fulfilled.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+Harisarman
+
+
+There was a certain Brahman in a certain village, named Harisarman. He
+was poor and foolish and in evil case for want of employment, and he
+had very many children, that he might reap the fruit of his misdeeds
+in a former life. He wandered about begging with his family, and at
+last he reached a certain city, and entered the service of a rich
+householder called Sthuladatta. His sons became keepers of
+Sthuladatta's cows and other property, and his wife a servant to him,
+and he himself lived near his house, performing the duty of an
+attendant. One day there was a feast on account of the marriage of the
+daughter of Sthuladatta, largely attended by many friends of the
+bridegroom, and merry-makers. Harisarman hoped that he would be able
+to fill himself up to the throat with ghee and flesh and other
+dainties, and get the same for his family, in the house of his patron.
+While he was anxiously expecting to be fed, no one thought of him.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then he was distressed at getting nothing to eat, and he said to his
+wife at night, "It is owing to my poverty and stupidity that I am
+treated with such disrespect here; so I will pretend by means of an
+artifice to possess a knowledge of magic, so that I may become an
+object of respect to this Sthuladatta; so, when you get an
+opportunity, tell him that I possess magical knowledge." He said this
+to her, and after turning the matter over in his mind, while people
+were asleep he took away from the house of Sthuladatta a horse on
+which his master's son-in-law rode. He placed it in concealment at
+some distance, and in the morning the friends of the bridegroom could
+not find the horse, though they searched in every direction. Then,
+while Sthuladatta was distressed at the evil omen, and searching for
+the thieves who had carried off the horse, the wife of Harisarman came
+and said to him, "My husband is a wise man, skilled in astrology and
+magical sciences; he can get the horse back for you; why do you not
+ask him?" When Sthuladatta heard that, he called Harisarman, who
+said, "Yesterday I was forgotten, but to-day, now the horse is stolen,
+I am called to mind," and Sthuladatta then propitiated the Brahman
+with these words--"I forgot you, forgive me"--and asked him to tell
+him who had taken away their horse. Then Harisarman drew all kinds of
+pretended diagrams, and said: "The horse has been placed by thieves on
+the boundary line south from this place. It is concealed there, and
+before it is carried off to a distance, as it will be at close of day,
+go quickly and bring it." When they heard that, many men ran and
+brought the horse quickly, praising the discernment of Harisarman.
+Then Harisarman was honoured by all men as a sage, and dwelt there in
+happiness, honoured by Sthuladatta.
+
+Now, as days went on, much treasure, both of gold and jewels, had been
+stolen by a thief from the palace of the king. As the thief was not
+known, the king quickly summoned Harisarman on account of his
+reputation for knowledge of magic. And he, when summoned, tried to
+gain time, and said, "I will tell you to-morrow," and then he was
+placed in a chamber by the king, and carefully guarded. And he was sad
+because he had pretended to have knowledge. Now in that palace there
+was a maid named Jihva (which means Tongue), who, with the assistance
+of her brother, had stolen that treasure from the interior of the
+palace. She, being alarmed at Harisarman's knowledge, went at night
+and applied her ear to the door of that chamber in order to find out
+what he was about. And Harisarman, who was alone inside, was at that
+very moment blaming his own tongue, that had made a vain assumption of
+knowledge. He said: "O Tongue, what is this that you have done
+through your greediness? Wicked one, you will soon receive punishment
+in full." When Jihva heard this, she thought, in her terror, that she
+had been discovered by this wise man, and she managed to get in where
+he was, and falling at his feet, she said to the supposed wizard:
+"Brahman, here I am, that Jihva whom you have discovered to be the
+thief of the treasure, and after I took it I buried it in the earth in
+a garden behind the palace, under a pomegranate tree. So spare me, and
+receive the small quantity of gold which is in my possession."
+
+When Harisarman heard that, he said to her proudly: "Depart, I know
+all this; I know the past, present and future; but I will not denounce
+you, being a miserable creature that has implored my protection. But
+whatever gold is in your possession you must give back to me." When he
+said this to the maid, she consented, and departed quickly. But
+Harisarman reflected in his astonishment: "Fate brings about, as if in
+sport, things impossible, for when calamity was so near, who would
+have thought chance would have brought us success? While I was blaming
+my jihva, the thief Jihva suddenly flung herself at my feet. Secret
+crimes manifest themselves by means of fear." Thus thinking, he passed
+the night happily in the chamber. And in the morning he brought the
+king, by some skilful parade of pretended knowledge into the garden,
+and led him up to the treasure, which was buried under the pomegranate
+tree, and said that the thief had escaped with a part of it. Then the
+king was pleased, and gave him the revenue of many villages.
+
+But the minister, named Devajnanin, whispered in the king's ear: "How
+can a man possess such knowledge unattainable by men, without having
+studied the books of magic; you may be certain that this is a specimen
+of the way he makes a dishonest livelihood, by having a secret
+intelligence with thieves. It will be much better to test him by some
+new artifice." Then the king of his own accord brought a covered
+pitcher into which he had thrown a frog, and said to Harisarman,
+"Brahman, if you can guess what there is in this pitcher, I will do
+you great honour to-day." When the Brahman Harisarman heard that, he
+thought that his last hour had come, and he called to mind the pet
+name of "Froggie" which his father had given him in his childhood in
+sport, and, impelled by luck, he called to himself by his pet name,
+lamenting his hard fate, and suddenly called out: "This is a fine
+pitcher for you, Froggie; it will soon become the swift destroyer of
+your helpless self." The people there, when they heard him say that,
+raised a shout of applause, because his speech chimed in so well with
+the object presented to him, and murmured, "Ah! a great sage, he knows
+even about the frog!" Then the king, thinking that this was all due to
+knowledge of divination, was highly delighted, and gave Harisarman the
+revenue of more villages, with gold, an umbrella, and state carriages
+of all kinds. So Harisarman prospered in the world.
+
+
+
+
+The Charmed Ring
+
+
+A merchant started his son in life with three hundred rupees, and bade
+him go to another country and try his luck in trade. The son took the
+money and departed. He had not gone far before he came across some
+herdsmen quarrelling over a dog, that some of them wished to kill.
+"Please do not kill the dog," pleaded the young and tender-hearted
+fellow; "I will give you one hundred rupees for it." Then and there,
+of course, the bargain was concluded, and the foolish fellow took the
+dog, and continued his journey. He next met with some people fighting
+about a cat. Some of them wanted to kill it, but others not. "Oh!
+please do not kill it," said he; "I will give you one hundred rupees
+for it." Of course they at once gave him the cat and took the money.
+He went on till he reached a village, where some folk were quarrelling
+over a snake that had just been caught. Some of them wished to kill
+it, but others did not. "Please do not kill the snake," said he; "I
+will give you one hundred rupees." Of course the people agreed, and
+were highly delighted.
+
+What a fool the fellow was! What would he do now that all his money
+was gone? What could he do except return to his father? Accordingly he
+went home.
+
+"You fool! You scamp!" exclaimed his father when he had heard how his
+son had wasted all the money that had been given to him. "Go and live
+in the stables and repent of your folly. You shall never again enter
+my house."
+
+So the young man went and lived in the stables. His bed was the grass
+spread for the cattle, and his companions were the dog, the cat, and
+the snake, which he had purchased so dearly. These creatures got very
+fond of him, and would follow him about during the day, and sleep by
+him at night; the cat used to sleep at his feet, the dog at his head,
+and the snake over his body, with its head hanging on one side and its
+tail on the other.
+
+One day the snake in course of conversation said to its master, "I am
+the son of Raja Indrasha. One day, when I had come out of the ground
+to drink the air, some people seized me, and would have slain me had
+you not most opportunely arrived to my rescue. I do not know how I
+shall ever be able to repay you for your great kindness to me. Would
+that you knew my father! How glad he would be to see his son's
+preserver!"
+
+"Where does he live? I should like to see him, if possible," said the
+young man.
+
+"Well said!" continued the snake. "Do you see yonder mountain? At the
+bottom of that mountain there is a sacred spring. If you will come
+with me and dive into that spring, we shall both reach my father's
+country. Oh! how glad he will be to see you! He will wish to reward
+you, too. But how can he do that? However, you may be pleased to
+accept something at his hand. If he asks you what you would like, you
+would, perhaps, do well to reply, 'The ring on your right hand, and
+the famous pot and spoon which you possess.' With these in your
+possession, you would never need anything, for the ring is such that a
+man has only to speak to it, and immediately a beautiful furnished
+mansion will be provided for him, while the pot and the spoon will
+supply him with all manner of the rarest and most delicious foods."
+
+Attended by his three companions the man walked to the well and
+prepared to jump in, according to the snake's directions. "O master!"
+exclaimed the cat and dog, when they saw what he was going to do.
+"What shall we do? Where shall we go?"
+
+"Wait for me here," he replied. "I am not going far. I shall not be
+long away." On saying this, he dived into the water and was lost to
+sight.
+
+"Now what shall we do?" said the dog to the cat.
+
+"We must remain here," replied the cat, "as our master ordered. Do not
+be anxious about food. I will go to the people's houses and get plenty
+of food for both of us." And so the cat did, and they both lived very
+comfortably till their master came again and joined them.
+
+The young man and the snake reached their destination in safety; and
+information of their arrival was sent to the Raja. His highness
+commanded his son and the stranger to appear before him. But the snake
+refused, saying that it could not go to its father till it was
+released from this stranger, who had saved it from a most terrible
+death, and whose slave it therefore was. Then the Raja went and
+embraced his son, and saluting the stranger welcomed him to his
+dominions. The young man stayed there a few days, during which he
+received the Raja's right-hand ring, and the pot and spoon, in
+recognition of His Highness's gratitude to him for having delivered
+his son. He then returned. On reaching the top of the spring he found
+his friends, the dog and the cat, waiting for him. They told one
+another all they had experienced since they had last seen each other,
+and were all very glad. Afterwards they walked together to the river
+side, where it was decided to try the powers of the charmed ring and
+pot and spoon.
+
+The merchant's son spoke to the ring, and immediately a beautiful
+house and a lovely princess with golden hair appeared. He spoke to the
+pot and spoon, also, and the most delicious dishes of food were
+provided for them. So he married the princess, and they lived very
+happily for several years, until one morning the princess, while
+arranging her toilet, put the loose hairs into a hollow bit of reed
+and threw them into the river that flowed along under the window. The
+reed floated on the water for many miles, and was at last picked up by
+the prince of that country, who curiously opened it and saw the golden
+hair. On finding it the prince rushed off to the palace, locked
+himself up in his room, and would not leave it. He had fallen
+desperately in love with the woman whose hair he had picked up, and
+refused to eat, or drink, or sleep, or move, till she was brought to
+him. The king, his father, was in great distress about the matter, and
+did not know what to do. He feared lest his son should die and leave
+him without an heir. At last he determined to seek the counsel of his
+aunt, who was an ogress. The old woman consented to help him, and
+bade him not to be anxious, as she felt certain that she would succeed
+in getting the beautiful woman for his son's wife.
+
+She assumed the shape of a bee and went along buzzing, and buzzing,
+and buzzing. Her keen sense of smell soon brought her to the beautiful
+princess, to whom she appeared as an old hag, holding in one hand a
+stick by way of support. She introduced herself to the beautiful
+princess and said, "I am your aunt, whom you have never seen before,
+because I left the country just after your birth." She also embraced
+and kissed the princess by way of adding force to her words. The
+beautiful princess was thoroughly deceived. She returned the ogress's
+embrace, and invited her to come and stay in the house as long as she
+could, and treated her with such honour and attention, that the ogress
+thought to herself, "I shall soon accomplish my errand." When she had
+been in the house three days, she began to talk of the charmed ring,
+and advised her to keep it instead of her husband, because the latter
+was constantly out shooting and on other such-like expeditions, and
+might lose it. Accordingly the beautiful princess asked her husband
+for the ring, and he readily gave it to her.
+
+The ogress waited another day before she asked to see the precious
+thing. Doubting nothing, the beautiful princess complied, when the
+ogress seized the ring, and reassuming the form of a bee flew away
+with it to the palace, where the prince was lying nearly on the point
+of death. "Rise up. Be glad. Mourn no more," she said to him. "The
+woman for whom you yearn will appear at your summons. See, here is the
+charm, whereby you may bring her before you." The prince was almost
+mad with joy when he heard these words, and was so desirous of seeing
+the beautiful princess, that he immediately spoke to the ring, and the
+house with its fair occupant descended in the midst of the palace
+garden. He at once entered the building, and telling the beautiful
+princess of his intense love, entreated her to be his wife. Seeing no
+escape from the difficulty, she consented on the condition that he
+would wait one month for her.
+
+Meanwhile the merchant's son had returned from hunting and was
+terribly distressed not to find his house and wife. There was the
+place only, just as he knew it before he had tried the charmed ring
+which Raja Indrasha had given him. He sat down and determined to put
+an end to himself. Presently the cat and dog came up. They had gone
+away and hidden themselves, when they saw the house and everything
+disappear. "O master!" they said, "stay your hand. Your trial is
+great, but it can be remedied. Give us one month, and we will go and
+try to recover your wife and house."
+
+"Go," said he, "and may the great God aid your efforts. Bring back my
+wife, and I shall live."
+
+So the cat and dog started off at a run, and did not stop till they
+reached the place whither their mistress and the house had been taken.
+"We may have some difficulty here," said the cat. "Look, the king has
+taken our master's wife and house for himself. You stay here. I will
+go to the house and try to see her." So the dog sat down, and the cat
+climbed up to the window of the room, wherein the beautiful princess
+was sitting, and entered. The princess recognised the cat, and
+informed it of all that had happened to her since she had left them.
+
+"But is there no way of escape from the hands of these people?" she
+asked.
+
+"Yes," replied the cat, "if you can tell me where the charmed ring
+is."
+
+"The ring is in the stomach of the ogress," she said.
+
+"All right," said the cat, "I will recover it. If we once get it,
+everything is ours." Then the cat descended the wall of the house, and
+went and laid down by a rat's hole and pretended she was dead. Now at
+that time a great wedding chanced to be going on among the rat
+community of that place, and all the rats of the neighbourhood were
+assembled in that one particular mine by which the cat had lain down.
+The eldest son of the king of the rats was about to be married. The
+cat got to know of this, and at once conceived the idea of seizing the
+bridegroom and making him render the necessary help. Consequently,
+when the procession poured forth from the hole squealing and jumping
+in honour of the occasion, it immediately spotted the bridegroom and
+pounced down on him. "Oh! let me go, let me go," cried the terrified
+rat. "Oh! let him go," squealed all the company. "It is his wedding
+day."
+
+"No, no," replied the cat. "Not unless you do something for me.
+Listen. The ogress, who lives in that house with the prince and his
+wife, has swallowed a ring, which I very much want. If you will
+procure it for me, I will allow the rat to depart unharmed. If you do
+not, then your prince dies under my feet."
+
+"Very well, we agree," said they all. "Nay, if we do not get the ring
+for you, devour us all."
+
+[Illustration: THE CHARMED RING]
+
+This was rather a bold offer. However, they accomplished the
+thing. At midnight, when the ogress was sound asleep, one of the rats
+went to her bedside, climbed up on her face, and inserted its tail
+into her throat; whereupon the ogress coughed violently, and the ring
+came out and rolled on to the floor. The rat immediately seized the
+precious thing and ran off with it to its king, who was very glad, and
+went at once to the cat and released its son.
+
+As soon as the cat received the ring, she started back with the dog to
+go and tell their master the good tidings. All seemed safe now. They
+had only to give the ring to him, and he would speak to it, and the
+house and beautiful princess would again be with them, and everything
+would go on as happily as before. "How glad master will be!" they
+thought, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Now, on the
+way they had to cross a stream. The dog swam, and the cat sat on its
+back. Now the dog was jealous of the cat, so he asked for the ring,
+and threatened to throw the cat into the water if it did not give it
+up; whereupon the cat gave up the ring. Sorry moment, for the dog at
+once dropped it, and a fish swallowed it.
+
+"Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" said the dog.
+
+"What is done is done," replied the cat. "We must try to recover it,
+and if we do not succeed we had better drown ourselves in this stream.
+I have a plan. You go and kill a small lamb, and bring it here to me."
+
+"All right," said the dog, and at once ran off. He soon came back with
+a dead lamb, and gave it to the cat. The cat got inside the lamb and
+lay down, telling the dog to go away a little distance and keep quiet.
+Not long after this a nadhar, a bird whose look can break the bones
+of a fish, came and hovered over the lamb, and eventually pounced down
+on it to carry it away. On this the cat came out and jumped on to the
+bird, and threatened to kill it if it did not recover the lost ring.
+This was most readily promised by the nadhar, who immediately flew off
+to the king of the fishes, and ordered it to make inquiries and to
+restore the ring. The king of the fishes did so, and the ring was
+found and carried back to the cat.
+
+"Come along now; I have got the ring," said the cat to the dog.
+
+"No, I will not," said the dog, "unless you let me have the ring. I
+can carry it as well as you. Let me have it or I will kill you." So
+the cat was obliged to give up the ring. The careless dog very soon
+dropped it again. This time it was picked up and carried off by a
+kite.
+
+"See, see, there it goes--away to that big tree," the cat exclaimed.
+
+"Oh! oh! what have I done?" cried the dog.
+
+"You foolish thing, I knew it would be so," said the cat. "But stop
+your barking, or you will frighten away the bird to some place where
+we shall not be able to trace it."
+
+The cat waited till it was quite dark, and then climbed the tree,
+killed the kite, and recovered the ring. "Come along," it said to the
+dog when it reached the ground. "We must make haste now. We have been
+delayed. Our master will die from grief and suspense. Come on."
+
+The dog, now thoroughly ashamed of itself, begged the cat's pardon for
+all the trouble it had given. It was afraid to ask for the ring the
+third time, so they both reached their sorrowing master in safety and
+gave him the precious charm. In a moment his sorrow was turned into
+joy. He spoke to the ring, and his beautiful wife and house
+reappeared, and he and everybody were as happy as ever they could be.
+
+
+
+
+The Talkative Tortoise
+
+
+The future Buddha was once born in a minister's family, when
+Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares; and when he grew up, he became
+the king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual.
+
+Now this king was very talkative; while he was speaking, others had no
+opportunity for a word. And the future Buddha, wanting to cure this
+talkativeness of his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing
+so.
+
+At that time there was living, in a pond in the Himalaya mountains, a
+tortoise. Two young hamsas, or wild ducks, who came to feed there,
+made friends with him. And one day, when they had become very intimate
+with him, they said to the tortoise:
+
+"Friend tortoise! the place where we live, at the Golden Cave on Mount
+Beautiful in the Himalaya country, is a delightful spot. Will you come
+there with us?"
+
+"But how can I get there?"
+
+"We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, and will say
+nothing to anybody."
+
+"Oh! that I can do. Take me with you."
+
+"That's right," said they. And making the tortoise bite hold of a
+stick, they themselves took the two ends in their teeth, and flew up
+into the air.
+
+Seeing him thus carried by the hamsas, some villagers called out, "Two
+wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along on a stick!" Whereupon the
+tortoise wanted to say, "If my friends choose to carry me, what is
+that to you, you wretched slaves!" So just as the swift flight of the
+wild ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the city of
+Benares, he let go of the stick he was biting, and falling in the open
+courtyard, split in two! And there arose a universal cry, "A tortoise
+has fallen in the open courtyard, and has split in two!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The king, taking the future Buddha, went to the place, surrounded by
+his courtiers; and looking at the tortoise, he asked the Bodisat,
+"Teacher! how comes he to be fallen here?"
+
+The future Buddha thought to himself, "Long expecting, wishing to
+admonish the king, have I sought for some means of doing so. This
+tortoise must have made friends with the wild ducks; and they must
+have made him bite hold of the stick, and have flown up into the air
+to take him to the hills. But he, being unable to hold his tongue
+when he hears any one else talk, must have wanted to say something,
+and let go the stick; and so must have fallen down from the sky, and
+thus lost his life." And saying, "Truly, O king! those who are called
+chatter-boxes--people whose words have no end--come to grief like
+this," he uttered these Verses:
+
+    "Verily the tortoise killed himself
+    Whilst uttering his voice;
+    Though he was holding tight the stick,
+    By a word himself he slew.
+
+    "Behold him then, O excellent by strength!
+    And speak wise words, not out of season.
+    You see how, by his talking overmuch,
+    The tortoise fell into this wretched plight!"
+
+The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said, "O Teacher!
+are you speaking of us?"
+
+And the Bodisat spake openly, and said, "O great king! be it thou, or
+be it any other, whoever talks beyond measure meets with some mishap
+like this."
+
+And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became a man of few
+words.
+
+
+
+
+A Lac of Rupees for a Bit of Advice
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+A poor blind Brahman and his wife were dependent on their son for
+their subsistence. Every day the young fellow used to go out and get
+what he could by begging. This continued for some time, till at last
+he became quite tired of such a wretched life, and determined to go
+and try his luck in another country. He informed his wife of his
+intention, and ordered her to manage somehow or other for the old
+people during the few months that he would be absent. He begged her to
+be industrious, lest his parents should be angry and curse him.
+
+One morning he started with some food in a bundle, and walked on day
+after day, till he reached the chief city of the neighbouring country.
+Here he went and sat down by a merchant's shop and asked alms. The
+merchant inquired whence he had come, why he had come, and what was
+his caste; to which he replied that he was a Brahman, and was
+wandering hither and thither begging a livelihood for himself and wife
+and parents. Moved with pity for the man, the merchant advised him to
+visit the kind and generous king of that country, and offered to
+accompany him to the court. Now at that time it happened that the king
+was seeking for a Brahman to look after a golden temple which he had
+just had built. His Majesty was very glad, therefore, when he saw the
+Brahman and heard that he was good and honest. He at once deputed him
+to the charge of this temple, and ordered fifty kharwars of rice and
+one hundred rupees to be paid to him every year as wages.
+
+Two months after this, the Brahman's wife, not having heard any news
+of her husband, left the house and went in quest of him. By a happy
+fate she arrived at the very place that he had reached, where she
+heard that every morning at the golden temple a golden rupee was given
+in the king's name to any beggar who chose to go for it. Accordingly,
+on the following morning she went to the place and met her husband.
+
+"Why have you come here?" he asked. "Why have you left my parents?
+Care you not whether they curse me and I die? Go back immediately, and
+await my return."
+
+"No, no," said the woman. "I cannot go back to starve and see your old
+father and mother die. There is not a grain of rice left in the
+house."
+
+"O Bhagawant!" exclaimed the Brahman. "Here, take this," he continued,
+scribbling a few lines on some paper, and then handing it to her, "and
+give it to the king. You will see that he will give you a lac of
+rupees for it." Thus saying he dismissed her, and the woman left.
+
+On this scrap of paper were written three pieces of advice--First, If
+a person is travelling and reaches any strange place at night, let him
+be careful where he puts up, and not close his eyes in sleep, lest he
+close them in death. Secondly, If a man has a married sister, and
+visits her in great pomp, she will receive him for the sake of what
+she can obtain from him; but if he comes to her in poverty, she will
+frown on him and disown him. Thirdly, If a man has to do any work, he
+must do it himself, and do it with might and without fear.
+
+On reaching her home the Brahmani told her parents of her meeting with
+her husband, and what a valuable piece of paper he had given her; but
+not liking to go before the king herself, she sent one of her
+relations. The king read the paper, and ordering the man to be
+flogged, dismissed him. The next morning the Brahmani took the paper,
+and while she was going along the road to the darbar reading it, the
+king's son met her, and asked what she was reading, whereupon she
+replied that she held in her hands a paper containing certain bits of
+advice, for which she wanted a lac of rupees. The prince asked her to
+show it to him, and when he had read it gave her a parwana for the
+amount, and rode on. The poor Brahmani was very thankful. That day she
+laid in a great store of provisions, sufficient to last them all for a
+long time.
+
+In the evening the prince related to his father the meeting with the
+woman, and the purchase of the piece of paper. He thought his father
+would applaud the act. But it was not so. The king was more angry than
+before, and banished his son from the country.
+
+So the prince bade adieu to his mother and relations and friends, and
+rode off on his horse, whither he did not know. At nightfall he
+arrived at some place, where a man met him, and invited him to lodge
+at his house. The prince accepted the invitation, and was treated like
+a prince. Matting was spread for him to squat on, and the best
+provisions set before him.
+
+"Ah!" thought he, as he lay down to rest, "here is a case for the
+first piece of advice that the Brahmani gave me. I will not sleep
+to-night."
+
+It was well that he thus resolved, for in the middle of the night the
+man rose up, and taking a sword in his hand, rushed to the prince with
+the intention of killing him. But he rose up and spoke.
+
+"Do not slay me," he said. "What profit would you get from my death?
+If you killed me you would be sorry afterwards, like that man who
+killed his dog."
+
+"What man? What dog?" he asked.
+
+"I will tell you," said the prince, "if you will give me that sword."
+
+So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:
+
+"Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant who had a pet dog. He
+was suddenly reduced to poverty, and had to part with his dog. He got
+a loan of five thousand rupees from a brother merchant, leaving the
+dog as a pledge, and with the money began business again. Not long
+after this the other merchant's shop was broken into by thieves and
+completely sacked. There was hardly ten rupees' worth left in the
+place. The faithful dog, however, knew what was going on, and went and
+followed the thieves, and saw where they deposited the things, and
+then returned.
+
+"In the morning there was great weeping and lamentation in the
+merchant's house when it was known what had happened. The merchant
+himself nearly went mad. Meanwhile the dog kept on running to the
+door, and pulling at his master's shirt and paijamas, as though
+wishing him to go outside. At last a friend suggested that, perhaps,
+the dog knew something of the whereabouts of the things, and advised
+the merchant to follow its leadings. The merchant consented, and went
+after the dog right up to the very place where the thieves had hidden
+the goods. Here the animal scraped and barked, and showed in various
+ways that the things were underneath. So the merchant and his friends
+dug about the place, and soon came upon all the stolen property.
+Nothing was missing. There was everything just as the thieves had
+taken them.
+
+"The merchant was very glad. On returning to his house, he at once
+sent the dog back to its old master with a letter rolled under the
+collar, wherein he had written about the sagacity of the beast, and
+begged his friend to forget the loan and to accept another five
+thousand rupees as a present. When this merchant saw his dog coming
+back again, he thought, 'Alas! my friend is wanting the money. How can
+I pay him? I have not had sufficient time to recover myself from my
+recent losses. I will slay the dog ere he reaches the threshold, and
+say that another must have slain it. Thus there will be an end of my
+debt. No dog, no loan.' Accordingly he ran out and killed the poor
+dog, when the letter fell out of its collar. The merchant picked it up
+and read it. How great was his grief and disappointment when he knew
+the facts of the case!
+
+"Beware," continued the prince, "lest you do that which afterwards you
+would give your life not to have done."
+
+By the time the prince had concluded this story it was nearly morning,
+and he went away, after rewarding the man.
+
+The prince then visited the country belonging to his brother-in-law.
+He disguised himself as a jogi, and sitting down by a tree near the
+palace, pretended to be absorbed in worship. News of the man and of
+his wonderful piety reached the ears of the king. He felt interested
+in him, as his wife was very ill; and he had sought for hakims to cure
+her, but in vain. He thought that, perhaps, this holy man could do
+something for her. So he sent to him. But the jogi refused to tread
+the halls of a king, saying that his dwelling was the open air, and
+that if his Majesty wished to see him he must come himself and bring
+his wife to the place. Then the king took his wife and brought her to
+the jogi. The holy man bade her prostrate herself before him, and when
+she had remained in this position for about three hours, he told her
+to rise and go, for she was cured.
+
+In the evening there was great consternation in the palace, because
+the queen had lost her pearl rosary, and nobody knew anything about
+it. At length some one went to the jogi, and found it on the ground by
+the place where the queen had prostrated herself. When the king heard
+this he was very angry, and ordered the jogi to be executed. This
+stern order, however, was not carried out, as the prince bribed the
+men and escaped from the country. But he knew that the second bit of
+advice was true.
+
+Clad in his own clothes, the prince was walking along one day when he
+saw a potter crying and laughing alternately with his wife and
+children. "O fool," said he, "what is the matter? If you laugh, why do
+you weep? If you weep, why do you laugh?"
+
+"Do not bother me," said the potter. "What does it matter to you?"
+
+"Pardon me," said the prince, "but I should like to know the reason."
+
+"The reason is this, then," said the potter. "The king of this country
+has a daughter whom he is obliged to marry every day, because all her
+husbands die the first night of their stay with her. Nearly all the
+young men of the place have thus perished, and our son will be called
+on soon. We laugh at the absurdity of the thing--a potter's son
+marrying a princess, and we cry at the terrible consequence of the
+marriage. What can we do?"
+
+"Truly a matter for laughing and weeping. But weep no more," said the
+prince. "I will exchange places with your son, and will be married to
+the princess instead of him. Only give me suitable garments, and
+prepare me for the occasion."
+
+So the potter gave him beautiful raiment and ornaments, and the prince
+went to the palace. At night he was conducted to the apartment of the
+princess. "Dread hour!" thought he; "am I to die like the scores of
+young men before me?" He clenched his sword with firm grip, and lay
+down on his bed, intending to keep awake all the night and see what
+would happen. In the middle of the night he saw two Shahmars come out
+from the nostrils of the princess. They stole over towards him,
+intending to kill him, like the others who had been before him: but he
+was ready for them. He laid hold of his sword, and when the snakes
+reached his bed he struck at them and killed them. In the morning the
+king came as usual to inquire, and was surprised to hear his daughter
+and the prince talking gaily together. "Surely," said he, "this man
+must be her husband, as he only can live with her."
+
+"Where do you come from? Who are you?" asked the king, entering the
+room.
+
+"O king!" replied the prince, "I am the son of a king who rules over
+such-and-such a country."
+
+When he heard this the king was very glad, and bade the prince to
+abide in his palace, and appointed him his successor to the throne.
+The prince remained at the palace for more than a year, and then asked
+permission to visit his own country, which was granted. The king gave
+him elephants, horses, jewels, and abundance of money for the expenses
+of the way and as presents for his father, and the prince started.
+
+On the way he had to pass through the country belonging to his
+brother-in-law, whom we have already mentioned. Report of his arrival
+reached the ears of the king, who came with rope-tied hands and
+haltered neck to do him homage. He most humbly begged him to stay at
+his palace, and to accept what little hospitality could be provided.
+While the prince was staying at the palace he saw his sister, who
+greeted him with smiles and kisses. On leaving he told her how she and
+her husband had treated him at his first visit, and how he had
+escaped; and then gave them two elephants, two beautiful horses,
+fifteen soldiers, and ten lacs rupees' worth of jewels.
+
+Afterwards he went to his own home, and informed his mother and father
+of his arrival. Alas! his parents had both become blind from weeping
+about the loss of their son. "Let him come in," said the king, "and
+put his hands upon our eyes, and we shall see again." So the prince
+entered, and was most affectionately greeted by his old parents; and
+he laid his hands on their eyes, and they saw again.
+
+Then the prince told his father all that had happened to him, and how
+he had been saved several times by attending to the advice that he had
+purchased from the Brahmani. Whereupon the king expressed his sorrow
+for having sent him away, and all was joy and peace again.
+
+
+
+
+The Gold-giving Serpent
+
+
+Now in a certain place there lived a Brahman named Haridatta. He was a
+farmer, but poor was the return his labour brought him. One day, at
+the end of the hot hours, the Brahman, overcome by the heat, lay down
+under the shadow of a tree to have a doze. Suddenly he saw a great
+hooded snake creeping out of an ant-hill near at hand. So he thought
+to himself, "Sure this is the guardian deity of the field, and I have
+not ever worshipped it. That's why my farming is in vain. I will at
+once go and pay my respects to it."
+
+When he had made up his mind, he got some milk, poured it into a bowl,
+and went to the ant-hill, and said aloud: "O Guardian of this Field!
+all this while I did not know that you dwelt here. That is why I have
+not yet paid my respects to you; pray forgive me." And he laid the
+milk down and went to his house. Next morning he came and looked, and
+he saw a gold denar in the bowl, and from that time onward every day
+the same thing occurred: he gave milk to the serpent and found a gold
+denar.
+
+One day the Brahman had to go to the village, and so he ordered his
+son to take the milk to the ant-hill. The son brought the milk, put
+it down, and went back home. Next day he went again and found a
+denar, so he thought to himself: "This ant-hill is surely full
+of golden denars; I'll kill the serpent, and take them all for
+myself." So next day, while he was giving the milk to the serpent, the
+Brahman's son struck it on the head with a cudgel. But the serpent
+escaped death by the will of fate, and in a rage bit the Brahman's son
+with its sharp fangs, and he fell down dead at once. His people raised
+him a funeral pyre not far from the field and burnt him to ashes.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Two days afterwards his father came back, and when he learnt his son's
+fate he grieved and mourned. But after a time, he took the bowl of
+milk, went to the ant-hill, and praised the serpent with a loud voice.
+After a long, long time the serpent appeared, but only with its head
+out of the opening of the ant-hill, and spoke to the Brahman: "'Tis
+greed that brings you here, and makes you even forget the loss of
+your son. From this time forward friendship between us is impossible.
+Your son struck me in youthful ignorance, and I have bitten him to
+death. How can I forget the blow with the cudgel? And how can you
+forget the pain and grief at the loss of your son?" So speaking, it
+gave the Brahman a costly pearl and disappeared. But before it went
+away it said: "Come back no more." The Brahman took the pearl, and
+went back home, cursing the folly of his son.
+
+
+
+
+The Son of Seven Queens
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived a King who had seven Queens, but no
+children. This was a great grief to him, especially when he remembered
+that on his death there would be no heir to inherit the kingdom.
+
+Now it happened one day that a poor old fakir came to the King, and
+said, "Your prayers are heard, your desire shall be accomplished, and
+one of your seven Queens shall bear a son."
+
+The King's delight at this promise knew no bounds, and he gave orders
+for appropriate festivities to be prepared against the coming event
+throughout the length and breadth of the land.
+
+Meanwhile the seven Queens lived luxuriously in a splendid palace,
+attended by hundreds of female slaves, and fed to their hearts'
+content on sweetmeats and confectionery.
+
+Now the King was very fond of hunting, and one day, before he started,
+the seven Queens sent him a message saying, "May it please our dearest
+lord not to hunt towards the north to-day, for we have dreamt bad
+dreams, and fear lest evil should befall you."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The King, to allay their anxiety, promised regard for their wishes,
+and set out towards the south; but as luck would have it, although he
+hunted diligently, he found no game. Nor had he more success to the
+east or west, so that, being a keen sportsman, and determined not to
+go home empty-handed, he forgot all about his promise, and turned to
+the north. Here also he was at first unsuccessful, but just as he had
+made up his mind to give up for that day, a white hind with golden
+horns and silver hoofs flashed past him into a thicket. So quickly did
+it pass that he scarcely saw it; nevertheless a burning desire to
+capture and possess the beautiful strange creature filled his breast.
+He instantly ordered his attendants to form a ring round the thicket,
+and so encircle the hind; then, gradually narrowing the circle, he
+pressed forward till he could distinctly see the white hind panting in
+the midst. Nearer and nearer he advanced, till, just as he thought to
+lay hold of the beautiful strange creature, it gave one mighty bound,
+leapt clean over the King's head, and fled towards the mountains.
+Forgetful of all else, the King, setting spurs to his horse, followed
+at full speed. On, on he galloped, leaving his retinue far behind,
+keeping the white hind in view, never drawing bridle, until, finding
+himself in a narrow ravine with no outlet, he reined in his steed.
+Before him stood a miserable hovel, into which, being tired after his
+long, unsuccessful chase, he entered to ask for a drink of water. An
+old woman, seated in the hut at a spinning-wheel, answered his request
+by calling to her daughter, and immediately from an inner room came a
+maiden so lovely and charming, so white-skinned and golden-haired,
+that the King was transfixed by astonishment at seeing so beautiful a
+sight in the wretched hovel.
+
+She held the vessel of water to the King's lips, and as he drank he
+looked into her eyes, and then it became clear to him that the girl
+was no other than the white hind with the golden horns and silver feet
+he had chased so far.
+
+Her beauty bewitched him, so he fell on his knees, begging her to
+return with him as his bride; but she only laughed, saying seven
+Queens were quite enough even for a King to manage. However, when he
+would take no refusal, but implored her to have pity on him, promising
+her everything she could desire, she replied, "Give me the eyes of
+your seven Queens, and then perhaps I may believe you mean what you
+say."
+
+The King was so carried away by the glamour of the white hind's
+magical beauty, that he went home at once, had the eyes of his seven
+Queens taken out, and, after throwing the poor blind creatures into a
+noisome dungeon whence they could not escape, set off once more for
+the hovel in the ravine, bearing with him his horrible offering. But
+the white hind only laughed cruelly when she saw the fourteen eyes,
+and threading them as a necklace, flung it round her mother's neck,
+saying, "Wear that, little mother, as a keepsake, whilst I am away in
+the King's palace."
+
+Then she went back with the bewitched monarch, as his bride, and he
+gave her the seven Queens' rich clothes and jewels to wear, the seven
+Queens' palace to live in, and the seven Queens' slaves to wait upon
+her; so that she really had everything even a witch could desire.
+
+Now, very soon after the seven wretched hapless Queens had their eyes
+torn out, and were cast into prison, a baby was born to the youngest
+of the Queens. It was a handsome boy, but the other Queens were very
+jealous that the youngest amongst them should be so fortunate. But
+though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved
+so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son.
+Almost as soon as he could walk about he began scraping at the mud
+wall of their dungeon, and in an incredibly short space of time had
+made a hole big enough for him to crawl through. Through this he
+disappeared, returning in an hour or so laden with sweetmeats, which
+he divided equally amongst the seven blind Queens.
+
+As he grew older he enlarged the hole, and slipped out two or three
+times every day to play with the little nobles in the town. No one
+knew who the tiny boy was, but everybody liked him, and he was so full
+of funny tricks and antics, so merry and bright, that he was sure to
+be rewarded by some girdle-cakes, a handful of parched grain, or some
+sweetmeats. All these things he brought home to his seven mothers, as
+he loved to call the seven blind Queens, who by his help lived on in
+their dungeon when all the world thought they had starved to death
+ages before.
+
+At last, when he was quite a big lad, he one day took his bow and
+arrow, and went out to seek for game. Coming by chance past the palace
+where the white hind lived in wicked splendour and magnificence, he
+saw some pigeons fluttering round the white marble turrets, and,
+taking good aim, shot one dead. It came tumbling past the very window
+where the white Queen was sitting; she rose to see what was the
+matter, and looked out. At the first glance of the handsome young lad
+standing there bow in hand, she knew by witchcraft that it was the
+King's son.
+
+She nearly died of envy and spite, determining to destroy the lad
+without delay; therefore, sending a servant to bring him to her
+presence, she asked him if he would sell her the pigeon he had just
+shot.
+
+"No," replied the sturdy lad, "the pigeon is for my seven blind
+mothers, who live in the noisome dungeon, and who would die if I did
+not bring them food."
+
+"Poor souls!" cried the cunning white witch; "would you not like to
+bring them their eyes again? Give me the pigeon, my dear, and I
+faithfully promise to show you where to find them."
+
+Hearing this, the lad was delighted beyond measure, and gave up the
+pigeon at once. Whereupon the white Queen told him to seek her mother
+without delay, and ask for the eyes which she wore as a necklace.
+
+"She will not fail to give them," said the cruel Queen, "if you show
+her this token on which I have written what I want done."
+
+So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these
+words inscribed on it--"Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his
+blood like water!"
+
+Now, as the son of seven Queens could not read, he took the fatal
+message cheerfully, and set off to find the white Queen's mother.
+
+Whilst he was journeying he passed through a town, where every one of
+the inhabitants looked so sad, that he could not help asking what was
+the matter. They told him it was because the King's only daughter
+refused to marry; so when her father died there would be no heir to
+the throne. They greatly feared she must be out of her mind, for
+though every good-looking young man in the kingdom had been shown to
+her, she declared she would only marry one who was the son of seven
+mothers, and who ever heard of such a thing? The King, in despair, had
+ordered every man who entered the city gates to be led before the
+Princess; so, much to the lad's impatience, for he was in an immense
+hurry to find his mothers' eyes, he was dragged into the
+presence-chamber.
+
+No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she blushed, and,
+turning to the King, said, "Dear father, this is my choice!"
+
+Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.
+
+[Illustration: THE SON OF SEVEN MOTHERS]
+
+The inhabitants nearly went wild with joy, but the son of seven
+Queens said he would not marry the Princess unless they first let him
+recover his mothers' eyes. When the beautiful bride heard his story,
+she asked to see the potsherd, for she was very learned and clever.
+Seeing the treacherous words, she said nothing, but taking another
+similar-shaped bit of potsherd, she wrote on it these words--"Take
+care of this lad, giving him all he desires," and returned it to the
+son of seven Queens, who, none the wiser, set off on his quest.
+
+Ere long he arrived at the hovel in the ravine where the white witch's
+mother, a hideous old creature, grumbled dreadfully on reading the
+message, especially when the lad asked for the necklace of eyes.
+Nevertheless she took it off, and gave it him, saying, "There are only
+thirteen of 'em now, for I lost one last week."
+
+The lad, however, was only too glad to get any at all, so he hurried
+home as fast as he could to his seven mothers, and gave two eyes
+apiece to the six elder Queens; but to the youngest he gave one,
+saying, "Dearest little mother!--I will be your other eye always!"
+
+After this he set off to marry the Princess, as he had promised, but
+when passing by the white Queen's palace he saw some pigeons on the
+roof. Drawing his bow, he shot one, and it came fluttering past the
+window. The white hind looked out, and lo! there was the King's son
+alive and well.
+
+She cried with hatred and disgust, but sending for the lad, asked him
+how he had returned so soon, and when she heard how he had brought
+home the thirteen eyes, and given them to the seven blind Queens, she
+could hardly restrain her rage. Nevertheless she pretended to be
+charmed with his success, and told him that if he would give her this
+pigeon also, she would reward him with the Jogi's wonderful cow, whose
+milk flows all day long, and makes a pond as big as a kingdom. The
+lad, nothing loth, gave her the pigeon; whereupon, as before, she bade
+him go ask her mother for the cow, and gave him a potsherd whereon was
+written--"Kill this lad without fail, and sprinkle his blood like
+water!"
+
+But on the way the son of seven Queens looked in on the Princess, just
+to tell her how he came to be delayed, and she, after reading the
+message on the potsherd, gave him another in its stead; so that when
+the lad reached the old hag's hut and asked her for the Jogi's cow,
+she could not refuse, but told the boy how to find it; and bidding him
+of all things not to be afraid of the eighteen thousand demons who
+kept watch and ward over the treasure, told him to be off before she
+became too angry at her daughter's foolishness in thus giving away so
+many good things.
+
+Then the lad did as he had been told bravely. He journeyed on and on
+till he came to a milk-white pond, guarded by the eighteen thousand
+demons. They were really frightful to behold, but, plucking up
+courage, he whistled a tune as he walked through them, looking neither
+to the right nor the left. By-and-by he came upon the Jogi's cow,
+tall, white, and beautiful, while the Jogi himself, who was king of
+all the demons, sat milking her day and night, and the milk streamed
+from her udder, filling the milk-white tank.
+
+The Jogi, seeing the lad, called out fiercely, "What do you want
+here?"
+
+Then the lad answered, according to the old hag's bidding, "I want
+your skin, for King Indra is making a new kettle-drum, and says your
+skin is nice and tough."
+
+Upon this the Jogi began to shiver and shake (for no Jinn or Jogi
+dares disobey King Indra's command), and, falling at the lad's feet,
+cried, "If you will spare me I will give you anything I possess, even
+my beautiful white cow!"
+
+To this the son of seven Queens, after a little pretended hesitation,
+agreed, saying that after all it would not be difficult to find a nice
+tough skin like the Jogi's elsewhere; so, driving the wonderful cow
+before him, he set off homewards. The seven Queens were delighted to
+possess so marvellous an animal, and though they toiled from morning
+till night making curds and whey, besides selling milk to the
+confectioners, they could not use half the cow gave, and became richer
+and richer day by day.
+
+Seeing them so comfortably off, the son of seven Queens started with a
+light heart to marry the Princess; but when passing the white hind's
+palace he could not resist sending a bolt at some pigeons which were
+cooing on the parapet. One fell dead just beneath the window where the
+white Queen was sitting. Looking out, she saw the lad hale and hearty
+standing before her, and grew whiter than ever with rage and spite.
+
+She sent for him to ask how he had returned so soon, and when she
+heard how kindly her mother had received him, she very nearly had a
+fit; however, she dissembled her feelings as well as she could, and,
+smiling sweetly, said she was glad to have been able to fulfil her
+promise, and that if he would give her this third pigeon, she would do
+yet more for him than she had done before, by giving him the
+million-fold rice, which ripens in one night.
+
+The lad was of course delighted at the very idea, and, giving up the
+pigeon, set off on his quest, armed as before with a potsherd, on
+which was written, "Do not fail this time. Kill the lad, and sprinkle
+his blood like water!"
+
+But when he looked in on his Princess, just to prevent her becoming
+anxious about him, she asked to see the potsherd as usual, and
+substituted another, on which was written, "Yet again give this lad
+all he requires, for his blood shall be as your blood!"
+
+Now when the old hag saw this, and heard how the lad wanted the
+million-fold rice which ripens in a single night, she fell into the
+most furious rage, but being terribly afraid of her daughter, she
+controlled herself, and bade the boy go and find the field guarded by
+eighteen millions of demons, warning him on no account to look back
+after having plucked the tallest spike of rice, which grew in the
+centre.
+
+So the son of seven Queens set off, and soon came to the field where,
+guarded by eighteen millions of demons, the million-fold rice grew. He
+walked on bravely, looking neither to the right or left, till he
+reached the centre and plucked the tallest ear, but as he turned
+homewards a thousand sweet voices rose behind him, crying in tenderest
+accents, "Pluck me too! oh, please pluck me too!" He looked back, and
+lo! there was nothing left of him but a little heap of ashes!
+
+Now as time passed by and the lad did not return, the old hag grew
+uneasy, remembering the message "his blood shall be as your blood"; so
+she set off to see what had happened.
+
+Soon she came to the heap of ashes, and knowing by her arts what it
+was, she took a little water, and kneading the ashes into a paste,
+formed it into the likeness of a man; then, putting a drop of blood
+from her little finger into its mouth, she blew on it, and instantly
+the son of seven Queens started up as well as ever.
+
+"Don't you disobey orders again!" grumbled the old hag, "or next time
+I'll leave you alone. Now be off, before I repent of my kindness!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+So the son of seven Queens returned joyfully to his seven mothers,
+who, by the aid of the million-fold rice, soon became the richest
+people in the kingdom. Then they celebrated their son's marriage to
+the clever Princess with all imaginable pomp; but the bride was so
+clever, she would not rest until she had made known her husband to his
+father, and punished the wicked white witch. So she made her husband
+build a palace exactly like the one in which the seven Queens had
+lived, and in which the white witch now dwelt in splendour. Then, when
+all was prepared, she bade her husband give a grand feast to the King.
+Now the King had heard much of the mysterious son of seven Queens, and
+his marvellous wealth, so he gladly accepted the invitation; but what
+was his astonishment when on entering the palace he found it was a
+facsimile of his own in every particular! And when his host, richly
+attired, led him straight to the private hall, where on royal thrones
+sat the seven Queens, dressed as he had last seen them, he was
+speechless with surprise, until the Princess, coming forward, threw
+herself at his feet, and told him the whole story. Then the King awoke
+from his enchantment, and his anger rose against the wicked white hind
+who had bewitched him so long, until he could not contain himself. So
+she was put to death, and her grave ploughed over, and after that the
+seven Queens returned to their own splendid palace, and everybody
+lived happily.
+
+
+
+
+A Lesson for Kings
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the
+future Buddha returned to life as his son and heir. And when the day
+came for choosing a name, they called him Prince Brahma-datta. He grew
+up in due course; and when he was sixteen years old, went to
+Takkasila, and became accomplished in all arts. And after his father
+died he ascended the throne, and ruled the kingdom with righteousness
+and equity. He gave judgments without partiality, hatred, ignorance,
+or fear. Since he thus reigned with justice, with justice also his
+ministers administered the law. Law-suits being thus decided with
+justice, there were none who brought false cases. And as these ceased,
+the noise and tumult of litigation ceased in the king's court. Though
+the judges sat all day in the court, they had to leave without any one
+coming for justice. It came to this, that the Hall of Justice would
+have to be closed!
+
+Then the future Buddha thought, "It cannot be from my reigning with
+righteousness that none come for judgment; the bustle has ceased, and
+the Hall of Justice will have to be closed. I must, therefore, now
+examine into my own faults; and if I find that anything is wrong in
+me, put that away, and practise only virtue."
+
+Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him his faults, but among
+those around him he found no one who would tell him of any fault, but
+heard only his own praise.
+
+Then he thought, "It is from fear of me that these men speak only good
+things, and not evil things," and he sought among those people who
+lived outside the palace. And finding no fault-finder there, he sought
+among those who lived outside the city, in the suburbs, at the four
+gates. And there too finding no one to find fault, and hearing only
+his own praise, he determined to search the country places.
+
+So he made over the kingdom to his ministers, and mounted his chariot;
+and taking only his charioteer, left the city in disguise. And
+searching the country through, up to the very boundary, he found no
+fault-finder, and heard only of his own virtue; and so he turned back
+from the outer-most boundary, and returned by the high road towards
+the city.
+
+Now at that time the king of Kosala, Mallika by name, was also ruling
+his kingdom with righteousness; and when seeking for some fault in
+himself, he also found no fault-finder in the palace but only heard of
+his own virtue! So seeking in country places, he too came to that
+very spot. And these two came face to face in a low cart-track with
+precipitous sides, where there was no space for a chariot to get out
+of the way!
+
+Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the charioteer of the
+king of Benares, "Take thy chariot out of the way!"
+
+But he said, "Take thy chariot out of the way, O charioteer! In this
+chariot sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Benares, the great king
+Brahma-datta."
+
+Yet the other replied, "In this chariot, O charioteer, sitteth the
+lord over the kingdom of Kosala, the great king Mallika. Take thy
+carriage out of the way, and make room for the chariot of our king!"
+
+Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, "They say then
+that he too is a king! What _is_ now to be done?" After some
+consideration, he said to himself, "I know a way. I'll find out how
+old he is, and then I'll let the chariot of the younger be got out of
+the way, and so make room for the elder."
+
+And when he had arrived at that conclusion, he asked that charioteer
+what the age of the king of Kosala was. But on inquiry he found that
+the ages of both were equal. Then he inquired about the extent of his
+kingdom, and about his army, and his wealth, and his renown, and about
+the country he lived in, and his caste and tribe and family. And he
+found that both were lords of a kingdom three hundred leagues in
+extent; and that in respect of army and wealth and renown, and the
+countries in which they lived, and their caste and their tribe and
+their family, they were just on a par!
+
+Then he thought, "I will make way for the most righteous." And he
+asked, "What kind of righteousness has this king of yours?"
+
+Then the chorister of the king of Kosala, proclaiming his king's
+wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza:
+
+    "The strong he overthrows by strength,
+    The mild by mildness, does Mallika;
+    The good he conquers by goodness,
+    And the wicked by wickedness too.
+      Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+      Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, "Well, have you
+told all the virtues of your king?"
+
+"Yes," said the other.
+
+"If these are his _virtues_, where are then his faults?" replied he.
+
+The other said, "Well, for the nonce, they shall be faults, if you
+like! But pray, then, what is the kind of goodness your king has?"
+
+And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called unto him to
+hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza:
+
+    "Anger he conquers by calmness,
+    And by goodness the wicked;
+    The stingy he conquers by gifts,
+    And by truth the speaker of lies.
+      Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+      Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king and his charioteer
+alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed
+their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares!
+
+
+
+
+Pride goeth before a Fall
+
+
+In a certain village there lived ten cloth merchants, who always went
+about together. Once upon a time they had travelled far afield, and
+were returning home with a great deal of money which they had obtained
+by selling their wares. Now there happened to be a dense forest near
+their village, and this they reached early one morning. In it there
+lived three notorious robbers, of whose existence the traders had
+never heard, and while they were still in the middle of it the robbers
+stood before them, with swords and cudgels in their hands, and ordered
+them to lay down all they had. The traders had no weapons with them,
+and so, though they were many more in number, they had to submit
+themselves to the robbers, who took away everything from them, even
+the very clothes they wore, and gave to each only a small loin-cloth a
+span in breadth and a cubit in length.
+
+The idea that they had conquered ten men and plundered all their
+property, now took possession of the robbers' minds. They seated
+themselves like three monarchs before the men they had plundered, and
+ordered them to dance to them before returning home. The merchants
+now mourned their fate. They had lost all they had, except their
+loin-cloth, and still the robbers were not satisfied, but ordered them
+to dance.
+
+There was, among the ten merchants, one who was very clever. He
+pondered over the calamity that had come upon him and his friends, the
+dance they would have to perform, and the magnificent manner in which
+the three robbers had seated themselves on the grass. At the same time
+he observed that these last had placed their weapons on the ground, in
+the assurance of having thoroughly cowed the traders, who were now
+commencing to dance. So he took the lead in the dance, and, as a song
+is always sung by the leader on such occasions, to which the rest keep
+time with hands and feet, he thus began to sing:
+
+    "We are enty men,
+    They are erith men:
+    If each erith man,
+    Surround eno men
+    Eno man remains.
+    _Tâ, tai, tôm, tadingana._"
+
+The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader was
+merely singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for the leader
+commenced from a distance, and had sung the song over twice before he
+and his companions commenced to approach the robbers. They had
+understood his meaning, because they had been trained in trade.
+
+When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a
+purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"What is the price of this cloth?" one trader will ask another.
+
+"Enty rupees," another will reply, meaning "ten rupees."
+
+Thus, there is no possibility of the purchaser knowing what is meant
+unless he be acquainted with trade language. By the rules of this
+secret language erith means "three," enty means "ten," and eno means
+"one." So the leader by his song meant to hint to his fellow-traders
+that they were ten men, the robbers only three, that if three pounced
+upon each of the robbers, nine of them could hold them down, while the
+remaining one bound the robbers' hands and feet.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The three thieves, glorying in their victory, and little understanding
+the meaning of the song and the intentions of the dancers, were
+proudly seated chewing betel and tobacco. Meanwhile the song was sung
+a third time. _Tâ tai tôm_ had left the lips of the singer; and,
+before _tadingana_ was out of them, the traders separated into parties
+of three, and each party pounced upon a thief. The remaining one--the
+leader himself--tore up into long narrow strips a large piece of
+cloth, six cubits long, and tied the hands and feet of the robbers.
+These were entirely humbled now, and rolled on the ground like three
+bags of rice!
+
+The ten traders now took back all their property, and armed themselves
+with the swords and cudgels of their enemies; and when they reached
+their village, they often amused their friends and relatives by
+relating their adventure.
+
+
+
+
+Raja Rasalu.
+
+
+Once there lived a great Raja, whose name was Salabhan, and he had a
+Queen, by name Lona, who, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine,
+had never a child to gladden her eyes. After a long time, however, a
+son was promised to her.
+
+Queen Lona returned to the palace, and when the time for the birth of
+the promised son drew nigh, she inquired of three Jogis who came
+begging to her gate, what the child's fate would be, and the youngest
+of them answered and said, "Oh, Queen! the child will be a boy, and he
+will live to be a great man. But for twelve years you must not look
+upon his face, for if either you or his father see it before the
+twelve years are past, you will surely die! This is what you must do;
+as soon as the child is born you must send him away to a cellar
+underneath the ground, and never let him see the light of day for
+twelve years. After they are over, he may come forth, bathe in the
+river, put on new clothes, and visit you. His name shall be Raja
+Rasalu, and he shall be known far and wide."
+
+So, when a fair young Prince was in due time born into the world, his
+parents hid him away in an underground palace, with nurses, and
+servants, and everything else a King's son might desire. And with him
+they sent a young colt, born the same day, and sword, spear, and
+shield, against the day when Raja Rasalu should go forth into the
+world.
+
+So there the child lived, playing with his colt, and talking to his
+parrot, while the nurses taught him all things needful for a King's
+son to know.
+
+Young Rasalu lived on, far from the light of day, for eleven long
+years, growing tall and strong, yet contented to remain playing with
+his colt, and talking to his parrot; but when the twelfth year began,
+the lad's heart leapt up with desire for change, and he loved to
+listen to the sounds of life which came to him in his palace-prison
+from the outside world.
+
+"I must go and see where the voices come from!" he said; and when his
+nurses told him he must not go for one year more, he only laughed
+aloud, saying, "Nay! I stay no longer here for any man!"
+
+Then he saddled his Arab horse Bhaunr, put on his shining armour, and
+rode forth into the world; but mindful of what his nurses had oft told
+him, when he came to the river, he dismounted, and, going into the
+water, washed himself and his clothes.
+
+Then, clean of raiment, fair of face, and brave of heart, he rode on
+his way until he reached his father's city. There he sat down to rest
+awhile by a well, where the women were drawing water in earthen
+pitchers. Now, as they passed him, their full pitchers poised upon
+their heads, the gay young Prince flung stones at the earthen
+vessels, and broke them all. Then the women, drenched with water,
+went weeping and wailing to the palace, complaining to the King that a
+mighty young Prince in shining armour, with a parrot on his wrist and
+a gallant steed beside him, sat by the well, and broke their pitchers.
+
+Now, as soon as Rajah Salabhan heard this, he guessed at once that it
+was Prince Rasalu come forth before the time, and, mindful of the
+Jogis' words that he would die if he looked on his son's face before
+twelve years were past, he did not dare to send his guards to seize
+the offender and bring him to be judged. So he bade the women be
+comforted, and take pitchers of iron and brass, giving new ones from
+his treasury to those who did not possess any of their own.
+
+But when Prince Rasalu saw the women returning to the well with
+pitchers of iron and brass, he laughed to himself, and drew his mighty
+bow till the sharp-pointed arrows pierced the metal vessels as though
+they had been clay.
+
+Yet still the King did not send for him, so he mounted his steed and
+set off in the pride of his youth and strength to the palace. He
+strode into the audience hall, where his father sat trembling, and
+saluted him with all reverence; but Raja Salabhan, in fear of his
+life, turned his back hastily and said never a word in reply.
+
+Then Prince Rasalu called scornfully to him across the hall:
+
+    "I came to greet thee, King, and not to harm thee!
+      What have I done that thou shouldst turn away?
+    Sceptre and empire have no power to charm me--
+      I go to seek a worthier prize than they!"
+
+Then he strode away, full of bitterness and anger; but, as he passed
+under the palace windows, he heard his mother weeping, and the sound
+softened his heart, so that his wrath died down, and a great
+loneliness fell upon him, because he was spurned by both father and
+mother. So he cried sorrowfully,
+
+    "Oh heart crown'd with grief, hast thou nought
+      But tears for thy son?
+    Art mother of mine?  Give one thought
+      To my life just begun!"
+
+And Queen Lona answered through her tears:
+
+    "Yea! mother am I, though I weep,
+      So hold this word sure,--
+    Go, reign king of all men, but keep
+      Thy heart good and pure!"
+
+So Raja Rasalu was comforted, and began to make ready for fortune. He
+took with him his horse Bhaunr and his parrot, both of whom had lived
+with him since he was born.
+
+So they made a goodly company, and Queen Lona, when she saw them
+going, watched them from her window till she saw nothing but a cloud
+of dust on the horizon; then she bowed her head on her hands and wept,
+saying:
+
+    "Oh! son who ne'er gladdened mine eyes,
+    Let the cloud of thy going arise,
+    Dim the sunlight and darken the day;
+    For the mother whose son is away
+            Is as dust!"
+
+Rasalu had started off to play chaupur with King Sarkap. And as he
+journeyed there came a fierce storm of thunder and lightning, so that
+he sought shelter, and found none save an old graveyard, where a
+headless corpse lay upon the ground. So lonesome was it that even the
+corpse seemed company, and Rasalu, sitting down beside it, said:
+
+    "There is no one here, nor far nor near,
+      Save this breathless corpse so cold and grim;
+    Would God he might come to life again,
+      'Twould be less lonely to talk to him."
+
+And immediately the headless corpse arose and sat beside Raja Rasalu.
+And he, nothing astonished, said to it:
+
+    "The storm beats fierce and loud,
+      The clouds rise thick in the west;
+    What ails thy grave and shroud,
+      Oh corpse! that thou canst not rest?"
+
+Then the headless corpse replied:
+
+    "On earth I was even as thou,
+      My turban awry like a king,
+    My head with the highest, I trow,
+      Having my fun and my fling,
+    Fighting my foes like a brave,
+      Living my life with a swing.
+            And, now I am dead,
+            Sins, heavy as lead,
+    Will give me no rest in my grave!"
+
+So the night passed on, dark and dreary, while Rasalu sat in the
+graveyard and talked to the headless corpse. Now when morning broke
+and Rasalu said he must continue his journey, the headless corpse
+asked him whither he was going, and when he said "to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap," the corpse begged him to give up the idea saying, "I am
+King Sarkap's brother, and I know his ways. Every day, before
+breakfast, he cuts off the heads of two or three men, just to amuse
+himself. One day no one else was at hand, so he cut off mine, and he
+will surely cut off yours on some pretence or another. However, if you
+are determined to go and play chaupur with him, take some of the bones
+from this graveyard, and make your dice out of them, and then the
+enchanted dice with which my brother plays will lose their virtue.
+Otherwise he will always win."
+
+So Rasalu took some of the bones lying about, and fashioned them into
+dice, and these he put into his pocket. Then, bidding adieu to the
+headless corpse, he went on his way to play chaupur with the King.
+
+Now, as Raja Rasalu, tender-hearted and strong, journeyed along to
+play chaupur with the King, he came to a burning forest, and a voice
+rose from the fire saying, "Oh, traveller! for God's sake save me from
+the fire!"
+
+Then the Prince turned towards the burning forest, and, lo! the voice
+was the voice of a tiny cricket. Nevertheless, Rasalu, tender-hearted
+and strong, snatched it from the fire and set it at liberty. Then the
+little creature, full of gratitude, pulled out one of its feelers, and
+giving it to its preserver, said, "Keep this, and should you ever be
+in trouble, put it into the fire, and instantly I will come to your
+aid."
+
+The Prince smiled, saying, "What help could _you_ give _me_?"
+Nevertheless, he kept the hair and went on his way.
+
+Now, when he reached the city of King Sarkap, seventy maidens,
+daughters of the King, came out to meet him,--seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter; but one, the youngest
+of them all, when she saw the gallant young Prince riding on Bhaunr
+Iraqi, going gaily to his doom, was filled with pity, and called to
+him saying:
+
+    "Fair Prince, on the charger so gray,
+        Turn thee back! turn thee back!
+    Or lower thy lance for the fray;
+    Thy head will be forfeit to-day!
+    Dost love life? then, stranger, I pray,
+        Turn thee back! turn thee back!"
+
+But he, smiling at the maiden, answered lightly:
+
+    "Fair maiden, I come from afar,
+    Sworn conqueror in love and in war!
+    King Sarkap my coming will rue,
+    His head in four pieces I'll hew;
+    Then forth as a bridegroom I'll ride,
+    With you, little maid, as my bride!"
+
+Now when Rasalu replied so gallantly, the maiden looked in his face,
+and seeing how fair he was, and how brave and strong, she straightway
+fell in love with him, and would gladly have followed him through the
+world.
+
+But the other sixty-nine maidens, being jealous, laughed scornfully at
+her, saying, "Not so fast, oh gallant warrior! If you would marry our
+sister you must first do our bidding, for you will be our younger
+brother."
+
+"Fair sisters!" quoth Rasalu gaily, "give me my task and I will
+perform it."
+
+So the sixty-nine maidens mixed a hundred-weight of millet seed with a
+hundred-weight of sand, and giving it to Rasalu, bade him separate the
+seed from the sand.
+
+Then he bethought him of the cricket, and drawing the feeler from his
+pocket, thrust it into the fire. And immediately there was a whirring
+noise in the air, and a great flight of crickets alighted beside him,
+and amongst them the cricket whose life he had saved.
+
+Then Rasalu said, "Separate the millet seed from the sand."
+
+"Is that all?" quoth the cricket; "had I known how small a job you
+wanted me to do, I would not have assembled so many of my brethren."
+
+With that the flight of crickets set to work, and in one night they
+separated the seed from the sand.
+
+Now when the sixty-nine fair maidens, daughters of the king saw that
+Rasalu had performed his task, they set him another, bidding him swing
+them all, one by one, in their swings, until they were tired.
+
+Whereupon he laughed, saying, "There are seventy of you, counting my
+little bride yonder, and I am not going to spend my life swinging
+girls! Why, by the time I have given each of you a swing, the first
+will be wanting another! No! if you want a swing, get in, all seventy
+of you, into one swing, and then I'll see what can be done."
+
+So the seventy maidens climbed into one swing, and Raja Rasalu,
+standing in his shining armour, fastened the ropes to his mighty bow,
+and drew it up to its fullest bent. Then he let go, and like an arrow
+the swing shot into the air, with its burden of seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter.
+
+But as it swung back again, Rasalu, standing there in his shining
+armour, drew his sharp sword and severed the ropes. Then the seventy
+fair maidens fell to the ground headlong; and some were bruised and
+some broken, but the only one who escaped unhurt was the maiden who
+loved Rasalu, for she fell out last, on the top of the others, and so
+came to no harm.
+
+After this, Rasalu strode on fifteen paces, till he came to the
+seventy drums, that every one who came to play chaupur with the King
+had to beat in turn; and he beat them so loudly that he broke them
+all. Then he came to the seventy gongs, all in a row, and he hammered
+them so hard that they cracked to pieces.
+
+Seeing this, the youngest Princess, who was the only one who could
+run, fled to her father the King in a great fright, saying:
+
+    "A mighty Prince, Sarkap! making havoc, rides along,
+    He swung us, seventy maidens fair, and threw us out headlong;
+    He broke the drums you placed there and the gongs too in his pride,
+    Sure, he will kill thee, father mine, and take me for his bride!"
+
+But King Sarkap replied scornfully:
+
+    "Silly maiden, thy words make a lot
+      Of a very small matter;
+    For fear of my valour, I wot,
+      His armour will clatter.
+    As soon as I've eaten my bread
+    I'll go forth and cut off his head!"
+
+Notwithstanding these brave and boastful words, he was in reality very
+much afraid, having heard of Rasalu's renown. And learning that he was
+stopping at the house of an old woman in the city, till the hour for
+playing chaupur arrived, Sarkap sent slaves to him with trays of
+sweetmeats and fruit, as to an honoured guest. But the food was
+poisoned.
+
+Now when the slaves brought the trays to Raja Rasalu, he rose up
+haughtily, saying, "Go, tell your master I have nought to do with him
+in friendship. I am his sworn enemy, and I eat not of his salt!"
+
+So saying, he threw the sweetmeats to Raja Sarkap's dog, which had
+followed the slave, and lo! the dog died.
+
+Then Rasalu was very wroth, and said bitterly, "Go back to Sarkap,
+slaves! and tell him that Rasalu deems it no act of bravery to kill
+even an enemy by treachery."
+
+Now, when evening came, Raja Rasalu went forth to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap, and as he passed some potters' kilns he saw a cat
+wandering about restlessly; so he asked what ailed her, that she never
+stood still, and she replied, "My kittens are in an unbaked pot in the
+kiln yonder. It has just been set alight, and my children will be
+baked alive; therefore I cannot rest!"
+
+Her words moved the heart of Raja Rasalu, and, going to the potter, he
+asked him to sell the kiln as it was; but the potter replied that he
+could not settle a fair price till the pots were burnt, as he could
+not tell how many would come out whole. Nevertheless, after some
+bargaining, he consented at last to sell the kiln, and Rasalu, having
+searched all the pots, restored the kittens to their mother, and she,
+in gratitude for his mercy, gave him one of them, saying, "Put it in
+your pocket, for it will help you when you are in difficulties." So
+Raja Rasalu put the kitten in his pocket, and went to play chaupur
+with the King.
+
+Now, before they sat down to play, Raja Sarkap fixed his stakes,--on
+the first game, his kingdom; on the second, the wealth of the whole
+world; and, on the third, his own head. So, likewise, Raja Rasalu
+fixed his stakes,--on the first game, his arms; on the second, his
+horse; and, on the third, his own head.
+
+Then they began to play, and it fell to Rasalu's lot to make the first
+move. Now he, forgetful of the dead man's warning, played with the
+dice given him by Raja Sarkap, besides which, Sarkap let loose his
+famous rat, Dhol Raja, and it ran about the board, upsetting the
+chaupur pieces on the sly, so that Rasalu lost the first game, and
+gave up his shining armour.
+
+Then the second game began, and once more Dhol Raja, the rat, upset
+the pieces; and Rasalu, losing the game, gave up his faithful steed.
+Then Bhaunr, the Arab steed, who stood by, found voice, and cried to
+his master,
+
+        "Sea-born am I, bought with much gold;
+        Dear Prince! trust me now as of old.
+          I'll carry you far from these wiles--
+    My flight, all unspurr'd, will be swift as a bird,
+          For thousands and thousands of miles!
+    Or if needs you must stay; ere the next game you play,
+          Place hand in your pocket, I pray!"
+
+Hearing this, Raja Sarkap frowned, and bade his slaves remove Bhaunr,
+the Arab steed, since he gave his master advice in the game. Now, when
+the slaves came to lead the faithful steed away, Rasalu could
+not refrain from tears, thinking over the long years during which
+Bhaunr, the Arab steed, had been his companion. But the horse cried
+out again,
+
+    "Weep not, dear Prince! I shall not eat my bread
+    Of stranger hands, nor to strange stall be led.
+    Take thy right hand, and place it as I said."
+
+[Illustration: Raja Rasalu plays chaupur with Raja Sarkap.]
+
+These words roused some recollection in Rasalu's mind, and when, just
+at this moment, the kitten in his pocket began to struggle, he
+remembered all about the warning, and the dice made from dead men's
+bones. Then his heart rose up once more, and he called boldly to Raja
+Sarkap, "Leave my horse and arms here for the present. Time enough to
+take them away when you have won my head!"
+
+Now, Raja Sarkap, seeing Rasalu's confident bearing, began to be
+afraid, and ordered all the women of his palace to come forth in their
+gayest attire and stand before Rasalu, so as to distract his attention
+from the game. But he never even looked at them, and drawing the dice
+from his pocket, said to Sarkap, "We have played with your dice all
+this time; now we will play with mine."
+
+Then the kitten went and sat at the window through which the rat Dhol
+Raja used to come, and the game began.
+
+After a while, Sarkap, seeing Raja Rasalu was winning, called to his
+rat, but when Dhol Raja saw the kitten he was afraid, and would not go
+further. So Rasalu won, and took back his arms. Next he played for his
+horse, and once more Raja Sarkap called for his rat; but Dhol Raja,
+seeing the kitten keeping watch, was afraid. So Rasalu won the second
+stake, and took back Bhaunr, the Arab steed.
+
+Then Sarkap brought all his skill to bear on the third and last game,
+saying,
+
+    "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+    For sooth this is a man with whom I play.
+    No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+    As Sarkap does, so do, for Sarkap's sake!"
+
+But Rasalu answered back,
+
+    "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+    For sooth it is a man with whom I play.
+    No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+    As Heaven does, so do, for Heaven's sake!"
+
+So they began to play, whilst the women stood round in a circle, and
+the kitten watched Dhol Raja from the window. Then Sarkap lost, first
+his kingdom, then the wealth of the whole world, and lastly his head.
+
+Just then, a servant came in to announce the birth of a daughter to
+Raja Sarkap, and he, overcome by misfortunes, said, "Kill her at once!
+for she has been born in an evil moment, and has brought her father
+ill luck!"
+
+But Rasalu rose up in his shining armour, tender-hearted and strong,
+saying, "Not so, oh king! She has done no evil. Give me this child to
+wife; and if you will vow, by all you hold sacred, never again to play
+chaupur for another's head, I will spare yours now!"
+
+Then Sarkap vowed a solemn vow never to play for another's head; and
+after that he took a fresh mango branch, and the new-born babe, and
+placing them on a golden dish gave them to Rasalu.
+
+Now, as he left the palace, carrying with him the new-born babe and
+the mango branch, he met a band of prisoners, and they called out to
+him,
+
+    "A royal hawk art thou, oh King! the rest
+    But timid wild-fowl.  Grant us our request,--
+    Unloose these chains, and live for ever blest!"
+
+And Raja Rasalu hearkened to them, and bade King Sarkap set them at
+liberty.
+
+Then he went to the Murti Hills, and placed the new-born babe,
+Kokilan, in an underground palace, and planted the mango branch at the
+door, saying, "In twelve years the mango tree will blossom; then will
+I return and marry Kokilan."
+
+And after twelve years, the mango tree began to flower, and Raja
+Rasalu married the Princess Kokilan, whom he won from Sarkap when he
+played chaupur with the King.
+
+
+
+
+The Ass in the Lion's Skin
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+At the same time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the
+future Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up,
+he gained his living by tilling the ground.
+
+At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
+goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took
+the pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's
+skin, and turn him loose in the rice and barley fields. And when the
+watchmen in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking
+him for a lion.
+
+So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and whilst he was getting
+his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion's skin, and
+turned him loose in a barley-field. The watchmen in the field dared
+not go up to him; but going home, they published the news. Then all
+the villagers came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing
+chanks, and beating drums, they went near the field and shouted.
+Terrified with the fear of death, the ass uttered a cry--the bray of
+an ass!
+
+And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced
+the First Verse:
+
+    "This is not a lion's roaring,
+    Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's;
+    Dressed in a lion's skin,
+      'Tis a wretched ass that roars!"
+
+But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
+till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away.
+Then the hawker came; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight,
+pronounced the Second Verse:
+
+    "Long might the ass,
+    Clad in a lion's skin,
+    Have fed on the barley green.
+    But he brayed!
+      And that moment he came to ruin."
+
+And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot!
+
+
+
+
+The Farmer and the Money-lender
+
+
+There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a
+money-lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the
+money-lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, farmer
+went to the money-lender's house, and said, "You can't squeeze water
+from a stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell
+me the secret of becoming rich."
+
+"My friend," returned the money-lender, piously, "riches come from
+Ram--ask _him_."
+
+"Thank you, I will!" replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three
+girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.
+
+First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point
+out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on
+his way without a word. Next the farmer met a Jogi or devotee, and to
+him he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. At last, he
+came upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was
+hungry, the kindly farmer gave him his last cake, and sitting down to
+rest beside him, entered into conversation.
+
+"And where are you going?" asked the poor man, at length.
+
+"Oh, I have a long journey before me, for I am going to find Ram!"
+replied the farmer. "I don't suppose you could tell me which way to
+go?"
+
+"Perhaps I can," said the poor man, smiling, "for _I_ am Ram! What do
+you want of me?"
+
+Then the farmer told the whole story, and Ram, taking pity on him,
+gave him a conch shell, and showed him how to blow it in a particular
+way, saying, "Remember! whatever you wish for, you have only to blow
+the conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care
+of that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their
+wiles!"
+
+The farmer went back to his village rejoicing. In fact the
+money-lender noticed his high spirits at once, and said to himself,
+"Some good fortune must have befallen the stupid fellow, to make him
+hold his head so jauntily." Therefore he went over to the simple
+farmer's house, and congratulated him on his good fortune, in such
+cunning words, pretending to have heard all about it, that before long
+the farmer found himself telling the whole story--all except the
+secret of blowing the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer
+was not quite such a fool as to tell that.
+
+Nevertheless, the money-lender determined to have the conch by hook or
+by crook, and as he was villain enough not to stick at trifles, he
+waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.
+
+But, after nearly bursting himself with blowing the conch in every
+conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the secret as a bad job.
+However, being determined to succeed he went back to the farmer, and
+said, coolly, "Look here; I've got your conch, but I can't use it; you
+haven't got it, so it's clear you can't use it either. Business is at
+a stand-still unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you
+back your conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one
+condition, which is this,--whatever you get from it, I am to get
+double."
+
+"Never!" cried the farmer; "that would be the old business all over
+again!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Not at all!" replied the wily money-lender; "you will have your
+share! Now, don't be a dog in the manger, for if _you_ get all you
+want, what can it matter to you if _I_ am rich or poor?"
+
+At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit
+to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and from that time,
+no matter what he gained by the power of the conch, the money-lender
+gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon the
+farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of
+anything.
+
+At last, there came a very dry season,--so dry that the farmer's crops
+withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a
+well to water them, and lo! there was the well, _but the money-lender
+had two!_--two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any farmer
+to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at
+last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it
+loudly, and cried out, "Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And
+so he was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course was blind of
+both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he
+fell into one, and was drowned.
+
+Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a
+money-lender--but only by losing one of his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+The Boy who had a Moon on his Forehead and a Star on his Chin
+
+
+In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come
+daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the
+gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, "When I am
+married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has
+never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead and a star on his
+chin." Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her.
+
+But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy
+she would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should
+like very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had
+already four Queens he had no child. He went, therefore, to the
+gardener and told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted
+the gardener and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for
+their daughter to become a princess. So they said "Yes" to the King,
+and invited all their friends to the wedding. The King invited all
+his, and he gave the gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the
+wedding was held with great feasting and rejoicing.
+
+A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to
+have her son; and the King's four other Queens came constantly to see
+her. One day they said to her, "The King hunts every day; and the time
+is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill
+whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your
+illness, what would you do then?"
+
+When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to
+him, "Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or
+sick while you are away, how could I send for you?" The King gave her
+a kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to
+her, "Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far
+away I may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you."
+
+Next morning when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other Queens
+came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her
+kettle-drum. "Oh," they said, "do drum on it just to see if the King
+really will come to you."
+
+"No, I will not," she said; "for why should I call him from his
+hunting when I do not want him?"
+
+"Don't mind interrupting his hunting," they answered. "Do try if he
+really will come to you when you beat your kettle-drum." So at last,
+just to please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her.
+
+"Why have you called me?" he said. "See, I have left my hunting to
+come to you."
+
+"I want nothing," she answered; "I only wished to know if you really
+would come to me when I beat my drum."
+
+"Very well," answered the King; "but do not call me again unless you
+really need me." Then he returned to his hunting.
+
+The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four
+Queens again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and
+begged her to beat her drum once more, "just to see if the King will
+really come to see you this time." At first she refused, but at last
+she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But
+when he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and
+said to her, "Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come to
+you when you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you like,
+but I will not come to you," and then he went away in a rage.
+
+The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat
+her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum,
+but he thought, "She does not really want me; she is only trying to
+see if I will go to her."
+
+Meanwhile the four other Queens came to her, and they said, "Here it
+is the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a
+handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind
+your eyes." She answered, "Very well, bind my eyes." The four wives
+then tied a handkerchief over them.
+
+Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a
+moon on his forehead and a star on his chin, and before the poor
+mother had seen him, the four wicked Queens took the boy to the nurse
+and said to her, "Now you must not let this child make the least sound
+for fear his mother should hear him; and in the night you must either
+kill him, or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him.
+If you obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees." All
+this they did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put
+him into a box, and the four Queens went back to the gardener's
+daughter.
+
+First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took
+the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, "Look! this
+is your son!" The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, "What will
+the King say when he finds no child?" But she could do nothing.
+
+When the King came home, he was furious at hearing his youngest wife,
+the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the
+beautiful little son she had promised him. He made her one of the
+palace servants, and never spoke to her.
+
+In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the
+beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle.
+There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the
+box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The
+King's dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she
+did with the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four Queens (who
+gave her a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she
+had put the box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the
+beautiful little boy, he was very much delighted and said, "If it
+pleases Khuda that this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will
+not eat him, but I will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach."
+This he did.
+
+After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and
+thought, "I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead." Then he brought
+the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was
+now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he
+swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he
+went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up
+the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and
+caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his
+great beauty.
+
+But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and
+he saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran
+to the four Queens and said to them, "Inside the King's dog there is a
+child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star
+on his chin. Such a child has never been seen!" At this the four wives
+were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from
+hunting they said to him, "While you were away your dog came to our
+rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are
+afraid he will kill us." "Do not be afraid," said the King. "Eat your
+dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning."
+
+Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog
+heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to
+kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if
+I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him."
+
+So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called
+Suri, and said to her, "Suri, I want to give you something, for the
+King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of
+whatever I give you?"
+
+"Let me see what it is," said Suri, "I will take care of it if I
+can." Then they both went together to the wide plain, and there the
+dog brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him. "I never saw such
+a beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he has a moon on
+his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the greatest care of
+him." So saying she swallowed the little prince. The dog made her a
+great many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;" and the cow
+then went back to her stable.
+
+Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot.
+
+The child now lived in Suri's stomach; and when one whole year had
+passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and
+said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead.
+But I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy;
+and he played about, and Suri was delighted; she loved him and
+caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned
+to her stable.
+
+At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up
+the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight,
+and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very
+happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable.
+The child was now three years old.
+
+But this time the cowherd had followed Suri, and had seen the
+wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four
+Queens, "The King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon
+on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been
+seen before!"
+
+At this the Queens were terrified. They tore their clothes and their
+hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why
+they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to
+kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never
+mind," said the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be
+killed to-morrow morning."
+
+Now Suri heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said
+to herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight,
+she went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and
+quite untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one
+could go near him with safety, he was so savage. Suri said to this
+horse, "Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give
+you, because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?"
+
+"Good," said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Suri brought up the
+child, and the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will
+take the greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride
+me, but this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when
+he had done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this
+boy's sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the
+jungle and there killed.
+
+The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in
+it for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I
+will see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and
+then he loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all
+about the stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go.
+Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years old.
+After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At
+the end of another year, when the boy was five years old, Katar
+brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play about
+the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him
+again.
+
+But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was
+morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the
+four wicked Queens, and told them all he had seen, and all about the
+wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar.
+On hearing the groom's story the four Queens cried, and tore their
+hair and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at
+evening and asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your
+horse Katar came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and
+we ran away for fear he should kill us."
+
+"Never mind," said the King. "Only eat your dinner and be happy. I
+will have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he thought that two men unaided
+could not kill such a wicked horse, so he ordered his servants to bid
+his troop of sepoys shoot him.
+
+So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and
+he took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any
+one who let his horse escape.
+
+Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up
+the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of
+the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must
+put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such
+as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the
+sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my
+back." Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies'
+country, so he could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor
+any of his people knew this. When all was ready, Katar burst out of
+his stable, with the prince on his back, rushed past the King himself
+before the King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great
+jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw his horse
+had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy distinctly. The
+sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast;
+and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Then the King had
+to give it up and go home; and the sepoys went to their homes. The
+King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse escape,
+for he himself had let him do so.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they
+stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and
+the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they
+started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in
+another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father,
+but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my
+back." Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle;
+take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with
+your sword and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some
+poor, common clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was
+dressed in them the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I
+will take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain,
+so that when you want me you will always find me. You must now go away
+and find service with some one in this country."
+
+This made the boy very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said.
+"What shall I do all alone in this country?"
+
+"Do not be afraid," answered Katar. "You will find service, and I will
+always stay here to help you when you want me. So go, only before you
+go, twist my right ear." The boy did so, and his horse instantly
+became a donkey. "Now twist your right ear," said Katar. And when the
+boy had twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, but a poor,
+common-looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were hidden.
+
+Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain
+merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. "I am a poor man,"
+answered the boy, "and I want service." "Good," said the grain
+merchant, "you shall be my servant."
+
+Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and one night at
+twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's
+cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest
+daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could
+sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair,
+and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying
+singing. "Who are you? where do you come from?" she asked.
+
+But he answered nothing.
+
+"Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to him?" thought the
+little princess, and she went away. On the second night the same thing
+happened, and on the third night too. But on the third night, when she
+found she could not make him answer her, she said to him, "What a
+strange man you are not to answer me when I speak to you." But still
+he remained silent, so she went away.
+
+The next day, when he had finished his work, the young prince went to
+the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, "Are you quite well and
+happy?" "Yes, I am," answered the boy. "I am servant to a grain
+merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and
+sung a song, and each night the youngest princess has come to me and
+asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing.
+What shall I do now?" The horse said, "Next time she asks you who you
+are, tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country
+to find service here."
+
+The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when every
+one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his sweet
+song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, and came
+to him. "Who are you? Whence do you come?" she asked.
+
+[Illustration: THE BOY WITH THE MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD]
+
+"I am a very poor man," he answered. "I came from my own country to
+seek service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants."
+Then she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's
+garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same
+questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers.
+
+Then she went to her father, and said to him, "Father, I wish to be
+married; but I must choose my husband myself." Her father consented to
+this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rajas in the land,
+saying, "My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on
+choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to
+marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you
+and make her choice."
+
+A great many Kings, Rajas, and their sons accepted this invitation and
+came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to
+them, "To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden" (the
+King's garden was very large), "for then my youngest daughter will
+come and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she
+will choose."
+
+The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the
+next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she
+dressed herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful
+jewels; then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her
+hand she took a gold necklace.
+
+Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rajas, and their sons
+were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the
+garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants.
+
+The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings
+and Rajas and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the
+neck of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody
+laughed, and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the
+Rajas said, "What fooling is this?" and they pushed the pretended poor
+man away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, "Get
+out of the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty
+for you to come near us!" The boy went far away from them, and stood a
+long way off to see what would happen.
+
+Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garden again,
+holding her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round
+the boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, "How can the King's
+daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!" and the Kings and
+the Rajas, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the
+garden. But the princess said, "Take care! take care! You must not
+turn him out. Leave him alone." Then she put him on her elephant, and
+took him to the palace.
+
+The Kings and Rajas and their sons were very much astonished, and
+said, "What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of
+us, but chooses that very poor man!" Her father then stood up, and
+said to them all, "I promised my daughter she should marry any one she
+pleased, and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall
+marry him." And so the princess and the boy were married with great
+pomp and splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her
+choice; and the Kings, the Rajas and their sons, all returned to their
+homes.
+
+Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes, and they
+laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed to
+be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See! our sister has married
+this poor, common man!" Their six husbands used to go out hunting
+every day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds
+of game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and
+for the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed
+at home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made
+her very sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt
+every day, but my husband never hunts at all."
+
+At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as my
+sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home
+quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home,
+instead of doing as they do?"
+
+One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air."
+
+"Very good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses."
+
+"No," said the young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he
+went to the jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time
+had seemed to be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he
+said; "I have married the youngest princess; and when we were married
+everybody laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor,
+common man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife
+is very sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and
+bring home quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very
+proud of them. But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I
+should like to hunt very much."
+
+"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy
+had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer.
+"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a
+beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own
+left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a
+grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, got on
+his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt.
+
+He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer.
+That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful
+young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six
+princes wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they
+grew hungry and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food
+with them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a
+tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him.
+By his side was some delicious water, and also some roast meat.
+
+When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that
+handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come
+from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many
+salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are
+you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder
+daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have
+hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not
+recognise their brother-in-law in the least.
+
+"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and
+drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to
+do," they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall
+die." "Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a
+red-hot pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food
+and water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they
+thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be
+covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to
+drink." Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in
+the fire; he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave
+them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had
+finished they made him many salaams and went home.
+
+The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he
+mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people
+looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young
+prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin."
+But no one recognised him. When he came near the King's palace, all
+the King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew
+him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who
+he could be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had
+ever been seen.
+
+At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest
+princess," he answered.
+
+"No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for he is a poor,
+common-looking, and ugly man."
+
+"But I am he," answered the prince; only no one would believe him.
+
+"Tell us the truth," said the servants; "who are you?"
+
+"Perhaps you cannot recognise me," said the young prince, "but call
+the youngest princess here. I wish to speak to her." The servants
+called her, and she came. "That man is not my husband," she said at
+once. "My husband is not nearly as handsome as that man. This must be
+a prince from another country."
+
+Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my
+husband?"
+
+"Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," answered the
+young prince.
+
+"No you are not, you are not telling me the truth," said the little
+princess. "My husband is not a handsome man like you. I married a very
+poor, common-looking man."
+
+"That is true," he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I
+was the grain merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your
+father's garden and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who
+I was and where I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same
+thing happened the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told
+you I was a very poor man, and had come from my country to seek
+service in yours, and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then
+you told your father you wished to marry, but must choose your own
+husband; and when all the Kings and Rajas were seated in your father's
+garden, you sat on an elephant and went round and looked at them all;
+and then twice hung your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me.
+See, here is your necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief
+you gave me on our wedding day."
+
+Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a
+beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to
+him. "Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now
+you are beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome
+man as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then
+she worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a
+husband. "I have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one
+like him in this country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on
+his chin." Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her
+father and mother and to every one. They all said they had never seen
+any one like him, and were all very happy. And the young prince lived
+as before in the King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the
+King's stables.
+
+One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his
+court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him,
+"There are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said
+the King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said
+the young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and
+every one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would
+not believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and
+then you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a
+thief on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and
+the King and everybody in the court-house saw the mark of the red-hot
+pice. The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was
+very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at
+him and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man.
+
+Now, when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was
+married, he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all
+that had happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he
+said to him, "I will take you back to your father's country." So two
+months after the young prince had revenged himself on his
+brothers-in-law, Katar said to him, "It is time for you to return to
+your father. Get the King to let you go to your own country, and I
+will tell you what to do when we get there."
+
+The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his
+wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see
+my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my
+father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them,
+and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave
+them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many
+horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great
+many sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the
+prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they
+reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the
+prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Suri
+had swallowed him so often.
+
+When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the
+prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had
+come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to
+ask whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in
+which he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to
+make war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has
+come to see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a
+grand feast, to which every one in your country must come--men and
+women, old and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children,
+fakirs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and
+I will feast them all."
+
+The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men,
+women, and children of all castes, fakirs, and sepoys, in his country
+to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give
+them. So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All
+came, at least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to
+go to the feast, for no one had thought of her.
+
+When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not
+there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to
+my feast?"
+
+"Yes, every one," said the King.
+
+"Are you sure of that?" asked the prince.
+
+"Quite sure," answered the King.
+
+"I am sure one woman has not come," said the prince. "She is your
+gardener's daughter, who was once your wife and is now a servant in
+your palace."
+
+"True," said the King, "I had forgotten her." Then the prince told his
+servants to take his finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's
+daughter. They were to bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and
+handsome jewels, and then bring her to him in the palanquin.
+
+While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King
+thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed particularly
+the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he wondered in
+what country the young prince was born.
+
+And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and
+the young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her
+into the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives
+looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered
+that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and
+since then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could
+not do enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see
+her.
+
+When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's
+daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest
+dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this
+handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I
+never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?"
+
+Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the
+King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and
+wondering who he was.
+
+One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he
+answered.
+
+"Do you know who I am?" asked the prince.
+
+"No," said the King. "Tell me who you are."
+
+"I am your son," answered the prince, "and the gardener's daughter is
+my mother."
+
+The King shook his head sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when
+I have never had any children?"
+
+"But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked Queens
+told you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a son;
+but it was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they
+tried to kill me."
+
+The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my son," he said; "but
+as I never had a child, you cannot be my son." "Do you remember your
+dog Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do you remember your cow
+Suri, and how you had her killed too? Your wives made you kill them
+because of me. And," he said, taking the King to Katar, "do you know
+whose horse that is?"
+
+The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse Katar."
+"Yes," said the prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you
+out of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the
+prince was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth,
+and of his life up to that moment; and when the King found the
+beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put
+his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy.
+
+"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live
+with me always."
+
+"No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go to your palace.
+I only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I have found her, I
+will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. I have married a
+King's daughter, and we live with her father."
+
+"But now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father.
+"You and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my
+palace."
+
+"That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will kill your
+four wicked Queens with your own hand. If you will do that, we will
+come and live with you."
+
+So the King killed his Queens, and then he and his wife, the
+gardener's daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in
+the King's palace, and lived there happily together for ever after;
+and the King thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for
+ridding him of his four wicked wives.
+
+Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with
+the young prince, and never left him.
+
+
+
+
+The Prince and the Fakir
+
+
+There was once upon a time a King who had no children. Now this King
+went and laid him down to rest at a place where four roads met, so
+that every one who passed had to step over him.
+
+At last a Fakir came along, and he said to the King, "Man, why are you
+lying here?"
+
+He replied, "Fakir, a thousand men have come and passed by; you pass
+on too."
+
+But the Fakir said, "Who are you, man?"
+
+The King replied, "I am a King, Fakir. Of goods and gold I have no
+lack, but I have lived long and have no children. So I have come here,
+and have laid me down at the cross-roads. My sins and offences have
+been very many, so I have come and am lying here that men may pass
+over me, and perchance my sins may be forgiven me, and God may be
+merciful, and I may have a son."
+
+The Fakir answered him, "Oh King! If you have children, what will you
+give me?"
+
+"Whatever you ask, Fakir," answered the King.
+
+The Fakir said, "Of goods and gold I have no lack, but I will say a
+prayer for you, and you will have two sons; one of those sons will be
+mine."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then he took out two sweetmeats and handed them to the King, and said,
+"King! take these two sweetmeats and give them to your wives; give
+them to the wives you love best."
+
+The King took the sweetmeats and put them in his bosom.
+
+Then the Fakir said, "King! in a year I will return, and of the two
+sons who will be born to you one is mine and one yours."
+
+The King said, "Well, I agree."
+
+Then the Fakir went on his way, and the King came home and gave one
+sweetmeat to each of his two wives. After some time two sons were born
+to the King. Then what did the King do but place those two sons in an
+underground room, which he had built in the earth.
+
+Some time passed, and one day the Fakir appeared, and said, "King!
+bring me that son of yours!"
+
+What did the King do but bring two slave-girls' sons and present them
+to the Fakir. While the Fakir was sitting there the King's sons were
+sitting down below in their cellar eating their food. Just then a
+hungry ant had carried away a grain of rice from their food, and was
+going along with it to her children. Another stronger ant came up and
+attacked her in order to get this grain of rice. The first ant said,
+"O ant, why do you drag this away from me? I have long been lame in my
+feet, and I have got just one grain, and am carrying it to my
+children. The King's sons are sitting in the cellar eating their food;
+you go and fetch a grain from there; why should you take mine from
+me?" On this the second ant let go and did not rob the first, but went
+off to where the King's sons were eating their food.
+
+On hearing this the Fakir said, "King! these are not your sons; go and
+bring those children who are eating their food in the cellar."
+
+Then the King went and brought his own sons. The Fakir chose the
+eldest son and took him away, and set off with him on his journey.
+When he got home he told the King's son to go out to gather fuel.
+
+So the King's son went out to gather cow-dung, and when he had
+collected some he brought it in.
+
+Then the Fakir looked at the King's son and put on a great pot, and
+said, "Come round here, my pupil."
+
+But the King's son said, "Master first, and pupil after."
+
+The Fakir told him to come once, he told him twice, he told him three
+times, and each time the King's son answered, "Master first, and pupil
+after."
+
+Then the Fakir made a dash at the King's son, thinking to catch him
+and throw him into the caldron. There were about a hundred gallons of
+oil in this caldron, and the fire was burning beneath it. Then the
+King's son, lifting the Fakir, gave him a jerk and threw him into the
+caldron, and he was burnt, and became roast meat. He then saw a key of
+the Fakir's lying there; he took this key and opened the door of the
+Fakir's house. Now many men were locked up in this house; two horses
+were standing there in a hut of the Fakir's; two greyhounds were tied
+up there; two simurgs were imprisoned, and two tigers also stood
+there. So the King's son let all the creatures go, and took them out
+of the house, and they all returned thanks to God. Next he let out all
+the men who were in prison. He took away with him the two horses, and
+he took away the two tigers, and he took away the two hounds, and he
+took away the two simurgs, and with them he set out for another
+country.
+
+As he went along the road he saw above him a bald man, grazing a herd
+of calves, and this bald man called out to him, "Fellow! can you fight
+at all?"
+
+The King's son replied, "When I was little I could fight a bit, and
+now, if any one wants to fight, I am not so unmanly as to turn my
+back. Come, I will fight you."
+
+The bald man said, "If I throw you, you shall be my slave; and if you
+throw me, I will be your slave." So they got ready and began to fight,
+and the King's son threw him.
+
+On this the King's son said, "I will leave my beasts here, my simurgs,
+tigers, and dogs, and horses; they will all stay here while I go to
+the city to see the sights. I appoint the tiger as guard over my
+property. And you are my slave, you, too, must stay here with my
+belongings." So the King's son started off to the city to see the
+sights, and arrived at a pool.
+
+He saw that it was a pleasant pool, and thought he would stop and
+bathe there, and therewith he began to strip off his clothes.
+
+Now the King's daughter, who was sitting on the roof of the palace,
+saw his royal marks, and she said, "This man is a king; when I marry,
+I will marry him and no other." So she said to her father, "My father;
+I wish to marry."
+
+"Good," said her father.
+
+Then the King made a proclamation: "Let all men, great and small,
+attend to-day in the hall of audience, for the King's daughter will
+to-day take a husband."
+
+All the men of the land assembled, and the traveller Prince also came,
+dressed in the Fakir's clothes, saying to himself, "I must see this
+ceremony to-day." He went in and sat down.
+
+The King's daughter came out and sat in the balcony, and cast her
+glance round all the assembly. She noticed that the traveller Prince
+was sitting in the assembly in Fakir's attire.
+
+The Princess said to her handmaiden, "Take this dish of henna, go to
+that traveller dressed like a Fakir, and sprinkle scent on him from
+the dish."
+
+The handmaiden obeyed the Princess's order, went to him, and sprinkled
+the scent over him.
+
+Then the people said, "The slave-girl has made a mistake."
+
+But she replied, "The slave-girl has made no mistake, 'tis her
+mistress has made the mistake."
+
+On this the King married his daughter to the Fakir, who was really no
+Fakir, but a Prince.
+
+What fate had decreed came to pass in that country, and they were
+married. But the King of that city became very sad in his heart,
+because when so many chiefs and nobles were sitting there his daughter
+had chosen none of them, but had chosen that Fakir; but he kept these
+thoughts concealed in his heart.
+
+One day the traveller Prince said, "Let all the King's sons-in-law
+come out with me to-day to hunt."
+
+People said, "What is this Fakir that he should go a-hunting?"
+
+However, they all set out for the hunt, and fixed their meeting-place
+at a certain pool.
+
+The newly married Prince went to his tigers, and told his tigers and
+hounds to kill and bring in a great number of gazelles and hog-deer
+and markhor. Instantly they killed and brought in a great number. Then
+taking with him these spoils of the chase, the Prince came to the pool
+settled on as a meeting-place. The other Princes, sons-in-law of the
+King of that city, also assembled there; but they had brought in no
+game, and the new Prince had brought a great deal. Thence they
+returned home to the town, and went to the King their father-in-law,
+to present their game.
+
+Now that King had no son. Then the new Prince told him that in fact
+he, too, was a Prince. At this the King, his father-in-law, was
+greatly delighted and took him by the hand and embraced him. He seated
+him by himself, saying, "O Prince, I return thanks that you have come
+here and become my son-in-law; I am very happy at this, and I make
+over my kingdom to you."
+
+
+
+
+Why the Fish Laughed.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+As a certain fisherwoman passed by a palace crying her fish, the queen
+appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show
+what she had. At that moment a very big fish jumped about in the
+bottom of the basket.
+
+"Is it a he or a she?" inquired the queen. "I wish to purchase a she
+fish."
+
+On hearing this the fish laughed aloud.
+
+"It's a he," replied the fisherwoman, and proceeded on her rounds.
+
+The queen returned to her room in a great rage; and on coming to see
+her in the evening, the king noticed that something had disturbed her.
+
+"Are you indisposed?" he said.
+
+"No; but I am very much annoyed at the strange behaviour of a fish. A
+woman brought me one to-day, and on my inquiring whether it was a male
+or female, the fish laughed most rudely."
+
+"A fish laugh! Impossible! You must be dreaming."
+
+"I am not a fool. I speak of what I have seen with my own eyes and
+have heard with my own ears."
+
+"Passing strange! Be it so. I will inquire concerning it."
+
+On the morrow the king repeated to his vizier what his wife had told
+him, and bade him investigate the matter, and be ready with a
+satisfactory answer within six months, on pain of death. The vizier
+promised to do his best, though he felt almost certain of failure. For
+five months he laboured indefatigably to find a reason for the
+laughter of the fish. He sought everywhere and from every one. The
+wise and learned, and they who were skilled in magic and in all manner
+of trickery, were consulted. Nobody, however, could explain the
+matter; and so he returned broken-hearted to his house, and began to
+arrange his affairs in prospect of certain death, for he had had
+sufficient experience of the king to know that His Majesty would not
+go back from his threat. Amongst other things, he advised his son to
+travel for a time, until the king's anger should have somewhat cooled.
+
+The young fellow, who was both clever and handsome, started off
+whithersoever Kismat might lead him. He had been gone some days, when
+he fell in with an old farmer, who also was on a journey to a certain
+village. Finding the old man very pleasant, he asked him if he might
+accompany him, professing to be on a visit to the same place. The old
+farmer agreed, and they walked along together. The day was hot, and
+the way was long and weary.
+
+"Don't you think it would be pleasanter if you and I sometimes gave
+one another a lift?" said the youth.
+
+"What a fool the man is!" thought the old farmer.
+
+Presently they passed through a field of corn ready for the sickle,
+and looking like a sea of gold as it waved to and fro in the breeze.
+
+"Is this eaten or not?" said the young man.
+
+Not understanding his meaning, the old man replied, "I don't know."
+
+After a little while the two travellers arrived at a big village,
+where the young man gave his companion a clasp-knife, and said, "Take
+this, friend, and get two horses with it; but mind and bring it back,
+for it is very precious."
+
+The old man, looking half amused and half angry, pushed back the
+knife, muttering something to the effect that his friend was either a
+fool himself or else trying to play the fool with him. The young man
+pretended not to notice his reply, and remained almost silent till
+they reached the city, a short distance outside which was the old
+farmer's house. They walked about the bazaar and went to the mosque,
+but nobody saluted them or invited them to come in and rest.
+
+"What a large cemetery!" exclaimed the young man.
+
+"What does the man mean," thought the old farmer, "calling this
+largely populated city a cemetery?"
+
+On leaving the city their way led through a cemetery where a few
+people were praying beside a grave and distributing chapatis and
+kulchas to passers-by, in the name of their beloved dead. They
+beckoned to the two travellers and gave them as much as they would.
+
+"What a splendid city this is!" said the young man.
+
+"Now, the man must surely be demented!" thought the old farmer. "I
+wonder what he will do next? He will be calling the land water, and
+the water land; and be speaking of light where there is darkness, and
+of darkness when it is light." However, he kept his thoughts to
+himself.
+
+Presently they had to wade through a stream that ran along the edge of
+the cemetery. The water was rather deep, so the old farmer took off
+his shoes and paijamas and crossed over; but the young man waded
+through it with his shoes and paijamas on.
+
+"Well! I never did see such a perfect fool, both in word and in deed,"
+said the old man to himself.
+
+However, he liked the fellow; and thinking that he would amuse his
+wife and daughter, he invited him to come and stay at his house as
+long as he had occasion to remain in the village.
+
+"Thank you very much," the young man replied; "but let me first
+inquire, if you please, whether the beam of your house is strong."
+
+The old farmer left him in despair, and entered his house laughing.
+
+"There is a man in yonder field," he said, after returning their
+greetings. "He has come the greater part of the way with me, and I
+wanted him to put up here as long as he had to stay in this village.
+But the fellow is such a fool that I cannot make anything out of him.
+He wants to know if the beam of this house is all right. The man must
+be mad!" and saying this, he burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+"Father," said the farmer's daughter, who was a very sharp and wise
+girl, "this man, whosoever he is, is no fool, as you deem him. He only
+wishes to know if you can afford to entertain him."
+
+"Oh! of course," replied the farmer. "I see. Well perhaps you can help
+me to solve some of his other mysteries. While we were walking
+together he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as
+he thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding."
+
+"Most assuredly," said the girl. "He meant that one of you should tell
+a story to beguile the time."
+
+"Oh yes. Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me
+whether it was eaten or not."
+
+"And didn't you know the meaning of this, father? He simply wished to
+know if the man was in debt or not; because, if the owner of the field
+was in debt, then the produce of the field was as good as eaten to
+him; that is, it would have to go to his creditors."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes; of course! Then, on entering a certain village, he
+bade me take his clasp knife and get two horses with it, and bring
+back the knife again to him."
+
+"Are not two stout sticks as good as two horses for helping one along
+on the road? He only asked you to cut a couple of sticks and be
+careful not to lose his knife."
+
+"I see," said the farmer. "While we were walking over the city we did
+not see anybody that we knew, and not a soul gave us a scrap of
+anything to eat, till we were passing the cemetery; but there some
+people called to us and put into our hands some chapatis and kulchas;
+so my companion called the city a cemetery, and the cemetery a city."
+
+"This also is to be understood, father, if one thinks of the city as
+the place where everything is to be obtained, and of inhospitable
+people as worse than the dead. The city, though crowded with people,
+was as if dead, as far as you were concerned; while, in the cemetery,
+which is crowded with the dead, you were saluted by kind friends and
+provided with bread."
+
+"True, true!" said the astonished farmer. "Then, just now, when we
+were crossing the stream, he waded through it without taking off his
+shoes and paijamas."
+
+"I admire his wisdom," replied the girl. "I have often thought how
+stupid people were to venture into that swiftly flowing stream and
+over those sharp stones with bare feet. The slightest stumble and they
+would fall, and be wetted from head to foot. This friend of yours is a
+most wise man. I should like to see him and speak to him."
+
+"Very well," said the farmer; "I will go and find him, and bring him
+in."
+
+"Tell him, father, that our beams are strong enough, and then he will
+come in. I'll send on ahead a present to the man, to show him that we
+can afford to have him for our guest."
+
+Accordingly she called a servant and sent him to the young man with a
+present of a basin of ghee, twelve chapatis, and a jar of milk, and
+the following message:--"O friend, the moon is full; twelve months
+make a year, and the sea is overflowing with water."
+
+Half-way the bearer of this present and message met his little son,
+who, seeing what was in the basket, begged his father to give him some
+of the food. His father foolishly complied. Presently he saw the young
+man, and gave him the rest of the present and the message.
+
+"Give your mistress my salam," he replied, "and tell her that the moon
+is new, and that I can only find eleven months in the year, and the
+sea is by no means full."
+
+Not understanding the meaning of these words, the servant repeated
+them word for word, as he had heard them, to his mistress; and thus
+his theft was discovered, and he was severely punished. After a little
+while the young man appeared with the old farmer. Great attention was
+shown to him, and he was treated in every way as if he were the son of
+a great man, although his humble host knew nothing of his origin. At
+length he told them everything--about the laughing of the fish, his
+father's threatened execution, and his own banishment--and asked their
+advice as to what he should do.
+
+"The laughing of the fish," said the girl, "which seems to have been
+the cause of all this trouble, indicates that there is a man in the
+palace who is plotting against the king's life."
+
+"Joy, joy!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "There is yet time for me to
+return and save my father from an ignominious and unjust death, and
+the king from danger."
+
+The following day he hastened back to his own country, taking with him
+the farmer's daughter. Immediately on arrival he ran to the palace and
+informed his father of what he had heard. The poor vizier, now almost
+dead from the expectation of death, was at once carried to the king,
+to whom he repeated the news that his son had just brought.
+
+"Never!" said the king.
+
+"But it must be so, Your Majesty," replied the vizier; "and in order
+to prove the truth of what I have heard, I pray you to call together
+all the maids in your palace, and order them to jump over a pit,
+which must be dug. We'll soon find out whether there is any man
+there."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The king had the pit dug, and commanded all the maids belonging to the
+palace to try to jump it. All of them tried, but only one succeeded.
+That one was found to be a man!!
+
+Thus was the queen satisfied, and the faithful old vizier saved.
+
+Afterwards, as soon as could be, the vizier's son married the old
+farmer's daughter; and a most happy marriage it was.
+
+
+
+
+The Demon with the Matted Hair
+
+
+_This story the Teacher told in Jetavana about a Brother who had
+ceased striving after righteousness. Said the Teacher to him: "Is it
+really true that you have ceased all striving?"--"Yes, Blessed One,"
+he replied. Then the Teacher said: "O Brother, in former days wise men
+made effort in the place where effort should be made, and so attained
+unto royal power." And he told a story of long ago._
+
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was King of Benares, the
+Bodhisatta was born as son of his chief queen. On his name-day they
+asked 800 Brahmans, having satisfied them with all their desires,
+about his lucky marks. The Brahmans who had skill in divining from
+such marks beheld the excellence of his, and made answer:
+
+"Full of goodness, great King, is your son, and when you die he will
+become king; he shall be famous and renowned for his skill with the
+five weapons, and shall be the chief man in all India." On hearing
+what the Brahmans had to say, they gave him the name of the Prince of
+the Five Weapons, sword, spear, bow, battle-axe, and shield.
+
+When he came to years of discretion, and had attained the measure of
+sixteen years, the King said to him:
+
+"My son, go and complete your education."
+
+"Who shall be my teacher?" the lad asked.
+
+"Go, my son; in the kingdom of Candahar, in the city of Takkasila, is
+a far-famed teacher from whom I wish you to learn. Take this, and give
+it him for a fee." With that he gave him a thousand pieces of money,
+and dismissed him.
+
+The lad departed, and was educated by this teacher; he received the
+Five Weapons from him as a gift, bade him farewell, and leaving
+Takkasila, he began his journey to Benares, armed with the Five
+Weapons.
+
+On his way he came to a forest inhabited by the Demon with the Matted
+Hair. At the entering in of the forest some men saw him, and cried
+out:
+
+"Hullo, young sir, keep clear of that wood! There's a Demon in it
+called he of the Matted Hair: he kills every man he sees!" And they
+tried to stop him. But the Bodhisatta, having confidence in himself,
+went straight on, fearless as a maned lion.
+
+When he reached mid-forest the Demon showed himself. He made himself
+as tall as a palm tree; his head was the size of a pagoda, his eyes as
+big as saucers, and he had two tusks all over knobs and bulbs; he had
+the face of a hawk, a variegated belly, and blue hands and feet.
+
+"Where are you going?" he shouted. "Stop! You'll make a meal for me!"
+
+Said the Bodhisatta: "Demon, I came here trusting in myself. I advise
+you to be careful how you come near me. Here's a poisoned arrow, which
+I'll shoot at you and knock you down!" With this menace, he fitted to
+his bow an arrow dipped in deadly poison, and let fly. The arrow stuck
+fast in the Demon's hair. Then he shot and shot, till he had shot away
+fifty arrows; and they all stuck in the Demon's hair. The Demon
+snapped them all off short, and threw them down at his feet; then came
+up to the Bodhisatta, who drew his sword and struck the Demon,
+threatening him the while. His sword--it was three-and-thirty inches
+long--stuck in the Demon's hair! The Bodhisatta struck him with his
+spear--that stuck too! He struck him with his club--and that stuck
+too!
+
+When the Bodhisatta saw that this had stuck fast, he addressed the
+Demon. "You, Demon!" said he, "did you never hear of me before--the
+Prince of the Five Weapons? When I came into the forest which you live
+in I did not trust to my bow and other weapons. This day will I pound
+you and grind you to powder!" Thus did he declare his resolve, and
+with a shout he hit at the Demon with his right hand. It stuck fast in
+his hair! He hit him with his left hand--that stuck too! With his
+right foot he kicked him--that stuck too; then with his left--and that
+stuck too! Then he butted at him with his head, crying, "I'll pound
+you to powder!" and his head stuck fast like the rest.
+
+Thus the Bodhisatta was five times snared, caught fast in five places,
+hanging suspended: yet he felt no fear--was not even nervous.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR]
+
+Thought the Demon to himself: "Here's a lion of a man! A
+noble man! More than man is he! Here he is, caught by a Demon like me;
+yet he will not fear a bit. Since I have ravaged this road, I never
+saw such a man. Now, why is it that he does not fear?" He was
+powerless to eat the man, but asked him: "Why is it, young sir, that
+you are not frightened to death?"
+
+"Why should I fear, Demon?" replied he. "In one life a man can die but
+once. Besides, in my belly is a thunderbolt; if you eat me, you will
+never be able to digest it; this will tear your inwards into little
+bits, and kill you: so we shall both perish. That is why I fear
+nothing." (By this, the Bodhisatta meant the weapon of knowledge which
+he had within him.)
+
+When he heard this, the Demon thought: "This young man speaks the
+truth. A piece of the flesh of such a lion-man as he would be too much
+for me to digest, if it were no bigger than a kidney-bean. I'll let
+him go!" So, being frightened to death, he let go the Bodhisatta,
+saying:
+
+"Young sir, you are a lion of a man! I will not eat you up. I set you
+free from my hands, as the moon is disgorged from the jaws of Rāhu
+after the eclipse. Go back to the company of your friends and
+relations!"
+
+And the Bodhisatta said: "Demon, I will go, as you say. You were born
+a Demon, cruel, blood-bibbing, devourer of the flesh and gore of
+others, because you did wickedly in former lives. If you still go on
+doing wickedly, you will go from darkness to darkness. But now that
+you have seen me you will find it impossible to do wickedly. Taking
+the life of living creatures causes birth, as an animal, in the world
+of Petas, or in the body of an Asura, or, if one is reborn as a man,
+it makes his life short." With this and the like monition he told him
+the disadvantage of the five kinds of wickedness, and the profit of
+the five kinds of virtue, and frightened the Demon in various ways,
+discoursing to him until he subdued him and made him self-denying, and
+established him in the five kinds of virtue; he made him worship the
+deity to whom offerings were made in that wood; and having carefully
+admonished him, departed out of it.
+
+At the entrance of the forest he told all to the people thereabout;
+and went on to Benares, armed with his five weapons. Afterwards he
+became king, and ruled righteously; and after giving alms and doing
+good he passed away according to his deeds.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_And the Teacher, when this tale was ended, became perfectly
+enlightened, and repeated this verse_:
+
+    _Whose mind and heart from all desire is free,
+    Who seeks for peace by living virtuously,
+      He in due time will sever all the bonds
+    That bind him fast to life, and cease to be._
+
+_Thus the Teacher reached the summit, through sainthood and the
+teaching of the law, and thereupon he declared the Four Truths. At the
+end of the declaring of the Truths, this Brother also attained to
+sainthood. Then the Teacher made the connexion, and gave the key to
+the birth-tale, saying: "At that time Angulimala was the Demon, but
+the Prince of the Five Weapons was I myself."_
+
+
+
+
+The Ivory City and its Fairy Princess
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+One day a young prince was out practising archery with the son of his
+father's chief vizier, when one of the arrows accidentally struck the
+wife of a merchant, who was walking about in an upper room of a house
+close by. The prince aimed at a bird that was perched on the
+window-sill of that room, and had not the slightest idea that anybody
+was at hand, or he would not have shot in that direction.
+Consequently, not knowing what had happened, he and the vizier's son
+walked away, the vizier's son chaffing him because he had missed the
+bird.
+
+Presently the merchant went to ask his wife about something, and found
+her lying, to all appearance, dead in the middle of the room, and an
+arrow fixed in the ground within half a yard of her head. Supposing
+that she was dead, he rushed to the window and shrieked, "Thieves
+thieves! They have killed my wife." The neighbours quickly gathered,
+and the servants came running upstairs to see what was the matter. It
+happened that the woman had fainted, and that there was only a very
+slight wound in her breast where the arrow had grazed.
+
+As soon as the woman recovered her senses she told them that two young
+men had passed by the place with their bows and arrows, and that one
+of them had most deliberately aimed at her as she stood by the window.
+
+On hearing this the merchant went to the king, and told him what had
+taken place. His Majesty was much enraged at such audacious
+wickedness, and swore that most terrible punishment should be visited
+on the offender if he could be discovered. He ordered the merchant to
+go back and ascertain whether his wife could recognise the young men
+if she saw them again.
+
+"Oh yes," replied the woman, "I should know them again among all the
+people in the city."
+
+"Then," said the king, when the merchant brought back this reply,
+"to-morrow I will cause all the male inhabitants of this city to pass
+before your house, and your wife will stand at the window and watch
+for the man who did this wanton deed."
+
+A royal proclamation was issued to this effect. So the next day all
+the men and boys of the city, from the age of ten years upwards,
+assembled and marched by the house of the merchant. By chance (for
+they both had been excused from obeying this order) the king's son and
+the vizier's son were also in the company, and passed by in the crowd.
+They came to see the tamasha.
+
+As soon as these two appeared in front of the merchant's window they
+were recognised by the merchant's wife, and at once reported to the
+king.
+
+"My own son and the son of my chief vizier!" exclaimed the king, who
+had been present from the commencement. "What examples for the people!
+Let them both be executed."
+
+"Not so, your Majesty," said the vizier, "I beseech you. Let the facts
+of the case be thoroughly investigated. How is it?" he continued,
+turning to the two young men. "Why have you done this cruel thing?"
+
+"I shot an arrow at a bird that was sitting on the sill of an open
+window in yonder house, and missed," answered the prince. "I suppose
+the arrow struck the merchant's wife. Had I known that she or anybody
+had been near I should not have shot in that direction."
+
+"We will speak of this later on," said the king, on hearing this
+answer. "Dismiss the people. Their presence is no longer needed."
+
+In the evening his Majesty and the vizier had a long and earnest talk
+about their two sons. The king wished both of them to be executed; but
+the vizier suggested that the prince should be banished from the
+country. This was finally agreed to.
+
+Accordingly, on the following morning, a little company of soldiers
+escorted the prince out of the city. When they reached the last
+custom-house the vizier's son overtook them. He had come with all
+haste, bringing with him four bags of muhrs on four horses. "I am
+come," he said, throwing his arms round the prince's neck, "because I
+cannot let you go alone. We have lived together, we will be exiled
+together, and we will die together. Turn me not back, if you love me."
+
+"Consider," the prince answered, "what you are doing. All kinds of
+trial may be before me. Why should you leave your home and country to
+be with me?"
+
+"Because I love you," he said, "and shall never be happy without you."
+
+So the two friends walked along hand in hand as fast as they could to
+get out of the country, and behind them marched the soldiers and the
+horses with their valuable burdens. On reaching a place on the borders
+of the king's dominions the prince gave the soldiers some gold, and
+ordered them to return. The soldiers took the money and left; they did
+not, however, go very far, but hid themselves behind rocks and stones,
+and waited till they were quite sure that the prince did not intend to
+come back.
+
+On and on the exiles walked, till they arrived at a certain village,
+where they determined to spend the night under one of the big trees of
+the place. The prince made preparations for a fire, and arranged the
+few articles of bedding that they had with them, while the vizier's
+son went to the baniya and the baker and the butcher to get something
+for their dinner. For some reason he was delayed; perhaps the tsut was
+not quite ready, or the baniya had not got all the spices prepared.
+After waiting half an hour the prince became impatient, and rose up
+and walked about.
+
+He saw a pretty, clear little brook running along not far from their
+resting-place, and hearing that its source was not far distant, he
+started off to find it. The source was a beautiful lake, which at that
+time was covered with the magnificent lotus flower and other water
+plants. The prince sat down on the bank, and being thirsty took up
+some of the water in his hand. Fortunately he looked into his hand
+before drinking, and there, to his great astonishment, he saw
+reflected whole and clear the image of a beautiful fairy. He looked
+round, hoping to see the reality; but seeing no person, he drank the
+water, and put out his hand to take some more. Again he saw the
+reflection in the water which was in his palm. He looked around as
+before, and this time discovered a fairy sitting by the bank on the
+opposite side of the lake. On seeing her he fell so madly in love with
+her that he dropped down in a swoon.
+
+When the vizier's son returned, and found the fire lighted, the horses
+securely fastened, and the bags of muhrs lying altogether in a heap,
+but no prince, he did not know what to think. He waited a little
+while, and then shouted; but not getting any reply, he got up and went
+to the brook. There he came across the footmarks of his friend. Seeing
+these, he went back at once for the money and the horses, and bringing
+them with him, he tracked the prince to the lake, where he found him
+lying to all appearance dead.
+
+"Alas! alas!" he cried, and lifting up the prince, he poured some
+water over his head and face. "Alas! my brother, what is this? Oh! do
+not die and leave me thus. Speak, speak! I cannot bear this!"
+
+In a few minutes the prince, revived by the water, opened his eyes,
+and looked about wildly.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "But what is the matter,
+brother?"
+
+"Go away," replied the prince. "I don't want to say anything to you,
+or to see you. Go away."
+
+"Come, come; let us leave this place. Look, I have brought some food
+for you, and horses, and everything. Let us eat and depart."
+
+"Go alone," replied the prince.
+
+"Never," said the vizier's son. "What has happened to suddenly
+estrange you from me? A little while ago we were brethren, but now you
+detest the sight of me."
+
+"I have looked upon a fairy," the prince said. "But a moment I saw her
+face; for when she noticed that I was looking at her she covered her
+face with lotus petals. Oh, how beautiful she was! And while I gazed
+she took out of her bosom an ivory box, and held it up to me. Then I
+fainted. Oh! if you can get me that fairy for my wife, I will go
+anywhere with you."
+
+"Oh, brother," said the vizier's son, "you have indeed seen a fairy.
+She is a fairy of the fairies. This is none other than Gulizar of the
+Ivory City. I know this from the signs that she gave you. From her
+covering her face with lotus petals I learn her name, and from her
+showing you the ivory box I learn where she lives. Be patient, and
+rest assured that I will arrange your marriage with her."
+
+When the prince heard these encouraging words he felt much comforted,
+rose up, and ate, and then went away gladly with his friend.
+
+On the way they met two men. These two men belonged to a family of
+robbers. There were eleven of them altogether. One, an elder sister,
+stayed at home and cooked the food, and the other ten--all
+brothers--went out, two and two, and walked about the four different
+ways that ran through that part of the country, robbing those
+travellers who could not resist them, and inviting others, who were
+too powerful for two of them to manage, to come and rest at their
+house, where the whole family attacked them and stole their goods.
+These thieves lived in a kind of tower, which had several strong-rooms
+in it, and under it was a great pit, wherein they threw the corpses of
+the poor unfortunates who chanced to fall into their power.
+
+The two men came forward, and, politely accosting them, begged them to
+come and stay at their house for the night. "It is late," they said,
+"and there is not another village within several miles."
+
+"Shall we accept this good man's invitation, brother?" asked the
+prince.
+
+The vizier's son frowned slightly in token of disapproval; but the
+prince was tired, and thinking that it was only a whim of his
+friend's, he said to the men, "Very well. It is very kind of you to
+ask us."
+
+So they all four went to the robbers' tower.
+
+Seated in a room, with the door fastened on the outside, the two
+travellers bemoaned their fate.
+
+"It is no good groaning," said the vizier's son. "I will climb to the
+window, and see whether there are any means of escape. Yes! yes!" he
+whispered, when he had reached the window-hole. "Below there is a
+ditch surrounded by a high wall. I will jump down and reconnoitre. You
+stay here, and wait till I return."
+
+Presently he came back and told the prince that he had seen a most
+ugly woman, whom he supposed was the robbers' housekeeper. She had
+agreed to release them on the promise of her marriage with the prince.
+
+So the woman led the way out of the enclosure by a secret door.
+
+"But where are the horses and the goods?" the vizier's son inquired.
+
+"You cannot bring them," the woman said. "To go out by any other way
+would be to thrust oneself into the grave."
+
+"All right, then; they also shall go out by this door. I have a charm,
+whereby I can make them thin or fat." So the vizier's son fetched the
+horses without any person knowing it, and repeating the charm, he made
+them pass through the narrow doorway like pieces of cloth, and when
+they were all outside restored them to their former condition. He at
+once mounted his horse and laid hold of the halter of one of the other
+horses, and then beckoning to the prince to do likewise, he rode off.
+The prince saw his opportunity, and in a moment was riding after him,
+having the woman behind him.
+
+Now the robbers heard the galloping of the horses, and ran out and
+shot their arrows at the prince and his companions. And one of the
+arrows killed the woman, so they had to leave her behind.
+
+On, on they rode, until they reached a village where they stayed the
+night. The following morning they were off again, and asked for Ivory
+City from every passer-by. At length they came to this famous city,
+and put up at a little hut that belonged to an old woman, from whom
+they feared no harm, and with whom, therefore, they could abide in
+peace and comfort. At first the old woman did not like the idea of
+these travellers staying in her house, but the sight of a muhr, which
+the prince dropped in the bottom of a cup in which she had given him
+water, and a present of another muhr from the vizier's son, quickly
+made her change her mind. She agreed to let them stay there for a few
+days.
+
+As soon as her work was over the old woman came and sat down with her
+lodgers. The vizier's son pretended to be utterly ignorant of the
+place and people. "Has this city a name?" he asked the old woman.
+
+"Of course it has, you stupid. Every little village, much more a city,
+and such a city as this, has a name."
+
+"What is the name of this city?"
+
+"Ivory City. Don't you know that? I thought the name was known all
+over the world."
+
+On the mention of the name Ivory City the prince gave a deep sigh. The
+vizier's son looked as much as to say, "Keep quiet, or you'll discover
+the secret."
+
+"Is there a king of this country?" continued the vizier's son.
+
+"Of course there is, and a queen, and a princess."
+
+"What are their names?"
+
+"The name of the princess is Gulizar, and the name of the queen----"
+
+The vizier's son interrupted the old woman by turning to look at the
+prince, who was staring like a madman. "Yes," he said to him
+afterwards, "we are in the right country. We shall see the beautiful
+princess."
+
+One morning the two travellers noticed the old woman's most careful
+toilette: how careful she was in the arrangement of her hair and the
+set of her kasabah and puts.
+
+"Who is coming?" said the vizier's son.
+
+"Nobody," the old woman replied.
+
+"Then where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to see my daughter, who is a servant of the Princess
+Gulizar. I see her and the princess every day. I should have gone
+yesterday, if you had not been here and taken up all my time."
+
+"Ah-h-h! Be careful not to say anything about us in the hearing of the
+princess." The vizier's son asked her not to speak about them at the
+palace, hoping that, because she had been told not to do so, she would
+mention their arrival, and thus the princess would be informed of
+their coming.
+
+On seeing her mother the girl pretended to be very angry. "Why have
+you not been for two days?" she asked.
+
+"Because, my dear," the old woman answered, "two young travellers, a
+prince and the son of some great vizier, have taken up their abode in
+my hut, and demand so much of my attention. It is nothing but cooking
+and cleaning, and cleaning and cooking, all day long. I can't
+understand the men," she added; "one of them especially appears very
+stupid. He asked me the name of this country and the name of the
+king. Now where can these men have come from, that they do not know
+these things? However, they are very great and very rich. They each
+give me a muhr every morning and every evening."
+
+After this the old woman went and repeated almost the same words to
+the princess, on the hearing of which the princess beat her severely;
+and threatened her with a severer punishment if she ever again spoke
+of the strangers before her.
+
+In the evening, when the old woman had returned to her hut, she told
+the vizier's son how sorry she was that she could not help breaking
+her promise, and how the princess had struck her because she mentioned
+their coming and all about them.
+
+"Alas! alas!" said the prince, who had eagerly listened to every word.
+"What, then, will be her anger at the sight of a man?"
+
+"Anger?" said the vizier's son, with an astonished air. "She would be
+exceedingly glad to see one man. I know this. In this treatment of the
+old woman I see her request that you will go and see her during the
+coming dark fortnight."
+
+"Heaven be praised!" the prince exclaimed.
+
+The next time the old woman went to the palace Gulizar called one of
+her servants and ordered her to rush into the room while she was
+conversing with the old woman; and if the old woman asked what was the
+matter, she was to say that the king's elephants had gone mad, and
+were rushing about the city and bazaar in every direction, and
+destroying everything in their way.
+
+The servant obeyed, and the old woman, fearing lest the elephants
+should go and push down her hut and kill the prince and his friend,
+begged the princess to let her depart. Now Gulizar had obtained a
+charmed swing, that landed whoever sat on it at the place wherever
+they wished to be. "Get the swing," she said to one of the servants
+standing by. When it was brought she bade the old woman step into it
+and desire to be at home.
+
+The old woman did so, and was at once carried through the air quickly
+and safely to her hut, where she found her two lodgers safe and sound.
+"Oh!" she cried, "I thought that both of you would be killed by this
+time. The royal elephants have got loose and are running about wildly.
+When I heard this I was anxious about you. So the princess gave me
+this charmed swing to return in. But come, let us get outside before
+the elephants arrive and batter down the place."
+
+"Don't believe this," said the vizier's son. "It is a mere hoax. They
+have been playing tricks with you."
+
+"You will soon have your heart's desire," he whispered aside to the
+prince. "These things are signs."
+
+Two days of the dark fortnight had elapsed, when the prince and the
+vizier's son seated themselves in the swing, and wished themselves
+within the grounds of the palace. In a moment they were there, and
+there too was the object of their search standing by one of the palace
+gates, and longing to see the prince quite as much as he was longing
+to see her.
+
+Oh, what a happy meeting it was!
+
+"At last," said Gulizar, "I have seen my beloved, my husband."
+
+"A thousand thanks to Heaven for bringing me to you," said the prince.
+
+Then the prince and Gulizar betrothed themselves to one another and
+parted, the one for the hut and the other for the palace, both of them
+feeling happier than they had ever been before.
+
+Henceforth the prince visited Gulizar every day and returned to the
+hut every night. One morning Gulizar begged him to stay with her
+always. She was constantly afraid of some evil happening to
+him--perhaps robbers would slay him, or sickness attack him, and then
+she would be deprived of him. She could not live without seeing him.
+The prince showed her that there was no real cause for fear, and said
+that he felt he ought to return to his friend at night, because he had
+left his home and country and risked his life for him; and, moreover,
+if it had not been for his friend's help he would never have met with
+her.
+
+Gulizar for the time assented, but she determined in her heart to get
+rid of the vizier's son as soon as possible. A few days after this
+conversation she ordered one of her maids to make a pilaw. She gave
+special directions that a certain poison was to be mixed into it while
+cooking, and as soon as it was ready the cover was to be placed on the
+saucepan, so that the poisonous steam might not escape. When the pilaw
+was ready she sent it at once by the hand of a servant to the vizier's
+son with this message: "Gulizar, the princess, sends you an offering
+in the name of her dead uncle."
+
+On receiving the present the vizier's son thought that the prince had
+spoken gratefully of him to the princess, and therefore she had thus
+remembered him. Accordingly he sent back his salam and expressions of
+thankfulness.
+
+When it was dinner-time he took the saucepan of pilaw and went out to
+eat it by the stream. Taking off the lid, he threw it aside on the
+grass and then washed his hands. During the minute or so that he was
+performing these ablutions, the green grass under the cover of the
+saucepan turned quite yellow. He was astonished, and suspecting that
+there was poison in the pilaw, he took a little and threw it to some
+crows that were hopping about. The moment the crows ate what was
+thrown to them they fell down dead.
+
+"Heaven be praised," exclaimed the vizier's son, "who has preserved me
+from death at this time!"
+
+On the return of the prince that evening the vizier's son was very
+reticent and depressed. The prince noticed this change in him, and
+asked what was the reason. "Is it because I am away so much at the
+palace?" The vizier's son saw that the prince had nothing to do with
+the sending of the pilaw, and therefore told him everything.
+
+"Look here," he said, "in this handkerchief is some pilaw that the
+princess sent me this morning in the name of her deceased uncle. It is
+saturated with poison. Thank Heaven, I discovered it in time!"
+
+"Oh, brother! who could have done this thing? Who is there that
+entertains enmity against you?"
+
+"The Princess Gulizar. Listen. The next time you go to see her, I
+entreat you to take some snow with you; and just before seeing the
+princess put a little of it into both your eyes. It will provoke
+tears, and Gulizar will ask you why you are crying. Tell her that you
+weep for the loss of your friend, who died suddenly this morning.
+Look! take, too, this wine and this shovel, and when you have feigned
+intense grief at the death of your friend, bid the princess to drink a
+little of the wine. It is strong, and will immediately send her into a
+deep sleep. Then, while she is asleep, heat the shovel and mark her
+back with it. Remember to bring back the shovel again, and also to
+take her pearl necklace. This done, return. Now fear not to execute
+these instructions, because on the fulfilment of them depends your
+fortune and happiness. I will arrange that your marriage with the
+princess shall be accepted by the king, her father, and all the
+court."
+
+The prince promised that he would do everything as the vizier's son
+had advised him; and he kept his promise.
+
+The following night, on the return of the prince from his visit to
+Gulizar, he and the vizier's son, taking the horses and bags of muhrs,
+went to a graveyard about a mile or so distant. It was arranged that
+the vizier's son should act the part of a fakir and the prince the
+part of the fakir's disciple and servant.
+
+In the morning, when Gulizar had returned to her senses, she felt a
+smarting pain in her back, and noticed that her pearl necklace was
+gone. She went at once and informed the king of the loss of her
+necklace, but said nothing to him about the pain in her back.
+
+The king was very angry when he heard of the theft, and caused
+proclamation concerning it to be made throughout all the city and
+surrounding country.
+
+"It is well," said the vizier's son, when he heard of this
+proclamation. "Fear not, my brother, but go and take this necklace,
+and try to sell it in the bazaar."
+
+The prince took it to a goldsmith and asked him to buy it.
+
+"How much do you want for it?" asked the man.
+
+"Fifty thousand rupees," the prince replied.
+
+"All right," said the man; "wait here while I go and fetch the money."
+
+The prince waited and waited, till at last the goldsmith returned,
+and with him the kotwal, who at once took the prince into custody on
+the charge of stealing the princess's necklace.
+
+"How did you get the necklace?" the kotwal asked.
+
+"A fakir, whose servant I am, gave it to me to sell in the bazaar,"
+the prince replied. "Permit me, and I will show you where he is."
+
+The prince directed the kotwal and the policeman to the place where he
+had left the vizier's son, and there they found the fakir with his
+eyes shut and engaged in prayer. Presently, when he had finished his
+devotions, the kotwal asked him to explain how he had obtained
+possession of the princess's necklace.
+
+"Call the king hither," he replied, "and then I will tell his Majesty
+face to face."
+
+On this some men went to the king and told him what the fakir had
+said. His Majesty came, and seeing the fakir so solemn and earnest in
+his devotions, he was afraid to rouse his anger, lest peradventure the
+displeasure of Heaven should descend on him, and so he placed his
+hands together in the attitude of a supplicant, and asked, "How did
+you get my daughter's necklace?"
+
+"Last night," replied the fakir, "we were sitting here by this tomb
+worshipping Khuda, when a ghoul, dressed as a princess, came and
+exhumed a body that had been buried a few days ago, and began to eat
+it. On seeing this I was filled with anger, and beat her back with a
+shovel, which lay on the fire at the time. While running away from me
+her necklace got loose and dropped. You wonder at these words, but
+they are not difficult to prove. Examine your daughter, and you will
+find the marks of the burn on her back. Go, and if it is as I say,
+send the princess to me, and I will punish her."
+
+The king went back to the palace, and at once ordered the princess's
+back to be examined.
+
+"It is so," said the maid-servant; "the burn is there."
+
+"Then let the girl be slain immediately," the king shouted.
+
+"No, no, your Majesty," they replied. "Let us send her to the fakir
+who discovered this thing, that he may do whatever he wishes with
+her."
+
+The king agreed, and so the princess was taken to the graveyard.
+
+"Let her be shut up in a cage, and be kept near the grave whence she
+took out the corpse," said the fakir.
+
+This was done, and in a little while the fakir and his disciple and
+the princess were left alone in the graveyard. Night had not long cast
+its dark mantle over the scene when the fakir and his disciple threw
+off their disguise, and taking their horses and luggage, appeared
+before the cage. They released the princess, rubbed some ointment over
+the scars on her back, and then sat her upon one of their horses
+behind the prince. Away they rode fast and far, and by the morning
+were able to rest and talk over their plans in safety. The vizier's
+son showed the princess some of the poisoned pilaw that she had sent
+him, and asked whether she had repented of her ingratitude. The
+princess wept, and acknowledged that he was her greatest helper and
+friend.
+
+A letter was sent to the chief vizier telling him of all that had
+happened to the prince and the vizier's son since they had left their
+country. When the vizier read the letter he went and informed the
+king. The king caused a reply to be sent to the two exiles, in which
+he ordered them not to return, but to send a letter to Gulizar's
+father, and inform him of everything. Accordingly they did this; the
+prince wrote the letter at the vizier's son's dictation.
+
+On reading the letter Gulizar's father was much enraged with his
+viziers and other officials for not discovering the presence in his
+country of these illustrious visitors, as he was especially anxious to
+ingratiate himself in the favour of the prince and the vizier's son.
+He ordered the execution of some of the viziers on a certain date.
+
+"Come," he wrote back to the vizier's son, "and stay at the palace.
+And if the prince desires it, I will arrange for his marriage with
+Gulizar as soon as possible."
+
+The prince and the vizier's son most gladly accepted the invitation,
+and received a right noble welcome from the king. The marriage soon
+took place, and then after a few weeks the king gave them presents of
+horses and elephants, and jewels and rich cloths, and bade them start
+for their own land; for he was sure that the king would now receive
+them. The night before they left the viziers and others, whom the king
+intended to have executed as soon as his visitors had left, came and
+besought the vizier's son to plead for them, and promised that they
+each would give him a daughter in marriage. He agreed to do so, and
+succeeded in obtaining their pardon.
+
+Then the prince, with his beautiful bride Gulizar, and the vizier's
+son, attended by a troop of soldiers, and a large number of camels and
+horses bearing very much treasure, left for their own land. In the
+midst of the way they passed the tower of the robbers, and with the
+help of the soldiers they razed it to the ground, slew all its
+inmates, and seized the treasure which they had been amassing there
+for several years.
+
+At length they reached their own country, and when the king saw his
+son's beautiful wife and his magnificent retinue he was at once
+reconciled, and ordered him to enter the city and take up his abode
+there.
+
+Henceforth all was sunshine on the path of the prince. He became a
+great favourite, and in due time succeeded to the throne, and ruled
+the country for many, many years in peace and happiness.
+
+
+
+
+How Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to Dinner
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+One day Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and
+aunts Thunder and Lightning. Their mother (one of the most distant
+Stars you see far up in the sky) waited alone for her children's
+return.
+
+Now both Sun and Wind were greedy and selfish. They enjoyed the great
+feast that had been prepared for them, without a thought of saving any
+of it to take home to their mother--but the gentle Moon did not
+forget her. Of every dainty dish that was brought round, she placed a
+small portion under one of her beautiful long finger-nails, that Star
+might also have a share in the treat.
+
+On their return, their mother, who had kept watch for them all night
+long with her little bright eye, said, "Well, children, what have you
+brought home for me?" Then Sun (who was eldest) said, "I have brought
+nothing home for you. I went out to enjoy myself with my friends--not
+to fetch a dinner for my mother!" And Wind said, "Neither have I
+brought anything home for you, mother. You could hardly expect me to
+bring a collection of good things for you, when I merely went out for
+my own pleasure." But Moon said, "Mother, fetch a plate, see what I
+have brought you." And shaking her hands she showered down such a
+choice dinner as never was seen before.
+
+Then Star turned to Sun and spoke thus, "Because you went out to amuse
+yourself with your friends, and feasted and enjoyed yourself, without
+any thought of your mother at home--you shall be cursed. Henceforth,
+your rays shall ever be hot and scorching, and shall burn all that
+they touch. And men shall hate you, and cover their heads when you
+appear."
+
+(And that is why the Sun is so hot to this day.)
+
+Then she turned to Wind and said, "You also who forgot your mother in
+the midst of your selfish pleasures--hear your doom. You shall always
+blow in the hot dry weather, and shall parch and shrivel all living
+things. And men shall detest and avoid you from this very time."
+
+(And that is why the Wind in the hot weather is still so
+disagreeable.)
+
+But to Moon she said, "Daughter, because you remembered your mother,
+and kept for her a share in your own enjoyment, from henceforth you
+shall be ever cool, and calm, and bright. No noxious glare shall
+accompany your pure rays, and men shall always call you 'blessed.'"
+
+(And that is why the moon's light is so soft, and cool, and beautiful
+even to this day.)
+
+
+
+
+How the Wicked Sons were Duped.
+
+
+A very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death,
+sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did
+not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them
+were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old fellow had to bear
+with much abuse and cruelty from his sons. Wretched, selfish ingrates!
+Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their
+father, hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received
+their patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them--nay, the sooner
+the better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And
+they let the poor old man know what they felt.
+
+One day he met a friend and related to him all his troubles. The
+friend sympathised very much with him, and promised to think over the
+matter, and call in a little while and tell him what to do. He did so;
+in a few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of
+stones and gravel before him.
+
+"Look here, friend," said he. "Your sons will get to know of my coming
+here to-day, and will inquire about it. You must pretend that I came
+to discharge a long-standing debt with you, and that you are several
+thousands of rupees richer than you thought you were. Keep these bags
+in your own hands, and on no account let your sons get to them as long
+as you are alive. You will soon find them change their conduct towards
+you. Salaam. I will come again soon to see how you are getting on."
+
+When the young men got to hear of this further increase of wealth they
+began to be more attentive and pleasing to their father than ever
+before. And thus they continued to the day of the old man's demise,
+when the bags were greedily opened, and found to contain only stones
+and gravel!
+
+
+
+
+The Pigeon and the Crow
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was a Pigeon, and lived in a
+nest-basket which a rich man's cook had hung up in the kitchen, in
+order to earn merit by it. A greedy Crow, flying near, saw all sorts
+of delicate food lying about in the kitchen, and fell a-hungering
+after it. "How in the world can I get some?" thought he? At last he
+hit upon a plan.
+
+When the Pigeon went to search for food, behind him, following,
+following, came the Crow.
+
+"What do you want, Mr. Crow? You and I don't feed alike."
+
+"Ah, but I like you and your ways! Let me be your chum, and let us
+feed together."
+
+The Pigeon agreed, and they went on in company. The Crow pretended to
+feed along with the Pigeon, but ever and anon he would turn back, peck
+to bits some heap of cow-dung, and eat a fat worm. When he had got a
+bellyful of them, up he flies, as pert as you like:
+
+"Hullo, Mr. Pigeon, what a time you take over your meal! One ought to
+draw the line somewhere. Let's be going home before it is too late."
+And so they did.
+
+The cook saw that his Pigeon had brought a friend, and hung up another
+basket for him.
+
+A few days afterwards there was a great purchase of fish which came to
+the rich man's kitchen. How the Crow longed for some! So there he lay,
+from early morn, groaning and making a great noise. Says the Pigeon to
+the Crow:
+
+"Come, Sir Crow, and get your breakfast!"
+
+"Oh dear! oh dear! I have such a fit of indigestion!" says he.
+
+"Nonsense! Crows never have indigestion," said the Pigeon. "If you eat
+a lamp-wick, that stays in your stomach a little while; but anything
+else is digested in a trice, as soon as you eat it. Now do what I tell
+you; don't behave in this way just for seeing a little fish."
+
+"Why do you say that, master? I have indigestion."
+
+"Well, be careful," said the Pigeon, and flew away.
+
+The cook prepared all the dishes, and then stood at the kitchen door,
+wiping the sweat off his body. "Now's my time!" thought Mr. Crow, and
+alighted on a dish containing some dainty food. Click! The cook heard
+it, and looked round. Ah! he caught the Crow, and plucked all the
+feathers out of his head, all but one tuft; he powdered ginger and
+cummin, mixed it up with butter-milk, and rubbed it well all over the
+bird's body.
+
+"That's for spoiling my master's dinner and making me throw it away!"
+said he, and threw him into his basket. Oh, how it hurt!
+
+By-and-by the Pigeon came in, and saw the Crow lying there, making a
+great noise. He made great game of him, and repeated a verse of
+poetry:
+
+    "Who is this tufted crane I see
+    Lying where he's no right to be?
+    Come out! my friend, the crow is near,
+    And he may do you harm, I fear!"
+
+To this the Crow answered with another:
+
+    "No tufted crane am I--no, no!
+    I'm nothing but a greedy crow.
+    I would not do as I was told,
+    So now I'm plucked, as you behold."
+
+And the Pigeon rejoined with a third verse:
+
+    "You'll come to grief again, I know--
+    It is your nature to do so;
+    If people make a dish of meat,
+    'Tis not for little birds to eat."
+
+Then the Pigeon flew away, saying: "I can't live with this creature
+any longer." And the Crow lay there groaning till he died.
+
+
+
+
+Notes and References
+
+
+The story literature of India is in a large measure the outcome of the
+moral revolution of the peninsula connected with the name of Gautama
+Buddha. As the influence of his life and doctrines grew, a tendency
+arose to connect all the popular stories of India round the great
+teacher. This could be easily effected owing to the wide spread of the
+belief in metempsychosis. All that was told of the sages of the past
+could be interpreted of the Buddha by representing them as
+pre-incarnations of him. Even with Fables, or beast-tales, this could
+be done, for the Hindoos were Darwinists long before Darwin, and
+regarded beasts as cousins of men and stages of development in the
+progress of the soul through the ages. Thus, by identifying the Buddha
+with the heroes of all folk-tales and the chief characters in the
+beast-drolls, the Buddhists were enabled to incorporate the whole of
+the story-store of Hindostan in their sacred books, and enlist on
+their side the tale-telling instincts of men.
+
+In making Buddha the centre figure of the popular literature of India,
+his followers also invented the Frame as a method of literary art. The
+idea of connecting a number of disconnected stories familiar to us
+from _The Arabian Nights_, Boccaccio's _Decamerone_, Chaucer's
+_Canterbury Tales_, or even _Pickwick_, is directly traceable to the
+plan of making Buddha the central figure of India folk-literature.
+Curiously enough, the earliest instance of this in Buddhist literature
+was intended to be a Decameron, ten tales of Buddha's previous births,
+told of each of the ten Perfections. Asvagosha, the earlier Boccaccio,
+died when he had completed thirty-four of the Birth-Tales. But other
+collections were made, and at last a corpus of the JATAKAS, or
+Birth-Tales of the Buddha, was carried over to Ceylon, possibly as
+early as the first introduction of Buddhism, 241 B.C. There they have
+remained till the present day, and have at last been made accessible
+in a complete edition in the original Pali by Prof. Fausböll.
+
+These JATAKAS, as we now have them, are enshrined in a commentary on
+the _gathas_, or moral verses, written in Ceylon by one of
+Buddhaghosa's school in the fifth century A.D. They invariably begin
+with a "Story of the Present," an incident in Buddha's life which
+calls up to him a "Story of the Past," a folk-tale in which he had
+played a part during one of his former incarnations. Thus the fable of
+the Lion and the Crane, which opens the present collection, is
+introduced by a "Story of the Present" in the following words:--
+
+"A service have we done thee" [the opening words of the _gatha_ or
+moral verse]. "This the Master told while living at Jetavana
+concerning Devadatta's treachery. Not only now, O Bhickkus, but in a
+former existence was Devadatta ungrateful. And having said this he
+told a tale." Then follows the tale as given above (pp. 1, 2), and the
+commentary concludes: "The Master, having given the lesson, summed up
+the Jataka thus: 'At that time, the Lion was Devadatta, and the Crane
+was I myself.'" Similarly, with each story of the past the Buddha
+identifies himself, or is mentioned as identical with, the virtuous
+hero of the folk-tale. These Jatakas are 550 in number, and have been
+reckoned to include some 2000 tales. Some of these had been translated
+by Mr. Rhys-Davids (_Buddhist Birth Stories, I._, Trübner's Oriental
+Library, 1880), Prof. Fausböll (_Five Jatakas_, Copenhagen), and Dr.
+R. Morris (_Folk-Lore Journal_, vols. ii.-v.). A few exist sculptured
+on the earliest Buddhist Stupas. Thus several of the circular figure
+designs on the reliefs from Amaravati, now on the grand staircase of
+the British Museum, represent Jatakas, or previous births of the
+Buddha.
+
+Some of the Jatakas bear a remarkable resemblance to some of the most
+familiar FABLES OF ÆSOP. So close is the resemblance, indeed, that it is
+impossible not to surmise an historical relation between the two. What this
+relation is I have discussed at considerable length in the "History of the
+Æsopic Fable," which forms the introductory volume to my edition of
+Caxton's _Esope_ (London, D. Nutt, "Bibliothèque de Carabas," 1889). In
+this place I can only roughly summarise my results. I conjecture that a
+collection of fables existed in India before Buddha and independently of
+the Jatakas, and connected with the name of Kasyapa, who was afterwards
+made by the Buddhists into the latest of the twenty-seven pre-incarnations
+of the Buddha. This collection of the Fables of Kasyapa was brought to
+Europe with a deputation from the Cingalese King Chandra Muka Siwa (obiit
+52 A.D.) to the Emperor Claudius about 50 A.D., and was done into Greek as
+the Λὁγοι Λυβικοἱ of "Kybises." These were utilised by Babrius (from whom
+the Greek Æsop is derived) and Avian, and so came into the European Æsop.
+I have discussed all those that are to be found in the Jatakas in the
+"History" before mentioned, i. pp. 54-72 (see Notes i. xv. xx.). In these
+Notes henceforth I refer to this "History" as my _Æsop_.
+
+There were probably other Buddhist collections of a similar nature to
+the Jatakas with a framework. When the Hindu reaction against Buddhism
+came, the Brahmins adapted these, with the omission of Buddha as the
+central figure. There is scarcely any doubt that the so-called FABLES
+OF BIDPAI were thus derived from Buddhistic sources. In its Indian
+form this is now extant as a _Panchatantra_ or Pentateuch, five books
+of tales connected by a Frame. This collection is of special interest
+to us in the present connection, as it has come to Europe in various
+forms and shapes. I have edited Sir Thomas North's English version of
+an Italian adaptation of a Spanish translation of a Latin version of a
+Hebrew translation of an Arabic adaptation of the Pehlevi version of
+the Indian original (_Fables of Bidpai_, London, D. Nutt,
+"Bibliothèque de Carabas," 1888). In this I give a genealogical table
+of the various versions, from which I calculate that the tales have
+been translated into thirty-eight languages in 112 different versions,
+twenty different ones in English alone. Their influence on European
+folk-tales has been very great: it is probable that nearly one-tenth
+of these can be traced to the Bidpai literature. (See Notes v. ix. x.
+xiii. xv.)
+
+Other collections of a similar character, arranged in a frame, and
+derived ultimately from Buddhistic sources, also reached Europe and
+formed popular reading in the Middle Ages. Among these may be
+mentioned THE TALES OF SINDIBAD, known to Europe as _The Seven Sages
+of Rome:_ from this we get the Gellert story (_cf. Celtic Fairy
+Tales_), though it also occurs in the Bidpai. Another popular
+collection was that associated with the life of St. Buddha, who has
+been canonised as St. Josaphat: BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT tells of his
+conversion and much else besides, including the tale of the Three
+Caskets, used by Shakespeare in the _Merchant of Venice_.
+
+Some of the Indian tales reached Europe at the time of the Crusades,
+either orally or in collections no longer extant. The earliest
+selection of these was the _Disciplina Clericalis_ of Petrus Alphonsi,
+a Spanish Jew converted about 1106: his tales were to be used as
+seasoning for sermons, and strong seasoning they must have proved.
+Another Spanish collection of considerably later date was entitled _El
+Conde Lucanor_ (Eng. trans. by W. York): this contains the fable of
+_The Man, his Son, and their Ass_, which they ride or carry as the
+popular voice decides. But the most famous collection of this kind
+was that known as GESTA ROMANORUM, much of which was certainly derived
+from Oriental and ultimately Indian sources, and so might more
+appropriately be termed _Gesta Indorum_.
+
+All these collections, which reached Europe in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, became very popular, and were used by monks and
+friars to enliven their sermons as EXEMPLA. Prof. Crane has given a
+full account of this very curious phenomenon in his erudite edition of
+the _Exempla of Jacques de Vitry_ (Folk Lore Society, 1890). The
+Indian stories were also used by the Italian _Novellieri_, much of
+Boccaccio and his school being derived from this source. As these
+again gave material for the Elizabethan Drama, chiefly in W. Painter's
+_Palace of Pleasure_, a collection of translated _Novelle_ which I
+have edited (Lond., 3 vols. 1890), it is not surprising that we can at
+times trace portions of Shakespeare back to India. It should also be
+mentioned that one-half of La Fontaine's Fables (Bks. vii.-xii.) are
+derived from Indian sources. (_See_ Note on No. v.)
+
+In India itself the collection of stories in frames went on and still
+goes on. Besides those already mentioned there are the stories of
+_Vikram and the Vampire_ (Vetala), translated among others by the late
+Sir Richard Burton, and the seventy stories of a parrot (_Suka
+Saptati_). The whole of this literature was summed up by Somadeva, c.
+1200 A.D. in a huge compilation entitled _Katha Sarit Sagara_ ("Ocean
+of the Stream of Stories"). Of this work, written in very florid
+style, Mr. Tawney has produced a translation in two volumes in the
+_Bibliotheca Indica_. Unfortunately, there is a Divorce Court
+atmosphere about the whole book, and my selections from it have been
+accordingly restricted. (Notes, No. xi.)
+
+So much for a short sketch of Indian folk-tales so far as they have
+been reduced to writing in the native literature.[2] The Jatakas are
+probably the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the
+greater part of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years
+old. It is certain that much (perhaps one-fifth) of the popular
+literature of modern Europe is derived from those portions of this
+large bulk which came west with the Crusades through the medium of
+Arabs and Jews. In his elaborate _Einleitung_ to the _Pantschatantra_,
+the Indian version of the Fables of Bidpai, Prof. Benfey contended
+with enormous erudition that the majority of folk-tale incidents were
+to be found in the Bidpai literature. His introduction consisted of
+over 200 monographs on the spread of Indian tales to Europe. He wrote
+in 1859, before the great outburst of folk-tale collection in Europe,
+and he had not thus adequate materials to go about in determining the
+extent of Indian influence on the popular mind of Europe. But he made
+it clear that for beast-tales and for drolls, the majority of those
+current in the mouths of occidental people were derived from Eastern
+and mainly Indian sources. He was not successful, in my opinion, in
+tracing the serious fairy tale to India. Few of the tales in the
+Indian literary collections could be dignified by the name of fairy
+tales, and it was clear that if these were to be traced to India, an
+examination of the contemporary folk-tales of the peninsula would have
+to be attempted.
+
+[Footnote 2: An admirable and full account of this literature was
+given by M. A. Barth in _Mélusine_, t. iv. No. 12, and t. v. No. 1.
+See also Table i. of Prof. Rhys-Davids' _Birth Stories_.]
+
+The collection of current Indian folk-tales has been the work of the
+last quarter of a century, a work, even after what has been achieved,
+still in its initial stages. The credit of having begun the process is
+due to Miss Frere, who, while her father was Governor of the Bombay
+Presidency, took down from the lips of her _ayah_, Anna de Souza, one
+of a Lingaet family from Goa who had been Christian for three
+generations, the tales she afterwards published with Mr. Murray in
+1868, under the title, "_Old Deccan Days, or, Indian Fairy Legends
+current in Southern India, collected from oral tradition by M. Frere,
+with an introduction and notes by Sir Bartle Frere_." Her example was
+followed by Miss Stokes in her _Indian Fairy Tales_ (London, Ellis &
+White, 1880), who took down her tales from two _ayahs_ and a
+_Khitmatgar_, all of them Bengalese--the _ayahs_ Hindus, and the man a
+Mohammedan. Mr. Ralston introduced the volume with some remarks which
+dealt too much with sun-myths for present-day taste. Another
+collection from Bengal was that of Lal Behari Day, a Hindu gentleman,
+in his _Folk-Tales of Bengal_ (London, Macmillan, 1883). The Panjab
+and the Kashmir then had their turn: Mrs. Steel collected, and Captain
+(now Major) Temple edited and annotated, their _Wideawake Stories_
+(London, Trübner, 1884), stories capitally told and admirably
+annotated. Captain Temple increased the value of this collection by a
+remarkable analysis of all the incidents contained in the two hundred
+Indian folk-tales collected up to this date. It is not too much to say
+that this analysis marks an onward step in the scientific study of the
+folk-tale: there is such a thing, derided as it may be. I have
+throughout the Notes been able to draw attention to Indian parallels
+by a simple reference to Major Temple's Analysis.
+
+Major Temple has not alone himself collected: he has been the cause
+that many others have collected. In the pages of the _Indian
+Antiquary_, edited by him, there have appeared from time to time
+folk-tales collected from all parts of India. Some of these have been
+issued separately. Sets of tales from Southern India, collected by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, have been issued under the title _Folk-Lore of
+Southern India_, three fascicules of which have been recently
+re-issued by Mrs. Kingscote under the title, _Tales of the Sun_ (W. H.
+Allen, 1891): it would have been well if the identity of the two works
+had been clearly explained. The largest addition to our knowledge of
+the Indian folk-tale that has been made since _Wideawake Stories_ is
+that contained in Mr. Knowles' _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_ (Trübner's
+Oriental Library, 1887), sixty-three stories, some of great length.
+These, with Mr. Campbell's _Santal Tales_ (1892); Ramaswami Raju's
+_Indian Fables_ (London, Sonnenschein, n.d.); M. Thornhill, _Indian
+Fairy Tales_ (London, 1889); and E. J. Robinson, _Tales of S. India_
+(1885), together with those contained in books of travel like
+Thornton's _Bannu_ or Smeaton's _Karens of Burmah_ bring up the list
+of printed Indian folk-tales to over 350--a respectable total indeed,
+but a mere drop in the ocean of the stream of stories that must exist
+in such a huge population as that of India: the Central Provinces in
+particular are practically unexplored. There are doubtless many
+collections still unpublished. Col. Lewin has large numbers, besides
+the few published in his _Lushai Grammar_; and Mr. M. L. Dames has a
+number of Baluchi tales which I have been privileged to use.
+Altogether, India now ranks among the best represented countries for
+printed folk-tales, coming only after Russia (1500), Germany (1200),
+Italy and France (1000 each.)[3] Counting the ancient with the modern,
+India has probably some 600 to 700 folk-tales printed and translated
+in accessible form. There should be enough material to determine the
+vexed question of the relations between the European and the Indian
+collections.
+
+[Footnote 3: Finland boasts of 12,000, but most of these lie unprinted
+among the archives of the Helsingfors Literary Society.]
+
+This question has taken a new departure with the researches of M.
+Emanuel Cosquin in his _Contes populaires de Lorraine_ (Paris, 1886,
+2^e tirage, 1890), undoubtedly the most important contribution to the
+scientific study of the folk-tale since the Grimms. M. Cosquin gives
+in the annotations to the eighty-four tales which he has collected in
+Lorraine a mass of information as to the various forms which the tales
+take in other countries of Europe and in the East. In my opinion, the
+work he has done for the European folk-tale is even more valuable than
+the conclusions he draws from it as to the relations with India. He
+has taken up the work which Wilhelm Grimm dropped in 1859, and shown
+from the huge accumulations of folk-tales that have appeared during
+the last thirty years that there is a common fund of folk-tales which
+every country of Europe without exception possesses, though this does
+not of course preclude them from possessing others that are not shared
+by the rest. M. Cosquin further contends that the whole of these have
+come from the East, ultimately from India, not by literary
+transmission, as Benfey contended, but by oral transmission. He has
+certainly shown that very many of the most striking incidents common
+to European folk-tales are also to be found in Eastern _mährchen_.
+What, however, he has failed to show is that some of these may not
+have been carried out to the Eastern world by Europeans. Borrowing
+tales is a mutual process, and when Indian meets European, European
+meets Indian; which borrowed from which, is a question which we have
+very few criteria to decide. It should be added that Mr W. A. Clouston
+has in England collected with exemplary industry a large number of
+parallels between Indian and European folk-tale incidents in his
+_Popular Tales and Fictions_ (Edinburgh, 2 vols., 1887) and _Book of
+Noodles_ (London, 1888). Mr Clouston has not openly expressed his
+conviction that all folk-tales are Indian in origin: he prefers to
+convince us _non vi sed sæpe cadendo_. He has certainly made out a
+good case for tracing all European drolls, or comic folk-tales, from
+the East.
+
+With the fairy tale strictly so called--_i.e._, the serious folk-tale
+of romantic adventure--I am more doubtful. It is mainly a modern
+product in India as in Europe, so far as literary evidence goes. The
+vast bulk of the Jatakas does not contain a single example worthy the
+name, nor does the Bidpai literature. Some of Somadeva's tales,
+however, approach the nature of fairy tales, but there are several
+Celtic tales which can be traced to an earlier date than his (1200
+A.D.) and are equally near to fairy tales. Yet it is dangerous to
+trust to mere non-appearance in literature as proof of non-existence
+among the folk. To take our own tales here in England, there is not a
+single instance of a reference to _Jack and the Beanstalk_ for the
+last three hundred years, yet it is undoubtedly a true folk-tale. And
+it is indeed remarkable how many of the _formulæ_ of fairy tales have
+been found of recent years in India. Thus, the _Magic Fiddle_, found
+among the Santals by Mr. Campbell in two variants (see Notes on vi.),
+contains the germ idea of the wide-spread story represented in Great
+Britain by the ballad of _Binnorie_ (see _English Fairy Tales_, No.
+ix.). Similarly, Mr. Knowles' collection has added considerably to the
+number of Indian variants of European "formulæ" beyond those noted by
+M. Cosquin.
+
+It is still more striking as regards _incidents_. In a paper read
+before the Folk-Lore Congress of 1891, and reprinted in the
+_Transactions_, pp. 76 _seq._, I have drawn up a list of some 630
+incidents found in common among European folk-tales (including
+drolls). Of these, I reckon that about 250 have been already found
+among Indian folk-tales, and the number is increased by each new
+collection that is made or printed. The moral of this is, that India
+belongs to a group of peoples who have a common store of stories;
+India belongs to Europe for purposes of comparative folk-tales.
+
+Can we go further and say that India is the source of all the
+incidents that are held in common by European children? I think we may
+answer "Yes" as regards droll incidents, the travels of many of which
+we can trace, and we have the curious result that European children
+owe their earliest laughter to Hindu wags. As regards the serious
+incidents further inquiry is needed. Thus, we find the incident of an
+"external soul" (Life Index, Captain Temple very appropriately named
+it) in Asbjornsen's _Norse Tales_ and in Miss Frere's _Old Deccan
+Days_ (see Notes on _Punchkin_). Yet the latter is a very suspicious
+source, since Miss Frere derived her tales from a Christian _ayah_
+whose family had been in Portuguese Goa for a hundred years. May they
+not have got the story of the giant with his soul outside his body
+from some European sailor touching at Goa? This is to a certain extent
+negatived by the fact of the frequent occurrence of the incident in
+Indian folk-tales (Captain Temple gave a large number of instances in
+_Wideawake Stories_, pp. 404-5). On the other hand, Mr. Frazer in his
+_Golden Bough_ has shown the wide spread of the idea among all savage
+or semi-savage tribes. (See Note on No. iv.)
+
+In this particular case we may be doubtful; but in others, again--as
+the incident of the rat's tail up nose (see Notes on _The Charmed
+Ring_)--there can be little doubt of the Indian origin. And generally,
+so far as the incidents are marvellous and of true fairy-tale
+character, the presumption is in favour of India, because of the
+vitality of animism or metempsychosis in India throughout all historic
+time. No Hindu would doubt the fact of animals speaking or of men
+transformed into plants and animals. The European may once have had
+these beliefs, and may still hold them implicitly as "survivals"; but
+in the "survival" stage they cannot afford material for artistic
+creation, and the fact that the higher minds of Europe for the last
+thousand years have discountenanced these beliefs has not been
+entirely without influence. Of one thing there is practical certainty:
+the fairy tales that are common to the Indo-European world were
+invented once for all in a certain locality, and thence spread to all
+the countries in culture contact with the original source. The mere
+fact that contiguous countries have more similarities in their story
+store than distant ones is sufficient to prove this: indeed, the fact
+that any single country has spread throughout it a definite set of
+folk-tales as distinctive as its flora and fauna, is sufficient to
+prove it. It is equally certain that not all folk-tales have come from
+one source, for each country has tales peculiar to itself. The
+question is as to the source of the tales that are common to all
+European children, and increasing evidence seems to show that this
+common nucleus is derived from India and India alone. The Hindus have
+been more successful than others, because of two facts: they have had
+the appropriate "atmosphere" of metempsychosis, and they have also had
+spread among the people sufficient literary training and mental grip
+to invent plots. The Hindu tales have ousted the native European,
+which undoubtedly existed independently; indeed, many still survive,
+especially in Celtic lands. Exactly in the same way, Perrault's tales
+have ousted the older English folk-tales, and it is with the utmost
+difficulty that one can get true English fairy tales because _Red
+Riding Hood_, _Cinderella_, _Blue Beard_, _Puss in Boots_ and the
+rest, have survived in the struggle for existence among English
+folk-tales. So far as Europe has a common store of fairy tales, it
+owes this to India.
+
+I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not hold with Benfey that all
+European folk-tales are derived from the Bidpai literature and similar
+literary products, nor with M. Cosquin that they are all derived from
+India. The latter scholar has proved that there is a nucleus of
+stories in every European land which is common to all. I calculate
+that this includes from 30 to 50 per cent. of the whole, and it is
+this common stock of Europe that I regard as coming from India mainly
+at the time of the Crusades, and chiefly by oral transmission. It
+includes all the beast tales and most of the drolls, but evidence is
+still lacking about the more serious fairy tales, though it is
+increasing with every fresh collection of folk-tales in India, the
+great importance of which is obvious from the above considerations.
+
+In the following Notes I give, as on the two previous occasions, the
+_source_ whence I derived the tale, then _parallels_, and finally
+_remarks_. For Indian _parallels_ I have been able to refer to Major
+Temple's remarkable Analysis of Indian Folk-tale incidents at the end
+of _Wideawake Stories_ (pp. 386-436), for European ones to my
+alphabetical List of Incidents, with bibliographical references, in
+_Transactions of Folk-Lore Congress_, 1892, pp. 87-98. My _remarks_
+have been mainly devoted to tracing the relation between the Indian
+and the European tales, with the object of showing that the latter
+have been derived from the former. I have, however, to some extent
+handicapped myself, as I have avoided giving again the Indian versions
+of stories already given in _English Fairy Tales_ or _Celtic Fairy
+Tales_.
+
+
+I. THE LION AND THE CRANE.
+
+_Source._--V. Fausböll, _Five Jātakas_, Copenhagen, 1861, pp. 35-8,
+text and translation of the _Jāvasakuna Jātaka_. I have ventured
+to English Prof. Fausböll's version, which was only intended as a
+"crib" to the Pali. For the omitted Introduction, see _supra_.
+
+_Parallels._--I have given a rather full collection of parallels,
+running to about a hundred numbers, in my _Æsop_, pp. 232-4. The chief
+of these are: (1) for the East, the Midrashic version ("Lion and
+Egyptian Partridge"), in the great Rabbinic commentary on Genesis
+(_Bereshith-rabba_, c. 64); (2) in classical antiquity, Phædrus, i. 8
+("Wolf and Crane"), and Babrius, 94 ("Wolf and Heron"), and the Greek
+proverb Suidas, ii. 248 ("Out of the Wolf's Mouth"); (3) in the Middle
+Ages, the so-called Greek _Æsop_, ed. Halm, 276 _b_, really prose
+versions of Babrius and "Romulus," or prose of Phædrus, i. 8, also the
+Romulus of Ademar (fl. 1030), 64; it occurs also on the Bayeux
+Tapestry, in Marie de France, 7, and in Benedict of Oxford's _Mishle
+Shualim_ (Heb.), 8; (4) Stainhöwel took it from the "Romulus" into his
+German Æsop (1480), whence all the modern European Æsops are derived.
+
+_Remarks._--I have selected _The Wolf and the Crane_ as my typical
+example in my "History of the Æsopic Fable," and can only give here a
+rough summary of the results I there arrived at concerning the fable,
+merely premising that these results are at present no more than
+hypotheses. The similarity of the Jataka form with that familiar to
+us, and derived by us in the last resort from Phædrus, is so striking
+that few will deny some historical relation between them. I conjecture
+that the Fable originated in India, and came West by two different
+routes. First, it came by oral tradition to Egypt, as one of the
+Libyan Fables which the ancients themselves distinguished from the
+Æsopic Fables. It was, however, included by Demetrius Phalereus,
+tyrant of Athens, and founder of the Alexandrian library c. 300 B.C.,
+in his _Assemblies of Æsopic Fables_, which I have shown to be the
+source of Phædrus' Fables c. 30 A.D. Besides this, it came from
+Ceylon in the Fables of Kybises--_i.e._, Kasyapa the Buddha--c. 50
+A.D., was adapted into Hebrew, and used for political purposes, by
+Rabbi Joshua ben Chananyah in a harangue to the Jews c. 120 A.D.,
+begging them to be patient while within the jaws of Rome. The Hebrew
+form uses the lion, not the wolf, as the ingrate, which enables us
+to decide on the Indian _provenance_ of the Midrashic version. It may
+be remarked that the use of the lion in this and other Jatakas is indirectly a testimony to their great age, as the lion has become
+rarer and rarer in India during historic times, and is now confined
+to the Gir forest of Kathiáwar, where only a dozen specimens exist,
+and are strictly preserved.
+
+The verses at the end are the earliest parts of the Jataka, being in
+more archaic Pali than the rest: the story is told by the commentator
+(c. 400 A.D.) to illustrate them. It is probable that they were
+brought over on the first introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon, c. 241
+B.C. This would give them an age of over two thousand years, nearly
+three hundred years earlier than Phædrus, from whom comes our _Wolf
+and Crane_.
+
+
+II. PRINCESS LABAM.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. xxii. pp. 153-63,
+told by Múniyá, one of the ayahs. I have left it unaltered, except
+that I have replaced "God" by "Khuda," the word originally used (see
+Notes _l. c._, p. 237).
+
+_Parallels._--The tabu, as to a particular direction, occurs in other
+Indian stories as well as in European folk-tales (see notes on Stokes, p.
+286). The _grateful animals_ theme occurs in "The Soothsayer's Son"
+(_infra_, No. x.), and frequently in Indian folk-tales (see Temple's
+Analysis, III. i. 5-7; _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 412-3). The thorn in the
+tiger's foot is especially common (Temple, _l. c._, 6, 9), and recalls the
+story of Androclus, which occurs in the derivates of Phædrus, and may thus
+be Indian in origin (see Benfey, _Panschatantra_, i. 211, and the parallels
+given in my _Æsop_, Ro. iii. I. p. 243). The theme is, however, equally
+frequent in European folk-tales: see my List of Incidents, _Proc. Folk-Lore
+Congress_, p. 91, s.v. "Grateful Animals" and "Gifts by Grateful Animals."
+Similarly, the "Bride Wager" incident at the end is common to a large
+number of Indian and European folk-tales (Temple, Analysis, p. 430; my
+List, _l. c. sub voce_). The tasks are also equally common (_cf._ "Battle
+of the Birds" in _Celtic Fairy Tales_), though the exact forms as given in
+"Princess Labam" are not known in Europe.
+
+_Remarks._--We have here a concrete instance of the relation of Indian
+and European fairy-tales. The human mind may be the same everywhere,
+but it is not likely to hit upon the sequence of incidents, _Direction
+tabu_--_Grateful Animals_--_Bride-wager_--_Tasks_, by accident, or
+independently: Europe must have borrowed from India, or India from
+Europe. As this must have occurred within historic times, indeed
+within the last thousand years, when even European peasants are not
+likely to have _invented_, even if they believed, in the incident of
+the grateful animals, the probability is in favour of borrowing from
+India, possibly through the intermediation of Arabs at the time of
+the Crusades. It is only a probability, but we cannot in any case
+reach more than probability in this matter, just at present.
+
+
+III. LAMBIKIN.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 69-72, originally
+published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. 175. The droll is common
+throughout the Panjab.
+
+_Parallels._--The similarity of the concluding episode with the finish
+of the "Three Little Pigs" (_Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. xiv.) In my notes
+on that droll I have pointed out that the pigs were once goats or kids
+with "hair on their chinny chin chin." This brings the tale a stage
+nearer to the Lambikin.
+
+_Remarks._--The similarity of Pig No. 3 rolling down hill in the churn
+and the Lambikin in the Drumikin can scarcely be accidental, though,
+it must be confessed, the tale has undergone considerable modification
+before it reached England.
+
+
+IV. PUNCHKIN.
+
+_Source._--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, pp. 1-16, from her ayah,
+Anna de Souza, of a Lingaet family settled and Christianised at Goa
+for three generations. I should perhaps add that a Prudhan is a Prime
+Minister, or Vizier; Punts are the same, and Sirdars, nobles.
+
+_Parallels._--The son of seven mothers is a characteristic Indian
+conception, for which see Notes on "The Son of Seven Queens" in this
+collection, No. xvi. The mother transformed, envious stepmother, ring
+recognition, are all incidents common to East and West;
+bibliographical references for parallels may be found under these
+titles in my List of Incidents. The external soul of the ogre has been
+studied by Mr. E. Clodd in _Folk-Lore Journal_, vol. ii., "The
+Philosophy of Punchkin," and still more elaborately in the section,
+"The External Soul in Folk-tales," in Mr. Frazer's _Golden Bough_, ii.
+pp. 296-326. See also Major Temple's Analysis, II. iii., _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 404-5, who there gives the Indian parallels.
+
+_Remarks._--Both Mr. Clodd and Mr. Frazer regard the essence of the
+tale to consist in the conception of an external soul or "life-index,"
+and they both trace in this a "survival" of savage philosophy, which
+they consider occurs among all men at a certain stage of culture. But
+the most cursory examination of the sets of tales containing these
+incidents in Mr. Frazer's analyses shows that many, indeed the
+majority, of these tales cannot be independent of one another; for
+they contain not alone the incident of an external materialised soul,
+but the further point that this is contained in something else, which
+is enclosed in another thing, which is again surrounded by a wrapper.
+This Chinese ball arrangement is found in the Deccan ("Punchkin"); in
+Bengal (Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_); in Russia (Ralston, p. 103
+_seq._, "Koschkei the Deathless," also in Mr. Lang's _Red Fairy
+Book_); in Servia (Mijatovics, _Servian Folk-Lore_, p. 172); in South
+Slavonia (Wratislaw, p. 225); in Rome (Miss Busk, p. 164); in Albania
+(Dozon, p. 132 _seq._); in Transylvania (Haltrich, No. 34); in
+Schleswig-Holstein (Müllenhoff, p. 404); in Norway (Asbjörnsen, No.
+36, _ap._ Dasent, _Pop. Tales_, p. 55, "The Giant who had no Heart in
+his Body"); and finally, in the Hebrides (Campbell, _Pop. Tales_, p.
+10, _cf. Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xvii., "Sea Maiden"). Here we have
+the track of this remarkable idea of an external soul enclosed in a
+succession of wrappings, which we can trace from Hindostan to the
+Hebrides.
+
+It is difficult to imagine that we have not here the actual migration
+of the tale from East to West. In Bengal we have the soul "in a
+necklace, in a box, in the heart of a _boal_ fish, in a tank"; in
+Albania "it is in a pigeon, in a hare, in the silver tusk of a wild
+boar"; in Rome it is "in a stone, in the head of a bird, in the head
+of a leveret, in the middle head of a seven-headed hydra"; in Russia
+"it is in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in a casket, in an oak"; in
+Servia it is "in a board, in the heart of a fox, in a mountain"; in
+Transylvania "it is in a light, in an egg, in a duck, in a pond, in a
+mountain"; in Norway it is "in an egg, in a duck, in a well, in a
+church, on an island, in a lake"; in the Hebrides it is "in an egg, in
+the belly of a duck, in the belly of a wether, under a flagstone on
+the threshold." It is impossible to imagine the human mind
+independently imagining such bizarre convolutions. They were borrowed
+from one nation to the other, and till we have reason shown to the
+contrary, the original lender was a Hindu. I should add that the mere
+conception of an external soul occurs in the oldest Egyptian tale of
+"The Two Brothers," but the wrappings are absent.
+
+
+V. THE BROKEN POT.
+
+_Source._--_Pantschatantra_, V. ix., tr. Benfey, ii. 345-6.
+
+_Parallels._--Benfey, in § 209 of his _Einleitung_, gives
+bibliographical references to most of those which are given at length
+in Prof. M. Müller's brilliant essay on "The Migration of Fables"
+(_Selected Essays_, i. 500-76), which is entirely devoted to the
+travels of the fable from India to La Fontaine. See also Mr.
+Clouston, _Pop. Tales_, ii. 432 _seq._ I have translated the Hebrew
+version in my essay, "Jewish Influence on the Diffusion of
+Folk-Tales," pp. 6-7. Our proverb, "Do not count your chickens before
+they are hatched," is ultimately to be derived from India.
+
+_Remarks._--The stories of Alnaschar, the Barber's fifth brother in
+the _Arabian Nights_, and of La Perette, who counted her chickens
+before they were hatched, in La Fontaine, are demonstrably derived
+from the same Indian original from which our story was obtained. The
+travels of the "Fables of Bidpai" from India to Europe are well known
+and distinctly traceable. I have given a rough summary of the chief
+critical results in the introduction to my edition of the earliest
+English version of the _Fables of Bidpai_, by Sir Thomas North, of
+Plutarch fame (London, D. Nutt, "Bibliothèque de Carabas," 1888),
+where I have given an elaborate genealogical table of the
+multitudinous versions. La Fontaine's version, which has rendered the
+fable so familiar to us all, comes from Bonaventure des Periers,
+_Contes et Nouvelles_, who got it from the _Dialogus Creaturarum_ of
+Nicholaus Pergamenus, who derived it from the _Sermones_ of Jacques de
+Vitry (see Prof. Crane's edition, No. li.), who probably derived it
+from the _Directorium Humanæ Vitæ_ of John of Capua, a converted Jew,
+who translated it from the Hebrew version of the Arabic _Kalilah wa
+Dimnah_, which was itself derived from the old Syriac version of a
+Pehlevi translation of the original Indian work, probably called after
+Karataka and Damanaka, the names of two jackals who figure in the
+earlier stories of the book. Prof. Rhys-Davids informs me that these
+names are more akin to Pali than to Sanskrit, which makes it still
+more probable that the whole literature is ultimately to be derived
+from a Buddhist source.
+
+The theme of La Perette is of interest as showing the _literary_
+transmission of tales from Orient to Occident. It also shows the
+possibility of an influence of literary on oral tradition, as is shown
+by our proverb, and by the fact, which Benfey mentions, that La
+Fontaine's story has had influence on two of Grimm's tales, Nos. 164,
+168.
+
+
+VI. THE MAGIC FIDDLE.
+
+_Source._--A. Campbell, _Santal Folk-Tales_, 1892, pp. 52-6, with some
+verbal alterations. A Bonga is the presiding spirit of a certain kind
+of rice land; Doms and Hadis are low-caste aborigines, whose touch is
+considered polluting. The Santals are a forest tribe, who live in the
+Santal Parganas, 140 miles N.W. of Calcutta (Sir W. W. Hunter, _The
+Indian Empire_, 57-60).
+
+_Parallels._--Another version occurs in Campbell, p. 106 _seq._, which
+shows that the story is popular among the Santals. It is obvious,
+however, that neither version contains the real finish of the story,
+which must have contained the denunciation of the magic fiddle of the
+murderous sisters. This would bring it under the formula of _The
+Singing Bone_, which M. Monseur has recently been studying with a
+remarkable collection of European variants in the Bulletin of the
+Wallon Folk-Lore Society of Liège (_cf. Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. ix.).
+There is a singing bone in Steel-Temple's _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 127
+_seq._ ("Little Anklebone").
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have another theme of the common store of European
+folk-tales found in India. Unfortunately, the form in which it occurs
+is mutilated, and we cannot draw any definite conclusion from it.
+
+
+VII. THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED.
+
+_Source._--The Baka-Jātaka, Fausböll, No. 38, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp.
+315-21. The Buddha this time is the Genius of the Tree.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+_Parallels._--This Jātaka got into the Bidpai literature, and
+occurs in all its multitudinous offshoots (_see_ Benfey, _Einleitung_,
+§ 60) among others in the earliest English translation by North (my
+edition, pp. 118-22), where the crane becomes "a great Paragone of
+India (of those that liue a hundredth yeares and neuer mue their
+feathers)." The crab, on hearing the ill news "called to Parliament
+all the Fishes of the Lake," and before all are devoured destroys the
+Paragon, as in the Jataka, and returned to the remaining fishes, who
+"all with one consent gave hir many a thanke."
+
+_Remarks._--An interesting point, to which I have drawn attention in
+my Introduction to North's Bidpai, is the probability that the
+illustrations of the tales as well as the tales themselves, were
+translated, so to speak, from one country to another. We can trace
+them in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic MSS., and a few are extant on
+Buddhist Stupas. Under these circumstances, it may be of interest to
+compare with Mr. Batten's conception of the Crane and the Crab
+(_supra_, p. 50) that of the German artist who illustrated the first
+edition of the Latin Bidpai, probably following the traditional
+representations of the MS., which itself could probably trace back to
+India.
+
+
+VIII. LOVING LAILI.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, pp. 73-84. Majnun and
+Laili are conventional names for lovers, the Romeo and Juliet of
+Hindostan.
+
+_Parallels._--Living in animals' bellies occurs elsewhere in Miss
+Stokes' book, pp. 66, 124; also in Miss Frere's, 188. The restoration
+of beauty by fire occurs as a frequent theme (Temple, Analysis, III.
+vi. f. p. 418). Readers will be reminded of the _dénouement_ of Mr.
+Rider Haggard's _She_. Resuscitation from ashes has been used very
+effectively by Mr. Lang in his delightful _Prince Prigio_.
+
+_Remarks._--The white skin and blue eyes of Prince Majnun deserve
+attention. They are possibly a relic of the days of Aryan conquest,
+when the fair-skinned, fair-haired Aryan conquered the swarthier
+aboriginals. The name for caste in Sanskrit is _varna_, "colour"; and
+one Hindu cannot insult another more effectually than by calling him a
+black man. _Cf._ Stokes, pp. 238-9, who suggests that the red hair is
+something solar, and derived from myths of the solar hero.
+
+
+IX. THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 116-20; first
+published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. p. 170 _seq._
+
+_Parallels._--No less than 94 parallels are given by Prof. K. Krohn in
+his elaborate discussion of this fable in his dissertation, _Mann und
+Fuchs_, (Helsingfors, 1891), pp. 38-60; to which may be added three
+Indian variants, omitted by him, but mentioned by Capt. Temple, _l.
+c._, p. 324, in the _Bhâgavata Purâna_, the _Gul Bakâolî_ and _Ind.
+Ant._ xii. 177; and a couple more in my _Æsop_, p. 253: add Smeaton,
+_Karens_, p. 126.
+
+_Remarks._--Prof. Krohn comes to the conclusion that the majority of
+the oral forms of the tale come from literary versions (p. 47),
+whereas the _Reynard_ form has only had influence on a single variant.
+He reduces the century of variants to three type forms. The first
+occurs in two Egyptian versions collected in the present day, as well
+as in Petrus Alphonsi in the twelfth century, and the _Fabulæ
+Extravagantes_ of the thirteenth or fourteenth: here the ingrate
+animal is a crocodile, which asks to be carried away from a river
+about to dry up, and there is only one judge. The second is that
+current in India and represented by the story in the present
+collection: here the judges are three. The third is that current among
+Western Europeans, which has spread to S. Africa and N. and S.
+America: also three judges. Prof. K. Krohn counts the first the
+original form, owing to the single judge and the naturalness of the
+opening, by which the critical situation is brought about. The further
+question arises, whether this form, though found in Egypt now, is
+indigenous there, and if so, how it got to the East. Prof. Krohn
+grants the possibility of the Egyptian form having been invented in
+India and carried to Egypt, and he allows that the European forms have
+been influenced by the Indian. The "Egyptian" form is found in Burmah
+(Smeaton, _l. c._, p. 128), as well as the Indian, a fact of which
+Prof. K. Krohn was unaware though it turns his whole argument. The
+evidence we have of other folk-tales of the beast-epic emanating from
+India improves the chances of this also coming from that source. One
+thing at least is certain: all these hundred variants come ultimately
+from one source. The incident "Inside again" of the _Arabian Nights_
+(the Djinn and the bottle) and European tales is also a secondary
+derivate.
+
+
+X. THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON.
+
+_Source._--Mrs. Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_ (p. 11 _seq._), from
+Pandit Natesa Sastri's _Folk-Lore of Southern India_, pt. ii.,
+originally from _Ind. Antiquary_. I have considerably condensed and
+modified the somewhat Babu English of the original.
+
+_Parallels._--See Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, § 71, i. pp. 193-222, who
+quotes the _Karma Jātaka_ as the ultimate source: it also occurs in
+the _Saccankira Jātaka_ (Fausböll, No. 73), trans. Rev. R. Morris,
+_Folk-Lore Jour._ iii. 348 _seq._ The story of the ingratitude of man
+compared with the gratitude of beasts came early to the West, where it
+occurs in the _Gesta Romanorum_, c. 119. It was possibly from an early
+form of this collection that Richard Cœur de Lion got the story,
+and used it to rebuke the ingratitude of the English nobles on his
+return in 1195. Matthew Paris tells the story, _sub anno_ (it is an
+addition of his to Ralph Disset), _Hist. Major_, ed. Luard, ii. 413-6,
+how a lion and a serpent and a Venetian named Vitalis were saved from
+a pit by a woodman, Vitalis promising him half his fortune, fifty
+talents. The lion brings his benefactor a leveret, the serpent "gemmam
+pretiosam," probably "the precious jewel in his head" to which
+Shakespeare alludes (_As You Like It_, ii. I., _cf._ Benfey, _l. c._,
+p. 214, _n._), but Vitalis refuses to have anything to do with him,
+and altogether repudiates the fifty talents. "Hæc referebat Rex
+Richardus munificus, ingratos redarguendo."
+
+_Remarks._--Apart from the interest of its wide travels, and its
+appearance in the standard mediæval History of England by Matthew
+Paris, the modern story shows the remarkable persistence of folk-tales
+in the popular mind. Here we have collected from the Hindu peasant of
+to-day a tale which was probably told before Buddha, over two thousand
+years ago, and certainly included among the Jatakas before the
+Christian era. The same thing has occurred with _The Tiger, Brahman,
+and Jackal_ (No. ix. _supra_).
+
+
+XI. HARISARMAN.
+
+_Source._--Somadeva, _Katha-Sarit-Sagara_, trans. Tawney (Calcutta,
+1880), i. pp. 272-4. I have slightly toned down the inflated style of
+the original.
+
+_Parallels _--Benfey has collected and discussed a number in _Orient
+and Occident_, i. 371 _seq._; see also Tawney, _ad loc_. The most
+remarkable of the parallels is that afforded by the Grimms' "Doctor
+Allwissend" (No. 98), which extends even to such a minute point as his
+exclamation, "Ach, ich armer Krebs," whereupon a crab is discovered
+under a dish. The usual form of discovery of the thieves is for the
+Dr. Knowall to have so many days given him to discover the thieves,
+and at the end of the first day he calls out, "There's one of them,"
+meaning the days, just as one of the thieves peeps through at him.
+Hence the title and the plot of C. Lever's _One of Them_.
+
+
+XII. THE CHARMED RING.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 20-8.
+
+_Parallels._--The incident of the Aiding Animals is frequent in
+folk-tales: see bibliographical references, _sub voce_, in my List of
+Incidents, _Trans. Folk-Lore Congress_, p. 88; also Knowles, 21,
+_n._; and Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 401, 412. The Magic Ring
+is also "common form" in folk-tales; _cf._ Köhler _ap._ Marie de
+France, _Lais_, ed. Warncke, p. lxxxiv. And the whole story is to be
+found very widely spread from India (_Wideawake Stories_, pp. 196-206)
+to England (_Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. xvii, "Jack and his Golden
+Snuff-box," _cf._ Notes, _ibid._), the most familiar form of it being
+"Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp."
+
+_Remarks._--M. Cosquin has pointed out (_Contes de Lorraine_, p. xi.
+_seq._) that the incident of the rat's-tail-up-nose to recover the
+ring from the stomach of an ogress, is found among Arabs, Albanians,
+Bretons, and Russians. It is impossible to imagine that
+incident--occurring in the same series of incidents--to have been
+invented more than once, and if that part of the story has been
+borrowed from India, there is no reason why the whole of it should not
+have arisen in India, and have been spread to the West. The English
+variant was derived from an English Gipsy, and suggests the
+possibility that for this particular story the medium of transmission
+has been the Gipsies. This contains the incident of the loss of the
+ring by the faithful animal, which again could not have been
+independently invented.
+
+
+XIII. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+_Source._--The _Kacchapa Jātaka_, Fausböll, No. 215; also in his
+_Five Jātakas_, pp. 16, 41, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp. viii-x.
+
+_Parallels._--It occurs also in the Bidpai literature, in nearly all
+its multitudinous offshoots. See Benfey, _Einleitung_, §84; also my
+_Bidpai_, E, 4 _a_; and North's text, pp. 170-5, where it is the
+taunts of the other birds that cause the catastrophe: "O here is a
+brave sight, looke, here is a goodly ieast, what bugge haue we here,"
+said some. "See, see, she hangeth by the throte, and therefor she
+speaketh not," saide others; "and the beast flieth not like a beast;"
+so she opened her mouth and "pashte hir all to pieces."
+
+_Remarks._--I have reproduced in my edition the original illustration
+of the first English Bidpai, itself derived from the Italian block.
+A replica of it here may serve to show that it could be used
+equally well to illustrate the Pali original as its English
+great-great-great-great-great-great grand-child.
+
+
+XIV. LAC OF RUPEES.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 32-41. I have reduced
+the pieces of advice to three, and curtailed somewhat.
+
+_Parallels._--See _Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xxii., "Tale of Ivan,"
+from the old Cornish, now extinct, and notes _ibid._ Mr. Clouston
+points out (_Pop. Tales_, ii. 319) that it occurs in Buddhist
+literature, in "Buddaghoshas Parables," as "The Story of Kulla
+Pauthaka."
+
+_Remarks._--It is indeed curious to find the story better told in
+Cornwall than in the land of its birth, but there can be little doubt
+that the Buddhist version is the earliest and original form of the
+story. The piece of advice was originally a charm, in which a youth
+was to say to himself, "Why are you busy? Why are you busy?" He does
+so when thieves are about, and so saves the king's treasures, of which
+he gets an appropriate share. It would perhaps be as well if many of
+us should say to ourselves "_Ghatesa, ghatesa, kim kárana?_"
+
+
+XV. THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT.
+
+_Source._--_Pantschatantra_, III. v., tr. Benfey, ii. 244-7.
+
+_Parallels_ given in my _Æsop_, Ro. ii. 10, p. 40. The chief points
+about them are--(1) though the tale does not exist in either Phædrus
+or Babrius, it occurs in prose derivates from the Latin by Ademar, 65,
+and "Romulus," ii. 10, and from Greek, in Gabrias, 45, and the prose
+_Æsop_, ed. Halm, 96; Gitlbauer has restored the Babrian form in his
+edition of Babrius, No. 160. (2) The fable occurs among folk-tales,
+Grimm, 105; Woycicki, _Poln. Mähr._ 105; Gering, _Islensk. Ævent._ 59,
+possibly derived from La Fontaine, x. 12.
+
+_Remarks._--Benfey has proved most ingeniously and conclusively
+(_Einl._ i. 359) that the Indian fable is the source of both Latin and
+Greek fables. I may borrow from my _Æsop_, p. 93, parallel abstracts
+of the three versions, putting Benfey's results in a graphic form,
+series of bars indicating the passages where the classical fables have
+failed to preserve the original.
+
+           BIDPAI.                |       PHÆDRINE.
+
+ A Brahmin once observed a snake  |----A good man had become
+ in his field, and thinking it    |friendly with the snake, who
+ the tutelary spirit of the       |came into his house and brought
+ field, he offered it a libation  |luck with it, so that the man
+ of milk in a bowl. Next day he   |became rich through it.----One
+ finds a piece of gold in the     |day he struck the serpent, which
+ bowl, and he receives this each  |disappeared, and with it the
+ day after offering the libation. |man's riches. The good man tries
+ One day he had to go elsewhere,  |to make it up, but the serpent
+ and he sent his son with the     |declares their friendship at an
+ libation. The son sees the gold, |end, as it could not forget the
+ and thinking the serpent's hole  |blow.----
+ full of treasure determines to   |
+ slay the snake. He strikes at    |Phæd. Dressl. VII. 28 (Rom. II. xi.)
+ its head with a cudgel, and the  |
+ enraged serpent stings him to    |            BABRIAN.
+ death. The Brahmin mourns his    |A serpent stung a farmer's son
+ son's death, but next morning as |to death. The father pursued the
+ usual brings the libation of     |serpent with an axe, and struck
+ milk (in the hope of getting the |off part of its tail. Afterwards
+ gold as before). The serpent     |fearing its vengeance he brought
+ appears after a long delay at    |food and honey to its lair, and
+ the mouth of its lair, and       |begged reconciliation. The
+ declares their friendship at an  |serpent, however, declares
+ end, as it could not forget the  |friendship impossible, as it
+ blow of the Brahmin's son, nor   |could not forget the blow----nor
+ the Brahmin his son's death from |the farmer his son's death from
+ the bite of the snake.           |the bite of the snake.
+                                  |
+_Pants._ III. v. (Benf. 244-7).   |Æsop, Halm 96^b (Babrius-Gitlb. 160).
+                                  |
+
+In the Indian fable every step of the action is thoroughly justified,
+whereas the Latin form does not explain why the snake was friendly in
+the first instance, or why the good man was enraged afterwards; and
+the Greek form starts abruptly, without explaining why the serpent had
+killed the farmer's son. Make a composite of the Phædrine and Babrian
+forms, and you get the Indian one, which is thus shown to be the
+original of both.
+
+
+XVI. THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 98-110, originally
+published in _Ind. Antiq._ x. 147 _seq._
+
+_Parallels._--A long variant follows in _Ind. Antiq._, _l. c._ M.
+Cosquin refers to several Oriental variants, _l. c._ p. xxx. _n._ For
+the direction tabu, see Note on Princess Labam, _supra_, No. ii. The
+"letter to kill bearer" and "letter substituted" are frequent in both
+European (see my List _s. v._) and Indian Folk-Tales (Temple,
+Analysis, II. iv. _b_, 6, p. 410). The idea of a son of seven mothers
+could only arise in a polygamous country. It occurs in "Punchkin,"
+_supra_, No. iv.; Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_, 117 _seq._; _Ind.
+Antiq._ i. 170 (Temple, _l. c._, 398).
+
+_Remarks._--M. Cosquin (_Contes de Lorraine_, p. xxx.) points out how,
+in a Sicilian story, Gonzenbach (_Sizil. Mähr._ No. 80), the seven
+co-queens are transformed into seven step-daughters of the envious
+witch who causes their eyes to be taken out. It is thus probable,
+though M. Cosquin does not point this out, that the "envious
+step-mother" of folk-tales (see my List, _s. v._) was originally an
+envious co-wife. But there can be little doubt of what M. Cosquin
+_does_ point out--viz., that the Sicilian story is derived from the
+Indian one.
+
+
+XVII. A LESSON FOR KINGS.
+
+_Source._--_Rājovāda Jātaka_, Fausböll, No. 151, tr.
+Rhys-Davids, pp. xxii.-vi.
+
+_Remarks._--This is one of the earliest of moral allegories in
+existence. The moralising tone of the Jatakas must be conspicuous to
+all reading them. Why, they can moralise even the Tar Baby (see
+_infra_, Note on "Demon with the Matted Hair," No. xxv.).
+
+
+XVIII. PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL.
+
+_Source._--Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_. I have changed the Indian
+mercantile numerals into those of English "back-slang," which make a
+very good parallel.
+
+
+XIX. RAJA RASALU.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 247-80, omitting
+"How Raja Rasalu was Born," "How Raja Rasalu's Friends Forsook Him,"
+"How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants," and "How Raja Rasalu became a
+Jogi." A further version in Temple, _Legends of Panjab_, vol. i.
+_Chaupur_, I should explain, is a game played by two players with
+eight men, each on a board in the shape of a cross, four men to each
+cross covered with squares. The moves of the men are decided by the
+throws of a long form of dice. The object of the game is to see which
+of the players can first move all his men into the black centre square
+of the cross (Temple, _l. c._, p. 344, and _Legends of Panjab_, i.
+243-5). It is sometimes said to be the origin of chess.
+
+_Parallels._--Rev. C. Swynnerton, "Four Legends about Raja Rasalu," in
+_Folk-Lore Journal_, p. 158 _seq._, also in separate book much
+enlarged, _The Adventures of Raja Rasalu_, Calcutta, 1884. Curiously
+enough, the real interest of the story comes after the end of our part
+of it, for Kokilan, when she grows up, is married to Raja Rasalu, and
+behaves as sometimes youthful wives behave to elderly husbands. He
+gives her her lover's heart to eat, _à la_ Decameron, and she dashes
+herself over the rocks. For the parallels of this part of the legend
+see my edition of Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, tom. i. Tale 39, or,
+better, the _Programm_ of H. Patzig, _Zur Geschichte der Herzmäre_
+(Berlin, 1891). Gambling for life occurs in Celtic and other
+folk-tales; _cf._ my List of Incidents, _s. v._ "Gambling for Magic
+Objects."
+
+_Remarks._--Raja Rasalu is possibly a historic personage, according to
+Capt. Temple, _Calcutta Review_, 1884, p. 397, flourishing in the
+eighth or ninth century. There is a place called Sirikap ka-kila in
+the neighbourhood of Sialkot, the traditional seat of Rasalu on the
+Indus, not far from Atlock.
+
+Herr Patzig is strongly for the Eastern origin of the romance, and
+finds its earliest appearance in the West in the Anglo-Norman
+troubadour, Thomas' _Lai Guirun_, where it becomes part of the Tristan
+cycle. There is, so far as I know, no proof of the earliest part of
+the Rasalu legend (_our_ part) coming to Europe, except the existence
+of the gambling incidents of the same kind in Celtic and other
+folk-tales.
+
+
+XX. THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN.
+
+_Source._--The _Sīha Camma Jātaka_, Fausböll, No. 189, trans.
+Rhys-Davids, pp. v. vi.
+
+_Parallels._--It also occurs in Somadeva, _Katha Sarit Sagara_, ed.
+Tawney, ii. 65, and _n_. For Æsopic parallels _cf._ my _Æsop_, Av. iv.
+It is in Babrius, ed. Gitlbaur, 218 (from Greek prose Æsop, ed. Halm,
+No. 323), and Avian, ed. Ellis, 5, whence it came into the modern
+Æsop.
+
+_Remarks._--Avian wrote towards the end of the third century, and put
+into Latin mainly those portions of Babrius which are unparalleled by
+Phædrus. Consequently, as I have shown, he has a much larger
+proportion of Eastern elements than Phædrus. There can be little doubt
+that the Ass in the Lion's Skin is from India. As Prof. Rhys-Davids
+remarks, the Indian form gives a plausible motive for the masquerade
+which is wanting in the ordinary Æsopic version.
+
+
+XXI. THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 215-8.
+
+_Parallels_ enumerated in my _Æsop_, Av. xvii. See also Jacques de
+Vitry, _Exempla_, ed. Crane, No. 196 (see notes, p. 212), and Bozon,
+_Contes moralisés_, No. 112. It occurs in Avian, ed. Ellis, No. 22.
+Mr. Kipling has a very similar tale in his _Life's Handicap_.
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have collected in modern India what one cannot
+help thinking is the Indian original of a fable of Avian. The
+preceding number showed one of his fables existing among the Jatakas,
+probably before the Christian era. This makes it likely that we shall
+find an earlier Indian original of the fable of the Avaricious and
+Envious, perhaps among the Jatakas still untranslated.
+
+
+XXII. THE BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes' _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 20, pp. 119-137.
+
+_Parallels_ to heroes and heroines in European fairy tales, with stars
+on their foreheads, are given with some copiousness in Stokes, _l.
+c._, pp. 242-3. This is an essentially Indian trait; almost all Hindus
+have some tribal or caste mark on their bodies or faces. The choice of
+the hero disguised as a menial is also common property of Indian and
+European fairy tales: see Stokes, _l. c._, p. 231, and my List of
+Incidents (_s. v._ "Menial Disguise.")
+
+
+XXIII. THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR.
+
+_Source._--Kindly communicated by Mr. M. L. Dames from his unpublished
+collection of Baluchi tales.
+
+_Remarks._--Unholy fakirs are rather rare. See Temple, Analysis, I.
+ii. _a_, p. 394.
+
+
+XXIV. WHY THE FISH LAUGHED.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 484-90.
+
+_Parallels._--The latter part is the formula of the Clever Lass who
+guesses riddles. She has been bibliographised by Prof. Child, _Eng.
+and Scotch Ballads_, i. 485; see also Benfey, _Kl. Schr._ ii. 156
+_seq._ The sex test at the end is different from any of those
+enumerated by Prof. Köhler on Gonzenbach, _Sezil. Mähr._ ii. 216.
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have a further example of a whole formula, or
+series of incidents, common to most European collections, found in
+India, and in a quarter, too, where European influence is little
+likely to penetrate. Prof. Benfey, in an elaborate dissertation ("Die
+Kluge Dirne," in _Ausland_, 1859, Nos. 20-25, now reprinted in _Kl.
+Schr._ ii. 156 _seq._), has shown the wide spread of the theme both in
+early Indian literature (though probably there derived from the folk)
+and in modern European folk literature.
+
+
+XXV. THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR.
+
+_Source._--The _Pancāvudha-Jātaka_, Fausböll, No. 55, kindly
+translated for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, of Christ's College,
+Cambridge. There is a brief abstract of the Jataka in Prof. Estlin
+Carpenter's sermon, _Three Ways of Salvation_, 1884, p. 27, where my
+attention was first called to this Jataka.
+
+_Parallels._--Most readers of these Notes will remember the central
+episode of Mr. J. C. Harris' _Uncle Remus_, in which Brer Fox, annoyed
+at Brer Rabbit's depredations, fits up "a contrapshun, what he calls a
+Tar Baby." Brer Rabbit, coming along that way, passes the time of day
+with Tar Baby, and, annoyed at its obstinate silence, hits it with
+right fist and with left, with left fist and with right, which
+successively stick to the "contrapshun," till at last he butts with
+his head, and that sticks too, whereupon Brer Fox, who all this time
+had "lain low," saunters out, and complains of Brer Rabbit that he is
+too stuck up. In the sequel Brer Rabbit begs Brer Fox that he may
+"drown me as deep ez you please, skin me, scratch out my eyeballs,
+t'ar out my years by the roots, en cut off my legs, but do don't fling
+me in dat brier patch;" which, of course, Brer Fox does, only to be
+informed by the cunning Brer Rabbit that he had been "bred en bawn in
+a brier patch." The story is a favourite one with the negroes: it
+occurs in Col. Jones' _Negro Myths of the Georgia Coast_ (Uncle Remus
+is from S. Carolina), also among those of Brazil (Romero, _Contos do
+Brazil_), and in the West Indian Islands (Mr. Lang, "At the Sign of
+the Ship," _Longman's Magazine_, Feb. 1889). We can trace it to
+Africa, where it occurs in Cape Colony (_South African Folk-Lore
+Journal_, vol. i.).
+
+_Remarks._--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is so
+preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently
+invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally
+connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches
+the matter, and gives us a landing-stage between India and America.
+There can be little doubt that the Jataka of Prince Five Weapons came
+to Africa, possibly by Buddhist missionaries, spread among the
+negroes, and then took ship in the holds of slavers for the New World,
+where it is to be found in fuller form than any yet discovered in the
+home of its birth. I say Buddhist missionaries, because there is a
+certain amount of evidence that the negroes have Buddhistic symbols
+among them, and we can only explain the identification of Brer Rabbit
+with Prince Five Weapons, and so with Buddha himself, by supposing the
+change to have originated among Buddhists, where it would be quite
+natural. For one of the most celebrated metempsychoses of Buddha is
+that detailed in the _Sasa Jātaka_ (Fausböll, No. 316, tr. R.
+Morris, _Folk-Lore Journal_, ii. 336), in which the Buddha, as a hare,
+performs a sublime piece of self-sacrifice, and as a reward is
+translated to the moon, where he can be seen to this day as "the hare
+in the moon." Every Buddhist is reminded of the virtue of
+self-sacrifice whenever the moon is full, and it is easy to understand
+how the Buddha became identified as the Hare or Rabbit. A striking
+confirmation of this, in connection with our immediate subject, is
+offered by Mr. Harris' sequel volume, _Nights with Uncle Remus_. Here
+there is a whole chapter (xxx.) on "Brer Rabbit and his famous Foot,"
+and it is well known how the worship of Buddha's foot developed in
+later Buddhism. No wonder Brer Rabbit is so 'cute: he is nothing less
+than an incarnation of Buddha. Among the Karens of Burmah, where
+Buddhist influence is still active, the Hare holds exactly the same
+place in their folk-lore as Brer Rabbit among the negroes. The sixth
+chapter of Mr. Smeaton's book on them is devoted to "Fireside
+Stories," and is entirely taken up with adventures of the Hare, all of
+which can be parallelled from _Uncle Remus_.
+
+Curiously enough, the negro form of the five-fold attack--"fighting
+with _five_ fists," Mr. Barr would call it--is probably nearer to the
+original legend than that preserved in the Jataka, though 2000 years
+older. For we may be sure that the thunderbolt of Knowledge did not
+exist in the original, but was introduced by some Buddhist Mr. Barlow,
+who, like Alice's Duchess, ended all his tales with: "And the moral of
+that is----" For no well-bred demon would have been taken in by so
+simple a "sell" as that indulged in by Prince Five-Weapons in our
+Jataka, and it is probable, therefore, that _Uncle Remus_ preserves a
+reminiscence of the original Indian reading of the tale. On the other
+hand, it is probable that Carlyle's Indian god with the fire in his
+belly was derived from Prince Five-Weapons.
+
+The negro variant has also suggested to Mr. Batten an explanation of
+the whole story which is extremely plausible, though it introduces a
+method of folk-lore exegesis which has been overdriven to death. The
+_Sasa Jātaka_ identifies the Brer Rabbit Buddha with the hare in
+the moon. It is well known that Easterns explain an eclipse of the
+moon as due to its being swallowed up by a Dragon or Demon. May not,
+asks Mr. Batten, the _Pancavudha Jātaka_ be an idealised account of
+an eclipse of the moon? This suggestion receives strong confirmation
+from the Demon's reference to Rahu, who does, in Indian myth swallow
+the moon at times of eclipse. The Jataka accordingly contains the
+Buddhist explanation why the moon--_i.e._ the hare in the moon, _i.e._
+Buddha--is not altogether swallowed up by the Demon of Eclipse, the
+Demon with the Matted Hair. Mr. Batten adds that in imagining what
+kind of Demon the Eclipse Demon was, the Jataka writer was probably
+aided by recollections of some giant octopus, who has saucer eyes and
+a kind of hawk's beak, knobs on its "tusks," and a very variegated
+belly (gasteropod). It is obviously unfair of Mr. Batten both to
+illustrate and also to explain so well the Tar Baby Jataka--taking the
+scientific bread, so to speak, out of a poor folk-lorist's mouth--but
+his explanations seem to me so convincing that I cannot avoid
+including them in these Notes.
+
+I am, however, not so much concerned with the original explanation of
+the Jataka as to trace its travels across the continents of Asia,
+Africa, and America. I think I have done this satisfactorily, and will
+have thereby largely strengthened the case for less extensive travels
+of other tales. I have sufficient confidence of the method employed to
+venture on that most hazardous of employments, scientific prophecy. I
+venture to predict that the Tar Baby story will be found in Madagascar
+in a form nearer the Indian than Uncle Remus, and I will go further,
+and say that it will _not_ be found in the grand Helsingfors
+collection of folk-tales, though this includes 12,000, of which 1000
+are beast-tales.
+
+
+XXVI. THE IVORY PALACE.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 211-25, with some
+slight omissions. Gulizar is Persian for rosy-cheeked.
+
+_Parallels._--Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 27. "Panwpatti Rani,"
+pp. 208-15, is the same story. Another version in the collection
+_Baital Pachisi_, No. 1.
+
+_Remarks._--The themes of love by mirror, and the faithful friend, are
+common European, though the calm attempt at poisoning is perhaps
+characteristically Indian, and reads like a page from Mr. Kipling.
+
+
+XXVII. SUN, MOON, AND WIND.
+
+_Source._--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, No. 10, pp. 153-5.
+
+_Remarks._--Miss Frere observes that she has not altered the
+traditional mode of the Moon's conveyance of dinner to her mother the
+Star, though it must, she fears, impair the value of the story as a
+moral lesson in the eyes of all instructors of youth.
+
+
+XXVIII. HOW WICKED SONS WERE DUPED.
+
+_Source._--Knowles. _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 241-2.
+
+_Parallels._--A Gaelic parallel was given by Campbell in _Trans.
+Ethnol. Soc._, ii. p. 336; an Anglo-Latin one from the Middle Ages by
+T. Wright in _Latin Stories_ (Percy Soc.), No. 26; and for these and
+points of anthropological interest in the Celtic variant see Mr.
+Gomme's article in _Folk-Lore_, i. pp. 197-206, "A Highland Folk-Tale
+and its Origin in Custom."
+
+_Remarks._--Mr. Gomme is of opinion that the tale arose from certain
+rhyming formulæ occurring in the Gaelic and Latin tales as written on
+a mallet left by the old man in the box opened after his death. The
+rhymes are to the effect that a father who gives up his wealth to his
+children in his own lifetime deserves to be put to death with the
+mallet. Mr. Gomme gives evidence that it was an archaic custom to put
+oldsters to death after they had become helpless. He also points out
+that it was customary for estates to be divided and surrendered during
+the owners' lifetime, and generally he connects a good deal of
+primitive custom with our story. I have already pointed out in
+_Folk-Lore_, p. 403, that the existence of the tale in Kashmir without
+any reference to the mallet makes it impossible for the rhymes on the
+mallet to be the source of the story. As a matter of fact, it is a
+very embarrassing addition to it, since the rhyme tells against the
+parent, and the story is intended to tell against the ungrateful
+children. The existence of the tale in India renders it likely enough
+that it is not indigenous to the British Isles, but an Oriental
+importation. It is obvious, therefore, that it cannot be used as
+anthropological evidence of the existence of the primitive customs to
+be found in it. The whole incident, indeed, is a striking example of
+the dangers of the anthropological method of dealing with folk-tales
+before some attempt is made to settle the questions of origin and
+diffusion.
+
+
+XXIX. THE PIGEON AND THE CROW.
+
+_Source._--The _Lola Jātaka_, Fausböll, No. 274, kindly translated
+and slightly abridged for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse.
+
+_Remarks._--We began with an animal Jataka, and may appropriately
+finish with one which shows how effectively the writers of the Jatakas
+could represent animal folk, and how terribly moral they invariably
+were in their tales. I should perhaps add that the Bodhisat is not
+precisely the Buddha himself but a character which is on its way to
+becoming perfectly enlightened, and so may be called a future Buddha.
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Indian Fairy Tales, Edited by Joseph Jacobs,
+Illustrated by John D. Batten and Gloria Cardew
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Indian Fairy Tales
+
+
+Editor: Joseph Jacobs
+
+Release Date: March 13, 2003  [eBook #7128]
+Most recently updated: May 1, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team and revised by Sankar Viswanathan, Fritz
+Ohrenschall, Sania Ali Mirza, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(http://www.pgdp.net) using page images generously made available by
+Internet Archive (http://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the lovely original illustrations.
+      See 7128-h.htm or 7128-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7128/7128-h/7128-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7128/7128-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/indiantales00jacorich
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      A letter following a carat character is superscripted.
+      For example, in "2^e" the "e" is superscripted.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Indian Fairy Tales]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration: PRINCESS LABAM]
+
+
+INDIAN FAIRY TALES
+
+Selected and Edited by
+
+JOSEPH JACOBS
+
+Editor of "Folk Lore"
+
+Illustrated by John D. Batten
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+David Nutt, 270, 271 Strand
+1892
+
+
+
+
+_Only One Hundred and Sixty Copies of this
+Edition on Japanese Vellum Paper have been printed,
+of which One Hundred and Fifty are for Sale.
+
+This is No. 147_
+
+
+_The Illustrations in this Book were coloured by hand by
+Miss Gloria Cardew._
+
+
+
+
+   _TO
+   MY DEAR LITTLE PHIL_
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+From the extreme West of the Indo-European world, we go this year to
+the extreme East. From the soft rain and green turf of Gaeldom, we
+seek the garish sun and arid soil of the Hindoo. In the Land of Ire,
+the belief in fairies, gnomes, ogres and monsters is all but dead; in
+the Land of Ind it still flourishes in all the vigour of animism.
+
+Soils and national characters differ; but fairy tales are the same in
+plot and incidents, if not in treatment. The majority of the tales in
+this volume have been known in the West in some form or other, and the
+problem arises how to account for their simultaneous existence in
+farthest West and East. Some--as Benfey in Germany, M. Cosquin in
+France, and Mr. Clouston in England--have declared that India is the
+Home of the Fairy Tale, and that all European fairy tales have been
+brought from thence by Crusaders, by Mongol missionaries, by Gipsies,
+by Jews, by traders, by travellers. The question is still before the
+courts, and one can only deal with it as an advocate. So far as my
+instructions go, I should be prepared, within certain limits, to hold
+a brief for India. So far as the children of Europe have their fairy
+stories in common, these--and they form more than a third of the
+whole--are derived from India. In particular, the majority of the
+Drolls or comic tales and jingles can be traced, without much
+difficulty, back to the Indian peninsula.
+
+Certainly there is abundant evidence of the early transmission by
+literary means of a considerable number of drolls and folk-tales from
+India about the time of the Crusaders. The collections known in Europe
+by the titles of _The Fables of Bidpai_, _The Seven Wise Masters_,
+_Gesta Romanorum_, and _Barlaam and Josaphat_, were extremely popular
+during the Middle Ages, and their contents passed on the one hand into
+the _Exempla_ of the monkish preachers, and on the other into the
+_Novelle_ of Italy, thence, after many days, to contribute their quota
+to the Elizabethan Drama. Perhaps nearly one-tenth of the main
+incidents of European folk-tales can be traced to this source.
+
+There are even indications of an earlier literary contact between
+Europe and India, in the case of one branch of the folk-tale, the
+Fable or Beast Droll. In a somewhat elaborate discussion[1] I have
+come to the conclusion that a goodly number of the fables that pass
+under the name of the Samian slave, �sop, were derived from India,
+probably from the same source whence the same tales were utilised in
+the Jatakas, or Birth-stories of Buddha. These Jatakas contain a large
+quantity of genuine early Indian folk-tales, and form the earliest
+collection of folk-tales in the world, a sort of Indian Grimm,
+collected more than two thousand years before the good German brothers
+went on their quest among the folk with such delightful results. For
+this reason I have included a considerable number of them in this
+volume; and shall be surprised if tales that have roused the laughter
+and wonder of pious Buddhists for the last two thousand years, cannot
+produce the same effect on English children. The Jatakas have been
+fortunate in their English translators, who render with vigour and
+point; and I rejoice in being able to publish the translation of two
+new Jatakas, kindly done into English for this volume by Mr. W. H. D.
+Rouse, of Christ's College, Cambridge. In one of these I think I have
+traced the source of the Tar Baby incident in "Uncle Remus."
+
+[Footnote 1: "History of the �sopic Fable," the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's _Fables of Esope_ (London, Nutt, 1889).]
+
+Though Indian fairy tales are the earliest in existence, yet they are
+also from another point of view the youngest. For it is only about
+twenty-five years ago that Miss Frere began the modern collection of
+Indian folk-tales with her charming "Old Deccan Days" (London, John
+Murray, 1868; fourth edition, 1889). Her example has been followed by
+Miss Stokes, by Mrs. Steel, and Captain (now Major) Temple, by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, by Mr. Knowles and Mr. Campbell, as well as
+others who have published folk-tales in such periodicals as the
+_Indian Antiquary_ and _The Orientalist_. The story-store of modern
+India has been well dipped into during the last quarter of a century,
+though the immense range of the country leaves room for any number of
+additional workers and collections. Even so far as the materials
+already collected go, a large number of the commonest incidents in
+European folk-tales have been found in India. Whether brought there or
+born there, we have scarcely any criterion for judging; but as some of
+those still current among the folk in India can be traced back more
+than a millennium, the presumption is in favour of an Indian origin.
+
+From all these sources--from the Jatakas, from the Bidpai, and from
+the more recent collections--I have selected those stories which throw
+most light on the origin of Fable and Folk-tales, and at the same time
+are most likely to attract English children. I have not, however,
+included too many stories of the Grimm types, lest I should repeat
+the contents of the two preceding volumes of this series. This has to
+some degree weakened the case for India as represented by this book.
+The need of catering for the young ones has restricted my selection
+from the well-named "Ocean of the Streams of Story," _Katha-Sarit
+Sagara_ of Somadeva. The stories existing in Pali and Sanskrit I have
+taken from translations, mostly from the German of Benfey or the
+vigorous English of Professor Rhys-Davids, whom I have to thank for
+permission to use his versions of the Jatakas.
+
+I have been enabled to make this book a representative collection of
+the Fairy Tales of Ind by the kindness of the original collectors or
+their publishers. I have especially to thank Miss Frere, who kindly
+made an exception in my favour, and granted me the use of that fine
+story, "Punchkin," and that quaint myth, "How Sun, Moon, and Wind went
+out to Dinner." Miss Stokes has been equally gracious in granting me
+the use of characteristic specimens from her "Indian Fairy Tales." To
+Major Temple I owe the advantage of selecting from his admirable
+_Wideawake Stories_, and Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. have allowed
+me to use Mr. Knowles' "Folk-tales of Kashmir," in their Oriental
+Library; and Messrs. W. H. Allen have been equally obliging with
+regard to Mrs. Kingscote's "Tales of the Sun." Mr. M. L. Dames has
+enabled me add to the published story-store of India by granting me
+the use of one from his inedited collection of Baluchi folk-tales.
+
+I have again to congratulate myself on the co-operation of my friend
+Mr. J. D. Batten in giving beautiful or amusing form to the creations
+of the folk fancy of the Hindoos. It is no slight thing to embody, as
+he has done, the glamour and the humour both of the Celt and of the
+Hindoo. It is only a further proof that Fairy Tales are something more
+than Celtic or Hindoo. They are human.
+
+JOSEPH JACOBS.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+
+I.      THE LION AND THE CRANE                        1
+
+II.     HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM     3
+
+III.    THE LAMBIKIN                                 17
+
+IV.     PUNCHKIN                                     21
+
+V.      THE BROKEN POT                               38
+
+VI.     THE MAGIC FIDDLE                             40
+
+VII.    THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED                    46
+
+VIII.   LOVING LAILI                                 51
+
+IX.     THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL       66
+
+X.      THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON                         70
+
+XI.     HARISARMAN                                   85
+
+XII.    THE CHARMED RING                             90
+
+XIII.   THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE                      100
+
+XIV.    A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A PIECE OF ADVICE       103
+
+XV.     THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT                     112
+
+XVI.    THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS                     115
+
+XVII.   A LESSON FOR KINGS                          127
+
+XVIII.  PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL                   132
+
+XIX.    RAJA RASALU                                 136
+
+XX.     THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN                  150
+
+XXI.    THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER             152
+
+XXII.   THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD
+            AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN                  156
+
+XXIII.  THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR                    179
+
+XXIV.   WHY THE FISH LAUGHED                        186
+
+XXV.    THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR              194
+
+XXVI.   THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS       199
+
+XXVII.  SUN, MOON, AND WIND GO OUT TO DINNER        218
+
+XXVIII. HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED              221
+
+XXIX.   THE PIGEON AND THE CROW                     223
+
+        NOTES AND REFERENCES                        227
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Full-page Illustrations
+
+
+PRINCESS LABAM                              _Frontispiece_
+
+THE LION AND THE CRANE          _To face page_       2
+
+PUNCHKIN                                 "          36
+
+LOVING LAILI                             "          64
+
+THE CHARMED RING                         "          96
+
+THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS                  "         120
+
+RAJA RASALU                              "         146
+
+BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD                "         165
+
+DEMON WITH MATTED HAIR                   "         196
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     [Plates, vignettes, initials, and cuts are from "process"
+     blocks supplied by Messrs. J. C. Drummond & Co. of Covent
+     Garden.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+The Lion and the Crane
+
+
+The Bodhisatta was at one time born in the region of Himavanta as a
+white crane; now Brahmadatta was at that time reigning in Benares. Now
+it chanced that as a lion was eating meat a bone stuck in his throat.
+The throat became swollen, he could not take food, his suffering was
+terrible. The crane seeing him, as he was perched on a tree looking
+for food, asked, "What ails thee, friend?" He told him why. "I could
+free thee from that bone, friend, but dare not enter thy mouth for
+fear thou mightest eat me." "Don't be afraid, friend, I'll not eat
+thee; only save my life." "Very well," says he, and caused him to lie
+down on his left side. But thinking to himself, "Who knows what this
+fellow will do," he placed a small stick upright between his two jaws
+that he could not close his mouth, and inserting his head inside his
+mouth struck one end of the bone with his beak. Whereupon the bone
+dropped and fell out. As soon as he had caused the bone to fall, he
+got out of the lion's mouth, striking the stick with his beak so that
+it fell out, and then settled on a branch. The lion gets well, and
+one day was eating a buffalo he had killed. The crane thinking "I will
+sound him," settled on a branch just over him, and in conversation
+spoke this first verse:
+
+    "A service have we done thee
+      To the best of our ability,
+    King of the Beasts! Your Majesty!
+      What return shall we get from thee?"
+
+In reply the Lion spoke the second verse:
+
+    "As I feed on blood,
+      And always hunt for prey,
+    'Tis much that thou art still alive
+      Having once been between my teeth."
+
+Then in reply the crane said the two other verses:
+
+    "Ungrateful, doing no good,
+      Not doing as he would be done by,
+    In him there is no gratitude,
+      To serve him is useless.
+
+    "His friendship is not won
+      By the clearest good deed.
+    Better softly withdraw from him,
+      Neither envying nor abusing."
+
+And having thus spoken the crane flew away.
+
+_And when the great Teacher, Gautama the Buddha, told this tale, he
+used to add: "Now at that time the lion was Devadatta the Traitor, but
+the white crane was I myself."_
+
+[Illustration: THE LION AND THE CRANE]
+
+
+
+
+How the Raja's Son won the Princess Labam.
+
+
+In a country there was a Raja who had an only son who every day went
+out to hunt. One day the Rani, his mother, said to him, "You can hunt
+wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the
+fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth
+side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labam, and that then he
+would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess.
+
+The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time;
+but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was
+allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth
+side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to
+hunt on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle,
+and nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it.
+The young Raja shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up
+to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Raja, who was
+called Hiraman parrot.
+
+When Hiraman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the
+other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Raja's son
+shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labam."
+
+Then the parrots all flew back to their Raja, chattering. The prince
+was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he
+said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labam? Where does she live?"
+But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never get
+to the Princess Labam's country." That is all they would say.
+
+The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more;
+and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would
+not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed
+very ill.
+
+At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the
+Princess Labam. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like.
+Tell me where her country is."
+
+"We do not know where it is," answered his father and mother.
+
+"Then I must go and look for it," said the prince.
+
+"No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only son.
+Stay with us. You will never find the Princess Labam."
+
+"I must try and find her," said the prince. "Perhaps God will show me
+the way. If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but
+perhaps I shall die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I
+must go."
+
+So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with
+him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And
+he took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other
+weapons, "for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him
+plenty of rupees.
+
+Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said
+good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her
+handkerchief and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her
+son. "My child," she said to him, "When you are hungry eat some of
+these sweetmeats."
+
+He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a
+jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his
+horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to
+himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I
+will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He opened
+his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in it. He
+took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid the two
+sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and another, and
+another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he found an ant.
+"Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the ants shall eat
+them." Then the Ant-Raja came and stood before him and said, "You have
+been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and we will
+come to you."
+
+The Raja's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his
+journey. He rode on and on until he came to another jungle, and there
+he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly
+from the pain.
+
+"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Raja. "What is the matter
+with you?"
+
+"I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered the tiger,
+"and it hurts me so; that is why I roar."
+
+"Well," said the Raja's son, "I will take it out for you. But
+perhaps, as you are a tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat
+me?"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Oh, no," said the tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well."
+
+Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn
+out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than
+ever--so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came
+bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming,
+and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife.
+
+"No one hurt me," answered the husband; "but a Raja's son came and
+took the thorn out of my foot."
+
+"Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife.
+
+"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger.
+
+"I won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife.
+
+Then the tiger called the Raja's son, and when he came the tiger and
+his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good
+dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at
+the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said
+good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in
+trouble, think of me, and we will come to you."
+
+The Raja's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he
+found four fakirs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four
+things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he
+wished to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels,
+food, or clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he
+wanted, no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and
+rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war
+on him, "Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the
+stick would beat them and the rope would tie them up.
+
+The four fakirs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, "I
+want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so
+on.
+
+The Raja's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will
+shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets
+to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets
+to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets
+to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who
+gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and
+rope." To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his first arrow.
+Away raced the fakirs to get it. When they brought it back to him he
+shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he
+shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot
+off the fourth.
+
+While they were away looking for the fourth arrow the Raja's son let
+his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl,
+the stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish
+to go to the Princess Labam's country." The little bed instantly rose
+up into the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to
+the Princess Labam's country, where it settled on the ground. The
+Raja's son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?"
+
+"The Princess Labam's country," they answered. Then the prince went on
+till he came to a house where he saw an old woman.
+
+"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from?"
+
+"I come from a far country," he said; "do let me stay with you
+to-night."
+
+"No," she answered, "I cannot let you stay with me; for our king has
+ordered that men from other countries may not stay in his country. You
+cannot stay in my house."
+
+"You are my aunty," said the prince; "let me remain with you for this
+one night. You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then
+the wild beasts will eat me."
+
+"Well," said the old woman, "you may stay here to-night; but to-morrow
+morning you must go away, for if the king hears you have passed the
+night in my house, he will have me seized and put into prison."
+
+Then she took him into her house, and the Raja's son was very glad.
+The old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her, "Aunty," he
+said, "I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying,
+"Bag, I want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious
+dinner, served up on two gold plates. The old woman and the Raja's son
+then dined together.
+
+When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch
+some water."
+
+"Don't go," said the prince. "You shall have plenty of water
+directly." So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want some
+water," and then it filled with water. When it was full, the prince
+cried out, "Stop, bowl," and the bowl stopped filling. "See, aunty,"
+he said, "with this bowl I can always get as much water as I want."
+
+By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Raja's son, "why don't
+you light a lamp?"
+
+"There is no need," she said. "Our king has forbidden the people in
+his country to light any lamps; for, as soon as it is dark, his
+daughter, the Princess Labam, comes and sits on her roof, and she
+shines so that she lights up all the country and our houses, and we
+can see to do our work as if it were day."
+
+When it was quite black night the princess got up. She dressed herself
+in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and across her
+head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone like the
+moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her room, and sat
+on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came out of her
+house; she only came out at night. All the people in her father's
+country then went about their work and finished it.
+
+The Raja's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He
+said to himself, "How lovely she is!"
+
+At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down
+from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and
+asleep, the Raja's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. "Bed," he
+said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labam's bed-room." So the
+little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep.
+
+The young Raja took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of
+betel-leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he
+laid near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back
+to the old woman's house.
+
+Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and
+began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the
+princess.
+
+"We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody knew the
+prince had come in the night and put it all there.
+
+In the morning the old woman came to the Raja's son. "Now it is
+morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the king finds out all I
+have done for you, he will seize me."
+
+"I am ill to-day, dear aunty," said the prince; "do let me stay till
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"Good," said the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner
+out of the bag, and the bowl gave them water.
+
+When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve
+o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was
+soon fast asleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed, and it carried
+him to the princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most
+lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the
+princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house
+and slept till morning.
+
+In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl she was delighted.
+"See, mother," she said; "Khuda must have given me this shawl, it is
+so beautiful." Her mother was very glad too.
+
+"Yes, my child," she said; "Khuda must have given you this splendid
+shawl."
+
+When it was morning the old woman said to the Raja's son, "Now you
+must really go."
+
+"Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let me stay a few
+days longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that no one may
+see me." So the old woman let him stay.
+
+When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and
+jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went
+to sleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room.
+There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring."
+The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labam's
+hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much
+frightened.
+
+"Who are you?" she said to the prince. "Where do you come from? Why do
+you come to my room?"
+
+"Do not be afraid, princess," he said; "I am no thief. I am a great
+Raja's son. Hiraman parrot, who lives in the jungle where I went to
+hunt, told me your name, and then I left my father and mother, and
+came to see you."
+
+"Well," said the princess, "as you are the son of such a great Raja,
+I will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that
+I wish to marry you."
+
+The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning
+came the princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Raja has
+come to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this
+to the king.
+
+"Good," said the king; "but if this Raja's son wishes to marry my
+daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I will kill
+him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, and out of
+this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this he shall
+die."
+
+In the morning the Raja's son told the old woman that he intended to
+marry the princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this
+country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rajas and
+Rajas' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them
+all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do
+whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if
+he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things
+the king tells him to do; so all the Rajas and Rajas' sons who have
+tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do
+go away." But the prince would not listen to anything she said.
+
+The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his
+servants brought the Raja's son to the king's court-house to the king.
+There the king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to
+crush all the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him
+to the court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to
+the prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have
+him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard
+seed, you will die."
+
+The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil
+out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if
+I do not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old
+woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the
+Ant-Raja, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Raja and his ants came to
+him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Raja.
+
+The prince showed him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I
+crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not
+take the oil to the king to-morrow morning, he will kill me."
+
+"Be happy," said the Ant-Raja; "lie down and sleep; we will crush all
+the oil out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall
+take it to the king." The Raja's son lay down and slept, and the ants
+crushed out the oil for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the
+oil.
+
+The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the
+king said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so,
+you must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a
+long time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what
+to do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let
+them loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country;
+and he did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons
+who wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these
+demons; "for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be
+killed, and then I shall be rid of them."
+
+When he heard of the demons the Raja's son was very sad. "What can I
+do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then
+he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and
+said, "Why are you so sad?" The Raja's son answered, "The king has
+ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do
+this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my
+wife will fight with them for you."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then the Raja's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were
+all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he
+put on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the
+king, and said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?"
+"Yes," said the king, who did not care in the least who killed his
+demons, provided they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the
+Raja's son, "and these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and
+the tigers and the demons fought and fought until the tigers had
+killed the demons.
+
+"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before
+I give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must
+go and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you."
+
+The Raja's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old
+woman's house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the
+sky is the king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up
+with him, and the Raja's son beat the drum, and the king heard him.
+Still, when he came down, the king would not give him his daughter.
+"You have," he said to the prince, "done the three things I told you
+to do; but you must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the
+Raja's son.
+
+Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his
+court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax
+hatchet, and said, "To-morrow morning you must cut this trunk in two
+with this wax hatchet."
+
+The Raja's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad,
+and thought that now the Raja would certainly kill him. "I had his oil
+crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons killed
+by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But now what
+can I do? How can I cut that thick tree-trunk in two with a wax
+hatchet?"
+
+At night he went on his bed to see the princess. "To-morrow," he said
+to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the princess.
+
+"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet.
+How can I ever do that?" said the Raja's son. "Do not be afraid," said
+the princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite
+easily."
+
+Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince.
+"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the
+tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labam commands you to let yourself be cut in
+two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax
+hatchet's blade."
+
+The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the
+minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade
+touched the tree-trunk it split into two pieces.
+
+The king said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took
+place. All the Rajas and kings of the countries round were asked to
+come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the
+prince's son said to his wife, "Let us go to my father's country." The
+Princess Labam's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and
+rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's
+country, where they lived happily.
+
+The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only, as no one
+ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick.
+
+
+
+
+The Lambikin
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a wee wee Lambikin, who frolicked about on
+his little tottery legs, and enjoyed himself amazingly.
+
+Now one day he set off to visit his Granny, and was jumping with joy
+to think of all the good things he should get from her, when who
+should he meet but a Jackal, who looked at the tender young morsel and
+said: "Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk and said:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Jackal thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+By-and-by he met a Vulture, and the Vulture, looking hungrily at the
+tender morsel before him, said: "Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk, and said:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Vulture thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+And by-and-by he met a Tiger, and then a Wolf, and a Dog, and an
+Eagle, and all these, when they saw the tender little morsel, said:
+"Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But to all of them Lambikin replied, with a little frisk:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+At last he reached his Granny's house, and said, all in a great hurry,
+"Granny, dear, I've promised to get very fat; so, as people ought to
+keep their promises, please put me into the corn-bin _at once_."
+
+So his Granny said he was a good boy, and put him into the corn-bin,
+and there the greedy little Lambikin stayed for seven days, and ate,
+and ate, and ate, until he could scarcely waddle, and his Granny said
+he was fat enough for anything, and must go home. But cunning little
+Lambikin said that would never do, for some animal would be sure to
+eat him on the way back, he was so plump and tender.
+
+"I'll tell you what you must do," said Master Lambikin, "you must make
+a little drumikin out of the skin of my little brother who died, and
+then I can sit inside and trundle along nicely, for I'm as tight as a
+drum myself."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+So his Granny made a nice little drumikin out of his brother's skin,
+with the wool inside, and Lambikin curled himself up snug and warm in
+the middle, and trundled away gaily. Soon he met with the Eagle, who
+called out:
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Mr. Lambikin, curled up in his soft warm nest, replied:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin.  Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+"How very annoying!" sighed the Eagle, thinking regretfully of the
+tender morsel he had let slip.
+
+Meanwhile Lambikin trundled along, laughing to himself, and singing:
+
+    "Tum-pa, tum-too;
+    Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Every animal and bird he met asked him the same question:
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And to each of them the little slyboots replied:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin. Tum-pa, tum too;
+    Tum-pa, tum-too; Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Then they all sighed to think of the tender little morsel they had let
+slip.
+
+At last the Jackal came limping along, for all his sorry looks as
+sharp as a needle, and he too called out--
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Lambikin, curled up in his snug little nest, replied gaily:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin! Tum-pa----"
+
+But he never got any further, for the Jackal recognised his voice at
+once, and cried: "Hullo! you've turned yourself inside out, have you?
+Just you come out of that!"
+
+Whereupon he tore open Drumikin and gobbled up Lambikin.
+
+
+
+
+Punchkin
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven beautiful daughters.
+They were all good girls; but the youngest, named Balna, was more
+clever than the rest. The Raja's wife died when they were quite little
+children, so these seven poor Princesses were left with no mother to
+take care of them.
+
+The Raja's daughters took it by turns to cook their father's dinner
+every day, whilst he was absent deliberating with his Ministers on the
+affairs of the nation.
+
+About this time the Prudhan died, leaving a widow and one daughter;
+and every day, every day, when the seven Princesses were preparing
+their father's dinner, the Prudhan's widow and daughter would come and
+beg for a little fire from the hearth. Then Balna used to say to her
+sisters, "Send that woman away; send her away. Let her get the fire at
+her own house. What does she want with ours? If we allow her to come
+here, we shall suffer for it some day."
+
+But the other sisters would answer, "Be quiet, Balna; why must you
+always be quarrelling with this poor woman? Let her take some fire if
+she likes." Then the Prudhan's widow used to go to the hearth and take
+a few sticks from it; and whilst no one was looking, she would quickly
+throw some mud into the midst of the dishes which were being prepared
+for the Raja's dinner.
+
+Now the Raja was very fond of his daughters. Ever since their mother's
+death they had cooked his dinner with their own hands, in order to
+avoid the danger of his being poisoned by his enemies. So, when he
+found the mud mixed up with his dinner, he thought it must arise from
+their carelessness, as it did not seem likely that any one should have
+put mud there on purpose; but being very kind he did not like to
+reprove them for it, although this spoiling of the curry was repeated
+many successive days.
+
+At last, one day, he determined to hide, and watch his daughters
+cooking, and see how it all happened; so he went into the next room,
+and watched them through a hole in the wall.
+
+There he saw his seven daughters carefully washing the rice and
+preparing the curry, and as each dish was completed, they put it by
+the fire ready to be cooked. Next he noticed the Prudhan's widow come
+to the door, and beg for a few sticks from the fire to cook her
+dinner with. Balna turned to her, angrily, and said, "Why don't you
+keep fuel in your own house, and not come here every day and take
+ours? Sisters, don't give this woman any more wood; let her buy it for
+herself."
+
+Then the eldest sister answered, "Balna, let the poor woman take the
+wood and the fire; she does us no harm." But Balna replied, "If you
+let her come here so often, maybe she will do us some harm, and make
+us sorry for it, some day."
+
+The Raja then saw the Prudhan's widow go to the place where all his
+dinner was nicely prepared, and, as she took the wood, she threw a
+little mud into each of the dishes.
+
+At this he was very angry, and sent to have the woman seized and
+brought before him. But when the widow came, she told him that she had
+played this trick because she wanted to gain an audience with him; and
+she spoke so cleverly, and pleased him so well with her cunning words,
+that instead of punishing her, the Raja married her, and made her his
+Ranee, and she and her daughter came to live in the palace.
+
+Now the new Ranee hated the seven poor Princesses, and wanted to get
+them, if possible, out of the way, in order that her daughter might
+have all their riches, and live in the palace as Princess in their
+place; and instead of being grateful to them for their kindness to
+her, she did all she could to make them miserable. She gave them
+nothing but bread to eat, and very little of that, and very little
+water to drink; so these seven poor little Princesses, who had been
+accustomed to have everything comfortable about them, and good food
+and good clothes all their lives long, were very miserable and
+unhappy; and they used to go out every day and sit by their dead
+mother's tomb and cry--and say:
+
+"Oh mother, mother, cannot you see your poor children, how unhappy we
+are, and how we are starved by our cruel step-mother?"
+
+One day, whilst they were thus sobbing and crying, lo and behold! a
+beautiful pomelo tree grew up out of the grave, covered with fresh
+ripe pomeloes, and the children satisfied their hunger by eating some
+of the fruit, and every day after this, instead of trying to eat the
+bad dinner their step-mother provided for them, they used to go out to
+their mother's grave and eat the pomeloes which grew there on the
+beautiful tree.
+
+Then the Ranee said to her daughter, "I cannot tell how it is, every
+day those seven girls say they don't want any dinner, and won't eat
+any; and yet they never grow thin nor look ill; they look better than
+you do. I cannot tell how it is." And she bade her watch the seven
+Princesses, and see if any one gave them anything to eat.
+
+So next day, when the Princesses went to their mother's grave, and
+were eating the beautiful pomeloes, the Prudhan's daughter followed
+them, and saw them gathering the fruit.
+
+Then Balna said to her sisters, "Do you not see that girl watching us?
+Let us drive her away, or hide the pomeloes, else she will go and tell
+her mother all about it, and that will be very bad for us."
+
+But the other sisters said, "Oh no, do not be unkind, Balna. The girl
+would never be so cruel as to tell her mother. Let us rather invite
+her to come and have some of the fruit." And calling her to them,
+they gave her one of the pomeloes.
+
+No sooner had she eaten it, however, than the Prudhan's daughter went
+home and said to her mother, "I do not wonder the seven Princesses
+will not eat the dinner you prepare for them, for by their mother's
+grave there grows a beautiful pomelo tree, and they go there every day
+and eat the pomeloes. I ate one, and it was the nicest I have ever
+tasted."
+
+The cruel Ranee was much vexed at hearing this, and all next day she
+stayed in her room, and told the Raja that she had a very bad
+headache. The Raja was deeply grieved, and said to his wife, "What can
+I do for you?" She answered, "There is only one thing that will make
+my headache well. By your dead wife's tomb there grows a fine pomelo
+tree; you must bring that here, and boil it, root and branch, and put
+a little of the water in which it has been boiled, on my forehead, and
+that will cure my headache." So the Raja sent his servants, and had
+the beautiful pomelo tree pulled up by the roots, and did as the Ranee
+desired; and when some of the water, in which it had been boiled, was
+put on her forehead, she said her headache was gone and she felt quite
+well.
+
+Next day, when the seven Princesses went as usual to the grave of
+their mother, the pomelo tree had disappeared. Then they all began to
+cry very bitterly.
+
+Now there was by the Ranee's tomb a small tank, and as they were
+crying they saw that the tank was filled with a rich cream-like
+substance, which quickly hardened into a thick white cake. At seeing
+this all the Princesses were very glad, and they ate some of the cake,
+and liked it; and next day the same thing happened, and so it went on
+for many days. Every morning the Princesses went to their mother's
+grave, and found the little tank filled with the nourishing cream-like
+cake. Then the cruel step-mother said to her daughter: "I cannot tell
+how it is, I have had the pomelo tree which used to grow by the
+Ranee's grave destroyed, and yet the Princesses grow no thinner, nor
+look more sad, though they never eat the dinner I give them. I cannot
+tell how it is!"
+
+And her daughter said, "I will watch."
+
+Next day, while the Princesses were eating the cream cake, who should
+come by but their step-mother's daughter. Balna saw her first, and
+said, "See, sisters, there comes that girl again. Let us sit round the
+edge of the tank and not allow her to see it, for if we give her some
+of our cake, she will go and tell her mother; and that will be very
+unfortunate for us."
+
+The other sisters, however, thought Balna unnecessarily suspicious,
+and instead of following her advice, they gave the Prudhan's daughter
+some of the cake, and she went home and told her mother all about it.
+
+The Ranee, on hearing how well the Princesses fared, was exceedingly
+angry, and sent her servants to pull down the dead Ranee's tomb, and
+fill the little tank with the ruins. And not content with this, she
+next day pretended to be very, very ill--in fact, at the point of
+death--and when the Raja was much grieved, and asked her whether it
+was in his power to procure her any remedy, she said to him: "Only one
+thing can save my life, but I know you will not do it." He replied,
+"Yes, whatever it is, I will do it." She then said, "To save my life,
+you must kill the seven daughters of your first wife, and put some of
+their blood on my forehead and on the palms of my hands, and their
+death will be my life." At these words the Raja was very sorrowful;
+but because he feared to break his word, he went out with a heavy
+heart to find his daughters.
+
+He found them crying by the ruins of their mother's grave.
+
+Then, feeling he could not kill them, the Raja spoke kindly to them,
+and told them to come out into the jungle with him; and there he made
+a fire and cooked some rice, and gave it to them. But in the
+afternoon, it being very hot, the seven Princesses all fell asleep,
+and when he saw they were fast asleep, the Raja, their father, stole
+away and left them (for he feared his wife), saying to himself: "It is
+better my poor daughters should die here, than be killed by their
+step-mother."
+
+He then shot a deer, and returning home, put some of its blood on the
+forehead and hands of the Ranee, and she thought then that he had
+really killed the Princesses, and said she felt quite well.
+
+Meantime the seven Princesses awoke, and when they found themselves
+all alone in the thick jungle they were much frightened, and began to
+call out as loud as they could, in hopes of making their father hear;
+but he was by that time far away, and would not have been able to hear
+them even had their voices been as loud as thunder.
+
+It so happened that this very day the seven young sons of a
+neighbouring Raja chanced to be hunting in that same jungle, and as
+they were returning home, after the day's sport was over, the youngest
+Prince said to his brothers: "Stop, I think I hear some one crying and
+calling out. Do you not hear voices? Let us go in the direction of
+the sound, and find out what it is."
+
+So the seven Princes rode through the wood until they came to the
+place where the seven Princesses sat crying and wringing their hands.
+At the sight of them the young Princes were very much astonished, and
+still more so on learning their story; and they settled that each
+should take one of these poor forlorn ladies home with him, and marry
+her.
+
+So the first and eldest Prince took the eldest Princess home with him,
+and married her.
+
+And the second took the second;
+
+And the third took the third;
+
+And the fourth took the fourth;
+
+And the fifth took the fifth;
+
+And the sixth took the sixth;
+
+And the seventh, and the handsomest of all, took the beautiful Balna.
+
+And when they got to their own land, there was great rejoicing
+throughout the kingdom, at the marriage of the seven young Princes to
+seven such beautiful Princesses.
+
+About a year after this Balna had a little son, and his uncles and
+aunts were so fond of the boy that it was as if he had seven fathers
+and seven mothers. None of the other Princes and Princesses had any
+children, so the son of the seventh Prince and Balna was acknowledged
+their heir by all the rest.
+
+They had thus lived very happily for some time, when one fine day the
+seventh Prince (Balna's husband) said he would go out hunting, and
+away he went; and they waited long for him, but he never came back.
+
+Then his six brothers said they would go and see what had become of
+him; and they went away, but they also did not return.
+
+And the seven Princesses grieved very much, for they feared that their
+kind husbands must have been killed.
+
+One day, not long after this had happened, as Balna was rocking her
+baby's cradle, and whilst her sisters were working in the room below,
+there came to the palace door a man in a long black dress, who said
+that he was a Fakir, and came to beg. The servants said to him, "You
+cannot go into the palace--the Raja's sons have all gone away; we
+think they must be dead, and their widows cannot be interrupted by
+your begging." But he said, "I am a holy man, you must let me in."
+Then the stupid servants let him walk through the palace, but they did
+not know that this was no Fakir, but a wicked Magician named Punchkin.
+
+Punchkin Fakir wandered through the palace, and saw many beautiful
+things there, till at last he reached the room where Balna sat singing
+beside her little boy's cradle. The Magician thought her more
+beautiful than all the other beautiful things he had seen, insomuch
+that he asked her to go home with him and to marry him. But she said,
+"My husband, I fear, is dead, but my little boy is still quite young;
+I will stay here and teach him to grow up a clever man, and when he is
+grown up he shall go out into the world, and try and learn tidings of
+his father. Heaven forbid that I should ever leave him, or marry you."
+At these words the Magician was very angry, and turned her into a
+little black dog, and led her away; saying, "Since you will not come
+with me of your own free will, I will make you." So the poor Princess
+was dragged away, without any power of effecting an escape, or of
+letting her sisters know what had become of her. As Punchkin passed
+through the palace gate the servants said to him, "Where did you get
+that pretty little dog?" And he answered, "One of the Princesses gave
+it to me as a present." At hearing which they let him go without
+further questioning.
+
+Soon after this, the six elder Princesses heard the little baby, their
+nephew, begin to cry, and when they went upstairs they were much
+surprised to find him all alone, and Balna nowhere to be seen. Then
+they questioned the servants, and when they heard of the Fakir and the
+little black dog, they guessed what had happened, and sent in every
+direction seeking them, but neither the Fakir nor the dog were to be
+found. What could six poor women do? They gave up all hopes of ever
+seeing their kind husbands, and their sister, and her husband, again,
+and devoted themselves thenceforward to teaching and taking care of
+their little nephew.
+
+Thus time went on, till Balna's son was fourteen years old. Then, one
+day, his aunts told him the history of the family; and no sooner did
+he hear it, than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of
+his father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to
+bring them home again. His aunts, on learning his determination, were
+much alarmed and tried to dissuade him, saying, "We have lost our
+husbands, and our sister and her husband, and you are now our sole
+hope; if you go away, what shall we do?" But he replied, "I pray you
+not to be discouraged; I will return soon, and if it is possible bring
+my father and mother and uncles with me." So he set out on his
+travels; but for some months he could learn nothing to help him in
+his search.
+
+At last, after he had journeyed many hundreds of weary miles, and
+become almost hopeless of ever hearing anything further of his
+parents, he one day came to a country that seemed full of stones, and
+rocks, and trees, and there he saw a large palace with a high tower;
+hard by which was a Malee's little house.
+
+As he was looking about, the Malee's wife saw him, and ran out of the
+house and said, "My dear boy, who are you that dare venture to this
+dangerous place?" He answered, "I am a Raja's son, and I come in
+search of my father, and my uncles, and my mother whom a wicked
+enchanter bewitched."
+
+Then the Malee's wife said, "This country and this palace belong to a
+great enchanter; he is all powerful, and if any one displeases him, he
+can turn them into stones and trees. All the rocks and trees you see
+here were living people once, and the Magician turned them to what
+they now are. Some time ago a Raja's son came here, and shortly
+afterwards came his six brothers, and they were all turned into stones
+and trees; and these are not the only unfortunate ones, for up in that
+tower lives a beautiful Princess, whom the Magician has kept prisoner
+there for twelve years, because she hates him and will not marry him."
+
+Then the little Prince thought, "These must be my parents and my
+uncles. I have found what I seek at last." So he told his story to the
+Malee's wife, and begged her to help him to remain in that place
+awhile and inquire further concerning the unhappy people she
+mentioned; and she promised to befriend him, and advised his
+disguising himself lest the Magician should see him, and turn him
+likewise into stone. To this the Prince agreed. So the Malee's wife
+dressed him up in a saree, and pretended that he was her daughter.
+
+One day, not long after this, as the Magician was walking in his
+garden he saw the little girl (as he thought) playing about, and asked
+her who she was. She told him she was the Malee's daughter, and the
+Magician said, "You are a pretty little girl, and to-morrow you shall
+take a present of flowers from me to the beautiful lady who lives in
+the tower."
+
+The young Prince was much delighted at hearing this, and went
+immediately to inform the Malee's wife; after consultation with whom
+he determined that it would be more safe for him to retain his
+disguise, and trust to the chance of a favourable opportunity for
+establishing some communication with his mother, if it were indeed
+she.
+
+Now it happened that at Balna's marriage her husband had given her a
+small gold ring on which her name was engraved, and she had put it on
+her little son's finger when he was a baby, and afterwards when he was
+older his aunts had had it enlarged for him, so that he was still able
+to wear it. The Malee's wife advised him to fasten the well-known
+treasure to one of the bouquets he presented to his mother, and trust
+to her recognising it. This was not to be done without difficulty, as
+such a strict watch was kept over the poor Princess (for fear of her
+ever establishing communication with her friends), that though the
+supposed Malee's daughter was permitted to take her flowers every day,
+the Magician or one of his slaves was always in the room at the time.
+At last one day, however, opportunity favoured him, and when no one
+was looking, the boy tied the ring to a nosegay, and threw it at
+Balna's feet. It fell with a clang on the floor, and Balna, looking to
+see what made the strange sound, found the little ring tied to the
+flowers. On recognising it, she at once believed the story her son
+told her of his long search, and begged him to advise her as to what
+she had better do; at the same time entreating him on no account to
+endanger his life by trying to rescue her. She told him that for
+twelve long years the Magician had kept her shut up in the tower
+because she refused to marry him, and she was so closely guarded that
+she saw no hope of release.
+
+Now Balna's son was a bright, clever boy, so he said, "Do not fear,
+dear mother; the first thing to do is to discover how far the
+Magician's power extends, in order that we may be able to liberate my
+father and uncles, whom he has imprisoned in the form of rocks and
+trees. You have spoken to him angrily for twelve long years; now
+rather speak kindly. Tell him you have given up all hopes of again
+seeing the husband you have so long mourned, and say you are willing
+to marry him. Then endeavour to find out what his power consists in,
+and whether he is immortal, or can be put to death."
+
+Balna determined to take her son's advice; and the next day sent for
+Punchkin, and spoke to him as had been suggested.
+
+The Magician, greatly delighted, begged her to allow the wedding to
+take place as soon as possible.
+
+But she told him that before she married him he must allow her a
+little more time, in which she might make his acquaintance, and that,
+after being enemies so long, their friendship could but strengthen by
+degrees. "And do tell me," she said, "are you quite immortal? Can
+death never touch you? And are you too great an enchanter ever to feel
+human suffering?"
+
+"Why do you ask?" said he.
+
+"Because," she replied, "if I am to be your wife, I would fain know
+all about you, in order, if any calamity threatens you, to overcome,
+or if possible to avert it."
+
+"It is true," he added, "that I am not as others. Far, far away,
+hundreds of thousands of miles from this, there lies a desolate
+country covered with thick jungle. In the midst of the jungle grows a
+circle of palm trees, and in the centre of the circle stand six
+chattees full of water, piled one above another: below the sixth
+chattee is a small cage which contains a little green parrot; on the
+life of the parrot depends my life; and if the parrot is killed I must
+die. It is, however," he added, "impossible that the parrot should
+sustain any injury, both on account of the inaccessibility of the
+country, and because, by my appointment, many thousand genii surround
+the palm trees, and kill all who approach the place."
+
+Balna told her son what Punchkin had said; but at the same time
+implored him to give up all idea of getting the parrot.
+
+The Prince, however, replied, "Mother, unless I can get hold of that
+parrot, you, and my father, and uncles, cannot be liberated: be not
+afraid, I will shortly return. Do you, meantime, keep the Magician in
+good humour--still putting off your marriage with him on various
+pretexts; and before he finds out the cause of delay, I will be here."
+So saying, he went away.
+
+Many, many weary miles did he travel, till at last he came to a thick
+jungle; and, being very tired, sat down under a tree and fell asleep.
+He was awakened by a soft rustling sound, and looking about him, saw a
+large serpent which was making its way to an eagle's nest built in the
+tree under which he lay, and in the nest were two young eagles. The
+Prince seeing the danger of the young birds, drew his sword, and
+killed the serpent; at the same moment a rushing sound was heard in
+the air, and the two old eagles, who had been out hunting for food for
+their young ones, returned. They quickly saw the dead serpent and the
+young Prince standing over it; and the old mother eagle said to him,
+"Dear boy, for many years all our young ones have been devoured by
+that cruel serpent; you have now saved the lives of our children;
+whenever you are in need, therefore, send to us and we will help you;
+and as for these little eagles, take them, and let them be your
+servants."
+
+At this the Prince was very glad, and the two eaglets crossed their
+wings, on which he mounted; and they carried him far, far away over
+the thick jungles, until he came to the place where grew the circle of
+palm trees, in the midst of which stood the six chattees full of
+water. It was the middle of the day, and the heat was very great. All
+round the trees were the genii fast asleep; nevertheless, there were
+such countless thousands of them, that it would have been quite
+impossible for any one to walk through their ranks to the place; down
+swooped the strong-winged eaglets--down jumped the Prince; in an
+instant he had overthrown the six chattees full of water, and seized
+the little green parrot, which he rolled up in his cloak; while, as
+he mounted again into the air, all the genii below awoke, and finding
+their treasure gone, set up a wild and melancholy howl.
+
+Away, away flew the little eagles, till they came to their home in the
+great tree; then the Prince said to the old eagles, "Take back your
+little ones; they have done me good service; if ever again I stand in
+need of help, I will not fail to come to you." He then continued his
+journey on foot till he arrived once more at the Magician's palace,
+where he sat down at the door and began playing with the parrot.
+Punchkin saw him, and came to him quickly, and said, "My boy, where
+did you get that parrot? Give it to me, I pray you."
+
+But the Prince answered, "Oh no, I cannot give away my parrot, it is a
+great pet of mine; I have had it many years."
+
+Then the Magician said, "If it is an old favourite, I can understand
+your not caring to give it away; but come what will you sell it for?"
+
+"Sir," replied the Prince, "I will not sell my parrot."
+
+Then Punchkin got frightened, and said, "Anything, anything; name what
+price you will, and it shall be yours." The Prince answered, "Let the
+seven Raja's sons whom you turned into rocks and trees be instantly
+liberated."
+
+"It is done as you desire," said the Magician, "only give me my
+parrot." And with that, by a stroke of his wand, Balna's husband and
+his brothers resumed their natural shapes. "Now, give me my parrot,"
+repeated Punchkin.
+
+"Not so fast, my master," rejoined the Prince; "I must first
+beg that you will restore to life all whom you have thus imprisoned."
+
+[Illustration: Punchkin's Prisoners are set free.]
+
+The Magician immediately waved his wand again; and, whilst he cried,
+in an imploring voice, "Give me my parrot!" the whole garden became
+suddenly alive: where rocks, and stones, and trees had been before,
+stood Rajas, and Punts, and Sirdars, and mighty men on prancing
+horses, and jewelled pages, and troops of armed attendants.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried Punchkin. Then the boy took hold of the
+parrot, and tore off one of its wings; and as he did so the Magician's
+right arm fell off.
+
+Punchkin then stretched out his left arm, crying, "Give me my parrot!"
+The Prince pulled off the parrot's second wing, and the Magician's
+left arm tumbled off.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried he, and fell on his knees. The Prince
+pulled off the parrot's right leg, the Magician's right leg fell off:
+the Prince pulled off the parrot's left leg, down fell the Magician's
+left.
+
+Nothing remained of him save the limbless body and the head; but still
+he rolled his eyes, and cried, "Give me my parrot!" "Take your parrot,
+then," cried the boy, and with that he wrung the bird's neck, and
+threw it at the Magician; and, as he did so, Punchkin's head twisted
+round, and, with a fearful groan, he died!
+
+Then they let Balna out of the tower; and she, her son, and the seven
+Princes went to their own country, and lived very happily ever
+afterwards. And as to the rest of the world, every one went to his own
+house.
+
+
+
+
+The Broken Pot
+
+
+There lived in a certain place a Brahman, whose name was
+Svabhavak_ri_pa_n_a, which means "a born miser." He had collected a
+quantity of rice by begging, and after having dined off it, he filled
+a pot with what was left over. He hung the pot on a peg on the wall,
+placed his couch beneath, and looking intently at it all the night, he
+thought, "Ah, that pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if there should
+be a famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. With this
+I shall buy a couple of goats. They will have young ones every six
+months, and thus I shall have a whole herd of goats. Then, with the
+goats, I shall buy cows. As soon as they have calved, I shall sell the
+calves. Then, with the calves, I shall buy buffaloes; with the
+buffaloes, mares. When the mares have foaled, I shall have plenty of
+horses; and when I sell them, plenty of gold. With that gold I shall
+get a house with four wings. And then a Brahman will come to my house,
+and will give me his beautiful daughter, with a large dowry. She will
+have a son, and I shall call him Somasarman.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+When he is old enough to be danced on his father's knee, I shall sit
+with a book at the back of the stable, and while I am reading, the boy
+will see me, jump from his mother's lap, and run towards me to be
+danced on my knee. He will come too near the horse's hoof, and, full
+of anger, I shall call to my wife, 'Take the baby; take him!' But she,
+distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me. Then I get up, and
+give her such a kick with my foot." While he thought this, he gave a
+kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell over him, and
+made him quite white. Therefore, I say, "He who makes foolish plans
+for the future will be white all over, like the father of
+Somasarman."
+
+
+
+
+The Magic Fiddle
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived seven brothers and a sister. The brothers
+were married, but their wives did not do the cooking for the family.
+It was done by their sister, who stopped at home to cook. The wives
+for this reason bore their sister-in-law much ill-will, and at length
+they combined together to oust her from the office of cook and general
+provider, so that one of themselves might obtain it. They said, "She
+does not go out to the fields to work, but remains quietly at home,
+and yet she has not the meals ready at the proper time." They then
+called upon their Bonga, and vowing vows unto him they secured his
+good-will and assistance; then they said to the Bonga, "At midday when
+our sister-in-law goes to bring water, cause it thus to happen, that
+on seeing her pitcher the water shall vanish, and again slowly
+re-appear. In this way she will be delayed. Let the water not flow
+into her pitcher, and you may keep the maiden as your own."
+
+At noon when she went to bring water, it suddenly dried up before her,
+and she began to weep. Then after a while the water began slowly to
+rise. When it reached her ankles she tried to fill her pitcher, but it
+would not go under the water. Being frightened she began to wail and
+cry to her brother:
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise until it reached her knee, when she began
+to wail again:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise, and when it reached her waist, she cried
+again:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water still rose, and when it reached her neck she kept on crying:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+At length the water became so deep that she felt herself drowning,
+then she cried aloud:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water measures a man's height,
+    Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill."
+
+The pitcher filled with water, and along with it she sank and was
+drowned. The Bonga then transformed her into a Bonga like himself, and
+carried her off.
+
+After a time she re-appeared as a bamboo growing on the embankment of
+the tank in which she had been drowned. When the bamboo had grown to
+an immense size, a Jogi, who was in the habit of passing that way,
+seeing it, said to himself, "This will make a splendid fiddle." So one
+day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin,
+the bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up." When
+he lifted his axe to cut high up the stem, the bamboo cried out, "Do
+not cut near the top, cut at the root." When the Jogi again prepared
+himself to cut at the root as requested, the bamboo said, "Do not cut
+at the root, cut higher up;" and when he was about to cut higher up,
+it again called out to him, "Do not cut high up, cut at the root." The
+Jogi by this time felt sure that a Bonga was trying to frighten him,
+so becoming angry he cut down the bamboo at the root, and taking it
+away made a fiddle out of it. The instrument had a superior tone and
+delighted all who heard it. The Jogi carried it with him when he went
+a-begging, and through the influence of its sweet music he returned
+home every evening with a full wallet.
+
+He now and then visited, when on his rounds, the house of the Bonga
+girl's brothers, and the strains of the fiddle affected them greatly.
+Some of them were moved even to tears, for the fiddle seemed to wail
+as one in bitter anguish. The elder brother wished to purchase it, and
+offered to support the Jogi for a whole year if he would consent to
+part with his wonderful instrument. The Jogi, however, knew its value,
+and refused to sell it.
+
+It so happened that the Jogi some time after went to the house of a
+village chief, and after playing a tune or two on his fiddle asked for
+something to eat. They offered to buy his fiddle and promised a high
+price for it, but he refused to sell it, as his fiddle brought to him
+his means of livelihood. When they saw that he was not to be prevailed
+upon, they gave him food and a plentiful supply of liquor. Of the
+latter he drank so freely that he presently became intoxicated. While
+he was in this condition, they took away his fiddle, and substituted
+their own old one for it. When the Jogi recovered, he missed his
+instrument, and suspecting that it had been stolen asked them to
+return it to him. They denied having taken it, so he had to depart,
+leaving his fiddle behind him. The chief's son, being a musician, used
+to play on the Jogi's fiddle, and in his hands the music it gave forth
+delighted the ears of all who heard it.
+
+When all the household were absent at their labours in the fields, the
+Bonga girl used to come out of the bamboo fiddle, and prepared the
+family meal. Having eaten her own share, she placed that of the
+chief's son under his bed, and covering it up to keep off the dust,
+re-entered the fiddle. This happening every day, the other members of
+the household thought that some girl friend of theirs was in this
+manner showing her interest in the young man, so they did not trouble
+themselves to find out how it came about. The young chief, however,
+was determined to watch, and see which of his girl friends was so
+attentive to his comfort. He said in his own mind, "I will catch her
+to-day, and give her a sound beating; she is causing me to be ashamed
+before the others." So saying, he hid himself in a corner in a pile of
+firewood. In a short time the girl came out of the bamboo fiddle, and
+began to dress her hair. Having completed her toilet, she cooked the
+meal of rice as usual, and having eaten some herself, she placed the
+young man's portion under his bed, as before, and was about to enter
+the fiddle again, when he, running out from his hiding-place, caught
+her in his arms. The Bonga girl exclaimed, "Fie! Fie! you may be a
+Dom, or you may be a Hadi of some other caste with whom I cannot
+marry." He said, "No. But from to-day, you and I are one." So they
+began lovingly to hold converse with each other. When the others
+returned home in the evening, they saw that she was both a human being
+and a Bonga, and they rejoiced exceedingly.
+
+Now in course of time the Bonga girl's family became very poor, and
+her brothers on one occasion came to the chief's house on a visit.
+
+The Bonga girl recognised them at once, but they did not know who she
+was. She brought them water on their arrival, and afterwards set
+cooked rice before them. Then sitting down near them, she began in
+wailing tones to upbraid them on account of the treatment she had been
+subjected to by their wives. She related all that had befallen her,
+and wound up by saying, "You must have known it all, and yet you did
+not interfere to save me." And that was all the revenge she took.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+The Cruel Crane Outwitted
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Long ago the Bodisat was born to a forest life as the Genius of a tree
+standing near a certain lotus pond.
+
+Now at that time the water used to run short at the dry season in a
+certain pond, not over large, in which there were a good many fish.
+And a crane thought on seeing the fish:
+
+"I must outwit these fish somehow or other and make a prey of them."
+
+And he went and sat down at the edge of the water, thinking how he
+should do it.
+
+When the fish saw him, they asked him, "What are you sitting there
+for, lost in thought?"
+
+"I am sitting thinking about you," said he.
+
+"Oh, sir! what are you thinking about us?" said they.
+
+"Why," he replied; "there is very little water in this pond, and but
+little for you to eat; and the heat is so great! So I was thinking,
+'What in the world will these fish do now?'"
+
+"Yes, indeed, sir! what _are_ we to do?" said they.
+
+"If you will only do as I bid you, I will take you in my beak to a
+fine large pond, covered with all the kinds of lotuses, and put you
+into it," answered the crane.
+
+"That a crane should take thought for the fishes is a thing unheard
+of, sir, since the world began. It's eating us, one after the other,
+that you're aiming at."
+
+"Not I! So long as you trust me, I won't eat you. But if you don't
+believe me that there is such a pond, send one of you with me to go
+and see it."
+
+Then they trusted him, and handed over to him one of their number--a
+big fellow, blind of one eye, whom they thought sharp enough in any
+emergency, afloat or ashore.
+
+Him the crane took with him, let him go in the pond, showed him the
+whole of it, brought him back, and let him go again close to the other
+fish. And he told them all the glories of the pond.
+
+And when they heard what he said, they exclaimed, "All right, sir! You
+may take us with you."
+
+Then the crane took the old purblind fish first to the bank of the
+other pond, and alighted in a Varana-tree growing on the bank there.
+But he threw it into a fork of the tree, struck it with his beak, and
+killed it; and then ate its flesh, and threw its bones away at the
+foot of the tree. Then he went back and called out:
+
+"I've thrown that fish in; let another one come."
+
+And in that manner he took all the fish, one by one, and ate them,
+till he came back and found no more!
+
+But there was still a crab left behind there; and the crane thought he
+would eat him too, and called out:
+
+"I say, good crab, I've taken all the fish away, and put them into a
+fine large pond. Come along. I'll take you too!"
+
+"But how will you take hold of me to carry me along?"
+
+"I'll bite hold of you with my beak."
+
+"You'll let me fall if you carry me like that. I won't go with you!"
+
+"Don't be afraid! I'll hold you quite tight all the way."
+
+Then said the crab to himself, "If this fellow once got hold of fish,
+he would never let them go in a pond! Now if he should really put me
+into the pond, it would be capital; but if he doesn't--then I'll cut
+his throat, and kill him!" So he said to him:
+
+"Look here, friend, you won't be able to hold me tight enough; but we
+crabs have a famous grip. If you let me catch hold of you round the
+neck with my claws, I shall be glad to go with you."
+
+And the other did not see that he was trying to outwit him, and
+agreed. So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely
+as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, "Off with you,
+now!"
+
+And the crane took him and showed him the pond, and then turned off
+towards the Varana-tree.
+
+"Uncle!" cried the crab, "the pond lies that way, but you are taking
+me this way!"
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" answered the crane. "Your dear little uncle,
+your very sweet nephew, you call me! You mean me to understand, I
+suppose, that I am your slave, who has to lift you up and carry you
+about with him! Now cast your eye upon the heap of fish-bones lying at
+the root of yonder Varana-tree. Just as I have eaten those fish, every
+one of them, just so I will devour you as well!"
+
+"Ah! those fishes got eaten through their own stupidity," answered the
+crab; "but I'm not going to let you eat _me_. On the contrary, is it
+_you_ that I am going to destroy. For you in your folly have not seen
+that I was outwitting you. If we die, we die both together; for I will
+cut off this head of yours, and cast it to the ground!" And so saying,
+he gave the crane's neck a grip with his claws, as with a vice.
+
+Then gasping, and with tears trickling from his eyes, and trembling
+with the fear of death, the crane beseeched him, saying, "O my Lord!
+Indeed I did not intend to eat you. Grant me my life!"
+
+"Well, well! step down into the pond, and put me in there."
+
+And he turned round and stepped down into the pond, and placed the
+crab on the mud at its edge. But the crab cut through its neck as
+clean as one would cut a lotus-stalk with a hunting-knife, and then
+only entered the water!
+
+When the Genius who lived in the Varana-tree saw this strange affair,
+he made the wood resound with his plaudits, uttering in a pleasant
+voice the verse:
+
+    "The villain, though exceeding clever,
+    Shall prosper not by his villainy.
+    He may win indeed, sharp-witted in deceit,
+    But only as the Crane here from the Crab!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+Loving Laili
+
+
+Once there was a king called King Dantal, who had a great many rupees
+and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnun,
+who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red
+cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing
+with the Wazir's son, Husain Mahamat, in King Dantal's garden, which
+was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees.
+They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat
+them. King Dantal had a teacher for them to teach them to read and
+write.
+
+One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnun said
+to his father, "Husain Mahamat and I should like to go and hunt." His
+father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else
+they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phalana country,
+hunting all the way, but they only founds jackals and birds.
+
+The Raja of the Phalana country was called Munsuk Raja, and he had a
+daughter named Laili, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and
+black hair.
+
+One night, some time before Prince Majnun came to her father's
+kingdom, as she slept, Khuda sent to her an angel in the form of a man
+who told her that she should marry Prince Majnun and no one else, and
+that this was Khuda's command to her. When Laili woke she told her
+father of the angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid
+no attention to her story. From that time she began repeating,
+"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun," and would say nothing else. Even as
+she sat and ate her food she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want
+Majnun." Her father used to get quite vexed with her. "Who is this
+Majnun? who ever heard of this Majnun?" he would say.
+
+"He is the man I am to marry," said Laili. "Khuda has ordered me to
+marry no one but Majnun." And she was half mad.
+
+Meanwhile, Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to hunt in the Phalana
+country; and as they were riding about, Laili came out on her horse to
+eat the air, and rode behind them. All the time she kept saying,
+"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." The prince heard her, and turned
+round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this Laili looked at him, and
+the moment she saw him she fell deeply in love with him, and she said
+to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince Majnun that Khuda says I am
+to marry." And she went home to her father and said, "Father, I wish
+to marry the prince who has come to your kingdom; for I know he is the
+Prince Majnun I am to marry."
+
+"Very well, you shall have him for your husband," said Munsuk Raja.
+"We will ask him to-morrow." Laili consented to wait, although she was
+very impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phalana kingdom
+that night, and when Laili heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She
+would not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants
+said to her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to
+jungle, till she got farther and farther away from her own country.
+All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun;" and so
+she wandered about for twelve years.
+
+At the end of the twelve years she met a fakir--he was really an
+angel, but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always
+say, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun'?" She answered, "I am the
+daughter of the king of the Phalana country, and I want to find Prince
+Majnun; tell me where his kingdom is."
+
+"I think you will never get there," said the fakir, "for it is very
+far from hence, and you have to cross many rivers to reach it." But
+Laili said she did not care; she must see Prince Majnun. "Well," said
+the fakir, "when you come to the Bhagirathi river you will see a big
+fish, a Rohu; and you must get him to carry you to Prince Majnun's
+country, or you will never reach it."
+
+She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhagirathi river.
+There was a great big fish called the Rohu fish. It was yawning just
+as she got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat into its
+stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun." At this the
+Rohu fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast as he
+could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came and
+perched on his back, and said "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said the
+poor fish "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise."
+
+"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down
+and see." So the Rohu opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he
+came up again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said
+the crow, and he flew away. This news did not comfort the poor Rohu,
+and he swam on and on till he came to Prince Majnun's country. There
+he stopped. And a jackal came down to the river to drink. "Oh,
+jackal," said the Rohu, "do tell me what I have inside me."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"How can I tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside
+you." So the Rohu opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down
+his throat; but he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and
+saying, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away
+quickly, I am afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal
+came an enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have
+in my stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun.'"
+
+The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go down and see what
+it is." The snake went down: when he returned he said, "You have a
+Rakshas in your stomach, but if you will let me cut you open, it will
+come out of you." "If you do that, I shall die," said the Rohu. "Oh,
+no," said the snake, "you will not, for I will give you a medicine
+that will make you quite well again." So the fish agreed, and the
+snake got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped Laili.
+
+She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle,
+and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohu; and she was no
+longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his
+back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and
+she wandered on and on till she got to Majnun's court-house, where
+King Majnun was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want
+King Majnun," she said.
+
+So they went in and said to Prince Majnun, "An old woman outside says
+she wants you." "I cannot leave this place," said he; "send her in
+here." They brought her in and the prince asked her what she wanted.
+"I want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four years ago you came
+to my father the Phalana Raja's country, and I wanted to marry you
+then; but you went away without marrying me. Then I went mad, and I
+have wandered about all these years looking for you." Prince Majnun
+said, "Very good."
+
+"Pray to Khuda," said Laili, "to make us both young again, and then we
+shall be married." So the prince prayed to Khuda, and Khuda said to
+him, "Touch Laili's clothes and they will catch fire, and when they
+are on fire, she and you will become young again." When he touched
+Laili's clothes they caught fire, and she and he became young again.
+And there were great feasts, and they were married, and travelled to
+the Phalana country to see her father and mother.
+
+Now Laili's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter that
+they had become quite blind, and her father kept always repeating,
+"Laili, Laili, Laili." When Laili saw their blindness, she prayed to
+Khuda to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as the
+father and mother saw Laili, they hugged her and kissed her, and then
+they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince
+Majnun and Laili stayed with Munsuk Raja and his wife for three years,
+and then they returned to King Dantal, and lived happily for some time
+with him.
+
+They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country to
+country to eat the air and amuse themselves.
+
+One day Prince Majnun said to Laili, "Let us go through this jungle."
+"No, no," said Laili; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will
+happen to me." But Prince Majnun laughed, and went into the jungle.
+And as they were going through it, Khuda thought, "I should like to
+know how much Prince Majnun loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if
+she died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one
+of his angels in the form of a fakir into the jungle; and the angel
+went up to Laili, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she
+fell to the ground a heap of ashes.
+
+Prince Majnun was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Laili
+turned into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his
+father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a
+great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go
+again into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahamat. King
+Dantal wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Laili for my
+wife; I will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnun.
+
+"How can you marry Laili? Laili is dead. She will never come back to
+you," said the father.
+
+"Then I'll not have any wife at all," said Prince Majnun.
+
+Meanwhile Laili was living in the jungle where her husband had left
+her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnun had gone, the fakir had
+taken her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay
+and water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them,
+and so Laili regained her human form, and Khuda sent life into it. But
+Laili had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long
+nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her
+teeth, as she had been when she came out of the Rohu fish; and she
+lived in the jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on
+saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun."
+
+At last the angel who had come as a fakir and thrown the powder at
+her, said to Khuda, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in
+the jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun,'
+and eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnun."
+"Well," said Khuda, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not
+speak to Majnun if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if
+he is afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the
+next day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her
+human shape when Prince Majnun loves her, feeds her with his own food,
+and lets her sleep in his bed."
+
+So the angel came to Laili again as a fakir and carried her to King
+Dantal's garden. "Now," he said, "it is Khuda's command that you stay
+here till Prince Majnun comes to walk in the garden, and then you may
+show yourself to him. But you must not speak to him, if he is afraid
+of you; and should he be afraid of you, you will the next day become a
+little white dog." He then told her what she must do as a little dog
+to regain her human form.
+
+Laili stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince
+Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to walk in the garden. King Dantal was
+now a very old man, and Husain Mahamat, though he was really only as
+old as Prince Majnun, looked a great deal older than the prince, who
+had been made quite young again when he married Laili.
+
+As Prince Majnun and the Wazir's son walked in the garden, they
+gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit
+the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnun was busy
+eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahamat, he
+turned towards him and saw Laili walking behind the Wazir's son. "Oh,
+look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas or
+a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Laili looked at him
+beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness;
+but this only frightened Majnun the more. "It is a Rakshas, a
+Rakshas!" he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazir's
+son; and as they ran away, Laili disappeared into the jungle. They ran
+to King Dantal, and Majnun told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in
+the garden that had come to eat them.
+
+"What nonsense," said his father. "Fancy two grown men being so
+frightened by an old ayah or a fakir! And if it had been a Rakshas, it
+would not have eaten you." Indeed King Dantal did not believe Majnun
+had seen anything at all, till Husain Mahamat said the prince was
+speaking the exact truth. They had the garden searched for the
+terrible old woman, but found nothing, and King Dantal told his son he
+was very silly to be so much frightened. However, Prince Majnun would
+not walk in the garden any more.
+
+The next day Laili turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape
+she came into the palace, where Prince Majnun soon became very fond of
+her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out
+hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnun fed her
+with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the
+little dog slept in his bed.
+
+But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay
+the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and
+now Prince Majnun was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or
+some such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried
+out, "What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Laili
+answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Laili, and I want to
+marry you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle,
+though I begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm
+would happen to me, and then a fakir came and threw powder in my face,
+and I became a heap of ashes. But Khuda gave me my life again, and
+brought me here, after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle
+crying for you, and now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you
+will marry me, I shall not be a little dog any more." Majnun, however,
+said "How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you be Laili? I
+am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in
+great terror.
+
+In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the
+prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old
+woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do
+nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so
+easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in
+great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would came
+back at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you
+can make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old
+woman as you are?"
+
+That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there
+in place of the dog, crying "Majnun, Majnun, I want to marry you. I
+have loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's
+kingdom a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me,
+and we should have been married then if you had not gone away so
+suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you." "Well," said
+Majnun, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I will marry
+you."
+
+Laili said, "Oh, that is quite easy. Khuda will make me a young girl
+again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you
+will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your
+room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it
+when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite
+alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at
+all on." In the morning Laili took her little dog's form, and
+disappeared in the garden.
+
+Prince Majnun told all this to his father, who told him to do all the
+old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazir's son
+walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit.
+"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit."
+Husain Mahamat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till
+he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and
+gather it." So Majnun went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and
+he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am
+afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that
+will eat me."
+
+"No," said King Dantal; "remember, Laili will be naked; you must go
+alone and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in the fruit,
+for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call me with a
+loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not be able to
+eat you."
+
+Then Majnun took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for
+he shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Laili, young
+and far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her
+extreme beauty, Majnun fell backwards fainting on the floor.
+
+Laili took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sari
+(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantal,
+and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnun fallen down like this? Why will
+he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen
+me so many, many times."
+
+King Dantal answered, "It is because you are so beautiful. You are
+far, far more beautiful than you ever were. But he will be very happy
+directly." Then the King got some water, and they bathed Majnun's face
+and gave him some to drink, and he sat up again.
+
+Then Laili said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am Laili?"
+
+"Oh!" said Prince Majnun, "I see you are Laili come back to me, but
+your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted when I
+saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantal had all the
+drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments played
+on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to the
+servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakirs.
+
+After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnun and his wife
+went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a
+groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden.
+"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnun.
+
+"No, no," said Laili; "it belongs to a bad Raja, Chumman Basa, a very
+wicked man." But Majnun insisted on going in, and in spite of all
+Laili could say, he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as
+he was looking at the flowers, Laili saw Chumman Basa coming towards
+them, and she read in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and
+seize her. So she said to Majnun, "Come, come, let us go; do not go
+near that bad man. I see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he
+will kill you to seize me."
+
+"What nonsense," said Majnun. "I believe he is a very good Raja.
+Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away."
+
+"Well," said Laili, "it is better that you should be killed than I,
+for if I were to be killed a second time, Khuda would not give me my
+life again; but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now
+Chumman Basa had come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought
+Prince Majnun; but when he was speaking to Majnun, he drew his
+scimitar and cut off the prince's head at one blow.
+
+Laili sat quite still on her horse, and as the Raja came towards her
+she said, "Why did you kill my husband?"
+
+"Because I want to take you," he answered.
+
+"You cannot," said Laili.
+
+"Yes, I can," said the Raja.
+
+"Take me, then," said Laili to Chumman Basa; so he came quite close
+and put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she
+put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long
+as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant
+till it was such a length! and then Laili made a great sweep with her
+arm and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Basa's head at one
+touch.
+
+Then Laili slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnun's dead
+body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from
+the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like
+healing medicine. Then she put Majnun's head on his shoulders, and
+smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnun woke up and
+said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had
+slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Raja's dead body by
+Laili's horse.
+
+"What's that?" said Majnun.
+
+"That is the wicked Raja who killed you to seize me, just as I said he
+would."
+
+"Who killed him?" asked Majnun.
+
+"I did," answered Laili, "and it was I who brought you to life."
+
+"Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do so," said Majnun.
+
+"No," said Laili, "for he is a wicked man, and will try to do you
+harm." But Majnun asked her for such a long time, and so earnestly to
+bring the wicked Raja to life, that at least she said, "Jump up on the
+horse, then, and go far away with the groom."
+
+"What will you do," said Majnun, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you."
+
+"I will take care of myself," said Laili; "but this man is so wicked,
+he may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnun got up on the
+horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Laili.
+Then she set the wicked Raja's head straight on his shoulders, and
+she squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine
+came out of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife
+had passed, and just as she saw the Raja opening his eyes, she began
+to run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Raja, who
+tried to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband,
+and they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantal's
+palace.
+
+[Illustration: How Loving Laili became young again]
+
+There Prince Majnun told everything to his father, who was horrified
+and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said.
+"Why did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now
+dead." Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's
+safety, and gave many, many rupees to the fakirs. And he made so much
+of Laili. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he
+built a splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of
+ground about it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and
+heaps of servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but
+their servants to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not
+allow Majnun to go out of them, nor Laili; "for," said King Dantal,
+"Laili is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take
+her away."
+
+
+
+
+The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to
+get out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when
+he failed.
+
+By chance a poor Brahman came by. "Let me out of this cage, oh pious
+one!" cried the tiger.
+
+"Nay, my friend," replied the Brahman mildly, "you would probably eat
+me if I did."
+
+"Not at all!" swore the tiger with many oaths; "on the contrary, I
+should be for ever grateful, and serve you as a slave!"
+
+Now when the tiger sobbed and sighed and wept and swore, the pious
+Brahman's heart softened, and at last he consented to open the door of
+the cage. Out popped the tiger, and, seizing the poor man, cried,
+"What a fool you are! What is to prevent my eating you now, for after
+being cooped up so long I am just terribly hungry!"
+
+In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a
+promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to
+question as to the justice of the tiger's action.
+
+So the Brahman first asked a _pipal_ tree what it thought of the
+matter, but the _pipal_ tree replied coldly, "What have you to
+complain about? Don't I give shade and shelter to every one who passes
+by, and don't they in return tear down my branches to feed their
+cattle? Don't whimper--be a man!"
+
+Then the Brahman, sad at heart, went further afield till he saw a
+buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it, for it
+answered, "You are a fool to expect gratitude! Look at me! Whilst I
+gave milk they fed me on cotton-seed and oil-cake, but now I am dry
+they yoke me here, and give me refuse as fodder!"
+
+The Brahman, still more sad, asked the road to give him its opinion.
+
+"My dear sir," said the road, "how foolish you are to expect anything
+else! Here am I, useful to everybody, yet all, rich and poor, great
+and small, trample on me as they go past, giving me nothing but the
+ashes of their pipes and the husks of their grain!"
+
+On this the Brahman turned back sorrowfully, and on the way he met a
+jackal, who called out, "Why, what's the matter, Mr. Brahman? You look
+as miserable as a fish out of water!"
+
+The Brahman told him all that had occurred. "How very confusing!" said
+the jackal, when the recital was ended; "would you mind telling me
+over again, for everything has got so mixed up?"
+
+The Brahman told it all over again, but the jackal shook his head in a
+distracted sort of way, and still could not understand.
+
+"It's very odd," said he, sadly, "but it all seems to go in at one ear
+and out at the other! I will go to the place where it all happened,
+and then perhaps I shall be able to give a judgment."
+
+So they returned to the cage, by which the tiger was waiting for the
+Brahman, and sharpening his teeth and claws.
+
+"You've been away a long time!" growled the savage beast, "but now let
+us begin our dinner."
+
+"_Our_ dinner!" thought the wretched Brahman, as his knees knocked
+together with fright; "what a remarkably delicate way of putting it!"
+
+"Give me five minutes, my lord!" he pleaded, "in order that I may
+explain matters to the jackal here, who is somewhat slow in his wits."
+
+The tiger consented, and the Brahman began the whole story over again,
+not missing a single detail, and spinning as long a yarn as possible.
+
+"Oh, my poor brain! oh, my poor brain!" cried the jackal, wringing its
+paws. "Let me see! how did it all begin? You were in the cage, and the
+tiger came walking by----"
+
+"Pooh!" interrupted the tiger, "what a fool you are! _I_ was in the
+cage."
+
+"Of course!" cried the jackal, pretending to tremble with fright;
+"yes! I was in the cage--no I wasn't--dear! dear! where are my wits?
+Let me see--the tiger was in the Brahman, and the cage came walking
+by----no, that's not it, either! Well, don't mind me, but begin your
+dinner, for I shall never understand!"
+
+"Yes, you shall!" returned the tiger, in a rage at the jackal's
+stupidity; "I'll _make_ you understand! Look here--I am the tiger----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the Brahman----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the cage----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And I was in the cage--do you understand?"
+
+"Yes--no---- Please, my lord----"
+
+"Well?" cried the tiger impatiently.
+
+"Please, my lord!--how did you get in?"
+
+"How!--why in the usual way, of course!"
+
+"Oh, dear me!--my head is beginning to whirl again! Please don't be
+angry, my lord, but what is the usual way?"
+
+At this the tiger lost patience, and, jumping into the cage, cried,
+"This way! Now do you understand how it was?"
+
+"Perfectly!" grinned the jackal, as he dexterously shut the door, "and
+if you will permit me to say so, I think matters will remain as they
+were!"
+
+
+
+
+The Soothsayer's Son
+
+
+A soothsayer when on his deathbed wrote out the horoscope of his
+second son, whose name was Gangazara, and bequeathed it to him as his
+only property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son. The
+second son thought over the horoscope, and said to himself:
+
+"Alas! am I born to this only in the world? The sayings of my father
+never failed. I have seen them prove true to the last word while he
+was living; and how has he fixed my horoscope! 'FROM MY BIRTH
+POVERTY!' Nor is that my only fate. 'FOR TEN YEARS, IMPRISONMENT'--a
+fate harder than poverty; and what comes next? 'DEATH ON THE
+SEA-SHORE'; which means that I must die away from home, far from
+friends and relatives on a sea-coast. Now comes the most curious part
+of the horoscope, that I am to 'HAVE SOME HAPPINESS AFTERWARDS!' What
+this happiness is, is an enigma to me."
+
+Thus thought he, and after all the funeral obsequies of his father
+were over, took leave of his elder brother, and started for Benares.
+He went by the middle of the Deccan, avoiding both the coasts, and
+went on journeying and journeying for weeks and months, till at last
+he reached the Vindhya mountains. While passing that desert he had to
+journey for a couple of days through a sandy plain, with no signs of
+life or vegetation. The little store of provision with which he was
+provided for a couple of days, at last was exhausted. The chombu,
+which he carried always full, filling it with the sweet water from the
+flowing rivulet or plenteous tank, he had exhausted in the heat of the
+desert. There was not a morsel in his hand to eat; nor a drop of water
+to drink. Turn his eyes wherever he might he found a vast desert, out
+of which he saw no means of escape. Still he thought within himself,
+"Surely my father's prophecy never proved untrue. I must survive this
+calamity to find my death on some sea-coast." So thought he, and this
+thought gave him strength of mind to walk fast and try to find a drop
+of water somewhere to slake his dry throat.
+
+At last he succeeded; heaven threw in his way a ruined well. He
+thought he could collect some water if he let down his chombu with the
+string that he always carried noosed to the neck of it. Accordingly he
+let it down; it went some way and stopped, and the following words
+came from the well: "Oh, relieve me! I am the king of tigers, dying
+here of hunger. For the last three days I have had nothing. Fortune
+has sent you here. If you assist me now you will find a sure help in
+me throughout your life. Do not think that I am a beast of prey. When
+you have become my deliverer I will never touch you. Pray, kindly lift
+me up." Gangazara thought: "Shall I take him out or not? If I take him
+out he may make me the first morsel of his hungry mouth. No; that he
+will not do. For my father's prophecy never came untrue. I must die on
+a sea coast, and not by a tiger." Thus thinking, he asked the
+tiger-king to hold tight to the vessel, which he accordingly did, and
+he lifted him up slowly. The tiger reached the top of the well and
+felt himself on safe ground. True to his word, he did no harm to
+Gangazara. On the other hand, he walked round his patron three times,
+and standing before him, humbly spoke the following words: "My
+life-giver, my benefactor! I shall never forget this day, when I
+regained my life through your kind hands. In return for this kind
+assistance I pledge my oath to stand by you in all calamities.
+Whenever you are in any difficulty just think of me. I am there with
+you ready to oblige you by all the means that I can. To tell you
+briefly how I came in here: Three days ago I was roaming in yonder
+forest, when I saw a goldsmith passing through it. I chased him. He,
+finding it impossible to escape my claws, jumped into this well, and
+is living to this moment in the very bottom of it. I also jumped in,
+but found myself on the first ledge of the well; he is on the last and
+fourth ledge. In the second lives a serpent half-famished with hunger.
+On the third lies a rat, also half-famished, and when you again begin
+to draw water these may request you first to release them. In the same
+way the goldsmith also may ask you. I beg you, as your bosom friend,
+never assist that wretched man, though he is your relation as a human
+being. Goldsmiths are never to be trusted. You can place more faith in
+me, a tiger, though I feast sometimes upon men, in a serpent, whose
+sting makes your blood cold the very next moment, or in a rat, which
+does a thousand pieces of mischief in your house. But never trust a
+goldsmith. Do not release him; and if you do, you shall surely repent
+of it one day or other." Thus advising, the hungry tiger went away
+without waiting for an answer.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Gangazara thought several times of the eloquent way in which the tiger
+spoke, and admired his fluency of speech. But still his thirst was not
+quenched. So he let down his vessel again, which was now caught hold
+of by the serpent, who addressed him thus: "Oh, my protector! Lift me
+up. I am the king of serpents, and the son of Adisesha, who is now
+pining away in agony for my disappearance. Release me now. I shall
+ever remain your servant, remember your assistance, and help you
+throughout life in all possible ways. Oblige me: I am dying."
+Gangazara, calling again to mind the "DEATH ON THE SEA-SHORE" of the
+prophecy lifted him up. He, like the tiger-king, walked round him
+thrice, and prostrating himself before him spoke thus: "Oh, my
+life-giver, my father, for so I must call you, as you have given me
+another birth. I was three days ago basking myself in the morning sun,
+when I saw a rat running before me. I chased him. He fell into this
+well. I followed him, but instead of falling on the third storey where
+he is now lying, I fell into the second. I am going away now to see my
+father. Whenever you are in any difficulty just think of me. I will be
+there by your side to assist you by all possible means." So saying,
+the Nagaraja glided away in zigzag movements, and was out of sight in
+a moment.
+
+The poor son of the Soothsayer, who was now almost dying of thirst,
+let down his vessel for a third time. The rat caught hold of it, and
+without discussing he lifted up the poor animal at once. But it would
+not go away without showing its gratitude: "Oh, life of my life! My
+benefactor! I am the king of rats. Whenever you are in any calamity
+just think of me. I will come to you, and assist you. My keen ears
+overheard all that the tiger-king told you about the goldsmith, who is
+in the fourth storey. It is nothing but a sad truth that goldsmiths
+ought never to be trusted. Therefore, never assist him as you have
+done to us all. And if you do, you will suffer for it. I am hungry;
+let me go for the present." Thus taking leave of his benefactor, the
+rat, too, ran away.
+
+Gangazara for a while thought upon the repeated advice given by the
+three animals about releasing the goldsmith: "What wrong would there
+be in my assisting him? Why should I not release him also?" So
+thinking to himself, Gangazara let down the vessel again. The
+goldsmith caught hold of it, and demanded help. The Soothsayer's son
+had no time to lose; he was himself dying of thirst. Therefore he
+lifted the goldsmith up, who now began his story. "Stop for a while,"
+said Gangazara, and after quenching his thirst by letting down his
+vessel for the fifth time, still fearing that some one might remain in
+the well and demand his assistance, he listened to the goldsmith, who
+began as follows: "My dear friend, my protector, what a deal of
+nonsense these brutes have been talking to you about me; I am glad you
+have not followed their advice. I am just now dying of hunger. Permit
+me to go away. My name is Manikkasari. I live in the East main street
+of Ujjaini, which is twenty kas to the south of this place, and so
+lies on your way when you return from Benares. Do not forget to come
+to me and receive my kind remembrances of your assistance, on your way
+back to your country." So saying, the goldsmith took his leave, and
+Gangazara also pursued his way north after the above adventures.
+
+He reached Benares, and lived there for more than ten years, and quite
+forgot the tiger, serpent, rat, and goldsmith. After ten years of
+religious life, thoughts of home and of his brother rushed into his
+mind. "I have secured enough merit now by my religious observances.
+Let me return home." Thus thought Gangazara within himself, and very
+soon he was on his way back to his country. Remembering the prophecy
+of his father he returned by the same way by which he went to Benares
+ten years before. While thus retracing his steps he reached the ruined
+well where he had released the three brute kings and the goldsmith. At
+once the old recollections rushed into his mind, and he thought of the
+tiger to test his fidelity. Only a moment passed, and the tiger-king
+came running before him carrying a large crown in his mouth, the
+glitter of the diamonds of which for a time outshone even the bright
+rays of the sun. He dropped the crown at his life-giver's feet, and,
+putting aside all his pride, humbled himself like a pet cat to the
+strokes of his protector, and began in the following words: "My
+life-giver! How is it that you have forgotten me, your poor servant,
+for such a long time? I am glad to find that I still occupy a corner
+in your mind. I can never forget the day when I owed my life to your
+lotus hands. I have several jewels with me of little value. This
+crown, being the best of all, I have brought here as a single ornament
+of great value, which you can carry with you and dispose of in your
+own country." Gangazara looked at the crown, examined it over and
+over, counted and recounted the gems, and thought within himself that
+he would become the richest of men by separating the diamonds and
+gold, and selling them in his own country. He took leave of the
+tiger-king, and after his disappearance thought of the kings of
+serpents and rats, who came in their turn with their presents, and
+after the usual greetings and exchange of words took their leave.
+Gangazara was extremely delighted at the faithfulness with which the
+brute beasts behaved, and went on his way to the south. While going
+along he spoke to himself thus: "These beasts have been very faithful
+in their assistance. Much more, therefore, must Manikkasari be
+faithful. I do not want anything from him now. If I take this crown
+with me as it is, it occupies much space in my bundle. It may also
+excite the curiosity of some robbers on the way. I will go now to
+Ujjaini on my way. Manikkasari requested me to see him without failure
+on my return journey. I shall do so, and request him to have the crown
+melted, the diamonds and gold separated. He must do that kindness at
+least for me. I shall then roll up these diamonds and gold ball in my
+rags, and wend my way homewards." Thus thinking and thinking, he
+reached Ujjaini. At once he inquired for the house of his goldsmith
+friend, and found him without difficulty. Manikkasari was extremely
+delighted to find on his threshold him who ten years before,
+notwithstanding the advice repeatedly given him by the sage-looking
+tiger, serpent, and rat, had relieved him from the pit of death.
+Gangazara at once showed him the crown that he received from the
+tiger-king, told him how he got it, and requested his kind assistance
+to separate the gold and diamonds. Manikkasari agreed to do so, and
+meanwhile asked his friend to rest himself for a while to have his
+bath and meals; and Gangazara, who was very observant of his religious
+ceremonies, went direct to the river to bathe.
+
+How came the crown in the jaws of the tiger? The king of Ujjaini had a
+week before gone with all his hunters on a hunting expedition. All of
+a sudden the tiger-king started from the wood, seized the king, and
+vanished.
+
+When the king's attendants informed the prince about the death of his
+father he wept and wailed, and gave notice that he would give half of
+his kingdom to any one who should bring him news about the murderer of
+his father. The goldsmith knew full well that it was a tiger that
+killed the king, and not any hunter's hands, since he had heard from
+Gangazara how he obtained the crown. Still, he resolved to denounce
+Gangazara as the king's murderer, so, hiding the crown under his
+garments, he flew to the palace. He went before the prince and
+informed him that the assassin was caught, and placed the crown before
+him. The prince took it into his hands, examined it, and at once gave
+half the kingdom to Manikkasari, and then inquired about the murderer.
+"He is bathing in the river, and is of such and such appearance," was
+the reply. At once four armed soldiers flew to the river, and bound
+the poor Brahman hand and foot, while he, sitting in meditation, was
+without any knowledge of the fate that hung over him. They brought
+Gangazara to the presence of the prince, who turned his face away from
+the supposed murderer, and asked his soldiers to throw him into a
+dungeon. In a minute, without knowing the cause, the poor Brahman
+found himself in the dark dungeon.
+
+It was a dark cellar underground, built with strong stone walls, into
+which any criminal guilty of a capital offence was ushered to breathe
+his last there without food and drink. Such was the cellar into which
+Gangazara was thrust. What were his thoughts when he reached that
+place? "It is of no use to accuse either the goldsmith or the prince
+now. We are all the children of fate. We must obey her commands. This
+is but the first day of my father's prophecy. So far his statement is
+true. But how am I going to pass ten years here? Perhaps without
+anything to sustain life I may drag on my existence for a day or two.
+But how pass ten years? That cannot be, and I must die. Before death
+comes let me think of my faithful brute friends."
+
+So pondered Gangazara in the dark cell underground, and at that moment
+thought of his three friends. The tiger-king, serpent-king, and
+rat-king assembled at once with their armies at a garden near the
+dungeon, and for a while did not know what to do. They held their
+council, and decided to make an underground passage from the inside
+of a ruined well to the dungeon. The rat raja issued an order at once
+to that effect to his army. They, with their teeth, bored the ground a
+long way to the walls of the prison. After reaching it they found that
+their teeth could not work on the hard stones. The bandicoots were
+then specially ordered for the business; they, with their hard teeth,
+made a small slit in the wall for a rat to pass and repass without
+difficulty. Thus a passage was effected.
+
+The rat raja entered first to condole with his protector on his
+misfortune, and undertook to supply his protector with provisions.
+"Whatever sweetmeats or bread are prepared in any house, one and all
+of you must try to bring whatever you can to our benefactor. Whatever
+clothes you find hanging in a house, cut down, dip the pieces in
+water, and bring the wet bits to our benefactor. He will squeeze them
+and gather water for drink! and the bread and sweetmeats shall form
+his food." Having issued these orders, the king of the rats took leave
+of Gangazara. They, in obedience to their king's order, continued to
+supply him with provisions and water.
+
+The snake-king said: "I sincerely condole with you in your calamity;
+the tiger-king also fully sympathises with you, and wants me to tell
+you so, as he cannot drag his huge body here as we have done with our
+small ones. The king of the rats has promised to do his best to
+provide you with food. We would now do what we can for your release.
+From this day we shall issue orders to our armies to oppress all the
+subjects of this kingdom. The deaths by snake-bite and tigers shall
+increase a hundredfold from this day, and day by day it shall continue
+to increase till your release. Whenever you hear people near you, you
+had better bawl out so as to be heard by them: 'The wretched prince
+imprisoned me on the false charge of having killed his father, while
+it was a tiger that killed him. From that day these calamities have
+broken out in his dominions. If I were released I would save all by my
+powers of healing poisonous wounds and by incantations.' Some one may
+report this to the king, and if he knows it, you will obtain your
+liberty." Thus comforting his protector in trouble, he advised him to
+pluck up courage, and took leave of him. From that day tigers and
+serpents, acting under the orders of their kings, united in killing as
+many persons and cattle as possible. Every day people were carried
+away by tigers or bitten by serpents. Thus passed months and years.
+Gangazara sat in the dark cellar, without the sun's light falling upon
+him, and feasted upon the breadcrumbs and sweetmeats that the rats so
+kindly supplied him with. These delicacies had completely changed his
+body into a red, stout, huge, unwieldy mass of flesh. Thus passed full
+ten years, as prophesied in the horoscope.
+
+Ten complete years rolled away in close imprisonment. On the last
+evening of the tenth year one of the serpents got into the bed-chamber
+of the princess and sucked her life. She breathed her last. She was
+the only daughter of the king. The king at once sent for all the
+snake-bite curers. He promised half his kingdom and his daughter's
+hand to him who would restore her to life. Now a servant of the king
+who had several times overheard Gangazara's cries, reported the matter
+to him. The king at once ordered the cell to be examined. There was
+the man sitting in it. How had he managed to live so long in the cell?
+Some whispered that he must be a divine being. Thus they discussed,
+while they brought Gangazara to the king.
+
+The king no sooner saw Gangazara than he fell on the ground. He was
+struck by the majesty and grandeur of his person. His ten years'
+imprisonment in the deep cell underground had given a sort of lustre
+to his body. His hair had first to be cut before his face could be
+seen. The king begged forgiveness for his former fault, and requested
+him to revive his daughter.
+
+"Bring me within an hour all the corpses of men and cattle, dying and
+dead, that remain unburnt or unburied within the range of your
+dominions; I shall revive them all," were the only words that
+Gangazara spoke.
+
+Cartloads of corpses of men and cattle began to come in every minute.
+Even graves, it is said, were broken open, and corpses buried a day or
+two before were taken out and sent for their revival. As soon as all
+were ready, Gangazara took a vessel full of water and sprinkled it
+over them all, thinking only of his snake-king and tiger-king. All
+rose up as if from deep slumber, and went to their respective homes.
+The princess, too, was restored to life. The joy of the king knew no
+bounds. He cursed the day on which he imprisoned him, blamed himself
+for having believed the word of a goldsmith, and offered him the hand
+of his daughter and the whole kingdom, instead of half, as he
+promised. Gangazara would not accept anything, but asked the king to
+assemble all his subjects in a wood near the town. "I shall there call
+in all the tigers and serpents, and give them a general order."
+
+When the whole town was assembled, just at the dusk of evening,
+Gangazara sat dumb for a moment, and thought upon the Tiger King and
+the Serpent King, who came with all their armies. People began to take
+to their heels at the sight of tigers. Gangazara assured them of
+safety, and stopped them.
+
+The grey light of the evening, the pumpkin colour of Gangazara, the
+holy ashes scattered lavishly over his body, the tigers and snakes
+humbling themselves at his feet, gave him the true majesty of the god
+Gangazara. For who else by a single word could thus command vast
+armies of tigers and serpents, said some among the people. "Care not
+for it; it may be by magic. That is not a great thing. That he revived
+cartloads of corpses shows him to be surely Gangazara," said others.
+
+"Why should you, my children, thus trouble these poor subjects of
+Ujjaini? Reply to me, and henceforth desist from your ravages." Thus
+said the Soothsayer's son, and the following reply came from the king
+of the tigers: "Why should this base king imprison your honour,
+believing the mere word of a goldsmith that your honour killed his
+father? All the hunters told him that his father was carried away by a
+tiger. I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck.
+I did it, and gave the crown to your honour. The prince makes no
+inquiry, and at once imprisons your honour. How can we expect justice
+from such a stupid king as that? Unless he adopt a better standard of
+justice we will go on with our destruction."
+
+The king heard, cursed the day on which he believed in the word of a
+goldsmith, beat his head, tore his hair, wept and wailed for his
+crime, asked a thousand pardons, and swore to rule in a just way from
+that day. The serpent-king and tiger-king also promised to observe
+their oath as long as justice prevailed, and took their leave. The
+goldsmith fled for his life. He was caught by the soldiers of the
+king, and was pardoned by the generous Gangazara, whose voice now
+reigned supreme. All returned to their homes.
+
+The king again pressed Gangazara to accept the hand of his daughter.
+He agreed to do so, not then, but some time afterwards. He wished to
+go and see his elder brother first, and then to return and marry the
+princess. The king agreed; and Gangazara left the city that very day
+on his way home.
+
+It so happened that unwittingly he took a wrong road, and had to pass
+near a sea-coast. His elder brother was also on his way up to Benares
+by that very same route. They met and recognised each other, even at a
+distance. They flew into each other's arms. Both remained still for a
+time almost unconscious with joy. The pleasure of Gangazara was so
+great that he died of joy.
+
+The elder brother was a devout worshipper of Ganesa. That was a
+Friday, a day very sacred to that god. The elder brother took the
+corpse to the nearest Ganesa temple and called upon him. The god came,
+and asked him what he wanted. "My poor brother is dead and gone; and
+this is his corpse. Kindly keep it in your charge till I finish
+worshipping you. If I leave it anywhere else the devils may snatch it
+away when I am absent worshipping you; after finishing the rites I
+shall burn him." Thus said the elder brother, and, giving the corpse
+to the god Ganesa, he went to prepare himself for that deity's
+ceremonials. Ganesa made over the corpse to his Ganas, asking them to
+watch over it carefully. But instead of that they devoured it.
+
+The elder brother, after finishing the puja, demanded his brother's
+corpse of the god. The god called his Ganas, who came to the front
+blinking, and fearing the anger of their master. The god was greatly
+enraged. The elder brother was very angry. When the corpse was not
+forthcoming he cuttingly remarked, "Is this, after all, the return for
+my deep belief in you? You are unable even to return my brother's
+corpse." Ganesa was much ashamed at the remark. So he, by his divine
+power, gave him a living Gangazara instead of the dead corpse. Thus
+was the second son of the Soothsayer restored to life.
+
+The brothers had a long talk about each other's adventures. They both
+went to Ujjaini, where Gangazara married the princess, and succeeded
+to the throne of that kingdom. He reigned for a long time, conferring
+several benefits upon his brother. And so the horoscope was fully
+fulfilled.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+Harisarman
+
+
+There was a certain Brahman in a certain village, named Harisarman. He
+was poor and foolish and in evil case for want of employment, and he
+had very many children, that he might reap the fruit of his misdeeds
+in a former life. He wandered about begging with his family, and at
+last he reached a certain city, and entered the service of a rich
+householder called Sthuladatta. His sons became keepers of
+Sthuladatta's cows and other property, and his wife a servant to him,
+and he himself lived near his house, performing the duty of an
+attendant. One day there was a feast on account of the marriage of the
+daughter of Sthuladatta, largely attended by many friends of the
+bridegroom, and merry-makers. Harisarman hoped that he would be able
+to fill himself up to the throat with ghee and flesh and other
+dainties, and get the same for his family, in the house of his patron.
+While he was anxiously expecting to be fed, no one thought of him.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then he was distressed at getting nothing to eat, and he said to his
+wife at night, "It is owing to my poverty and stupidity that I am
+treated with such disrespect here; so I will pretend by means of an
+artifice to possess a knowledge of magic, so that I may become an
+object of respect to this Sthuladatta; so, when you get an
+opportunity, tell him that I possess magical knowledge." He said this
+to her, and after turning the matter over in his mind, while people
+were asleep he took away from the house of Sthuladatta a horse on
+which his master's son-in-law rode. He placed it in concealment at
+some distance, and in the morning the friends of the bridegroom could
+not find the horse, though they searched in every direction. Then,
+while Sthuladatta was distressed at the evil omen, and searching for
+the thieves who had carried off the horse, the wife of Harisarman came
+and said to him, "My husband is a wise man, skilled in astrology and
+magical sciences; he can get the horse back for you; why do you not
+ask him?" When Sthuladatta heard that, he called Harisarman, who
+said, "Yesterday I was forgotten, but to-day, now the horse is stolen,
+I am called to mind," and Sthuladatta then propitiated the Brahman
+with these words--"I forgot you, forgive me"--and asked him to tell
+him who had taken away their horse. Then Harisarman drew all kinds of
+pretended diagrams, and said: "The horse has been placed by thieves on
+the boundary line south from this place. It is concealed there, and
+before it is carried off to a distance, as it will be at close of day,
+go quickly and bring it." When they heard that, many men ran and
+brought the horse quickly, praising the discernment of Harisarman.
+Then Harisarman was honoured by all men as a sage, and dwelt there in
+happiness, honoured by Sthuladatta.
+
+Now, as days went on, much treasure, both of gold and jewels, had been
+stolen by a thief from the palace of the king. As the thief was not
+known, the king quickly summoned Harisarman on account of his
+reputation for knowledge of magic. And he, when summoned, tried to
+gain time, and said, "I will tell you to-morrow," and then he was
+placed in a chamber by the king, and carefully guarded. And he was sad
+because he had pretended to have knowledge. Now in that palace there
+was a maid named Jihva (which means Tongue), who, with the assistance
+of her brother, had stolen that treasure from the interior of the
+palace. She, being alarmed at Harisarman's knowledge, went at night
+and applied her ear to the door of that chamber in order to find out
+what he was about. And Harisarman, who was alone inside, was at that
+very moment blaming his own tongue, that had made a vain assumption of
+knowledge. He said: "O Tongue, what is this that you have done
+through your greediness? Wicked one, you will soon receive punishment
+in full." When Jihva heard this, she thought, in her terror, that she
+had been discovered by this wise man, and she managed to get in where
+he was, and falling at his feet, she said to the supposed wizard:
+"Brahman, here I am, that Jihva whom you have discovered to be the
+thief of the treasure, and after I took it I buried it in the earth in
+a garden behind the palace, under a pomegranate tree. So spare me, and
+receive the small quantity of gold which is in my possession."
+
+When Harisarman heard that, he said to her proudly: "Depart, I know
+all this; I know the past, present and future; but I will not denounce
+you, being a miserable creature that has implored my protection. But
+whatever gold is in your possession you must give back to me." When he
+said this to the maid, she consented, and departed quickly. But
+Harisarman reflected in his astonishment: "Fate brings about, as if in
+sport, things impossible, for when calamity was so near, who would
+have thought chance would have brought us success? While I was blaming
+my jihva, the thief Jihva suddenly flung herself at my feet. Secret
+crimes manifest themselves by means of fear." Thus thinking, he passed
+the night happily in the chamber. And in the morning he brought the
+king, by some skilful parade of pretended knowledge into the garden,
+and led him up to the treasure, which was buried under the pomegranate
+tree, and said that the thief had escaped with a part of it. Then the
+king was pleased, and gave him the revenue of many villages.
+
+But the minister, named Devajnanin, whispered in the king's ear: "How
+can a man possess such knowledge unattainable by men, without having
+studied the books of magic; you may be certain that this is a specimen
+of the way he makes a dishonest livelihood, by having a secret
+intelligence with thieves. It will be much better to test him by some
+new artifice." Then the king of his own accord brought a covered
+pitcher into which he had thrown a frog, and said to Harisarman,
+"Brahman, if you can guess what there is in this pitcher, I will do
+you great honour to-day." When the Brahman Harisarman heard that, he
+thought that his last hour had come, and he called to mind the pet
+name of "Froggie" which his father had given him in his childhood in
+sport, and, impelled by luck, he called to himself by his pet name,
+lamenting his hard fate, and suddenly called out: "This is a fine
+pitcher for you, Froggie; it will soon become the swift destroyer of
+your helpless self." The people there, when they heard him say that,
+raised a shout of applause, because his speech chimed in so well with
+the object presented to him, and murmured, "Ah! a great sage, he knows
+even about the frog!" Then the king, thinking that this was all due to
+knowledge of divination, was highly delighted, and gave Harisarman the
+revenue of more villages, with gold, an umbrella, and state carriages
+of all kinds. So Harisarman prospered in the world.
+
+
+
+
+The Charmed Ring
+
+
+A merchant started his son in life with three hundred rupees, and bade
+him go to another country and try his luck in trade. The son took the
+money and departed. He had not gone far before he came across some
+herdsmen quarrelling over a dog, that some of them wished to kill.
+"Please do not kill the dog," pleaded the young and tender-hearted
+fellow; "I will give you one hundred rupees for it." Then and there,
+of course, the bargain was concluded, and the foolish fellow took the
+dog, and continued his journey. He next met with some people fighting
+about a cat. Some of them wanted to kill it, but others not. "Oh!
+please do not kill it," said he; "I will give you one hundred rupees
+for it." Of course they at once gave him the cat and took the money.
+He went on till he reached a village, where some folk were quarrelling
+over a snake that had just been caught. Some of them wished to kill
+it, but others did not. "Please do not kill the snake," said he; "I
+will give you one hundred rupees." Of course the people agreed, and
+were highly delighted.
+
+What a fool the fellow was! What would he do now that all his money
+was gone? What could he do except return to his father? Accordingly he
+went home.
+
+"You fool! You scamp!" exclaimed his father when he had heard how his
+son had wasted all the money that had been given to him. "Go and live
+in the stables and repent of your folly. You shall never again enter
+my house."
+
+So the young man went and lived in the stables. His bed was the grass
+spread for the cattle, and his companions were the dog, the cat, and
+the snake, which he had purchased so dearly. These creatures got very
+fond of him, and would follow him about during the day, and sleep by
+him at night; the cat used to sleep at his feet, the dog at his head,
+and the snake over his body, with its head hanging on one side and its
+tail on the other.
+
+One day the snake in course of conversation said to its master, "I am
+the son of Raja Indrasha. One day, when I had come out of the ground
+to drink the air, some people seized me, and would have slain me had
+you not most opportunely arrived to my rescue. I do not know how I
+shall ever be able to repay you for your great kindness to me. Would
+that you knew my father! How glad he would be to see his son's
+preserver!"
+
+"Where does he live? I should like to see him, if possible," said the
+young man.
+
+"Well said!" continued the snake. "Do you see yonder mountain? At the
+bottom of that mountain there is a sacred spring. If you will come
+with me and dive into that spring, we shall both reach my father's
+country. Oh! how glad he will be to see you! He will wish to reward
+you, too. But how can he do that? However, you may be pleased to
+accept something at his hand. If he asks you what you would like, you
+would, perhaps, do well to reply, 'The ring on your right hand, and
+the famous pot and spoon which you possess.' With these in your
+possession, you would never need anything, for the ring is such that a
+man has only to speak to it, and immediately a beautiful furnished
+mansion will be provided for him, while the pot and the spoon will
+supply him with all manner of the rarest and most delicious foods."
+
+Attended by his three companions the man walked to the well and
+prepared to jump in, according to the snake's directions. "O master!"
+exclaimed the cat and dog, when they saw what he was going to do.
+"What shall we do? Where shall we go?"
+
+"Wait for me here," he replied. "I am not going far. I shall not be
+long away." On saying this, he dived into the water and was lost to
+sight.
+
+"Now what shall we do?" said the dog to the cat.
+
+"We must remain here," replied the cat, "as our master ordered. Do not
+be anxious about food. I will go to the people's houses and get plenty
+of food for both of us." And so the cat did, and they both lived very
+comfortably till their master came again and joined them.
+
+The young man and the snake reached their destination in safety; and
+information of their arrival was sent to the Raja. His highness
+commanded his son and the stranger to appear before him. But the snake
+refused, saying that it could not go to its father till it was
+released from this stranger, who had saved it from a most terrible
+death, and whose slave it therefore was. Then the Raja went and
+embraced his son, and saluting the stranger welcomed him to his
+dominions. The young man stayed there a few days, during which he
+received the Raja's right-hand ring, and the pot and spoon, in
+recognition of His Highness's gratitude to him for having delivered
+his son. He then returned. On reaching the top of the spring he found
+his friends, the dog and the cat, waiting for him. They told one
+another all they had experienced since they had last seen each other,
+and were all very glad. Afterwards they walked together to the river
+side, where it was decided to try the powers of the charmed ring and
+pot and spoon.
+
+The merchant's son spoke to the ring, and immediately a beautiful
+house and a lovely princess with golden hair appeared. He spoke to the
+pot and spoon, also, and the most delicious dishes of food were
+provided for them. So he married the princess, and they lived very
+happily for several years, until one morning the princess, while
+arranging her toilet, put the loose hairs into a hollow bit of reed
+and threw them into the river that flowed along under the window. The
+reed floated on the water for many miles, and was at last picked up by
+the prince of that country, who curiously opened it and saw the golden
+hair. On finding it the prince rushed off to the palace, locked
+himself up in his room, and would not leave it. He had fallen
+desperately in love with the woman whose hair he had picked up, and
+refused to eat, or drink, or sleep, or move, till she was brought to
+him. The king, his father, was in great distress about the matter, and
+did not know what to do. He feared lest his son should die and leave
+him without an heir. At last he determined to seek the counsel of his
+aunt, who was an ogress. The old woman consented to help him, and
+bade him not to be anxious, as she felt certain that she would succeed
+in getting the beautiful woman for his son's wife.
+
+She assumed the shape of a bee and went along buzzing, and buzzing,
+and buzzing. Her keen sense of smell soon brought her to the beautiful
+princess, to whom she appeared as an old hag, holding in one hand a
+stick by way of support. She introduced herself to the beautiful
+princess and said, "I am your aunt, whom you have never seen before,
+because I left the country just after your birth." She also embraced
+and kissed the princess by way of adding force to her words. The
+beautiful princess was thoroughly deceived. She returned the ogress's
+embrace, and invited her to come and stay in the house as long as she
+could, and treated her with such honour and attention, that the ogress
+thought to herself, "I shall soon accomplish my errand." When she had
+been in the house three days, she began to talk of the charmed ring,
+and advised her to keep it instead of her husband, because the latter
+was constantly out shooting and on other such-like expeditions, and
+might lose it. Accordingly the beautiful princess asked her husband
+for the ring, and he readily gave it to her.
+
+The ogress waited another day before she asked to see the precious
+thing. Doubting nothing, the beautiful princess complied, when the
+ogress seized the ring, and reassuming the form of a bee flew away
+with it to the palace, where the prince was lying nearly on the point
+of death. "Rise up. Be glad. Mourn no more," she said to him. "The
+woman for whom you yearn will appear at your summons. See, here is the
+charm, whereby you may bring her before you." The prince was almost
+mad with joy when he heard these words, and was so desirous of seeing
+the beautiful princess, that he immediately spoke to the ring, and the
+house with its fair occupant descended in the midst of the palace
+garden. He at once entered the building, and telling the beautiful
+princess of his intense love, entreated her to be his wife. Seeing no
+escape from the difficulty, she consented on the condition that he
+would wait one month for her.
+
+Meanwhile the merchant's son had returned from hunting and was
+terribly distressed not to find his house and wife. There was the
+place only, just as he knew it before he had tried the charmed ring
+which Raja Indrasha had given him. He sat down and determined to put
+an end to himself. Presently the cat and dog came up. They had gone
+away and hidden themselves, when they saw the house and everything
+disappear. "O master!" they said, "stay your hand. Your trial is
+great, but it can be remedied. Give us one month, and we will go and
+try to recover your wife and house."
+
+"Go," said he, "and may the great God aid your efforts. Bring back my
+wife, and I shall live."
+
+So the cat and dog started off at a run, and did not stop till they
+reached the place whither their mistress and the house had been taken.
+"We may have some difficulty here," said the cat. "Look, the king has
+taken our master's wife and house for himself. You stay here. I will
+go to the house and try to see her." So the dog sat down, and the cat
+climbed up to the window of the room, wherein the beautiful princess
+was sitting, and entered. The princess recognised the cat, and
+informed it of all that had happened to her since she had left them.
+
+"But is there no way of escape from the hands of these people?" she
+asked.
+
+"Yes," replied the cat, "if you can tell me where the charmed ring
+is."
+
+"The ring is in the stomach of the ogress," she said.
+
+"All right," said the cat, "I will recover it. If we once get it,
+everything is ours." Then the cat descended the wall of the house, and
+went and laid down by a rat's hole and pretended she was dead. Now at
+that time a great wedding chanced to be going on among the rat
+community of that place, and all the rats of the neighbourhood were
+assembled in that one particular mine by which the cat had lain down.
+The eldest son of the king of the rats was about to be married. The
+cat got to know of this, and at once conceived the idea of seizing the
+bridegroom and making him render the necessary help. Consequently,
+when the procession poured forth from the hole squealing and jumping
+in honour of the occasion, it immediately spotted the bridegroom and
+pounced down on him. "Oh! let me go, let me go," cried the terrified
+rat. "Oh! let him go," squealed all the company. "It is his wedding
+day."
+
+"No, no," replied the cat. "Not unless you do something for me.
+Listen. The ogress, who lives in that house with the prince and his
+wife, has swallowed a ring, which I very much want. If you will
+procure it for me, I will allow the rat to depart unharmed. If you do
+not, then your prince dies under my feet."
+
+"Very well, we agree," said they all. "Nay, if we do not get the ring
+for you, devour us all."
+
+[Illustration: THE CHARMED RING]
+
+This was rather a bold offer. However, they accomplished the
+thing. At midnight, when the ogress was sound asleep, one of the rats
+went to her bedside, climbed up on her face, and inserted its tail
+into her throat; whereupon the ogress coughed violently, and the ring
+came out and rolled on to the floor. The rat immediately seized the
+precious thing and ran off with it to its king, who was very glad, and
+went at once to the cat and released its son.
+
+As soon as the cat received the ring, she started back with the dog to
+go and tell their master the good tidings. All seemed safe now. They
+had only to give the ring to him, and he would speak to it, and the
+house and beautiful princess would again be with them, and everything
+would go on as happily as before. "How glad master will be!" they
+thought, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Now, on the
+way they had to cross a stream. The dog swam, and the cat sat on its
+back. Now the dog was jealous of the cat, so he asked for the ring,
+and threatened to throw the cat into the water if it did not give it
+up; whereupon the cat gave up the ring. Sorry moment, for the dog at
+once dropped it, and a fish swallowed it.
+
+"Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" said the dog.
+
+"What is done is done," replied the cat. "We must try to recover it,
+and if we do not succeed we had better drown ourselves in this stream.
+I have a plan. You go and kill a small lamb, and bring it here to me."
+
+"All right," said the dog, and at once ran off. He soon came back with
+a dead lamb, and gave it to the cat. The cat got inside the lamb and
+lay down, telling the dog to go away a little distance and keep quiet.
+Not long after this a nadhar, a bird whose look can break the bones
+of a fish, came and hovered over the lamb, and eventually pounced down
+on it to carry it away. On this the cat came out and jumped on to the
+bird, and threatened to kill it if it did not recover the lost ring.
+This was most readily promised by the nadhar, who immediately flew off
+to the king of the fishes, and ordered it to make inquiries and to
+restore the ring. The king of the fishes did so, and the ring was
+found and carried back to the cat.
+
+"Come along now; I have got the ring," said the cat to the dog.
+
+"No, I will not," said the dog, "unless you let me have the ring. I
+can carry it as well as you. Let me have it or I will kill you." So
+the cat was obliged to give up the ring. The careless dog very soon
+dropped it again. This time it was picked up and carried off by a
+kite.
+
+"See, see, there it goes--away to that big tree," the cat exclaimed.
+
+"Oh! oh! what have I done?" cried the dog.
+
+"You foolish thing, I knew it would be so," said the cat. "But stop
+your barking, or you will frighten away the bird to some place where
+we shall not be able to trace it."
+
+The cat waited till it was quite dark, and then climbed the tree,
+killed the kite, and recovered the ring. "Come along," it said to the
+dog when it reached the ground. "We must make haste now. We have been
+delayed. Our master will die from grief and suspense. Come on."
+
+The dog, now thoroughly ashamed of itself, begged the cat's pardon for
+all the trouble it had given. It was afraid to ask for the ring the
+third time, so they both reached their sorrowing master in safety and
+gave him the precious charm. In a moment his sorrow was turned into
+joy. He spoke to the ring, and his beautiful wife and house
+reappeared, and he and everybody were as happy as ever they could be.
+
+
+
+
+The Talkative Tortoise
+
+
+The future Buddha was once born in a minister's family, when
+Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares; and when he grew up, he became
+the king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual.
+
+Now this king was very talkative; while he was speaking, others had no
+opportunity for a word. And the future Buddha, wanting to cure this
+talkativeness of his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing
+so.
+
+At that time there was living, in a pond in the Himalaya mountains, a
+tortoise. Two young hamsas, or wild ducks, who came to feed there,
+made friends with him. And one day, when they had become very intimate
+with him, they said to the tortoise:
+
+"Friend tortoise! the place where we live, at the Golden Cave on Mount
+Beautiful in the Himalaya country, is a delightful spot. Will you come
+there with us?"
+
+"But how can I get there?"
+
+"We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, and will say
+nothing to anybody."
+
+"Oh! that I can do. Take me with you."
+
+"That's right," said they. And making the tortoise bite hold of a
+stick, they themselves took the two ends in their teeth, and flew up
+into the air.
+
+Seeing him thus carried by the hamsas, some villagers called out, "Two
+wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along on a stick!" Whereupon the
+tortoise wanted to say, "If my friends choose to carry me, what is
+that to you, you wretched slaves!" So just as the swift flight of the
+wild ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the city of
+Benares, he let go of the stick he was biting, and falling in the open
+courtyard, split in two! And there arose a universal cry, "A tortoise
+has fallen in the open courtyard, and has split in two!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The king, taking the future Buddha, went to the place, surrounded by
+his courtiers; and looking at the tortoise, he asked the Bodisat,
+"Teacher! how comes he to be fallen here?"
+
+The future Buddha thought to himself, "Long expecting, wishing to
+admonish the king, have I sought for some means of doing so. This
+tortoise must have made friends with the wild ducks; and they must
+have made him bite hold of the stick, and have flown up into the air
+to take him to the hills. But he, being unable to hold his tongue
+when he hears any one else talk, must have wanted to say something,
+and let go the stick; and so must have fallen down from the sky, and
+thus lost his life." And saying, "Truly, O king! those who are called
+chatter-boxes--people whose words have no end--come to grief like
+this," he uttered these Verses:
+
+    "Verily the tortoise killed himself
+    Whilst uttering his voice;
+    Though he was holding tight the stick,
+    By a word himself he slew.
+
+    "Behold him then, O excellent by strength!
+    And speak wise words, not out of season.
+    You see how, by his talking overmuch,
+    The tortoise fell into this wretched plight!"
+
+The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said, "O Teacher!
+are you speaking of us?"
+
+And the Bodisat spake openly, and said, "O great king! be it thou, or
+be it any other, whoever talks beyond measure meets with some mishap
+like this."
+
+And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became a man of few
+words.
+
+
+
+
+A Lac of Rupees for a Bit of Advice
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+A poor blind Brahman and his wife were dependent on their son for
+their subsistence. Every day the young fellow used to go out and get
+what he could by begging. This continued for some time, till at last
+he became quite tired of such a wretched life, and determined to go
+and try his luck in another country. He informed his wife of his
+intention, and ordered her to manage somehow or other for the old
+people during the few months that he would be absent. He begged her to
+be industrious, lest his parents should be angry and curse him.
+
+One morning he started with some food in a bundle, and walked on day
+after day, till he reached the chief city of the neighbouring country.
+Here he went and sat down by a merchant's shop and asked alms. The
+merchant inquired whence he had come, why he had come, and what was
+his caste; to which he replied that he was a Brahman, and was
+wandering hither and thither begging a livelihood for himself and wife
+and parents. Moved with pity for the man, the merchant advised him to
+visit the kind and generous king of that country, and offered to
+accompany him to the court. Now at that time it happened that the king
+was seeking for a Brahman to look after a golden temple which he had
+just had built. His Majesty was very glad, therefore, when he saw the
+Brahman and heard that he was good and honest. He at once deputed him
+to the charge of this temple, and ordered fifty kharwars of rice and
+one hundred rupees to be paid to him every year as wages.
+
+Two months after this, the Brahman's wife, not having heard any news
+of her husband, left the house and went in quest of him. By a happy
+fate she arrived at the very place that he had reached, where she
+heard that every morning at the golden temple a golden rupee was given
+in the king's name to any beggar who chose to go for it. Accordingly,
+on the following morning she went to the place and met her husband.
+
+"Why have you come here?" he asked. "Why have you left my parents?
+Care you not whether they curse me and I die? Go back immediately, and
+await my return."
+
+"No, no," said the woman. "I cannot go back to starve and see your old
+father and mother die. There is not a grain of rice left in the
+house."
+
+"O Bhagawant!" exclaimed the Brahman. "Here, take this," he continued,
+scribbling a few lines on some paper, and then handing it to her, "and
+give it to the king. You will see that he will give you a lac of
+rupees for it." Thus saying he dismissed her, and the woman left.
+
+On this scrap of paper were written three pieces of advice--First, If
+a person is travelling and reaches any strange place at night, let him
+be careful where he puts up, and not close his eyes in sleep, lest he
+close them in death. Secondly, If a man has a married sister, and
+visits her in great pomp, she will receive him for the sake of what
+she can obtain from him; but if he comes to her in poverty, she will
+frown on him and disown him. Thirdly, If a man has to do any work, he
+must do it himself, and do it with might and without fear.
+
+On reaching her home the Brahmani told her parents of her meeting with
+her husband, and what a valuable piece of paper he had given her; but
+not liking to go before the king herself, she sent one of her
+relations. The king read the paper, and ordering the man to be
+flogged, dismissed him. The next morning the Brahmani took the paper,
+and while she was going along the road to the darbar reading it, the
+king's son met her, and asked what she was reading, whereupon she
+replied that she held in her hands a paper containing certain bits of
+advice, for which she wanted a lac of rupees. The prince asked her to
+show it to him, and when he had read it gave her a parwana for the
+amount, and rode on. The poor Brahmani was very thankful. That day she
+laid in a great store of provisions, sufficient to last them all for a
+long time.
+
+In the evening the prince related to his father the meeting with the
+woman, and the purchase of the piece of paper. He thought his father
+would applaud the act. But it was not so. The king was more angry than
+before, and banished his son from the country.
+
+So the prince bade adieu to his mother and relations and friends, and
+rode off on his horse, whither he did not know. At nightfall he
+arrived at some place, where a man met him, and invited him to lodge
+at his house. The prince accepted the invitation, and was treated like
+a prince. Matting was spread for him to squat on, and the best
+provisions set before him.
+
+"Ah!" thought he, as he lay down to rest, "here is a case for the
+first piece of advice that the Brahmani gave me. I will not sleep
+to-night."
+
+It was well that he thus resolved, for in the middle of the night the
+man rose up, and taking a sword in his hand, rushed to the prince with
+the intention of killing him. But he rose up and spoke.
+
+"Do not slay me," he said. "What profit would you get from my death?
+If you killed me you would be sorry afterwards, like that man who
+killed his dog."
+
+"What man? What dog?" he asked.
+
+"I will tell you," said the prince, "if you will give me that sword."
+
+So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:
+
+"Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant who had a pet dog. He
+was suddenly reduced to poverty, and had to part with his dog. He got
+a loan of five thousand rupees from a brother merchant, leaving the
+dog as a pledge, and with the money began business again. Not long
+after this the other merchant's shop was broken into by thieves and
+completely sacked. There was hardly ten rupees' worth left in the
+place. The faithful dog, however, knew what was going on, and went and
+followed the thieves, and saw where they deposited the things, and
+then returned.
+
+"In the morning there was great weeping and lamentation in the
+merchant's house when it was known what had happened. The merchant
+himself nearly went mad. Meanwhile the dog kept on running to the
+door, and pulling at his master's shirt and paijamas, as though
+wishing him to go outside. At last a friend suggested that, perhaps,
+the dog knew something of the whereabouts of the things, and advised
+the merchant to follow its leadings. The merchant consented, and went
+after the dog right up to the very place where the thieves had hidden
+the goods. Here the animal scraped and barked, and showed in various
+ways that the things were underneath. So the merchant and his friends
+dug about the place, and soon came upon all the stolen property.
+Nothing was missing. There was everything just as the thieves had
+taken them.
+
+"The merchant was very glad. On returning to his house, he at once
+sent the dog back to its old master with a letter rolled under the
+collar, wherein he had written about the sagacity of the beast, and
+begged his friend to forget the loan and to accept another five
+thousand rupees as a present. When this merchant saw his dog coming
+back again, he thought, 'Alas! my friend is wanting the money. How can
+I pay him? I have not had sufficient time to recover myself from my
+recent losses. I will slay the dog ere he reaches the threshold, and
+say that another must have slain it. Thus there will be an end of my
+debt. No dog, no loan.' Accordingly he ran out and killed the poor
+dog, when the letter fell out of its collar. The merchant picked it up
+and read it. How great was his grief and disappointment when he knew
+the facts of the case!
+
+"Beware," continued the prince, "lest you do that which afterwards you
+would give your life not to have done."
+
+By the time the prince had concluded this story it was nearly morning,
+and he went away, after rewarding the man.
+
+The prince then visited the country belonging to his brother-in-law.
+He disguised himself as a jogi, and sitting down by a tree near the
+palace, pretended to be absorbed in worship. News of the man and of
+his wonderful piety reached the ears of the king. He felt interested
+in him, as his wife was very ill; and he had sought for hakims to cure
+her, but in vain. He thought that, perhaps, this holy man could do
+something for her. So he sent to him. But the jogi refused to tread
+the halls of a king, saying that his dwelling was the open air, and
+that if his Majesty wished to see him he must come himself and bring
+his wife to the place. Then the king took his wife and brought her to
+the jogi. The holy man bade her prostrate herself before him, and when
+she had remained in this position for about three hours, he told her
+to rise and go, for she was cured.
+
+In the evening there was great consternation in the palace, because
+the queen had lost her pearl rosary, and nobody knew anything about
+it. At length some one went to the jogi, and found it on the ground by
+the place where the queen had prostrated herself. When the king heard
+this he was very angry, and ordered the jogi to be executed. This
+stern order, however, was not carried out, as the prince bribed the
+men and escaped from the country. But he knew that the second bit of
+advice was true.
+
+Clad in his own clothes, the prince was walking along one day when he
+saw a potter crying and laughing alternately with his wife and
+children. "O fool," said he, "what is the matter? If you laugh, why do
+you weep? If you weep, why do you laugh?"
+
+"Do not bother me," said the potter. "What does it matter to you?"
+
+"Pardon me," said the prince, "but I should like to know the reason."
+
+"The reason is this, then," said the potter. "The king of this country
+has a daughter whom he is obliged to marry every day, because all her
+husbands die the first night of their stay with her. Nearly all the
+young men of the place have thus perished, and our son will be called
+on soon. We laugh at the absurdity of the thing--a potter's son
+marrying a princess, and we cry at the terrible consequence of the
+marriage. What can we do?"
+
+"Truly a matter for laughing and weeping. But weep no more," said the
+prince. "I will exchange places with your son, and will be married to
+the princess instead of him. Only give me suitable garments, and
+prepare me for the occasion."
+
+So the potter gave him beautiful raiment and ornaments, and the prince
+went to the palace. At night he was conducted to the apartment of the
+princess. "Dread hour!" thought he; "am I to die like the scores of
+young men before me?" He clenched his sword with firm grip, and lay
+down on his bed, intending to keep awake all the night and see what
+would happen. In the middle of the night he saw two Shahmars come out
+from the nostrils of the princess. They stole over towards him,
+intending to kill him, like the others who had been before him: but he
+was ready for them. He laid hold of his sword, and when the snakes
+reached his bed he struck at them and killed them. In the morning the
+king came as usual to inquire, and was surprised to hear his daughter
+and the prince talking gaily together. "Surely," said he, "this man
+must be her husband, as he only can live with her."
+
+"Where do you come from? Who are you?" asked the king, entering the
+room.
+
+"O king!" replied the prince, "I am the son of a king who rules over
+such-and-such a country."
+
+When he heard this the king was very glad, and bade the prince to
+abide in his palace, and appointed him his successor to the throne.
+The prince remained at the palace for more than a year, and then asked
+permission to visit his own country, which was granted. The king gave
+him elephants, horses, jewels, and abundance of money for the expenses
+of the way and as presents for his father, and the prince started.
+
+On the way he had to pass through the country belonging to his
+brother-in-law, whom we have already mentioned. Report of his arrival
+reached the ears of the king, who came with rope-tied hands and
+haltered neck to do him homage. He most humbly begged him to stay at
+his palace, and to accept what little hospitality could be provided.
+While the prince was staying at the palace he saw his sister, who
+greeted him with smiles and kisses. On leaving he told her how she and
+her husband had treated him at his first visit, and how he had
+escaped; and then gave them two elephants, two beautiful horses,
+fifteen soldiers, and ten lacs rupees' worth of jewels.
+
+Afterwards he went to his own home, and informed his mother and father
+of his arrival. Alas! his parents had both become blind from weeping
+about the loss of their son. "Let him come in," said the king, "and
+put his hands upon our eyes, and we shall see again." So the prince
+entered, and was most affectionately greeted by his old parents; and
+he laid his hands on their eyes, and they saw again.
+
+Then the prince told his father all that had happened to him, and how
+he had been saved several times by attending to the advice that he had
+purchased from the Brahmani. Whereupon the king expressed his sorrow
+for having sent him away, and all was joy and peace again.
+
+
+
+
+The Gold-giving Serpent
+
+
+Now in a certain place there lived a Brahman named Haridatta. He was a
+farmer, but poor was the return his labour brought him. One day, at
+the end of the hot hours, the Brahman, overcome by the heat, lay down
+under the shadow of a tree to have a doze. Suddenly he saw a great
+hooded snake creeping out of an ant-hill near at hand. So he thought
+to himself, "Sure this is the guardian deity of the field, and I have
+not ever worshipped it. That's why my farming is in vain. I will at
+once go and pay my respects to it."
+
+When he had made up his mind, he got some milk, poured it into a bowl,
+and went to the ant-hill, and said aloud: "O Guardian of this Field!
+all this while I did not know that you dwelt here. That is why I have
+not yet paid my respects to you; pray forgive me." And he laid the
+milk down and went to his house. Next morning he came and looked, and
+he saw a gold denar in the bowl, and from that time onward every day
+the same thing occurred: he gave milk to the serpent and found a gold
+denar.
+
+One day the Brahman had to go to the village, and so he ordered his
+son to take the milk to the ant-hill. The son brought the milk, put
+it down, and went back home. Next day he went again and found a
+denar, so he thought to himself: "This ant-hill is surely full
+of golden denars; I'll kill the serpent, and take them all for
+myself." So next day, while he was giving the milk to the serpent, the
+Brahman's son struck it on the head with a cudgel. But the serpent
+escaped death by the will of fate, and in a rage bit the Brahman's son
+with its sharp fangs, and he fell down dead at once. His people raised
+him a funeral pyre not far from the field and burnt him to ashes.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Two days afterwards his father came back, and when he learnt his son's
+fate he grieved and mourned. But after a time, he took the bowl of
+milk, went to the ant-hill, and praised the serpent with a loud voice.
+After a long, long time the serpent appeared, but only with its head
+out of the opening of the ant-hill, and spoke to the Brahman: "'Tis
+greed that brings you here, and makes you even forget the loss of
+your son. From this time forward friendship between us is impossible.
+Your son struck me in youthful ignorance, and I have bitten him to
+death. How can I forget the blow with the cudgel? And how can you
+forget the pain and grief at the loss of your son?" So speaking, it
+gave the Brahman a costly pearl and disappeared. But before it went
+away it said: "Come back no more." The Brahman took the pearl, and
+went back home, cursing the folly of his son.
+
+
+
+
+The Son of Seven Queens
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived a King who had seven Queens, but no
+children. This was a great grief to him, especially when he remembered
+that on his death there would be no heir to inherit the kingdom.
+
+Now it happened one day that a poor old fakir came to the King, and
+said, "Your prayers are heard, your desire shall be accomplished, and
+one of your seven Queens shall bear a son."
+
+The King's delight at this promise knew no bounds, and he gave orders
+for appropriate festivities to be prepared against the coming event
+throughout the length and breadth of the land.
+
+Meanwhile the seven Queens lived luxuriously in a splendid palace,
+attended by hundreds of female slaves, and fed to their hearts'
+content on sweetmeats and confectionery.
+
+Now the King was very fond of hunting, and one day, before he started,
+the seven Queens sent him a message saying, "May it please our dearest
+lord not to hunt towards the north to-day, for we have dreamt bad
+dreams, and fear lest evil should befall you."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The King, to allay their anxiety, promised regard for their wishes,
+and set out towards the south; but as luck would have it, although he
+hunted diligently, he found no game. Nor had he more success to the
+east or west, so that, being a keen sportsman, and determined not to
+go home empty-handed, he forgot all about his promise, and turned to
+the north. Here also he was at first unsuccessful, but just as he had
+made up his mind to give up for that day, a white hind with golden
+horns and silver hoofs flashed past him into a thicket. So quickly did
+it pass that he scarcely saw it; nevertheless a burning desire to
+capture and possess the beautiful strange creature filled his breast.
+He instantly ordered his attendants to form a ring round the thicket,
+and so encircle the hind; then, gradually narrowing the circle, he
+pressed forward till he could distinctly see the white hind panting in
+the midst. Nearer and nearer he advanced, till, just as he thought to
+lay hold of the beautiful strange creature, it gave one mighty bound,
+leapt clean over the King's head, and fled towards the mountains.
+Forgetful of all else, the King, setting spurs to his horse, followed
+at full speed. On, on he galloped, leaving his retinue far behind,
+keeping the white hind in view, never drawing bridle, until, finding
+himself in a narrow ravine with no outlet, he reined in his steed.
+Before him stood a miserable hovel, into which, being tired after his
+long, unsuccessful chase, he entered to ask for a drink of water. An
+old woman, seated in the hut at a spinning-wheel, answered his request
+by calling to her daughter, and immediately from an inner room came a
+maiden so lovely and charming, so white-skinned and golden-haired,
+that the King was transfixed by astonishment at seeing so beautiful a
+sight in the wretched hovel.
+
+She held the vessel of water to the King's lips, and as he drank he
+looked into her eyes, and then it became clear to him that the girl
+was no other than the white hind with the golden horns and silver feet
+he had chased so far.
+
+Her beauty bewitched him, so he fell on his knees, begging her to
+return with him as his bride; but she only laughed, saying seven
+Queens were quite enough even for a King to manage. However, when he
+would take no refusal, but implored her to have pity on him, promising
+her everything she could desire, she replied, "Give me the eyes of
+your seven Queens, and then perhaps I may believe you mean what you
+say."
+
+The King was so carried away by the glamour of the white hind's
+magical beauty, that he went home at once, had the eyes of his seven
+Queens taken out, and, after throwing the poor blind creatures into a
+noisome dungeon whence they could not escape, set off once more for
+the hovel in the ravine, bearing with him his horrible offering. But
+the white hind only laughed cruelly when she saw the fourteen eyes,
+and threading them as a necklace, flung it round her mother's neck,
+saying, "Wear that, little mother, as a keepsake, whilst I am away in
+the King's palace."
+
+Then she went back with the bewitched monarch, as his bride, and he
+gave her the seven Queens' rich clothes and jewels to wear, the seven
+Queens' palace to live in, and the seven Queens' slaves to wait upon
+her; so that she really had everything even a witch could desire.
+
+Now, very soon after the seven wretched hapless Queens had their eyes
+torn out, and were cast into prison, a baby was born to the youngest
+of the Queens. It was a handsome boy, but the other Queens were very
+jealous that the youngest amongst them should be so fortunate. But
+though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved
+so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son.
+Almost as soon as he could walk about he began scraping at the mud
+wall of their dungeon, and in an incredibly short space of time had
+made a hole big enough for him to crawl through. Through this he
+disappeared, returning in an hour or so laden with sweetmeats, which
+he divided equally amongst the seven blind Queens.
+
+As he grew older he enlarged the hole, and slipped out two or three
+times every day to play with the little nobles in the town. No one
+knew who the tiny boy was, but everybody liked him, and he was so full
+of funny tricks and antics, so merry and bright, that he was sure to
+be rewarded by some girdle-cakes, a handful of parched grain, or some
+sweetmeats. All these things he brought home to his seven mothers, as
+he loved to call the seven blind Queens, who by his help lived on in
+their dungeon when all the world thought they had starved to death
+ages before.
+
+At last, when he was quite a big lad, he one day took his bow and
+arrow, and went out to seek for game. Coming by chance past the palace
+where the white hind lived in wicked splendour and magnificence, he
+saw some pigeons fluttering round the white marble turrets, and,
+taking good aim, shot one dead. It came tumbling past the very window
+where the white Queen was sitting; she rose to see what was the
+matter, and looked out. At the first glance of the handsome young lad
+standing there bow in hand, she knew by witchcraft that it was the
+King's son.
+
+She nearly died of envy and spite, determining to destroy the lad
+without delay; therefore, sending a servant to bring him to her
+presence, she asked him if he would sell her the pigeon he had just
+shot.
+
+"No," replied the sturdy lad, "the pigeon is for my seven blind
+mothers, who live in the noisome dungeon, and who would die if I did
+not bring them food."
+
+"Poor souls!" cried the cunning white witch; "would you not like to
+bring them their eyes again? Give me the pigeon, my dear, and I
+faithfully promise to show you where to find them."
+
+Hearing this, the lad was delighted beyond measure, and gave up the
+pigeon at once. Whereupon the white Queen told him to seek her mother
+without delay, and ask for the eyes which she wore as a necklace.
+
+"She will not fail to give them," said the cruel Queen, "if you show
+her this token on which I have written what I want done."
+
+So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these
+words inscribed on it--"Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his
+blood like water!"
+
+Now, as the son of seven Queens could not read, he took the fatal
+message cheerfully, and set off to find the white Queen's mother.
+
+Whilst he was journeying he passed through a town, where every one of
+the inhabitants looked so sad, that he could not help asking what was
+the matter. They told him it was because the King's only daughter
+refused to marry; so when her father died there would be no heir to
+the throne. They greatly feared she must be out of her mind, for
+though every good-looking young man in the kingdom had been shown to
+her, she declared she would only marry one who was the son of seven
+mothers, and who ever heard of such a thing? The King, in despair, had
+ordered every man who entered the city gates to be led before the
+Princess; so, much to the lad's impatience, for he was in an immense
+hurry to find his mothers' eyes, he was dragged into the
+presence-chamber.
+
+No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she blushed, and,
+turning to the King, said, "Dear father, this is my choice!"
+
+Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.
+
+[Illustration: THE SON OF SEVEN MOTHERS]
+
+The inhabitants nearly went wild with joy, but the son of seven
+Queens said he would not marry the Princess unless they first let him
+recover his mothers' eyes. When the beautiful bride heard his story,
+she asked to see the potsherd, for she was very learned and clever.
+Seeing the treacherous words, she said nothing, but taking another
+similar-shaped bit of potsherd, she wrote on it these words--"Take
+care of this lad, giving him all he desires," and returned it to the
+son of seven Queens, who, none the wiser, set off on his quest.
+
+Ere long he arrived at the hovel in the ravine where the white witch's
+mother, a hideous old creature, grumbled dreadfully on reading the
+message, especially when the lad asked for the necklace of eyes.
+Nevertheless she took it off, and gave it him, saying, "There are only
+thirteen of 'em now, for I lost one last week."
+
+The lad, however, was only too glad to get any at all, so he hurried
+home as fast as he could to his seven mothers, and gave two eyes
+apiece to the six elder Queens; but to the youngest he gave one,
+saying, "Dearest little mother!--I will be your other eye always!"
+
+After this he set off to marry the Princess, as he had promised, but
+when passing by the white Queen's palace he saw some pigeons on the
+roof. Drawing his bow, he shot one, and it came fluttering past the
+window. The white hind looked out, and lo! there was the King's son
+alive and well.
+
+She cried with hatred and disgust, but sending for the lad, asked him
+how he had returned so soon, and when she heard how he had brought
+home the thirteen eyes, and given them to the seven blind Queens, she
+could hardly restrain her rage. Nevertheless she pretended to be
+charmed with his success, and told him that if he would give her this
+pigeon also, she would reward him with the Jogi's wonderful cow, whose
+milk flows all day long, and makes a pond as big as a kingdom. The
+lad, nothing loth, gave her the pigeon; whereupon, as before, she bade
+him go ask her mother for the cow, and gave him a potsherd whereon was
+written--"Kill this lad without fail, and sprinkle his blood like
+water!"
+
+But on the way the son of seven Queens looked in on the Princess, just
+to tell her how he came to be delayed, and she, after reading the
+message on the potsherd, gave him another in its stead; so that when
+the lad reached the old hag's hut and asked her for the Jogi's cow,
+she could not refuse, but told the boy how to find it; and bidding him
+of all things not to be afraid of the eighteen thousand demons who
+kept watch and ward over the treasure, told him to be off before she
+became too angry at her daughter's foolishness in thus giving away so
+many good things.
+
+Then the lad did as he had been told bravely. He journeyed on and on
+till he came to a milk-white pond, guarded by the eighteen thousand
+demons. They were really frightful to behold, but, plucking up
+courage, he whistled a tune as he walked through them, looking neither
+to the right nor the left. By-and-by he came upon the Jogi's cow,
+tall, white, and beautiful, while the Jogi himself, who was king of
+all the demons, sat milking her day and night, and the milk streamed
+from her udder, filling the milk-white tank.
+
+The Jogi, seeing the lad, called out fiercely, "What do you want
+here?"
+
+Then the lad answered, according to the old hag's bidding, "I want
+your skin, for King Indra is making a new kettle-drum, and says your
+skin is nice and tough."
+
+Upon this the Jogi began to shiver and shake (for no Jinn or Jogi
+dares disobey King Indra's command), and, falling at the lad's feet,
+cried, "If you will spare me I will give you anything I possess, even
+my beautiful white cow!"
+
+To this the son of seven Queens, after a little pretended hesitation,
+agreed, saying that after all it would not be difficult to find a nice
+tough skin like the Jogi's elsewhere; so, driving the wonderful cow
+before him, he set off homewards. The seven Queens were delighted to
+possess so marvellous an animal, and though they toiled from morning
+till night making curds and whey, besides selling milk to the
+confectioners, they could not use half the cow gave, and became richer
+and richer day by day.
+
+Seeing them so comfortably off, the son of seven Queens started with a
+light heart to marry the Princess; but when passing the white hind's
+palace he could not resist sending a bolt at some pigeons which were
+cooing on the parapet. One fell dead just beneath the window where the
+white Queen was sitting. Looking out, she saw the lad hale and hearty
+standing before her, and grew whiter than ever with rage and spite.
+
+She sent for him to ask how he had returned so soon, and when she
+heard how kindly her mother had received him, she very nearly had a
+fit; however, she dissembled her feelings as well as she could, and,
+smiling sweetly, said she was glad to have been able to fulfil her
+promise, and that if he would give her this third pigeon, she would do
+yet more for him than she had done before, by giving him the
+million-fold rice, which ripens in one night.
+
+The lad was of course delighted at the very idea, and, giving up the
+pigeon, set off on his quest, armed as before with a potsherd, on
+which was written, "Do not fail this time. Kill the lad, and sprinkle
+his blood like water!"
+
+But when he looked in on his Princess, just to prevent her becoming
+anxious about him, she asked to see the potsherd as usual, and
+substituted another, on which was written, "Yet again give this lad
+all he requires, for his blood shall be as your blood!"
+
+Now when the old hag saw this, and heard how the lad wanted the
+million-fold rice which ripens in a single night, she fell into the
+most furious rage, but being terribly afraid of her daughter, she
+controlled herself, and bade the boy go and find the field guarded by
+eighteen millions of demons, warning him on no account to look back
+after having plucked the tallest spike of rice, which grew in the
+centre.
+
+So the son of seven Queens set off, and soon came to the field where,
+guarded by eighteen millions of demons, the million-fold rice grew. He
+walked on bravely, looking neither to the right or left, till he
+reached the centre and plucked the tallest ear, but as he turned
+homewards a thousand sweet voices rose behind him, crying in tenderest
+accents, "Pluck me too! oh, please pluck me too!" He looked back, and
+lo! there was nothing left of him but a little heap of ashes!
+
+Now as time passed by and the lad did not return, the old hag grew
+uneasy, remembering the message "his blood shall be as your blood"; so
+she set off to see what had happened.
+
+Soon she came to the heap of ashes, and knowing by her arts what it
+was, she took a little water, and kneading the ashes into a paste,
+formed it into the likeness of a man; then, putting a drop of blood
+from her little finger into its mouth, she blew on it, and instantly
+the son of seven Queens started up as well as ever.
+
+"Don't you disobey orders again!" grumbled the old hag, "or next time
+I'll leave you alone. Now be off, before I repent of my kindness!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+So the son of seven Queens returned joyfully to his seven mothers,
+who, by the aid of the million-fold rice, soon became the richest
+people in the kingdom. Then they celebrated their son's marriage to
+the clever Princess with all imaginable pomp; but the bride was so
+clever, she would not rest until she had made known her husband to his
+father, and punished the wicked white witch. So she made her husband
+build a palace exactly like the one in which the seven Queens had
+lived, and in which the white witch now dwelt in splendour. Then, when
+all was prepared, she bade her husband give a grand feast to the King.
+Now the King had heard much of the mysterious son of seven Queens, and
+his marvellous wealth, so he gladly accepted the invitation; but what
+was his astonishment when on entering the palace he found it was a
+facsimile of his own in every particular! And when his host, richly
+attired, led him straight to the private hall, where on royal thrones
+sat the seven Queens, dressed as he had last seen them, he was
+speechless with surprise, until the Princess, coming forward, threw
+herself at his feet, and told him the whole story. Then the King awoke
+from his enchantment, and his anger rose against the wicked white hind
+who had bewitched him so long, until he could not contain himself. So
+she was put to death, and her grave ploughed over, and after that the
+seven Queens returned to their own splendid palace, and everybody
+lived happily.
+
+
+
+
+A Lesson for Kings
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the
+future Buddha returned to life as his son and heir. And when the day
+came for choosing a name, they called him Prince Brahma-datta. He grew
+up in due course; and when he was sixteen years old, went to
+Takkasila, and became accomplished in all arts. And after his father
+died he ascended the throne, and ruled the kingdom with righteousness
+and equity. He gave judgments without partiality, hatred, ignorance,
+or fear. Since he thus reigned with justice, with justice also his
+ministers administered the law. Law-suits being thus decided with
+justice, there were none who brought false cases. And as these ceased,
+the noise and tumult of litigation ceased in the king's court. Though
+the judges sat all day in the court, they had to leave without any one
+coming for justice. It came to this, that the Hall of Justice would
+have to be closed!
+
+Then the future Buddha thought, "It cannot be from my reigning with
+righteousness that none come for judgment; the bustle has ceased, and
+the Hall of Justice will have to be closed. I must, therefore, now
+examine into my own faults; and if I find that anything is wrong in
+me, put that away, and practise only virtue."
+
+Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him his faults, but among
+those around him he found no one who would tell him of any fault, but
+heard only his own praise.
+
+Then he thought, "It is from fear of me that these men speak only good
+things, and not evil things," and he sought among those people who
+lived outside the palace. And finding no fault-finder there, he sought
+among those who lived outside the city, in the suburbs, at the four
+gates. And there too finding no one to find fault, and hearing only
+his own praise, he determined to search the country places.
+
+So he made over the kingdom to his ministers, and mounted his chariot;
+and taking only his charioteer, left the city in disguise. And
+searching the country through, up to the very boundary, he found no
+fault-finder, and heard only of his own virtue; and so he turned back
+from the outer-most boundary, and returned by the high road towards
+the city.
+
+Now at that time the king of Kosala, Mallika by name, was also ruling
+his kingdom with righteousness; and when seeking for some fault in
+himself, he also found no fault-finder in the palace but only heard of
+his own virtue! So seeking in country places, he too came to that
+very spot. And these two came face to face in a low cart-track with
+precipitous sides, where there was no space for a chariot to get out
+of the way!
+
+Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the charioteer of the
+king of Benares, "Take thy chariot out of the way!"
+
+But he said, "Take thy chariot out of the way, O charioteer! In this
+chariot sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Benares, the great king
+Brahma-datta."
+
+Yet the other replied, "In this chariot, O charioteer, sitteth the
+lord over the kingdom of Kosala, the great king Mallika. Take thy
+carriage out of the way, and make room for the chariot of our king!"
+
+Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, "They say then
+that he too is a king! What _is_ now to be done?" After some
+consideration, he said to himself, "I know a way. I'll find out how
+old he is, and then I'll let the chariot of the younger be got out of
+the way, and so make room for the elder."
+
+And when he had arrived at that conclusion, he asked that charioteer
+what the age of the king of Kosala was. But on inquiry he found that
+the ages of both were equal. Then he inquired about the extent of his
+kingdom, and about his army, and his wealth, and his renown, and about
+the country he lived in, and his caste and tribe and family. And he
+found that both were lords of a kingdom three hundred leagues in
+extent; and that in respect of army and wealth and renown, and the
+countries in which they lived, and their caste and their tribe and
+their family, they were just on a par!
+
+Then he thought, "I will make way for the most righteous." And he
+asked, "What kind of righteousness has this king of yours?"
+
+Then the chorister of the king of Kosala, proclaiming his king's
+wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza:
+
+    "The strong he overthrows by strength,
+    The mild by mildness, does Mallika;
+    The good he conquers by goodness,
+    And the wicked by wickedness too.
+      Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+      Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, "Well, have you
+told all the virtues of your king?"
+
+"Yes," said the other.
+
+"If these are his _virtues_, where are then his faults?" replied he.
+
+The other said, "Well, for the nonce, they shall be faults, if you
+like! But pray, then, what is the kind of goodness your king has?"
+
+And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called unto him to
+hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza:
+
+    "Anger he conquers by calmness,
+    And by goodness the wicked;
+    The stingy he conquers by gifts,
+    And by truth the speaker of lies.
+      Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+      Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king and his charioteer
+alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed
+their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares!
+
+
+
+
+Pride goeth before a Fall
+
+
+In a certain village there lived ten cloth merchants, who always went
+about together. Once upon a time they had travelled far afield, and
+were returning home with a great deal of money which they had obtained
+by selling their wares. Now there happened to be a dense forest near
+their village, and this they reached early one morning. In it there
+lived three notorious robbers, of whose existence the traders had
+never heard, and while they were still in the middle of it the robbers
+stood before them, with swords and cudgels in their hands, and ordered
+them to lay down all they had. The traders had no weapons with them,
+and so, though they were many more in number, they had to submit
+themselves to the robbers, who took away everything from them, even
+the very clothes they wore, and gave to each only a small loin-cloth a
+span in breadth and a cubit in length.
+
+The idea that they had conquered ten men and plundered all their
+property, now took possession of the robbers' minds. They seated
+themselves like three monarchs before the men they had plundered, and
+ordered them to dance to them before returning home. The merchants
+now mourned their fate. They had lost all they had, except their
+loin-cloth, and still the robbers were not satisfied, but ordered them
+to dance.
+
+There was, among the ten merchants, one who was very clever. He
+pondered over the calamity that had come upon him and his friends, the
+dance they would have to perform, and the magnificent manner in which
+the three robbers had seated themselves on the grass. At the same time
+he observed that these last had placed their weapons on the ground, in
+the assurance of having thoroughly cowed the traders, who were now
+commencing to dance. So he took the lead in the dance, and, as a song
+is always sung by the leader on such occasions, to which the rest keep
+time with hands and feet, he thus began to sing:
+
+    "We are enty men,
+    They are erith men:
+    If each erith man,
+    Surround eno men
+    Eno man remains.
+    _T�, tai, t�m, tadingana._"
+
+The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader was
+merely singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for the leader
+commenced from a distance, and had sung the song over twice before he
+and his companions commenced to approach the robbers. They had
+understood his meaning, because they had been trained in trade.
+
+When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a
+purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"What is the price of this cloth?" one trader will ask another.
+
+"Enty rupees," another will reply, meaning "ten rupees."
+
+Thus, there is no possibility of the purchaser knowing what is meant
+unless he be acquainted with trade language. By the rules of this
+secret language erith means "three," enty means "ten," and eno means
+"one." So the leader by his song meant to hint to his fellow-traders
+that they were ten men, the robbers only three, that if three pounced
+upon each of the robbers, nine of them could hold them down, while the
+remaining one bound the robbers' hands and feet.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The three thieves, glorying in their victory, and little understanding
+the meaning of the song and the intentions of the dancers, were
+proudly seated chewing betel and tobacco. Meanwhile the song was sung
+a third time. _T� tai t�m_ had left the lips of the singer; and,
+before _tadingana_ was out of them, the traders separated into parties
+of three, and each party pounced upon a thief. The remaining one--the
+leader himself--tore up into long narrow strips a large piece of
+cloth, six cubits long, and tied the hands and feet of the robbers.
+These were entirely humbled now, and rolled on the ground like three
+bags of rice!
+
+The ten traders now took back all their property, and armed themselves
+with the swords and cudgels of their enemies; and when they reached
+their village, they often amused their friends and relatives by
+relating their adventure.
+
+
+
+
+Raja Rasalu.
+
+
+Once there lived a great Raja, whose name was Salabhan, and he had a
+Queen, by name Lona, who, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine,
+had never a child to gladden her eyes. After a long time, however, a
+son was promised to her.
+
+Queen Lona returned to the palace, and when the time for the birth of
+the promised son drew nigh, she inquired of three Jogis who came
+begging to her gate, what the child's fate would be, and the youngest
+of them answered and said, "Oh, Queen! the child will be a boy, and he
+will live to be a great man. But for twelve years you must not look
+upon his face, for if either you or his father see it before the
+twelve years are past, you will surely die! This is what you must do;
+as soon as the child is born you must send him away to a cellar
+underneath the ground, and never let him see the light of day for
+twelve years. After they are over, he may come forth, bathe in the
+river, put on new clothes, and visit you. His name shall be Raja
+Rasalu, and he shall be known far and wide."
+
+So, when a fair young Prince was in due time born into the world, his
+parents hid him away in an underground palace, with nurses, and
+servants, and everything else a King's son might desire. And with him
+they sent a young colt, born the same day, and sword, spear, and
+shield, against the day when Raja Rasalu should go forth into the
+world.
+
+So there the child lived, playing with his colt, and talking to his
+parrot, while the nurses taught him all things needful for a King's
+son to know.
+
+Young Rasalu lived on, far from the light of day, for eleven long
+years, growing tall and strong, yet contented to remain playing with
+his colt, and talking to his parrot; but when the twelfth year began,
+the lad's heart leapt up with desire for change, and he loved to
+listen to the sounds of life which came to him in his palace-prison
+from the outside world.
+
+"I must go and see where the voices come from!" he said; and when his
+nurses told him he must not go for one year more, he only laughed
+aloud, saying, "Nay! I stay no longer here for any man!"
+
+Then he saddled his Arab horse Bhaunr, put on his shining armour, and
+rode forth into the world; but mindful of what his nurses had oft told
+him, when he came to the river, he dismounted, and, going into the
+water, washed himself and his clothes.
+
+Then, clean of raiment, fair of face, and brave of heart, he rode on
+his way until he reached his father's city. There he sat down to rest
+awhile by a well, where the women were drawing water in earthen
+pitchers. Now, as they passed him, their full pitchers poised upon
+their heads, the gay young Prince flung stones at the earthen
+vessels, and broke them all. Then the women, drenched with water,
+went weeping and wailing to the palace, complaining to the King that a
+mighty young Prince in shining armour, with a parrot on his wrist and
+a gallant steed beside him, sat by the well, and broke their pitchers.
+
+Now, as soon as Rajah Salabhan heard this, he guessed at once that it
+was Prince Rasalu come forth before the time, and, mindful of the
+Jogis' words that he would die if he looked on his son's face before
+twelve years were past, he did not dare to send his guards to seize
+the offender and bring him to be judged. So he bade the women be
+comforted, and take pitchers of iron and brass, giving new ones from
+his treasury to those who did not possess any of their own.
+
+But when Prince Rasalu saw the women returning to the well with
+pitchers of iron and brass, he laughed to himself, and drew his mighty
+bow till the sharp-pointed arrows pierced the metal vessels as though
+they had been clay.
+
+Yet still the King did not send for him, so he mounted his steed and
+set off in the pride of his youth and strength to the palace. He
+strode into the audience hall, where his father sat trembling, and
+saluted him with all reverence; but Raja Salabhan, in fear of his
+life, turned his back hastily and said never a word in reply.
+
+Then Prince Rasalu called scornfully to him across the hall:
+
+    "I came to greet thee, King, and not to harm thee!
+      What have I done that thou shouldst turn away?
+    Sceptre and empire have no power to charm me--
+      I go to seek a worthier prize than they!"
+
+Then he strode away, full of bitterness and anger; but, as he passed
+under the palace windows, he heard his mother weeping, and the sound
+softened his heart, so that his wrath died down, and a great
+loneliness fell upon him, because he was spurned by both father and
+mother. So he cried sorrowfully,
+
+    "Oh heart crown'd with grief, hast thou nought
+      But tears for thy son?
+    Art mother of mine?  Give one thought
+      To my life just begun!"
+
+And Queen Lona answered through her tears:
+
+    "Yea! mother am I, though I weep,
+      So hold this word sure,--
+    Go, reign king of all men, but keep
+      Thy heart good and pure!"
+
+So Raja Rasalu was comforted, and began to make ready for fortune. He
+took with him his horse Bhaunr and his parrot, both of whom had lived
+with him since he was born.
+
+So they made a goodly company, and Queen Lona, when she saw them
+going, watched them from her window till she saw nothing but a cloud
+of dust on the horizon; then she bowed her head on her hands and wept,
+saying:
+
+    "Oh! son who ne'er gladdened mine eyes,
+    Let the cloud of thy going arise,
+    Dim the sunlight and darken the day;
+    For the mother whose son is away
+            Is as dust!"
+
+Rasalu had started off to play chaupur with King Sarkap. And as he
+journeyed there came a fierce storm of thunder and lightning, so that
+he sought shelter, and found none save an old graveyard, where a
+headless corpse lay upon the ground. So lonesome was it that even the
+corpse seemed company, and Rasalu, sitting down beside it, said:
+
+    "There is no one here, nor far nor near,
+      Save this breathless corpse so cold and grim;
+    Would God he might come to life again,
+      'Twould be less lonely to talk to him."
+
+And immediately the headless corpse arose and sat beside Raja Rasalu.
+And he, nothing astonished, said to it:
+
+    "The storm beats fierce and loud,
+      The clouds rise thick in the west;
+    What ails thy grave and shroud,
+      Oh corpse! that thou canst not rest?"
+
+Then the headless corpse replied:
+
+    "On earth I was even as thou,
+      My turban awry like a king,
+    My head with the highest, I trow,
+      Having my fun and my fling,
+    Fighting my foes like a brave,
+      Living my life with a swing.
+            And, now I am dead,
+            Sins, heavy as lead,
+    Will give me no rest in my grave!"
+
+So the night passed on, dark and dreary, while Rasalu sat in the
+graveyard and talked to the headless corpse. Now when morning broke
+and Rasalu said he must continue his journey, the headless corpse
+asked him whither he was going, and when he said "to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap," the corpse begged him to give up the idea saying, "I am
+King Sarkap's brother, and I know his ways. Every day, before
+breakfast, he cuts off the heads of two or three men, just to amuse
+himself. One day no one else was at hand, so he cut off mine, and he
+will surely cut off yours on some pretence or another. However, if you
+are determined to go and play chaupur with him, take some of the bones
+from this graveyard, and make your dice out of them, and then the
+enchanted dice with which my brother plays will lose their virtue.
+Otherwise he will always win."
+
+So Rasalu took some of the bones lying about, and fashioned them into
+dice, and these he put into his pocket. Then, bidding adieu to the
+headless corpse, he went on his way to play chaupur with the King.
+
+Now, as Raja Rasalu, tender-hearted and strong, journeyed along to
+play chaupur with the King, he came to a burning forest, and a voice
+rose from the fire saying, "Oh, traveller! for God's sake save me from
+the fire!"
+
+Then the Prince turned towards the burning forest, and, lo! the voice
+was the voice of a tiny cricket. Nevertheless, Rasalu, tender-hearted
+and strong, snatched it from the fire and set it at liberty. Then the
+little creature, full of gratitude, pulled out one of its feelers, and
+giving it to its preserver, said, "Keep this, and should you ever be
+in trouble, put it into the fire, and instantly I will come to your
+aid."
+
+The Prince smiled, saying, "What help could _you_ give _me_?"
+Nevertheless, he kept the hair and went on his way.
+
+Now, when he reached the city of King Sarkap, seventy maidens,
+daughters of the King, came out to meet him,--seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter; but one, the youngest
+of them all, when she saw the gallant young Prince riding on Bhaunr
+Iraqi, going gaily to his doom, was filled with pity, and called to
+him saying:
+
+    "Fair Prince, on the charger so gray,
+        Turn thee back! turn thee back!
+    Or lower thy lance for the fray;
+    Thy head will be forfeit to-day!
+    Dost love life? then, stranger, I pray,
+        Turn thee back! turn thee back!"
+
+But he, smiling at the maiden, answered lightly:
+
+    "Fair maiden, I come from afar,
+    Sworn conqueror in love and in war!
+    King Sarkap my coming will rue,
+    His head in four pieces I'll hew;
+    Then forth as a bridegroom I'll ride,
+    With you, little maid, as my bride!"
+
+Now when Rasalu replied so gallantly, the maiden looked in his face,
+and seeing how fair he was, and how brave and strong, she straightway
+fell in love with him, and would gladly have followed him through the
+world.
+
+But the other sixty-nine maidens, being jealous, laughed scornfully at
+her, saying, "Not so fast, oh gallant warrior! If you would marry our
+sister you must first do our bidding, for you will be our younger
+brother."
+
+"Fair sisters!" quoth Rasalu gaily, "give me my task and I will
+perform it."
+
+So the sixty-nine maidens mixed a hundred-weight of millet seed with a
+hundred-weight of sand, and giving it to Rasalu, bade him separate the
+seed from the sand.
+
+Then he bethought him of the cricket, and drawing the feeler from his
+pocket, thrust it into the fire. And immediately there was a whirring
+noise in the air, and a great flight of crickets alighted beside him,
+and amongst them the cricket whose life he had saved.
+
+Then Rasalu said, "Separate the millet seed from the sand."
+
+"Is that all?" quoth the cricket; "had I known how small a job you
+wanted me to do, I would not have assembled so many of my brethren."
+
+With that the flight of crickets set to work, and in one night they
+separated the seed from the sand.
+
+Now when the sixty-nine fair maidens, daughters of the king saw that
+Rasalu had performed his task, they set him another, bidding him swing
+them all, one by one, in their swings, until they were tired.
+
+Whereupon he laughed, saying, "There are seventy of you, counting my
+little bride yonder, and I am not going to spend my life swinging
+girls! Why, by the time I have given each of you a swing, the first
+will be wanting another! No! if you want a swing, get in, all seventy
+of you, into one swing, and then I'll see what can be done."
+
+So the seventy maidens climbed into one swing, and Raja Rasalu,
+standing in his shining armour, fastened the ropes to his mighty bow,
+and drew it up to its fullest bent. Then he let go, and like an arrow
+the swing shot into the air, with its burden of seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter.
+
+But as it swung back again, Rasalu, standing there in his shining
+armour, drew his sharp sword and severed the ropes. Then the seventy
+fair maidens fell to the ground headlong; and some were bruised and
+some broken, but the only one who escaped unhurt was the maiden who
+loved Rasalu, for she fell out last, on the top of the others, and so
+came to no harm.
+
+After this, Rasalu strode on fifteen paces, till he came to the
+seventy drums, that every one who came to play chaupur with the King
+had to beat in turn; and he beat them so loudly that he broke them
+all. Then he came to the seventy gongs, all in a row, and he hammered
+them so hard that they cracked to pieces.
+
+Seeing this, the youngest Princess, who was the only one who could
+run, fled to her father the King in a great fright, saying:
+
+    "A mighty Prince, Sarkap! making havoc, rides along,
+    He swung us, seventy maidens fair, and threw us out headlong;
+    He broke the drums you placed there and the gongs too in his pride,
+    Sure, he will kill thee, father mine, and take me for his bride!"
+
+But King Sarkap replied scornfully:
+
+    "Silly maiden, thy words make a lot
+      Of a very small matter;
+    For fear of my valour, I wot,
+      His armour will clatter.
+    As soon as I've eaten my bread
+    I'll go forth and cut off his head!"
+
+Notwithstanding these brave and boastful words, he was in reality very
+much afraid, having heard of Rasalu's renown. And learning that he was
+stopping at the house of an old woman in the city, till the hour for
+playing chaupur arrived, Sarkap sent slaves to him with trays of
+sweetmeats and fruit, as to an honoured guest. But the food was
+poisoned.
+
+Now when the slaves brought the trays to Raja Rasalu, he rose up
+haughtily, saying, "Go, tell your master I have nought to do with him
+in friendship. I am his sworn enemy, and I eat not of his salt!"
+
+So saying, he threw the sweetmeats to Raja Sarkap's dog, which had
+followed the slave, and lo! the dog died.
+
+Then Rasalu was very wroth, and said bitterly, "Go back to Sarkap,
+slaves! and tell him that Rasalu deems it no act of bravery to kill
+even an enemy by treachery."
+
+Now, when evening came, Raja Rasalu went forth to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap, and as he passed some potters' kilns he saw a cat
+wandering about restlessly; so he asked what ailed her, that she never
+stood still, and she replied, "My kittens are in an unbaked pot in the
+kiln yonder. It has just been set alight, and my children will be
+baked alive; therefore I cannot rest!"
+
+Her words moved the heart of Raja Rasalu, and, going to the potter, he
+asked him to sell the kiln as it was; but the potter replied that he
+could not settle a fair price till the pots were burnt, as he could
+not tell how many would come out whole. Nevertheless, after some
+bargaining, he consented at last to sell the kiln, and Rasalu, having
+searched all the pots, restored the kittens to their mother, and she,
+in gratitude for his mercy, gave him one of them, saying, "Put it in
+your pocket, for it will help you when you are in difficulties." So
+Raja Rasalu put the kitten in his pocket, and went to play chaupur
+with the King.
+
+Now, before they sat down to play, Raja Sarkap fixed his stakes,--on
+the first game, his kingdom; on the second, the wealth of the whole
+world; and, on the third, his own head. So, likewise, Raja Rasalu
+fixed his stakes,--on the first game, his arms; on the second, his
+horse; and, on the third, his own head.
+
+Then they began to play, and it fell to Rasalu's lot to make the first
+move. Now he, forgetful of the dead man's warning, played with the
+dice given him by Raja Sarkap, besides which, Sarkap let loose his
+famous rat, Dhol Raja, and it ran about the board, upsetting the
+chaupur pieces on the sly, so that Rasalu lost the first game, and
+gave up his shining armour.
+
+Then the second game began, and once more Dhol Raja, the rat, upset
+the pieces; and Rasalu, losing the game, gave up his faithful steed.
+Then Bhaunr, the Arab steed, who stood by, found voice, and cried to
+his master,
+
+        "Sea-born am I, bought with much gold;
+        Dear Prince! trust me now as of old.
+          I'll carry you far from these wiles--
+    My flight, all unspurr'd, will be swift as a bird,
+          For thousands and thousands of miles!
+    Or if needs you must stay; ere the next game you play,
+          Place hand in your pocket, I pray!"
+
+Hearing this, Raja Sarkap frowned, and bade his slaves remove Bhaunr,
+the Arab steed, since he gave his master advice in the game. Now, when
+the slaves came to lead the faithful steed away, Rasalu could
+not refrain from tears, thinking over the long years during which
+Bhaunr, the Arab steed, had been his companion. But the horse cried
+out again,
+
+    "Weep not, dear Prince! I shall not eat my bread
+    Of stranger hands, nor to strange stall be led.
+    Take thy right hand, and place it as I said."
+
+[Illustration: Raja Rasalu plays chaupur with Raja Sarkap.]
+
+These words roused some recollection in Rasalu's mind, and when, just
+at this moment, the kitten in his pocket began to struggle, he
+remembered all about the warning, and the dice made from dead men's
+bones. Then his heart rose up once more, and he called boldly to Raja
+Sarkap, "Leave my horse and arms here for the present. Time enough to
+take them away when you have won my head!"
+
+Now, Raja Sarkap, seeing Rasalu's confident bearing, began to be
+afraid, and ordered all the women of his palace to come forth in their
+gayest attire and stand before Rasalu, so as to distract his attention
+from the game. But he never even looked at them, and drawing the dice
+from his pocket, said to Sarkap, "We have played with your dice all
+this time; now we will play with mine."
+
+Then the kitten went and sat at the window through which the rat Dhol
+Raja used to come, and the game began.
+
+After a while, Sarkap, seeing Raja Rasalu was winning, called to his
+rat, but when Dhol Raja saw the kitten he was afraid, and would not go
+further. So Rasalu won, and took back his arms. Next he played for his
+horse, and once more Raja Sarkap called for his rat; but Dhol Raja,
+seeing the kitten keeping watch, was afraid. So Rasalu won the second
+stake, and took back Bhaunr, the Arab steed.
+
+Then Sarkap brought all his skill to bear on the third and last game,
+saying,
+
+    "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+    For sooth this is a man with whom I play.
+    No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+    As Sarkap does, so do, for Sarkap's sake!"
+
+But Rasalu answered back,
+
+    "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+    For sooth it is a man with whom I play.
+    No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+    As Heaven does, so do, for Heaven's sake!"
+
+So they began to play, whilst the women stood round in a circle, and
+the kitten watched Dhol Raja from the window. Then Sarkap lost, first
+his kingdom, then the wealth of the whole world, and lastly his head.
+
+Just then, a servant came in to announce the birth of a daughter to
+Raja Sarkap, and he, overcome by misfortunes, said, "Kill her at once!
+for she has been born in an evil moment, and has brought her father
+ill luck!"
+
+But Rasalu rose up in his shining armour, tender-hearted and strong,
+saying, "Not so, oh king! She has done no evil. Give me this child to
+wife; and if you will vow, by all you hold sacred, never again to play
+chaupur for another's head, I will spare yours now!"
+
+Then Sarkap vowed a solemn vow never to play for another's head; and
+after that he took a fresh mango branch, and the new-born babe, and
+placing them on a golden dish gave them to Rasalu.
+
+Now, as he left the palace, carrying with him the new-born babe and
+the mango branch, he met a band of prisoners, and they called out to
+him,
+
+    "A royal hawk art thou, oh King! the rest
+    But timid wild-fowl.  Grant us our request,--
+    Unloose these chains, and live for ever blest!"
+
+And Raja Rasalu hearkened to them, and bade King Sarkap set them at
+liberty.
+
+Then he went to the Murti Hills, and placed the new-born babe,
+Kokilan, in an underground palace, and planted the mango branch at the
+door, saying, "In twelve years the mango tree will blossom; then will
+I return and marry Kokilan."
+
+And after twelve years, the mango tree began to flower, and Raja
+Rasalu married the Princess Kokilan, whom he won from Sarkap when he
+played chaupur with the King.
+
+
+
+
+The Ass in the Lion's Skin
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+At the same time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the
+future Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up,
+he gained his living by tilling the ground.
+
+At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
+goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took
+the pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's
+skin, and turn him loose in the rice and barley fields. And when the
+watchmen in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking
+him for a lion.
+
+So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and whilst he was getting
+his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion's skin, and
+turned him loose in a barley-field. The watchmen in the field dared
+not go up to him; but going home, they published the news. Then all
+the villagers came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing
+chanks, and beating drums, they went near the field and shouted.
+Terrified with the fear of death, the ass uttered a cry--the bray of
+an ass!
+
+And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced
+the First Verse:
+
+    "This is not a lion's roaring,
+    Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's;
+    Dressed in a lion's skin,
+      'Tis a wretched ass that roars!"
+
+But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
+till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away.
+Then the hawker came; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight,
+pronounced the Second Verse:
+
+    "Long might the ass,
+    Clad in a lion's skin,
+    Have fed on the barley green.
+    But he brayed!
+      And that moment he came to ruin."
+
+And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot!
+
+
+
+
+The Farmer and the Money-lender
+
+
+There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a
+money-lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the
+money-lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, farmer
+went to the money-lender's house, and said, "You can't squeeze water
+from a stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell
+me the secret of becoming rich."
+
+"My friend," returned the money-lender, piously, "riches come from
+Ram--ask _him_."
+
+"Thank you, I will!" replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three
+girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.
+
+First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point
+out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on
+his way without a word. Next the farmer met a Jogi or devotee, and to
+him he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. At last, he
+came upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was
+hungry, the kindly farmer gave him his last cake, and sitting down to
+rest beside him, entered into conversation.
+
+"And where are you going?" asked the poor man, at length.
+
+"Oh, I have a long journey before me, for I am going to find Ram!"
+replied the farmer. "I don't suppose you could tell me which way to
+go?"
+
+"Perhaps I can," said the poor man, smiling, "for _I_ am Ram! What do
+you want of me?"
+
+Then the farmer told the whole story, and Ram, taking pity on him,
+gave him a conch shell, and showed him how to blow it in a particular
+way, saying, "Remember! whatever you wish for, you have only to blow
+the conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care
+of that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their
+wiles!"
+
+The farmer went back to his village rejoicing. In fact the
+money-lender noticed his high spirits at once, and said to himself,
+"Some good fortune must have befallen the stupid fellow, to make him
+hold his head so jauntily." Therefore he went over to the simple
+farmer's house, and congratulated him on his good fortune, in such
+cunning words, pretending to have heard all about it, that before long
+the farmer found himself telling the whole story--all except the
+secret of blowing the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer
+was not quite such a fool as to tell that.
+
+Nevertheless, the money-lender determined to have the conch by hook or
+by crook, and as he was villain enough not to stick at trifles, he
+waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.
+
+But, after nearly bursting himself with blowing the conch in every
+conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the secret as a bad job.
+However, being determined to succeed he went back to the farmer, and
+said, coolly, "Look here; I've got your conch, but I can't use it; you
+haven't got it, so it's clear you can't use it either. Business is at
+a stand-still unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you
+back your conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one
+condition, which is this,--whatever you get from it, I am to get
+double."
+
+"Never!" cried the farmer; "that would be the old business all over
+again!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Not at all!" replied the wily money-lender; "you will have your
+share! Now, don't be a dog in the manger, for if _you_ get all you
+want, what can it matter to you if _I_ am rich or poor?"
+
+At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit
+to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and from that time,
+no matter what he gained by the power of the conch, the money-lender
+gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon the
+farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of
+anything.
+
+At last, there came a very dry season,--so dry that the farmer's crops
+withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a
+well to water them, and lo! there was the well, _but the money-lender
+had two!_--two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any farmer
+to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at
+last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it
+loudly, and cried out, "Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And
+so he was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course was blind of
+both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he
+fell into one, and was drowned.
+
+Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a
+money-lender--but only by losing one of his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+The Boy who had a Moon on his Forehead and a Star on his Chin
+
+
+In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come
+daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the
+gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, "When I am
+married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has
+never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead and a star on his
+chin." Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her.
+
+But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy
+she would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should
+like very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had
+already four Queens he had no child. He went, therefore, to the
+gardener and told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted
+the gardener and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for
+their daughter to become a princess. So they said "Yes" to the King,
+and invited all their friends to the wedding. The King invited all
+his, and he gave the gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the
+wedding was held with great feasting and rejoicing.
+
+A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to
+have her son; and the King's four other Queens came constantly to see
+her. One day they said to her, "The King hunts every day; and the time
+is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill
+whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your
+illness, what would you do then?"
+
+When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to
+him, "Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or
+sick while you are away, how could I send for you?" The King gave her
+a kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to
+her, "Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far
+away I may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you."
+
+Next morning when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other Queens
+came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her
+kettle-drum. "Oh," they said, "do drum on it just to see if the King
+really will come to you."
+
+"No, I will not," she said; "for why should I call him from his
+hunting when I do not want him?"
+
+"Don't mind interrupting his hunting," they answered. "Do try if he
+really will come to you when you beat your kettle-drum." So at last,
+just to please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her.
+
+"Why have you called me?" he said. "See, I have left my hunting to
+come to you."
+
+"I want nothing," she answered; "I only wished to know if you really
+would come to me when I beat my drum."
+
+"Very well," answered the King; "but do not call me again unless you
+really need me." Then he returned to his hunting.
+
+The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four
+Queens again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and
+begged her to beat her drum once more, "just to see if the King will
+really come to see you this time." At first she refused, but at last
+she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But
+when he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and
+said to her, "Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come to
+you when you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you like,
+but I will not come to you," and then he went away in a rage.
+
+The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat
+her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum,
+but he thought, "She does not really want me; she is only trying to
+see if I will go to her."
+
+Meanwhile the four other Queens came to her, and they said, "Here it
+is the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a
+handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind
+your eyes." She answered, "Very well, bind my eyes." The four wives
+then tied a handkerchief over them.
+
+Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a
+moon on his forehead and a star on his chin, and before the poor
+mother had seen him, the four wicked Queens took the boy to the nurse
+and said to her, "Now you must not let this child make the least sound
+for fear his mother should hear him; and in the night you must either
+kill him, or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him.
+If you obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees." All
+this they did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put
+him into a box, and the four Queens went back to the gardener's
+daughter.
+
+First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took
+the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, "Look! this
+is your son!" The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, "What will
+the King say when he finds no child?" But she could do nothing.
+
+When the King came home, he was furious at hearing his youngest wife,
+the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the
+beautiful little son she had promised him. He made her one of the
+palace servants, and never spoke to her.
+
+In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the
+beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle.
+There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the
+box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The
+King's dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she
+did with the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four Queens (who
+gave her a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she
+had put the box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the
+beautiful little boy, he was very much delighted and said, "If it
+pleases Khuda that this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will
+not eat him, but I will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach."
+This he did.
+
+After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and
+thought, "I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead." Then he brought
+the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was
+now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he
+swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he
+went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up
+the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and
+caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his
+great beauty.
+
+But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and
+he saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran
+to the four Queens and said to them, "Inside the King's dog there is a
+child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star
+on his chin. Such a child has never been seen!" At this the four wives
+were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from
+hunting they said to him, "While you were away your dog came to our
+rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are
+afraid he will kill us." "Do not be afraid," said the King. "Eat your
+dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning."
+
+Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog
+heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to
+kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if
+I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him."
+
+So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called
+Suri, and said to her, "Suri, I want to give you something, for the
+King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of
+whatever I give you?"
+
+"Let me see what it is," said Suri, "I will take care of it if I
+can." Then they both went together to the wide plain, and there the
+dog brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him. "I never saw such
+a beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he has a moon on
+his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the greatest care of
+him." So saying she swallowed the little prince. The dog made her a
+great many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;" and the cow
+then went back to her stable.
+
+Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot.
+
+The child now lived in Suri's stomach; and when one whole year had
+passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and
+said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead.
+But I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy;
+and he played about, and Suri was delighted; she loved him and
+caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned
+to her stable.
+
+At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up
+the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight,
+and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very
+happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable.
+The child was now three years old.
+
+But this time the cowherd had followed Suri, and had seen the
+wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four
+Queens, "The King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon
+on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been
+seen before!"
+
+At this the Queens were terrified. They tore their clothes and their
+hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why
+they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to
+kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never
+mind," said the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be
+killed to-morrow morning."
+
+Now Suri heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said
+to herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight,
+she went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and
+quite untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one
+could go near him with safety, he was so savage. Suri said to this
+horse, "Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give
+you, because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?"
+
+"Good," said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Suri brought up the
+child, and the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will
+take the greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride
+me, but this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when
+he had done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this
+boy's sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the
+jungle and there killed.
+
+The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in
+it for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I
+will see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and
+then he loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all
+about the stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go.
+Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years old.
+After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At
+the end of another year, when the boy was five years old, Katar
+brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play about
+the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him
+again.
+
+But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was
+morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the
+four wicked Queens, and told them all he had seen, and all about the
+wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar.
+On hearing the groom's story the four Queens cried, and tore their
+hair and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at
+evening and asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your
+horse Katar came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and
+we ran away for fear he should kill us."
+
+"Never mind," said the King. "Only eat your dinner and be happy. I
+will have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he thought that two men unaided
+could not kill such a wicked horse, so he ordered his servants to bid
+his troop of sepoys shoot him.
+
+So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and
+he took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any
+one who let his horse escape.
+
+Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up
+the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of
+the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must
+put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such
+as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the
+sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my
+back." Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies'
+country, so he could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor
+any of his people knew this. When all was ready, Katar burst out of
+his stable, with the prince on his back, rushed past the King himself
+before the King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great
+jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw his horse
+had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy distinctly. The
+sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast;
+and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Then the King had
+to give it up and go home; and the sepoys went to their homes. The
+King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse escape,
+for he himself had let him do so.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they
+stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and
+the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they
+started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in
+another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father,
+but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my
+back." Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle;
+take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with
+your sword and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some
+poor, common clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was
+dressed in them the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I
+will take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain,
+so that when you want me you will always find me. You must now go away
+and find service with some one in this country."
+
+This made the boy very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said.
+"What shall I do all alone in this country?"
+
+"Do not be afraid," answered Katar. "You will find service, and I will
+always stay here to help you when you want me. So go, only before you
+go, twist my right ear." The boy did so, and his horse instantly
+became a donkey. "Now twist your right ear," said Katar. And when the
+boy had twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, but a poor,
+common-looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were hidden.
+
+Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain
+merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. "I am a poor man,"
+answered the boy, "and I want service." "Good," said the grain
+merchant, "you shall be my servant."
+
+Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and one night at
+twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's
+cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest
+daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could
+sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair,
+and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying
+singing. "Who are you? where do you come from?" she asked.
+
+But he answered nothing.
+
+"Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to him?" thought the
+little princess, and she went away. On the second night the same thing
+happened, and on the third night too. But on the third night, when she
+found she could not make him answer her, she said to him, "What a
+strange man you are not to answer me when I speak to you." But still
+he remained silent, so she went away.
+
+The next day, when he had finished his work, the young prince went to
+the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, "Are you quite well and
+happy?" "Yes, I am," answered the boy. "I am servant to a grain
+merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and
+sung a song, and each night the youngest princess has come to me and
+asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing.
+What shall I do now?" The horse said, "Next time she asks you who you
+are, tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country
+to find service here."
+
+The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when every
+one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his sweet
+song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, and came
+to him. "Who are you? Whence do you come?" she asked.
+
+[Illustration: THE BOY WITH THE MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD]
+
+"I am a very poor man," he answered. "I came from my own country to
+seek service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants."
+Then she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's
+garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same
+questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers.
+
+Then she went to her father, and said to him, "Father, I wish to be
+married; but I must choose my husband myself." Her father consented to
+this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rajas in the land,
+saying, "My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on
+choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to
+marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you
+and make her choice."
+
+A great many Kings, Rajas, and their sons accepted this invitation and
+came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to
+them, "To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden" (the
+King's garden was very large), "for then my youngest daughter will
+come and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she
+will choose."
+
+The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the
+next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she
+dressed herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful
+jewels; then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her
+hand she took a gold necklace.
+
+Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rajas, and their sons
+were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the
+garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants.
+
+The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings
+and Rajas and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the
+neck of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody
+laughed, and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the
+Rajas said, "What fooling is this?" and they pushed the pretended poor
+man away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, "Get
+out of the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty
+for you to come near us!" The boy went far away from them, and stood a
+long way off to see what would happen.
+
+Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garden again,
+holding her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round
+the boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, "How can the King's
+daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!" and the Kings and
+the Rajas, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the
+garden. But the princess said, "Take care! take care! You must not
+turn him out. Leave him alone." Then she put him on her elephant, and
+took him to the palace.
+
+The Kings and Rajas and their sons were very much astonished, and
+said, "What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of
+us, but chooses that very poor man!" Her father then stood up, and
+said to them all, "I promised my daughter she should marry any one she
+pleased, and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall
+marry him." And so the princess and the boy were married with great
+pomp and splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her
+choice; and the Kings, the Rajas and their sons, all returned to their
+homes.
+
+Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes, and they
+laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed to
+be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See! our sister has married
+this poor, common man!" Their six husbands used to go out hunting
+every day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds
+of game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and
+for the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed
+at home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made
+her very sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt
+every day, but my husband never hunts at all."
+
+At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as my
+sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home
+quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home,
+instead of doing as they do?"
+
+One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air."
+
+"Very good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses."
+
+"No," said the young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he
+went to the jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time
+had seemed to be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he
+said; "I have married the youngest princess; and when we were married
+everybody laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor,
+common man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife
+is very sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and
+bring home quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very
+proud of them. But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I
+should like to hunt very much."
+
+"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy
+had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer.
+"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a
+beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own
+left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a
+grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, got on
+his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt.
+
+He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer.
+That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful
+young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six
+princes wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they
+grew hungry and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food
+with them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a
+tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him.
+By his side was some delicious water, and also some roast meat.
+
+When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that
+handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come
+from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many
+salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are
+you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder
+daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have
+hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not
+recognise their brother-in-law in the least.
+
+"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and
+drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to
+do," they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall
+die." "Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a
+red-hot pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food
+and water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they
+thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be
+covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to
+drink." Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in
+the fire; he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave
+them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had
+finished they made him many salaams and went home.
+
+The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he
+mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people
+looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young
+prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin."
+But no one recognised him. When he came near the King's palace, all
+the King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew
+him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who
+he could be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had
+ever been seen.
+
+At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest
+princess," he answered.
+
+"No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for he is a poor,
+common-looking, and ugly man."
+
+"But I am he," answered the prince; only no one would believe him.
+
+"Tell us the truth," said the servants; "who are you?"
+
+"Perhaps you cannot recognise me," said the young prince, "but call
+the youngest princess here. I wish to speak to her." The servants
+called her, and she came. "That man is not my husband," she said at
+once. "My husband is not nearly as handsome as that man. This must be
+a prince from another country."
+
+Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my
+husband?"
+
+"Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," answered the
+young prince.
+
+"No you are not, you are not telling me the truth," said the little
+princess. "My husband is not a handsome man like you. I married a very
+poor, common-looking man."
+
+"That is true," he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I
+was the grain merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your
+father's garden and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who
+I was and where I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same
+thing happened the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told
+you I was a very poor man, and had come from my country to seek
+service in yours, and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then
+you told your father you wished to marry, but must choose your own
+husband; and when all the Kings and Rajas were seated in your father's
+garden, you sat on an elephant and went round and looked at them all;
+and then twice hung your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me.
+See, here is your necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief
+you gave me on our wedding day."
+
+Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a
+beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to
+him. "Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now
+you are beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome
+man as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then
+she worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a
+husband. "I have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one
+like him in this country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on
+his chin." Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her
+father and mother and to every one. They all said they had never seen
+any one like him, and were all very happy. And the young prince lived
+as before in the King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the
+King's stables.
+
+One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his
+court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him,
+"There are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said
+the King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said
+the young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and
+every one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would
+not believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and
+then you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a
+thief on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and
+the King and everybody in the court-house saw the mark of the red-hot
+pice. The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was
+very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at
+him and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man.
+
+Now, when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was
+married, he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all
+that had happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he
+said to him, "I will take you back to your father's country." So two
+months after the young prince had revenged himself on his
+brothers-in-law, Katar said to him, "It is time for you to return to
+your father. Get the King to let you go to your own country, and I
+will tell you what to do when we get there."
+
+The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his
+wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see
+my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my
+father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them,
+and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave
+them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many
+horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great
+many sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the
+prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they
+reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the
+prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Suri
+had swallowed him so often.
+
+When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the
+prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had
+come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to
+ask whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in
+which he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to
+make war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has
+come to see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a
+grand feast, to which every one in your country must come--men and
+women, old and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children,
+fakirs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and
+I will feast them all."
+
+The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men,
+women, and children of all castes, fakirs, and sepoys, in his country
+to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give
+them. So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All
+came, at least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to
+go to the feast, for no one had thought of her.
+
+When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not
+there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to
+my feast?"
+
+"Yes, every one," said the King.
+
+"Are you sure of that?" asked the prince.
+
+"Quite sure," answered the King.
+
+"I am sure one woman has not come," said the prince. "She is your
+gardener's daughter, who was once your wife and is now a servant in
+your palace."
+
+"True," said the King, "I had forgotten her." Then the prince told his
+servants to take his finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's
+daughter. They were to bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and
+handsome jewels, and then bring her to him in the palanquin.
+
+While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King
+thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed particularly
+the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he wondered in
+what country the young prince was born.
+
+And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and
+the young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her
+into the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives
+looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered
+that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and
+since then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could
+not do enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see
+her.
+
+When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's
+daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest
+dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this
+handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I
+never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?"
+
+Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the
+King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and
+wondering who he was.
+
+One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he
+answered.
+
+"Do you know who I am?" asked the prince.
+
+"No," said the King. "Tell me who you are."
+
+"I am your son," answered the prince, "and the gardener's daughter is
+my mother."
+
+The King shook his head sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when
+I have never had any children?"
+
+"But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked Queens
+told you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a son;
+but it was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they
+tried to kill me."
+
+The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my son," he said; "but
+as I never had a child, you cannot be my son." "Do you remember your
+dog Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do you remember your cow
+Suri, and how you had her killed too? Your wives made you kill them
+because of me. And," he said, taking the King to Katar, "do you know
+whose horse that is?"
+
+The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse Katar."
+"Yes," said the prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you
+out of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the
+prince was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth,
+and of his life up to that moment; and when the King found the
+beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put
+his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy.
+
+"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live
+with me always."
+
+"No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go to your palace.
+I only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I have found her, I
+will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. I have married a
+King's daughter, and we live with her father."
+
+"But now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father.
+"You and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my
+palace."
+
+"That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will kill your
+four wicked Queens with your own hand. If you will do that, we will
+come and live with you."
+
+So the King killed his Queens, and then he and his wife, the
+gardener's daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in
+the King's palace, and lived there happily together for ever after;
+and the King thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for
+ridding him of his four wicked wives.
+
+Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with
+the young prince, and never left him.
+
+
+
+
+The Prince and the Fakir
+
+
+There was once upon a time a King who had no children. Now this King
+went and laid him down to rest at a place where four roads met, so
+that every one who passed had to step over him.
+
+At last a Fakir came along, and he said to the King, "Man, why are you
+lying here?"
+
+He replied, "Fakir, a thousand men have come and passed by; you pass
+on too."
+
+But the Fakir said, "Who are you, man?"
+
+The King replied, "I am a King, Fakir. Of goods and gold I have no
+lack, but I have lived long and have no children. So I have come here,
+and have laid me down at the cross-roads. My sins and offences have
+been very many, so I have come and am lying here that men may pass
+over me, and perchance my sins may be forgiven me, and God may be
+merciful, and I may have a son."
+
+The Fakir answered him, "Oh King! If you have children, what will you
+give me?"
+
+"Whatever you ask, Fakir," answered the King.
+
+The Fakir said, "Of goods and gold I have no lack, but I will say a
+prayer for you, and you will have two sons; one of those sons will be
+mine."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then he took out two sweetmeats and handed them to the King, and said,
+"King! take these two sweetmeats and give them to your wives; give
+them to the wives you love best."
+
+The King took the sweetmeats and put them in his bosom.
+
+Then the Fakir said, "King! in a year I will return, and of the two
+sons who will be born to you one is mine and one yours."
+
+The King said, "Well, I agree."
+
+Then the Fakir went on his way, and the King came home and gave one
+sweetmeat to each of his two wives. After some time two sons were born
+to the King. Then what did the King do but place those two sons in an
+underground room, which he had built in the earth.
+
+Some time passed, and one day the Fakir appeared, and said, "King!
+bring me that son of yours!"
+
+What did the King do but bring two slave-girls' sons and present them
+to the Fakir. While the Fakir was sitting there the King's sons were
+sitting down below in their cellar eating their food. Just then a
+hungry ant had carried away a grain of rice from their food, and was
+going along with it to her children. Another stronger ant came up and
+attacked her in order to get this grain of rice. The first ant said,
+"O ant, why do you drag this away from me? I have long been lame in my
+feet, and I have got just one grain, and am carrying it to my
+children. The King's sons are sitting in the cellar eating their food;
+you go and fetch a grain from there; why should you take mine from
+me?" On this the second ant let go and did not rob the first, but went
+off to where the King's sons were eating their food.
+
+On hearing this the Fakir said, "King! these are not your sons; go and
+bring those children who are eating their food in the cellar."
+
+Then the King went and brought his own sons. The Fakir chose the
+eldest son and took him away, and set off with him on his journey.
+When he got home he told the King's son to go out to gather fuel.
+
+So the King's son went out to gather cow-dung, and when he had
+collected some he brought it in.
+
+Then the Fakir looked at the King's son and put on a great pot, and
+said, "Come round here, my pupil."
+
+But the King's son said, "Master first, and pupil after."
+
+The Fakir told him to come once, he told him twice, he told him three
+times, and each time the King's son answered, "Master first, and pupil
+after."
+
+Then the Fakir made a dash at the King's son, thinking to catch him
+and throw him into the caldron. There were about a hundred gallons of
+oil in this caldron, and the fire was burning beneath it. Then the
+King's son, lifting the Fakir, gave him a jerk and threw him into the
+caldron, and he was burnt, and became roast meat. He then saw a key of
+the Fakir's lying there; he took this key and opened the door of the
+Fakir's house. Now many men were locked up in this house; two horses
+were standing there in a hut of the Fakir's; two greyhounds were tied
+up there; two simurgs were imprisoned, and two tigers also stood
+there. So the King's son let all the creatures go, and took them out
+of the house, and they all returned thanks to God. Next he let out all
+the men who were in prison. He took away with him the two horses, and
+he took away the two tigers, and he took away the two hounds, and he
+took away the two simurgs, and with them he set out for another
+country.
+
+As he went along the road he saw above him a bald man, grazing a herd
+of calves, and this bald man called out to him, "Fellow! can you fight
+at all?"
+
+The King's son replied, "When I was little I could fight a bit, and
+now, if any one wants to fight, I am not so unmanly as to turn my
+back. Come, I will fight you."
+
+The bald man said, "If I throw you, you shall be my slave; and if you
+throw me, I will be your slave." So they got ready and began to fight,
+and the King's son threw him.
+
+On this the King's son said, "I will leave my beasts here, my simurgs,
+tigers, and dogs, and horses; they will all stay here while I go to
+the city to see the sights. I appoint the tiger as guard over my
+property. And you are my slave, you, too, must stay here with my
+belongings." So the King's son started off to the city to see the
+sights, and arrived at a pool.
+
+He saw that it was a pleasant pool, and thought he would stop and
+bathe there, and therewith he began to strip off his clothes.
+
+Now the King's daughter, who was sitting on the roof of the palace,
+saw his royal marks, and she said, "This man is a king; when I marry,
+I will marry him and no other." So she said to her father, "My father;
+I wish to marry."
+
+"Good," said her father.
+
+Then the King made a proclamation: "Let all men, great and small,
+attend to-day in the hall of audience, for the King's daughter will
+to-day take a husband."
+
+All the men of the land assembled, and the traveller Prince also came,
+dressed in the Fakir's clothes, saying to himself, "I must see this
+ceremony to-day." He went in and sat down.
+
+The King's daughter came out and sat in the balcony, and cast her
+glance round all the assembly. She noticed that the traveller Prince
+was sitting in the assembly in Fakir's attire.
+
+The Princess said to her handmaiden, "Take this dish of henna, go to
+that traveller dressed like a Fakir, and sprinkle scent on him from
+the dish."
+
+The handmaiden obeyed the Princess's order, went to him, and sprinkled
+the scent over him.
+
+Then the people said, "The slave-girl has made a mistake."
+
+But she replied, "The slave-girl has made no mistake, 'tis her
+mistress has made the mistake."
+
+On this the King married his daughter to the Fakir, who was really no
+Fakir, but a Prince.
+
+What fate had decreed came to pass in that country, and they were
+married. But the King of that city became very sad in his heart,
+because when so many chiefs and nobles were sitting there his daughter
+had chosen none of them, but had chosen that Fakir; but he kept these
+thoughts concealed in his heart.
+
+One day the traveller Prince said, "Let all the King's sons-in-law
+come out with me to-day to hunt."
+
+People said, "What is this Fakir that he should go a-hunting?"
+
+However, they all set out for the hunt, and fixed their meeting-place
+at a certain pool.
+
+The newly married Prince went to his tigers, and told his tigers and
+hounds to kill and bring in a great number of gazelles and hog-deer
+and markhor. Instantly they killed and brought in a great number. Then
+taking with him these spoils of the chase, the Prince came to the pool
+settled on as a meeting-place. The other Princes, sons-in-law of the
+King of that city, also assembled there; but they had brought in no
+game, and the new Prince had brought a great deal. Thence they
+returned home to the town, and went to the King their father-in-law,
+to present their game.
+
+Now that King had no son. Then the new Prince told him that in fact
+he, too, was a Prince. At this the King, his father-in-law, was
+greatly delighted and took him by the hand and embraced him. He seated
+him by himself, saying, "O Prince, I return thanks that you have come
+here and become my son-in-law; I am very happy at this, and I make
+over my kingdom to you."
+
+
+
+
+Why the Fish Laughed.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+As a certain fisherwoman passed by a palace crying her fish, the queen
+appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show
+what she had. At that moment a very big fish jumped about in the
+bottom of the basket.
+
+"Is it a he or a she?" inquired the queen. "I wish to purchase a she
+fish."
+
+On hearing this the fish laughed aloud.
+
+"It's a he," replied the fisherwoman, and proceeded on her rounds.
+
+The queen returned to her room in a great rage; and on coming to see
+her in the evening, the king noticed that something had disturbed her.
+
+"Are you indisposed?" he said.
+
+"No; but I am very much annoyed at the strange behaviour of a fish. A
+woman brought me one to-day, and on my inquiring whether it was a male
+or female, the fish laughed most rudely."
+
+"A fish laugh! Impossible! You must be dreaming."
+
+"I am not a fool. I speak of what I have seen with my own eyes and
+have heard with my own ears."
+
+"Passing strange! Be it so. I will inquire concerning it."
+
+On the morrow the king repeated to his vizier what his wife had told
+him, and bade him investigate the matter, and be ready with a
+satisfactory answer within six months, on pain of death. The vizier
+promised to do his best, though he felt almost certain of failure. For
+five months he laboured indefatigably to find a reason for the
+laughter of the fish. He sought everywhere and from every one. The
+wise and learned, and they who were skilled in magic and in all manner
+of trickery, were consulted. Nobody, however, could explain the
+matter; and so he returned broken-hearted to his house, and began to
+arrange his affairs in prospect of certain death, for he had had
+sufficient experience of the king to know that His Majesty would not
+go back from his threat. Amongst other things, he advised his son to
+travel for a time, until the king's anger should have somewhat cooled.
+
+The young fellow, who was both clever and handsome, started off
+whithersoever Kismat might lead him. He had been gone some days, when
+he fell in with an old farmer, who also was on a journey to a certain
+village. Finding the old man very pleasant, he asked him if he might
+accompany him, professing to be on a visit to the same place. The old
+farmer agreed, and they walked along together. The day was hot, and
+the way was long and weary.
+
+"Don't you think it would be pleasanter if you and I sometimes gave
+one another a lift?" said the youth.
+
+"What a fool the man is!" thought the old farmer.
+
+Presently they passed through a field of corn ready for the sickle,
+and looking like a sea of gold as it waved to and fro in the breeze.
+
+"Is this eaten or not?" said the young man.
+
+Not understanding his meaning, the old man replied, "I don't know."
+
+After a little while the two travellers arrived at a big village,
+where the young man gave his companion a clasp-knife, and said, "Take
+this, friend, and get two horses with it; but mind and bring it back,
+for it is very precious."
+
+The old man, looking half amused and half angry, pushed back the
+knife, muttering something to the effect that his friend was either a
+fool himself or else trying to play the fool with him. The young man
+pretended not to notice his reply, and remained almost silent till
+they reached the city, a short distance outside which was the old
+farmer's house. They walked about the bazaar and went to the mosque,
+but nobody saluted them or invited them to come in and rest.
+
+"What a large cemetery!" exclaimed the young man.
+
+"What does the man mean," thought the old farmer, "calling this
+largely populated city a cemetery?"
+
+On leaving the city their way led through a cemetery where a few
+people were praying beside a grave and distributing chapatis and
+kulchas to passers-by, in the name of their beloved dead. They
+beckoned to the two travellers and gave them as much as they would.
+
+"What a splendid city this is!" said the young man.
+
+"Now, the man must surely be demented!" thought the old farmer. "I
+wonder what he will do next? He will be calling the land water, and
+the water land; and be speaking of light where there is darkness, and
+of darkness when it is light." However, he kept his thoughts to
+himself.
+
+Presently they had to wade through a stream that ran along the edge of
+the cemetery. The water was rather deep, so the old farmer took off
+his shoes and paijamas and crossed over; but the young man waded
+through it with his shoes and paijamas on.
+
+"Well! I never did see such a perfect fool, both in word and in deed,"
+said the old man to himself.
+
+However, he liked the fellow; and thinking that he would amuse his
+wife and daughter, he invited him to come and stay at his house as
+long as he had occasion to remain in the village.
+
+"Thank you very much," the young man replied; "but let me first
+inquire, if you please, whether the beam of your house is strong."
+
+The old farmer left him in despair, and entered his house laughing.
+
+"There is a man in yonder field," he said, after returning their
+greetings. "He has come the greater part of the way with me, and I
+wanted him to put up here as long as he had to stay in this village.
+But the fellow is such a fool that I cannot make anything out of him.
+He wants to know if the beam of this house is all right. The man must
+be mad!" and saying this, he burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+"Father," said the farmer's daughter, who was a very sharp and wise
+girl, "this man, whosoever he is, is no fool, as you deem him. He only
+wishes to know if you can afford to entertain him."
+
+"Oh! of course," replied the farmer. "I see. Well perhaps you can help
+me to solve some of his other mysteries. While we were walking
+together he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as
+he thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding."
+
+"Most assuredly," said the girl. "He meant that one of you should tell
+a story to beguile the time."
+
+"Oh yes. Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me
+whether it was eaten or not."
+
+"And didn't you know the meaning of this, father? He simply wished to
+know if the man was in debt or not; because, if the owner of the field
+was in debt, then the produce of the field was as good as eaten to
+him; that is, it would have to go to his creditors."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes; of course! Then, on entering a certain village, he
+bade me take his clasp knife and get two horses with it, and bring
+back the knife again to him."
+
+"Are not two stout sticks as good as two horses for helping one along
+on the road? He only asked you to cut a couple of sticks and be
+careful not to lose his knife."
+
+"I see," said the farmer. "While we were walking over the city we did
+not see anybody that we knew, and not a soul gave us a scrap of
+anything to eat, till we were passing the cemetery; but there some
+people called to us and put into our hands some chapatis and kulchas;
+so my companion called the city a cemetery, and the cemetery a city."
+
+"This also is to be understood, father, if one thinks of the city as
+the place where everything is to be obtained, and of inhospitable
+people as worse than the dead. The city, though crowded with people,
+was as if dead, as far as you were concerned; while, in the cemetery,
+which is crowded with the dead, you were saluted by kind friends and
+provided with bread."
+
+"True, true!" said the astonished farmer. "Then, just now, when we
+were crossing the stream, he waded through it without taking off his
+shoes and paijamas."
+
+"I admire his wisdom," replied the girl. "I have often thought how
+stupid people were to venture into that swiftly flowing stream and
+over those sharp stones with bare feet. The slightest stumble and they
+would fall, and be wetted from head to foot. This friend of yours is a
+most wise man. I should like to see him and speak to him."
+
+"Very well," said the farmer; "I will go and find him, and bring him
+in."
+
+"Tell him, father, that our beams are strong enough, and then he will
+come in. I'll send on ahead a present to the man, to show him that we
+can afford to have him for our guest."
+
+Accordingly she called a servant and sent him to the young man with a
+present of a basin of ghee, twelve chapatis, and a jar of milk, and
+the following message:--"O friend, the moon is full; twelve months
+make a year, and the sea is overflowing with water."
+
+Half-way the bearer of this present and message met his little son,
+who, seeing what was in the basket, begged his father to give him some
+of the food. His father foolishly complied. Presently he saw the young
+man, and gave him the rest of the present and the message.
+
+"Give your mistress my salam," he replied, "and tell her that the moon
+is new, and that I can only find eleven months in the year, and the
+sea is by no means full."
+
+Not understanding the meaning of these words, the servant repeated
+them word for word, as he had heard them, to his mistress; and thus
+his theft was discovered, and he was severely punished. After a little
+while the young man appeared with the old farmer. Great attention was
+shown to him, and he was treated in every way as if he were the son of
+a great man, although his humble host knew nothing of his origin. At
+length he told them everything--about the laughing of the fish, his
+father's threatened execution, and his own banishment--and asked their
+advice as to what he should do.
+
+"The laughing of the fish," said the girl, "which seems to have been
+the cause of all this trouble, indicates that there is a man in the
+palace who is plotting against the king's life."
+
+"Joy, joy!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "There is yet time for me to
+return and save my father from an ignominious and unjust death, and
+the king from danger."
+
+The following day he hastened back to his own country, taking with him
+the farmer's daughter. Immediately on arrival he ran to the palace and
+informed his father of what he had heard. The poor vizier, now almost
+dead from the expectation of death, was at once carried to the king,
+to whom he repeated the news that his son had just brought.
+
+"Never!" said the king.
+
+"But it must be so, Your Majesty," replied the vizier; "and in order
+to prove the truth of what I have heard, I pray you to call together
+all the maids in your palace, and order them to jump over a pit,
+which must be dug. We'll soon find out whether there is any man
+there."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The king had the pit dug, and commanded all the maids belonging to the
+palace to try to jump it. All of them tried, but only one succeeded.
+That one was found to be a man!!
+
+Thus was the queen satisfied, and the faithful old vizier saved.
+
+Afterwards, as soon as could be, the vizier's son married the old
+farmer's daughter; and a most happy marriage it was.
+
+
+
+
+The Demon with the Matted Hair
+
+
+_This story the Teacher told in Jetavana about a Brother who had
+ceased striving after righteousness. Said the Teacher to him: "Is it
+really true that you have ceased all striving?"--"Yes, Blessed One,"
+he replied. Then the Teacher said: "O Brother, in former days wise men
+made effort in the place where effort should be made, and so attained
+unto royal power." And he told a story of long ago._
+
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was King of Benares, the
+Bodhisatta was born as son of his chief queen. On his name-day they
+asked 800 Brahmans, having satisfied them with all their desires,
+about his lucky marks. The Brahmans who had skill in divining from
+such marks beheld the excellence of his, and made answer:
+
+"Full of goodness, great King, is your son, and when you die he will
+become king; he shall be famous and renowned for his skill with the
+five weapons, and shall be the chief man in all India." On hearing
+what the Brahmans had to say, they gave him the name of the Prince of
+the Five Weapons, sword, spear, bow, battle-axe, and shield.
+
+When he came to years of discretion, and had attained the measure of
+sixteen years, the King said to him:
+
+"My son, go and complete your education."
+
+"Who shall be my teacher?" the lad asked.
+
+"Go, my son; in the kingdom of Candahar, in the city of Takkasila, is
+a far-famed teacher from whom I wish you to learn. Take this, and give
+it him for a fee." With that he gave him a thousand pieces of money,
+and dismissed him.
+
+The lad departed, and was educated by this teacher; he received the
+Five Weapons from him as a gift, bade him farewell, and leaving
+Takkasila, he began his journey to Benares, armed with the Five
+Weapons.
+
+On his way he came to a forest inhabited by the Demon with the Matted
+Hair. At the entering in of the forest some men saw him, and cried
+out:
+
+"Hullo, young sir, keep clear of that wood! There's a Demon in it
+called he of the Matted Hair: he kills every man he sees!" And they
+tried to stop him. But the Bodhisatta, having confidence in himself,
+went straight on, fearless as a maned lion.
+
+When he reached mid-forest the Demon showed himself. He made himself
+as tall as a palm tree; his head was the size of a pagoda, his eyes as
+big as saucers, and he had two tusks all over knobs and bulbs; he had
+the face of a hawk, a variegated belly, and blue hands and feet.
+
+"Where are you going?" he shouted. "Stop! You'll make a meal for me!"
+
+Said the Bodhisatta: "Demon, I came here trusting in myself. I advise
+you to be careful how you come near me. Here's a poisoned arrow, which
+I'll shoot at you and knock you down!" With this menace, he fitted to
+his bow an arrow dipped in deadly poison, and let fly. The arrow stuck
+fast in the Demon's hair. Then he shot and shot, till he had shot away
+fifty arrows; and they all stuck in the Demon's hair. The Demon
+snapped them all off short, and threw them down at his feet; then came
+up to the Bodhisatta, who drew his sword and struck the Demon,
+threatening him the while. His sword--it was three-and-thirty inches
+long--stuck in the Demon's hair! The Bodhisatta struck him with his
+spear--that stuck too! He struck him with his club--and that stuck
+too!
+
+When the Bodhisatta saw that this had stuck fast, he addressed the
+Demon. "You, Demon!" said he, "did you never hear of me before--the
+Prince of the Five Weapons? When I came into the forest which you live
+in I did not trust to my bow and other weapons. This day will I pound
+you and grind you to powder!" Thus did he declare his resolve, and
+with a shout he hit at the Demon with his right hand. It stuck fast in
+his hair! He hit him with his left hand--that stuck too! With his
+right foot he kicked him--that stuck too; then with his left--and that
+stuck too! Then he butted at him with his head, crying, "I'll pound
+you to powder!" and his head stuck fast like the rest.
+
+Thus the Bodhisatta was five times snared, caught fast in five places,
+hanging suspended: yet he felt no fear--was not even nervous.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR]
+
+Thought the Demon to himself: "Here's a lion of a man! A
+noble man! More than man is he! Here he is, caught by a Demon like me;
+yet he will not fear a bit. Since I have ravaged this road, I never
+saw such a man. Now, why is it that he does not fear?" He was
+powerless to eat the man, but asked him: "Why is it, young sir, that
+you are not frightened to death?"
+
+"Why should I fear, Demon?" replied he. "In one life a man can die but
+once. Besides, in my belly is a thunderbolt; if you eat me, you will
+never be able to digest it; this will tear your inwards into little
+bits, and kill you: so we shall both perish. That is why I fear
+nothing." (By this, the Bodhisatta meant the weapon of knowledge which
+he had within him.)
+
+When he heard this, the Demon thought: "This young man speaks the
+truth. A piece of the flesh of such a lion-man as he would be too much
+for me to digest, if it were no bigger than a kidney-bean. I'll let
+him go!" So, being frightened to death, he let go the Bodhisatta,
+saying:
+
+"Young sir, you are a lion of a man! I will not eat you up. I set you
+free from my hands, as the moon is disgorged from the jaws of Rahu
+after the eclipse. Go back to the company of your friends and
+relations!"
+
+And the Bodhisatta said: "Demon, I will go, as you say. You were born
+a Demon, cruel, blood-bibbing, devourer of the flesh and gore of
+others, because you did wickedly in former lives. If you still go on
+doing wickedly, you will go from darkness to darkness. But now that
+you have seen me you will find it impossible to do wickedly. Taking
+the life of living creatures causes birth, as an animal, in the world
+of Petas, or in the body of an Asura, or, if one is reborn as a man,
+it makes his life short." With this and the like monition he told him
+the disadvantage of the five kinds of wickedness, and the profit of
+the five kinds of virtue, and frightened the Demon in various ways,
+discoursing to him until he subdued him and made him self-denying, and
+established him in the five kinds of virtue; he made him worship the
+deity to whom offerings were made in that wood; and having carefully
+admonished him, departed out of it.
+
+At the entrance of the forest he told all to the people thereabout;
+and went on to Benares, armed with his five weapons. Afterwards he
+became king, and ruled righteously; and after giving alms and doing
+good he passed away according to his deeds.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_And the Teacher, when this tale was ended, became perfectly
+enlightened, and repeated this verse_:
+
+    _Whose mind and heart from all desire is free,
+    Who seeks for peace by living virtuously,
+      He in due time will sever all the bonds
+    That bind him fast to life, and cease to be._
+
+_Thus the Teacher reached the summit, through sainthood and the
+teaching of the law, and thereupon he declared the Four Truths. At the
+end of the declaring of the Truths, this Brother also attained to
+sainthood. Then the Teacher made the connexion, and gave the key to
+the birth-tale, saying: "At that time Angulimala was the Demon, but
+the Prince of the Five Weapons was I myself."_
+
+
+
+
+The Ivory City and its Fairy Princess
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+One day a young prince was out practising archery with the son of his
+father's chief vizier, when one of the arrows accidentally struck the
+wife of a merchant, who was walking about in an upper room of a house
+close by. The prince aimed at a bird that was perched on the
+window-sill of that room, and had not the slightest idea that anybody
+was at hand, or he would not have shot in that direction.
+Consequently, not knowing what had happened, he and the vizier's son
+walked away, the vizier's son chaffing him because he had missed the
+bird.
+
+Presently the merchant went to ask his wife about something, and found
+her lying, to all appearance, dead in the middle of the room, and an
+arrow fixed in the ground within half a yard of her head. Supposing
+that she was dead, he rushed to the window and shrieked, "Thieves
+thieves! They have killed my wife." The neighbours quickly gathered,
+and the servants came running upstairs to see what was the matter. It
+happened that the woman had fainted, and that there was only a very
+slight wound in her breast where the arrow had grazed.
+
+As soon as the woman recovered her senses she told them that two young
+men had passed by the place with their bows and arrows, and that one
+of them had most deliberately aimed at her as she stood by the window.
+
+On hearing this the merchant went to the king, and told him what had
+taken place. His Majesty was much enraged at such audacious
+wickedness, and swore that most terrible punishment should be visited
+on the offender if he could be discovered. He ordered the merchant to
+go back and ascertain whether his wife could recognise the young men
+if she saw them again.
+
+"Oh yes," replied the woman, "I should know them again among all the
+people in the city."
+
+"Then," said the king, when the merchant brought back this reply,
+"to-morrow I will cause all the male inhabitants of this city to pass
+before your house, and your wife will stand at the window and watch
+for the man who did this wanton deed."
+
+A royal proclamation was issued to this effect. So the next day all
+the men and boys of the city, from the age of ten years upwards,
+assembled and marched by the house of the merchant. By chance (for
+they both had been excused from obeying this order) the king's son and
+the vizier's son were also in the company, and passed by in the crowd.
+They came to see the tamasha.
+
+As soon as these two appeared in front of the merchant's window they
+were recognised by the merchant's wife, and at once reported to the
+king.
+
+"My own son and the son of my chief vizier!" exclaimed the king, who
+had been present from the commencement. "What examples for the people!
+Let them both be executed."
+
+"Not so, your Majesty," said the vizier, "I beseech you. Let the facts
+of the case be thoroughly investigated. How is it?" he continued,
+turning to the two young men. "Why have you done this cruel thing?"
+
+"I shot an arrow at a bird that was sitting on the sill of an open
+window in yonder house, and missed," answered the prince. "I suppose
+the arrow struck the merchant's wife. Had I known that she or anybody
+had been near I should not have shot in that direction."
+
+"We will speak of this later on," said the king, on hearing this
+answer. "Dismiss the people. Their presence is no longer needed."
+
+In the evening his Majesty and the vizier had a long and earnest talk
+about their two sons. The king wished both of them to be executed; but
+the vizier suggested that the prince should be banished from the
+country. This was finally agreed to.
+
+Accordingly, on the following morning, a little company of soldiers
+escorted the prince out of the city. When they reached the last
+custom-house the vizier's son overtook them. He had come with all
+haste, bringing with him four bags of muhrs on four horses. "I am
+come," he said, throwing his arms round the prince's neck, "because I
+cannot let you go alone. We have lived together, we will be exiled
+together, and we will die together. Turn me not back, if you love me."
+
+"Consider," the prince answered, "what you are doing. All kinds of
+trial may be before me. Why should you leave your home and country to
+be with me?"
+
+"Because I love you," he said, "and shall never be happy without you."
+
+So the two friends walked along hand in hand as fast as they could to
+get out of the country, and behind them marched the soldiers and the
+horses with their valuable burdens. On reaching a place on the borders
+of the king's dominions the prince gave the soldiers some gold, and
+ordered them to return. The soldiers took the money and left; they did
+not, however, go very far, but hid themselves behind rocks and stones,
+and waited till they were quite sure that the prince did not intend to
+come back.
+
+On and on the exiles walked, till they arrived at a certain village,
+where they determined to spend the night under one of the big trees of
+the place. The prince made preparations for a fire, and arranged the
+few articles of bedding that they had with them, while the vizier's
+son went to the baniya and the baker and the butcher to get something
+for their dinner. For some reason he was delayed; perhaps the tsut was
+not quite ready, or the baniya had not got all the spices prepared.
+After waiting half an hour the prince became impatient, and rose up
+and walked about.
+
+He saw a pretty, clear little brook running along not far from their
+resting-place, and hearing that its source was not far distant, he
+started off to find it. The source was a beautiful lake, which at that
+time was covered with the magnificent lotus flower and other water
+plants. The prince sat down on the bank, and being thirsty took up
+some of the water in his hand. Fortunately he looked into his hand
+before drinking, and there, to his great astonishment, he saw
+reflected whole and clear the image of a beautiful fairy. He looked
+round, hoping to see the reality; but seeing no person, he drank the
+water, and put out his hand to take some more. Again he saw the
+reflection in the water which was in his palm. He looked around as
+before, and this time discovered a fairy sitting by the bank on the
+opposite side of the lake. On seeing her he fell so madly in love with
+her that he dropped down in a swoon.
+
+When the vizier's son returned, and found the fire lighted, the horses
+securely fastened, and the bags of muhrs lying altogether in a heap,
+but no prince, he did not know what to think. He waited a little
+while, and then shouted; but not getting any reply, he got up and went
+to the brook. There he came across the footmarks of his friend. Seeing
+these, he went back at once for the money and the horses, and bringing
+them with him, he tracked the prince to the lake, where he found him
+lying to all appearance dead.
+
+"Alas! alas!" he cried, and lifting up the prince, he poured some
+water over his head and face. "Alas! my brother, what is this? Oh! do
+not die and leave me thus. Speak, speak! I cannot bear this!"
+
+In a few minutes the prince, revived by the water, opened his eyes,
+and looked about wildly.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "But what is the matter,
+brother?"
+
+"Go away," replied the prince. "I don't want to say anything to you,
+or to see you. Go away."
+
+"Come, come; let us leave this place. Look, I have brought some food
+for you, and horses, and everything. Let us eat and depart."
+
+"Go alone," replied the prince.
+
+"Never," said the vizier's son. "What has happened to suddenly
+estrange you from me? A little while ago we were brethren, but now you
+detest the sight of me."
+
+"I have looked upon a fairy," the prince said. "But a moment I saw her
+face; for when she noticed that I was looking at her she covered her
+face with lotus petals. Oh, how beautiful she was! And while I gazed
+she took out of her bosom an ivory box, and held it up to me. Then I
+fainted. Oh! if you can get me that fairy for my wife, I will go
+anywhere with you."
+
+"Oh, brother," said the vizier's son, "you have indeed seen a fairy.
+She is a fairy of the fairies. This is none other than Gulizar of the
+Ivory City. I know this from the signs that she gave you. From her
+covering her face with lotus petals I learn her name, and from her
+showing you the ivory box I learn where she lives. Be patient, and
+rest assured that I will arrange your marriage with her."
+
+When the prince heard these encouraging words he felt much comforted,
+rose up, and ate, and then went away gladly with his friend.
+
+On the way they met two men. These two men belonged to a family of
+robbers. There were eleven of them altogether. One, an elder sister,
+stayed at home and cooked the food, and the other ten--all
+brothers--went out, two and two, and walked about the four different
+ways that ran through that part of the country, robbing those
+travellers who could not resist them, and inviting others, who were
+too powerful for two of them to manage, to come and rest at their
+house, where the whole family attacked them and stole their goods.
+These thieves lived in a kind of tower, which had several strong-rooms
+in it, and under it was a great pit, wherein they threw the corpses of
+the poor unfortunates who chanced to fall into their power.
+
+The two men came forward, and, politely accosting them, begged them to
+come and stay at their house for the night. "It is late," they said,
+"and there is not another village within several miles."
+
+"Shall we accept this good man's invitation, brother?" asked the
+prince.
+
+The vizier's son frowned slightly in token of disapproval; but the
+prince was tired, and thinking that it was only a whim of his
+friend's, he said to the men, "Very well. It is very kind of you to
+ask us."
+
+So they all four went to the robbers' tower.
+
+Seated in a room, with the door fastened on the outside, the two
+travellers bemoaned their fate.
+
+"It is no good groaning," said the vizier's son. "I will climb to the
+window, and see whether there are any means of escape. Yes! yes!" he
+whispered, when he had reached the window-hole. "Below there is a
+ditch surrounded by a high wall. I will jump down and reconnoitre. You
+stay here, and wait till I return."
+
+Presently he came back and told the prince that he had seen a most
+ugly woman, whom he supposed was the robbers' housekeeper. She had
+agreed to release them on the promise of her marriage with the prince.
+
+So the woman led the way out of the enclosure by a secret door.
+
+"But where are the horses and the goods?" the vizier's son inquired.
+
+"You cannot bring them," the woman said. "To go out by any other way
+would be to thrust oneself into the grave."
+
+"All right, then; they also shall go out by this door. I have a charm,
+whereby I can make them thin or fat." So the vizier's son fetched the
+horses without any person knowing it, and repeating the charm, he made
+them pass through the narrow doorway like pieces of cloth, and when
+they were all outside restored them to their former condition. He at
+once mounted his horse and laid hold of the halter of one of the other
+horses, and then beckoning to the prince to do likewise, he rode off.
+The prince saw his opportunity, and in a moment was riding after him,
+having the woman behind him.
+
+Now the robbers heard the galloping of the horses, and ran out and
+shot their arrows at the prince and his companions. And one of the
+arrows killed the woman, so they had to leave her behind.
+
+On, on they rode, until they reached a village where they stayed the
+night. The following morning they were off again, and asked for Ivory
+City from every passer-by. At length they came to this famous city,
+and put up at a little hut that belonged to an old woman, from whom
+they feared no harm, and with whom, therefore, they could abide in
+peace and comfort. At first the old woman did not like the idea of
+these travellers staying in her house, but the sight of a muhr, which
+the prince dropped in the bottom of a cup in which she had given him
+water, and a present of another muhr from the vizier's son, quickly
+made her change her mind. She agreed to let them stay there for a few
+days.
+
+As soon as her work was over the old woman came and sat down with her
+lodgers. The vizier's son pretended to be utterly ignorant of the
+place and people. "Has this city a name?" he asked the old woman.
+
+"Of course it has, you stupid. Every little village, much more a city,
+and such a city as this, has a name."
+
+"What is the name of this city?"
+
+"Ivory City. Don't you know that? I thought the name was known all
+over the world."
+
+On the mention of the name Ivory City the prince gave a deep sigh. The
+vizier's son looked as much as to say, "Keep quiet, or you'll discover
+the secret."
+
+"Is there a king of this country?" continued the vizier's son.
+
+"Of course there is, and a queen, and a princess."
+
+"What are their names?"
+
+"The name of the princess is Gulizar, and the name of the queen----"
+
+The vizier's son interrupted the old woman by turning to look at the
+prince, who was staring like a madman. "Yes," he said to him
+afterwards, "we are in the right country. We shall see the beautiful
+princess."
+
+One morning the two travellers noticed the old woman's most careful
+toilette: how careful she was in the arrangement of her hair and the
+set of her kasabah and puts.
+
+"Who is coming?" said the vizier's son.
+
+"Nobody," the old woman replied.
+
+"Then where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to see my daughter, who is a servant of the Princess
+Gulizar. I see her and the princess every day. I should have gone
+yesterday, if you had not been here and taken up all my time."
+
+"Ah-h-h! Be careful not to say anything about us in the hearing of the
+princess." The vizier's son asked her not to speak about them at the
+palace, hoping that, because she had been told not to do so, she would
+mention their arrival, and thus the princess would be informed of
+their coming.
+
+On seeing her mother the girl pretended to be very angry. "Why have
+you not been for two days?" she asked.
+
+"Because, my dear," the old woman answered, "two young travellers, a
+prince and the son of some great vizier, have taken up their abode in
+my hut, and demand so much of my attention. It is nothing but cooking
+and cleaning, and cleaning and cooking, all day long. I can't
+understand the men," she added; "one of them especially appears very
+stupid. He asked me the name of this country and the name of the
+king. Now where can these men have come from, that they do not know
+these things? However, they are very great and very rich. They each
+give me a muhr every morning and every evening."
+
+After this the old woman went and repeated almost the same words to
+the princess, on the hearing of which the princess beat her severely;
+and threatened her with a severer punishment if she ever again spoke
+of the strangers before her.
+
+In the evening, when the old woman had returned to her hut, she told
+the vizier's son how sorry she was that she could not help breaking
+her promise, and how the princess had struck her because she mentioned
+their coming and all about them.
+
+"Alas! alas!" said the prince, who had eagerly listened to every word.
+"What, then, will be her anger at the sight of a man?"
+
+"Anger?" said the vizier's son, with an astonished air. "She would be
+exceedingly glad to see one man. I know this. In this treatment of the
+old woman I see her request that you will go and see her during the
+coming dark fortnight."
+
+"Heaven be praised!" the prince exclaimed.
+
+The next time the old woman went to the palace Gulizar called one of
+her servants and ordered her to rush into the room while she was
+conversing with the old woman; and if the old woman asked what was the
+matter, she was to say that the king's elephants had gone mad, and
+were rushing about the city and bazaar in every direction, and
+destroying everything in their way.
+
+The servant obeyed, and the old woman, fearing lest the elephants
+should go and push down her hut and kill the prince and his friend,
+begged the princess to let her depart. Now Gulizar had obtained a
+charmed swing, that landed whoever sat on it at the place wherever
+they wished to be. "Get the swing," she said to one of the servants
+standing by. When it was brought she bade the old woman step into it
+and desire to be at home.
+
+The old woman did so, and was at once carried through the air quickly
+and safely to her hut, where she found her two lodgers safe and sound.
+"Oh!" she cried, "I thought that both of you would be killed by this
+time. The royal elephants have got loose and are running about wildly.
+When I heard this I was anxious about you. So the princess gave me
+this charmed swing to return in. But come, let us get outside before
+the elephants arrive and batter down the place."
+
+"Don't believe this," said the vizier's son. "It is a mere hoax. They
+have been playing tricks with you."
+
+"You will soon have your heart's desire," he whispered aside to the
+prince. "These things are signs."
+
+Two days of the dark fortnight had elapsed, when the prince and the
+vizier's son seated themselves in the swing, and wished themselves
+within the grounds of the palace. In a moment they were there, and
+there too was the object of their search standing by one of the palace
+gates, and longing to see the prince quite as much as he was longing
+to see her.
+
+Oh, what a happy meeting it was!
+
+"At last," said Gulizar, "I have seen my beloved, my husband."
+
+"A thousand thanks to Heaven for bringing me to you," said the prince.
+
+Then the prince and Gulizar betrothed themselves to one another and
+parted, the one for the hut and the other for the palace, both of them
+feeling happier than they had ever been before.
+
+Henceforth the prince visited Gulizar every day and returned to the
+hut every night. One morning Gulizar begged him to stay with her
+always. She was constantly afraid of some evil happening to
+him--perhaps robbers would slay him, or sickness attack him, and then
+she would be deprived of him. She could not live without seeing him.
+The prince showed her that there was no real cause for fear, and said
+that he felt he ought to return to his friend at night, because he had
+left his home and country and risked his life for him; and, moreover,
+if it had not been for his friend's help he would never have met with
+her.
+
+Gulizar for the time assented, but she determined in her heart to get
+rid of the vizier's son as soon as possible. A few days after this
+conversation she ordered one of her maids to make a pilaw. She gave
+special directions that a certain poison was to be mixed into it while
+cooking, and as soon as it was ready the cover was to be placed on the
+saucepan, so that the poisonous steam might not escape. When the pilaw
+was ready she sent it at once by the hand of a servant to the vizier's
+son with this message: "Gulizar, the princess, sends you an offering
+in the name of her dead uncle."
+
+On receiving the present the vizier's son thought that the prince had
+spoken gratefully of him to the princess, and therefore she had thus
+remembered him. Accordingly he sent back his salam and expressions of
+thankfulness.
+
+When it was dinner-time he took the saucepan of pilaw and went out to
+eat it by the stream. Taking off the lid, he threw it aside on the
+grass and then washed his hands. During the minute or so that he was
+performing these ablutions, the green grass under the cover of the
+saucepan turned quite yellow. He was astonished, and suspecting that
+there was poison in the pilaw, he took a little and threw it to some
+crows that were hopping about. The moment the crows ate what was
+thrown to them they fell down dead.
+
+"Heaven be praised," exclaimed the vizier's son, "who has preserved me
+from death at this time!"
+
+On the return of the prince that evening the vizier's son was very
+reticent and depressed. The prince noticed this change in him, and
+asked what was the reason. "Is it because I am away so much at the
+palace?" The vizier's son saw that the prince had nothing to do with
+the sending of the pilaw, and therefore told him everything.
+
+"Look here," he said, "in this handkerchief is some pilaw that the
+princess sent me this morning in the name of her deceased uncle. It is
+saturated with poison. Thank Heaven, I discovered it in time!"
+
+"Oh, brother! who could have done this thing? Who is there that
+entertains enmity against you?"
+
+"The Princess Gulizar. Listen. The next time you go to see her, I
+entreat you to take some snow with you; and just before seeing the
+princess put a little of it into both your eyes. It will provoke
+tears, and Gulizar will ask you why you are crying. Tell her that you
+weep for the loss of your friend, who died suddenly this morning.
+Look! take, too, this wine and this shovel, and when you have feigned
+intense grief at the death of your friend, bid the princess to drink a
+little of the wine. It is strong, and will immediately send her into a
+deep sleep. Then, while she is asleep, heat the shovel and mark her
+back with it. Remember to bring back the shovel again, and also to
+take her pearl necklace. This done, return. Now fear not to execute
+these instructions, because on the fulfilment of them depends your
+fortune and happiness. I will arrange that your marriage with the
+princess shall be accepted by the king, her father, and all the
+court."
+
+The prince promised that he would do everything as the vizier's son
+had advised him; and he kept his promise.
+
+The following night, on the return of the prince from his visit to
+Gulizar, he and the vizier's son, taking the horses and bags of muhrs,
+went to a graveyard about a mile or so distant. It was arranged that
+the vizier's son should act the part of a fakir and the prince the
+part of the fakir's disciple and servant.
+
+In the morning, when Gulizar had returned to her senses, she felt a
+smarting pain in her back, and noticed that her pearl necklace was
+gone. She went at once and informed the king of the loss of her
+necklace, but said nothing to him about the pain in her back.
+
+The king was very angry when he heard of the theft, and caused
+proclamation concerning it to be made throughout all the city and
+surrounding country.
+
+"It is well," said the vizier's son, when he heard of this
+proclamation. "Fear not, my brother, but go and take this necklace,
+and try to sell it in the bazaar."
+
+The prince took it to a goldsmith and asked him to buy it.
+
+"How much do you want for it?" asked the man.
+
+"Fifty thousand rupees," the prince replied.
+
+"All right," said the man; "wait here while I go and fetch the money."
+
+The prince waited and waited, till at last the goldsmith returned,
+and with him the kotwal, who at once took the prince into custody on
+the charge of stealing the princess's necklace.
+
+"How did you get the necklace?" the kotwal asked.
+
+"A fakir, whose servant I am, gave it to me to sell in the bazaar,"
+the prince replied. "Permit me, and I will show you where he is."
+
+The prince directed the kotwal and the policeman to the place where he
+had left the vizier's son, and there they found the fakir with his
+eyes shut and engaged in prayer. Presently, when he had finished his
+devotions, the kotwal asked him to explain how he had obtained
+possession of the princess's necklace.
+
+"Call the king hither," he replied, "and then I will tell his Majesty
+face to face."
+
+On this some men went to the king and told him what the fakir had
+said. His Majesty came, and seeing the fakir so solemn and earnest in
+his devotions, he was afraid to rouse his anger, lest peradventure the
+displeasure of Heaven should descend on him, and so he placed his
+hands together in the attitude of a supplicant, and asked, "How did
+you get my daughter's necklace?"
+
+"Last night," replied the fakir, "we were sitting here by this tomb
+worshipping Khuda, when a ghoul, dressed as a princess, came and
+exhumed a body that had been buried a few days ago, and began to eat
+it. On seeing this I was filled with anger, and beat her back with a
+shovel, which lay on the fire at the time. While running away from me
+her necklace got loose and dropped. You wonder at these words, but
+they are not difficult to prove. Examine your daughter, and you will
+find the marks of the burn on her back. Go, and if it is as I say,
+send the princess to me, and I will punish her."
+
+The king went back to the palace, and at once ordered the princess's
+back to be examined.
+
+"It is so," said the maid-servant; "the burn is there."
+
+"Then let the girl be slain immediately," the king shouted.
+
+"No, no, your Majesty," they replied. "Let us send her to the fakir
+who discovered this thing, that he may do whatever he wishes with
+her."
+
+The king agreed, and so the princess was taken to the graveyard.
+
+"Let her be shut up in a cage, and be kept near the grave whence she
+took out the corpse," said the fakir.
+
+This was done, and in a little while the fakir and his disciple and
+the princess were left alone in the graveyard. Night had not long cast
+its dark mantle over the scene when the fakir and his disciple threw
+off their disguise, and taking their horses and luggage, appeared
+before the cage. They released the princess, rubbed some ointment over
+the scars on her back, and then sat her upon one of their horses
+behind the prince. Away they rode fast and far, and by the morning
+were able to rest and talk over their plans in safety. The vizier's
+son showed the princess some of the poisoned pilaw that she had sent
+him, and asked whether she had repented of her ingratitude. The
+princess wept, and acknowledged that he was her greatest helper and
+friend.
+
+A letter was sent to the chief vizier telling him of all that had
+happened to the prince and the vizier's son since they had left their
+country. When the vizier read the letter he went and informed the
+king. The king caused a reply to be sent to the two exiles, in which
+he ordered them not to return, but to send a letter to Gulizar's
+father, and inform him of everything. Accordingly they did this; the
+prince wrote the letter at the vizier's son's dictation.
+
+On reading the letter Gulizar's father was much enraged with his
+viziers and other officials for not discovering the presence in his
+country of these illustrious visitors, as he was especially anxious to
+ingratiate himself in the favour of the prince and the vizier's son.
+He ordered the execution of some of the viziers on a certain date.
+
+"Come," he wrote back to the vizier's son, "and stay at the palace.
+And if the prince desires it, I will arrange for his marriage with
+Gulizar as soon as possible."
+
+The prince and the vizier's son most gladly accepted the invitation,
+and received a right noble welcome from the king. The marriage soon
+took place, and then after a few weeks the king gave them presents of
+horses and elephants, and jewels and rich cloths, and bade them start
+for their own land; for he was sure that the king would now receive
+them. The night before they left the viziers and others, whom the king
+intended to have executed as soon as his visitors had left, came and
+besought the vizier's son to plead for them, and promised that they
+each would give him a daughter in marriage. He agreed to do so, and
+succeeded in obtaining their pardon.
+
+Then the prince, with his beautiful bride Gulizar, and the vizier's
+son, attended by a troop of soldiers, and a large number of camels and
+horses bearing very much treasure, left for their own land. In the
+midst of the way they passed the tower of the robbers, and with the
+help of the soldiers they razed it to the ground, slew all its
+inmates, and seized the treasure which they had been amassing there
+for several years.
+
+At length they reached their own country, and when the king saw his
+son's beautiful wife and his magnificent retinue he was at once
+reconciled, and ordered him to enter the city and take up his abode
+there.
+
+Henceforth all was sunshine on the path of the prince. He became a
+great favourite, and in due time succeeded to the throne, and ruled
+the country for many, many years in peace and happiness.
+
+
+
+
+How Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to Dinner
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+One day Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and
+aunts Thunder and Lightning. Their mother (one of the most distant
+Stars you see far up in the sky) waited alone for her children's
+return.
+
+Now both Sun and Wind were greedy and selfish. They enjoyed the great
+feast that had been prepared for them, without a thought of saving any
+of it to take home to their mother--but the gentle Moon did not
+forget her. Of every dainty dish that was brought round, she placed a
+small portion under one of her beautiful long finger-nails, that Star
+might also have a share in the treat.
+
+On their return, their mother, who had kept watch for them all night
+long with her little bright eye, said, "Well, children, what have you
+brought home for me?" Then Sun (who was eldest) said, "I have brought
+nothing home for you. I went out to enjoy myself with my friends--not
+to fetch a dinner for my mother!" And Wind said, "Neither have I
+brought anything home for you, mother. You could hardly expect me to
+bring a collection of good things for you, when I merely went out for
+my own pleasure." But Moon said, "Mother, fetch a plate, see what I
+have brought you." And shaking her hands she showered down such a
+choice dinner as never was seen before.
+
+Then Star turned to Sun and spoke thus, "Because you went out to amuse
+yourself with your friends, and feasted and enjoyed yourself, without
+any thought of your mother at home--you shall be cursed. Henceforth,
+your rays shall ever be hot and scorching, and shall burn all that
+they touch. And men shall hate you, and cover their heads when you
+appear."
+
+(And that is why the Sun is so hot to this day.)
+
+Then she turned to Wind and said, "You also who forgot your mother in
+the midst of your selfish pleasures--hear your doom. You shall always
+blow in the hot dry weather, and shall parch and shrivel all living
+things. And men shall detest and avoid you from this very time."
+
+(And that is why the Wind in the hot weather is still so
+disagreeable.)
+
+But to Moon she said, "Daughter, because you remembered your mother,
+and kept for her a share in your own enjoyment, from henceforth you
+shall be ever cool, and calm, and bright. No noxious glare shall
+accompany your pure rays, and men shall always call you 'blessed.'"
+
+(And that is why the moon's light is so soft, and cool, and beautiful
+even to this day.)
+
+
+
+
+How the Wicked Sons were Duped.
+
+
+A very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death,
+sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did
+not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them
+were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old fellow had to bear
+with much abuse and cruelty from his sons. Wretched, selfish ingrates!
+Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their
+father, hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received
+their patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them--nay, the sooner
+the better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And
+they let the poor old man know what they felt.
+
+One day he met a friend and related to him all his troubles. The
+friend sympathised very much with him, and promised to think over the
+matter, and call in a little while and tell him what to do. He did so;
+in a few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of
+stones and gravel before him.
+
+"Look here, friend," said he. "Your sons will get to know of my coming
+here to-day, and will inquire about it. You must pretend that I came
+to discharge a long-standing debt with you, and that you are several
+thousands of rupees richer than you thought you were. Keep these bags
+in your own hands, and on no account let your sons get to them as long
+as you are alive. You will soon find them change their conduct towards
+you. Salaam. I will come again soon to see how you are getting on."
+
+When the young men got to hear of this further increase of wealth they
+began to be more attentive and pleasing to their father than ever
+before. And thus they continued to the day of the old man's demise,
+when the bags were greedily opened, and found to contain only stones
+and gravel!
+
+
+
+
+The Pigeon and the Crow
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was a Pigeon, and lived in a
+nest-basket which a rich man's cook had hung up in the kitchen, in
+order to earn merit by it. A greedy Crow, flying near, saw all sorts
+of delicate food lying about in the kitchen, and fell a-hungering
+after it. "How in the world can I get some?" thought he? At last he
+hit upon a plan.
+
+When the Pigeon went to search for food, behind him, following,
+following, came the Crow.
+
+"What do you want, Mr. Crow? You and I don't feed alike."
+
+"Ah, but I like you and your ways! Let me be your chum, and let us
+feed together."
+
+The Pigeon agreed, and they went on in company. The Crow pretended to
+feed along with the Pigeon, but ever and anon he would turn back, peck
+to bits some heap of cow-dung, and eat a fat worm. When he had got a
+bellyful of them, up he flies, as pert as you like:
+
+"Hullo, Mr. Pigeon, what a time you take over your meal! One ought to
+draw the line somewhere. Let's be going home before it is too late."
+And so they did.
+
+The cook saw that his Pigeon had brought a friend, and hung up another
+basket for him.
+
+A few days afterwards there was a great purchase of fish which came to
+the rich man's kitchen. How the Crow longed for some! So there he lay,
+from early morn, groaning and making a great noise. Says the Pigeon to
+the Crow:
+
+"Come, Sir Crow, and get your breakfast!"
+
+"Oh dear! oh dear! I have such a fit of indigestion!" says he.
+
+"Nonsense! Crows never have indigestion," said the Pigeon. "If you eat
+a lamp-wick, that stays in your stomach a little while; but anything
+else is digested in a trice, as soon as you eat it. Now do what I tell
+you; don't behave in this way just for seeing a little fish."
+
+"Why do you say that, master? I have indigestion."
+
+"Well, be careful," said the Pigeon, and flew away.
+
+The cook prepared all the dishes, and then stood at the kitchen door,
+wiping the sweat off his body. "Now's my time!" thought Mr. Crow, and
+alighted on a dish containing some dainty food. Click! The cook heard
+it, and looked round. Ah! he caught the Crow, and plucked all the
+feathers out of his head, all but one tuft; he powdered ginger and
+cummin, mixed it up with butter-milk, and rubbed it well all over the
+bird's body.
+
+"That's for spoiling my master's dinner and making me throw it away!"
+said he, and threw him into his basket. Oh, how it hurt!
+
+By-and-by the Pigeon came in, and saw the Crow lying there, making a
+great noise. He made great game of him, and repeated a verse of
+poetry:
+
+    "Who is this tufted crane I see
+    Lying where he's no right to be?
+    Come out! my friend, the crow is near,
+    And he may do you harm, I fear!"
+
+To this the Crow answered with another:
+
+    "No tufted crane am I--no, no!
+    I'm nothing but a greedy crow.
+    I would not do as I was told,
+    So now I'm plucked, as you behold."
+
+And the Pigeon rejoined with a third verse:
+
+    "You'll come to grief again, I know--
+    It is your nature to do so;
+    If people make a dish of meat,
+    'Tis not for little birds to eat."
+
+Then the Pigeon flew away, saying: "I can't live with this creature
+any longer." And the Crow lay there groaning till he died.
+
+
+
+
+Notes and References
+
+
+The story literature of India is in a large measure the outcome of the
+moral revolution of the peninsula connected with the name of Gautama
+Buddha. As the influence of his life and doctrines grew, a tendency
+arose to connect all the popular stories of India round the great
+teacher. This could be easily effected owing to the wide spread of the
+belief in metempsychosis. All that was told of the sages of the past
+could be interpreted of the Buddha by representing them as
+pre-incarnations of him. Even with Fables, or beast-tales, this could
+be done, for the Hindoos were Darwinists long before Darwin, and
+regarded beasts as cousins of men and stages of development in the
+progress of the soul through the ages. Thus, by identifying the Buddha
+with the heroes of all folk-tales and the chief characters in the
+beast-drolls, the Buddhists were enabled to incorporate the whole of
+the story-store of Hindostan in their sacred books, and enlist on
+their side the tale-telling instincts of men.
+
+In making Buddha the centre figure of the popular literature of India,
+his followers also invented the Frame as a method of literary art. The
+idea of connecting a number of disconnected stories familiar to us
+from _The Arabian Nights_, Boccaccio's _Decamerone_, Chaucer's
+_Canterbury Tales_, or even _Pickwick_, is directly traceable to the
+plan of making Buddha the central figure of India folk-literature.
+Curiously enough, the earliest instance of this in Buddhist literature
+was intended to be a Decameron, ten tales of Buddha's previous births,
+told of each of the ten Perfections. Asvagosha, the earlier Boccaccio,
+died when he had completed thirty-four of the Birth-Tales. But other
+collections were made, and at last a corpus of the JATAKAS, or
+Birth-Tales of the Buddha, was carried over to Ceylon, possibly as
+early as the first introduction of Buddhism, 241 B.C. There they have
+remained till the present day, and have at last been made accessible
+in a complete edition in the original Pali by Prof. Fausb�ll.
+
+These JATAKAS, as we now have them, are enshrined in a commentary on
+the _gathas_, or moral verses, written in Ceylon by one of
+Buddhaghosa's school in the fifth century A.D. They invariably begin
+with a "Story of the Present," an incident in Buddha's life which
+calls up to him a "Story of the Past," a folk-tale in which he had
+played a part during one of his former incarnations. Thus the fable of
+the Lion and the Crane, which opens the present collection, is
+introduced by a "Story of the Present" in the following words:--
+
+"A service have we done thee" [the opening words of the _gatha_ or
+moral verse]. "This the Master told while living at Jetavana
+concerning Devadatta's treachery. Not only now, O Bhickkus, but in a
+former existence was Devadatta ungrateful. And having said this he
+told a tale." Then follows the tale as given above (pp. 1, 2), and the
+commentary concludes: "The Master, having given the lesson, summed up
+the Jataka thus: 'At that time, the Lion was Devadatta, and the Crane
+was I myself.'" Similarly, with each story of the past the Buddha
+identifies himself, or is mentioned as identical with, the virtuous
+hero of the folk-tale. These Jatakas are 550 in number, and have been
+reckoned to include some 2000 tales. Some of these had been translated
+by Mr. Rhys-Davids (_Buddhist Birth Stories, I._, Tr�bner's Oriental
+Library, 1880), Prof. Fausb�ll (_Five Jatakas_, Copenhagen), and Dr.
+R. Morris (_Folk-Lore Journal_, vols. ii.-v.). A few exist sculptured
+on the earliest Buddhist Stupas. Thus several of the circular figure
+designs on the reliefs from Amaravati, now on the grand staircase of
+the British Museum, represent Jatakas, or previous births of the
+Buddha.
+
+Some of the Jatakas bear a remarkable resemblance to some of the most
+familiar FABLES OF �SOP. So close is the resemblance, indeed, that it
+is impossible not to surmise an historical relation between the two.
+What this relation is I have discussed at considerable length in the
+"History of the �sopic Fable," which forms the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's _Esope_ (London, D. Nutt, "Biblioth�que de
+Carabas," 1889). In this place I can only roughly summarise my
+results. I conjecture that a collection of fables existed in India
+before Buddha and independently of the Jatakas, and connected with the
+name of Kasyapa, who was afterwards made by the Buddhists into the
+latest of the twenty-seven pre-incarnations of the Buddha. This
+collection of the Fables of Kasyapa was brought to Europe with a
+deputation from the Cingalese King Chandra Muka Siwa (obiit 52 A.D.)
+to the Emperor Claudius about 50 A.D., and was done into Greek as the
+[Greek: Logoi Lybikoi] of "Kybises." These were utilised by
+Babrius (from whom the Greek �sop is derived) and Avian, and so came
+into the European �sop. I have discussed all those that are to be
+found in the Jatakas in the "History" before mentioned, i. pp. 54-72
+(see Notes i. xv. xx.). In these Notes henceforth I refer to this
+"History" as my _�sop_.
+
+There were probably other Buddhist collections of a similar nature to
+the Jatakas with a framework. When the Hindu reaction against Buddhism
+came, the Brahmins adapted these, with the omission of Buddha as the
+central figure. There is scarcely any doubt that the so-called FABLES
+OF BIDPAI were thus derived from Buddhistic sources. In its Indian
+form this is now extant as a _Panchatantra_ or Pentateuch, five books
+of tales connected by a Frame. This collection is of special interest
+to us in the present connection, as it has come to Europe in various
+forms and shapes. I have edited Sir Thomas North's English version of
+an Italian adaptation of a Spanish translation of a Latin version of a
+Hebrew translation of an Arabic adaptation of the Pehlevi version of
+the Indian original (_Fables of Bidpai_, London, D. Nutt,
+"Biblioth�que de Carabas," 1888). In this I give a genealogical table
+of the various versions, from which I calculate that the tales have
+been translated into thirty-eight languages in 112 different versions,
+twenty different ones in English alone. Their influence on European
+folk-tales has been very great: it is probable that nearly one-tenth
+of these can be traced to the Bidpai literature. (See Notes v. ix. x.
+xiii. xv.)
+
+Other collections of a similar character, arranged in a frame, and
+derived ultimately from Buddhistic sources, also reached Europe and
+formed popular reading in the Middle Ages. Among these may be
+mentioned THE TALES OF SINDIBAD, known to Europe as _The Seven Sages
+of Rome:_ from this we get the Gellert story (_cf. Celtic Fairy
+Tales_), though it also occurs in the Bidpai. Another popular
+collection was that associated with the life of St. Buddha, who has
+been canonised as St. Josaphat: BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT tells of his
+conversion and much else besides, including the tale of the Three
+Caskets, used by Shakespeare in the _Merchant of Venice_.
+
+Some of the Indian tales reached Europe at the time of the Crusades,
+either orally or in collections no longer extant. The earliest
+selection of these was the _Disciplina Clericalis_ of Petrus Alphonsi,
+a Spanish Jew converted about 1106: his tales were to be used as
+seasoning for sermons, and strong seasoning they must have proved.
+Another Spanish collection of considerably later date was entitled _El
+Conde Lucanor_ (Eng. trans. by W. York): this contains the fable of
+_The Man, his Son, and their Ass_, which they ride or carry as the
+popular voice decides. But the most famous collection of this kind
+was that known as GESTA ROMANORUM, much of which was certainly derived
+from Oriental and ultimately Indian sources, and so might more
+appropriately be termed _Gesta Indorum_.
+
+All these collections, which reached Europe in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, became very popular, and were used by monks and
+friars to enliven their sermons as EXEMPLA. Prof. Crane has given a
+full account of this very curious phenomenon in his erudite edition of
+the _Exempla of Jacques de Vitry_ (Folk Lore Society, 1890). The
+Indian stories were also used by the Italian _Novellieri_, much of
+Boccaccio and his school being derived from this source. As these
+again gave material for the Elizabethan Drama, chiefly in W. Painter's
+_Palace of Pleasure_, a collection of translated _Novelle_ which I
+have edited (Lond., 3 vols. 1890), it is not surprising that we can at
+times trace portions of Shakespeare back to India. It should also be
+mentioned that one-half of La Fontaine's Fables (Bks. vii.-xii.) are
+derived from Indian sources. (_See_ Note on No. v.)
+
+In India itself the collection of stories in frames went on and still
+goes on. Besides those already mentioned there are the stories of
+_Vikram and the Vampire_ (Vetala), translated among others by the late
+Sir Richard Burton, and the seventy stories of a parrot (_Suka
+Saptati_). The whole of this literature was summed up by Somadeva, c.
+1200 A.D. in a huge compilation entitled _Katha Sarit Sagara_ ("Ocean
+of the Stream of Stories"). Of this work, written in very florid
+style, Mr. Tawney has produced a translation in two volumes in the
+_Bibliotheca Indica_. Unfortunately, there is a Divorce Court
+atmosphere about the whole book, and my selections from it have been
+accordingly restricted. (Notes, No. xi.)
+
+So much for a short sketch of Indian folk-tales so far as they have
+been reduced to writing in the native literature.[2] The Jatakas are
+probably the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the
+greater part of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years
+old. It is certain that much (perhaps one-fifth) of the popular
+literature of modern Europe is derived from those portions of this
+large bulk which came west with the Crusades through the medium of
+Arabs and Jews. In his elaborate _Einleitung_ to the _Pantschatantra_,
+the Indian version of the Fables of Bidpai, Prof. Benfey contended
+with enormous erudition that the majority of folk-tale incidents were
+to be found in the Bidpai literature. His introduction consisted of
+over 200 monographs on the spread of Indian tales to Europe. He wrote
+in 1859, before the great outburst of folk-tale collection in Europe,
+and he had not thus adequate materials to go about in determining the
+extent of Indian influence on the popular mind of Europe. But he made
+it clear that for beast-tales and for drolls, the majority of those
+current in the mouths of occidental people were derived from Eastern
+and mainly Indian sources. He was not successful, in my opinion, in
+tracing the serious fairy tale to India. Few of the tales in the
+Indian literary collections could be dignified by the name of fairy
+tales, and it was clear that if these were to be traced to India, an
+examination of the contemporary folk-tales of the peninsula would have
+to be attempted.
+
+[Footnote 2: An admirable and full account of this literature was
+given by M. A. Barth in _M�lusine_, t. iv. No. 12, and t. v. No. 1.
+See also Table i. of Prof. Rhys-Davids' _Birth Stories_.]
+
+The collection of current Indian folk-tales has been the work of the
+last quarter of a century, a work, even after what has been achieved,
+still in its initial stages. The credit of having begun the process is
+due to Miss Frere, who, while her father was Governor of the Bombay
+Presidency, took down from the lips of her _ayah_, Anna de Souza, one
+of a Lingaet family from Goa who had been Christian for three
+generations, the tales she afterwards published with Mr. Murray in
+1868, under the title, "_Old Deccan Days, or, Indian Fairy Legends
+current in Southern India, collected from oral tradition by M. Frere,
+with an introduction and notes by Sir Bartle Frere_." Her example was
+followed by Miss Stokes in her _Indian Fairy Tales_ (London, Ellis &
+White, 1880), who took down her tales from two _ayahs_ and a
+_Khitmatgar_, all of them Bengalese--the _ayahs_ Hindus, and the man a
+Mohammedan. Mr. Ralston introduced the volume with some remarks which
+dealt too much with sun-myths for present-day taste. Another
+collection from Bengal was that of Lal Behari Day, a Hindu gentleman,
+in his _Folk-Tales of Bengal_ (London, Macmillan, 1883). The Panjab
+and the Kashmir then had their turn: Mrs. Steel collected, and Captain
+(now Major) Temple edited and annotated, their _Wideawake Stories_
+(London, Tr�bner, 1884), stories capitally told and admirably
+annotated. Captain Temple increased the value of this collection by a
+remarkable analysis of all the incidents contained in the two hundred
+Indian folk-tales collected up to this date. It is not too much to say
+that this analysis marks an onward step in the scientific study of the
+folk-tale: there is such a thing, derided as it may be. I have
+throughout the Notes been able to draw attention to Indian parallels
+by a simple reference to Major Temple's Analysis.
+
+Major Temple has not alone himself collected: he has been the cause
+that many others have collected. In the pages of the _Indian
+Antiquary_, edited by him, there have appeared from time to time
+folk-tales collected from all parts of India. Some of these have been
+issued separately. Sets of tales from Southern India, collected by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, have been issued under the title _Folk-Lore of
+Southern India_, three fascicules of which have been recently
+re-issued by Mrs. Kingscote under the title, _Tales of the Sun_ (W. H.
+Allen, 1891): it would have been well if the identity of the two works
+had been clearly explained. The largest addition to our knowledge of
+the Indian folk-tale that has been made since _Wideawake Stories_ is
+that contained in Mr. Knowles' _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_ (Tr�bner's
+Oriental Library, 1887), sixty-three stories, some of great length.
+These, with Mr. Campbell's _Santal Tales_ (1892); Ramaswami Raju's
+_Indian Fables_ (London, Sonnenschein, n.d.); M. Thornhill, _Indian
+Fairy Tales_ (London, 1889); and E. J. Robinson, _Tales of S. India_
+(1885), together with those contained in books of travel like
+Thornton's _Bannu_ or Smeaton's _Karens of Burmah_ bring up the list
+of printed Indian folk-tales to over 350--a respectable total indeed,
+but a mere drop in the ocean of the stream of stories that must exist
+in such a huge population as that of India: the Central Provinces in
+particular are practically unexplored. There are doubtless many
+collections still unpublished. Col. Lewin has large numbers, besides
+the few published in his _Lushai Grammar_; and Mr. M. L. Dames has a
+number of Baluchi tales which I have been privileged to use.
+Altogether, India now ranks among the best represented countries for
+printed folk-tales, coming only after Russia (1500), Germany (1200),
+Italy and France (1000 each.)[3] Counting the ancient with the modern,
+India has probably some 600 to 700 folk-tales printed and translated
+in accessible form. There should be enough material to determine the
+vexed question of the relations between the European and the Indian
+collections.
+
+[Footnote 3: Finland boasts of 12,000, but most of these lie unprinted
+among the archives of the Helsingfors Literary Society.]
+
+This question has taken a new departure with the researches of M.
+Emanuel Cosquin in his _Contes populaires de Lorraine_ (Paris, 1886,
+2^e tirage, 1890), undoubtedly the most important contribution to the
+scientific study of the folk-tale since the Grimms. M. Cosquin gives
+in the annotations to the eighty-four tales which he has collected in
+Lorraine a mass of information as to the various forms which the tales
+take in other countries of Europe and in the East. In my opinion, the
+work he has done for the European folk-tale is even more valuable than
+the conclusions he draws from it as to the relations with India. He
+has taken up the work which Wilhelm Grimm dropped in 1859, and shown
+from the huge accumulations of folk-tales that have appeared during
+the last thirty years that there is a common fund of folk-tales which
+every country of Europe without exception possesses, though this does
+not of course preclude them from possessing others that are not shared
+by the rest. M. Cosquin further contends that the whole of these have
+come from the East, ultimately from India, not by literary
+transmission, as Benfey contended, but by oral transmission. He has
+certainly shown that very many of the most striking incidents common
+to European folk-tales are also to be found in Eastern _m�hrchen_.
+What, however, he has failed to show is that some of these may not
+have been carried out to the Eastern world by Europeans. Borrowing
+tales is a mutual process, and when Indian meets European, European
+meets Indian; which borrowed from which, is a question which we have
+very few criteria to decide. It should be added that Mr W. A. Clouston
+has in England collected with exemplary industry a large number of
+parallels between Indian and European folk-tale incidents in his
+_Popular Tales and Fictions_ (Edinburgh, 2 vols., 1887) and _Book of
+Noodles_ (London, 1888). Mr Clouston has not openly expressed his
+conviction that all folk-tales are Indian in origin: he prefers to
+convince us _non vi sed s�pe cadendo_. He has certainly made out a
+good case for tracing all European drolls, or comic folk-tales, from
+the East.
+
+With the fairy tale strictly so called--_i.e._, the serious folk-tale
+of romantic adventure--I am more doubtful. It is mainly a modern
+product in India as in Europe, so far as literary evidence goes. The
+vast bulk of the Jatakas does not contain a single example worthy the
+name, nor does the Bidpai literature. Some of Somadeva's tales,
+however, approach the nature of fairy tales, but there are several
+Celtic tales which can be traced to an earlier date than his (1200
+A.D.) and are equally near to fairy tales. Yet it is dangerous to
+trust to mere non-appearance in literature as proof of non-existence
+among the folk. To take our own tales here in England, there is not a
+single instance of a reference to _Jack and the Beanstalk_ for the
+last three hundred years, yet it is undoubtedly a true folk-tale. And
+it is indeed remarkable how many of the _formul�_ of fairy tales have
+been found of recent years in India. Thus, the _Magic Fiddle_, found
+among the Santals by Mr. Campbell in two variants (see Notes on vi.),
+contains the germ idea of the wide-spread story represented in Great
+Britain by the ballad of _Binnorie_ (see _English Fairy Tales_, No.
+ix.). Similarly, Mr. Knowles' collection has added considerably to the
+number of Indian variants of European "formul�" beyond those noted by
+M. Cosquin.
+
+It is still more striking as regards _incidents_. In a paper read
+before the Folk-Lore Congress of 1891, and reprinted in the
+_Transactions_, pp. 76 _seq._, I have drawn up a list of some 630
+incidents found in common among European folk-tales (including
+drolls). Of these, I reckon that about 250 have been already found
+among Indian folk-tales, and the number is increased by each new
+collection that is made or printed. The moral of this is, that India
+belongs to a group of peoples who have a common store of stories;
+India belongs to Europe for purposes of comparative folk-tales.
+
+Can we go further and say that India is the source of all the
+incidents that are held in common by European children? I think we may
+answer "Yes" as regards droll incidents, the travels of many of which
+we can trace, and we have the curious result that European children
+owe their earliest laughter to Hindu wags. As regards the serious
+incidents further inquiry is needed. Thus, we find the incident of an
+"external soul" (Life Index, Captain Temple very appropriately named
+it) in Asbjornsen's _Norse Tales_ and in Miss Frere's _Old Deccan
+Days_ (see Notes on _Punchkin_). Yet the latter is a very suspicious
+source, since Miss Frere derived her tales from a Christian _ayah_
+whose family had been in Portuguese Goa for a hundred years. May they
+not have got the story of the giant with his soul outside his body
+from some European sailor touching at Goa? This is to a certain extent
+negatived by the fact of the frequent occurrence of the incident in
+Indian folk-tales (Captain Temple gave a large number of instances in
+_Wideawake Stories_, pp. 404-5). On the other hand, Mr. Frazer in his
+_Golden Bough_ has shown the wide spread of the idea among all savage
+or semi-savage tribes. (See Note on No. iv.)
+
+In this particular case we may be doubtful; but in others, again--as
+the incident of the rat's tail up nose (see Notes on _The Charmed
+Ring_)--there can be little doubt of the Indian origin. And generally,
+so far as the incidents are marvellous and of true fairy-tale
+character, the presumption is in favour of India, because of the
+vitality of animism or metempsychosis in India throughout all historic
+time. No Hindu would doubt the fact of animals speaking or of men
+transformed into plants and animals. The European may once have had
+these beliefs, and may still hold them implicitly as "survivals"; but
+in the "survival" stage they cannot afford material for artistic
+creation, and the fact that the higher minds of Europe for the last
+thousand years have discountenanced these beliefs has not been
+entirely without influence. Of one thing there is practical certainty:
+the fairy tales that are common to the Indo-European world were
+invented once for all in a certain locality, and thence spread to all
+the countries in culture contact with the original source. The mere
+fact that contiguous countries have more similarities in their story
+store than distant ones is sufficient to prove this: indeed, the fact
+that any single country has spread throughout it a definite set of
+folk-tales as distinctive as its flora and fauna, is sufficient to
+prove it. It is equally certain that not all folk-tales have come from
+one source, for each country has tales peculiar to itself. The
+question is as to the source of the tales that are common to all
+European children, and increasing evidence seems to show that this
+common nucleus is derived from India and India alone. The Hindus have
+been more successful than others, because of two facts: they have had
+the appropriate "atmosphere" of metempsychosis, and they have also had
+spread among the people sufficient literary training and mental grip
+to invent plots. The Hindu tales have ousted the native European,
+which undoubtedly existed independently; indeed, many still survive,
+especially in Celtic lands. Exactly in the same way, Perrault's tales
+have ousted the older English folk-tales, and it is with the utmost
+difficulty that one can get true English fairy tales because _Red
+Riding Hood_, _Cinderella_, _Blue Beard_, _Puss in Boots_ and the
+rest, have survived in the struggle for existence among English
+folk-tales. So far as Europe has a common store of fairy tales, it
+owes this to India.
+
+I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not hold with Benfey that all
+European folk-tales are derived from the Bidpai literature and similar
+literary products, nor with M. Cosquin that they are all derived from
+India. The latter scholar has proved that there is a nucleus of
+stories in every European land which is common to all. I calculate
+that this includes from 30 to 50 per cent. of the whole, and it is
+this common stock of Europe that I regard as coming from India mainly
+at the time of the Crusades, and chiefly by oral transmission. It
+includes all the beast tales and most of the drolls, but evidence is
+still lacking about the more serious fairy tales, though it is
+increasing with every fresh collection of folk-tales in India, the
+great importance of which is obvious from the above considerations.
+
+In the following Notes I give, as on the two previous occasions, the
+_source_ whence I derived the tale, then _parallels_, and finally
+_remarks_. For Indian _parallels_ I have been able to refer to Major
+Temple's remarkable Analysis of Indian Folk-tale incidents at the end
+of _Wideawake Stories_ (pp. 386-436), for European ones to my
+alphabetical List of Incidents, with bibliographical references, in
+_Transactions of Folk-Lore Congress_, 1892, pp. 87-98. My _remarks_
+have been mainly devoted to tracing the relation between the Indian
+and the European tales, with the object of showing that the latter
+have been derived from the former. I have, however, to some extent
+handicapped myself, as I have avoided giving again the Indian versions
+of stories already given in _English Fairy Tales_ or _Celtic Fairy
+Tales_.
+
+
+I. THE LION AND THE CRANE.
+
+_Source._--V. Fausb�ll, _Five Jatakas_, Copenhagen, 1861, pp. 35-8,
+text and translation of the _Javasakuna Jataka_. I have ventured
+to English Prof. Fausb�ll's version, which was only intended as a
+"crib" to the Pali. For the omitted Introduction, see _supra_.
+
+_Parallels._--I have given a rather full collection of parallels,
+running to about a hundred numbers, in my _�sop_, pp. 232-4. The chief
+of these are: (1) for the East, the Midrashic version ("Lion and
+Egyptian Partridge"), in the great Rabbinic commentary on Genesis
+(_Bereshith-rabba_, c. 64); (2) in classical antiquity, Ph�drus, i. 8
+("Wolf and Crane"), and Babrius, 94 ("Wolf and Heron"), and the Greek
+proverb Suidas, ii. 248 ("Out of the Wolf's Mouth"); (3) in the Middle
+Ages, the so-called Greek _�sop_, ed. Halm, 276 _b_, really prose
+versions of Babrius and "Romulus," or prose of Ph�drus, i. 8, also the
+Romulus of Ademar (fl. 1030), 64; it occurs also on the Bayeux
+Tapestry, in Marie de France, 7, and in Benedict of Oxford's _Mishle
+Shualim_ (Heb.), 8; (4) Stainh�wel took it from the "Romulus" into his
+German �sop (1480), whence all the modern European �sops are derived.
+
+_Remarks._--I have selected _The Wolf and the Crane_ as my typical
+example in my "History of the �sopic Fable," and can only give here a
+rough summary of the results I there arrived at concerning the fable,
+merely premising that these results are at present no more than
+hypotheses. The similarity of the Jataka form with that familiar to
+us, and derived by us in the last resort from Ph�drus, is so striking
+that few will deny some historical relation between them. I conjecture
+that the Fable originated in India, and came West by two different
+routes. First, it came by oral tradition to Egypt, as one of the
+Libyan Fables which the ancients themselves distinguished from the
+�sopic Fables. It was, however, included by Demetrius Phalereus,
+tyrant of Athens, and founder of the Alexandrian library c. 300 B.C.,
+in his _Assemblies of �sopic Fables_, which I have shown to be the
+source of Ph�drus' Fables c. 30 A.D. Besides this, it came from Ceylon
+in the Fables of Kybises--_i.e._, Kasyapa the Buddha--c. 50 A.D., was
+adapted into Hebrew, and used for political purposes, by Rabbi Joshua
+ben Chananyah in a harangue to the Jews c. 120 A.D., begging them to be
+patient while within the jaws of Rome. The Hebrew form uses the lion,
+not the wolf, as the ingrate, which enables us to decide on the Indian
+_provenance_ of the Midrashic version. It may be remarked that the use
+of the lion in this and other Jatakas is indirectly a testimony to
+their great age, as the lion has become rarer and rarer in India
+during historic times, and is now confined to the Gir forest of
+Kathi�war, where only a dozen specimens exist, and are strictly
+preserved.
+
+The verses at the end are the earliest parts of the Jataka, being in
+more archaic Pali than the rest: the story is told by the commentator
+(c. 400 A.D.) to illustrate them. It is probable that they were
+brought over on the first introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon, c. 241
+B.C. This would give them an age of over two thousand years, nearly
+three hundred years earlier than Ph�drus, from whom comes our _Wolf
+and Crane_.
+
+
+II. PRINCESS LABAM.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. xxii. pp. 153-63,
+told by M�niy�, one of the ayahs. I have left it unaltered, except
+that I have replaced "God" by "Khuda," the word originally used (see
+Notes _l. c._, p. 237).
+
+_Parallels._--The tabu, as to a particular direction, occurs in other
+Indian stories as well as in European folk-tales (see notes on Stokes, p.
+286). The _grateful animals_ theme occurs in "The Soothsayer's Son"
+(_infra_, No. x.), and frequently in Indian folk-tales (see Temple's
+Analysis, III. i. 5-7; _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 412-3). The thorn in the
+tiger's foot is especially common (Temple, _l. c._, 6, 9), and recalls the
+story of Androclus, which occurs in the derivates of Ph�drus, and may thus
+be Indian in origin (see Benfey, _Panschatantra_, i. 211, and the parallels
+given in my _�sop_, Ro. iii. I. p. 243). The theme is, however, equally
+frequent in European folk-tales: see my List of Incidents, _Proc. Folk-Lore
+Congress_, p. 91, s.v. "Grateful Animals" and "Gifts by Grateful Animals."
+Similarly, the "Bride Wager" incident at the end is common to a large
+number of Indian and European folk-tales (Temple, Analysis, p. 430; my
+List, _l.c. sub voce_). The tasks are also equally common (_cf._ "Battle
+of the Birds" in _Celtic Fairy Tales_), though the exact forms as given in
+"Princess Labam" are not known in Europe.
+
+_Remarks._--We have here a concrete instance of the relation of Indian
+and European fairy-tales. The human mind may be the same everywhere,
+but it is not likely to hit upon the sequence of incidents, _Direction
+tabu_--_Grateful Animals_--_Bride-wager_--_Tasks_, by accident, or
+independently: Europe must have borrowed from India, or India from
+Europe. As this must have occurred within historic times, indeed
+within the last thousand years, when even European peasants are not
+likely to have _invented_, even if they believed, in the incident of
+the grateful animals, the probability is in favour of borrowing from
+India, possibly through the intermediation of Arabs at the time of
+the Crusades. It is only a probability, but we cannot in any case
+reach more than probability in this matter, just at present.
+
+
+III. LAMBIKIN.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 69-72, originally
+published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. 175. The droll is common
+throughout the Panjab.
+
+_Parallels._--The similarity of the concluding episode with the finish
+of the "Three Little Pigs" (_Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. xiv.) In my notes
+on that droll I have pointed out that the pigs were once goats or kids
+with "hair on their chinny chin chin." This brings the tale a stage
+nearer to the Lambikin.
+
+_Remarks._--The similarity of Pig No. 3 rolling down hill in the churn
+and the Lambikin in the Drumikin can scarcely be accidental, though,
+it must be confessed, the tale has undergone considerable modification
+before it reached England.
+
+
+IV. PUNCHKIN.
+
+_Source._--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, pp. 1-16, from her ayah,
+Anna de Souza, of a Lingaet family settled and Christianised at Goa
+for three generations. I should perhaps add that a Prudhan is a Prime
+Minister, or Vizier; Punts are the same, and Sirdars, nobles.
+
+_Parallels._--The son of seven mothers is a characteristic Indian
+conception, for which see Notes on "The Son of Seven Queens" in this
+collection, No. xvi. The mother transformed, envious stepmother, ring
+recognition, are all incidents common to East and West;
+bibliographical references for parallels may be found under these
+titles in my List of Incidents. The external soul of the ogre has been
+studied by Mr. E. Clodd in _Folk-Lore Journal_, vol. ii., "The
+Philosophy of Punchkin," and still more elaborately in the section,
+"The External Soul in Folk-tales," in Mr. Frazer's _Golden Bough_, ii.
+pp. 296-326. See also Major Temple's Analysis, II. iii., _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 404-5, who there gives the Indian parallels.
+
+_Remarks._--Both Mr. Clodd and Mr. Frazer regard the essence of the
+tale to consist in the conception of an external soul or "life-index,"
+and they both trace in this a "survival" of savage philosophy, which
+they consider occurs among all men at a certain stage of culture. But
+the most cursory examination of the sets of tales containing these
+incidents in Mr. Frazer's analyses shows that many, indeed the
+majority, of these tales cannot be independent of one another; for
+they contain not alone the incident of an external materialised soul,
+but the further point that this is contained in something else, which
+is enclosed in another thing, which is again surrounded by a wrapper.
+This Chinese ball arrangement is found in the Deccan ("Punchkin"); in
+Bengal (Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_); in Russia (Ralston, p. 103
+_seq._, "Koschkei the Deathless," also in Mr. Lang's _Red Fairy
+Book_); in Servia (Mijatovics, _Servian Folk-Lore_, p. 172); in South
+Slavonia (Wratislaw, p. 225); in Rome (Miss Busk, p. 164); in Albania
+(Dozon, p. 132 _seq._); in Transylvania (Haltrich, No. 34); in
+Schleswig-Holstein (M�llenhoff, p. 404); in Norway (Asbj�rnsen, No.
+36, _ap._ Dasent, _Pop. Tales_, p. 55, "The Giant who had no Heart in
+his Body"); and finally, in the Hebrides (Campbell, _Pop. Tales_, p.
+10, _cf. Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xvii., "Sea Maiden"). Here we have
+the track of this remarkable idea of an external soul enclosed in a
+succession of wrappings, which we can trace from Hindostan to the
+Hebrides.
+
+It is difficult to imagine that we have not here the actual migration
+of the tale from East to West. In Bengal we have the soul "in a
+necklace, in a box, in the heart of a _boal_ fish, in a tank"; in
+Albania "it is in a pigeon, in a hare, in the silver tusk of a wild
+boar"; in Rome it is "in a stone, in the head of a bird, in the head
+of a leveret, in the middle head of a seven-headed hydra"; in Russia
+"it is in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in a casket, in an oak"; in
+Servia it is "in a board, in the heart of a fox, in a mountain"; in
+Transylvania "it is in a light, in an egg, in a duck, in a pond, in a
+mountain"; in Norway it is "in an egg, in a duck, in a well, in a
+church, on an island, in a lake"; in the Hebrides it is "in an egg, in
+the belly of a duck, in the belly of a wether, under a flagstone on
+the threshold." It is impossible to imagine the human mind
+independently imagining such bizarre convolutions. They were borrowed
+from one nation to the other, and till we have reason shown to the
+contrary, the original lender was a Hindu. I should add that the mere
+conception of an external soul occurs in the oldest Egyptian tale of
+"The Two Brothers," but the wrappings are absent.
+
+
+V. THE BROKEN POT.
+
+_Source._--_Pantschatantra_, V. ix., tr. Benfey, ii. 345-6.
+
+_Parallels._--Benfey, in � 209 of his _Einleitung_, gives
+bibliographical references to most of those which are given at length
+in Prof. M. M�ller's brilliant essay on "The Migration of Fables"
+(_Selected Essays_, i. 500-76), which is entirely devoted to the
+travels of the fable from India to La Fontaine. See also Mr.
+Clouston, _Pop. Tales_, ii. 432 _seq._ I have translated the Hebrew
+version in my essay, "Jewish Influence on the Diffusion of
+Folk-Tales," pp. 6-7. Our proverb, "Do not count your chickens before
+they are hatched," is ultimately to be derived from India.
+
+_Remarks._--The stories of Alnaschar, the Barber's fifth brother in
+the _Arabian Nights_, and of La Perette, who counted her chickens
+before they were hatched, in La Fontaine, are demonstrably derived
+from the same Indian original from which our story was obtained. The
+travels of the "Fables of Bidpai" from India to Europe are well known
+and distinctly traceable. I have given a rough summary of the chief
+critical results in the introduction to my edition of the earliest
+English version of the _Fables of Bidpai_, by Sir Thomas North, of
+Plutarch fame (London, D. Nutt, "Biblioth�que de Carabas," 1888),
+where I have given an elaborate genealogical table of the
+multitudinous versions. La Fontaine's version, which has rendered the
+fable so familiar to us all, comes from Bonaventure des Periers,
+_Contes et Nouvelles_, who got it from the _Dialogus Creaturarum_ of
+Nicholaus Pergamenus, who derived it from the _Sermones_ of Jacques de
+Vitry (see Prof. Crane's edition, No. li.), who probably derived it
+from the _Directorium Human� Vit�_ of John of Capua, a converted Jew,
+who translated it from the Hebrew version of the Arabic _Kalilah wa
+Dimnah_, which was itself derived from the old Syriac version of a
+Pehlevi translation of the original Indian work, probably called after
+Karataka and Damanaka, the names of two jackals who figure in the
+earlier stories of the book. Prof. Rhys-Davids informs me that these
+names are more akin to Pali than to Sanskrit, which makes it still
+more probable that the whole literature is ultimately to be derived
+from a Buddhist source.
+
+The theme of La Perette is of interest as showing the _literary_
+transmission of tales from Orient to Occident. It also shows the
+possibility of an influence of literary on oral tradition, as is shown
+by our proverb, and by the fact, which Benfey mentions, that La
+Fontaine's story has had influence on two of Grimm's tales, Nos. 164,
+168.
+
+
+VI. THE MAGIC FIDDLE.
+
+_Source._--A. Campbell, _Santal Folk-Tales_, 1892, pp. 52-6, with some
+verbal alterations. A Bonga is the presiding spirit of a certain kind
+of rice land; Doms and Hadis are low-caste aborigines, whose touch is
+considered polluting. The Santals are a forest tribe, who live in the
+Santal Parganas, 140 miles N.W. of Calcutta (Sir W. W. Hunter, _The
+Indian Empire_, 57-60).
+
+_Parallels._--Another version occurs in Campbell, p. 106 _seq._, which
+shows that the story is popular among the Santals. It is obvious,
+however, that neither version contains the real finish of the story,
+which must have contained the denunciation of the magic fiddle of the
+murderous sisters. This would bring it under the formula of _The
+Singing Bone_, which M. Monseur has recently been studying with a
+remarkable collection of European variants in the Bulletin of the
+Wallon Folk-Lore Society of Li�ge (_cf. Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. ix.).
+There is a singing bone in Steel-Temple's _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 127
+_seq._ ("Little Anklebone").
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have another theme of the common store of European
+folk-tales found in India. Unfortunately, the form in which it occurs
+is mutilated, and we cannot draw any definite conclusion from it.
+
+
+VII. THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED.
+
+_Source._--The Baka-Jataka, Fausb�ll, No. 38, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp.
+315-21. The Buddha this time is the Genius of the Tree.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+_Parallels._--This Jataka got into the Bidpai literature, and
+occurs in all its multitudinous offshoots (_see_ Benfey, _Einleitung_,
+� 60) among others in the earliest English translation by North (my
+edition, pp. 118-22), where the crane becomes "a great Paragone of
+India (of those that liue a hundredth yeares and neuer mue their
+feathers)." The crab, on hearing the ill news "called to Parliament
+all the Fishes of the Lake," and before all are devoured destroys the
+Paragon, as in the Jataka, and returned to the remaining fishes, who
+"all with one consent gave hir many a thanke."
+
+_Remarks._--An interesting point, to which I have drawn attention in
+my Introduction to North's Bidpai, is the probability that the
+illustrations of the tales as well as the tales themselves, were
+translated, so to speak, from one country to another. We can trace
+them in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic MSS., and a few are extant on
+Buddhist Stupas. Under these circumstances, it may be of interest to
+compare with Mr. Batten's conception of the Crane and the Crab
+(_supra_, p. 50) that of the German artist who illustrated the first
+edition of the Latin Bidpai, probably following the traditional
+representations of the MS., which itself could probably trace back to
+India.
+
+
+VIII. LOVING LAILI.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, pp. 73-84. Majnun and
+Laili are conventional names for lovers, the Romeo and Juliet of
+Hindostan.
+
+_Parallels._--Living in animals' bellies occurs elsewhere in Miss
+Stokes' book, pp. 66, 124; also in Miss Frere's, 188. The restoration
+of beauty by fire occurs as a frequent theme (Temple, Analysis, III.
+vi. f. p. 418). Readers will be reminded of the _d�nouement_ of Mr.
+Rider Haggard's _She_. Resuscitation from ashes has been used very
+effectively by Mr. Lang in his delightful _Prince Prigio_.
+
+_Remarks._--The white skin and blue eyes of Prince Majnun deserve
+attention. They are possibly a relic of the days of Aryan conquest,
+when the fair-skinned, fair-haired Aryan conquered the swarthier
+aboriginals. The name for caste in Sanskrit is _varna_, "colour"; and
+one Hindu cannot insult another more effectually than by calling him a
+black man. _Cf._ Stokes, pp. 238-9, who suggests that the red hair is
+something solar, and derived from myths of the solar hero.
+
+
+IX. THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 116-20; first
+published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. p. 170 _seq._
+
+_Parallels._--No less than 94 parallels are given by Prof. K. Krohn in
+his elaborate discussion of this fable in his dissertation, _Mann und
+Fuchs_, (Helsingfors, 1891), pp. 38-60; to which may be added three
+Indian variants, omitted by him, but mentioned by Capt. Temple, _l.
+c._, p. 324, in the _Bh�gavata Pur�na_, the _Gul Bak�ol�_ and _Ind.
+Ant._ xii. 177; and a couple more in my _�sop_, p. 253: add Smeaton,
+_Karens_, p. 126.
+
+_Remarks._--Prof. Krohn comes to the conclusion that the majority of
+the oral forms of the tale come from literary versions (p. 47),
+whereas the _Reynard_ form has only had influence on a single variant.
+He reduces the century of variants to three type forms. The first
+occurs in two Egyptian versions collected in the present day, as well
+as in Petrus Alphonsi in the twelfth century, and the _Fabul�
+Extravagantes_ of the thirteenth or fourteenth: here the ingrate
+animal is a crocodile, which asks to be carried away from a river
+about to dry up, and there is only one judge. The second is that
+current in India and represented by the story in the present
+collection: here the judges are three. The third is that current among
+Western Europeans, which has spread to S. Africa and N. and S.
+America: also three judges. Prof. K. Krohn counts the first the
+original form, owing to the single judge and the naturalness of the
+opening, by which the critical situation is brought about. The further
+question arises, whether this form, though found in Egypt now, is
+indigenous there, and if so, how it got to the East. Prof. Krohn
+grants the possibility of the Egyptian form having been invented in
+India and carried to Egypt, and he allows that the European forms have
+been influenced by the Indian. The "Egyptian" form is found in Burmah
+(Smeaton, _l. c._, p. 128), as well as the Indian, a fact of which
+Prof. K. Krohn was unaware though it turns his whole argument. The
+evidence we have of other folk-tales of the beast-epic emanating from
+India improves the chances of this also coming from that source. One
+thing at least is certain: all these hundred variants come ultimately
+from one source. The incident "Inside again" of the _Arabian Nights_
+(the Djinn and the bottle) and European tales is also a secondary
+derivate.
+
+
+X. THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON.
+
+_Source._--Mrs. Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_ (p. 11 _seq._), from
+Pandit Natesa Sastri's _Folk-Lore of Southern India_, pt. ii.,
+originally from _Ind. Antiquary_. I have considerably condensed and
+modified the somewhat Babu English of the original.
+
+_Parallels._--See Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, � 71, i. pp. 193-222, who
+quotes the _Karma Jataka_ as the ultimate source: it also occurs in
+the _Saccankira Jataka_ (Fausb�ll, No. 73), trans. Rev. R. Morris,
+_Folk-Lore Jour._ iii. 348 _seq._ The story of the ingratitude of man
+compared with the gratitude of beasts came early to the West, where it
+occurs in the _Gesta Romanorum_, c. 119. It was possibly from an early
+form of this collection that Richard Coeur de Lion got the story,
+and used it to rebuke the ingratitude of the English nobles on his
+return in 1195. Matthew Paris tells the story, _sub anno_ (it is an
+addition of his to Ralph Disset), _Hist. Major_, ed. Luard, ii. 413-6,
+how a lion and a serpent and a Venetian named Vitalis were saved from
+a pit by a woodman, Vitalis promising him half his fortune, fifty
+talents. The lion brings his benefactor a leveret, the serpent "gemmam
+pretiosam," probably "the precious jewel in his head" to which
+Shakespeare alludes (_As You Like It_, ii. I., _cf._ Benfey, _l. c._,
+p. 214, _n._), but Vitalis refuses to have anything to do with him,
+and altogether repudiates the fifty talents. "H�c referebat Rex
+Richardus munificus, ingratos redarguendo."
+
+_Remarks._--Apart from the interest of its wide travels, and its
+appearance in the standard medi�val History of England by Matthew
+Paris, the modern story shows the remarkable persistence of folk-tales
+in the popular mind. Here we have collected from the Hindu peasant of
+to-day a tale which was probably told before Buddha, over two thousand
+years ago, and certainly included among the Jatakas before the
+Christian era. The same thing has occurred with _The Tiger, Brahman,
+and Jackal_ (No. ix. _supra_).
+
+
+XI. HARISARMAN.
+
+_Source._--Somadeva, _Katha-Sarit-Sagara_, trans. Tawney (Calcutta,
+1880), i. pp. 272-4. I have slightly toned down the inflated style of
+the original.
+
+_Parallels _--Benfey has collected and discussed a number in _Orient
+and Occident_, i. 371 _seq._; see also Tawney, _ad loc_. The most
+remarkable of the parallels is that afforded by the Grimms' "Doctor
+Allwissend" (No. 98), which extends even to such a minute point as his
+exclamation, "Ach, ich armer Krebs," whereupon a crab is discovered
+under a dish. The usual form of discovery of the thieves is for the
+Dr. Knowall to have so many days given him to discover the thieves,
+and at the end of the first day he calls out, "There's one of them,"
+meaning the days, just as one of the thieves peeps through at him.
+Hence the title and the plot of C. Lever's _One of Them_.
+
+
+XII. THE CHARMED RING.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 20-8.
+
+_Parallels._--The incident of the Aiding Animals is frequent in
+folk-tales: see bibliographical references, _sub voce_, in my List of
+Incidents, _Trans. Folk-Lore Congress_, p. 88; also Knowles, 21,
+_n._; and Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 401, 412. The Magic Ring
+is also "common form" in folk-tales; _cf._ K�hler _ap._ Marie de
+France, _Lais_, ed. Warncke, p. lxxxiv. And the whole story is to be
+found very widely spread from India (_Wideawake Stories_, pp. 196-206)
+to England (_Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. xvii, "Jack and his Golden
+Snuff-box," _cf._ Notes, _ibid._), the most familiar form of it being
+"Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp."
+
+_Remarks._--M. Cosquin has pointed out (_Contes de Lorraine_, p. xi.
+_seq._) that the incident of the rat's-tail-up-nose to recover the
+ring from the stomach of an ogress, is found among Arabs, Albanians,
+Bretons, and Russians. It is impossible to imagine that
+incident--occurring in the same series of incidents--to have been
+invented more than once, and if that part of the story has been
+borrowed from India, there is no reason why the whole of it should not
+have arisen in India, and have been spread to the West. The English
+variant was derived from an English Gipsy, and suggests the
+possibility that for this particular story the medium of transmission
+has been the Gipsies. This contains the incident of the loss of the
+ring by the faithful animal, which again could not have been
+independently invented.
+
+
+XIII. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+_Source._--The _Kacchapa Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 215; also in his
+_Five Jatakas_, pp. 16, 41, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp. viii-x.
+
+_Parallels._--It occurs also in the Bidpai literature, in nearly all
+its multitudinous offshoots. See Benfey, _Einleitung_, �84; also my
+_Bidpai_, E, 4 _a_; and North's text, pp. 170-5, where it is the
+taunts of the other birds that cause the catastrophe: "O here is a
+brave sight, looke, here is a goodly ieast, what bugge haue we here,"
+said some. "See, see, she hangeth by the throte, and therefor she
+speaketh not," saide others; "and the beast flieth not like a beast;"
+so she opened her mouth and "pashte hir all to pieces."
+
+_Remarks._--I have reproduced in my edition the original illustration
+of the first English Bidpai, itself derived from the Italian block.
+A replica of it here may serve to show that it could be used
+equally well to illustrate the Pali original as its English
+great-great-great-great-great-great grand-child.
+
+
+XIV. LAC OF RUPEES.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 32-41. I have reduced
+the pieces of advice to three, and curtailed somewhat.
+
+_Parallels._--See _Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xxii., "Tale of Ivan,"
+from the old Cornish, now extinct, and notes _ibid._ Mr. Clouston
+points out (_Pop. Tales_, ii. 319) that it occurs in Buddhist
+literature, in "Buddaghoshas Parables," as "The Story of Kulla
+Pauthaka."
+
+_Remarks._--It is indeed curious to find the story better told in
+Cornwall than in the land of its birth, but there can be little doubt
+that the Buddhist version is the earliest and original form of the
+story. The piece of advice was originally a charm, in which a youth
+was to say to himself, "Why are you busy? Why are you busy?" He does
+so when thieves are about, and so saves the king's treasures, of which
+he gets an appropriate share. It would perhaps be as well if many of
+us should say to ourselves "_Ghatesa, ghatesa, kim k�rana?_"
+
+
+XV. THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT.
+
+_Source._--_Pantschatantra_, III. v., tr. Benfey, ii. 244-7.
+
+_Parallels_ given in my _�sop_, Ro. ii. 10, p. 40. The chief points
+about them are--(1) though the tale does not exist in either Ph�drus
+or Babrius, it occurs in prose derivates from the Latin by Ademar, 65,
+and "Romulus," ii. 10, and from Greek, in Gabrias, 45, and the prose
+_�sop_, ed. Halm, 96; Gitlbauer has restored the Babrian form in his
+edition of Babrius, No. 160. (2) The fable occurs among folk-tales,
+Grimm, 105; Woycicki, _Poln. M�hr._ 105; Gering, _Islensk. �vent._ 59,
+possibly derived from La Fontaine, x. 12.
+
+_Remarks._--Benfey has proved most ingeniously and conclusively
+(_Einl._ i. 359) that the Indian fable is the source of both Latin and
+Greek fables. I may borrow from my _�sop_, p. 93, parallel abstracts
+of the three versions, putting Benfey's results in a graphic form,
+series of bars indicating the passages where the classical fables have
+failed to preserve the original.
+
+           BIDPAI.                |       PH�DRINE.
+
+ A Brahmin once observed a snake  |----A good man had become
+ in his field, and thinking it    |friendly with the snake, who
+ the tutelary spirit of the       |came into his house and brought
+ field, he offered it a libation  |luck with it, so that the man
+ of milk in a bowl. Next day he   |became rich through it.----One
+ finds a piece of gold in the     |day he struck the serpent, which
+ bowl, and he receives this each  |disappeared, and with it the
+ day after offering the libation. |man's riches. The good man tries
+ One day he had to go elsewhere,  |to make it up, but the serpent
+ and he sent his son with the     |declares their friendship at an
+ libation. The son sees the gold, |end, as it could not forget the
+ and thinking the serpent's hole  |blow.----
+ full of treasure determines to   |
+ slay the snake. He strikes at    |Ph�d. Dressl. VII. 28 (Rom. II. xi.)
+ its head with a cudgel, and the  |
+ enraged serpent stings him to    |            BABRIAN.
+ death. The Brahmin mourns his    |A serpent stung a farmer's son
+ son's death, but next morning as |to death. The father pursued the
+ usual brings the libation of     |serpent with an axe, and struck
+ milk (in the hope of getting the |off part of its tail. Afterwards
+ gold as before). The serpent     |fearing its vengeance he brought
+ appears after a long delay at    |food and honey to its lair, and
+ the mouth of its lair, and       |begged reconciliation. The
+ declares their friendship at an  |serpent, however, declares
+ end, as it could not forget the  |friendship impossible, as it
+ blow of the Brahmin's son, nor   |could not forget the blow----nor
+ the Brahmin his son's death from |the farmer his son's death from
+ the bite of the snake.           |the bite of the snake.
+                                  |
+_Pants._ III. v. (Benf. 244-7).   |�sop, Halm 96^b (Babrius-Gitlb. 160).
+                                  |
+
+In the Indian fable every step of the action is thoroughly justified,
+whereas the Latin form does not explain why the snake was friendly in
+the first instance, or why the good man was enraged afterwards; and
+the Greek form starts abruptly, without explaining why the serpent had
+killed the farmer's son. Make a composite of the Ph�drine and Babrian
+forms, and you get the Indian one, which is thus shown to be the
+original of both.
+
+
+XVI. THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 98-110, originally
+published in _Ind. Antiq._ x. 147 _seq._
+
+_Parallels._--A long variant follows in _Ind. Antiq._, _l. c._ M.
+Cosquin refers to several Oriental variants, _l. c._ p. xxx. _n._ For
+the direction tabu, see Note on Princess Labam, _supra_, No. ii. The
+"letter to kill bearer" and "letter substituted" are frequent in both
+European (see my List _s. v._) and Indian Folk-Tales (Temple,
+Analysis, II. iv. _b_, 6, p. 410). The idea of a son of seven mothers
+could only arise in a polygamous country. It occurs in "Punchkin,"
+_supra_, No. iv.; Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_, 117 _seq._; _Ind.
+Antiq._ i. 170 (Temple, _l. c._, 398).
+
+_Remarks._--M. Cosquin (_Contes de Lorraine_, p. xxx.) points out how,
+in a Sicilian story, Gonzenbach (_Sizil. M�hr._ No. 80), the seven
+co-queens are transformed into seven step-daughters of the envious
+witch who causes their eyes to be taken out. It is thus probable,
+though M. Cosquin does not point this out, that the "envious
+step-mother" of folk-tales (see my List, _s. v._) was originally an
+envious co-wife. But there can be little doubt of what M. Cosquin
+_does_ point out--viz., that the Sicilian story is derived from the
+Indian one.
+
+
+XVII. A LESSON FOR KINGS.
+
+_Source._--_Rajovada Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 151, tr.
+Rhys-Davids, pp. xxii.-vi.
+
+_Remarks._--This is one of the earliest of moral allegories in
+existence. The moralising tone of the Jatakas must be conspicuous to
+all reading them. Why, they can moralise even the Tar Baby (see
+_infra_, Note on "Demon with the Matted Hair," No. xxv.).
+
+
+XVIII. PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL.
+
+_Source._--Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_. I have changed the Indian
+mercantile numerals into those of English "back-slang," which make a
+very good parallel.
+
+
+XIX. RAJA RASALU.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 247-80, omitting
+"How Raja Rasalu was Born," "How Raja Rasalu's Friends Forsook Him,"
+"How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants," and "How Raja Rasalu became a
+Jogi." A further version in Temple, _Legends of Panjab_, vol. i.
+_Chaupur_, I should explain, is a game played by two players with
+eight men, each on a board in the shape of a cross, four men to each
+cross covered with squares. The moves of the men are decided by the
+throws of a long form of dice. The object of the game is to see which
+of the players can first move all his men into the black centre square
+of the cross (Temple, _l. c._, p. 344, and _Legends of Panjab_, i.
+243-5). It is sometimes said to be the origin of chess.
+
+_Parallels._--Rev. C. Swynnerton, "Four Legends about Raja Rasalu," in
+_Folk-Lore Journal_, p. 158 _seq._, also in separate book much
+enlarged, _The Adventures of Raja Rasalu_, Calcutta, 1884. Curiously
+enough, the real interest of the story comes after the end of our part
+of it, for Kokilan, when she grows up, is married to Raja Rasalu, and
+behaves as sometimes youthful wives behave to elderly husbands. He
+gives her her lover's heart to eat, _� la_ Decameron, and she dashes
+herself over the rocks. For the parallels of this part of the legend
+see my edition of Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, tom. i. Tale 39, or,
+better, the _Programm_ of H. Patzig, _Zur Geschichte der Herzm�re_
+(Berlin, 1891). Gambling for life occurs in Celtic and other
+folk-tales; _cf._ my List of Incidents, _s. v._ "Gambling for Magic
+Objects."
+
+_Remarks._--Raja Rasalu is possibly a historic personage, according to
+Capt. Temple, _Calcutta Review_, 1884, p. 397, flourishing in the
+eighth or ninth century. There is a place called Sirikap ka-kila in
+the neighbourhood of Sialkot, the traditional seat of Rasalu on the
+Indus, not far from Atlock.
+
+Herr Patzig is strongly for the Eastern origin of the romance, and
+finds its earliest appearance in the West in the Anglo-Norman
+troubadour, Thomas' _Lai Guirun_, where it becomes part of the Tristan
+cycle. There is, so far as I know, no proof of the earliest part of
+the Rasalu legend (_our_ part) coming to Europe, except the existence
+of the gambling incidents of the same kind in Celtic and other
+folk-tales.
+
+
+XX. THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN.
+
+_Source._--The _Siha Camma Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 189, trans.
+Rhys-Davids, pp. v. vi.
+
+_Parallels._--It also occurs in Somadeva, _Katha Sarit Sagara_, ed.
+Tawney, ii. 65, and _n_. For �sopic parallels _cf._ my _�sop_, Av. iv.
+It is in Babrius, ed. Gitlbaur, 218 (from Greek prose �sop, ed. Halm,
+No. 323), and Avian, ed. Ellis, 5, whence it came into the modern
+�sop.
+
+_Remarks._--Avian wrote towards the end of the third century, and put
+into Latin mainly those portions of Babrius which are unparalleled by
+Ph�drus. Consequently, as I have shown, he has a much larger
+proportion of Eastern elements than Ph�drus. There can be little doubt
+that the Ass in the Lion's Skin is from India. As Prof. Rhys-Davids
+remarks, the Indian form gives a plausible motive for the masquerade
+which is wanting in the ordinary �sopic version.
+
+
+XXI. THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 215-8.
+
+_Parallels_ enumerated in my _�sop_, Av. xvii. See also Jacques de
+Vitry, _Exempla_, ed. Crane, No. 196 (see notes, p. 212), and Bozon,
+_Contes moralis�s_, No. 112. It occurs in Avian, ed. Ellis, No. 22.
+Mr. Kipling has a very similar tale in his _Life's Handicap_.
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have collected in modern India what one cannot
+help thinking is the Indian original of a fable of Avian. The
+preceding number showed one of his fables existing among the Jatakas,
+probably before the Christian era. This makes it likely that we shall
+find an earlier Indian original of the fable of the Avaricious and
+Envious, perhaps among the Jatakas still untranslated.
+
+
+XXII. THE BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes' _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 20, pp. 119-137.
+
+_Parallels_ to heroes and heroines in European fairy tales, with stars
+on their foreheads, are given with some copiousness in Stokes, _l.
+c._, pp. 242-3. This is an essentially Indian trait; almost all Hindus
+have some tribal or caste mark on their bodies or faces. The choice of
+the hero disguised as a menial is also common property of Indian and
+European fairy tales: see Stokes, _l. c._, p. 231, and my List of
+Incidents (_s. v._ "Menial Disguise.")
+
+
+XXIII. THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR.
+
+_Source._--Kindly communicated by Mr. M. L. Dames from his unpublished
+collection of Baluchi tales.
+
+_Remarks._--Unholy fakirs are rather rare. See Temple, Analysis, I.
+ii. _a_, p. 394.
+
+
+XXIV. WHY THE FISH LAUGHED.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 484-90.
+
+_Parallels._--The latter part is the formula of the Clever Lass who
+guesses riddles. She has been bibliographised by Prof. Child, _Eng.
+and Scotch Ballads_, i. 485; see also Benfey, _Kl. Schr._ ii. 156
+_seq._ The sex test at the end is different from any of those
+enumerated by Prof. K�hler on Gonzenbach, _Sezil. M�hr._ ii. 216.
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have a further example of a whole formula, or
+series of incidents, common to most European collections, found in
+India, and in a quarter, too, where European influence is little
+likely to penetrate. Prof. Benfey, in an elaborate dissertation ("Die
+Kluge Dirne," in _Ausland_, 1859, Nos. 20-25, now reprinted in _Kl.
+Schr._ ii. 156 _seq._), has shown the wide spread of the theme both in
+early Indian literature (though probably there derived from the folk)
+and in modern European folk literature.
+
+
+XXV. THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR.
+
+_Source._--The _Pancavudha-Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 55, kindly
+translated for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, of Christ's College,
+Cambridge. There is a brief abstract of the Jataka in Prof. Estlin
+Carpenter's sermon, _Three Ways of Salvation_, 1884, p. 27, where my
+attention was first called to this Jataka.
+
+_Parallels._--Most readers of these Notes will remember the central
+episode of Mr. J. C. Harris' _Uncle Remus_, in which Brer Fox, annoyed
+at Brer Rabbit's depredations, fits up "a contrapshun, what he calls a
+Tar Baby." Brer Rabbit, coming along that way, passes the time of day
+with Tar Baby, and, annoyed at its obstinate silence, hits it with
+right fist and with left, with left fist and with right, which
+successively stick to the "contrapshun," till at last he butts with
+his head, and that sticks too, whereupon Brer Fox, who all this time
+had "lain low," saunters out, and complains of Brer Rabbit that he is
+too stuck up. In the sequel Brer Rabbit begs Brer Fox that he may
+"drown me as deep ez you please, skin me, scratch out my eyeballs,
+t'ar out my years by the roots, en cut off my legs, but do don't fling
+me in dat brier patch;" which, of course, Brer Fox does, only to be
+informed by the cunning Brer Rabbit that he had been "bred en bawn in
+a brier patch." The story is a favourite one with the negroes: it
+occurs in Col. Jones' _Negro Myths of the Georgia Coast_ (Uncle Remus
+is from S. Carolina), also among those of Brazil (Romero, _Contos do
+Brazil_), and in the West Indian Islands (Mr. Lang, "At the Sign of
+the Ship," _Longman's Magazine_, Feb. 1889). We can trace it to
+Africa, where it occurs in Cape Colony (_South African Folk-Lore
+Journal_, vol. i.).
+
+_Remarks._--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is so
+preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently
+invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally
+connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches
+the matter, and gives us a landing-stage between India and America.
+There can be little doubt that the Jataka of Prince Five Weapons came
+to Africa, possibly by Buddhist missionaries, spread among the
+negroes, and then took ship in the holds of slavers for the New World,
+where it is to be found in fuller form than any yet discovered in the
+home of its birth. I say Buddhist missionaries, because there is a
+certain amount of evidence that the negroes have Buddhistic symbols
+among them, and we can only explain the identification of Brer Rabbit
+with Prince Five Weapons, and so with Buddha himself, by supposing the
+change to have originated among Buddhists, where it would be quite
+natural. For one of the most celebrated metempsychoses of Buddha is
+that detailed in the _Sasa Jataka_ (Fausb�ll, No. 316, tr. R.
+Morris, _Folk-Lore Journal_, ii. 336), in which the Buddha, as a hare,
+performs a sublime piece of self-sacrifice, and as a reward is
+translated to the moon, where he can be seen to this day as "the hare
+in the moon." Every Buddhist is reminded of the virtue of
+self-sacrifice whenever the moon is full, and it is easy to understand
+how the Buddha became identified as the Hare or Rabbit. A striking
+confirmation of this, in connection with our immediate subject, is
+offered by Mr. Harris' sequel volume, _Nights with Uncle Remus_. Here
+there is a whole chapter (xxx.) on "Brer Rabbit and his famous Foot,"
+and it is well known how the worship of Buddha's foot developed in
+later Buddhism. No wonder Brer Rabbit is so 'cute: he is nothing less
+than an incarnation of Buddha. Among the Karens of Burmah, where
+Buddhist influence is still active, the Hare holds exactly the same
+place in their folk-lore as Brer Rabbit among the negroes. The sixth
+chapter of Mr. Smeaton's book on them is devoted to "Fireside
+Stories," and is entirely taken up with adventures of the Hare, all of
+which can be parallelled from _Uncle Remus_.
+
+Curiously enough, the negro form of the five-fold attack--"fighting
+with _five_ fists," Mr. Barr would call it--is probably nearer to the
+original legend than that preserved in the Jataka, though 2000 years
+older. For we may be sure that the thunderbolt of Knowledge did not
+exist in the original, but was introduced by some Buddhist Mr. Barlow,
+who, like Alice's Duchess, ended all his tales with: "And the moral of
+that is----" For no well-bred demon would have been taken in by so
+simple a "sell" as that indulged in by Prince Five-Weapons in our
+Jataka, and it is probable, therefore, that _Uncle Remus_ preserves a
+reminiscence of the original Indian reading of the tale. On the other
+hand, it is probable that Carlyle's Indian god with the fire in his
+belly was derived from Prince Five-Weapons.
+
+The negro variant has also suggested to Mr. Batten an explanation of
+the whole story which is extremely plausible, though it introduces a
+method of folk-lore exegesis which has been overdriven to death. The
+_Sasa Jataka_ identifies the Brer Rabbit Buddha with the hare in
+the moon. It is well known that Easterns explain an eclipse of the
+moon as due to its being swallowed up by a Dragon or Demon. May not,
+asks Mr. Batten, the _Pancavudha Jataka_ be an idealised account of
+an eclipse of the moon? This suggestion receives strong confirmation
+from the Demon's reference to Rahu, who does, in Indian myth swallow
+the moon at times of eclipse. The Jataka accordingly contains the
+Buddhist explanation why the moon--_i.e._ the hare in the moon, _i.e._
+Buddha--is not altogether swallowed up by the Demon of Eclipse, the
+Demon with the Matted Hair. Mr. Batten adds that in imagining what
+kind of Demon the Eclipse Demon was, the Jataka writer was probably
+aided by recollections of some giant octopus, who has saucer eyes and
+a kind of hawk's beak, knobs on its "tusks," and a very variegated
+belly (gasteropod). It is obviously unfair of Mr. Batten both to
+illustrate and also to explain so well the Tar Baby Jataka--taking the
+scientific bread, so to speak, out of a poor folk-lorist's mouth--but
+his explanations seem to me so convincing that I cannot avoid
+including them in these Notes.
+
+I am, however, not so much concerned with the original explanation of
+the Jataka as to trace its travels across the continents of Asia,
+Africa, and America. I think I have done this satisfactorily, and will
+have thereby largely strengthened the case for less extensive travels
+of other tales. I have sufficient confidence of the method employed to
+venture on that most hazardous of employments, scientific prophecy. I
+venture to predict that the Tar Baby story will be found in Madagascar
+in a form nearer the Indian than Uncle Remus, and I will go further,
+and say that it will _not_ be found in the grand Helsingfors
+collection of folk-tales, though this includes 12,000, of which 1000
+are beast-tales.
+
+
+XXVI. THE IVORY PALACE.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 211-25, with some
+slight omissions. Gulizar is Persian for rosy-cheeked.
+
+_Parallels._--Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 27. "Panwpatti Rani,"
+pp. 208-15, is the same story. Another version in the collection
+_Baital Pachisi_, No. 1.
+
+_Remarks._--The themes of love by mirror, and the faithful friend, are
+common European, though the calm attempt at poisoning is perhaps
+characteristically Indian, and reads like a page from Mr. Kipling.
+
+
+XXVII. SUN, MOON, AND WIND.
+
+_Source._--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, No. 10, pp. 153-5.
+
+_Remarks._--Miss Frere observes that she has not altered the
+traditional mode of the Moon's conveyance of dinner to her mother the
+Star, though it must, she fears, impair the value of the story as a
+moral lesson in the eyes of all instructors of youth.
+
+
+XXVIII. HOW WICKED SONS WERE DUPED.
+
+_Source._--Knowles. _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 241-2.
+
+_Parallels._--A Gaelic parallel was given by Campbell in _Trans.
+Ethnol. Soc._, ii. p. 336; an Anglo-Latin one from the Middle Ages by
+T. Wright in _Latin Stories_ (Percy Soc.), No. 26; and for these and
+points of anthropological interest in the Celtic variant see Mr.
+Gomme's article in _Folk-Lore_, i. pp. 197-206, "A Highland Folk-Tale
+and its Origin in Custom."
+
+_Remarks._--Mr. Gomme is of opinion that the tale arose from certain
+rhyming formul� occurring in the Gaelic and Latin tales as written on
+a mallet left by the old man in the box opened after his death. The
+rhymes are to the effect that a father who gives up his wealth to his
+children in his own lifetime deserves to be put to death with the
+mallet. Mr. Gomme gives evidence that it was an archaic custom to put
+oldsters to death after they had become helpless. He also points out
+that it was customary for estates to be divided and surrendered during
+the owners' lifetime, and generally he connects a good deal of
+primitive custom with our story. I have already pointed out in
+_Folk-Lore_, p. 403, that the existence of the tale in Kashmir without
+any reference to the mallet makes it impossible for the rhymes on the
+mallet to be the source of the story. As a matter of fact, it is a
+very embarrassing addition to it, since the rhyme tells against the
+parent, and the story is intended to tell against the ungrateful
+children. The existence of the tale in India renders it likely enough
+that it is not indigenous to the British Isles, but an Oriental
+importation. It is obvious, therefore, that it cannot be used as
+anthropological evidence of the existence of the primitive customs to
+be found in it. The whole incident, indeed, is a striking example of
+the dangers of the anthropological method of dealing with folk-tales
+before some attempt is made to settle the questions of origin and
+diffusion.
+
+
+XXIX. THE PIGEON AND THE CROW.
+
+_Source._--The _Lola Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 274, kindly translated
+and slightly abridged for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse.
+
+_Remarks._--We began with an animal Jataka, and may appropriately
+finish with one which shows how effectively the writers of the Jatakas
+could represent animal folk, and how terribly moral they invariably
+were in their tales. I should perhaps add that the Bodhisat is not
+precisely the Buddha himself but a character which is on its way to
+becoming perfectly enlightened, and so may be called a future Buddha.
+
+
+
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Indian Fairy Tales, Edited by Joseph Jacobs,
+Illustrated by John D. Batten and Gloria Cardew</h1>
+<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a
+href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p>
+<p>Title: Indian Fairy Tales</p>
+<p>Editor: Joseph Jacobs</p>
+<p>Release Date: March 13, 2003  [eBook #7128]<br />
+Most recently updated: May 1, 2012<br />
+HTML version added: May 1, 2012
+</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks,<br />
+    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    and revised by<br />
+    Sankar Viswanathan, Fritz Ohrenschall, Sania Ali Mirza,<br />
+    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    using page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive<br />
+    (<a href="http://archive.org">http://archive.org</a>)<br />
+    <br />
+    HTML version prepared by<br />
+    Sankar Viswanathan, Fritz Ohrenschall, Sania Ali Mirza,<br />
+    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      <a href="http://archive.org/details/indiantales00jacorich">
+      http://archive.org/details/indiantales00jacorich</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0366.jpg" width="500" height="802" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="center"><img src="images/image_001.jpg" alt="Cover" width="600" height="468" /></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_009.jpg" width="500" height="738" alt="Indian Fairy Tales" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Indian Fairy Tales</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/image_014.jpg" width="400" height="375" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_01" id="image_01"></a>
+<img src="images/image_016.jpg" width="500" height="721" alt="PRINCESS LABAM" title="" />
+<span class="caption">PRINCESS LABAM</span></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img class="img1" src="images/image_023.jpg" width="500" height="763" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>INDIAN</h2>
+<h1><span class="smcap">Fairy Tales</span></h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4><i>SELECTED AND EDITED BY</i></h4>
+<h2>JOSEPH  JACOBS</h2>
+<h2>EDITOR OF &quot;FOLK LORE&quot;</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4><i>ILLUSTRATED BY</i></h4>
+<h3>JOHN D. BATTEN</h3>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0023_1.jpg" width="500" height="504" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>LONDON</h3>
+<h3>DAVID NUTT, 270, 271 STRAND</h3>
+<h3>1892</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>
+<i>Only One Hundred and Sixty Copies of this<br />
+Edition on Japanese Vellum Paper have been printed,<br />
+of which One Hundred and Fifty are for Sale.<br />
+<br />
+This is No. 147</i><br />
+</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>
+<i>The Illustrations in this Book were coloured by hand by<br />
+Miss Gloria Cardew.</i></h4>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h4><i>TO</i></h4>
+<h2><i>MY DEAR LITTLE PHIL</i></h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>
+INDIAN<br />
+FAIRY TALES
+</h3>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Preface</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_027.jpg" alt="F" width="150" height="151" /></div>
+<p>rom the extreme West of the Indo-European world, we go this year to
+the extreme East. From the soft rain and green turf of Gaeldom, we
+seek the garish sun and arid soil of the Hindoo. In the Land of Ire,
+the belief in fairies, gnomes, ogres and monsters is all but dead; in
+the Land of Ind it still flourishes in all the vigour of animism.</p>
+
+<p>Soils and national characters differ; but fairy tales are the same in
+plot and incidents, if not in treatment. The majority of the tales in
+this volume have been known in the West in some form or other, and the
+problem arises how to account for their simultaneous existence in
+farthest West and East. Some&mdash;as Benfey in Germany, M. Cosquin in
+France, and Mr. Clouston in England&mdash;have declared that India is the
+Home of the Fairy Tale, and that all European fairy tales have been
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>brought from thence by Crusaders, by Mongol missionaries, by Gipsies,
+by Jews, by traders, by travellers. The question is still before the
+courts, and one can only deal with it as an advocate. So far as my
+instructions go, I should be prepared, within certain limits, to hold
+a brief for India. So far as the children of Europe have their fairy
+stories in common, these&mdash;and they form more than a third of the
+whole&mdash;are derived from India. In particular, the majority of the
+Drolls or comic tales and jingles can be traced, without much
+difficulty, back to the Indian peninsula.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly there is abundant evidence of the early transmission by
+literary means of a considerable number of drolls and folk-tales from
+India about the time of the Crusaders. The collections known in Europe
+by the titles of <i>The Fables of Bidpai</i>, <i>The Seven Wise Masters</i>,
+<i>Gesta Romanorum</i>, and <i>Barlaam and Josaphat</i>, were extremely popular
+during the Middle Ages, and their contents passed on the one hand into
+the <i>Exempla</i> of the monkish preachers, and on the other into the
+<i>Novelle</i> of Italy, thence, after many days, to contribute their quota
+to the Elizabethan Drama. Perhaps nearly one-tenth of the main
+incidents of European folk-tales can be traced to this source.</p>
+
+<p>There are even indications of an earlier literary contact between
+Europe and India, in the case of one branch of the folk-tale, the
+Fable or Beast Droll. In a somewhat elaborate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span> discussion<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> I have
+come to the conclusion that a goodly number of the fables that pass
+under the name of the Samian slave, &AElig;sop, were derived from India,
+probably from the same source whence the same tales were utilised in
+the Jatakas, or Birth-stories of Buddha. These Jatakas contain a large
+quantity of genuine early Indian folk-tales, and form the earliest
+collection of folk-tales in the world, a sort of Indian Grimm,
+collected more than two thousand years before the good German brothers
+went on their quest among the folk with such delightful results. For
+this reason I have included a considerable number of them in this
+volume; and shall be surprised if tales that have roused the laughter
+and wonder of pious Buddhists for the last two thousand years, cannot
+produce the same effect on English children. The Jatakas have been
+fortunate in their English translators, who render with vigour and
+point; and I rejoice in being able to publish the translation of two
+new Jatakas, kindly done into English for this volume by Mr. W. H. D.
+Rouse, of Christ's College, Cambridge. In one of these I think I have
+traced the source of the Tar Baby incident in &quot;Uncle Remus.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> &quot;History of the &AElig;sopic Fable,&quot; the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's <i>Fables of Esope</i> (London, Nutt, 1889).</p></div>
+
+<p>Though Indian fairy tales are the earliest in existence, yet they are
+also from another point of view the youngest. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span>For it is only about
+twenty-five years ago that Miss Frere began the modern collection of
+Indian folk-tales with her charming &quot;Old Deccan Days&quot; (London, John
+Murray, 1868; fourth edition, 1889). Her example has been followed by
+Miss Stokes, by Mrs. Steel, and Captain (now Major) Temple, by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, by Mr. Knowles and Mr. Campbell, as well as
+others who have published folk-tales in such periodicals as the
+<i>Indian Antiquary</i> and <i>The Orientalist</i>. The story-store of modern
+India has been well dipped into during the last quarter of a century,
+though the immense range of the country leaves room for any number of
+additional workers and collections. Even so far as the materials
+already collected go, a large number of the commonest incidents in
+European folk-tales have been found in India. Whether brought there or
+born there, we have scarcely any criterion for judging; but as some of
+those still current among the folk in India can be traced back more
+than a millennium, the presumption is in favour of an Indian origin.</p>
+
+<p>From all these sources&mdash;from the Jatakas, from the Bidpai, and from
+the more recent collections&mdash;I have selected those stories which throw
+most light on the origin of Fable and Folk-tales, and at the same time
+are most likely to attract English children. I have not, however,
+included too many stories of the Grimm types, lest I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span> should repeat
+the contents of the two preceding volumes of this series. This has to
+some degree weakened the case for India as represented by this book.
+The need of catering for the young ones has restricted my selection
+from the well-named &quot;Ocean of the Streams of Story,&quot; <i>Katha-Sarit
+Sagara</i> of Somadeva. The stories existing in Pali and Sanskrit I have
+taken from translations, mostly from the German of Benfey or the
+vigorous English of Professor Rhys-Davids, whom I have to thank for
+permission to use his versions of the Jatakas.</p>
+
+<p>I have been enabled to make this book a representative collection of
+the Fairy Tales of Ind by the kindness of the original collectors or
+their publishers. I have especially to thank Miss Frere, who kindly
+made an exception in my favour, and granted me the use of that fine
+story, &quot;Punchkin,&quot; and that quaint myth, &quot;How Sun, Moon, and Wind went
+out to Dinner.&quot; Miss Stokes has been equally gracious in granting me
+the use of characteristic specimens from her &quot;Indian Fairy Tales.&quot; To
+Major Temple I owe the advantage of selecting from his admirable
+<i>Wideawake Stories</i>, and Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench &amp; Co. have allowed
+me to use Mr. Knowles' &quot;Folk-tales of Kashmir,&quot; in their Oriental
+Library; and Messrs. W. H. Allen have been equally obliging with
+regard to Mrs. Kingscote's &quot;Tales of the Sun.&quot; Mr. M. L. Dames has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span>
+enabled me add to the published story-store of India by granting me
+the use of one from his inedited collection of Baluchi folk-tales.</p>
+
+<p>I have again to congratulate myself on the co-operation of my friend
+Mr. J. D. Batten in giving beautiful or amusing form to the creations
+of the folk fancy of the Hindoos. It is no slight thing to embody, as
+he has done, the glamour and the humour both of the Celt and of the
+Hindoo. It is only a further proof that Fairy Tales are something more
+than Celtic or Hindoo. They are human.</p>
+
+<p class="p1">JOSEPH JACOBS.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="Contents">
+<tr><td></td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="f1">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">I.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Lion_and_the_Crane">THE LION AND THE CRANE</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">II.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#How_the_Rajas_Son_won_the_Princess_Labam">HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">III.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Lambikin">THE LAMBIKIN</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">IV.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#Punchkin">PUNCHKIN</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">V.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Broken_Pot">THE BROKEN POT</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">VI.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Magic_Fiddle">THE MAGIC FIDDLE</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">VII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Cruel_Crane_Outwitted">THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">VIII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#Loving_Laili">LOVING LAILI</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">IX.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Tiger_the_Brahman_and_the_Jackal">THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">X.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Soothsayers_Son">THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XI.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#Harisarman">HARISARMAN</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Charmed_Ring">THE CHARMED RING</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XIII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Talkative_Tortoise">THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XIV.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#A_Lac_of_Rupees_for_a_Bit_of_Advice">A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A PIECE OF ADVICE</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XV.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Gold-giving_Serpent">THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XVI.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Son_of_Seven_Queens">THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XVII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#A_Lesson_for_Kings">A LESSON FOR KINGS</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XVIII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#Pride_goeth_before_a_Fall">PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XIX.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#Raja_Rasalu">RAJA RASALU</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XX.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Ass_in_the_Lions_Skin">THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXI.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Farmer_and_the_Money-lender">THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Boy_who_had_a_Moon_on_his_Forehead_and_a_Star_on_his_Chin">THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON <br />
+HIS CHIN</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXIII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Prince_and_the_Fakir">THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXIV.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#Why_the_Fish_Laughed">WHY THE FISH LAUGHED</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXV.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Demon_with_the_Matted_Hair">THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXVI.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Ivory_City_and_its_Fairy_Princess">THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXVII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#How_Sun_Moon_and_Wind_went_out_to_Dinner">SUN, MOON, AND WIND GO OUT TO DINNER</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXVIII.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#How_the_Wicked_Sons_were_Duped">HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tocch">XXIX.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#The_Pigeon_and_the_Crow">THE PIGEON AND THE CROW</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><a href="#Notes_and_References">NOTES AND REFERENCES</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span></p>
+<h2>Full-page Illustrations</h2>
+
+
+<table summary="Illustrations">
+<tr><td><a href="#image_01">PRINCESS LABAM</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+   <td>&nbsp;</td>
+   <td>&nbsp;</td>
+   <td>&nbsp;</td>
+   <td>&nbsp;</td>
+   <td><i><a href="#image_01">Frontispiece</a></i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#image_02">THE LION AND THE CRANE</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td><i>To face page</i></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_2">2</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#image_03">PUNCHKIN</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td align="center">&quot;</td>
+  <td align="center">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#image_04">LOVING LAILI</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td align="center">&quot;</td>
+  <td align="center">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#image_05">THE CHARMED RING</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td align="center">&quot;</td>
+  <td align="center">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#image_06">THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td align="center">&quot;</td>
+  <td align="center">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#image_07">RAJA RASALU</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td align="center">&quot;</td>
+  <td align="center">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#image_08">BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td align="center">&quot;</td>
+  <td align="center">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#image_09">DEMON WITH MATTED HAIR</a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td align="center">&quot;</td>
+  <td align="center">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">[Plates, vignettes, initials, and cuts are from &quot;process&quot;<br />
+blocks supplied by Messrs. J. C. Drummond &amp; Co. of Covent Garden.]</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Lion_and_the_Crane" id="The_Lion_and_the_Crane"></a>The Lion and the Crane</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_037.jpg" alt="T" width="150" height="138" /></div>
+<p>he Bodhisatta was at one time born in the region of Himavanta as a
+white crane; now Brahmadatta was at that time reigning in Benares. Now
+it chanced that as a lion was eating meat a bone stuck in his throat.
+The throat became swollen, he could not take food, his suffering was
+terrible. The crane seeing him, as he was perched on a tree looking
+for food, asked, &quot;What ails thee, friend?&quot; He told him why. &quot;I could
+free thee from that bone, friend, but dare not enter thy mouth for
+fear thou mightest eat me.&quot; &quot;Don't be afraid, friend, I'll not eat
+thee; only save my life.&quot; &quot;Very well,&quot; says he, and caused him to lie
+down on his left side. But thinking to himself, &quot;Who knows what this
+fellow will do,&quot; he placed a small stick upright between his two jaws
+that he could not close his mouth, and inserting his head inside his
+mouth struck one end of the bone with his beak. Whereupon the bone
+dropped and fell out. As soon as he had caused the bone to fall, he
+got out of the lion's mouth, striking the stick with his beak so that
+it fell out, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> settled on a branch. The lion gets well, and
+one day was eating a buffalo he had killed. The crane thinking &quot;I will
+sound him,&quot; settled on a branch just over him, and in conversation
+spoke this first verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;A service have we done thee<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To the best of our ability,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">King of the Beasts! Your Majesty!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What return shall we get from thee?&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In reply the Lion spoke the second verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;As I feed on blood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And always hunt for prey,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis much that thou art still alive<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Having once been between my teeth.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then in reply the crane said the two other verses:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Ungrateful, doing no good,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Not doing as he would be done by,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In him there is no gratitude,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To serve him is useless.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;His friendship is not won<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By the clearest good deed.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Better softly withdraw from him,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Neither envying nor abusing.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And having thus spoken the crane flew away.</p>
+
+<p><i>And when the great Teacher, Gautama the Buddha, told this tale, he
+used to add: &quot;Now at that time the lion was Devadatta the Traitor, but
+the white crane was I myself.&quot;</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_02" id="image_02"></a>
+<img src="images/image_045.jpg" width="500" height="646" alt="THE LION AND THE CRANE" title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE LION AND THE CRANE</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="How_the_Rajas_Son_won_the_Princess_Labam" id="How_the_Rajas_Son_won_the_Princess_Labam"></a>How the Raja's Son won the Princess Labam.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_047.jpg" alt="In" width="150" height="145" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp; a country there was a Raja who had an only son who every day went
+out to hunt. One day the Rani, his mother, said to him, &quot;You can hunt
+wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the
+fourth side.&quot; This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth
+side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labam, and that then he
+would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess.</p>
+
+<p>The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time;
+but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was
+allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth
+side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to
+hunt on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle,
+and nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it.
+The young Raja shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up
+to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Raja, who was
+called Hiraman parrot.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When Hiraman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the
+other parrots, &quot;Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Raja's son
+shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labam.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the parrots all flew back to their Raja, chattering. The prince
+was greatly surprised, and said, &quot;Why, these birds can talk!&quot; Then he
+said to the parrots, &quot;Who is the Princess Labam? Where does she live?&quot;
+But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. &quot;You can never get
+to the Princess Labam's country.&quot; That is all they would say.</p>
+
+<p>The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more;
+and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would
+not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed
+very ill.</p>
+
+<p>At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the
+Princess Labam. &quot;I must go,&quot; he said; &quot;I must see what she is like.
+Tell me where her country is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We do not know where it is,&quot; answered his father and mother.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I must go and look for it,&quot; said the prince.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no,&quot; they said, &quot;you must not leave us. You are our only son.
+Stay with us. You will never find the Princess Labam.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I must try and find her,&quot; said the prince. &quot;Perhaps God will show me
+the way. If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but
+perhaps I shall die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I
+must go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with
+him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And
+he took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other
+weapons, &quot;for,&quot; he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> said, &quot;I may want them.&quot; His father, too, gave him
+plenty of rupees.</p>
+
+<p>Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said
+good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her
+handkerchief and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her
+son. &quot;My child,&quot; she said to him, &quot;When you are hungry eat some of
+these sweetmeats.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a
+jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his
+horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. &quot;Now,&quot; he said to
+himself, &quot;I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I
+will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey.&quot; He opened
+his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in it. He
+took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid the two
+sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and another, and
+another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he found an ant.
+&quot;Never mind,&quot; he said, &quot;I won't eat the sweetmeats; the ants shall eat
+them.&quot; Then the Ant-Raja came and stood before him and said, &quot;You have
+been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and we will
+come to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Raja's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his
+journey. He rode on and on until he came to another jungle, and there
+he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly
+from the pain.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you roar like that?&quot; said the young Raja. &quot;What is the matter
+with you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years,&quot; answered the tiger,
+&quot;and it hurts me so; that is why I roar.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well,&quot; said the Raja's son, &quot;I will take it out for you.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> But
+perhaps, as you are a tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat
+me?&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_050_01.jpg" width="500" height="266" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, no,&quot; said the tiger, &quot;I won't eat you. Do make me well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn
+out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than
+ever&mdash;so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came
+bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming,
+and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_050_02.jpg" width="300" height="193" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>&quot;What man hurt you that you roared so loud?&quot; said the wife.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No one hurt me,&quot; answered the husband; &quot;but a Raja's son came and
+took the thorn out of my foot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where is he? Show him to me,&quot; said his wife.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you promise not to kill him, I will call him,&quot; said the tiger.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;I won't kill him; only let me see him,&quot; answered his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Then the tiger called the Raja's son, and when he came the tiger and
+his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good
+dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at
+the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said
+good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, &quot;If ever you are in
+trouble, think of me, and we will come to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Raja's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he
+found four fakirs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four
+things,&mdash;a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he
+wished to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels,
+food, or clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he
+wanted, no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and
+rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war
+on him, &quot;Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here,&quot; and the
+stick would beat them and the rope would tie them up.</p>
+
+<p>The four fakirs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, &quot;I
+want this;&quot; another said, &quot;You cannot have it, for I want it;&quot; and so
+on.</p>
+
+<p>The Raja's son said to them, &quot;Do not quarrel for these things. I will
+shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets
+to my first arrow, shall have the first thing&mdash;the bed. Whosoever gets
+to the second arrow, shall have the second thing&mdash;the bag. He who gets
+to the third arrow, shall have the third thing&mdash;the bowl. And he who
+gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things&mdash;the stick and
+rope.&quot; To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> first arrow.
+Away raced the fakirs to get it. When they brought it back to him he
+shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he
+shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot
+off the fourth.</p>
+
+<p>While they were away looking for the fourth arrow the Raja's son let
+his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl,
+the stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, &quot;Bed, I wish
+to go to the Princess Labam's country.&quot; The little bed instantly rose
+up into the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to
+the Princess Labam's country, where it settled on the ground. The
+Raja's son asked some men he saw, &quot;Whose country is this?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Princess Labam's country,&quot; they answered. Then the prince went on
+till he came to a house where he saw an old woman.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot; she said. &quot;Where do you come from?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I come from a far country,&quot; he said; &quot;do let me stay with you
+to-night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; she answered, &quot;I cannot let you stay with me; for our king has
+ordered that men from other countries may not stay in his country. You
+cannot stay in my house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are my aunty,&quot; said the prince; &quot;let me remain with you for this
+one night. You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then
+the wild beasts will eat me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well,&quot; said the old woman, &quot;you may stay here to-night; but to-morrow
+morning you must go away, for if the king hears you have passed the
+night in my house, he will have me seized and put into prison.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she took him into her house, and the Raja's son<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> was very glad.
+The old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her, &quot;Aunty,&quot; he
+said, &quot;I will give you food.&quot; He put his hand into his bag, saying,
+&quot;Bag, I want some dinner,&quot; and the bag gave him instantly a delicious
+dinner, served up on two gold plates. The old woman and the Raja's son
+then dined together.</p>
+
+<p>When they had finished eating, the old woman said, &quot;Now I will fetch
+some water.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't go,&quot; said the prince. &quot;You shall have plenty of water
+directly.&quot; So he took his bowl and said to it, &quot;Bowl, I want some
+water,&quot; and then it filled with water. When it was full, the prince
+cried out, &quot;Stop, bowl,&quot; and the bowl stopped filling. &quot;See, aunty,&quot;
+he said, &quot;with this bowl I can always get as much water as I want.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>By this time night had come. &quot;Aunty,&quot; said the Raja's son, &quot;why don't
+you light a lamp?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is no need,&quot; she said. &quot;Our king has forbidden the people in
+his country to light any lamps; for, as soon as it is dark, his
+daughter, the Princess Labam, comes and sits on her roof, and she
+shines so that she lights up all the country and our houses, and we
+can see to do our work as if it were day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When it was quite black night the princess got up. She dressed herself
+in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and across her
+head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone like the
+moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her room, and sat
+on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came out of her
+house; she only came out at night. All the people in her father's
+country then went about their work and finished it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Raja's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He
+said to himself, &quot;How lovely she is!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down
+from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and
+asleep, the Raja's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. &quot;Bed,&quot; he
+said to it, &quot;I want to go to the Princess Labam's bed-room.&quot; So the
+little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The young Raja took his bag and said, &quot;I want a great deal of
+betel-leaf,&quot; and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he
+laid near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back
+to the old woman's house.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and
+began to eat it. &quot;Where did you get all that betel-leaf?&quot; asked the
+princess.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We found it near your bed,&quot; answered the servants. Nobody knew the
+prince had come in the night and put it all there.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning the old woman came to the Raja's son. &quot;Now it is
+morning,&quot; she said, &quot;and you must go; for if the king finds out all I
+have done for you, he will seize me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am ill to-day, dear aunty,&quot; said the prince; &quot;do let me stay till
+to-morrow morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner
+out of the bag, and the bowl gave them water.</p>
+
+<p>When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve
+o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was
+soon fast asleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed, and it carried
+him to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> princess. He took his bag and said, &quot;Bag, I want a most
+lovely shawl.&quot; It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the
+princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house
+and slept till morning.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl she was delighted.
+&quot;See, mother,&quot; she said; &quot;Khuda must have given me this shawl, it is
+so beautiful.&quot; Her mother was very glad too.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, my child,&quot; she said; &quot;Khuda must have given you this splendid
+shawl.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When it was morning the old woman said to the Raja's son, &quot;Now you
+must really go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Aunty,&quot; he answered, &quot;I am not well enough yet. Let me stay a few
+days longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that no one may
+see me.&quot; So the old woman let him stay.</p>
+
+<p>When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and
+jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went
+to sleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room.
+There he said to his bag, &quot;Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring.&quot;
+The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labam's
+hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much
+frightened.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are you?&quot; she said to the prince. &quot;Where do you come from? Why do
+you come to my room?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not be afraid, princess,&quot; he said; &quot;I am no thief. I am a great
+Raja's son. Hiraman parrot, who lives in the jungle where I went to
+hunt, told me your name, and then I left my father and mother, and
+came to see you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well,&quot; said the princess, &quot;as you are the son of such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> great Raja,
+I will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that
+I wish to marry you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning
+came the princess said to her mother, &quot;The son of a great Raja has
+come to this country, and I wish to marry him.&quot; Her mother told this
+to the king.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said the king; &quot;but if this Raja's son wishes to marry my
+daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I will kill
+him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, and out of
+this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this he shall
+die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In the morning the Raja's son told the old woman that he intended to
+marry the princess. &quot;Oh,&quot; said the old woman, &quot;go away from this
+country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rajas and
+Rajas' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them
+all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do
+whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if
+he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things
+the king tells him to do; so all the Rajas and Rajas' sons who have
+tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do
+go away.&quot; But the prince would not listen to anything she said.</p>
+
+<p>The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his
+servants brought the Raja's son to the king's court-house to the king.
+There the king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to
+crush all the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him
+to the court-house. &quot;Whoever wishes to marry my daughter,&quot; he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> said to
+the prince, &quot;must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have
+him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard
+seed, you will die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince was very sorry when he heard this. &quot;How can I crush the oil
+out of all this mustard seed in one day?&quot; he said to himself; &quot;and if
+I do not, the king will kill me.&quot; He took the mustard seed to the old
+woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the
+Ant-Raja, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Raja and his ants came to
+him. &quot;Why do you look so sad?&quot; said the Ant-Raja.</p>
+
+<p>The prince showed him the mustard seed, and said to him, &quot;How can I
+crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not
+take the oil to the king to-morrow morning, he will kill me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be happy,&quot; said the Ant-Raja; &quot;lie down and sleep; we will crush all
+the oil out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall
+take it to the king.&quot; The Raja's son lay down and slept, and the ants
+crushed out the oil for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the
+oil.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the
+king said, &quot;You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so,
+you must first fight with my two demons and kill them.&quot; The king a
+long time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what
+to do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let
+them loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country;
+and he did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons
+who wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these
+demons;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> &quot;for,&quot; said the king to himself, &quot;perhaps the demons may be
+killed, and then I shall be rid of them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When he heard of the demons the Raja's son was very sad. &quot;What can I
+do?&quot; he said to himself. &quot;How can I fight with these two demons?&quot; Then
+he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and
+said, &quot;Why are you so sad?&quot; The Raja's son answered, &quot;The king has
+ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do
+this?&quot; &quot;Do not be frightened,&quot; said the tiger. &quot;Be happy. I and my
+wife will fight with them for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_058.jpg" width="600" height="357" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Then the Raja's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were
+all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he
+put on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the
+king, and said to him, &quot;May these tigers fight your demons for me?&quot;
+&quot;Yes,&quot; said the king, who did not care in the least who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> killed his
+demons, provided they were killed. &quot;Then call your demons,&quot; said the
+Raja's son, &quot;and these tigers will fight them.&quot; The king did so, and
+the tigers and the demons fought and fought until the tigers had
+killed the demons.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is good,&quot; said the king. &quot;But you must do something else before
+I give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must
+go and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Raja's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old
+woman's house and sat on his bed. &quot;Little bed,&quot; he said, &quot;up in the
+sky is the king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it.&quot; The bed flew up
+with him, and the Raja's son beat the drum, and the king heard him.
+Still, when he came down, the king would not give him his daughter.
+&quot;You have,&quot; he said to the prince, &quot;done the three things I told you
+to do; but you must do one thing more.&quot; &quot;If I can, I will,&quot; said the
+Raja's son.</p>
+
+<p>Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his
+court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax
+hatchet, and said, &quot;To-morrow morning you must cut this trunk in two
+with this wax hatchet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Raja's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad,
+and thought that now the Raja would certainly kill him. &quot;I had his oil
+crushed out by the ants,&quot; he said to himself. &quot;I had his demons killed
+by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But now what
+can I do? How can I cut that thick tree-trunk in two with a wax
+hatchet?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At night he went on his bed to see the princess. &quot;To<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>-morrow,&quot; he said
+to her, &quot;your father will kill me.&quot; &quot;Why?&quot; asked the princess.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet.
+How can I ever do that?&quot; said the Raja's son. &quot;Do not be afraid,&quot; said
+the princess; &quot;do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite
+easily.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince.
+&quot;To-morrow,&quot; she said, &quot;when no one is near you, you must say to the
+tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labam commands you to let yourself be cut in
+two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax
+hatchet's blade.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the
+minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade
+touched the tree-trunk it split into two pieces.</p>
+
+<p>The king said, &quot;Now you can marry my daughter.&quot; Then the wedding took
+place. All the Rajas and kings of the countries round were asked to
+come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the
+prince's son said to his wife, &quot;Let us go to my father's country.&quot; The
+Princess Labam's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and
+rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's
+country, where they lived happily.</p>
+
+<p>The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only, as no one
+ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Lambikin" id="The_Lambikin"></a>The Lambikin</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_061_01.jpg" alt="O" width="138" height="125" /></div>
+<p>nce upon a time there was a wee wee Lambikin, who frolicked about on
+his little tottery legs, and enjoyed himself amazingly.</p>
+
+<p>Now one day he set off to visit his Granny, and was jumping with joy
+to think of all the good things he should get from her, when who
+should he meet but a Jackal, who looked at the tender young morsel and
+said: &quot;Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll <span class="smcap">eat</span> YOU!&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;">
+<img src="images/image_061_02.jpg" width="200" height="160" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>But Lambikin only gave a little frisk and said:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;To Granny's house I go,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where I shall fatter grow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then you can eat me so.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The Jackal thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;">
+<img src="images/image_062_01.jpg" width="200" height="354" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>By-and-by he met a Vulture, and the Vulture, looking hungrily at the
+tender morsel before him, said: &quot;Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll <span class="smcap">eat</span> YOU!&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But Lambikin only gave a little frisk, and said:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;To Granny's house I go,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where I shall fatter grow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then you can eat me so.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The Vulture thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.</p>
+
+<p>And by-and-by he met a Tiger, and then a Wolf, and a Dog, and an
+Eagle, and all these, when they saw the tender little morsel, said:
+&quot;Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll <span class="smcap">eat</span> YOU!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But to all of them Lambikin replied, with a little frisk:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;To Granny's house I go,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where I shall fatter grow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then you can eat me so.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>At last he reached his Granny's house, and said, all in a great hurry,
+&quot;Granny, dear, I've promised to get very fat; so, as people ought to
+keep their promises, please put me into the corn-bin <i>at once</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So his Granny said he was a good boy, and put him into the corn-bin,
+and there the greedy little Lambikin stayed for seven days, and ate,
+and ate, and ate, until he could scarcely waddle, and his Granny said
+he was fat enough for anything, and must go home. But cunning little
+Lambikin said that would never do, for some animal would be sure to
+eat him on the way back, he was so plump and tender.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;">
+<img src="images/image_062_02.jpg" width="200" height="213" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>&quot;I'll tell you what you must do,&quot; said Master Lambikin, &quot;you must make
+a little drumikin out of the skin of my little brother who died, and
+then I can sit inside and trundle along nicely, for I'm as tight as a
+drum myself.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So his Granny made a nice little drumikin out of his brother's skin,
+with the wool inside, and Lambikin curled himself up snug and warm in
+the middle, and trundled away gaily. Soon he met with the Eagle, who
+called out:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Drumikin! Drumikin!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Have you seen Lambikin?&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And Mr. Lambikin, curled up in his soft warm nest, replied:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Fallen into the fire, and so will you<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On little Drumikin.  Tum-pa, tum-too!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;How very annoying!&quot; sighed the Eagle, thinking regretfully of the
+tender morsel he had let slip.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/image_063.jpg" width="400" height="181" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Lambikin trundled along, laughing to himself, and singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Tum-pa, tum-too;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tum-pa, tum-too!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Every animal and bird he met asked him the same question:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Drumikin! Drumikin!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Have you seen Lambikin?&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And to each of them the little slyboots replied:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Fallen into the fire, and so will you<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On little Drumikin. Tum-pa, tum too;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tum-pa, tum-too; Tum-pa, tum-too!&quot;<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>Then they all sighed to think of the tender little morsel they had let
+slip.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Jackal came limping along, for all his sorry looks as
+sharp as a needle, and he too called out&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Drumikin! Drumikin!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Have you seen Lambikin?&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And Lambikin, curled up in his snug little nest, replied gaily:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Fallen into the fire, and so will you<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On little Drumikin! Tum-pa&mdash;&mdash;&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But he never got any further, for the Jackal recognised his voice at
+once, and cried: &quot;Hullo! you've turned yourself inside out, have you?
+Just you come out of that!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon he tore open Drumikin and gobbled up Lambikin.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_065_01.jpg" width="600" height="401" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="Punchkin" id="Punchkin"></a>Punchkin</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_065_02.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="142" /></div>
+<p>nce upon a time there was a Raja who had seven beautiful daughters.
+They were all good girls; but the youngest, named Balna, was more
+clever than the rest. The Raja's wife died when they were quite little
+children, so these seven poor Princesses were left with no mother to
+take care of them.</p>
+
+<p>The Raja's daughters took it by turns to cook their father's dinner
+every day, whilst he was absent deliberating with his Ministers on the
+affairs of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>About this time the Prudhan died, leaving a widow and one daughter;
+and every day, every day, when the seven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> Princesses were preparing
+their father's dinner, the Prudhan's widow and daughter would come and
+beg for a little fire from the hearth. Then Balna used to say to her
+sisters, &quot;Send that woman away; send her away. Let her get the fire at
+her own house. What does she want with ours? If we allow her to come
+here, we shall suffer for it some day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the other sisters would answer, &quot;Be quiet, Balna; why must you
+always be quarrelling with this poor woman? Let her take some fire if
+she likes.&quot; Then the Prudhan's widow used to go to the hearth and take
+a few sticks from it; and whilst no one was looking, she would quickly
+throw some mud into the midst of the dishes which were being prepared
+for the Raja's dinner.</p>
+
+<p>Now the Raja was very fond of his daughters. Ever since their mother's
+death they had cooked his dinner with their own hands, in order to
+avoid the danger of his being poisoned by his enemies. So, when he
+found the mud mixed up with his dinner, he thought it must arise from
+their carelessness, as it did not seem likely that any one should have
+put mud there on purpose; but being very kind he did not like to
+reprove them for it, although this spoiling of the curry was repeated
+many successive days.</p>
+
+<p>At last, one day, he determined to hide, and watch his daughters
+cooking, and see how it all happened; so he went into the next room,
+and watched them through a hole in the wall.</p>
+
+<p>There he saw his seven daughters carefully washing the rice and
+preparing the curry, and as each dish was completed, they put it by
+the fire ready to be cooked. Next he noticed the Prudhan's widow come
+to the door, and beg<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> for a few sticks from the fire to cook her
+dinner with. Balna turned to her, angrily, and said, &quot;Why don't you
+keep fuel in your own house, and not come here every day and take
+ours? Sisters, don't give this woman any more wood; let her buy it for
+herself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the eldest sister answered, &quot;Balna, let the poor woman take the
+wood and the fire; she does us no harm.&quot; But Balna replied, &quot;If you
+let her come here so often, maybe she will do us some harm, and make
+us sorry for it, some day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Raja then saw the Prudhan's widow go to the place where all his
+dinner was nicely prepared, and, as she took the wood, she threw a
+little mud into each of the dishes.</p>
+
+<p>At this he was very angry, and sent to have the woman seized and
+brought before him. But when the widow came, she told him that she had
+played this trick because she wanted to gain an audience with him; and
+she spoke so cleverly, and pleased him so well with her cunning words,
+that instead of punishing her, the Raja married her, and made her his
+Ranee, and she and her daughter came to live in the palace.</p>
+
+<p>Now the new Ranee hated the seven poor Princesses, and wanted to get
+them, if possible, out of the way, in order that her daughter might
+have all their riches, and live in the palace as Princess in their
+place; and instead of being grateful to them for their kindness to
+her, she did all she could to make them miserable. She gave them
+nothing but bread to eat, and very little of that, and very little
+water to drink; so these seven poor little Princesses, who had been
+accustomed to have everything comfortable about them, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> good food
+and good clothes all their lives long, were very miserable and
+unhappy; and they used to go out every day and sit by their dead
+mother's tomb and cry&mdash;and say:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh mother, mother, cannot you see your poor children, how unhappy we
+are, and how we are starved by our cruel step-mother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>One day, whilst they were thus sobbing and crying, lo and behold! a
+beautiful pomelo tree grew up out of the grave, covered with fresh
+ripe pomeloes, and the children satisfied their hunger by eating some
+of the fruit, and every day after this, instead of trying to eat the
+bad dinner their step-mother provided for them, they used to go out to
+their mother's grave and eat the pomeloes which grew there on the
+beautiful tree.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Ranee said to her daughter, &quot;I cannot tell how it is, every
+day those seven girls say they don't want any dinner, and won't eat
+any; and yet they never grow thin nor look ill; they look better than
+you do. I cannot tell how it is.&quot; And she bade her watch the seven
+Princesses, and see if any one gave them anything to eat.</p>
+
+<p>So next day, when the Princesses went to their mother's grave, and
+were eating the beautiful pomeloes, the Prudhan's daughter followed
+them, and saw them gathering the fruit.</p>
+
+<p>Then Balna said to her sisters, &quot;Do you not see that girl watching us?
+Let us drive her away, or hide the pomeloes, else she will go and tell
+her mother all about it, and that will be very bad for us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the other sisters said, &quot;Oh no, do not be unkind, Balna. The girl
+would never be so cruel as to tell her mother. Let us rather invite
+her to come and have some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> of the fruit.&quot; And calling her to them,
+they gave her one of the pomeloes.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had she eaten it, however, than the Prudhan's daughter went
+home and said to her mother, &quot;I do not wonder the seven Princesses
+will not eat the dinner you prepare for them, for by their mother's
+grave there grows a beautiful pomelo tree, and they go there every day
+and eat the pomeloes. I ate one, and it was the nicest I have ever
+tasted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The cruel Ranee was much vexed at hearing this, and all next day she
+stayed in her room, and told the Raja that she had a very bad
+headache. The Raja was deeply grieved, and said to his wife, &quot;What can
+I do for you?&quot; She answered, &quot;There is only one thing that will make
+my headache well. By your dead wife's tomb there grows a fine pomelo
+tree; you must bring that here, and boil it, root and branch, and put
+a little of the water in which it has been boiled, on my forehead, and
+that will cure my headache.&quot; So the Raja sent his servants, and had
+the beautiful pomelo tree pulled up by the roots, and did as the Ranee
+desired; and when some of the water, in which it had been boiled, was
+put on her forehead, she said her headache was gone and she felt quite
+well.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, when the seven Princesses went as usual to the grave of
+their mother, the pomelo tree had disappeared. Then they all began to
+cry very bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>Now there was by the Ranee's tomb a small tank, and as they were
+crying they saw that the tank was filled with a rich cream-like
+substance, which quickly hardened into a thick white cake. At seeing
+this all the Princesses were very glad, and they ate some of the cake,
+and liked it; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> next day the same thing happened, and so it went on
+for many days. Every morning the Princesses went to their mother's
+grave, and found the little tank filled with the nourishing cream-like
+cake. Then the cruel step-mother said to her daughter: &quot;I cannot tell
+how it is, I have had the pomelo tree which used to grow by the
+Ranee's grave destroyed, and yet the Princesses grow no thinner, nor
+look more sad, though they never eat the dinner I give them. I cannot
+tell how it is!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And her daughter said, &quot;I will watch.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Next day, while the Princesses were eating the cream cake, who should
+come by but their step-mother's daughter. Balna saw her first, and
+said, &quot;See, sisters, there comes that girl again. Let us sit round the
+edge of the tank and not allow her to see it, for if we give her some
+of our cake, she will go and tell her mother; and that will be very
+unfortunate for us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The other sisters, however, thought Balna unnecessarily suspicious,
+and instead of following her advice, they gave the Prudhan's daughter
+some of the cake, and she went home and told her mother all about it.</p>
+
+<p>The Ranee, on hearing how well the Princesses fared, was exceedingly
+angry, and sent her servants to pull down the dead Ranee's tomb, and
+fill the little tank with the ruins. And not content with this, she
+next day pretended to be very, very ill&mdash;in fact, at the point of
+death&mdash;and when the Raja was much grieved, and asked her whether it
+was in his power to procure her any remedy, she said to him: &quot;Only one
+thing can save my life, but I know you will not do it.&quot; He replied,
+&quot;Yes, whatever it is, I will do it.&quot; She then said, &quot;To save my life,
+you must kill the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> seven daughters of your first wife, and put some of
+their blood on my forehead and on the palms of my hands, and their
+death will be my life.&quot; At these words the Raja was very sorrowful;
+but because he feared to break his word, he went out with a heavy
+heart to find his daughters.</p>
+
+<p>He found them crying by the ruins of their mother's grave.</p>
+
+<p>Then, feeling he could not kill them, the Raja spoke kindly to them,
+and told them to come out into the jungle with him; and there he made
+a fire and cooked some rice, and gave it to them. But in the
+afternoon, it being very hot, the seven Princesses all fell asleep,
+and when he saw they were fast asleep, the Raja, their father, stole
+away and left them (for he feared his wife), saying to himself: &quot;It is
+better my poor daughters should die here, than be killed by their
+step-mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He then shot a deer, and returning home, put some of its blood on the
+forehead and hands of the Ranee, and she thought then that he had
+really killed the Princesses, and said she felt quite well.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the seven Princesses awoke, and when they found themselves
+all alone in the thick jungle they were much frightened, and began to
+call out as loud as they could, in hopes of making their father hear;
+but he was by that time far away, and would not have been able to hear
+them even had their voices been as loud as thunder.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that this very day the seven young sons of a
+neighbouring Raja chanced to be hunting in that same jungle, and as
+they were returning home, after the day's sport was over, the youngest
+Prince said to his brothers: &quot;Stop, I think I hear some one crying and
+calling out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> Do you not hear voices? Let us go in the direction of
+the sound, and find out what it is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the seven Princes rode through the wood until they came to the
+place where the seven Princesses sat crying and wringing their hands.
+At the sight of them the young Princes were very much astonished, and
+still more so on learning their story; and they settled that each
+should take one of these poor forlorn ladies home with him, and marry
+her.</p>
+
+<p>So the first and eldest Prince took the eldest Princess home with him,
+and married her.</p>
+
+<p>And the second took the second;</p>
+
+<p>And the third took the third;</p>
+
+<p>And the fourth took the fourth;</p>
+
+<p>And the fifth took the fifth;</p>
+
+<p>And the sixth took the sixth;</p>
+
+<p>And the seventh, and the handsomest of all, took the beautiful Balna.</p>
+
+<p>And when they got to their own land, there was great rejoicing
+throughout the kingdom, at the marriage of the seven young Princes to
+seven such beautiful Princesses.</p>
+
+<p>About a year after this Balna had a little son, and his uncles and
+aunts were so fond of the boy that it was as if he had seven fathers
+and seven mothers. None of the other Princes and Princesses had any
+children, so the son of the seventh Prince and Balna was acknowledged
+their heir by all the rest.</p>
+
+<p>They had thus lived very happily for some time, when one fine day the
+seventh Prince (Balna's husband) said he would go out hunting, and
+away he went; and they waited long for him, but he never came back.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then his six brothers said they would go and see what had become of
+him; and they went away, but they also did not return.</p>
+
+<p>And the seven Princesses grieved very much, for they feared that their
+kind husbands must have been killed.</p>
+
+<p>One day, not long after this had happened, as Balna was rocking her
+baby's cradle, and whilst her sisters were working in the room below,
+there came to the palace door a man in a long black dress, who said
+that he was a Fakir, and came to beg. The servants said to him, &quot;You
+cannot go into the palace&mdash;the Raja's sons have all gone away; we
+think they must be dead, and their widows cannot be interrupted by
+your begging.&quot; But he said, &quot;I am a holy man, you must let me in.&quot;
+Then the stupid servants let him walk through the palace, but they did
+not know that this was no Fakir, but a wicked Magician named Punchkin.</p>
+
+<p>Punchkin Fakir wandered through the palace, and saw many beautiful
+things there, till at last he reached the room where Balna sat singing
+beside her little boy's cradle. The Magician thought her more
+beautiful than all the other beautiful things he had seen, insomuch
+that he asked her to go home with him and to marry him. But she said,
+&quot;My husband, I fear, is dead, but my little boy is still quite young;
+I will stay here and teach him to grow up a clever man, and when he is
+grown up he shall go out into the world, and try and learn tidings of
+his father. Heaven forbid that I should ever leave him, or marry you.&quot;
+At these words the Magician was very angry, and turned her into a
+little black dog, and led her away; saying, &quot;Since you will not come
+with me of your own free will, I will make you.&quot; So the poor Princess
+was dragged away,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> without any power of effecting an escape, or of
+letting her sisters know what had become of her. As Punchkin passed
+through the palace gate the servants said to him, &quot;Where did you get
+that pretty little dog?&quot; And he answered, &quot;One of the Princesses gave
+it to me as a present.&quot; At hearing which they let him go without
+further questioning.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this, the six elder Princesses heard the little baby, their
+nephew, begin to cry, and when they went upstairs they were much
+surprised to find him all alone, and Balna nowhere to be seen. Then
+they questioned the servants, and when they heard of the Fakir and the
+little black dog, they guessed what had happened, and sent in every
+direction seeking them, but neither the Fakir nor the dog were to be
+found. What could six poor women do? They gave up all hopes of ever
+seeing their kind husbands, and their sister, and her husband, again,
+and devoted themselves thenceforward to teaching and taking care of
+their little nephew.</p>
+
+<p>Thus time went on, till Balna's son was fourteen years old. Then, one
+day, his aunts told him the history of the family; and no sooner did
+he hear it, than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of
+his father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to
+bring them home again. His aunts, on learning his determination, were
+much alarmed and tried to dissuade him, saying, &quot;We have lost our
+husbands, and our sister and her husband, and you are now our sole
+hope; if you go away, what shall we do?&quot; But he replied, &quot;I pray you
+not to be discouraged; I will return soon, and if it is possible bring
+my father and mother and uncles with me.&quot; So he set out on his
+travels;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> but for some months he could learn nothing to help him in
+his search.</p>
+
+<p>At last, after he had journeyed many hundreds of weary miles, and
+become almost hopeless of ever hearing anything further of his
+parents, he one day came to a country that seemed full of stones, and
+rocks, and trees, and there he saw a large palace with a high tower;
+hard by which was a Malee's little house.</p>
+
+<p>As he was looking about, the Malee's wife saw him, and ran out of the
+house and said, &quot;My dear boy, who are you that dare venture to this
+dangerous place?&quot; He answered, &quot;I am a Raja's son, and I come in
+search of my father, and my uncles, and my mother whom a wicked
+enchanter bewitched.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Malee's wife said, &quot;This country and this palace belong to a
+great enchanter; he is all powerful, and if any one displeases him, he
+can turn them into stones and trees. All the rocks and trees you see
+here were living people once, and the Magician turned them to what
+they now are. Some time ago a Raja's son came here, and shortly
+afterwards came his six brothers, and they were all turned into stones
+and trees; and these are not the only unfortunate ones, for up in that
+tower lives a beautiful Princess, whom the Magician has kept prisoner
+there for twelve years, because she hates him and will not marry him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the little Prince thought, &quot;These must be my parents and my
+uncles. I have found what I seek at last.&quot; So he told his story to the
+Malee's wife, and begged her to help him to remain in that place
+awhile and inquire further concerning the unhappy people she
+mentioned; and she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> promised to befriend him, and advised his
+disguising himself lest the Magician should see him, and turn him
+likewise into stone. To this the Prince agreed. So the Malee's wife
+dressed him up in a saree, and pretended that he was her daughter.</p>
+
+<p>One day, not long after this, as the Magician was walking in his
+garden he saw the little girl (as he thought) playing about, and asked
+her who she was. She told him she was the Malee's daughter, and the
+Magician said, &quot;You are a pretty little girl, and to-morrow you shall
+take a present of flowers from me to the beautiful lady who lives in
+the tower.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The young Prince was much delighted at hearing this, and went
+immediately to inform the Malee's wife; after consultation with whom
+he determined that it would be more safe for him to retain his
+disguise, and trust to the chance of a favourable opportunity for
+establishing some communication with his mother, if it were indeed
+she.</p>
+
+<p>Now it happened that at Balna's marriage her husband had given her a
+small gold ring on which her name was engraved, and she had put it on
+her little son's finger when he was a baby, and afterwards when he was
+older his aunts had had it enlarged for him, so that he was still able
+to wear it. The Malee's wife advised him to fasten the well-known
+treasure to one of the bouquets he presented to his mother, and trust
+to her recognising it. This was not to be done without difficulty, as
+such a strict watch was kept over the poor Princess (for fear of her
+ever establishing communication with her friends), that though the
+supposed Malee's daughter was permitted to take her flowers every day,
+the Magician or one of his slaves was always in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> room at the time.
+At last one day, however, opportunity favoured him, and when no one
+was looking, the boy tied the ring to a nosegay, and threw it at
+Balna's feet. It fell with a clang on the floor, and Balna, looking to
+see what made the strange sound, found the little ring tied to the
+flowers. On recognising it, she at once believed the story her son
+told her of his long search, and begged him to advise her as to what
+she had better do; at the same time entreating him on no account to
+endanger his life by trying to rescue her. She told him that for
+twelve long years the Magician had kept her shut up in the tower
+because she refused to marry him, and she was so closely guarded that
+she saw no hope of release.</p>
+
+<p>Now Balna's son was a bright, clever boy, so he said, &quot;Do not fear,
+dear mother; the first thing to do is to discover how far the
+Magician's power extends, in order that we may be able to liberate my
+father and uncles, whom he has imprisoned in the form of rocks and
+trees. You have spoken to him angrily for twelve long years; now
+rather speak kindly. Tell him you have given up all hopes of again
+seeing the husband you have so long mourned, and say you are willing
+to marry him. Then endeavour to find out what his power consists in,
+and whether he is immortal, or can be put to death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Balna determined to take her son's advice; and the next day sent for
+Punchkin, and spoke to him as had been suggested.</p>
+
+<p>The Magician, greatly delighted, begged her to allow the wedding to
+take place as soon as possible.</p>
+
+<p>But she told him that before she married him he must allow her a
+little more time, in which she might make his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> acquaintance, and that,
+after being enemies so long, their friendship could but strengthen by
+degrees. &quot;And do tell me,&quot; she said, &quot;are you quite immortal? Can
+death never touch you? And are you too great an enchanter ever to feel
+human suffering?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you ask?&quot; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Because,&quot; she replied, &quot;if I am to be your wife, I would fain know
+all about you, in order, if any calamity threatens you, to overcome,
+or if possible to avert it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is true,&quot; he added, &quot;that I am not as others. Far, far away,
+hundreds of thousands of miles from this, there lies a desolate
+country covered with thick jungle. In the midst of the jungle grows a
+circle of palm trees, and in the centre of the circle stand six
+chattees full of water, piled one above another: below the sixth
+chattee is a small cage which contains a little green parrot; on the
+life of the parrot depends my life; and if the parrot is killed I must
+die. It is, however,&quot; he added, &quot;impossible that the parrot should
+sustain any injury, both on account of the inaccessibility of the
+country, and because, by my appointment, many thousand genii surround
+the palm trees, and kill all who approach the place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Balna told her son what Punchkin had said; but at the same time
+implored him to give up all idea of getting the parrot.</p>
+
+<p>The Prince, however, replied, &quot;Mother, unless I can get hold of that
+parrot, you, and my father, and uncles, cannot be liberated: be not
+afraid, I will shortly return. Do you, meantime, keep the Magician in
+good humour&mdash;still putting off your marriage with him on various
+pretexts; and before he finds out the cause of delay, I will be here.&quot;
+So saying, he went away.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Many, many weary miles did he travel, till at last he came to a thick
+jungle; and, being very tired, sat down under a tree and fell asleep.
+He was awakened by a soft rustling sound, and looking about him, saw a
+large serpent which was making its way to an eagle's nest built in the
+tree under which he lay, and in the nest were two young eagles. The
+Prince seeing the danger of the young birds, drew his sword, and
+killed the serpent; at the same moment a rushing sound was heard in
+the air, and the two old eagles, who had been out hunting for food for
+their young ones, returned. They quickly saw the dead serpent and the
+young Prince standing over it; and the old mother eagle said to him,
+&quot;Dear boy, for many years all our young ones have been devoured by
+that cruel serpent; you have now saved the lives of our children;
+whenever you are in need, therefore, send to us and we will help you;
+and as for these little eagles, take them, and let them be your
+servants.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this the Prince was very glad, and the two eaglets crossed their
+wings, on which he mounted; and they carried him far, far away over
+the thick jungles, until he came to the place where grew the circle of
+palm trees, in the midst of which stood the six chattees full of
+water. It was the middle of the day, and the heat was very great. All
+round the trees were the genii fast asleep; nevertheless, there were
+such countless thousands of them, that it would have been quite
+impossible for any one to walk through their ranks to the place; down
+swooped the strong-winged eaglets&mdash;down jumped the Prince; in an
+instant he had overthrown the six chattees full of water, and seized
+the little green parrot, which he rolled up in his cloak; while,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> as
+he mounted again into the air, all the genii below awoke, and finding
+their treasure gone, set up a wild and melancholy howl.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_03" id="image_03"></a>
+<img src="images/image_083.jpg" width="500" height="706" alt="Punchkin&#39;s Prisoners are set free." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Punchkin&#39;s Prisoners are set free.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Away, away flew the little eagles, till they came to their home in the
+great tree; then the Prince said to the old eagles, &quot;Take back your
+little ones; they have done me good service; if ever again I stand in
+need of help, I will not fail to come to you.&quot; He then continued his
+journey on foot till he arrived once more at the Magician's palace,
+where he sat down at the door and began playing with the parrot.
+Punchkin saw him, and came to him quickly, and said, &quot;My boy, where
+did you get that parrot? Give it to me, I pray you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the Prince answered, &quot;Oh no, I cannot give away my parrot, it is a
+great pet of mine; I have had it many years.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Magician said, &quot;If it is an old favourite, I can understand
+your not caring to give it away; but come what will you sell it for?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sir,&quot; replied the Prince, &quot;I will not sell my parrot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Punchkin got frightened, and said, &quot;Anything, anything; name what
+price you will, and it shall be yours.&quot; The Prince answered, &quot;Let the
+seven Raja's sons whom you turned into rocks and trees be instantly
+liberated.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is done as you desire,&quot; said the Magician, &quot;only give me my
+parrot.&quot; And with that, by a stroke of his wand, Balna's husband and
+his brothers resumed their natural shapes. &quot;Now, give me my parrot,&quot;
+repeated Punchkin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not so fast, my master,&quot; rejoined the Prince; &quot;I must <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>first
+beg that you will restore to life all whom you have thus imprisoned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Magician immediately waved his wand again; and, whilst he cried,
+in an imploring voice, &quot;Give me my parrot!&quot; the whole garden became
+suddenly alive: where rocks, and stones, and trees had been before,
+stood Rajas, and Punts, and Sirdars, and mighty men on prancing
+horses, and jewelled pages, and troops of armed attendants.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give me my parrot!&quot; cried Punchkin. Then the boy took hold of the
+parrot, and tore off one of its wings; and as he did so the Magician's
+right arm fell off.</p>
+
+<p>Punchkin then stretched out his left arm, crying, &quot;Give me my parrot!&quot;
+The Prince pulled off the parrot's second wing, and the Magician's
+left arm tumbled off.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give me my parrot!&quot; cried he, and fell on his knees. The Prince
+pulled off the parrot's right leg, the Magician's right leg fell off:
+the Prince pulled off the parrot's left leg, down fell the Magician's
+left.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing remained of him save the limbless body and the head; but still
+he rolled his eyes, and cried, &quot;Give me my parrot!&quot; &quot;Take your parrot,
+then,&quot; cried the boy, and with that he wrung the bird's neck, and
+threw it at the Magician; and, as he did so, Punchkin's head twisted
+round, and, with a fearful groan, he died!</p>
+
+<p>Then they let Balna out of the tower; and she, her son, and the seven
+Princes went to their own country, and lived very happily ever
+afterwards. And as to the rest of the world, every one went to his own
+house.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Broken_Pot" id="The_Broken_Pot"></a>The Broken Pot</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_090.jpg" alt="T" width="150" height="171" /></div>
+<p>here lived in a certain place a Brahman, whose name was
+Svabhavak<i>ri</i>pa<i>n</i>a, which means &quot;a born miser.&quot; He had collected a
+quantity of rice by begging, and after having dined off it, he filled
+a pot with what was left over. He hung the pot on a peg on the wall,
+placed his couch beneath, and looking intently at it all the night, he
+thought, &quot;Ah, that pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if there should
+be a famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. With this
+I shall buy a couple of goats. They will have young ones every six
+months, and thus I shall have a whole herd of goats. Then, with the
+goats, I shall buy cows. As soon as they have calved, I shall sell the
+calves. Then, with the calves, I shall buy buffaloes; with the
+buffaloes, mares. When the mares have foaled, I shall have plenty of
+horses; and when I sell them, plenty of gold. With that gold I shall
+get a house with four wings. And then a Brahman will come to my house,
+and will give me his beautiful daughter, with a large dowry. She will
+have a son, and I shall call him Somasarman.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/image_0091.jpg" width="400" height="400" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>When he is old enough to be danced on his father's knee, I shall sit
+with a book at the back of the stable, and while I am reading, the boy
+will see me, jump from his mother's lap, and run towards me to be
+danced on my knee. He will come too near the horse's hoof, and, full
+of anger, I shall call to my wife, 'Take the baby; take him!' But she,
+distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me. Then I get up, and
+give her such a kick with my foot.&quot; While he thought this, he gave a
+kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell over him, and
+made him quite white. Therefore, I say, &quot;He who makes foolish plans
+for the future will be white all over, like the father of
+Somasarman.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Magic_Fiddle" id="The_Magic_Fiddle"></a>The Magic Fiddle</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0092.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>nce upon a time there lived seven brothers and a sister. The brothers
+were married, but their wives did not do the cooking for the family.
+It was done by their sister, who stopped at home to cook. The wives
+for this reason bore their sister-in-law much ill-will, and at length
+they combined together to oust her from the office of cook and general
+provider, so that one of themselves might obtain it. They said, &quot;She
+does not go out to the fields to work, but remains quietly at home,
+and yet she has not the meals ready at the proper time.&quot; They then
+called upon their Bonga, and vowing vows unto him they secured his
+good-will and assistance; then they said to the Bonga, &quot;At midday when
+our sister-in-law goes to bring water, cause it thus to happen, that
+on seeing her pitcher the water shall vanish, and again slowly
+re-appear. In this way she will be delayed. Let the water not flow
+into her pitcher, and you may keep the maiden as your own.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At noon when she went to bring water, it suddenly dried up before her,
+and she began to weep. Then after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> a while the water began slowly to
+rise. When it reached her ankles she tried to fill her pitcher, but it
+would not go under the water. Being frightened she began to wail and
+cry to her brother:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0093.jpg" width="500" height="522" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The water continued to rise until it reached her knee, when she began
+to wail again:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The water continued to rise, and when it reached her waist, she cried
+again:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The water still rose, and when it reached her neck she kept on crying:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>At length the water became so deep that she felt herself drowning,
+then she cried aloud:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh! my brother, the water measures a man's height,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The pitcher filled with water, and along with it she sank and was
+drowned. The Bonga then transformed her into a Bonga like himself, and
+carried her off.</p>
+
+<p>After a time she re-appeared as a bamboo growing on the embankment of
+the tank in which she had been drowned. When the bamboo had grown to
+an immense size, a Jogi, who was in the habit of passing that way,
+seeing it, said to himself, &quot;This will make a splendid fiddle.&quot; So one
+day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin,
+the bamboo called out, &quot;Do not cut at the root, cut higher up.&quot; When
+he lifted his axe to cut high up the stem, the bamboo cried out, &quot;Do
+not cut near the top, cut at the root.&quot; When the Jogi again prepared
+himself to cut at the root as requested, the bamboo said, &quot;Do not cut
+at the root, cut higher up;&quot; and when he was about to cut higher up,
+it again called out to him, &quot;Do not cut high up, cut at the root.&quot; The
+Jogi by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> this time felt sure that a Bonga was trying to frighten him,
+so becoming angry he cut down the bamboo at the root, and taking it
+away made a fiddle out of it. The instrument had a superior tone and
+delighted all who heard it. The Jogi carried it with him when he went
+a-begging, and through the influence of its sweet music he returned
+home every evening with a full wallet.</p>
+
+<p>He now and then visited, when on his rounds, the house of the Bonga
+girl's brothers, and the strains of the fiddle affected them greatly.
+Some of them were moved even to tears, for the fiddle seemed to wail
+as one in bitter anguish. The elder brother wished to purchase it, and
+offered to support the Jogi for a whole year if he would consent to
+part with his wonderful instrument. The Jogi, however, knew its value,
+and refused to sell it.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that the Jogi some time after went to the house of a
+village chief, and after playing a tune or two on his fiddle asked for
+something to eat. They offered to buy his fiddle and promised a high
+price for it, but he refused to sell it, as his fiddle brought to him
+his means of livelihood. When they saw that he was not to be prevailed
+upon, they gave him food and a plentiful supply of liquor. Of the
+latter he drank so freely that he presently became intoxicated. While
+he was in this condition, they took away his fiddle, and substituted
+their own old one for it. When the Jogi recovered, he missed his
+instrument, and suspecting that it had been stolen asked them to
+return it to him. They denied having taken it, so he had to depart,
+leaving his fiddle behind him. The chief's son, being a musician, used
+to play on the Jogi's fiddle, and in his hands the music it gave forth
+delighted the ears of all who heard it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When all the household were absent at their labours in the fields, the
+Bonga girl used to come out of the bamboo fiddle, and prepared the
+family meal. Having eaten her own share, she placed that of the
+chief's son under his bed, and covering it up to keep off the dust,
+re-entered the fiddle. This happening every day, the other members of
+the household thought that some girl friend of theirs was in this
+manner showing her interest in the young man, so they did not trouble
+themselves to find out how it came about. The young chief, however,
+was determined to watch, and see which of his girl friends was so
+attentive to his comfort. He said in his own mind, &quot;I will catch her
+to-day, and give her a sound beating; she is causing me to be ashamed
+before the others.&quot; So saying, he hid himself in a corner in a pile of
+firewood. In a short time the girl came out of the bamboo fiddle, and
+began to dress her hair. Having completed her toilet, she cooked the
+meal of rice as usual, and having eaten some herself, she placed the
+young man's portion under his bed, as before, and was about to enter
+the fiddle again, when he, running out from his hiding-place, caught
+her in his arms. The Bonga girl exclaimed, &quot;Fie! Fie! you may be a
+Dom, or you may be a Hadi of some other caste with whom I cannot
+marry.&quot; He said, &quot;No. But from to-day, you and I are one.&quot; So they
+began lovingly to hold converse with each other. When the others
+returned home in the evening, they saw that she was both a human being
+and a Bonga, and they rejoiced exceedingly.</p>
+
+<p>Now in course of time the Bonga girl's family became very poor, and
+her brothers on one occasion came to the chief's house on a visit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Bonga girl recognised them at once, but they did not know who she
+was. She brought them water on their arrival, and afterwards set
+cooked rice before them. Then sitting down near them, she began in
+wailing tones to upbraid them on account of the treatment she had been
+subjected to by their wives. She related all that had befallen her,
+and wound up by saying, &quot;You must have known it all, and yet you did
+not interfere to save me.&quot; And that was all the revenge she took.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/image_0097.jpg" width="400" height="216" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0098_1.jpg" width="500" height="247" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="The_Cruel_Crane_Outwitted" id="The_Cruel_Crane_Outwitted"></a>The Cruel Crane Outwitted</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0098_2.jpg" alt="L" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>ong ago the Bodisat was born to a forest life as the Genius of a tree
+standing near a certain lotus pond.</p>
+
+<p>Now at that time the water used to run short at the dry season in a
+certain pond, not over large, in which there were a good many fish.
+And a crane thought on seeing the fish:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I must outwit these fish somehow or other and make a prey of them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And he went and sat down at the edge of the water, thinking how he
+should do it.</p>
+
+<p>When the fish saw him, they asked him, &quot;What are you sitting there
+for, lost in thought?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am sitting thinking about you,&quot; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, sir! what are you thinking about us?&quot; said they.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why,&quot; he replied; &quot;there is very little water in this pond, and but
+little for you to eat; and the heat is so great! So I was thinking,
+'What in the world will these fish do now?'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, indeed, sir! what <i>are</i> we to do?&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you will only do as I bid you, I will take you in my beak to a
+fine large pond, covered with all the kinds of lotuses, and put you
+into it,&quot; answered the crane.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That a crane should take thought for the fishes is a thing unheard
+of, sir, since the world began. It's eating us, one after the other,
+that you're aiming at.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not I! So long as you trust me, I won't eat you. But if you don't
+believe me that there is such a pond, send one of you with me to go
+and see it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they trusted him, and handed over to him one of their number&mdash;a
+big fellow, blind of one eye, whom they thought sharp enough in any
+emergency, afloat or ashore.</p>
+
+<p>Him the crane took with him, let him go in the pond, showed him the
+whole of it, brought him back, and let him go again close to the other
+fish. And he told them all the glories of the pond.</p>
+
+<p>And when they heard what he said, they exclaimed, &quot;All right, sir! You
+may take us with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the crane took the old purblind fish first to the bank of the
+other pond, and alighted in a Varana-tree growing on the bank there.
+But he threw it into a fork of the tree, struck it with his beak, and
+killed it; and then ate its flesh, and threw its bones away at the
+foot of the tree. Then he went back and called out:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I've thrown that fish in; let another one come.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And in that manner he took all the fish, one by one, and ate them,
+till he came back and found no more!</p>
+
+<p>But there was still a crab left behind there; and the crane thought he
+would eat him too, and called out:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I say, good crab, I've taken all the fish away, and put them into a
+fine large pond. Come along. I'll take you too!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But how will you take hold of me to carry me along?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'll bite hold of you with my beak.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You'll let me fall if you carry me like that. I won't go with you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't be afraid! I'll hold you quite tight all the way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then said the crab to himself, &quot;If this fellow once got hold of fish,
+he would never let them go in a pond! Now if he should really put me
+into the pond, it would be capital; but if he doesn't&mdash;then I'll cut
+his throat, and kill him!&quot; So he said to him:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Look here, friend, you won't be able to hold me tight enough; but we
+crabs have a famous grip. If you let me catch hold of you round the
+neck with my claws, I shall be glad to go with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And the other did not see that he was trying to outwit him, and
+agreed. So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely
+as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, &quot;Off with you,
+now!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And the crane took him and showed him the pond, and then turned off
+towards the Varana-tree.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Uncle!&quot; cried the crab, &quot;the pond lies that way, but you are taking
+me this way!&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, that's it, is it?&quot; answered the crane. &quot;Your dear little uncle,
+your very sweet nephew, you call me! You mean me to understand, I
+suppose, that I am your slave, who has to lift you up and carry you
+about with him! Now cast your eye upon the heap of fish-bones lying at
+the root of yonder Varana-tree. Just as I have eaten those fish, every
+one of them, just so I will devour you as well!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah! those fishes got eaten through their own stupidity,&quot; answered the
+crab; &quot;but I'm not going to let you eat <i>me</i>. On the contrary, is it
+<i>you</i> that I am going to destroy. For you in your folly have not seen
+that I was outwitting you. If we die, we die both together; for I will
+cut off this head of yours, and cast it to the ground!&quot; And so saying,
+he gave the crane's neck a grip with his claws, as with a vice.</p>
+
+<p>Then gasping, and with tears trickling from his eyes, and trembling
+with the fear of death, the crane beseeched him, saying, &quot;O my Lord!
+Indeed I did not intend to eat you. Grant me my life!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, well! step down into the pond, and put me in there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And he turned round and stepped down into the pond, and placed the
+crab on the mud at its edge. But the crab cut through its neck as
+clean as one would cut a lotus-stalk with a hunting-knife, and then
+only entered the water!</p>
+
+<p>When the Genius who lived in the Varana-tree saw this strange affair,
+he made the wood resound with his plaudits, uttering in a pleasant
+voice the verse:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;The villain, though exceeding clever,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shall prosper not by his villainy.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He may win indeed, sharp-witted in deceit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But only as the Crane here from the Crab!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_0102.jpg" width="300" height="410" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Loving_Laili" id="Loving_Laili"></a>Loving Laili</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0103.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>nce there was a king called King Dantal, who had a great many rupees
+and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnun,
+who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red
+cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing
+with the Wazir's son, Husain Mahamat, in King Dantal's garden, which
+was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees.
+They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat
+them. King Dantal had a teacher for them to teach them to read and
+write.</p>
+
+<p>One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnun said
+to his father, &quot;Husain Mahamat and I should like to go and hunt.&quot; His
+father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else
+they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phalana country,
+hunting all the way, but they only founds jackals and birds.</p>
+
+<p>The Raja of the Phalana country was called Munsuk Raja, and he had a
+daughter named Laili, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and
+black hair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One night, some time before Prince Majnun came to her father's
+kingdom, as she slept, Khuda sent to her an angel in the form of a man
+who told her that she should marry Prince Majnun and no one else, and
+that this was Khuda's command to her. When Laili woke she told her
+father of the angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid
+no attention to her story. From that time she began repeating,
+&quot;Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun,&quot; and would say nothing else. Even as
+she sat and ate her food she kept saying, &quot;Majnun, Majnun; I want
+Majnun.&quot; Her father used to get quite vexed with her. &quot;Who is this
+Majnun? who ever heard of this Majnun?&quot; he would say.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He is the man I am to marry,&quot; said Laili. &quot;Khuda has ordered me to
+marry no one but Majnun.&quot; And she was half mad.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to hunt in the Phalana
+country; and as they were riding about, Laili came out on her horse to
+eat the air, and rode behind them. All the time she kept saying,
+&quot;Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun.&quot; The prince heard her, and turned
+round. &quot;Who is calling me?&quot; he asked. At this Laili looked at him, and
+the moment she saw him she fell deeply in love with him, and she said
+to herself, &quot;I am sure that is the Prince Majnun that Khuda says I am
+to marry.&quot; And she went home to her father and said, &quot;Father, I wish
+to marry the prince who has come to your kingdom; for I know he is the
+Prince Majnun I am to marry.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well, you shall have him for your husband,&quot; said Munsuk Raja.
+&quot;We will ask him to-morrow.&quot; Laili consented to wait, although she was
+very impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phalana kingdom
+that night,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> and when Laili heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She
+would not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants
+said to her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to
+jungle, till she got farther and farther away from her own country.
+All the time she kept saying, &quot;Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun;&quot; and so
+she wandered about for twelve years.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the twelve years she met a fakir&mdash;he was really an
+angel, but she did not know this&mdash;who asked her, &quot;Why do you always
+say, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun'?&quot; She answered, &quot;I am the
+daughter of the king of the Phalana country, and I want to find Prince
+Majnun; tell me where his kingdom is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I think you will never get there,&quot; said the fakir, &quot;for it is very
+far from hence, and you have to cross many rivers to reach it.&quot; But
+Laili said she did not care; she must see Prince Majnun. &quot;Well,&quot; said
+the fakir, &quot;when you come to the Bhagirathi river you will see a big
+fish, a Rohu; and you must get him to carry you to Prince Majnun's
+country, or you will never reach it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhagirathi river.
+There was a great big fish called the Rohu fish. It was yawning just
+as she got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat into its
+stomach. All the time she kept saying, &quot;Majnun, Majnun.&quot; At this the
+Rohu fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast as he
+could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came and
+perched on his back, and said &quot;Caw, caw.&quot; &quot;Oh, Mr. Crow,&quot; said the
+poor fish &quot;do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well,&quot; said the crow, &quot;open your mouth wide,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> and I'll fly down
+and see.&quot; So the Rohu opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he
+came up again very quickly. &quot;You have a Rakshas in your stomach,&quot; said
+the crow, and he flew away. This news did not comfort the poor Rohu,
+and he swam on and on till he came to Prince Majnun's country. There
+he stopped. And a jackal came down to the river to drink. &quot;Oh,
+jackal,&quot; said the Rohu, &quot;do tell me what I have inside me.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0106.jpg" width="500" height="371" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>&quot;How can I tell?&quot; said the jackal. &quot;I cannot see unless I go inside
+you.&quot; So the Rohu opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down
+his throat; but he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and
+saying, &quot;You have a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away
+quickly, I am afraid it will eat me.&quot; So off he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> ran. After the jackal
+came an enormous snake. &quot;Oh,&quot; says the fish, &quot;do tell me what I have
+in my stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The snake said, &quot;Open your mouth wide, and I'll go down and see what
+it is.&quot; The snake went down: when he returned he said, &quot;You have a
+Rakshas in your stomach, but if you will let me cut you open, it will
+come out of you.&quot; &quot;If you do that, I shall die,&quot; said the Rohu. &quot;Oh,
+no,&quot; said the snake, &quot;you will not, for I will give you a medicine
+that will make you quite well again.&quot; So the fish agreed, and the
+snake got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped Laili.</p>
+
+<p>She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle,
+and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohu; and she was no
+longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his
+back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and
+she wandered on and on till she got to Majnun's court-house, where
+King Majnun was sitting. There some men heard her crying, &quot;Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun,&quot; and they asked her what she wanted. &quot;I want
+King Majnun,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>So they went in and said to Prince Majnun, &quot;An old woman outside says
+she wants you.&quot; &quot;I cannot leave this place,&quot; said he; &quot;send her in
+here.&quot; They brought her in and the prince asked her what she wanted.
+&quot;I want to marry you,&quot; she answered. &quot;Twenty-four years ago you came
+to my father the Phalana Raja's country, and I wanted to marry you
+then; but you went away without marrying me. Then I went mad, and I
+have wandered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> about all these years looking for you.&quot; Prince Majnun
+said, &quot;Very good.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pray to Khuda,&quot; said Laili, &quot;to make us both young again, and then we
+shall be married.&quot; So the prince prayed to Khuda, and Khuda said to
+him, &quot;Touch Laili's clothes and they will catch fire, and when they
+are on fire, she and you will become young again.&quot; When he touched
+Laili's clothes they caught fire, and she and he became young again.
+And there were great feasts, and they were married, and travelled to
+the Phalana country to see her father and mother.</p>
+
+<p>Now Laili's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter that
+they had become quite blind, and her father kept always repeating,
+&quot;Laili, Laili, Laili.&quot; When Laili saw their blindness, she prayed to
+Khuda to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as the
+father and mother saw Laili, they hugged her and kissed her, and then
+they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince
+Majnun and Laili stayed with Munsuk Raja and his wife for three years,
+and then they returned to King Dantal, and lived happily for some time
+with him.</p>
+
+<p>They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country to
+country to eat the air and amuse themselves.</p>
+
+<p>One day Prince Majnun said to Laili, &quot;Let us go through this jungle.&quot;
+&quot;No, no,&quot; said Laili; &quot;if we go through this jungle, some harm will
+happen to me.&quot; But Prince Majnun laughed, and went into the jungle.
+And as they were going through it, Khuda thought, &quot;I should like to
+know how much Prince Majnun loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if
+she died? And would he marry another wife? I will see.&quot; So he sent one
+of his angels<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> in the form of a fakir into the jungle; and the angel
+went up to Laili, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she
+fell to the ground a heap of ashes.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Majnun was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Laili
+turned into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his
+father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a
+great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go
+again into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahamat. King
+Dantal wished his son to marry again. &quot;I will only have Laili for my
+wife; I will not marry any other woman,&quot; said Prince Majnun.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How can you marry Laili? Laili is dead. She will never come back to
+you,&quot; said the father.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I'll not have any wife at all,&quot; said Prince Majnun.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Laili was living in the jungle where her husband had left
+her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnun had gone, the fakir had
+taken her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay
+and water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them,
+and so Laili regained her human form, and Khuda sent life into it. But
+Laili had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long
+nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her
+teeth, as she had been when she came out of the Rohu fish; and she
+lived in the jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on
+saying, &quot;Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At last the angel who had come as a fakir and thrown the powder at
+her, said to Khuda, &quot;Of what use is it that this woman should sit in
+the jungle crying, crying for ever,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun,'
+and eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnun.&quot;
+&quot;Well,&quot; said Khuda, &quot;you may do so; but tell her that she must not
+speak to Majnun if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if
+he is afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the
+next day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her
+human shape when Prince Majnun loves her, feeds her with his own food,
+and lets her sleep in his bed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the angel came to Laili again as a fakir and carried her to King
+Dantal's garden. &quot;Now,&quot; he said, &quot;it is Khuda's command that you stay
+here till Prince Majnun comes to walk in the garden, and then you may
+show yourself to him. But you must not speak to him, if he is afraid
+of you; and should he be afraid of you, you will the next day become a
+little white dog.&quot; He then told her what she must do as a little dog
+to regain her human form.</p>
+
+<p>Laili stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince
+Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to walk in the garden. King Dantal was
+now a very old man, and Husain Mahamat, though he was really only as
+old as Prince Majnun, looked a great deal older than the prince, who
+had been made quite young again when he married Laili.</p>
+
+<p>As Prince Majnun and the Wazir's son walked in the garden, they
+gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit
+the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnun was busy
+eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahamat, he
+turned towards him and saw Laili walking behind the Wazir's son.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> &quot;Oh,
+look, look!&quot; he cried, &quot;see what is following you; it is a Rakshas or
+a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us.&quot; Laili looked at him
+beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness;
+but this only frightened Majnun the more. &quot;It is a Rakshas, a
+Rakshas!&quot; he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazir's
+son; and as they ran away, Laili disappeared into the jungle. They ran
+to King Dantal, and Majnun told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in
+the garden that had come to eat them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What nonsense,&quot; said his father. &quot;Fancy two grown men being so
+frightened by an old ayah or a fakir! And if it had been a Rakshas, it
+would not have eaten you.&quot; Indeed King Dantal did not believe Majnun
+had seen anything at all, till Husain Mahamat said the prince was
+speaking the exact truth. They had the garden searched for the
+terrible old woman, but found nothing, and King Dantal told his son he
+was very silly to be so much frightened. However, Prince Majnun would
+not walk in the garden any more.</p>
+
+<p>The next day Laili turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape
+she came into the palace, where Prince Majnun soon became very fond of
+her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out
+hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnun fed her
+with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the
+little dog slept in his bed.</p>
+
+<p>But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay
+the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and
+now Prince Majnun was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or
+some such horrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried
+out, &quot;What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!&quot; Poor Laili
+answered, &quot;Don't you know me? I am your wife Laili, and I want to
+marry you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle,
+though I begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm
+would happen to me, and then a fakir came and threw powder in my face,
+and I became a heap of ashes. But Khuda gave me my life again, and
+brought me here, after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle
+crying for you, and now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you
+will marry me, I shall not be a little dog any more.&quot; Majnun, however,
+said &quot;How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you be Laili? I
+am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come to eat me,&quot; and he was in
+great terror.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the
+prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. &quot;An old
+woman! an old woman! always an old woman!&quot; said his father. &quot;You do
+nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so
+easily frightened?&quot; However, when he saw that his son was really in
+great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would came
+back at night, he advised him to say to her, &quot;I will marry you if you
+can make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old
+woman as you are?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there
+in place of the dog, crying &quot;Majnun, Majnun, I want to marry you. I
+have loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's
+kingdom a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> me,
+and we should have been married then if you had not gone away so
+suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you.&quot; &quot;Well,&quot; said
+Majnun, &quot;if you can make yourself a young girl again, I will marry
+you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Laili said, &quot;Oh, that is quite easy. Khuda will make me a young girl
+again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you
+will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your
+room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it
+when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite
+alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at
+all on.&quot; In the morning Laili took her little dog's form, and
+disappeared in the garden.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Majnun told all this to his father, who told him to do all the
+old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazir's son
+walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit.
+&quot;Oh!&quot; said the Prince, &quot;I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit.&quot;
+Husain Mahamat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till
+he had told his father, who said, &quot;That must be the fruit; go and
+gather it.&quot; So Majnun went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and
+he said to his father, &quot;Come with me to my room while I open it; I am
+afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that
+will eat me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; said King Dantal; &quot;remember, Laili will be naked; you must go
+alone and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in the fruit,
+for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call me with a
+loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not be able to
+eat you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Majnun took the fruit and began to cut it open<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> tremblingly, for
+he shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Laili, young
+and far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her
+extreme beauty, Majnun fell backwards fainting on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Laili took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sari
+(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantal,
+and said to him sadly, &quot;Why has Majnun fallen down like this? Why will
+he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen
+me so many, many times.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>King Dantal answered, &quot;It is because you are so beautiful. You are
+far, far more beautiful than you ever were. But he will be very happy
+directly.&quot; Then the King got some water, and they bathed Majnun's face
+and gave him some to drink, and he sat up again.</p>
+
+<p>Then Laili said, &quot;Why did you faint? Did you not see I am Laili?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh!&quot; said Prince Majnun, &quot;I see you are Laili come back to me, but
+your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted when I
+saw them.&quot; Then they were all very happy, and King Dantal had all the
+drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments played
+on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to the
+servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakirs.</p>
+
+<p>After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnun and his wife
+went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a
+groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden.
+&quot;We must go into that garden and see it,&quot; said Majnun.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no,&quot; said Laili; &quot;it belongs to a bad Raja,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> Chumman Basa, a very
+wicked man.&quot; But Majnun insisted on going in, and in spite of all
+Laili could say, he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as
+he was looking at the flowers, Laili saw Chumman Basa coming towards
+them, and she read in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and
+seize her. So she said to Majnun, &quot;Come, come, let us go; do not go
+near that bad man. I see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he
+will kill you to seize me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What nonsense,&quot; said Majnun. &quot;I believe he is a very good Raja.
+Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well,&quot; said Laili, &quot;it is better that you should be killed than I,
+for if I were to be killed a second time, Khuda would not give me my
+life again; but I can bring you to life if you are killed.&quot; Now
+Chumman Basa had come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought
+Prince Majnun; but when he was speaking to Majnun, he drew his
+scimitar and cut off the prince's head at one blow.</p>
+
+<p>Laili sat quite still on her horse, and as the Raja came towards her
+she said, &quot;Why did you kill my husband?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Because I want to take you,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You cannot,&quot; said Laili.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, I can,&quot; said the Raja.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take me, then,&quot; said Laili to Chumman Basa; so he came quite close
+and put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she
+put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long
+as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant
+till it was such a length! and then Laili made a great sweep with her
+arm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Basa's head at one
+touch.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_04" id="image_04"></a>
+<img src="images/image_0123.jpg" width="500" height="742" alt="How Loving Laili became young again" title="" />
+<span class="caption">How Loving Laili became young again</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Then Laili slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnun's dead
+body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from
+the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like
+healing medicine. Then she put Majnun's head on his shoulders, and
+smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnun woke up and
+said, &quot;What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had
+slept for years!&quot; Then he got up and saw the Raja's dead body by
+Laili's horse.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What's that?&quot; said Majnun.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is the wicked Raja who killed you to seize me, just as I said he
+would.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who killed him?&quot; asked Majnun.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I did,&quot; answered Laili, &quot;and it was I who brought you to life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do so,&quot; said Majnun.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; said Laili, &quot;for he is a wicked man, and will try to do you
+harm.&quot; But Majnun asked her for such a long time, and so earnestly to
+bring the wicked Raja to life, that at least she said, &quot;Jump up on the
+horse, then, and go far away with the groom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will you do,&quot; said Majnun, &quot;if I leave you? I cannot leave you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will take care of myself,&quot; said Laili; &quot;but this man is so wicked,
+he may kill you again if you are near him.&quot; So Majnun got up on the
+horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Laili.
+Then she set the wicked Raja's head straight on his shoulders, and
+she <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine
+came out of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife
+had passed, and just as she saw the Raja opening his eyes, she began
+to run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Raja, who
+tried to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband,
+and they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantal's
+palace.</p>
+
+<p>There Prince Majnun told everything to his father, who was horrified
+and angry. &quot;How lucky for you that you have such a wife,&quot; he said.
+&quot;Why did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now
+dead.&quot; Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's
+safety, and gave many, many rupees to the fakirs. And he made so much
+of Laili. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he
+built a splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of
+ground about it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and
+heaps of servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but
+their servants to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not
+allow Majnun to go out of them, nor Laili; &quot;for,&quot; said King Dantal,
+&quot;Laili is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take
+her away.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0126_1.jpg" width="500" height="235" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="The_Tiger_the_Brahman_and_the_Jackal" id="The_Tiger_the_Brahman_and_the_Jackal"></a>The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0126_2.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>nce upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to
+get out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when
+he failed.</p>
+
+<p>By chance a poor Brahman came by. &quot;Let me out of this cage, oh pious
+one!&quot; cried the tiger.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, my friend,&quot; replied the Brahman mildly, &quot;you would probably eat
+me if I did.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not at all!&quot; swore the tiger with many oaths; &quot;on the contrary, I
+should be for ever grateful, and serve you as a slave!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now when the tiger sobbed and sighed and wept and swore, the pious
+Brahman's heart softened, and at last he consented to open the door of
+the cage. Out popped the tiger, and, seizing the poor man, cried,
+&quot;What a fool you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> are! What is to prevent my eating you now, for after
+being cooped up so long I am just terribly hungry!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a
+promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to
+question as to the justice of the tiger's action.</p>
+
+<p>So the Brahman first asked a <i>pipal</i> tree what it thought of the
+matter, but the <i>pipal</i> tree replied coldly, &quot;What have you to
+complain about? Don't I give shade and shelter to every one who passes
+by, and don't they in return tear down my branches to feed their
+cattle? Don't whimper&mdash;be a man!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Brahman, sad at heart, went further afield till he saw a
+buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it, for it
+answered, &quot;You are a fool to expect gratitude! Look at me! Whilst I
+gave milk they fed me on cotton-seed and oil-cake, but now I am dry
+they yoke me here, and give me refuse as fodder!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Brahman, still more sad, asked the road to give him its opinion.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear sir,&quot; said the road, &quot;how foolish you are to expect anything
+else! Here am I, useful to everybody, yet all, rich and poor, great
+and small, trample on me as they go past, giving me nothing but the
+ashes of their pipes and the husks of their grain!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On this the Brahman turned back sorrowfully, and on the way he met a
+jackal, who called out, &quot;Why, what's the matter, Mr. Brahman? You look
+as miserable as a fish out of water!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Brahman told him all that had occurred. &quot;How very confusing!&quot; said
+the jackal, when the recital<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> was ended; &quot;would you mind telling me
+over again, for everything has got so mixed up?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Brahman told it all over again, but the jackal shook his head in a
+distracted sort of way, and still could not understand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's very odd,&quot; said he, sadly, &quot;but it all seems to go in at one ear
+and out at the other! I will go to the place where it all happened,
+and then perhaps I shall be able to give a judgment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they returned to the cage, by which the tiger was waiting for the
+Brahman, and sharpening his teeth and claws.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You've been away a long time!&quot; growled the savage beast, &quot;but now let
+us begin our dinner.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Our</i> dinner!&quot; thought the wretched Brahman, as his knees knocked
+together with fright; &quot;what a remarkably delicate way of putting it!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give me five minutes, my lord!&quot; he pleaded, &quot;in order that I may
+explain matters to the jackal here, who is somewhat slow in his wits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The tiger consented, and the Brahman began the whole story over again,
+not missing a single detail, and spinning as long a yarn as possible.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, my poor brain! oh, my poor brain!&quot; cried the jackal, wringing its
+paws. &quot;Let me see! how did it all begin? You were in the cage, and the
+tiger came walking by&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pooh!&quot; interrupted the tiger, &quot;what a fool you are! <i>I</i> was in the
+cage.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of course!&quot; cried the jackal, pretending to tremble with fright;
+&quot;yes! I was in the cage&mdash;no I wasn't&mdash;dear!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> dear! where are my wits?
+Let me see&mdash;the tiger was in the Brahman, and the cage came walking
+by&mdash;&mdash;no, that's not it, either! Well, don't mind me, but begin your
+dinner, for I shall never understand!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, you shall!&quot; returned the tiger, in a rage at the jackal's
+stupidity; &quot;I'll <i>make</i> you understand! Look here&mdash;I am the tiger&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, my lord!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And that is the Brahman&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, my lord!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And that is the cage&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, my lord!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And I was in the cage&mdash;do you understand?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes&mdash;no&mdash;&mdash; Please, my lord&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well?&quot; cried the tiger impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Please, my lord!&mdash;how did you get in?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How!&mdash;why in the usual way, of course!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear me!&mdash;my head is beginning to whirl again! Please don't be
+angry, my lord, but what is the usual way?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this the tiger lost patience, and, jumping into the cage, cried,
+&quot;This way! Now do you understand how it was?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Perfectly!&quot; grinned the jackal, as he dexterously shut the door, &quot;and
+if you will permit me to say so, I think matters will remain as they
+were!&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Soothsayers_Son" id="The_Soothsayers_Son"></a>The Soothsayer's Son</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0130.jpg" alt="A" width="150" height="134" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;soothsayer when on his deathbed wrote out the horoscope of his
+second son, whose name was Gangazara, and bequeathed it to him as his
+only property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son. The
+second son thought over the horoscope, and said to himself:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas! am I born to this only in the world? The sayings of my father
+never failed. I have seen them prove true to the last word while he
+was living; and how has he fixed my horoscope! <b>'From my birth
+poverty!'</b> Nor is that my only fate. <b>'For ten years, imprisonment'</b>&mdash;a
+fate harder than poverty; and what comes next? <b>'Death on the
+sea-shore'</b>; which means that I must die away from home, far from
+friends and relatives on a sea-coast. Now comes the most curious part
+of the horoscope, that I am to <b>'have some happiness afterwards!'</b> What
+this happiness is, is an enigma to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Thus thought he, and after all the funeral obsequies of his father
+were over, took leave of his elder brother, and started for Benares.
+He went by the middle of the Deccan,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> avoiding both the coasts, and
+went on journeying and journeying for weeks and months, till at last
+he reached the Vindhya mountains. While passing that desert he had to
+journey for a couple of days through a sandy plain, with no signs of
+life or vegetation. The little store of provision with which he was
+provided for a couple of days, at last was exhausted. The chombu,
+which he carried always full, filling it with the sweet water from the
+flowing rivulet or plenteous tank, he had exhausted in the heat of the
+desert. There was not a morsel in his hand to eat; nor a drop of water
+to drink. Turn his eyes wherever he might he found a vast desert, out
+of which he saw no means of escape. Still he thought within himself,
+&quot;Surely my father's prophecy never proved untrue. I must survive this
+calamity to find my death on some sea-coast.&quot; So thought he, and this
+thought gave him strength of mind to walk fast and try to find a drop
+of water somewhere to slake his dry throat.</p>
+
+<p>At last he succeeded; heaven threw in his way a ruined well. He
+thought he could collect some water if he let down his chombu with the
+string that he always carried noosed to the neck of it. Accordingly he
+let it down; it went some way and stopped, and the following words
+came from the well: &quot;Oh, relieve me! I am the king of tigers, dying
+here of hunger. For the last three days I have had nothing. Fortune
+has sent you here. If you assist me now you will find a sure help in
+me throughout your life. Do not think that I am a beast of prey. When
+you have become my deliverer I will never touch you. Pray, kindly lift
+me up.&quot; Gangazara thought: &quot;Shall I take him out or not? If I take him
+out he may make me the first morsel of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> his hungry mouth. No; that he
+will not do. For my father's prophecy never came untrue. I must die on
+a sea coast, and not by a tiger.&quot; Thus thinking, he asked the
+tiger-king to hold tight to the vessel, which he accordingly did, and
+he lifted him up slowly. The tiger reached the top of the well and
+felt himself on safe ground. True to his word, he did no harm to
+Gangazara. On the other hand, he walked round his patron three times,
+and standing before him, humbly spoke the following words: &quot;My
+life-giver, my benefactor! I shall never forget this day, when I
+regained my life through your kind hands. In return for this kind
+assistance I pledge my oath to stand by you in all calamities.
+Whenever you are in any difficulty just think of me. I am there with
+you ready to oblige you by all the means that I can. To tell you
+briefly how I came in here: Three days ago I was roaming in yonder
+forest, when I saw a goldsmith passing through it. I chased him. He,
+finding it impossible to escape my claws, jumped into this well, and
+is living to this moment <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>in the very bottom of it. I also jumped in,
+but found myself on the first ledge of the well; he is on the last and
+fourth ledge. In the second lives a serpent half-famished with hunger.
+On the third lies a rat, also half-famished, and when you again begin
+to draw water these may request you first to release them. In the same
+way the goldsmith also may ask you. I beg you, as your bosom friend,
+never assist that wretched man, though he is your relation as a human
+being. Goldsmiths are never to be trusted. You can place more faith in
+me, a tiger, though I feast sometimes upon men, in a serpent, whose
+sting makes your blood cold the very next moment, or in a rat, which
+does a thousand pieces of mischief in your house. But never trust a
+goldsmith. Do not release him; and if you do, you shall surely repent
+of it one day or other.&quot; Thus advising, the hungry tiger went away
+without waiting for an answer.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_0132.jpg" width="300" height="912" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Gangazara thought several times of the eloquent way in which the tiger
+spoke, and admired his fluency of speech. But still his thirst was not
+quenched. So he let down his vessel again, which was now caught hold
+of by the serpent, who addressed him thus: &quot;Oh, my protector! Lift me
+up. I am the king of serpents, and the son of Adisesha, who is now
+pining away in agony for my disappearance. Release me now. I shall
+ever remain your servant, remember your assistance, and help you
+throughout life in all possible ways. Oblige me: I am dying.&quot;
+Gangazara, calling again to mind the <b>&quot;death on the sea-shore&quot;</b> of the
+prophecy lifted him up. He, like the tiger-king, walked round him
+thrice, and prostrating himself before him spoke thus: &quot;Oh, my
+life-giver, my father, for so I must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> call you, as you have given me
+another birth. I was three days ago basking myself in the morning sun,
+when I saw a rat running before me. I chased him. He fell into this
+well. I followed him, but instead of falling on the third storey where
+he is now lying, I fell into the second. I am going away now to see my
+father. Whenever you are in any difficulty just think of me. I will be
+there by your side to assist you by all possible means.&quot; So saying,
+the Nagaraja glided away in zigzag movements, and was out of sight in
+a moment.</p>
+
+<p>The poor son of the Soothsayer, who was now almost dying of thirst,
+let down his vessel for a third time. The rat caught hold of it, and
+without discussing he lifted up the poor animal at once. But it would
+not go away without showing its gratitude: &quot;Oh, life of my life! My
+benefactor! I am the king of rats. Whenever you are in any calamity
+just think of me. I will come to you, and assist you. My keen ears
+overheard all that the tiger-king told you about the goldsmith, who is
+in the fourth storey. It is nothing but a sad <b>truth</b> that goldsmiths
+ought never to be trusted. Therefore, never assist him as you have
+done to us all. And if you do, you will suffer for it. I am hungry;
+let me go for the present.&quot; Thus taking leave of his benefactor, the
+rat, too, ran away.</p>
+
+<p>Gangazara for a while thought upon the repeated advice given by the
+three animals about releasing the goldsmith: &quot;What wrong would there
+be in my assisting him? Why should I not release him also?&quot; So
+thinking to himself, Gangazara let down the vessel again. The
+goldsmith caught hold of it, and demanded help. The Soothsayer's son
+had no time to lose; he was himself dying of thirst.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> Therefore he
+lifted the goldsmith up, who now began his story. &quot;Stop for a while,&quot;
+said Gangazara, and after quenching his thirst by letting down his
+vessel for the fifth time, still fearing that some one might remain in
+the well and demand his assistance, he listened to the goldsmith, who
+began as follows: &quot;My dear friend, my protector, what a deal of
+nonsense these brutes have been talking to you about me; I am glad you
+have not followed their advice. I am just now dying of hunger. Permit
+me to go away. My name is Manikkasari. I live in the East main street
+of Ujjaini, which is twenty kas to the south of this place, and so
+lies on your way when you return from Benares. Do not forget to come
+to me and receive my kind remembrances of your assistance, on your way
+back to your country.&quot; So saying, the goldsmith took his leave, and
+Gangazara also pursued his way north after the above adventures.</p>
+
+<p>He reached Benares, and lived there for more than ten years, and quite
+forgot the tiger, serpent, rat, and goldsmith. After ten years of
+religious life, thoughts of home and of his brother rushed into his
+mind. &quot;I have secured enough merit now by my religious observances.
+Let me return home.&quot; Thus thought Gangazara within himself, and very
+soon he was on his way back to his country. Remembering the prophecy
+of his father he returned by the same way by which he went to Benares
+ten years before. While thus retracing his steps he reached the ruined
+well where he had released the three brute kings and the goldsmith. At
+once the old recollections rushed into his mind, and he thought of the
+tiger to test his fidelity. Only a moment passed, and the tiger-king
+came running before him carrying a large crown in his mouth, the
+glitter of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> diamonds of which for a time outshone even the bright
+rays of the sun. He dropped the crown at his life-giver's feet, and,
+putting aside all his pride, humbled himself like a pet cat to the
+strokes of his protector, and began in the following words: &quot;My
+life-giver! How is it that you have forgotten me, your poor servant,
+for such a long time? I am glad to find that I still occupy a corner
+in your mind. I can never forget the day when I owed my life to your
+lotus hands. I have several jewels with me of little value. This
+crown, being the best of all, I have brought here as a single ornament
+of great value, which you can carry with you and dispose of in your
+own country.&quot; Gangazara looked at the crown, examined it over and
+over, counted and recounted the gems, and thought within himself that
+he would become the richest of men by separating the diamonds and
+gold, and selling them in his own country. He took leave of the
+tiger-king, and after his disappearance thought of the kings of
+serpents and rats, who came in their turn with their presents, and
+after the usual greetings and exchange of words took their leave.
+Gangazara was extremely delighted at the faithfulness with which the
+brute beasts behaved, and went on his way to the south. While going
+along he spoke to himself thus: &quot;These beasts have been very faithful
+in their assistance. Much more, therefore, must Manikkasari be
+faithful. I do not want anything from him now. If I take this crown
+with me as it is, it occupies much space in my bundle. It may also
+excite the curiosity of some robbers on the way. I will go now to
+Ujjaini on my way. Manikkasari requested me to see him without failure
+on my return journey. I shall do so, and request him to have the crown
+melted, the diamonds and gold separated. He must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> do that kindness at
+least for me. I shall then roll up these diamonds and gold ball in my
+rags, and wend my way homewards.&quot; Thus thinking and thinking, he
+reached Ujjaini. At once he inquired for the house of his goldsmith
+friend, and found him without difficulty. Manikkasari was extremely
+delighted to find on his threshold him who ten years before,
+notwithstanding the advice repeatedly given him by the sage-looking
+tiger, serpent, and rat, had relieved him from the pit of death.
+Gangazara at once showed him the crown that he received from the
+tiger-king, told him how he got it, and requested his kind assistance
+to separate the gold and diamonds. Manikkasari agreed to do so, and
+meanwhile asked his friend to rest himself for a while to have his
+bath and meals; and Gangazara, who was very observant of his religious
+ceremonies, went direct to the river to bathe.</p>
+
+<p>How came the crown in the jaws of the tiger? The king of Ujjaini had a
+week before gone with all his hunters on a hunting expedition. All of
+a sudden the tiger-king started from the wood, seized the king, and
+vanished.</p>
+
+<p>When the king's attendants informed the prince about the death of his
+father he wept and wailed, and gave notice that he would give half of
+his kingdom to any one who should bring him news about the murderer of
+his father. The goldsmith knew full well that it was a tiger that
+killed the king, and not any hunter's hands, since he had heard from
+Gangazara how he obtained the crown. Still, he resolved to denounce
+Gangazara as the king's murderer, so, hiding the crown under his
+garments, he flew to the palace. He went before the prince and
+informed him that the assassin was caught, and placed the crown before
+him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> The prince took it into his hands, examined it, and at once gave
+half the kingdom to Manikkasari, and then inquired about the murderer.
+&quot;He is bathing in the river, and is of such and such appearance,&quot; was
+the reply. At once four armed soldiers flew to the river, and bound
+the poor Brahman hand and foot, while he, sitting in meditation, was
+without any knowledge of the fate that hung over him. They brought
+Gangazara to the presence of the prince, who turned his face away from
+the supposed murderer, and asked his soldiers to throw him into a
+dungeon. In a minute, without knowing the cause, the poor Brahman
+found himself in the dark dungeon.</p>
+
+<p>It was a dark cellar underground, built with strong stone walls, into
+which any criminal guilty of a capital offence was ushered to breathe
+his last there without food and drink. Such was the cellar into which
+Gangazara was thrust. What were his thoughts when he reached that
+place? &quot;It is of no use to accuse either the goldsmith or the prince
+now. We are all the children of fate. We must obey her commands. This
+is but the first day of my father's prophecy. So far his statement is
+true. But how am I going to pass ten years here? Perhaps without
+anything to sustain life I may drag on my existence for a day or two.
+But how pass ten years? That cannot be, and I must die. Before death
+comes let me think of my faithful brute friends.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So pondered Gangazara in the dark cell underground, and at that moment
+thought of his three friends. The tiger-king, serpent-king, and
+rat-king assembled at once with their armies at a garden near the
+dungeon, and for a while did not know what to do. They held their
+council, and decided to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> make an underground passage from the inside
+of a ruined well to the dungeon. The rat raja issued an order at once
+to that effect to his army. They, with their teeth, bored the ground a
+long way to the walls of the prison. After reaching it they found that
+their teeth could not work on the hard stones. The bandicoots were
+then specially ordered for the business; they, with their hard teeth,
+made a small slit in the wall for a rat to pass and repass without
+difficulty. Thus a passage was effected.</p>
+
+<p>The rat raja entered first to condole with his protector on his
+misfortune, and undertook to supply his protector with provisions.
+&quot;Whatever sweetmeats or bread are prepared in any house, one and all
+of you must try to bring whatever you can to our benefactor. Whatever
+clothes you find hanging in a house, cut down, dip the pieces in
+water, and bring the wet bits to our benefactor. He will squeeze them
+and gather water for drink! and the bread and sweetmeats shall form
+his food.&quot; Having issued these orders, the king of the rats took leave
+of Gangazara. They, in obedience to their king's order, continued to
+supply him with provisions and water.</p>
+
+<p>The snake-king said: &quot;I sincerely condole with you in your calamity;
+the tiger-king also fully sympathises with you, and wants me to tell
+you so, as he cannot drag his huge body here as we have done with our
+small ones. The king of the rats has promised to do his best to
+provide you with food. We would now do what we can for your release.
+From this day we shall issue orders to our armies to oppress all the
+subjects of this kingdom. The deaths by snake-bite and tigers shall
+increase a hundredfold from this day, and day by day it shall continue
+to increase till your release.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> Whenever you hear people near you, you
+had better bawl out so as to be heard by them: 'The wretched prince
+imprisoned me on the false charge of having killed his father, while
+it was a tiger that killed him. From that day these calamities have
+broken out in his dominions. If I were released I would save all by my
+powers of healing poisonous wounds and by incantations.' Some one may
+report this to the king, and if he knows it, you will obtain your
+liberty.&quot; Thus comforting his protector in trouble, he advised him to
+pluck up courage, and took leave of him. From that day tigers and
+serpents, acting under the orders of their kings, united in killing as
+many persons and cattle as possible. Every day people were carried
+away by tigers or bitten by serpents. Thus passed months and years.
+Gangazara sat in the dark cellar, without the sun's light falling upon
+him, and feasted upon the breadcrumbs and sweetmeats that the rats so
+kindly supplied him with. These delicacies had completely changed his
+body into a red, stout, huge, unwieldy mass of flesh. Thus passed full
+ten years, as prophesied in the horoscope.</p>
+
+<p>Ten complete years rolled away in close imprisonment. On the last
+evening of the tenth year one of the serpents got into the bed-chamber
+of the princess and sucked her life. She breathed her last. She was
+the only daughter of the king. The king at once sent for all the
+snake-bite curers. He promised half his kingdom and his daughter's
+hand to him who would restore her to life. Now a servant of the king
+who had several times overheard Gangazara's cries, reported the matter
+to him. The king at once ordered the cell to be examined. There was
+the man sitting in it. How had he managed to live so long in the cell?
+Some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> whispered that he must be a divine being. Thus they discussed,
+while they brought Gangazara to the king.</p>
+
+<p>The king no sooner saw Gangazara than he fell on the ground. He was
+struck by the majesty and grandeur of his person. His ten years'
+imprisonment in the deep cell underground had given a sort of lustre
+to his body. His hair had first to be cut before his face could be
+seen. The king begged forgiveness for his former fault, and requested
+him to revive his daughter.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Bring me within an hour all the corpses of men and cattle, dying and
+dead, that remain unburnt or unburied within the range of your
+dominions; I shall revive them all,&quot; were the only words that
+Gangazara spoke.</p>
+
+<p>Cartloads of corpses of men and cattle began to come in every minute.
+Even graves, it is said, were broken open, and corpses buried a day or
+two before were taken out and sent for their revival. As soon as all
+were ready, Gangazara took a vessel full of water and sprinkled it
+over them all, thinking only of his snake-king and tiger-king. All
+rose up as if from deep slumber, and went to their respective homes.
+The princess, too, was restored to life. The joy of the king knew no
+bounds. He cursed the day on which he imprisoned him, blamed himself
+for having believed the word of a goldsmith, and offered him the hand
+of his daughter and the whole kingdom, instead of half, as he
+promised. Gangazara would not accept anything, but asked the king to
+assemble all his subjects in a wood near the town. &quot;I shall there call
+in all the tigers and serpents, and give them a general order.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the whole town was assembled, just at the dusk of evening,
+Gangazara sat dumb for a moment, and thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> upon the Tiger King and
+the Serpent King, who came with all their armies. People began to take
+to their heels at the sight of tigers. Gangazara assured them of
+safety, and stopped them.</p>
+
+<p>The grey light of the evening, the pumpkin colour of Gangazara, the
+holy ashes scattered lavishly over his body, the tigers and snakes
+humbling themselves at his feet, gave him the true majesty of the god
+Gangazara. For who else by a single word could thus command vast
+armies of tigers and serpents, said some among the people. &quot;Care not
+for it; it may be by magic. That is not a great thing. That he revived
+cartloads of corpses shows him to be surely Gangazara,&quot; said others.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why should you, my children, thus trouble these poor subjects of
+Ujjaini? Reply to me, and henceforth desist from your ravages.&quot; Thus
+said the Soothsayer's son, and the following reply came from the king
+of the tigers: &quot;Why should this base king imprison your honour,
+believing the mere word of a goldsmith that your honour killed his
+father? All the hunters told him that his father was carried away by a
+tiger. I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck.
+I did it, and gave the crown to your honour. The prince makes no
+inquiry, and at once imprisons your honour. How can we expect justice
+from such a stupid king as that? Unless he adopt a better standard of
+justice we will go on with our destruction.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The king heard, cursed the day on which he believed in the word of a
+goldsmith, beat his head, tore his hair, wept and wailed for his
+crime, asked a thousand pardons, and swore to rule in a just way from
+that day. The serpent-king and tiger-king also promised to observe
+their oath as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> long as justice prevailed, and took their leave. The
+goldsmith fled for his life. He was caught by the soldiers of the
+king, and was pardoned by the generous Gangazara, whose voice now
+reigned supreme. All returned to their homes.</p>
+
+<p>The king again pressed Gangazara to accept the hand of his daughter.
+He agreed to do so, not then, but some time afterwards. He wished to
+go and see his elder brother first, and then to return and marry the
+princess. The king agreed; and Gangazara left the city that very day
+on his way home.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that unwittingly he took a wrong road, and had to pass
+near a sea-coast. His elder brother was also on his way up to Benares
+by that very same route. They met and recognised each other, even at a
+distance. They flew into each other's arms. Both remained still for a
+time almost unconscious with joy. The pleasure of Gangazara was so
+great that he died of joy.</p>
+
+<p>The elder brother was a devout worshipper of Ganesa. That was a
+Friday, a day very sacred to that god. The elder brother took the
+corpse to the nearest Ganesa temple and called upon him. The god came,
+and asked him what he wanted. &quot;My poor brother is dead and gone; and
+this is his corpse. Kindly keep it in your charge till I finish
+worshipping you. If I leave it anywhere else the devils may snatch it
+away when I am absent worshipping you; after finishing the rites I
+shall burn him.&quot; Thus said the elder brother, and, giving the corpse
+to the god Ganesa, he went to prepare himself for that deity's
+ceremonials. Ganesa made over the corpse to his Ganas, asking them to
+watch over it carefully. But instead of that they devoured it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The elder brother, after finishing the puja, demanded his brother's
+corpse of the god. The god called his Ganas, who came to the front
+blinking, and fearing the anger of their master. The god was greatly
+enraged. The elder brother was very angry. When the corpse was not
+forthcoming he cuttingly remarked, &quot;Is this, after all, the return for
+my deep belief in you? You are unable even to return my brother's
+corpse.&quot; Ganesa was much ashamed at the remark. So he, by his divine
+power, gave him a living Gangazara instead of the dead corpse. Thus
+was the second son of the Soothsayer restored to life.</p>
+
+<p>The brothers had a long talk about each other's adventures. They both
+went to Ujjaini, where Gangazara married the princess, and succeeded
+to the throne of that kingdom. He reigned for a long time, conferring
+several benefits upon his brother. And so the horoscope was fully
+fulfilled.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0144.jpg" width="500" height="552" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Harisarman" id="Harisarman"></a>Harisarman</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0145.jpg" alt="T" width="150" height="137" /></div>
+<p>here was a certain Brahman in a certain village, named Harisarman. He
+was poor and foolish and in evil case for want of employment, and he
+had very many children, that he might reap the fruit of his misdeeds
+in a former life. He wandered about begging with his family, and at
+last he reached a certain city, and entered the service of a rich
+householder called Sthuladatta. His sons became keepers of
+Sthuladatta's cows and other property, and his wife a servant to him,
+and he himself lived near his house, performing the duty of an
+attendant. One day there was a feast on account of the marriage of the
+daughter of Sthuladatta, largely attended by many friends of the
+bridegroom, and merry-makers. Harisarman hoped that he would be able
+to fill himself up to the throat with ghee and flesh and other
+dainties, and get the same for his family, in the house of his patron.
+While he was anxiously expecting to be fed, no one thought of him.</p>
+
+<p>Then he was distressed at getting nothing to eat, and he said to his
+wife at night, &quot;It is owing to my poverty and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> stupidity that I am
+treated with such disrespect here; so I will pretend by means of an
+artifice to possess a knowledge of magic, so that I may become an
+object of respect to this Sthuladatta; so, when you get an
+opportunity, tell him that I possess magical knowledge.&quot; He said this
+to her, and after turning the matter over in his mind, while people
+were asleep he took away from the house of Sthuladatta a horse on
+which his master's son-in-law rode. He placed it in concealment at
+some distance, and in the morning the friends of the bridegroom could
+not find the horse, though they searched in every direction. Then,
+while Sthuladatta was distressed at the evil omen, and searching for
+the thieves who had carried off the horse, the wife of Harisarman came
+and said to him, &quot;My husband is a wise man, skilled in astrology and
+magical sciences; he can get the horse back for you; why do you not
+ask him?&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> When Sthuladatta heard that, he called Harisarman, who
+said, &quot;Yesterday I was forgotten, but to-day, now the horse is stolen,
+I am called to mind,&quot; and Sthuladatta then propitiated the Brahman
+with these words&mdash;&quot;I forgot you, forgive me&quot;&mdash;and asked him to tell
+him who had taken away their horse. Then Harisarman drew all kinds of
+pretended diagrams, and said: &quot;The horse has been placed by thieves on
+the boundary line south from this place. It is concealed there, and
+before it is carried off to a distance, as it will be at close of day,
+go quickly and bring it.&quot; When they heard that, many men ran and
+brought the horse quickly, praising the discernment of Harisarman.
+Then Harisarman was honoured by all men as a sage, and dwelt there in
+happiness, honoured by Sthuladatta.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0146.jpg" width="500" height="405" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Now, as days went on, much treasure, both of gold and jewels, had been
+stolen by a thief from the palace of the king. As the thief was not
+known, the king quickly summoned Harisarman on account of his
+reputation for knowledge of magic. And he, when summoned, tried to
+gain time, and said, &quot;I will tell you to-morrow,&quot; and then he was
+placed in a chamber by the king, and carefully guarded. And he was sad
+because he had pretended to have knowledge. Now in that palace there
+was a maid named Jihva (which means Tongue), who, with the assistance
+of her brother, had stolen that treasure from the interior of the
+palace. She, being alarmed at Harisarman's knowledge, went at night
+and applied her ear to the door of that chamber in order to find out
+what he was about. And Harisarman, who was alone inside, was at that
+very moment blaming his own tongue, that had made a vain assumption of
+knowledge. He said: &quot;O Tongue,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> what is this that you have done
+through your greediness? Wicked one, you will soon receive punishment
+in full.&quot; When Jihva heard this, she thought, in her terror, that she
+had been discovered by this wise man, and she managed to get in where
+he was, and falling at his feet, she said to the supposed wizard:
+&quot;Brahman, here I am, that Jihva whom you have discovered to be the
+thief of the treasure, and after I took it I buried it in the earth in
+a garden behind the palace, under a pomegranate tree. So spare me, and
+receive the small quantity of gold which is in my possession.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When Harisarman heard that, he said to her proudly: &quot;Depart, I know
+all this; I know the past, present and future; but I will not denounce
+you, being a miserable creature that has implored my protection. But
+whatever gold is in your possession you must give back to me.&quot; When he
+said this to the maid, she consented, and departed quickly. But
+Harisarman reflected in his astonishment: &quot;Fate brings about, as if in
+sport, things impossible, for when calamity was so near, who would
+have thought chance would have brought us success? While I was blaming
+my jihva, the thief Jihva suddenly flung herself at my feet. Secret
+crimes manifest themselves by means of fear.&quot; Thus thinking, he passed
+the night happily in the chamber. And in the morning he brought the
+king, by some skilful parade of pretended knowledge into the garden,
+and led him up to the treasure, which was buried under the pomegranate
+tree, and said that the thief had escaped with a part of it. Then the
+king was pleased, and gave him the revenue of many villages.</p>
+
+<p>But the minister, named Devajnanin, whispered in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> king's ear: &quot;How
+can a man possess such knowledge unattainable by men, without having
+studied the books of magic; you may be certain that this is a specimen
+of the way he makes a dishonest livelihood, by having a secret
+intelligence with thieves. It will be much better to test him by some
+new artifice.&quot; Then the king of his own accord brought a covered
+pitcher into which he had thrown a frog, and said to Harisarman,
+&quot;Brahman, if you can guess what there is in this pitcher, I will do
+you great honour to-day.&quot; When the Brahman Harisarman heard that, he
+thought that his last hour had come, and he called to mind the pet
+name of &quot;Froggie&quot; which his father had given him in his childhood in
+sport, and, impelled by luck, he called to himself by his pet name,
+lamenting his hard fate, and suddenly called out: &quot;This is a fine
+pitcher for you, Froggie; it will soon become the swift destroyer of
+your helpless self.&quot; The people there, when they heard him say that,
+raised a shout of applause, because his speech chimed in so well with
+the object presented to him, and murmured, &quot;Ah! a great sage, he knows
+even about the frog!&quot; Then the king, thinking that this was all due to
+knowledge of divination, was highly delighted, and gave Harisarman the
+revenue of more villages, with gold, an umbrella, and state carriages
+of all kinds. So Harisarman prospered in the world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Charmed_Ring" id="The_Charmed_Ring"></a>The Charmed Ring</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0150.jpg" alt="A" width="150" height="150" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp; merchant started his son in life with three hundred rupees, and bade
+him go to another country and try his luck in trade. The son took the
+money and departed. He had not gone far before he came across some
+herdsmen quarrelling over a dog, that some of them wished to kill.
+&quot;Please do not kill the dog,&quot; pleaded the young and tender-hearted
+fellow; &quot;I will give you one hundred rupees for it.&quot; Then and there,
+of course, the bargain was concluded, and the foolish fellow took the
+dog, and continued his journey. He next met with some people fighting
+about a cat. Some of them wanted to kill it, but others not. &quot;Oh!
+please do not kill it,&quot; said he; &quot;I will give you one hundred rupees
+for it.&quot; Of course they at once gave him the cat and took the money.
+He went on till he reached a village, where some folk were quarrelling
+over a snake that had just been caught. Some of them wished to kill
+it, but others did not. &quot;Please do not kill the snake,&quot; said he; &quot;I
+will give you one hundred rupees.&quot; Of course the people agreed, and
+were highly delighted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What a fool the fellow was! What would he do now that all his money
+was gone? What could he do except return to his father? Accordingly he
+went home.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You fool! You scamp!&quot; exclaimed his father when he had heard how his
+son had wasted all the money that had been given to him. &quot;Go and live
+in the stables and repent of your folly. You shall never again enter
+my house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the young man went and lived in the stables. His bed was the grass
+spread for the cattle, and his companions were the dog, the cat, and
+the snake, which he had purchased so dearly. These creatures got very
+fond of him, and would follow him about during the day, and sleep by
+him at night; the cat used to sleep at his feet, the dog at his head,
+and the snake over his body, with its head hanging on one side and its
+tail on the other.</p>
+
+<p>One day the snake in course of conversation said to its master, &quot;I am
+the son of Raja Indrasha. One day, when I had come out of the ground
+to drink the air, some people seized me, and would have slain me had
+you not most opportunely arrived to my rescue. I do not know how I
+shall ever be able to repay you for your great kindness to me. Would
+that you knew my father! How glad he would be to see his son's
+preserver!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where does he live? I should like to see him, if possible,&quot; said the
+young man.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well said!&quot; continued the snake. &quot;Do you see yonder mountain? At the
+bottom of that mountain there is a sacred spring. If you will come
+with me and dive into that spring, we shall both reach my father's
+country. Oh! how glad he will be to see you! He will wish to reward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+you, too. But how can he do that? However, you may be pleased to
+accept something at his hand. If he asks you what you would like, you
+would, perhaps, do well to reply, 'The ring on your right hand, and
+the famous pot and spoon which you possess.' With these in your
+possession, you would never need anything, for the ring is such that a
+man has only to speak to it, and immediately a beautiful furnished
+mansion will be provided for him, while the pot and the spoon will
+supply him with all manner of the rarest and most delicious foods.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Attended by his three companions the man walked to the well and
+prepared to jump in, according to the snake's directions. &quot;O master!&quot;
+exclaimed the cat and dog, when they saw what he was going to do.
+&quot;What shall we do? Where shall we go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wait for me here,&quot; he replied. &quot;I am not going far. I shall not be
+long away.&quot; On saying this, he dived into the water and was lost to
+sight.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now what shall we do?&quot; said the dog to the cat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We must remain here,&quot; replied the cat, &quot;as our master ordered. Do not
+be anxious about food. I will go to the people's houses and get plenty
+of food for both of us.&quot; And so the cat did, and they both lived very
+comfortably till their master came again and joined them.</p>
+
+<p>The young man and the snake reached their destination in safety; and
+information of their arrival was sent to the Raja. His highness
+commanded his son and the stranger to appear before him. But the snake
+refused, saying that it could not go to its father till it was
+released from this stranger, who had saved it from a most terrible
+death, and whose slave it therefore was. Then the Raja went and
+embraced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> his son, and saluting the stranger welcomed him to his
+dominions. The young man stayed there a few days, during which he
+received the Raja's right-hand ring, and the pot and spoon, in
+recognition of His Highness's gratitude to him for having delivered
+his son. He then returned. On reaching the top of the spring he found
+his friends, the dog and the cat, waiting for him. They told one
+another all they had experienced since they had last seen each other,
+and were all very glad. Afterwards they walked together to the river
+side, where it was decided to try the powers of the charmed ring and
+pot and spoon.</p>
+
+<p>The merchant's son spoke to the ring, and immediately a beautiful
+house and a lovely princess with golden hair appeared. He spoke to the
+pot and spoon, also, and the most delicious dishes of food were
+provided for them. So he married the princess, and they lived very
+happily for several years, until one morning the princess, while
+arranging her toilet, put the loose hairs into a hollow bit of reed
+and threw them into the river that flowed along under the window. The
+reed floated on the water for many miles, and was at last picked up by
+the prince of that country, who curiously opened it and saw the golden
+hair. On finding it the prince rushed off to the palace, locked
+himself up in his room, and would not leave it. He had fallen
+desperately in love with the woman whose hair he had picked up, and
+refused to eat, or drink, or sleep, or move, till she was brought to
+him. The king, his father, was in great distress about the matter, and
+did not know what to do. He feared lest his son should die and leave
+him without an heir. At last he determined to seek the counsel of his
+aunt, who was an ogress. The old woman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> consented to help him, and
+bade him not to be anxious, as she felt certain that she would succeed
+in getting the beautiful woman for his son's wife.</p>
+
+<p>She assumed the shape of a bee and went along buzzing, and buzzing,
+and buzzing. Her keen sense of smell soon brought her to the beautiful
+princess, to whom she appeared as an old hag, holding in one hand a
+stick by way of support. She introduced herself to the beautiful
+princess and said, &quot;I am your aunt, whom you have never seen before,
+because I left the country just after your birth.&quot; She also embraced
+and kissed the princess by way of adding force to her words. The
+beautiful princess was thoroughly deceived. She returned the ogress's
+embrace, and invited her to come and stay in the house as long as she
+could, and treated her with such honour and attention, that the ogress
+thought to herself, &quot;I shall soon accomplish my errand.&quot; When she had
+been in the house three days, she began to talk of the charmed ring,
+and advised her to keep it instead of her husband, because the latter
+was constantly out shooting and on other such-like expeditions, and
+might lose it. Accordingly the beautiful princess asked her husband
+for the ring, and he readily gave it to her.</p>
+
+<p>The ogress waited another day before she asked to see the precious
+thing. Doubting nothing, the beautiful princess complied, when the
+ogress seized the ring, and reassuming the form of a bee flew away
+with it to the palace, where the prince was lying nearly on the point
+of death. &quot;Rise up. Be glad. Mourn no more,&quot; she said to him. &quot;The
+woman for whom you yearn will appear at your summons. See, here is the
+charm, whereby you may bring her before you.&quot; The prince was almost
+mad with joy when he heard these words,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> and was so desirous of seeing
+the beautiful princess, that he immediately spoke to the ring, and the
+house with its fair occupant descended in the midst of the palace
+garden. He at once entered the building, and telling the beautiful
+princess of his intense love, entreated her to be his wife. Seeing no
+escape from the difficulty, she consented on the condition that he
+would wait one month for her.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the merchant's son had returned from hunting and was
+terribly distressed not to find his house and wife. There was the
+place only, just as he knew it before he had tried the charmed ring
+which Raja Indrasha had given him. He sat down and determined to put
+an end to himself. Presently the cat and dog came up. They had gone
+away and hidden themselves, when they saw the house and everything
+disappear. &quot;O master!&quot; they said, &quot;stay your hand. Your trial is
+great, but it can be remedied. Give us one month, and we will go and
+try to recover your wife and house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go,&quot; said he, &quot;and may the great God aid your efforts. Bring back my
+wife, and I shall live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the cat and dog started off at a run, and did not stop till they
+reached the place whither their mistress and the house had been taken.
+&quot;We may have some difficulty here,&quot; said the cat. &quot;Look, the king has
+taken our master's wife and house for himself. You stay here. I will
+go to the house and try to see her.&quot; So the dog sat down, and the cat
+climbed up to the window of the room, wherein the beautiful princess
+was sitting, and entered. The princess recognised the cat, and
+informed it of all that had happened to her since she had left them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_05" id="image_05"></a>
+<img src="images/image_0163.jpg" width="500" height="687" alt="THE CHARMED RING" title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE CHARMED RING</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>&quot;But is there no way of escape from the hands of these people?&quot; she
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes,&quot; replied the cat, &quot;if you can tell me where the charmed ring
+is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The ring is in the stomach of the ogress,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All right,&quot; said the cat, &quot;I will recover it. If we once get it,
+everything is ours.&quot; Then the cat descended the wall of the house, and
+went and laid down by a rat's hole and pretended she was dead. Now at
+that time a great wedding chanced to be going on among the rat
+community of that place, and all the rats of the neighbourhood were
+assembled in that one particular mine by which the cat had lain down.
+The eldest son of the king of the rats was about to be married. The
+cat got to know of this, and at once conceived the idea of seizing the
+bridegroom and making him render the necessary help. Consequently,
+when the procession poured forth from the hole squealing and jumping
+in honour of the occasion, it immediately spotted the bridegroom and
+pounced down on him. &quot;Oh! let me go, let me go,&quot; cried the terrified
+rat. &quot;Oh! let him go,&quot; squealed all the company. &quot;It is his wedding
+day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no,&quot; replied the cat. &quot;Not unless you do something for me.
+Listen. The ogress, who lives in that house with the prince and his
+wife, has swallowed a ring, which I very much want. If you will
+procure it for me, I will allow the rat to depart unharmed. If you do
+not, then your prince dies under my feet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well, we agree,&quot; said they all. &quot;Nay, if we do not get the ring
+for you, devour us all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was rather a bold offer. However, they accomplished <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>the
+thing. At midnight, when the ogress was sound asleep, one of the rats
+went to her bedside, climbed up on her face, and inserted its tail
+into her throat; whereupon the ogress coughed violently, and the ring
+came out and rolled on to the floor. The rat immediately seized the
+precious thing and ran off with it to its king, who was very glad, and
+went at once to the cat and released its son.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the cat received the ring, she started back with the dog to
+go and tell their master the good tidings. All seemed safe now. They
+had only to give the ring to him, and he would speak to it, and the
+house and beautiful princess would again be with them, and everything
+would go on as happily as before. &quot;How glad master will be!&quot; they
+thought, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Now, on the
+way they had to cross a stream. The dog swam, and the cat sat on its
+back. Now the dog was jealous of the cat, so he asked for the ring,
+and threatened to throw the cat into the water if it did not give it
+up; whereupon the cat gave up the ring. Sorry moment, for the dog at
+once dropped it, and a fish swallowed it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?&quot; said the dog.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is done is done,&quot; replied the cat. &quot;We must try to recover it,
+and if we do not succeed we had better drown ourselves in this stream.
+I have a plan. You go and kill a small lamb, and bring it here to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All right,&quot; said the dog, and at once ran off. He soon came back with
+a dead lamb, and gave it to the cat. The cat got inside the lamb and
+lay down, telling the dog to go away a little distance and keep quiet.
+Not long after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> this a nadhar, a bird whose look can break the bones
+of a fish, came and hovered over the lamb, and eventually pounced down
+on it to carry it away. On this the cat came out and jumped on to the
+bird, and threatened to kill it if it did not recover the lost ring.
+This was most readily promised by the nadhar, who immediately flew off
+to the king of the fishes, and ordered it to make inquiries and to
+restore the ring. The king of the fishes did so, and the ring was
+found and carried back to the cat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come along now; I have got the ring,&quot; said the cat to the dog.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I will not,&quot; said the dog, &quot;unless you let me have the ring. I
+can carry it as well as you. Let me have it or I will kill you.&quot; So
+the cat was obliged to give up the ring. The careless dog very soon
+dropped it again. This time it was picked up and carried off by a
+kite.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;See, see, there it goes&mdash;away to that big tree,&quot; the cat exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh! oh! what have I done?&quot; cried the dog.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You foolish thing, I knew it would be so,&quot; said the cat. &quot;But stop
+your barking, or you will frighten away the bird to some place where
+we shall not be able to trace it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The cat waited till it was quite dark, and then climbed the tree,
+killed the kite, and recovered the ring. &quot;Come along,&quot; it said to the
+dog when it reached the ground. &quot;We must make haste now. We have been
+delayed. Our master will die from grief and suspense. Come on.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The dog, now thoroughly ashamed of itself, begged the cat's pardon for
+all the trouble it had given. It was afraid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> to ask for the ring the
+third time, so they both reached their sorrowing master in safety and
+gave him the precious charm. In a moment his sorrow was turned into
+joy. He spoke to the ring, and his beautiful wife and house
+reappeared, and he and everybody were as happy as ever they could be.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Talkative_Tortoise" id="The_Talkative_Tortoise"></a>The Talkative Tortoise</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0168.jpg" alt="T" width="150" height="147" /></div>
+<p>he future Buddha was once born in a minister's family, when
+Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares; and when he grew up, he became
+the king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual.</p>
+
+<p>Now this king was very talkative; while he was speaking, others had no
+opportunity for a word. And the future Buddha, wanting to cure this
+talkativeness of his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing
+so.</p>
+
+<p>At that time there was living, in a pond in the Himalaya mountains, a
+tortoise. Two young hamsas, or wild ducks, who came to feed there,
+made friends with him. And one day, when they had become very intimate
+with him, they said to the tortoise:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Friend tortoise! the place where we live, at the Golden Cave on Mount
+Beautiful in the Himalaya country, is a delightful spot. Will you come
+there with us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But how can I get there?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, and will say
+nothing to anybody.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh! that I can do. Take me with you.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;That's right,&quot; said they. And making the tortoise bite hold of a
+stick, they themselves took the two ends in their teeth, and flew up
+into the air.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing him thus carried by the hamsas, some villagers called out, &quot;Two
+wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along on a stick!&quot; Whereupon the
+tortoise wanted to say, &quot;If my friends choose to carry me, what is
+that to you, you wretched slaves!&quot; So just as the swift flight of the
+wild ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the city of
+Benares, he let go of the stick he was biting, and falling in the open
+courtyard, split in two! And there arose a universal cry, &quot;A tortoise
+has fallen in the open courtyard, and has split in two!&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0169.jpg" width="500" height="206" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The king, taking the future Buddha, went to the place, surrounded by
+his courtiers; and looking at the tortoise, he asked the Bodisat,
+&quot;Teacher! how comes he to be fallen here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The future Buddha thought to himself, &quot;Long expecting, wishing to
+admonish the king, have I sought for some means of doing so. This
+tortoise must have made friends with the wild ducks; and they must
+have made him bite hold of the stick, and have flown up into the air
+to take him to the hills. But he, being unable to hold his tongue
+when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> he hears any one else talk, must have wanted to say something,
+and let go the stick; and so must have fallen down from the sky, and
+thus lost his life.&quot; And saying, &quot;Truly, O king! those who are called
+chatter-boxes&mdash;people whose words have no end&mdash;come to grief like
+this,&quot; he uttered these Verses:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Verily the tortoise killed himself<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whilst uttering his voice;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though he was holding tight the stick,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By a word himself he slew.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Behold him then, O excellent by strength!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And speak wise words, not out of season.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You see how, by his talking overmuch,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The tortoise fell into this wretched plight!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said, &quot;O Teacher!
+are you speaking of us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And the Bodisat spake openly, and said, &quot;O great king! be it thou, or
+be it any other, whoever talks beyond measure meets with some mishap
+like this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became a man of few
+words.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_0171_1.jpg" width="600" height="359" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="A_Lac_of_Rupees_for_a_Bit_of_Advice" id="A_Lac_of_Rupees_for_a_Bit_of_Advice"></a>A Lac of Rupees for a Bit of Advice</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0171_2.jpg" alt="A" width="150" height="150" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp; poor blind Brahman and his wife were dependent on their son for
+their subsistence. Every day the young fellow used to go out and get
+what he could by begging. This continued for some time, till at last
+he became quite tired of such a wretched life, and determined to go
+and try his luck in another country. He informed his wife of his
+intention, and ordered her to manage somehow or other for the old
+people during the few months that he would be absent. He begged her to
+be industrious, lest his parents should be angry and curse him.</p>
+
+<p>One morning he started with some food in a bundle,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> and walked on day
+after day, till he reached the chief city of the neighbouring country.
+Here he went and sat down by a merchant's shop and asked alms. The
+merchant inquired whence he had come, why he had come, and what was
+his caste; to which he replied that he was a Brahman, and was
+wandering hither and thither begging a livelihood for himself and wife
+and parents. Moved with pity for the man, the merchant advised him to
+visit the kind and generous king of that country, and offered to
+accompany him to the court. Now at that time it happened that the king
+was seeking for a Brahman to look after a golden temple which he had
+just had built. His Majesty was very glad, therefore, when he saw the
+Brahman and heard that he was good and honest. He at once deputed him
+to the charge of this temple, and ordered fifty kharwars of rice and
+one hundred rupees to be paid to him every year as wages.</p>
+
+<p>Two months after this, the Brahman's wife, not having heard any news
+of her husband, left the house and went in quest of him. By a happy
+fate she arrived at the very place that he had reached, where she
+heard that every morning at the golden temple a golden rupee was given
+in the king's name to any beggar who chose to go for it. Accordingly,
+on the following morning she went to the place and met her husband.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why have you come here?&quot; he asked. &quot;Why have you left my parents?
+Care you not whether they curse me and I die? Go back immediately, and
+await my return.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no,&quot; said the woman. &quot;I cannot go back to starve and see your old
+father and mother die. There is not a grain of rice left in the
+house.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;O Bhagawant!&quot; exclaimed the Brahman. &quot;Here, take this,&quot; he continued,
+scribbling a few lines on some paper, and then handing it to her, &quot;and
+give it to the king. You will see that he will give you a lac of
+rupees for it.&quot; Thus saying he dismissed her, and the woman left.</p>
+
+<p>On this scrap of paper were written three pieces of advice&mdash;First, If
+a person is travelling and reaches any strange place at night, let him
+be careful where he puts up, and not close his eyes in sleep, lest he
+close them in death. Secondly, If a man has a married sister, and
+visits her in great pomp, she will receive him for the sake of what
+she can obtain from him; but if he comes to her in poverty, she will
+frown on him and disown him. Thirdly, If a man has to do any work, he
+must do it himself, and do it with might and without fear.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching her home the Brahmani told her parents of her meeting with
+her husband, and what a valuable piece of paper he had given her; but
+not liking to go before the king herself, she sent one of her
+relations. The king read the paper, and ordering the man to be
+flogged, dismissed him. The next morning the Brahmani took the paper,
+and while she was going along the road to the darbar reading it, the
+king's son met her, and asked what she was reading, whereupon she
+replied that she held in her hands a paper containing certain bits of
+advice, for which she wanted a lac of rupees. The prince asked her to
+show it to him, and when he had read it gave her a parwana for the
+amount, and rode on. The poor Brahmani was very thankful. That day she
+laid in a great store of provisions, sufficient to last them all for a
+long time.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening the prince related to his father the meeting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> with the
+woman, and the purchase of the piece of paper. He thought his father
+would applaud the act. But it was not so. The king was more angry than
+before, and banished his son from the country.</p>
+
+<p>So the prince bade adieu to his mother and relations and friends, and
+rode off on his horse, whither he did not know. At nightfall he
+arrived at some place, where a man met him, and invited him to lodge
+at his house. The prince accepted the invitation, and was treated like
+a prince. Matting was spread for him to squat on, and the best
+provisions set before him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah!&quot; thought he, as he lay down to rest, &quot;here is a case for the
+first piece of advice that the Brahmani gave me. I will not sleep
+to-night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was well that he thus resolved, for in the middle of the night the
+man rose up, and taking a sword in his hand, rushed to the prince with
+the intention of killing him. But he rose up and spoke.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not slay me,&quot; he said. &quot;What profit would you get from my death?
+If you killed me you would be sorry afterwards, like that man who
+killed his dog.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What man? What dog?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will tell you,&quot; said the prince, &quot;if you will give me that sword.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant who had a pet dog. He
+was suddenly reduced to poverty, and had to part with his dog. He got
+a loan of five thousand rupees from a brother merchant, leaving the
+dog as a pledge, and with the money began business again. Not long
+after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> this the other merchant's shop was broken into by thieves and
+completely sacked. There was hardly ten rupees' worth left in the
+place. The faithful dog, however, knew what was going on, and went and
+followed the thieves, and saw where they deposited the things, and
+then returned.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In the morning there was great weeping and lamentation in the
+merchant's house when it was known what had happened. The merchant
+himself nearly went mad. Meanwhile the dog kept on running to the
+door, and pulling at his master's shirt and paijamas, as though
+wishing him to go outside. At last a friend suggested that, perhaps,
+the dog knew something of the whereabouts of the things, and advised
+the merchant to follow its leadings. The merchant consented, and went
+after the dog right up to the very place where the thieves had hidden
+the goods. Here the animal scraped and barked, and showed in various
+ways that the things were underneath. So the merchant and his friends
+dug about the place, and soon came upon all the stolen property.
+Nothing was missing. There was everything just as the thieves had
+taken them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The merchant was very glad. On returning to his house, he at once
+sent the dog back to its old master with a letter rolled under the
+collar, wherein he had written about the sagacity of the beast, and
+begged his friend to forget the loan and to accept another five
+thousand rupees as a present. When this merchant saw his dog coming
+back again, he thought, 'Alas! my friend is wanting the money. How can
+I pay him? I have not had sufficient time to recover myself from my
+recent losses. I will slay the dog ere he reaches the threshold, and
+say that another must have slain it. Thus there will be an end of my
+debt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> No dog, no loan.' Accordingly he ran out and killed the poor
+dog, when the letter fell out of its collar. The merchant picked it up
+and read it. How great was his grief and disappointment when he knew
+the facts of the case!</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Beware,&quot; continued the prince, &quot;lest you do that which afterwards you
+would give your life not to have done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>By the time the prince had concluded this story it was nearly morning,
+and he went away, after rewarding the man.</p>
+
+<p>The prince then visited the country belonging to his brother-in-law.
+He disguised himself as a jogi, and sitting down by a tree near the
+palace, pretended to be absorbed in worship. News of the man and of
+his wonderful piety reached the ears of the king. He felt interested
+in him, as his wife was very ill; and he had sought for hakims to cure
+her, but in vain. He thought that, perhaps, this holy man could do
+something for her. So he sent to him. But the jogi refused to tread
+the halls of a king, saying that his dwelling was the open air, and
+that if his Majesty wished to see him he must come himself and bring
+his wife to the place. Then the king took his wife and brought her to
+the jogi. The holy man bade her prostrate herself before him, and when
+she had remained in this position for about three hours, he told her
+to rise and go, for she was cured.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening there was great consternation in the palace, because
+the queen had lost her pearl rosary, and nobody knew anything about
+it. At length some one went to the jogi, and found it on the ground by
+the place where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> the queen had prostrated herself. When the king heard
+this he was very angry, and ordered the jogi to be executed. This
+stern order, however, was not carried out, as the prince bribed the
+men and escaped from the country. But he knew that the second bit of
+advice was true.</p>
+
+<p>Clad in his own clothes, the prince was walking along one day when he
+saw a potter crying and laughing alternately with his wife and
+children. &quot;O fool,&quot; said he, &quot;what is the matter? If you laugh, why do
+you weep? If you weep, why do you laugh?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not bother me,&quot; said the potter. &quot;What does it matter to you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pardon me,&quot; said the prince, &quot;but I should like to know the reason.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The reason is this, then,&quot; said the potter. &quot;The king of this country
+has a daughter whom he is obliged to marry every day, because all her
+husbands die the first night of their stay with her. Nearly all the
+young men of the place have thus perished, and our son will be called
+on soon. We laugh at the absurdity of the thing&mdash;a potter's son
+marrying a princess, and we cry at the terrible consequence of the
+marriage. What can we do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Truly a matter for laughing and weeping. But weep no more,&quot; said the
+prince. &quot;I will exchange places with your son, and will be married to
+the princess instead of him. Only give me suitable garments, and
+prepare me for the occasion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the potter gave him beautiful raiment and ornaments, and the prince
+went to the palace. At night he was conducted to the apartment of the
+princess. &quot;Dread hour!&quot; thought he; &quot;am I to die like the scores of
+young men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> before me?&quot; He clenched his sword with firm grip, and lay
+down on his bed, intending to keep awake all the night and see what
+would happen. In the middle of the night he saw two Shahmars come out
+from the nostrils of the princess. They stole over towards him,
+intending to kill him, like the others who had been before him: but he
+was ready for them. He laid hold of his sword, and when the snakes
+reached his bed he struck at them and killed them. In the morning the
+king came as usual to inquire, and was surprised to hear his daughter
+and the prince talking gaily together. &quot;Surely,&quot; said he, &quot;this man
+must be her husband, as he only can live with her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where do you come from? Who are you?&quot; asked the king, entering the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;O king!&quot; replied the prince, &quot;I am the son of a king who rules over
+such-and-such a country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When he heard this the king was very glad, and bade the prince to
+abide in his palace, and appointed him his successor to the throne.
+The prince remained at the palace for more than a year, and then asked
+permission to visit his own country, which was granted. The king gave
+him elephants, horses, jewels, and abundance of money for the expenses
+of the way and as presents for his father, and the prince started.</p>
+
+<p>On the way he had to pass through the country belonging to his
+brother-in-law, whom we have already mentioned. Report of his arrival
+reached the ears of the king, who came with rope-tied hands and
+haltered neck to do him homage. He most humbly begged him to stay at
+his palace, and to accept what little hospitality could be provided.
+While the prince was staying at the palace he saw his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> sister, who
+greeted him with smiles and kisses. On leaving he told her how she and
+her husband had treated him at his first visit, and how he had
+escaped; and then gave them two elephants, two beautiful horses,
+fifteen soldiers, and ten lacs rupees' worth of jewels.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards he went to his own home, and informed his mother and father
+of his arrival. Alas! his parents had both become blind from weeping
+about the loss of their son. &quot;Let him come in,&quot; said the king, &quot;and
+put his hands upon our eyes, and we shall see again.&quot; So the prince
+entered, and was most affectionately greeted by his old parents; and
+he laid his hands on their eyes, and they saw again.</p>
+
+<p>Then the prince told his father all that had happened to him, and how
+he had been saved several times by attending to the advice that he had
+purchased from the Brahmani. Whereupon the king expressed his sorrow
+for having sent him away, and all was joy and peace again.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Gold-giving_Serpent" id="The_Gold-giving_Serpent"></a>The Gold-giving Serpent</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0180.jpg" alt="N" width="150" height="154" /></div>
+<p>ow in a certain place there lived a Brahman named Haridatta. He was a
+farmer, but poor was the return his labour brought him. One day, at
+the end of the hot hours, the Brahman, overcome by the heat, lay down
+under the shadow of a tree to have a doze. Suddenly he saw a great
+hooded snake creeping out of an ant-hill near at hand. So he thought
+to himself, &quot;Sure this is the guardian deity of the field, and I have
+not ever worshipped it. That's why my farming is in vain. I will at
+once go and pay my respects to it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When he had made up his mind, he got some milk, poured it into a bowl,
+and went to the ant-hill, and said aloud: &quot;O Guardian of this Field!
+all this while I did not know that you dwelt here. That is why I have
+not yet paid my respects to you; pray forgive me.&quot; And he laid the
+milk down and went to his house. Next morning he came and looked, and
+he saw a gold denar in the bowl, and from that time onward every day
+the same thing occurred: he gave milk to the serpent and found a gold
+denar.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>One
+day the Brahman had to go to the village, and so he
+ordered his son to take the milk to the ant-hill. The son brought the
+milk, put it down, and went back home. Next day he went again and
+found a denar, so he thought to himself: &quot;This ant-hill is surely full
+of golden denars; I'll kill the serpent, and take them all for
+myself.&quot; So next day, while he was giving the milk to the serpent, the
+Brahman's son struck it on the head with a cudgel. But the serpent
+escaped death by the will of fate, and in a rage bit the Brahman's son
+with its sharp fangs, and he fell down dead at once. His people raised
+him a funeral pyre not far from the field and burnt him to ashes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/image_0181.jpg" width="400" height="397" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Two days afterwards his father came back, and when he learnt his son's
+fate he grieved and mourned. But after a time, he took the bowl of
+milk, went to the ant-hill, and praised the serpent with a loud voice.
+After a long, long time the serpent appeared, but only with its head
+out of the opening of the ant-hill, and spoke to the Brahman: &quot;'Tis
+greed that brings you here, and makes you even forget the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> loss of
+your son. From this time forward friendship between us is impossible.
+Your son struck me in youthful ignorance, and I have bitten him to
+death. How can I forget the blow with the cudgel? And how can you
+forget the pain and grief at the loss of your son?&quot; So speaking, it
+gave the Brahman a costly pearl and disappeared. But before it went
+away it said: &quot;Come back no more.&quot; The Brahman took the pearl, and
+went back home, cursing the folly of his son.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Son_of_Seven_Queens" id="The_Son_of_Seven_Queens"></a>The Son of Seven Queens</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0183.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>nce upon a time there lived a King who had seven Queens, but no
+children. This was a great grief to him, especially when he remembered
+that on his death there would be no heir to inherit the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Now it happened one day that a poor old fakir came to the King, and
+said, &quot;Your prayers are heard, your desire shall be accomplished, and
+one of your seven Queens shall bear a son.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King's delight at this promise knew no bounds, and he gave orders
+for appropriate festivities to be prepared against the coming event
+throughout the length and breadth of the land.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the seven Queens lived luxuriously in a splendid palace,
+attended by hundreds of female slaves, and fed to their hearts'
+content on sweetmeats and confectionery.</p>
+
+<p>Now the King was very fond of hunting, and one day, before he started,
+the seven Queens sent him a message saying, &quot;May it please our dearest
+lord not to hunt towards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> the north to-day, for we have dreamt bad
+dreams, and fear lest evil should befall you.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0184.jpg" width="500" height="504" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The King, to allay their anxiety, promised regard for their wishes,
+and set out towards the south; but as luck would have it, although he
+hunted diligently, he found no game. Nor had he more success to the
+east or west, so that, being a keen sportsman, and determined not to
+go home empty-handed, he forgot all about his promise, and turned to
+the north. Here also he was at first unsuccessful, but just as he had
+made up his mind to give up for that day, a white hind with golden
+horns and silver hoofs flashed past him into a thicket. So quickly did
+it pass that he scarcely saw it; nevertheless a burning desire to
+capture and possess the beautiful strange creature filled his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> breast.
+He instantly ordered his attendants to form a ring round the thicket,
+and so encircle the hind; then, gradually narrowing the circle, he
+pressed forward till he could distinctly see the white hind panting in
+the midst. Nearer and nearer he advanced, till, just as he thought to
+lay hold of the beautiful strange creature, it gave one mighty bound,
+leapt clean over the King's head, and fled towards the mountains.
+Forgetful of all else, the King, setting spurs to his horse, followed
+at full speed. On, on he galloped, leaving his retinue far behind,
+keeping the white hind in view, never drawing bridle, until, finding
+himself in a narrow ravine with no outlet, he reined in his steed.
+Before him stood a miserable hovel, into which, being tired after his
+long, unsuccessful chase, he entered to ask for a drink of water. An
+old woman, seated in the hut at a spinning-wheel, answered his request
+by calling to her daughter, and immediately from an inner room came a
+maiden so lovely and charming, so white-skinned and golden-haired,
+that the King was transfixed by astonishment at seeing so beautiful a
+sight in the wretched hovel.</p>
+
+<p>She held the vessel of water to the King's lips, and as he drank he
+looked into her eyes, and then it became clear to him that the girl
+was no other than the white hind with the golden horns and silver feet
+he had chased so far.</p>
+
+<p>Her beauty bewitched him, so he fell on his knees, begging her to
+return with him as his bride; but she only laughed, saying seven
+Queens were quite enough even for a King to manage. However, when he
+would take no refusal, but implored her to have pity on him, promising
+her everything she could desire, she replied, &quot;Give me the eyes of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+your seven Queens, and then perhaps I may believe you mean what you
+say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King was so carried away by the glamour of the white hind's
+magical beauty, that he went home at once, had the eyes of his seven
+Queens taken out, and, after throwing the poor blind creatures into a
+noisome dungeon whence they could not escape, set off once more for
+the hovel in the ravine, bearing with him his horrible offering. But
+the white hind only laughed cruelly when she saw the fourteen eyes,
+and threading them as a necklace, flung it round her mother's neck,
+saying, &quot;Wear that, little mother, as a keepsake, whilst I am away in
+the King's palace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she went back with the bewitched monarch, as his bride, and he
+gave her the seven Queens' rich clothes and jewels to wear, the seven
+Queens' palace to live in, and the seven Queens' slaves to wait upon
+her; so that she really had everything even a witch could desire.</p>
+
+<p>Now, very soon after the seven wretched hapless Queens had their eyes
+torn out, and were cast into prison, a baby was born to the youngest
+of the Queens. It was a handsome boy, but the other Queens were very
+jealous that the youngest amongst them should be so fortunate. But
+though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved
+so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son.
+Almost as soon as he could walk about he began scraping at the mud
+wall of their dungeon, and in an incredibly short space of time had
+made a hole big enough for him to crawl through. Through this he
+disappeared, returning in an hour or so laden with sweetmeats, which
+he divided equally amongst the seven blind Queens.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As he grew older he enlarged the hole, and slipped out two or three
+times every day to play with the little nobles in the town. No one
+knew who the tiny boy was, but everybody liked him, and he was so full
+of funny tricks and antics, so merry and bright, that he was sure to
+be rewarded by some girdle-cakes, a handful of parched grain, or some
+sweetmeats. All these things he brought home to his seven mothers, as
+he loved to call the seven blind Queens, who by his help lived on in
+their dungeon when all the world thought they had starved to death
+ages before.</p>
+
+<p>At last, when he was quite a big lad, he one day took his bow and
+arrow, and went out to seek for game. Coming by chance past the palace
+where the white hind lived in wicked splendour and magnificence, he
+saw some pigeons fluttering round the white marble turrets, and,
+taking good aim, shot one dead. It came tumbling past the very window
+where the white Queen was sitting; she rose to see what was the
+matter, and looked out. At the first glance of the handsome young lad
+standing there bow in hand, she knew by witchcraft that it was the
+King's son.</p>
+
+<p>She nearly died of envy and spite, determining to destroy the lad
+without delay; therefore, sending a servant to bring him to her
+presence, she asked him if he would sell her the pigeon he had just
+shot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; replied the sturdy lad, &quot;the pigeon is for my seven blind
+mothers, who live in the noisome dungeon, and who would die if I did
+not bring them food.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Poor souls!&quot; cried the cunning white witch; &quot;would you not like to
+bring them their eyes again? Give me the pigeon, my dear, and I
+faithfully promise to show you where to find them.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_06" id="image_06"></a>
+<img src="images/image_0195.jpg" width="500" height="730" alt="THE SON OF SEVEN MOTHERS" title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE SON OF SEVEN MOTHERS</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Hearing this, the lad was delighted beyond measure, and gave up the
+pigeon at once. Whereupon the white Queen told him to seek her mother
+without delay, and ask for the eyes which she wore as a necklace.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She will not fail to give them,&quot; said the cruel Queen, &quot;if you show
+her this token on which I have written what I want done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these
+words inscribed on it&mdash;&quot;Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his
+blood like water!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now, as the son of seven Queens could not read, he took the fatal
+message cheerfully, and set off to find the white Queen's mother.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst he was journeying he passed through a town, where every one of
+the inhabitants looked so sad, that he could not help asking what was
+the matter. They told him it was because the King's only daughter
+refused to marry; so when her father died there would be no heir to
+the throne. They greatly feared she must be out of her mind, for
+though every good-looking young man in the kingdom had been shown to
+her, she declared she would only marry one who was the son of seven
+mothers, and who ever heard of such a thing? The King, in despair, had
+ordered every man who entered the city gates to be led before the
+Princess; so, much to the lad's impatience, for he was in an immense
+hurry to find his mothers' eyes, he was dragged into the
+presence-chamber.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she blushed, and,
+turning to the King, said, &quot;Dear father, this is my choice!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p><p>The inhabitants nearly went wild with joy, but the son of seven
+Queens said he would not marry the Princess unless they first let him
+recover his mothers' eyes. When the beautiful bride heard his story,
+she asked to see the potsherd, for she was very learned and clever.
+Seeing the treacherous words, she said nothing, but taking another
+similar-shaped bit of potsherd, she wrote on it these words&mdash;&quot;Take
+care of this lad, giving him all he desires,&quot; and returned it to the
+son of seven Queens, who, none the wiser, set off on his quest.</p>
+
+<p>Ere long he arrived at the hovel in the ravine where the white witch's
+mother, a hideous old creature, grumbled dreadfully on reading the
+message, especially when the lad asked for the necklace of eyes.
+Nevertheless she took it off, and gave it him, saying, &quot;There are only
+thirteen of 'em now, for I lost one last week.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The lad, however, was only too glad to get any at all, so he hurried
+home as fast as he could to his seven mothers, and gave two eyes
+apiece to the six elder Queens; but to the youngest he gave one,
+saying, &quot;Dearest little mother!&mdash;I will be your other eye always!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After this he set off to marry the Princess, as he had promised, but
+when passing by the white Queen's palace he saw some pigeons on the
+roof. Drawing his bow, he shot one, and it came fluttering past the
+window. The white hind looked out, and lo! there was the King's son
+alive and well.</p>
+
+<p>She cried with hatred and disgust, but sending for the lad, asked him
+how he had returned so soon, and when she heard how he had brought
+home the thirteen eyes, and given them to the seven blind Queens, she
+could hardly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> restrain her rage. Nevertheless she pretended to be
+charmed with his success, and told him that if he would give her this
+pigeon also, she would reward him with the Jogi's wonderful cow, whose
+milk flows all day long, and makes a pond as big as a kingdom. The
+lad, nothing loth, gave her the pigeon; whereupon, as before, she bade
+him go ask her mother for the cow, and gave him a potsherd whereon was
+written&mdash;&quot;Kill this lad without fail, and sprinkle his blood like
+water!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But on the way the son of seven Queens looked in on the Princess, just
+to tell her how he came to be delayed, and she, after reading the
+message on the potsherd, gave him another in its stead; so that when
+the lad reached the old hag's hut and asked her for the Jogi's cow,
+she could not refuse, but told the boy how to find it; and bidding him
+of all things not to be afraid of the eighteen thousand demons who
+kept watch and ward over the treasure, told him to be off before she
+became too angry at her daughter's foolishness in thus giving away so
+many good things.</p>
+
+<p>Then the lad did as he had been told bravely. He journeyed on and on
+till he came to a milk-white pond, guarded by the eighteen thousand
+demons. They were really frightful to behold, but, plucking up
+courage, he whistled a tune as he walked through them, looking neither
+to the right nor the left. By-and-by he came upon the Jogi's cow,
+tall, white, and beautiful, while the Jogi himself, who was king of
+all the demons, sat milking her day and night, and the milk streamed
+from her udder, filling the milk-white tank.</p>
+
+<p>The Jogi, seeing the lad, called out fiercely, &quot;What do you want
+here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the lad answered, according to the old hag's bidding,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> &quot;I want
+your skin, for King Indra is making a new kettle-drum, and says your
+skin is nice and tough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Upon this the Jogi began to shiver and shake (for no Jinn or Jogi
+dares disobey King Indra's command), and, falling at the lad's feet,
+cried, &quot;If you will spare me I will give you anything I possess, even
+my beautiful white cow!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>To this the son of seven Queens, after a little pretended hesitation,
+agreed, saying that after all it would not be difficult to find a nice
+tough skin like the Jogi's elsewhere; so, driving the wonderful cow
+before him, he set off homewards. The seven Queens were delighted to
+possess so marvellous an animal, and though they toiled from morning
+till night making curds and whey, besides selling milk to the
+confectioners, they could not use half the cow gave, and became richer
+and richer day by day.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing them so comfortably off, the son of seven Queens started with a
+light heart to marry the Princess; but when passing the white hind's
+palace he could not resist sending a bolt at some pigeons which were
+cooing on the parapet. One fell dead just beneath the window where the
+white Queen was sitting. Looking out, she saw the lad hale and hearty
+standing before her, and grew whiter than ever with rage and spite.</p>
+
+<p>She sent for him to ask how he had returned so soon, and when she
+heard how kindly her mother had received him, she very nearly had a
+fit; however, she dissembled her feelings as well as she could, and,
+smiling sweetly, said she was glad to have been able to fulfil her
+promise, and that if he would give her this third pigeon, she would do
+yet more for him than she had done before, by giving him the
+million-fold rice, which ripens in one night.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;">
+<img src="images/image_0201.jpg" width="200" height="593" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The lad was of course delighted at the very idea, and, giving up the
+pigeon, set off on his quest, armed as before with a potsherd, on
+which was written, &quot;Do not fail this time. Kill the lad, and sprinkle
+his blood like water!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But when he looked in on his Princess, just to prevent her becoming
+anxious about him, she asked to see the potsherd as usual, and
+substituted another, on which was written, &quot;Yet again give this lad
+all he requires, for his blood shall be as your blood!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now when the old hag saw this, and heard how the lad wanted the
+million-fold rice which ripens in a single night, she fell into the
+most furious rage, but being terribly afraid of her daughter, she
+controlled herself, and bade the boy go and find the field guarded by
+eighteen millions of demons, warning him on no account to look back
+after having plucked the tallest spike of rice, which grew in the
+centre.</p>
+
+<p>So the son of seven Queens set off, and soon came to the field where,
+guarded by eighteen millions of demons, the million-fold rice grew. He
+walked on bravely, looking neither to the right or left, till he
+reached the centre and plucked the tallest ear, but as he turned
+homewards a thousand sweet voices rose behind him, crying in tenderest
+accents, &quot;Pluck me too! oh, please pluck me too!&quot; He looked back, and
+lo! there was nothing left of him but a little heap of ashes!</p>
+
+<p>Now as time passed by and the lad did not return, the old hag grew
+uneasy, remembering the message &quot;his blood shall be as your blood&quot;; so
+she set off to see what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>Soon she came to the heap of ashes, and knowing by her arts what it
+was, she took a little water, and kneading<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> the ashes into a paste,
+formed it into the likeness of a man; then, putting a drop of blood
+from her little finger into its mouth, she blew on it, and instantly
+the son of seven Queens started up as well as ever.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't you disobey orders again!&quot; grumbled the old hag, &quot;or next time
+I'll leave you alone. Now be off, before I repent of my kindness!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the son of seven Queens returned joyfully to his seven mothers,
+who, by the aid of the million-fold rice, soon became the richest
+people in the kingdom. Then they celebrated their son's marriage to
+the clever Princess with all imaginable pomp; but the bride was so
+clever, she would not rest until she had made known her husband to his
+father, and punished the wicked white witch. So she made her husband
+build a palace exactly like the one in which the seven Queens had
+lived, and in which the white witch now dwelt in splendour. Then, when
+all was prepared, she bade her husband give a grand feast to the King.
+Now the King had heard much of the mysterious son of seven Queens, and
+his marvellous wealth, so he gladly accepted the invitation; but what
+was his astonishment when on entering the palace he found it was a
+facsimile of his own in every particular! And when his host, richly
+attired,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> led him straight to the private hall, where on royal thrones
+sat the seven Queens, dressed as he had last seen them, he was
+speechless with surprise, until the Princess, coming forward, threw
+herself at his feet, and told him the whole story. Then the King awoke
+from his enchantment, and his anger rose against the wicked white hind
+who had bewitched him so long, until he could not contain himself. So
+she was put to death, and her grave ploughed over, and after that the
+seven Queens returned to their own splendid palace, and everybody
+lived happily.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_0203_1.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="A_Lesson_for_Kings" id="A_Lesson_for_Kings"></a>A Lesson for Kings</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0203_2.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="157" /></div>
+<p>nce upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the
+future Buddha returned to life as his son and heir. And when the day
+came for choosing a name, they called him Prince Brahma-datta. He grew
+up in due course; and when he was sixteen years old, went to
+Takkasila, and became accomplished in all arts. And after his father
+died he ascended the throne, and ruled the kingdom with righteousness
+and equity. He gave judgments without partiality, hatred, ignorance,
+or fear. Since he thus reigned with justice, with justice also his
+ministers administered the law. Law-suits being thus decided with
+justice, there were none who brought false cases. And as these ceased,
+the noise and tumult of litigation ceased in the king's court. Though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+the judges sat all day in the court, they had to leave without any one
+coming for justice. It came to this, that the Hall of Justice would
+have to be closed!</p>
+
+<p>Then the future Buddha thought, &quot;It cannot be from my reigning with
+righteousness that none come for judgment; the bustle has ceased, and
+the Hall of Justice will have to be closed. I must, therefore, now
+examine into my own faults; and if I find that anything is wrong in
+me, put that away, and practise only virtue.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him his faults, but among
+those around him he found no one who would tell him of any fault, but
+heard only his own praise.</p>
+
+<p>Then he thought, &quot;It is from fear of me that these men speak only good
+things, and not evil things,&quot; and he sought among those people who
+lived outside the palace. And finding no fault-finder there, he sought
+among those who lived outside the city, in the suburbs, at the four
+gates. And there too finding no one to find fault, and hearing only
+his own praise, he determined to search the country places.</p>
+
+<p>So he made over the kingdom to his ministers, and mounted his chariot;
+and taking only his charioteer, left the city in disguise. And
+searching the country through, up to the very boundary, he found no
+fault-finder, and heard only of his own virtue; and so he turned back
+from the outer-most boundary, and returned by the high road towards
+the city.</p>
+
+<p>Now at that time the king of Kosala, Mallika by name, was also ruling
+his kingdom with righteousness; and when seeking for some fault in
+himself, he also found no fault-finder in the palace but only heard of
+his own virtue! So<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> seeking in country places, he too came to that
+very spot. And these two came face to face in a low cart-track with
+precipitous sides, where there was no space for a chariot to get out
+of the way!</p>
+
+<p>Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the charioteer of the
+king of Benares, &quot;Take thy chariot out of the way!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But he said, &quot;Take thy chariot out of the way, O charioteer! In this
+chariot sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Benares, the great king
+Brahma-datta.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Yet the other replied, &quot;In this chariot, O charioteer, sitteth the
+lord over the kingdom of Kosala, the great king Mallika. Take thy
+carriage out of the way, and make room for the chariot of our king!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, &quot;They say then
+that he too is a king! What <i>is</i> now to be done?&quot; After some
+consideration, he said to himself, &quot;I know a way. I'll find out how
+old he is, and then I'll let the chariot of the younger be got out of
+the way, and so make room for the elder.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And when he had arrived at that conclusion, he asked that charioteer
+what the age of the king of Kosala was. But on inquiry he found that
+the ages of both were equal. Then he inquired about the extent of his
+kingdom, and about his army, and his wealth, and his renown, and about
+the country he lived in, and his caste and tribe and family. And he
+found that both were lords of a kingdom three hundred leagues in
+extent; and that in respect of army and wealth and renown, and the
+countries in which they lived, and their caste and their tribe and
+their family, they were just on a par!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then he thought, &quot;I will make way for the most righteous.&quot; And he
+asked, &quot;What kind of righteousness has this king of yours?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the chorister of the king of Kosala, proclaiming his king's
+wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;The strong he overthrows by strength,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The mild by mildness, does Mallika;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The good he conquers by goodness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the wicked by wickedness too.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Such is the nature of <i>this</i> king!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Move out of the way, O charioteer!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, &quot;Well, have you
+told all the virtues of your king?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes,&quot; said the other.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If these are his <i>virtues</i>, where are then his faults?&quot; replied he.</p>
+
+<p>The other said, &quot;Well, for the nonce, they shall be faults, if you
+like! But pray, then, what is the kind of goodness your king has?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called unto him to
+hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Anger he conquers by calmness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And by goodness the wicked;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The stingy he conquers by gifts,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And by truth the speaker of lies.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Such is the nature of <i>this</i> king!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Move out of the way, O charioteer!&quot;<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king and his charioteer
+alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed
+their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Pride_goeth_before_a_Fall" id="Pride_goeth_before_a_Fall"></a>Pride goeth before a Fall</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0208.jpg" alt="I" width="49" height="125" /></div>
+<p>n a certain village there lived ten cloth merchants, who always went
+about together. Once upon a time they had travelled far afield, and
+were returning home with a great deal of money which they had obtained
+by selling their wares. Now there happened to be a dense forest near
+their village, and this they reached early one morning. In it there
+lived three notorious robbers, of whose existence the traders had
+never heard, and while they were still in the middle of it the robbers
+stood before them, with swords and cudgels in their hands, and ordered
+them to lay down all they had. The traders had no weapons with them,
+and so, though they were many more in number, they had to submit
+themselves to the robbers, who took away everything from them, even
+the very clothes they wore, and gave to each only a small loin-cloth a
+span in breadth and a cubit in length.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft2" style="width: 200px;">
+<img src="images/image_0210_1.jpg" width="200" height="151" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The idea that they had conquered ten men and plundered all their
+property, now took possession of the robbers' minds. They seated
+themselves like three monarchs before the men they had plundered, and
+ordered them to dance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> to them before returning home. The merchants
+now mourned their fate. They had lost all they had, except their
+loin-cloth, and still the robbers were not satisfied, but ordered them
+to dance.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_0210_2.jpg" width="300" height="198" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>There was, among the ten merchants, one who was very clever. He
+pondered over the calamity that had come upon him and his friends, the
+dance they would have to perform, and the magnificent manner in which
+the three robbers had seated themselves on the grass. At the same time
+he observed that these last had placed their weapons on the ground, in
+the assurance of having thoroughly cowed the traders, who were now
+commencing to dance. So he took the lead in the dance, and, as a song
+is always sung by the leader on such occasions, to which the rest keep
+time with hands and feet, he thus began to sing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;We are enty men,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They are erith men:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If each erith man,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Surround eno men<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Eno man remains.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>T&acirc;, tai, t&ocirc;m, tadingana.</i>&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader was
+merely singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for the leader
+commenced from a distance, and had sung the song over twice before he
+and his companions commenced to approach the robbers. They had
+understood his meaning, because they had been trained in trade.</p>
+
+<p>When two traders discuss the price of an article in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> the presence of a
+purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<img src="images/image_0210_3.jpg" width="350" height="141" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>&quot;What is the price of this cloth?&quot; one trader will ask another.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Enty rupees,&quot; another will reply, meaning &quot;ten rupees.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/image_0210_4.jpg" width="150" height="180" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus, there is no possibility of the purchaser knowing what is meant
+unless he be acquainted with trade language. By the rules of this
+secret language erith means &quot;three,&quot; enty means &quot;ten,&quot; and eno means
+&quot;one.&quot; So the leader by his song meant to hint to his fellow-traders
+that they were ten men, the robbers only three, that if three pounced
+upon each of the robbers, nine of them could hold them down, while the
+remaining one bound the robbers' hands and feet.</p>
+
+<p>The three thieves, glorying in their victory, and little understanding
+the meaning of the song and the intentions of the dancers, were
+proudly seated chewing betel and tobacco. Meanwhile the song was sung
+a third time. <i>T&acirc; tai t&ocirc;m</i> had left the lips of the singer; and,
+before <i>tadingana</i> was out of them, the traders separated into parties
+of three, and each party pounced upon a thief. The remaining one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>&mdash;the
+leader himself&mdash;tore up into long narrow strips a large piece of
+cloth, six cubits long, and tied the hands and feet of the robbers.
+These were entirely humbled now, and rolled on the ground like three
+bags of rice!</p>
+
+<p>The ten traders now took back all their property, and armed themselves
+with the swords and cudgels of their enemies; and when they reached
+their village, they often amused their friends and relatives by
+relating their adventure.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Raja_Rasalu" id="Raja_Rasalu"></a>Raja Rasalu.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0212.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>nce there lived a great Raja, whose name was Salabhan, and he had a
+Queen, by name Lona, who, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine,
+had never a child to gladden her eyes. After a long time, however, a
+son was promised to her.</p>
+
+<p>Queen Lona returned to the palace, and when the time for the birth of
+the promised son drew nigh, she inquired of three Jogis who came
+begging to her gate, what the child's fate would be, and the youngest
+of them answered and said, &quot;Oh, Queen! the child will be a boy, and he
+will live to be a great man. But for twelve years you must not look
+upon his face, for if either you or his father see it before the
+twelve years are past, you will surely die! This is what you must do;
+as soon as the child is born you must send him away to a cellar
+underneath the ground, and never let him see the light of day for
+twelve years. After they are over, he may come forth, bathe in the
+river, put on new clothes, and visit you. His name shall be Raja
+Rasalu, and he shall be known far and wide.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So, when a fair young Prince was in due time born into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> the world, his
+parents hid him away in an underground palace, with nurses, and
+servants, and everything else a King's son might desire. And with him
+they sent a young colt, born the same day, and sword, spear, and
+shield, against the day when Raja Rasalu should go forth into the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>So there the child lived, playing with his colt, and talking to his
+parrot, while the nurses taught him all things needful for a King's
+son to know.</p>
+
+<p>Young Rasalu lived on, far from the light of day, for eleven long
+years, growing tall and strong, yet contented to remain playing with
+his colt, and talking to his parrot; but when the twelfth year began,
+the lad's heart leapt up with desire for change, and he loved to
+listen to the sounds of life which came to him in his palace-prison
+from the outside world.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I must go and see where the voices come from!&quot; he said; and when his
+nurses told him he must not go for one year more, he only laughed
+aloud, saying, &quot;Nay! I stay no longer here for any man!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he saddled his Arab horse Bhaunr, put on his shining armour, and
+rode forth into the world; but mindful of what his nurses had oft told
+him, when he came to the river, he dismounted, and, going into the
+water, washed himself and his clothes.</p>
+
+<p>Then, clean of raiment, fair of face, and brave of heart, he rode on
+his way until he reached his father's city. There he sat down to rest
+awhile by a well, where the women were drawing water in earthen
+pitchers. Now, as they passed him, their full pitchers poised upon
+their heads, the gay young Prince flung stones at the earthen
+vessels,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> and broke them all. Then the women, drenched with water,
+went weeping and wailing to the palace, complaining to the King that a
+mighty young Prince in shining armour, with a parrot on his wrist and
+a gallant steed beside him, sat by the well, and broke their pitchers.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as soon as Rajah Salabhan heard this, he guessed at once that it
+was Prince Rasalu come forth before the time, and, mindful of the
+Jogis' words that he would die if he looked on his son's face before
+twelve years were past, he did not dare to send his guards to seize
+the offender and bring him to be judged. So he bade the women be
+comforted, and take pitchers of iron and brass, giving new ones from
+his treasury to those who did not possess any of their own.</p>
+
+<p>But when Prince Rasalu saw the women returning to the well with
+pitchers of iron and brass, he laughed to himself, and drew his mighty
+bow till the sharp-pointed arrows pierced the metal vessels as though
+they had been clay.</p>
+
+<p>Yet still the King did not send for him, so he mounted his steed and
+set off in the pride of his youth and strength to the palace. He
+strode into the audience hall, where his father sat trembling, and
+saluted him with all reverence; but Raja Salabhan, in fear of his
+life, turned his back hastily and said never a word in reply.</p>
+
+<p>Then Prince Rasalu called scornfully to him across the hall:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;I came to greet thee, King, and not to harm thee!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What have I done that thou shouldst turn away?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sceptre and empire have no power to charm me&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I go to seek a worthier prize than they!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then he strode away, full of bitterness and anger; but,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> as he passed
+under the palace windows, he heard his mother weeping, and the sound
+softened his heart, so that his wrath died down, and a great
+loneliness fell upon him, because he was spurned by both father and
+mother. So he cried sorrowfully,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh heart crown'd with grief, hast thou nought<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But tears for thy son?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Art mother of mine?  Give one thought<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To my life just begun!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And Queen Lona answered through her tears:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Yea! mother am I, though I weep,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">So hold this word sure,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Go, reign king of all men, but keep<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thy heart good and pure!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So Raja Rasalu was comforted, and began to make ready for fortune. He
+took with him his horse Bhaunr and his parrot, both of whom had lived
+with him since he was born.</p>
+
+<p>So they made a goodly company, and Queen Lona, when she saw them
+going, watched them from her window till she saw nothing but a cloud
+of dust on the horizon; then she bowed her head on her hands and wept,
+saying:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh! son who ne'er gladdened mine eyes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Let the cloud of thy going arise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dim the sunlight and darken the day;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For the mother whose son is away<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Is as dust!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Rasalu had started off to play chaupur with King Sarkap. And as he
+journeyed there came a fierce storm of thunder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> and lightning, so that
+he sought shelter, and found none save an old graveyard, where a
+headless corpse lay upon the ground. So lonesome was it that even the
+corpse seemed company, and Rasalu, sitting down beside it, said:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;There is no one here, nor far nor near,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Save this breathless corpse so cold and grim;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Would God he might come to life again,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Twould be less lonely to talk to him.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And immediately the headless corpse arose and sat beside Raja Rasalu.
+And he, nothing astonished, said to it:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;The storm beats fierce and loud,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The clouds rise thick in the west;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What ails thy grave and shroud,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Oh corpse! that thou canst not rest?&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then the headless corpse replied:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;On earth I was even as thou,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">My turban awry like a king,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My head with the highest, I trow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Having my fun and my fling,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fighting my foes like a brave,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Living my life with a swing.<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And, now I am dead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Sins, heavy as lead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Will give me no rest in my grave!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So the night passed on, dark and dreary, while Rasalu sat in the
+graveyard and talked to the headless corpse. Now when morning broke
+and Rasalu said he must continue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> his journey, the headless corpse
+asked him whither he was going, and when he said &quot;to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap,&quot; the corpse begged him to give up the idea saying, &quot;I am
+King Sarkap's brother, and I know his ways. Every day, before
+breakfast, he cuts off the heads of two or three men, just to amuse
+himself. One day no one else was at hand, so he cut off mine, and he
+will surely cut off yours on some pretence or another. However, if you
+are determined to go and play chaupur with him, take some of the bones
+from this graveyard, and make your dice out of them, and then the
+enchanted dice with which my brother plays will lose their virtue.
+Otherwise he will always win.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Rasalu took some of the bones lying about, and fashioned them into
+dice, and these he put into his pocket. Then, bidding adieu to the
+headless corpse, he went on his way to play chaupur with the King.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as Raja Rasalu, tender-hearted and strong, journeyed along to
+play chaupur with the King, he came to a burning forest, and a voice
+rose from the fire saying, &quot;Oh, traveller! for God's sake save me from
+the fire!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Prince turned towards the burning forest, and, lo! the voice
+was the voice of a tiny cricket. Nevertheless, Rasalu, tender-hearted
+and strong, snatched it from the fire and set it at liberty. Then the
+little creature, full of gratitude, pulled out one of its feelers, and
+giving it to its preserver, said, &quot;Keep this, and should you ever be
+in trouble, put it into the fire, and instantly I will come to your
+aid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Prince smiled, saying, &quot;What help could <i>you</i> give <i>me</i>?&quot;
+Nevertheless, he kept the hair and went on his way.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now, when he reached the city of King Sarkap, seventy maidens,
+daughters of the King, came out to meet him,&mdash;seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter; but one, the youngest
+of them all, when she saw the gallant young Prince riding on Bhaunr
+Iraqi, going gaily to his doom, was filled with pity, and called to
+him saying:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Fair Prince, on the charger so gray,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Turn thee back! turn thee back!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or lower thy lance for the fray;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy head will be forfeit to-day!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dost love life? then, stranger, I pray,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Turn thee back! turn thee back!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But he, smiling at the maiden, answered lightly:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Fair maiden, I come from afar,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sworn conqueror in love and in war!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">King Sarkap my coming will rue,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His head in four pieces I'll hew;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then forth as a bridegroom I'll ride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With you, little maid, as my bride!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Now when Rasalu replied so gallantly, the maiden looked in his face,
+and seeing how fair he was, and how brave and strong, she straightway
+fell in love with him, and would gladly have followed him through the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>But the other sixty-nine maidens, being jealous, laughed scornfully at
+her, saying, &quot;Not so fast, oh gallant warrior! If you would marry our
+sister you must first do our bidding, for you will be our younger
+brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fair sisters!&quot; quoth Rasalu gaily, &quot;give me my task and I will
+perform it.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So the sixty-nine maidens mixed a hundred-weight of millet seed with a
+hundred-weight of sand, and giving it to Rasalu, bade him separate the
+seed from the sand.</p>
+
+<p>Then he bethought him of the cricket, and drawing the feeler from his
+pocket, thrust it into the fire. And immediately there was a whirring
+noise in the air, and a great flight of crickets alighted beside him,
+and amongst them the cricket whose life he had saved.</p>
+
+<p>Then Rasalu said, &quot;Separate the millet seed from the sand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is that all?&quot; quoth the cricket; &quot;had I known how small a job you
+wanted me to do, I would not have assembled so many of my brethren.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With that the flight of crickets set to work, and in one night they
+separated the seed from the sand.</p>
+
+<p>Now when the sixty-nine fair maidens, daughters of the king saw that
+Rasalu had performed his task, they set him another, bidding him swing
+them all, one by one, in their swings, until they were tired.</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon he laughed, saying, &quot;There are seventy of you, counting my
+little bride yonder, and I am not going to spend my life swinging
+girls! Why, by the time I have given each of you a swing, the first
+will be wanting another! No! if you want a swing, get in, all seventy
+of you, into one swing, and then I'll see what can be done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the seventy maidens climbed into one swing, and Raja Rasalu,
+standing in his shining armour, fastened the ropes to his mighty bow,
+and drew it up to its fullest bent. Then he let go, and like an arrow
+the swing shot into the air, with its burden of seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But as it swung back again, Rasalu, standing there in his shining
+armour, drew his sharp sword and severed the ropes. Then the seventy
+fair maidens fell to the ground headlong; and some were bruised and
+some broken, but the only one who escaped unhurt was the maiden who
+loved Rasalu, for she fell out last, on the top of the others, and so
+came to no harm.</p>
+
+<p>After this, Rasalu strode on fifteen paces, till he came to the
+seventy drums, that every one who came to play chaupur with the King
+had to beat in turn; and he beat them so loudly that he broke them
+all. Then he came to the seventy gongs, all in a row, and he hammered
+them so hard that they cracked to pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing this, the youngest Princess, who was the only one who could
+run, fled to her father the King in a great fright, saying:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;A mighty Prince, Sarkap! making havoc, rides along,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He swung us, seventy maidens fair, and threw us out headlong;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He broke the drums you placed there and the gongs too in his pride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sure, he will kill thee, father mine, and take me for his bride!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But King Sarkap replied scornfully:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Silly maiden, thy words make a lot<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of a very small matter;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For fear of my valour, I wot,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">His armour will clatter.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As soon as I've eaten my bread<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'll go forth and cut off his head!&quot;<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding these brave and boastful words, he was in reality very
+much afraid, having heard of Rasalu's renown. And learning that he was
+stopping at the house of an old woman in the city, till the hour for
+playing chaupur arrived, Sarkap sent slaves to him with trays of
+sweetmeats and fruit, as to an honoured guest. But the food was
+poisoned.</p>
+
+<p>Now when the slaves brought the trays to Raja Rasalu, he rose up
+haughtily, saying, &quot;Go, tell your master I have nought to do with him
+in friendship. I am his sworn enemy, and I eat not of his salt!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he threw the sweetmeats to Raja Sarkap's dog, which had
+followed the slave, and lo! the dog died.</p>
+
+<p>Then Rasalu was very wroth, and said bitterly, &quot;Go back to Sarkap,
+slaves! and tell him that Rasalu deems it no act of bravery to kill
+even an enemy by treachery.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now, when evening came, Raja Rasalu went forth to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap, and as he passed some potters' kilns he saw a cat
+wandering about restlessly; so he asked what ailed her, that she never
+stood still, and she replied, &quot;My kittens are in an unbaked pot in the
+kiln yonder. It has just been set alight, and my children will be
+baked alive; therefore I cannot rest!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Her words moved the heart of Raja Rasalu, and, going to the potter, he
+asked him to sell the kiln as it was; but the potter replied that he
+could not settle a fair price till the pots were burnt, as he could
+not tell how many would come out whole. Nevertheless, after some
+bargaining, he consented at last to sell the kiln, and Rasalu, having
+searched all the pots, restored the kittens to their mother, and she,
+in gratitude for his mercy, gave him one of them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> saying, &quot;Put it in
+your pocket, for it will help you when you are in difficulties.&quot; So
+Raja Rasalu put the kitten in his pocket, and went to play chaupur
+with the King.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_07" id="image_07"></a>
+<img src="images/image_0229.jpg" width="500" height="714" alt="Raja Rasalu plays chaupur with Raja Sarkap." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Raja Rasalu plays chaupur with Raja Sarkap.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now, before they sat down to play, Raja Sarkap fixed his stakes,&mdash;on
+the first game, his kingdom; on the second, the wealth of the whole
+world; and, on the third, his own head. So, likewise, Raja Rasalu
+fixed his stakes,&mdash;on the first game, his arms; on the second, his
+horse; and, on the third, his own head.</p>
+
+<p>Then they began to play, and it fell to Rasalu's lot to make the first
+move. Now he, forgetful of the dead man's warning, played with the
+dice given him by Raja Sarkap, besides which, Sarkap let loose his
+famous rat, Dhol Raja, and it ran about the board, upsetting the
+chaupur pieces on the sly, so that Rasalu lost the first game, and
+gave up his shining armour.</p>
+
+<p>Then the second game began, and once more Dhol Raja, the rat, upset
+the pieces; and Rasalu, losing the game, gave up his faithful steed.
+Then Bhaunr, the Arab steed, who stood by, found voice, and cried to
+his master,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">&quot;Sea-born am I, bought with much gold;<br />
+</span>
+<span class="i2">Dear Prince! trust me now as of old.<br />
+</span>
+<span class="i4">I'll carry you far from these wiles&mdash;<br />
+</span>
+<span class="i0">My flight, all unspurr'd, will be swift as a bird,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">For thousands and thousands of miles!<br />
+</span>
+<span class="i0">Or if needs you must stay; ere the next game you play,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Place hand in your pocket, I pray!&quot;<br />
+</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Hearing this, Raja Sarkap frowned, and bade his slaves remove Bhaunr,
+the Arab steed, since he gave his master advice in the game. Now, when
+the slaves came to lead <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>the faithful steed away, Rasalu could
+not refrain from tears, thinking over the long years during which
+Bhaunr, the Arab steed, had been his companion. But the horse cried
+out again,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Weep not, dear Prince! I shall not eat my bread<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of stranger hands, nor to strange stall be led.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Take thy right hand, and place it as I said.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>These words roused some recollection in Rasalu's mind, and when, just
+at this moment, the kitten in his pocket began to struggle, he
+remembered all about the warning, and the dice made from dead men's
+bones. Then his heart rose up once more, and he called boldly to Raja
+Sarkap, &quot;Leave my horse and arms here for the present. Time enough to
+take them away when you have won my head!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now, Raja Sarkap, seeing Rasalu's confident bearing, began to be
+afraid, and ordered all the women of his palace to come forth in their
+gayest attire and stand before Rasalu, so as to distract his attention
+from the game. But he never even looked at them, and drawing the dice
+from his pocket, said to Sarkap, &quot;We have played with your dice all
+this time; now we will play with mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the kitten went and sat at the window through which the rat Dhol
+Raja used to come, and the game began.</p>
+
+<p>After a while, Sarkap, seeing Raja Rasalu was winning, called to his
+rat, but when Dhol Raja saw the kitten he was afraid, and would not go
+further. So Rasalu won, and took back his arms. Next he played for his
+horse, and once more Raja Sarkap called for his rat; but Dhol Raja,
+seeing the kitten keeping watch, was afraid. So Rasalu won the second
+stake, and took back Bhaunr, the Arab steed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then Sarkap brought all his skill to bear on the third and last game,
+saying,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For sooth this is a man with whom I play.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No paltry risk&mdash;but life and death at stake;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As Sarkap does, so do, for Sarkap's sake!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But Rasalu answered back,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For sooth it is a man with whom I play.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No paltry risk&mdash;but life and death at stake;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As Heaven does, so do, for Heaven's sake!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So they began to play, whilst the women stood round in a circle, and
+the kitten watched Dhol Raja from the window. Then Sarkap lost, first
+his kingdom, then the wealth of the whole world, and lastly his head.</p>
+
+<p>Just then, a servant came in to announce the birth of a daughter to
+Raja Sarkap, and he, overcome by misfortunes, said, &quot;Kill her at once!
+for she has been born in an evil moment, and has brought her father
+ill luck!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But Rasalu rose up in his shining armour, tender-hearted and strong,
+saying, &quot;Not so, oh king! She has done no evil. Give me this child to
+wife; and if you will vow, by all you hold sacred, never again to play
+chaupur for another's head, I will spare yours now!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Sarkap vowed a solemn vow never to play for another's head; and
+after that he took a fresh mango branch, and the new-born babe, and
+placing them on a golden dish gave them to Rasalu.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as he left the palace, carrying with him the new-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>born babe and
+the mango branch, he met a band of prisoners, and they called out to
+him,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;A royal hawk art thou, oh King! the rest<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But timid wild-fowl.  Grant us our request,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Unloose these chains, and live for ever blest!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And Raja Rasalu hearkened to them, and bade King Sarkap set them at
+liberty.</p>
+
+<p>Then he went to the Murti Hills, and placed the new-born babe,
+Kokilan, in an underground palace, and planted the mango branch at the
+door, saying, &quot;In twelve years the mango tree will blossom; then will
+I return and marry Kokilan.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And after twelve years, the mango tree began to flower, and Raja
+Rasalu married the Princess Kokilan, whom he won from Sarkap when he
+played chaupur with the King.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_0234_1.jpg" width="600" height="504" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="The_Ass_in_the_Lions_Skin" id="The_Ass_in_the_Lions_Skin"></a>The Ass in the Lion's Skin</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0234_2.jpg" alt="A" width="150" height="143" /></div>
+<p>t the same time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the
+future Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up,
+he gained his living by tilling the ground.</p>
+
+<p>At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
+goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took
+the pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's
+skin, and turn him loose in the rice and barley fields. And when the
+watchmen in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking
+him for a lion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and whilst he was getting
+his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion's skin, and
+turned him loose in a barley-field. The watchmen in the field dared
+not go up to him; but going home, they published the news. Then all
+the villagers came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing
+chanks, and beating drums, they went near the field and shouted.
+Terrified with the fear of death, the ass uttered a cry&mdash;the bray of
+an ass!</p>
+
+<p>And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced
+the First Verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;This is not a lion's roaring,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dressed in a lion's skin,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Tis a wretched ass that roars!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
+till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away.
+Then the hawker came; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight,
+pronounced the Second Verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Long might the ass,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Clad in a lion's skin,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Have fed on the barley green.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But he brayed!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And that moment he came to ruin.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Farmer_and_the_Money-lender" id="The_Farmer_and_the_Money-lender"></a>The Farmer and the Money-lender</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0236.jpg" alt="T" width="150" height="148" /></div>
+<p>here was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a
+money-lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the
+money-lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, farmer
+went to the money-lender's house, and said, &quot;You can't squeeze water
+from a stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell
+me the secret of becoming rich.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My friend,&quot; returned the money-lender, piously, &quot;riches come from
+Ram&mdash;ask <i>him</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank you, I will!&quot; replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three
+girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.</p>
+
+<p>First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point
+out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on
+his way without a word. Next the farmer met a Jogi or devotee, and to
+him he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. At last, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+came upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was
+hungry, the kindly farmer gave him his last cake, and sitting down to
+rest beside him, entered into conversation.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And where are you going?&quot; asked the poor man, at length.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I have a long journey before me, for I am going to find Ram!&quot;
+replied the farmer. &quot;I don't suppose you could tell me which way to
+go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Perhaps I can,&quot; said the poor man, smiling, &quot;for <i>I</i> am Ram! What do
+you want of me?&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_0238.jpg" width="300" height="607" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Then the farmer told the whole story, and Ram, taking pity on him,
+gave him a conch shell, and showed him how to blow it in a particular
+way, saying, &quot;Remember! whatever you wish for, you have only to blow
+the conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care
+of that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their
+wiles!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The farmer went back to his village rejoicing. In fact the
+money-lender noticed his high spirits at once, and said to himself,
+&quot;Some good fortune must have befallen the stupid fellow, to make him
+hold his head so jauntily.&quot; Therefore he went over to the simple
+farmer's house, and congratulated him on his good fortune, in such
+cunning words, pretending to have heard all about it, that before long
+the farmer found himself telling the whole story&mdash;all except the
+secret of blowing the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer
+was not quite such a fool as to tell that.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the money-lender determined to have the conch by hook or
+by crook, and as he was villain enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> not to stick at trifles, he
+waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.</p>
+
+<p>But, after nearly bursting himself with blowing the conch in every
+conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the secret as a bad job.
+However, being determined to succeed he went back to the farmer, and
+said, coolly, &quot;Look here; I've got your conch, but I can't use it; you
+haven't got it, so it's clear you can't use it either. Business is at
+a stand-still unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you
+back your conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one
+condition, which is this,&mdash;whatever you get from it, I am to get
+double.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never!&quot; cried the farmer; &quot;that would be the old business all over
+again!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not at all!&quot; replied the wily money-lender; &quot;you will have your
+share! Now, don't be a dog in the manger, for if <i>you</i> get all you
+want, what can it matter to you if <i>I</i> am rich or poor?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit
+to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and from that time,
+no matter what he gained by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> power of the conch, the money-lender
+gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon the
+farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of
+anything.</p>
+
+<p>At last, there came a very dry season,&mdash;so dry that the farmer's crops
+withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a
+well to water them, and lo! there was the well, <i>but the money-lender
+had two!</i>&mdash;two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any farmer
+to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at
+last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it
+loudly, and cried out, &quot;Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!&quot; And
+so he was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course was blind of
+both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he
+fell into one, and was drowned.</p>
+
+<p>Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a
+money-lender&mdash;but only by losing one of his eyes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Boy_who_had_a_Moon_on_his_Forehead_and_a_Star_on_his_Chin" id="The_Boy_who_had_a_Moon_on_his_Forehead_and_a_Star_on_his_Chin"></a>The Boy who had a Moon on his Forehead and a Star on his Chin</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0240.jpg" alt="In" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp; a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come
+daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the
+gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, &quot;When I am
+married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has
+never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead and a star on his
+chin.&quot; Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her.</p>
+
+<p>But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy
+she would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should
+like very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had
+already four Queens he had no child. He went, therefore, to the
+gardener and told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted
+the gardener and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for
+their daughter to become a princess. So they said &quot;Yes&quot; to the King,
+and invited all their friends to the wedding. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> King invited all
+his, and he gave the gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the
+wedding was held with great feasting and rejoicing.</p>
+
+<p>A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to
+have her son; and the King's four other Queens came constantly to see
+her. One day they said to her, &quot;The King hunts every day; and the time
+is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill
+whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your
+illness, what would you do then?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to
+him, &quot;Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or
+sick while you are away, how could I send for you?&quot; The King gave her
+a kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to
+her, &quot;Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far
+away I may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Next morning when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other Queens
+came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her
+kettle-drum. &quot;Oh,&quot; they said, &quot;do drum on it just to see if the King
+really will come to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I will not,&quot; she said; &quot;for why should I call him from his
+hunting when I do not want him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't mind interrupting his hunting,&quot; they answered. &quot;Do try if he
+really will come to you when you beat your kettle-drum.&quot; So at last,
+just to please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why have you called me?&quot; he said. &quot;See, I have left my hunting to
+come to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I want nothing,&quot; she answered; &quot;I only wished to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> know if you really
+would come to me when I beat my drum.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well,&quot; answered the King; &quot;but do not call me again unless you
+really need me.&quot; Then he returned to his hunting.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four
+Queens again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and
+begged her to beat her drum once more, &quot;just to see if the King will
+really come to see you this time.&quot; At first she refused, but at last
+she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But
+when he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and
+said to her, &quot;Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come to
+you when you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you like,
+but I will not come to you,&quot; and then he went away in a rage.</p>
+
+<p>The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat
+her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum,
+but he thought, &quot;She does not really want me; she is only trying to
+see if I will go to her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the four other Queens came to her, and they said, &quot;Here it
+is the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a
+handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind
+your eyes.&quot; She answered, &quot;Very well, bind my eyes.&quot; The four wives
+then tied a handkerchief over them.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a
+moon on his forehead and a star on his chin, and before the poor
+mother had seen him, the four wicked Queens took the boy to the nurse
+and said to her, &quot;Now you must not let this child make the least sound
+for fear his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> mother should hear him; and in the night you must either
+kill him, or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him.
+If you obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees.&quot; All
+this they did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put
+him into a box, and the four Queens went back to the gardener's
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took
+the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, &quot;Look! this
+is your son!&quot; The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, &quot;What will
+the King say when he finds no child?&quot; But she could do nothing.</p>
+
+<p>When the King came home, he was furious at hearing his youngest wife,
+the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the
+beautiful little son she had promised him. He made her one of the
+palace servants, and never spoke to her.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the
+beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle.
+There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the
+box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The
+King's dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she
+did with the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four Queens (who
+gave her a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she
+had put the box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the
+beautiful little boy, he was very much delighted and said, &quot;If it
+pleases Khuda that this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will
+not eat him, but I will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach.&quot;
+This he did.</p>
+
+<p>After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and
+thought, &quot;I wonder whether the boy is alive or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> dead.&quot; Then he brought
+the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was
+now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he
+swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he
+went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up
+the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and
+caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his
+great beauty.</p>
+
+<p>But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and
+he saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran
+to the four Queens and said to them, &quot;Inside the King's dog there is a
+child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star
+on his chin. Such a child has never been seen!&quot; At this the four wives
+were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from
+hunting they said to him, &quot;While you were away your dog came to our
+rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are
+afraid he will kill us.&quot; &quot;Do not be afraid,&quot; said the King. &quot;Eat your
+dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog
+heard him, and said to himself, &quot;What shall I do? The King intends to
+kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if
+I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called
+Suri, and said to her, &quot;Suri, I want to give you something, for the
+King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of
+whatever I give you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let me see what it is,&quot; said Suri, &quot;I will take care of it if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> I
+can.&quot; Then they both went together to the wide plain, and there the
+dog brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him. &quot;I never saw such
+a beautiful child in this country,&quot; she said. &quot;See, he has a moon on
+his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the greatest care of
+him.&quot; So saying she swallowed the little prince. The dog made her a
+great many salaams, and said, &quot;To-morrow I shall die;&quot; and the cow
+then went back to her stable.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot.</p>
+
+<p>The child now lived in Suri's stomach; and when one whole year had
+passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and
+said to herself, &quot;I do not know whether the child is alive or dead.
+But I have never hurt it, so I will see.&quot; Then she brought up the boy;
+and he played about, and Suri was delighted; she loved him and
+caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned
+to her stable.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up
+the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight,
+and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very
+happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable.
+The child was now three years old.</p>
+
+<p>But this time the cowherd had followed Suri, and had seen the
+wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four
+Queens, &quot;The King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon
+on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been
+seen before!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this the Queens were terrified. They tore their clothes and their
+hair and cried. When the King came home at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> evening, he asked them why
+they were so agitated. &quot;Oh,&quot; they said, &quot;your cow came and tried to
+kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes.&quot; &quot;Never
+mind,&quot; said the King. &quot;Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be
+killed to-morrow morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now Suri heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said
+to herself, &quot;What shall I do to save the child?&quot; When it was midnight,
+she went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and
+quite untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one
+could go near him with safety, he was so savage. Suri said to this
+horse, &quot;Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give
+you, because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said Katar; &quot;show me what it is.&quot; Then Suri brought up the
+child, and the horse was delighted with him. &quot;Yes,&quot; he said, &quot;I will
+take the greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride
+me, but this child shall ride me.&quot; Then he swallowed the boy, and when
+he had done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, &quot;It is for this
+boy's sake that I am to die.&quot; The next morning she was taken to the
+jungle and there killed.</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in
+it for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, &quot;I
+will see if this child is alive or dead.&quot; So he brought him up; and
+then he loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all
+about the stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go.
+Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years old.
+After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At
+the end of another year, when the boy was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> five years old, Katar
+brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play about
+the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him
+again.</p>
+
+<p>But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was
+morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the
+four wicked Queens, and told them all he had seen, and all about the
+wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar.
+On hearing the groom's story the four Queens cried, and tore their
+hair and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at
+evening and asked them why they were so miserable, they said, &quot;Your
+horse Katar came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and
+we ran away for fear he should kill us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never mind,&quot; said the King. &quot;Only eat your dinner and be happy. I
+will have Katar shot to-morrow.&quot; Then he thought that two men unaided
+could not kill such a wicked horse, so he ordered his servants to bid
+his troop of sepoys shoot him.</p>
+
+<p>So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and
+he took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any
+one who let his horse escape.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up
+the child and said to him, &quot;Go into that little room that leads out of
+the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must
+put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such
+as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the
+sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my
+back.&quot; Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies'
+country, so he could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor
+any of his people knew this.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> When all was ready, Katar burst out of
+his stable, with the prince on his back, rushed past the King himself
+before the King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great
+jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw his horse
+had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy distinctly. The
+sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast;
+and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Then the King had
+to give it up and go home; and the sepoys went to their homes. The
+King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse escape,
+for he himself had let him do so.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_0248.jpg" width="600" height="460" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they
+stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and
+the boy wild fruits which he found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> in the jungle. Next morning they
+started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in
+another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father,
+but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, &quot;Now get off my
+back.&quot; Off jumped the prince. &quot;Unsaddle me and take off my bridle;
+take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with
+your sword and gun.&quot; This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some
+poor, common clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was
+dressed in them the horse said, &quot;Hide your bundle in this grass, and I
+will take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain,
+so that when you want me you will always find me. You must now go away
+and find service with some one in this country.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_08" id="image_08"></a>
+<img src="images/image_0253.jpg" width="500" height="734" alt="THE BOY WITH THE MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD" title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE BOY WITH THE MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>This made the boy very sad. &quot;I know nothing about anything,&quot; he said.
+&quot;What shall I do all alone in this country?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not be afraid,&quot; answered Katar. &quot;You will find service, and I will
+always stay here to help you when you want me. So go, only before you
+go, twist my right ear.&quot; The boy did so, and his horse instantly
+became a donkey. &quot;Now twist your right ear,&quot; said Katar. And when the
+boy had twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, but a poor,
+common-looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were hidden.</p>
+
+<p>Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain
+merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. &quot;I am a poor man,&quot;
+answered the boy, &quot;and I want service.&quot; &quot;Good,&quot; said the grain
+merchant, &quot;you shall be my servant.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> one night at
+twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's
+cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest
+daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could
+sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair,
+and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying
+singing. &quot;Who are you? where do you come from?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>But he answered nothing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to him?&quot; thought the
+little princess, and she went away. On the second night the same thing
+happened, and on the third night too. But on the third night, when she
+found she could not make him answer her, she said to him, &quot;What a
+strange man you are not to answer me when I speak to you.&quot; But still
+he remained silent, so she went away.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, when he had finished his work, the young prince went to
+the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, &quot;Are you quite well and
+happy?&quot; &quot;Yes, I am,&quot; answered the boy. &quot;I am servant to a grain
+merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and
+sung a song, and each night the youngest princess has come to me and
+asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing.
+What shall I do now?&quot; The horse said, &quot;Next time she asks you who you
+are, tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country
+to find service here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when every
+one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his sweet
+song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, and came
+to him. &quot;Who are you? Whence do you come?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am a very poor man,&quot; he answered. &quot;I came from my own country to
+seek service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants.&quot;
+Then she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's
+garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same
+questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers.</p>
+
+<p>Then she went to her father, and said to him, &quot;Father, I wish to be
+married; but I must choose my husband myself.&quot; Her father consented to
+this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rajas in the land,
+saying, &quot;My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on
+choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to
+marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you
+and make her choice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A great many Kings, Rajas, and their sons accepted this invitation and
+came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to
+them, &quot;To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden&quot; (the
+King's garden was very large), &quot;for then my youngest daughter will
+come and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she
+will choose.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the
+next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she
+dressed herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful
+jewels; then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her
+hand she took a gold necklace.</p>
+
+<p>Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rajas, and their sons
+were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the
+garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings
+and Rajas and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the
+neck of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody
+laughed, and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the
+Rajas said, &quot;What fooling is this?&quot; and they pushed the pretended poor
+man away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, &quot;Get
+out of the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty
+for you to come near us!&quot; The boy went far away from them, and stood a
+long way off to see what would happen.</p>
+
+<p>Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garden again,
+holding her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round
+the boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, &quot;How can the King's
+daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!&quot; and the Kings and
+the Rajas, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the
+garden. But the princess said, &quot;Take care! take care! You must not
+turn him out. Leave him alone.&quot; Then she put him on her elephant, and
+took him to the palace.</p>
+
+<p>The Kings and Rajas and their sons were very much astonished, and
+said, &quot;What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of
+us, but chooses that very poor man!&quot; Her father then stood up, and
+said to them all, &quot;I promised my daughter she should marry any one she
+pleased, and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall
+marry him.&quot; And so the princess and the boy were married with great
+pomp and splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her
+choice; and the Kings, the Rajas and their sons, all returned to their
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> and they
+laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed to
+be, and said to each other, mockingly, &quot;See! our sister has married
+this poor, common man!&quot; Their six husbands used to go out hunting
+every day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds
+of game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and
+for the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed
+at home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made
+her very sad, and she said to herself, &quot;My sisters' husbands hunt
+every day, but my husband never hunts at all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At last she said to him, &quot;Why do you never go out hunting as my
+sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home
+quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home,
+instead of doing as they do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>One day he said to her, &quot;I am going out to-day to eat the air.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very good,&quot; she answered; &quot;go, and take one of the horses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; said the young prince, &quot;I will not ride, I will walk.&quot; Then he
+went to the jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time
+had seemed to be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. &quot;Listen,&quot; he
+said; &quot;I have married the youngest princess; and when we were married
+everybody laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor,
+common man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife
+is very sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and
+bring home quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very
+proud of them. But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I
+should like to hunt very much.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well,&quot; said Katar, &quot;then twist my left ear;&quot; and as soon as the boy
+had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer.
+&quot;Now,&quot; said Katar, &quot;twist your left ear, and you will see what a
+beautiful young prince you will become.&quot; So the boy twisted his own
+left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a
+grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, got on
+his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt.</p>
+
+<p>He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer.
+That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful
+young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six
+princes wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they
+grew hungry and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food
+with them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a
+tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him.
+By his side was some delicious water, and also some roast meat.</p>
+
+<p>When they saw him the six princes said to each other, &quot;Look at that
+handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come
+from another country.&quot; Then they came up to him, and made him many
+salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. &quot;Who are
+you?&quot; said the young prince. &quot;We are the husbands of the six elder
+daughters of the King of this country,&quot; they answered; &quot;and we have
+hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty.&quot; They did not
+recognise their brother-in-law in the least.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well,&quot; said the young prince, &quot;I will give you something to eat and
+drink if you will do as I bid you.&quot; &quot;We will do all you tell us to
+do,&quot; they answered, &quot;for if we do not get water to drink, we shall
+die.&quot; &quot;Very good,&quot; said the young prince. &quot;Now you must let me put a
+red-hot pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food
+and water. Do you agree to this?&quot; The six princes consented, for they
+thought, &quot;No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be
+covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to
+drink.&quot; Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in
+the fire; he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave
+them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had
+finished they made him many salaams and went home.</p>
+
+<p>The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he
+mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people
+looked at him as he came riding along, saying, &quot;What a splendid young
+prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.&quot;
+But no one recognised him. When he came near the King's palace, all
+the King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew
+him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who
+he could be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had
+ever been seen.</p>
+
+<p>At last they asked him who he was. &quot;I am the husband of your youngest
+princess,&quot; he answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, indeed you are not,&quot; they said; &quot;for he is a poor,
+common-looking, and ugly man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But I am he,&quot; answered the prince; only no one would believe him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell us the truth,&quot; said the servants; &quot;who are you?&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Perhaps you cannot recognise me,&quot; said the young prince, &quot;but call
+the youngest princess here. I wish to speak to her.&quot; The servants
+called her, and she came. &quot;That man is not my husband,&quot; she said at
+once. &quot;My husband is not nearly as handsome as that man. This must be
+a prince from another country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she said to him, &quot;Who are you? Why do you say you are my
+husband?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth,&quot; answered the
+young prince.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No you are not, you are not telling me the truth,&quot; said the little
+princess. &quot;My husband is not a handsome man like you. I married a very
+poor, common-looking man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is true,&quot; he answered, &quot;but nevertheless I am your husband. I
+was the grain merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your
+father's garden and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who
+I was and where I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same
+thing happened the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told
+you I was a very poor man, and had come from my country to seek
+service in yours, and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then
+you told your father you wished to marry, but must choose your own
+husband; and when all the Kings and Rajas were seated in your father's
+garden, you sat on an elephant and went round and looked at them all;
+and then twice hung your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me.
+See, here is your necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief
+you gave me on our wedding day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a
+beautiful young prince. &quot;What a strange<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> man you are!&quot; she said to
+him. &quot;Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now
+you are beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome
+man as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband.&quot; Then
+she worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a
+husband. &quot;I have,&quot; she said, &quot;a beautiful husband. There is no one
+like him in this country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on
+his chin.&quot; Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her
+father and mother and to every one. They all said they had never seen
+any one like him, and were all very happy. And the young prince lived
+as before in the King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the
+King's stables.</p>
+
+<p>One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his
+court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him,
+&quot;There are six thieves here in your court-house.&quot; &quot;Six thieves!&quot; said
+the King. &quot;Where are they? Show them to me.&quot; &quot;There they are,&quot; said
+the young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and
+every one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would
+not believe the young prince. &quot;Take off their coats,&quot; he said, &quot;and
+then you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a
+thief on his back.&quot; So their coats were taken off the six princes, and
+the King and everybody in the court-house saw the mark of the red-hot
+pice. The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was
+very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at
+him and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man.</p>
+
+<p>Now, when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was
+married, he had told the boy the whole story of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> birth, and all
+that had happened to him and his mother. &quot;When you are married,&quot; he
+said to him, &quot;I will take you back to your father's country.&quot; So two
+months after the young prince had revenged himself on his
+brothers-in-law, Katar said to him, &quot;It is time for you to return to
+your father. Get the King to let you go to your own country, and I
+will tell you what to do when we get there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his
+wife and said to her, &quot;I wish very much to go to my own country to see
+my father and mother.&quot; &quot;Very well,&quot; said his wife; &quot;I will tell my
+father and mother, and ask them to let us go.&quot; Then she went to them,
+and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave
+them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many
+horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great
+many sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the
+prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they
+reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the
+prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Suri
+had swallowed him so often.</p>
+
+<p>When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the
+prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had
+come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to
+ask whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in
+which he said, &quot;You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to
+make war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has
+come to see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a
+grand feast, to which every one in your country must come&mdash;men and
+women, old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children,
+fakirs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and
+I will feast them all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men,
+women, and children of all castes, fakirs, and sepoys, in his country
+to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give
+them. So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All
+came, at least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to
+go to the feast, for no one had thought of her.</p>
+
+<p>When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not
+there, and he asked the King, &quot;Has every one in your country come to
+my feast?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, every one,&quot; said the King.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you sure of that?&quot; asked the prince.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Quite sure,&quot; answered the King.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am sure one woman has not come,&quot; said the prince. &quot;She is your
+gardener's daughter, who was once your wife and is now a servant in
+your palace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;True,&quot; said the King, &quot;I had forgotten her.&quot; Then the prince told his
+servants to take his finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's
+daughter. They were to bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and
+handsome jewels, and then bring her to him in the palanquin.</p>
+
+<p>While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King
+thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed particularly
+the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he wondered in
+what country the young prince was born.</p>
+
+<p>And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and
+the young prince went himself and took her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> out of it, and brought her
+into the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives
+looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered
+that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and
+since then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could
+not do enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see
+her.</p>
+
+<p>When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's
+daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest
+dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, &quot;Who is this
+handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I
+never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the
+King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and
+wondering who he was.</p>
+
+<p>One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. &quot;None,&quot; he
+answered.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you know who I am?&quot; asked the prince.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; said the King. &quot;Tell me who you are.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am your son,&quot; answered the prince, &quot;and the gardener's daughter is
+my mother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King shook his head sadly. &quot;How can you be my son,&quot; he said, &quot;when
+I have never had any children?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But I am your son,&quot; answered the prince. &quot;Your four wicked Queens
+told you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a son;
+but it was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they
+tried to kill me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King did not believe him. &quot;I wish you were my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> son,&quot; he said; &quot;but
+as I never had a child, you cannot be my son.&quot; &quot;Do you remember your
+dog Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do you remember your cow
+Suri, and how you had her killed too? Your wives made you kill them
+because of me. And,&quot; he said, taking the King to Katar, &quot;do you know
+whose horse that is?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King looked at Katar, and then said, &quot;That is my horse Katar.&quot;
+&quot;Yes,&quot; said the prince. &quot;Do you not remember how he rushed past you
+out of his stable with me on his back?&quot; Then Katar told the King the
+prince was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth,
+and of his life up to that moment; and when the King found the
+beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put
+his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now,&quot; said the King, &quot;you must come with me to my palace, and live
+with me always.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No,&quot; said the prince, &quot;that I cannot do. I cannot go to your palace.
+I only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I have found her, I
+will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. I have married a
+King's daughter, and we live with her father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But now that I have found you, I cannot let you go,&quot; said his father.
+&quot;You and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my
+palace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That we will never do,&quot; said the prince, &quot;unless you will kill your
+four wicked Queens with your own hand. If you will do that, we will
+come and live with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the King killed his Queens, and then he and his wife, the
+gardener's daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in
+the King's palace, and lived there happily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> together for ever after;
+and the King thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for
+ridding him of his four wicked wives.</p>
+
+<p>Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with
+the young prince, and never left him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Prince_and_the_Fakir" id="The_Prince_and_the_Fakir"></a>The Prince and the Fakir</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0269.jpg" alt="T" width="150" height="148" /></div>
+<p>here was once upon a time a King who had no children. Now this King
+went and laid him down to rest at a place where four roads met, so
+that every one who passed had to step over him.</p>
+
+<p>At last a Fakir came along, and he said to the King, &quot;Man, why are you
+lying here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He replied, &quot;Fakir, a thousand men have come and passed by; you pass
+on too.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the Fakir said, &quot;Who are you, man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King replied, &quot;I am a King, Fakir. Of goods and gold I have no
+lack, but I have lived long and have no children. So I have come here,
+and have laid me down at the cross-roads. My sins and offences have
+been very many, so I have come and am lying here that men may pass
+over me, and perchance my sins may be forgiven me, and God may be
+merciful, and I may have a son.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Fakir answered him, &quot;Oh King! If you have children, what will you
+give me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whatever you ask, Fakir,&quot; answered the King.</p>
+
+<p>The Fakir said, &quot;Of goods and gold I have no lack, but I will say a
+prayer for you, and you will have two sons; one of those sons will be
+mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<div>
+<img src="images/image_0270_01.jpg" alt="" width="327" height="305" class="figright" title="" />
+<img src="images/image_0270_02.jpg" alt="" width="504" height="219" class="figright"  />
+</div>
+
+<p>Then he took out two sweetmeats and handed them to the King, and said,
+&quot;King! take these two sweetmeats and give them to your wives; give
+them to the wives you love best.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King took the sweetmeats and put them in his bosom.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Fakir said, &quot;King! in a year I will return, and of the two
+sons who will be born to you one is mine and one yours.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The King said, &quot;Well, I agree.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Fakir went on his way, and the King came home and gave one
+sweetmeat to each of his two wives. After some time two sons were born
+to the King. Then what did the King do but place those two sons in an
+underground room, which he had built in the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Some time passed, and one day the Fakir appeared, and said, &quot;King!
+bring me that son of yours!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>What did the King do but bring two slave-girls' sons and present them
+to the Fakir. While the Fakir was sitting there the King's sons were
+sitting down below in their cellar eating their food. Just then a
+hungry ant had carried away a grain of rice from their food, and was
+going along with it to her children. Another stronger ant came up and
+attacked her in order to get this grain of rice. The first ant said,
+&quot;O ant, why do you drag this away from me? I have long been lame in my
+feet, and I have got just one grain, and am carrying it to my
+children. The King's sons are sitting in the cellar eating their food;
+you go and fetch a grain from there; why should you take mine from
+me?&quot; On this the second ant let go and did not rob the first, but went
+off to where the King's sons were eating their food.</p>
+
+<p>On hearing this the Fakir said, &quot;King! these are not your sons; go and
+bring those children who are eating their food in the cellar.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the King went and brought his own sons. The Fakir chose the
+eldest son and took him away, and set off with him on his journey.
+When he got home he told the King's son to go out to gather fuel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So the King's son went out to gather cow-dung, and when he had
+collected some he brought it in.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Fakir looked at the King's son and put on a great pot, and
+said, &quot;Come round here, my pupil.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the King's son said, &quot;Master first, and pupil after.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Fakir told him to come once, he told him twice, he told him three
+times, and each time the King's son answered, &quot;Master first, and pupil
+after.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Fakir made a dash at the King's son, thinking to catch him
+and throw him into the caldron. There were about a hundred gallons of
+oil in this caldron, and the fire was burning beneath it. Then the
+King's son, lifting the Fakir, gave him a jerk and threw him into the
+caldron, and he was burnt, and became roast meat. He then saw a key of
+the Fakir's lying there; he took this key and opened the door of the
+Fakir's house. Now many men were locked up in this house; two horses
+were standing there in a hut of the Fakir's; two greyhounds were tied
+up there; two simurgs were imprisoned, and two tigers also stood
+there. So the King's son let all the creatures go, and took them out
+of the house, and they all returned thanks to God. Next he let out all
+the men who were in prison. He took away with him the two horses, and
+he took away the two tigers, and he took away the two hounds, and he
+took away the two simurgs, and with them he set out for another
+country.</p>
+
+<p>As he went along the road he saw above him a bald man, grazing a herd
+of calves, and this bald man called out to him, &quot;Fellow! can you fight
+at all?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King's son replied, &quot;When I was little I could fight a bit, and
+now, if any one wants to fight, I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> not so unmanly as to turn my
+back. Come, I will fight you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The bald man said, &quot;If I throw you, you shall be my slave; and if you
+throw me, I will be your slave.&quot; So they got ready and began to fight,
+and the King's son threw him.</p>
+
+<p>On this the King's son said, &quot;I will leave my beasts here, my simurgs,
+tigers, and dogs, and horses; they will all stay here while I go to
+the city to see the sights. I appoint the tiger as guard over my
+property. And you are my slave, you, too, must stay here with my
+belongings.&quot; So the King's son started off to the city to see the
+sights, and arrived at a pool.</p>
+
+<p>He saw that it was a pleasant pool, and thought he would stop and
+bathe there, and therewith he began to strip off his clothes.</p>
+
+<p>Now the King's daughter, who was sitting on the roof of the palace,
+saw his royal marks, and she said, &quot;This man is a king; when I marry,
+I will marry him and no other.&quot; So she said to her father, &quot;My father;
+I wish to marry.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said her father.</p>
+
+<p>Then the King made a proclamation: &quot;Let all men, great and small,
+attend to-day in the hall of audience, for the King's daughter will
+to-day take a husband.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All the men of the land assembled, and the traveller Prince also came,
+dressed in the Fakir's clothes, saying to himself, &quot;I must see this
+ceremony to-day.&quot; He went in and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>The King's daughter came out and sat in the balcony, and cast her
+glance round all the assembly. She noticed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> that the traveller Prince
+was sitting in the assembly in Fakir's attire.</p>
+
+<p>The Princess said to her handmaiden, &quot;Take this dish of henna, go to
+that traveller dressed like a Fakir, and sprinkle scent on him from
+the dish.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The handmaiden obeyed the Princess's order, went to him, and sprinkled
+the scent over him.</p>
+
+<p>Then the people said, &quot;The slave-girl has made a mistake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But she replied, &quot;The slave-girl has made no mistake, 'tis her
+mistress has made the mistake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On this the King married his daughter to the Fakir, who was really no
+Fakir, but a Prince.</p>
+
+<p>What fate had decreed came to pass in that country, and they were
+married. But the King of that city became very sad in his heart,
+because when so many chiefs and nobles were sitting there his daughter
+had chosen none of them, but had chosen that Fakir; but he kept these
+thoughts concealed in his heart.</p>
+
+<p>One day the traveller Prince said, &quot;Let all the King's sons-in-law
+come out with me to-day to hunt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>People said, &quot;What is this Fakir that he should go a-hunting?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>However, they all set out for the hunt, and fixed their meeting-place
+at a certain pool.</p>
+
+<p>The newly married Prince went to his tigers, and told his tigers and
+hounds to kill and bring in a great number of gazelles and hog-deer
+and markhor. Instantly they killed and brought in a great number. Then
+taking with him these spoils of the chase, the Prince came to the pool
+settled on as a meeting-place. The other Princes, sons-in-law of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> the
+King of that city, also assembled there; but they had brought in no
+game, and the new Prince had brought a great deal. Thence they
+returned home to the town, and went to the King their father-in-law,
+to present their game.</p>
+
+<p>Now that King had no son. Then the new Prince told him that in fact
+he, too, was a Prince. At this the King, his father-in-law, was
+greatly delighted and took him by the hand and embraced him. He seated
+him by himself, saying, &quot;O Prince, I return thanks that you have come
+here and become my son-in-law; I am very happy at this, and I make
+over my kingdom to you.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/image_0276_1.jpg" width="400" height="257" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="Why_the_Fish_Laughed" id="Why_the_Fish_Laughed"></a>Why the Fish Laughed.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0276_2.jpg" alt="A" width="150" height="150" /></div>
+<p>s a certain fisherwoman passed by a palace crying her fish, the queen
+appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show
+what she had. At that moment a very big fish jumped about in the
+bottom of the basket.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it a he or a she?&quot; inquired the queen. &quot;I wish to purchase a she
+fish.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On hearing this the fish laughed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's a he,&quot; replied the fisherwoman, and proceeded on her rounds.</p>
+
+<p>The queen returned to her room in a great rage; and on coming to see
+her in the evening, the king noticed that something had disturbed her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you indisposed?&quot; he said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No; but I am very much annoyed at the strange behaviour of a fish. A
+woman brought me one to-day, and on my inquiring whether it was a male
+or female, the fish laughed most rudely.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;A fish laugh! Impossible! You must be dreaming.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am not a fool. I speak of what I have seen with my own eyes and
+have heard with my own ears.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Passing strange! Be it so. I will inquire concerning it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On the morrow the king repeated to his vizier what his wife had told
+him, and bade him investigate the matter, and be ready with a
+satisfactory answer within six months, on pain of death. The vizier
+promised to do his best, though he felt almost certain of failure. For
+five months he laboured indefatigably to find a reason for the
+laughter of the fish. He sought everywhere and from every one. The
+wise and learned, and they who were skilled in magic and in all manner
+of trickery, were consulted. Nobody, however, could explain the
+matter; and so he returned broken-hearted to his house, and began to
+arrange his affairs in prospect of certain death, for he had had
+sufficient experience of the king to know that His Majesty would not
+go back from his threat. Amongst other things, he advised his son to
+travel for a time, until the king's anger should have somewhat cooled.</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow, who was both clever and handsome, started off
+whithersoever Kismat might lead him. He had been gone some days, when
+he fell in with an old farmer, who also was on a journey to a certain
+village. Finding the old man very pleasant, he asked him if he might
+accompany him, professing to be on a visit to the same place. The old
+farmer agreed, and they walked along together. The day was hot, and
+the way was long and weary.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't you think it would be pleasanter if you and I sometimes gave
+one another a lift?&quot; said the youth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;What a fool the man is!&quot; thought the old farmer.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they passed through a field of corn ready for the sickle,
+and looking like a sea of gold as it waved to and fro in the breeze.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is this eaten or not?&quot; said the young man.</p>
+
+<p>Not understanding his meaning, the old man replied, &quot;I don't know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After a little while the two travellers arrived at a big village,
+where the young man gave his companion a clasp-knife, and said, &quot;Take
+this, friend, and get two horses with it; but mind and bring it back,
+for it is very precious.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The old man, looking half amused and half angry, pushed back the
+knife, muttering something to the effect that his friend was either a
+fool himself or else trying to play the fool with him. The young man
+pretended not to notice his reply, and remained almost silent till
+they reached the city, a short distance outside which was the old
+farmer's house. They walked about the bazaar and went to the mosque,
+but nobody saluted them or invited them to come in and rest.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What a large cemetery!&quot; exclaimed the young man.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What does the man mean,&quot; thought the old farmer, &quot;calling this
+largely populated city a cemetery?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On leaving the city their way led through a cemetery where a few
+people were praying beside a grave and distributing chapatis and
+kulchas to passers-by, in the name of their beloved dead. They
+beckoned to the two travellers and gave them as much as they would.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What a splendid city this is!&quot; said the young man.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now, the man must surely be demented!&quot; thought the old farmer. &quot;I
+wonder what he will do next? He will be calling the land water, and
+the water land; and be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> speaking of light where there is darkness, and
+of darkness when it is light.&quot; However, he kept his thoughts to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they had to wade through a stream that ran along the edge of
+the cemetery. The water was rather deep, so the old farmer took off
+his shoes and paijamas and crossed over; but the young man waded
+through it with his shoes and paijamas on.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well! I never did see such a perfect fool, both in word and in deed,&quot;
+said the old man to himself.</p>
+
+<p>However, he liked the fellow; and thinking that he would amuse his
+wife and daughter, he invited him to come and stay at his house as
+long as he had occasion to remain in the village.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank you very much,&quot; the young man replied; &quot;but let me first
+inquire, if you please, whether the beam of your house is strong.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The old farmer left him in despair, and entered his house laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is a man in yonder field,&quot; he said, after returning their
+greetings. &quot;He has come the greater part of the way with me, and I
+wanted him to put up here as long as he had to stay in this village.
+But the fellow is such a fool that I cannot make anything out of him.
+He wants to know if the beam of this house is all right. The man must
+be mad!&quot; and saying this, he burst into a fit of laughter.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Father,&quot; said the farmer's daughter, who was a very sharp and wise
+girl, &quot;this man, whosoever he is, is no fool, as you deem him. He only
+wishes to know if you can afford to entertain him.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh! of course,&quot; replied the farmer. &quot;I see. Well perhaps you can help
+me to solve some of his other mysteries. While we were walking
+together he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as
+he thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Most assuredly,&quot; said the girl. &quot;He meant that one of you should tell
+a story to beguile the time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh yes. Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me
+whether it was eaten or not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And didn't you know the meaning of this, father? He simply wished to
+know if the man was in debt or not; because, if the owner of the field
+was in debt, then the produce of the field was as good as eaten to
+him; that is, it would have to go to his creditors.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, yes, yes; of course! Then, on entering a certain village, he
+bade me take his clasp knife and get two horses with it, and bring
+back the knife again to him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are not two stout sticks as good as two horses for helping one along
+on the road? He only asked you to cut a couple of sticks and be
+careful not to lose his knife.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see,&quot; said the farmer. &quot;While we were walking over the city we did
+not see anybody that we knew, and not a soul gave us a scrap of
+anything to eat, till we were passing the cemetery; but there some
+people called to us and put into our hands some chapatis and kulchas;
+so my companion called the city a cemetery, and the cemetery a city.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This also is to be understood, father, if one thinks of the city as
+the place where everything is to be obtained, and of inhospitable
+people as worse than the dead. The city, though crowded with people,
+was as if dead, as far as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> you were concerned; while, in the cemetery,
+which is crowded with the dead, you were saluted by kind friends and
+provided with bread.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;True, true!&quot; said the astonished farmer. &quot;Then, just now, when we
+were crossing the stream, he waded through it without taking off his
+shoes and paijamas.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I admire his wisdom,&quot; replied the girl. &quot;I have often thought how
+stupid people were to venture into that swiftly flowing stream and
+over those sharp stones with bare feet. The slightest stumble and they
+would fall, and be wetted from head to foot. This friend of yours is a
+most wise man. I should like to see him and speak to him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well,&quot; said the farmer; &quot;I will go and find him, and bring him
+in.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell him, father, that our beams are strong enough, and then he will
+come in. I'll send on ahead a present to the man, to show him that we
+can afford to have him for our guest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly she called a servant and sent him to the young man with a
+present of a basin of ghee, twelve chapatis, and a jar of milk, and
+the following message:&mdash;&quot;O friend, the moon is full; twelve months
+make a year, and the sea is overflowing with water.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Half-way the bearer of this present and message met his little son,
+who, seeing what was in the basket, begged his father to give him some
+of the food. His father foolishly complied. Presently he saw the young
+man, and gave him the rest of the present and the message.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give your mistress my salam,&quot; he replied, &quot;and tell her that the moon
+is new, and that I can only find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> eleven months in the year, and the
+sea is by no means full.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Not understanding the meaning of these words, the servant repeated
+them word for word, as he had heard them, to his mistress; and thus
+his theft was discovered, and he was severely punished. After a little
+while the young man appeared with the old farmer. Great attention was
+shown to him, and he was treated in every way as if he were the son of
+a great man, although his humble host knew nothing of his origin. At
+length he told them everything&mdash;about the laughing of the fish, his
+father's threatened execution, and his own banishment&mdash;and asked their
+advice as to what he should do.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The laughing of the fish,&quot; said the girl, &quot;which seems to have been
+the cause of all this trouble, indicates that there is a man in the
+palace who is plotting against the king's life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Joy, joy!&quot; exclaimed the vizier's son. &quot;There is yet time for me to
+return and save my father from an ignominious and unjust death, and
+the king from danger.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The following day he hastened back to his own country, taking with him
+the farmer's daughter. Immediately on arrival he ran to the palace and
+informed his father of what he had heard. The poor vizier, now almost
+dead from the expectation of death, was at once carried to the king,
+to whom he repeated the news that his son had just brought.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never!&quot; said the king.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But it must be so, Your Majesty,&quot; replied the vizier; &quot;and in order
+to prove the truth of what I have heard, I pray you to call together
+all the maids in your palace, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> order them to jump over a pit,
+which must be dug. We'll soon find out whether there is any man
+there.&quot;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0283.jpg" width="500" height="453" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The king had the pit dug, and commanded all the maids belonging to the
+palace to try to jump it. All of them tried, but only one succeeded.
+That one was found to be a man!!</p>
+
+<p>Thus was the queen satisfied, and the faithful old vizier saved.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards, as soon as could be, the vizier's son married the old
+farmer's daughter; and a most happy marriage it was.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Demon_with_the_Matted_Hair" id="The_Demon_with_the_Matted_Hair"></a>The Demon with the Matted Hair</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0284.jpg" alt="T" width="150" height="150" /></div>
+<p><i>his story the Teacher told in Jetavana about a Brother who
+had ceased striving after righteousness. Said the Teacher to
+him: &quot;Is it really true that you have ceased all
+striving?&quot;&mdash;&quot;Yes, Blessed One,&quot; he replied. Then the Teacher
+said: &quot;O Brother, in former days wise men made effort in the
+place where effort should be made, and so attained unto
+royal power.&quot; And he told a story of long ago.</i></p>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<p>Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was King of Benares, the
+Bodhisatta was born as son of his chief queen. On his name-day they
+asked 800 Brahmans, having satisfied them with all their desires,
+about his lucky marks. The Brahmans who had skill in divining from
+such marks beheld the excellence of his, and made answer:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Full of goodness, great King, is your son, and when you die he will
+become king; he shall be famous and renowned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> for his skill with the
+five weapons, and shall be the chief man in all India.&quot; On hearing
+what the Brahmans had to say, they gave him the name of the Prince of
+the Five Weapons, sword, spear, bow, battle-axe, and shield.</p>
+
+<p>When he came to years of discretion, and had attained the measure of
+sixteen years, the King said to him:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My son, go and complete your education.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who shall be my teacher?&quot; the lad asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go, my son; in the kingdom of Candahar, in the city of Takkasila, is
+a far-famed teacher from whom I wish you to learn. Take this, and give
+it him for a fee.&quot; With that he gave him a thousand pieces of money,
+and dismissed him.</p>
+
+<p>The lad departed, and was educated by this teacher; he received the
+Five Weapons from him as a gift, bade him farewell, and leaving
+Takkasila, he began his journey to Benares, armed with the Five
+Weapons.</p>
+
+<p>On his way he came to a forest inhabited by the Demon with the Matted
+Hair. At the entering in of the forest some men saw him, and cried
+out:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hullo, young sir, keep clear of that wood! There's a Demon in it
+called he of the Matted Hair: he kills every man he sees!&quot; And they
+tried to stop him. But the Bodhisatta, having confidence in himself,
+went straight on, fearless as a maned lion.</p>
+
+<p>When he reached mid-forest the Demon showed himself. He made himself
+as tall as a palm tree; his head was the size of a pagoda, his eyes as
+big as saucers, and he had two tusks all over knobs and bulbs; he had
+the face of a hawk, a variegated belly, and blue hands and feet.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Where are you going?&quot; he shouted. &quot;Stop! You'll make a meal for me!&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="image_09" id="image_09"></a>
+<img src="images/image_0293.jpg" width="500" height="644" alt="THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR" title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Said the Bodhisatta: &quot;Demon, I came here trusting in myself. I advise
+you to be careful how you come near me. Here's a poisoned arrow, which
+I'll shoot at you and knock you down!&quot; With this menace, he fitted to
+his bow an arrow dipped in deadly poison, and let fly. The arrow stuck
+fast in the Demon's hair. Then he shot and shot, till he had shot away
+fifty arrows; and they all stuck in the Demon's hair. The Demon
+snapped them all off short, and threw them down at his feet; then came
+up to the Bodhisatta, who drew his sword and struck the Demon,
+threatening him the while. His sword&mdash;it was three-and-thirty inches
+long&mdash;stuck in the Demon's hair! The Bodhisatta struck him with his
+spear&mdash;that stuck too! He struck him with his club&mdash;and that stuck
+too!</p>
+
+<p>When the Bodhisatta saw that this had stuck fast, he addressed the
+Demon. &quot;You, Demon!&quot; said he, &quot;did you never hear of me before&mdash;the
+Prince of the Five Weapons? When I came into the forest which you live
+in I did not trust to my bow and other weapons. This day will I pound
+you and grind you to powder!&quot; Thus did he declare his resolve, and
+with a shout he hit at the Demon with his right hand. It stuck fast in
+his hair! He hit him with his left hand&mdash;that stuck too! With his
+right foot he kicked him&mdash;that stuck too; then with his left&mdash;and that
+stuck too! Then he butted at him with his head, crying, &quot;I'll pound
+you to powder!&quot; and his head stuck fast like the rest.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the Bodhisatta was five times snared, caught fast in five places,
+hanging suspended: yet he felt no fear&mdash;was not even nervous.</p>
+
+<p>Thought the Demon to himself: &quot;Here's a lion of a man! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>A
+noble man! More than man is he! Here he is, caught by a Demon like me;
+yet he will not fear a bit. Since I have ravaged this road, I never
+saw such a man. Now, why is it that he does not fear?&quot; He was
+powerless to eat the man, but asked him: &quot;Why is it, young sir, that
+you are not frightened to death?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why should I fear, Demon?&quot; replied he. &quot;In one life a man can die but
+once. Besides, in my belly is a thunderbolt; if you eat me, you will
+never be able to digest it; this will tear your inwards into little
+bits, and kill you: so we shall both perish. That is why I fear
+nothing.&quot; (By this, the Bodhisatta meant the weapon of knowledge which
+he had within him.)</p>
+
+<p>When he heard this, the Demon thought: &quot;This young man speaks the
+truth. A piece of the flesh of such a lion-man as he would be too much
+for me to digest, if it were no bigger than a kidney-bean. I'll let
+him go!&quot; So, being frightened to death, he let go the Bodhisatta,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Young sir, you are a lion of a man! I will not eat you up. I set you
+free from my hands, as the moon is disgorged from the jaws of R&#257;hu
+after the eclipse. Go back to the company of your friends and
+relations!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And the Bodhisatta said: &quot;Demon, I will go, as you say. You were born
+a Demon, cruel, blood-bibbing, devourer of the flesh and gore of
+others, because you did wickedly in former lives. If you still go on
+doing wickedly, you will go from darkness to darkness. But now that
+you have seen me you will find it impossible to do wickedly. Taking
+the life of living creatures causes birth, as an animal, in the world
+of Petas, or in the body of an Asura, or, if one is reborn as a man,
+it makes his life short.&quot; With this and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> like monition he told him
+the disadvantage of the five kinds of wickedness, and the profit of
+the five kinds of virtue, and frightened the Demon in various ways,
+discoursing to him until he subdued him and made him self-denying, and
+established him in the five kinds of virtue; he made him worship the
+deity to whom offerings were made in that wood; and having carefully
+admonished him, departed out of it.</p>
+
+<p>At the entrance of the forest he told all to the people thereabout;
+and went on to Benares, armed with his five weapons. Afterwards he
+became king, and ruled righteously; and after giving alms and doing
+good he passed away according to his deeds.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p><i>And the Teacher, when this tale was ended, became perfectly
+enlightened, and repeated this verse</i>:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Whose mind and heart from all desire is free,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Who seeks for peace by living virtuously,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>He in due time will sever all the bonds</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>That bind him fast to life, and cease to be.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><i>Thus the Teacher reached the summit, through sainthood and the
+teaching of the law, and thereupon he declared the Four Truths. At the
+end of the declaring of the Truths, this Brother also attained to
+sainthood. Then the Teacher made the connexion, and gave the key to
+the birth-tale, saying: &quot;At that time Angulimala was the Demon, but
+the Prince of the Five Weapons was I myself.&quot;</i></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_0297_1.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="The_Ivory_City_and_its_Fairy_Princess" id="The_Ivory_City_and_its_Fairy_Princess"></a>The Ivory City and its Fairy Princess</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0297_2.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="148" /></div>
+<p>ne day a young prince was out practising archery with the son of his
+father's chief vizier, when one of the arrows accidentally struck the
+wife of a merchant, who was walking about in an upper room of a house
+close by. The prince aimed at a bird that was perched on the
+window-sill of that room, and had not the slightest idea that anybody
+was at hand, or he would not have shot in that direction.
+Consequently, not knowing what had happened, he and the vizier's son
+walked away, the vizier's son chaffing him because he had missed the
+bird.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Presently the merchant went to ask his wife about something, and found
+her lying, to all appearance, dead in the middle of the room, and an
+arrow fixed in the ground within half a yard of her head. Supposing
+that she was dead, he rushed to the window and shrieked, &quot;Thieves
+thieves! They have killed my wife.&quot; The neighbours quickly gathered,
+and the servants came running upstairs to see what was the matter. It
+happened that the woman had fainted, and that there was only a very
+slight wound in her breast where the arrow had grazed.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the woman recovered her senses she told them that two young
+men had passed by the place with their bows and arrows, and that one
+of them had most deliberately aimed at her as she stood by the window.</p>
+
+<p>On hearing this the merchant went to the king, and told him what had
+taken place. His Majesty was much enraged at such audacious
+wickedness, and swore that most terrible punishment should be visited
+on the offender if he could be discovered. He ordered the merchant to
+go back and ascertain whether his wife could recognise the young men
+if she saw them again.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh yes,&quot; replied the woman, &quot;I should know them again among all the
+people in the city.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then,&quot; said the king, when the merchant brought back this reply,
+&quot;to-morrow I will cause all the male inhabitants of this city to pass
+before your house, and your wife will stand at the window and watch
+for the man who did this wanton deed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A royal proclamation was issued to this effect. So the next day all
+the men and boys of the city, from the age of ten years upwards,
+assembled and marched by the house of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> the merchant. By chance (for
+they both had been excused from obeying this order) the king's son and
+the vizier's son were also in the company, and passed by in the crowd.
+They came to see the tamasha.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as these two appeared in front of the merchant's window they
+were recognised by the merchant's wife, and at once reported to the
+king.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My own son and the son of my chief vizier!&quot; exclaimed the king, who
+had been present from the commencement. &quot;What examples for the people!
+Let them both be executed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not so, your Majesty,&quot; said the vizier, &quot;I beseech you. Let the facts
+of the case be thoroughly investigated. How is it?&quot; he continued,
+turning to the two young men. &quot;Why have you done this cruel thing?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shot an arrow at a bird that was sitting on the sill of an open
+window in yonder house, and missed,&quot; answered the prince. &quot;I suppose
+the arrow struck the merchant's wife. Had I known that she or anybody
+had been near I should not have shot in that direction.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We will speak of this later on,&quot; said the king, on hearing this
+answer. &quot;Dismiss the people. Their presence is no longer needed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In the evening his Majesty and the vizier had a long and earnest talk
+about their two sons. The king wished both of them to be executed; but
+the vizier suggested that the prince should be banished from the
+country. This was finally agreed to.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, on the following morning, a little company of soldiers
+escorted the prince out of the city. When they reached the last
+custom-house the vizier's son overtook<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> them. He had come with all
+haste, bringing with him four bags of muhrs on four horses. &quot;I am
+come,&quot; he said, throwing his arms round the prince's neck, &quot;because I
+cannot let you go alone. We have lived together, we will be exiled
+together, and we will die together. Turn me not back, if you love me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Consider,&quot; the prince answered, &quot;what you are doing. All kinds of
+trial may be before me. Why should you leave your home and country to
+be with me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Because I love you,&quot; he said, &quot;and shall never be happy without you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the two friends walked along hand in hand as fast as they could to
+get out of the country, and behind them marched the soldiers and the
+horses with their valuable burdens. On reaching a place on the borders
+of the king's dominions the prince gave the soldiers some gold, and
+ordered them to return. The soldiers took the money and left; they did
+not, however, go very far, but hid themselves behind rocks and stones,
+and waited till they were quite sure that the prince did not intend to
+come back.</p>
+
+<p>On and on the exiles walked, till they arrived at a certain village,
+where they determined to spend the night under one of the big trees of
+the place. The prince made preparations for a fire, and arranged the
+few articles of bedding that they had with them, while the vizier's
+son went to the baniya and the baker and the butcher to get something
+for their dinner. For some reason he was delayed; perhaps the tsut was
+not quite ready, or the baniya had not got all the spices prepared.
+After waiting half an hour the prince became impatient, and rose up
+and walked about.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He saw a pretty, clear little brook running along not far from their
+resting-place, and hearing that its source was not far distant, he
+started off to find it. The source was a beautiful lake, which at that
+time was covered with the magnificent lotus flower and other water
+plants. The prince sat down on the bank, and being thirsty took up
+some of the water in his hand. Fortunately he looked into his hand
+before drinking, and there, to his great astonishment, he saw
+reflected whole and clear the image of a beautiful fairy. He looked
+round, hoping to see the reality; but seeing no person, he drank the
+water, and put out his hand to take some more. Again he saw the
+reflection in the water which was in his palm. He looked around as
+before, and this time discovered a fairy sitting by the bank on the
+opposite side of the lake. On seeing her he fell so madly in love with
+her that he dropped down in a swoon.</p>
+
+<p>When the vizier's son returned, and found the fire lighted, the horses
+securely fastened, and the bags of muhrs lying altogether in a heap,
+but no prince, he did not know what to think. He waited a little
+while, and then shouted; but not getting any reply, he got up and went
+to the brook. There he came across the footmarks of his friend. Seeing
+these, he went back at once for the money and the horses, and bringing
+them with him, he tracked the prince to the lake, where he found him
+lying to all appearance dead.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas! alas!&quot; he cried, and lifting up the prince, he poured some
+water over his head and face. &quot;Alas! my brother, what is this? Oh! do
+not die and leave me thus. Speak, speak! I cannot bear this!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the prince, revived by the water, opened his eyes,
+and looked about wildly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank God!&quot; exclaimed the vizier's son. &quot;But what is the matter,
+brother?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go away,&quot; replied the prince. &quot;I don't want to say anything to you,
+or to see you. Go away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, come; let us leave this place. Look, I have brought some food
+for you, and horses, and everything. Let us eat and depart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Go alone,&quot; replied the prince.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never,&quot; said the vizier's son. &quot;What has happened to suddenly
+estrange you from me? A little while ago we were brethren, but now you
+detest the sight of me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have looked upon a fairy,&quot; the prince said. &quot;But a moment I saw her
+face; for when she noticed that I was looking at her she covered her
+face with lotus petals. Oh, how beautiful she was! And while I gazed
+she took out of her bosom an ivory box, and held it up to me. Then I
+fainted. Oh! if you can get me that fairy for my wife, I will go
+anywhere with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, brother,&quot; said the vizier's son, &quot;you have indeed seen a fairy.
+She is a fairy of the fairies. This is none other than Gulizar of the
+Ivory City. I know this from the signs that she gave you. From her
+covering her face with lotus petals I learn her name, and from her
+showing you the ivory box I learn where she lives. Be patient, and
+rest assured that I will arrange your marriage with her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the prince heard these encouraging words he felt much comforted,
+rose up, and ate, and then went away gladly with his friend.</p>
+
+<p>On the way they met two men. These two men belonged to a family of
+robbers. There were eleven of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> altogether. One, an elder sister,
+stayed at home and cooked the food, and the other ten&mdash;all
+brothers&mdash;went out, two and two, and walked about the four different
+ways that ran through that part of the country, robbing those
+travellers who could not resist them, and inviting others, who were
+too powerful for two of them to manage, to come and rest at their
+house, where the whole family attacked them and stole their goods.
+These thieves lived in a kind of tower, which had several strong-rooms
+in it, and under it was a great pit, wherein they threw the corpses of
+the poor unfortunates who chanced to fall into their power.</p>
+
+<p>The two men came forward, and, politely accosting them, begged them to
+come and stay at their house for the night. &quot;It is late,&quot; they said,
+&quot;and there is not another village within several miles.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall we accept this good man's invitation, brother?&quot; asked the
+prince.</p>
+
+<p>The vizier's son frowned slightly in token of disapproval; but the
+prince was tired, and thinking that it was only a whim of his
+friend's, he said to the men, &quot;Very well. It is very kind of you to
+ask us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they all four went to the robbers' tower.</p>
+
+<p>Seated in a room, with the door fastened on the outside, the two
+travellers bemoaned their fate.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is no good groaning,&quot; said the vizier's son. &quot;I will climb to the
+window, and see whether there are any means of escape. Yes! yes!&quot; he
+whispered, when he had reached the window-hole. &quot;Below there is a
+ditch surrounded by a high wall. I will jump down and reconnoitre. You
+stay here, and wait till I return.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Presently he came back and told the prince that he had seen a most
+ugly woman, whom he supposed was the robbers' housekeeper. She had
+agreed to release them on the promise of her marriage with the prince.</p>
+
+<p>So the woman led the way out of the enclosure by a secret door.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But where are the horses and the goods?&quot; the vizier's son inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You cannot bring them,&quot; the woman said. &quot;To go out by any other way
+would be to thrust oneself into the grave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All right, then; they also shall go out by this door. I have a charm,
+whereby I can make them thin or fat.&quot; So the vizier's son fetched the
+horses without any person knowing it, and repeating the charm, he made
+them pass through the narrow doorway like pieces of cloth, and when
+they were all outside restored them to their former condition. He at
+once mounted his horse and laid hold of the halter of one of the other
+horses, and then beckoning to the prince to do likewise, he rode off.
+The prince saw his opportunity, and in a moment was riding after him,
+having the woman behind him.</p>
+
+<p>Now the robbers heard the galloping of the horses, and ran out and
+shot their arrows at the prince and his companions. And one of the
+arrows killed the woman, so they had to leave her behind.</p>
+
+<p>On, on they rode, until they reached a village where they stayed the
+night. The following morning they were off again, and asked for Ivory
+City from every passer-by. At length they came to this famous city,
+and put up at a little hut that belonged to an old woman, from whom
+they feared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> no harm, and with whom, therefore, they could abide in
+peace and comfort. At first the old woman did not like the idea of
+these travellers staying in her house, but the sight of a muhr, which
+the prince dropped in the bottom of a cup in which she had given him
+water, and a present of another muhr from the vizier's son, quickly
+made her change her mind. She agreed to let them stay there for a few
+days.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as her work was over the old woman came and sat down with her
+lodgers. The vizier's son pretended to be utterly ignorant of the
+place and people. &quot;Has this city a name?&quot; he asked the old woman.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of course it has, you stupid. Every little village, much more a city,
+and such a city as this, has a name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is the name of this city?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ivory City. Don't you know that? I thought the name was known all
+over the world.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On the mention of the name Ivory City the prince gave a deep sigh. The
+vizier's son looked as much as to say, &quot;Keep quiet, or you'll discover
+the secret.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is there a king of this country?&quot; continued the vizier's son.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of course there is, and a queen, and a princess.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are their names?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The name of the princess is Gulizar, and the name of the queen&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The vizier's son interrupted the old woman by turning to look at the
+prince, who was staring like a madman. &quot;Yes,&quot; he said to him
+afterwards, &quot;we are in the right country. We shall see the beautiful
+princess.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One morning the two travellers noticed the old woman's most careful
+toilette: how careful she was in the arrangement of her hair and the
+set of her kasabah and puts.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who is coming?&quot; said the vizier's son.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nobody,&quot; the old woman replied.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then where are you going?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am going to see my daughter, who is a servant of the Princess
+Gulizar. I see her and the princess every day. I should have gone
+yesterday, if you had not been here and taken up all my time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah-h-h! Be careful not to say anything about us in the hearing of the
+princess.&quot; The vizier's son asked her not to speak about them at the
+palace, hoping that, because she had been told not to do so, she would
+mention their arrival, and thus the princess would be informed of
+their coming.</p>
+
+<p>On seeing her mother the girl pretended to be very angry. &quot;Why have
+you not been for two days?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Because, my dear,&quot; the old woman answered, &quot;two young travellers, a
+prince and the son of some great vizier, have taken up their abode in
+my hut, and demand so much of my attention. It is nothing but cooking
+and cleaning, and cleaning and cooking, all day long. I can't
+understand the men,&quot; she added; &quot;one of them especially appears very
+stupid. He asked me the name of this country and the the name of the
+king. Now where can these men have come from, that they do not know
+these things? However, they are very great and very rich. They each
+give me a muhr every morning and every evening.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After this the old woman went and repeated almost the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> same words to
+the princess, on the hearing of which the princess beat her severely;
+and threatened her with a severer punishment if she ever again spoke
+of the strangers before her.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, when the old woman had returned to her hut, she told
+the vizier's son how sorry she was that she could not help breaking
+her promise, and how the princess had struck her because she mentioned
+their coming and all about them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Alas! alas!&quot; said the prince, who had eagerly listened to every word.
+&quot;What, then, will be her anger at the sight of a man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Anger?&quot; said the vizier's son, with an astonished air. &quot;She would be
+exceedingly glad to see one man. I know this. In this treatment of the
+old woman I see her request that you will go and see her during the
+coming dark fortnight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven be praised!&quot; the prince exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>The next time the old woman went to the palace Gulizar called one of
+her servants and ordered her to rush into the room while she was
+conversing with the old woman; and if the old woman asked what was the
+matter, she was to say that the king's elephants had gone mad, and
+were rushing about the city and bazaar in every direction, and
+destroying everything in their way.</p>
+
+<p>The servant obeyed, and the old woman, fearing lest the elephants
+should go and push down her hut and kill the prince and his friend,
+begged the princess to let her depart. Now Gulizar had obtained a
+charmed swing, that landed whoever sat on it at the place wherever
+they wished to be. &quot;Get the swing,&quot; she said to one of the servants
+standing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> by. When it was brought she bade the old woman step into it
+and desire to be at home.</p>
+
+<p>The old woman did so, and was at once carried through the air quickly
+and safely to her hut, where she found her two lodgers safe and sound.
+&quot;Oh!&quot; she cried, &quot;I thought that both of you would be killed by this
+time. The royal elephants have got loose and are running about wildly.
+When I heard this I was anxious about you. So the princess gave me
+this charmed swing to return in. But come, let us get outside before
+the elephants arrive and batter down the place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't believe this,&quot; said the vizier's son. &quot;It is a mere hoax. They
+have been playing tricks with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will soon have your heart's desire,&quot; he whispered aside to the
+prince. &quot;These things are signs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Two days of the dark fortnight had elapsed, when the prince and the
+vizier's son seated themselves in the swing, and wished themselves
+within the grounds of the palace. In a moment they were there, and
+there too was the object of their search standing by one of the palace
+gates, and longing to see the prince quite as much as he was longing
+to see her.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, what a happy meeting it was!</p>
+
+<p>&quot;At last,&quot; said Gulizar, &quot;I have seen my beloved, my husband.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A thousand thanks to Heaven for bringing me to you,&quot; said the prince.</p>
+
+<p>Then the prince and Gulizar betrothed themselves to one another and
+parted, the one for the hut and the other for the palace, both of them
+feeling happier than they had ever been before.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Henceforth the prince visited Gulizar every day and returned to the
+hut every night. One morning Gulizar begged him to stay with her
+always. She was constantly afraid of some evil happening to
+him&mdash;perhaps robbers would slay him, or sickness attack him, and then
+she would be deprived of him. She could not live without seeing him.
+The prince showed her that there was no real cause for fear, and said
+that he felt he ought to return to his friend at night, because he had
+left his home and country and risked his life for him; and, moreover,
+if it had not been for his friend's help he would never have met with
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Gulizar for the time assented, but she determined in her heart to get
+rid of the vizier's son as soon as possible. A few days after this
+conversation she ordered one of her maids to make a pilaw. She gave
+special directions that a certain poison was to be mixed into it while
+cooking, and as soon as it was ready the cover was to be placed on the
+saucepan, so that the poisonous steam might not escape. When the pilaw
+was ready she sent it at once by the hand of a servant to the vizier's
+son with this message: &quot;Gulizar, the princess, sends you an offering
+in the name of her dead uncle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On receiving the present the vizier's son thought that the prince had
+spoken gratefully of him to the princess, and therefore she had thus
+remembered him. Accordingly he sent back his salam and expressions of
+thankfulness.</p>
+
+<p>When it was dinner-time he took the saucepan of pilaw and went out to
+eat it by the stream. Taking off the lid, he threw it aside on the
+grass and then washed his hands. During the minute or so that he was
+performing these ablutions, the green grass under the cover of the
+saucepan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> turned quite yellow. He was astonished, and suspecting that
+there was poison in the pilaw, he took a little and threw it to some
+crows that were hopping about. The moment the crows ate what was
+thrown to them they fell down dead.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Heaven be praised,&quot; exclaimed the vizier's son, &quot;who has preserved me
+from death at this time!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On the return of the prince that evening the vizier's son was very
+reticent and depressed. The prince noticed this change in him, and
+asked what was the reason. &quot;Is it because I am away so much at the
+palace?&quot; The vizier's son saw that the prince had nothing to do with
+the sending of the pilaw, and therefore told him everything.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Look here,&quot; he said, &quot;in this handkerchief is some pilaw that the
+princess sent me this morning in the name of her deceased uncle. It is
+saturated with poison. Thank Heaven, I discovered it in time!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, brother! who could have done this thing? Who is there that
+entertains enmity against you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Princess Gulizar. Listen. The next time you go to see her, I
+entreat you to take some snow with you; and just before seeing the
+princess put a little of it into both your eyes. It will provoke
+tears, and Gulizar will ask you why you are crying. Tell her that you
+weep for the loss of your friend, who died suddenly this morning.
+Look! take, too, this wine and this shovel, and when you have feigned
+intense grief at the death of your friend, bid the princess to drink a
+little of the wine. It is strong, and will immediately send her into a
+deep sleep. Then, while she is asleep, heat the shovel and mark her
+back with it. Remember to bring back the shovel again, and also to
+take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> her pearl necklace. This done, return. Now fear not to execute
+these instructions, because on the fulfilment of them depends your
+fortune and happiness. I will arrange that your marriage with the
+princess shall be accepted by the king, her father, and all the
+court.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince promised that he would do everything as the vizier's son
+had advised him; and he kept his promise.</p>
+
+<p>The following night, on the return of the prince from his visit to
+Gulizar, he and the vizier's son, taking the horses and bags of muhrs,
+went to a graveyard about a mile or so distant. It was arranged that
+the vizier's son should act the part of a fakir and the prince the
+part of the fakir's disciple and servant.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, when Gulizar had returned to her senses, she felt a
+smarting pain in her back, and noticed that her pearl necklace was
+gone. She went at once and informed the king of the loss of her
+necklace, but said nothing to him about the pain in her back.</p>
+
+<p>The king was very angry when he heard of the theft, and caused
+proclamation concerning it to be made throughout all the city and
+surrounding country.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is well,&quot; said the vizier's son, when he heard of this
+proclamation. &quot;Fear not, my brother, but go and take this necklace,
+and try to sell it in the bazaar.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince took it to a goldsmith and asked him to buy it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How much do you want for it?&quot; asked the man.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fifty thousand rupees,&quot; the prince replied.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All right,&quot; said the man; &quot;wait here while I go and fetch the money.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince waited and waited, till at last the goldsmith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> returned,
+and with him the kotwal, who at once took the prince into custody on
+the charge of stealing the princess's necklace.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How did you get the necklace?&quot; the kotwal asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A fakir, whose servant I am, gave it to me to sell in the bazaar,&quot;
+the prince replied. &quot;Permit me, and I will show you where he is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince directed the kotwal and the policeman to the place where he
+had left the vizier's son, and there they found the fakir with his
+eyes shut and engaged in prayer. Presently, when he had finished his
+devotions, the kotwal asked him to explain how he had obtained
+possession of the princess's necklace.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Call the king hither,&quot; he replied, &quot;and then I will tell his Majesty
+face to face.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On this some men went to the king and told him what the fakir had
+said. His Majesty came, and seeing the fakir so solemn and earnest in
+his devotions, he was afraid to rouse his anger, lest peradventure the
+displeasure of Heaven should descend on him, and so he placed his
+hands together in the attitude of a supplicant, and asked, &quot;How did
+you get my daughter's necklace?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Last night,&quot; replied the fakir, &quot;we were sitting here by this tomb
+worshipping Khuda, when a ghoul, dressed as a princess, came and
+exhumed a body that had been buried a few days ago, and began to eat
+it. On seeing this I was filled with anger, and beat her back with a
+shovel, which lay on the fire at the time. While running away from me
+her necklace got loose and dropped. You wonder at these words, but
+they are not difficult to prove. Examine your daughter, and you will
+find the marks of the burn on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> her back. Go, and if it is as I say,
+send the princess to me, and I will punish her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The king went back to the palace, and at once ordered the princess's
+back to be examined.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is so,&quot; said the maid-servant; &quot;the burn is there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then let the girl be slain immediately,&quot; the king shouted.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, no, your Majesty,&quot; they replied. &quot;Let us send her to the fakir
+who discovered this thing, that he may do whatever he wishes with
+her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The king agreed, and so the princess was taken to the graveyard.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let her be shut up in a cage, and be kept near the grave whence she
+took out the corpse,&quot; said the fakir.</p>
+
+<p>This was done, and in a little while the fakir and his disciple and
+the princess were left alone in the graveyard. Night had not long cast
+its dark mantle over the scene when the fakir and his disciple threw
+off their disguise, and taking their horses and luggage, appeared
+before the cage. They released the princess, rubbed some ointment over
+the scars on her back, and then sat her upon one of their horses
+behind the prince. Away they rode fast and far, and by the morning
+were able to rest and talk over their plans in safety. The vizier's
+son showed the princess some of the poisoned pilaw that she had sent
+him, and asked whether she had repented of her ingratitude. The
+princess wept, and acknowledged that he was her greatest helper and
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>A letter was sent to the chief vizier telling him of all that had
+happened to the prince and the vizier's son since they had left their
+country. When the vizier read the letter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> he went and informed the
+king. The king caused a reply to be sent to the two exiles, in which
+he ordered them not to return, but to send a letter to Gulizar's
+father, and inform him of everything. Accordingly they did this; the
+prince wrote the letter at the vizier's son's dictation.</p>
+
+<p>On reading the letter Gulizar's father was much enraged with his
+viziers and other officials for not discovering the presence in his
+country of these illustrious visitors, as he was especially anxious to
+ingratiate himself in the favour of the prince and the vizier's son.
+He ordered the execution of some of the viziers on a certain date.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come,&quot; he wrote back to the vizier's son, &quot;and stay at the palace.
+And if the prince desires it, I will arrange for his marriage with
+Gulizar as soon as possible.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The prince and the vizier's son most gladly accepted the invitation,
+and received a right noble welcome from the king. The marriage soon
+took place, and then after a few weeks the king gave them presents of
+horses and elephants, and jewels and rich cloths, and bade them start
+for their own land; for he was sure that the king would now receive
+them. The night before they left the viziers and others, whom the king
+intended to have executed as soon as his visitors had left, came and
+besought the vizier's son to plead for them, and promised that they
+each would give him a daughter in marriage. He agreed to do so, and
+succeeded in obtaining their pardon.</p>
+
+<p>Then the prince, with his beautiful bride Gulizar, and the vizier's
+son, attended by a troop of soldiers, and a large number of camels and
+horses bearing very much treasure, left for their own land. In the
+midst of the way they passed the tower of the robbers, and with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+help of the soldiers they razed it to the ground, slew all its
+inmates, and seized the treasure which they had been amassing there
+for several years.</p>
+
+<p>At length they reached their own country, and when the king saw his
+son's beautiful wife and his magnificent retinue he was at once
+reconciled, and ordered him to enter the city and take up his abode
+there.</p>
+
+<p>Henceforth all was sunshine on the path of the prince. He became a
+great favourite, and in due time succeeded to the throne, and ruled
+the country for many, many years in peace and happiness.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_0316_1.jpg" width="600" height="490" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="How_Sun_Moon_and_Wind_went_out_to_Dinner" id="How_Sun_Moon_and_Wind_went_out_to_Dinner"></a>How Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to Dinner</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0316_2.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>ne day Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and aunts
+Thunder and Lightning. Their mother (one of the most distant Stars you
+see far up in the sky) waited alone for her children's return.</p>
+
+<p>Now both Sun and Wind were greedy and selfish. They enjoyed the great
+feast that had been prepared for them, without a thought of saving any
+of it to take home to their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> mother&mdash;but the gentle Moon did not
+forget her. Of every dainty dish that was brought round, she placed a
+small portion under one of her beautiful long finger-nails, that Star
+might also have a share in the treat.</p>
+
+<p>On their return, their mother, who had kept watch for them all night
+long with her little bright eye, said, &quot;Well, children, what have you
+brought home for me?&quot; Then Sun (who was eldest) said, &quot;I have brought
+nothing home for you. I went out to enjoy myself with my friends&mdash;not
+to fetch a dinner for my mother!&quot; And Wind said, &quot;Neither have I
+brought anything home for you, mother. You could hardly expect me to
+bring a collection of good things for you, when I merely went out for
+my own pleasure.&quot; But Moon said, &quot;Mother, fetch a plate, see what I
+have brought you.&quot; And shaking her hands she showered down such a
+choice dinner as never was seen before.</p>
+
+<p>Then Star turned to Sun and spoke thus, &quot;Because you went out to amuse
+yourself with your friends, and feasted and enjoyed yourself, without
+any thought of your mother at home&mdash;you shall be cursed. Henceforth,
+your rays shall ever be hot and scorching, and shall burn all that
+they touch. And men shall hate you, and cover their heads when you
+appear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>(And that is why the Sun is so hot to this day.)</p>
+
+<p>Then she turned to Wind and said, &quot;You also who forgot your mother in
+the midst of your selfish pleasures&mdash;hear your doom. You shall always
+blow in the hot dry weather, and shall parch and shrivel all living
+things. And men shall detest and avoid you from this very time.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(And that is why the Wind in the hot weather is still so
+disagreeable.)</p>
+
+<p>But to Moon she said, &quot;Daughter, because you remembered your mother,
+and kept for her a share in your own enjoyment, from henceforth you
+shall be ever cool, and calm, and bright. No noxious glare shall
+accompany your pure rays, and men shall always call you 'blessed.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>(And that is why the moon's light is so soft, and cool, and beautiful
+even to this day.)</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="How_the_Wicked_Sons_were_Duped" id="How_the_Wicked_Sons_were_Duped"></a>How the Wicked Sons were Duped.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0319.jpg" alt="A" width="150" height="135" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp; very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death,
+sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did
+not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them
+were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old fellow had to bear
+with much abuse and cruelty from his sons. Wretched, selfish ingrates!
+Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their
+father, hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received
+their patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them&mdash;nay, the sooner
+the better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And
+they let the poor old man know what they felt.</p>
+
+<p>One day he met a friend and related to him all his troubles. The
+friend sympathised very much with him, and promised to think over the
+matter, and call in a little while and tell him what to do. He did so;
+in a few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of
+stones and gravel before him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Look here, friend,&quot; said he. &quot;Your sons will get to know of my coming
+here to-day, and will inquire about it. You must pretend that I came
+to discharge a long-standing debt with you, and that you are several
+thousands of rupees richer than you thought you were. Keep these bags
+in your own hands, and on no account let your sons get to them as long
+as you are alive. You will soon find them change their conduct towards
+you. Salaam. I will come again soon to see how you are getting on.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the young men got to hear of this further increase of wealth they
+began to be more attentive and pleasing to their father than ever
+before. And thus they continued to the day of the old man's demise,
+when the bags were greedily opened, and found to contain only stones
+and gravel!</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/image_0321_1.jpg" width="400" height="192" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="The_Pigeon_and_the_Crow" id="The_Pigeon_and_the_Crow"></a>The Pigeon and the Crow</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft1"><img src="images/image_0321_2.jpg" alt="O" width="150" height="149" /></div>
+<p>nce upon a time the Bodhisatta was a Pigeon, and lived in a
+nest-basket which a rich man's cook had hung up in the kitchen, in
+order to earn merit by it. A greedy Crow, flying near, saw all sorts
+of delicate food lying about in the kitchen, and fell a-hungering
+after it. &quot;How in the world can I get some?&quot; thought he? At last he
+hit upon a plan.</p>
+
+<p>When the Pigeon went to search for food, behind him, following,
+following, came the Crow.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What do you want, Mr. Crow? You and I don't feed alike.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah, but I like you and your ways! Let me be your chum, and let us
+feed together.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Pigeon agreed, and they went on in company. The Crow pretended to
+feed along with the Pigeon, but ever and anon he would turn back, peck
+to bits some heap of cow-dung, and eat a fat worm. When he had got a
+bellyful of them, up he flies, as pert as you like:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hullo, Mr. Pigeon, what a time you take over your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> meal! One ought to
+draw the line somewhere. Let's be going home before it is too late.&quot;
+And so they did.</p>
+
+<p>The cook saw that his Pigeon had brought a friend, and hung up another
+basket for him.</p>
+
+<p>A few days afterwards there was a great purchase of fish which came to
+the rich man's kitchen. How the Crow longed for some! So there he lay,
+from early morn, groaning and making a great noise. Says the Pigeon to
+the Crow:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, Sir Crow, and get your breakfast!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh dear! oh dear! I have such a fit of indigestion!&quot; says he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nonsense! Crows never have indigestion,&quot; said the Pigeon. &quot;If you eat
+a lamp-wick, that stays in your stomach a little while; but anything
+else is digested in a trice, as soon as you eat it. Now do what I tell
+you; don't behave in this way just for seeing a little fish.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do you say that, master? I have indigestion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, be careful,&quot; said the Pigeon, and flew away.</p>
+
+<p>The cook prepared all the dishes, and then stood at the kitchen door,
+wiping the sweat off his body. &quot;Now's my time!&quot; thought Mr. Crow, and
+alighted on a dish containing some dainty food. Click! The cook heard
+it, and looked round. Ah! he caught the Crow, and plucked all the
+feathers out of his head, all but one tuft; he powdered ginger and
+cummin, mixed it up with butter-milk, and rubbed it well all over the
+bird's body.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That's for spoiling my master's dinner and making me throw it away!&quot;
+said he, and threw him into his basket. Oh, how it hurt!</p>
+
+<p>By-and-by the Pigeon came in, and saw the Crow lying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> there, making a
+great noise. He made great game of him, and repeated a verse of
+poetry:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;Who is this tufted crane I see<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lying where he's no right to be?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Come out! my friend, the crow is near,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And he may do you harm, I fear!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>To this the Crow answered with another:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;No tufted crane am I&mdash;no, no!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'm nothing but a greedy crow.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I would not do as I was told,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So now I'm plucked, as you behold.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And the Pigeon rejoined with a third verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&quot;You'll come to grief again, I know&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It is your nature to do so;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If people make a dish of meat,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis not for little birds to eat.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then the Pigeon flew away, saying: &quot;I can't live with this creature
+any longer.&quot; And the Crow lay there groaning till he died.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Notes_and_References" id="Notes_and_References"></a>Notes and References</h2>
+
+
+<p>The story literature of India is in a large measure the outcome of the
+moral revolution of the peninsula connected with the name of Gautama
+Buddha. As the influence of his life and doctrines grew, a tendency
+arose to connect all the popular stories of India round the great
+teacher. This could be easily effected owing to the wide spread of the
+belief in metempsychosis. All that was told of the sages of the past
+could be interpreted of the Buddha by representing them as
+pre-incarnations of him. Even with Fables, or beast-tales, this could
+be done, for the Hindoos were Darwinists long before Darwin, and
+regarded beasts as cousins of men and stages of development in the
+progress of the soul through the ages. Thus, by identifying the Buddha
+with the heroes of all folk-tales and the chief characters in the
+beast-drolls, the Buddhists were enabled to incorporate the whole of
+the story-store of Hindostan in their sacred books, and enlist on
+their side the tale-telling instincts of men.</p>
+
+<p>In making Buddha the centre figure of the popular literature of India,
+his followers also invented the Frame as a method of literary art. The
+idea of connecting a number of disconnected stories familiar to us
+from <i>The Arabian Nights</i>, Boccaccio's <i>Decamerone</i>, Chaucer's
+<i>Canterbury Tales</i>, or even <i>Pickwick</i>, is directly traceable to the
+plan of making Buddha the central figure of India folk-literature.
+Curiously enough, the earliest instance of this in Buddhist literature
+was intended to be a Decameron, ten tales of Buddha's previous births,
+told of each of the ten Perfections. Asvagosha, the earlier Boccaccio,
+died when he had completed thirty-four of the Birth-Tales. But other
+collections were made, and at last a corpus of the <span class="smcap">Jatakas</span>, or
+Birth-Tales of the Buddha, was carried over to Ceylon, possibly as
+early as the first introduction of Buddhism, 241 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span> There they have
+remained till the present day, and have at last been made accessible
+in a complete edition in the original Pali by Prof. Fausb&ouml;ll.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These <span class="smcap">Jatakas</span>, as we now have them, are enshrined in a commentary on
+the <i>gathas</i>, or moral verses, written in Ceylon by one of
+Buddhaghosa's school in the fifth century <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> They invariably begin
+with a &quot;Story of the Present,&quot; an incident in Buddha's life which
+calls up to him a &quot;Story of the Past,&quot; a folk-tale in which he had
+played a part during one of his former incarnations. Thus the fable of
+the Lion and the Crane, which opens the present collection, is
+introduced by a &quot;Story of the Present&quot; in the following words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A service have we done thee&quot; [the opening words of the <i>gatha</i> or
+moral verse]. &quot;This the Master told while living at Jetavana
+concerning Devadatta's treachery. Not only now, O Bhickkus, but in a
+former existence was Devadatta ungrateful. And having said this he
+told a tale.&quot; Then follows the tale as given above (pp. 1, 2), and the
+commentary concludes: &quot;The Master, having given the lesson, summed up
+the Jataka thus: 'At that time, the Lion was Devadatta, and the Crane
+was I myself.'&quot; Similarly, with each story of the past the Buddha
+identifies himself, or is mentioned as identical with, the virtuous
+hero of the folk-tale. These Jatakas are 550 in number, and have been
+reckoned to include some 2000 tales. Some of these had been translated
+by Mr. Rhys-Davids (<i>Buddhist Birth Stories, I.</i>, Tr&uuml;bner's Oriental
+Library, 1880), Prof. Fausb&ouml;ll (<i>Five Jatakas</i>, Copenhagen), and Dr.
+R. Morris (<i>Folk-Lore Journal</i>, vols. ii.-v.). A few exist sculptured
+on the earliest Buddhist Stupas. Thus several of the circular figure
+designs on the reliefs from Amaravati, now on the grand staircase of
+the British Museum, represent Jatakas, or previous births of the
+Buddha.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the Jatakas bear a remarkable resemblance to some of the most
+familiar <span class="smcap">Fables of &AElig;sop</span>. So close is the resemblance, indeed, that it
+is impossible not to surmise an historical relation between the two.
+What this relation is I have discussed at considerable length in the
+&quot;History of the &AElig;sopic Fable,&quot; which forms the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's <i>Esope</i> (London, D. Nutt, &quot;Biblioth&egrave;que de
+Carabas,&quot; 1889). In this place I can only roughly summarise my
+results. I conjecture that a collection of fables existed in India
+before Buddha and independently of the Jatakas, and connected with the
+name of Kasyapa, who was afterwards made by the Buddhists into the
+latest of the twenty-seven pre-incarnations of the Buddha. This
+collection of the Fables of Kasyapa was brought to Europe with a
+deputation from the Cingalese King Chandra Muka Siwa (obiit 52 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>)
+to the Emperor Claudius about 50 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>, and was done into Greek as the
+&#923;&#8001;&#947;&#959;&#953; &#923;&#965;&#946;&#953;&#954;&#959;&#7985; of &quot;Kybises.&quot; These were utilised by Babrius
+(from whom the Greek &AElig;sop is derived) and Avian,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> and so came into the
+European &AElig;sop. I have discussed all those that are to be found in the
+Jatakas in the &quot;History&quot; before mentioned, i. pp. 54-72 (see Notes i.
+xv. xx.). In these Notes henceforth I refer to this &quot;History&quot; as my
+<i>&AElig;sop</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There were probably other Buddhist collections of a similar nature to
+the Jatakas with a framework. When the Hindu reaction against Buddhism
+came, the Brahmins adapted these, with the omission of Buddha as the
+central figure. There is scarcely any doubt that the so-called <span class="smcap">Fables
+of Bidpai</span> were thus derived from Buddhistic sources. In its Indian
+form this is now extant as a <i>Panchatantra</i> or Pentateuch, five books
+of tales connected by a Frame. This collection is of special interest
+to us in the present connection, as it has come to Europe in various
+forms and shapes. I have edited Sir Thomas North's English version of
+an Italian adaptation of a Spanish translation of a Latin version of a
+Hebrew translation of an Arabic adaptation of the Pehlevi version of
+the Indian original (<i>Fables of Bidpai</i>, London, D. Nutt,
+&quot;Biblioth&egrave;que de Carabas,&quot; 1888). In this I give a genealogical table
+of the various versions, from which I calculate that the tales have
+been translated into thirty-eight languages in 112 different versions,
+twenty different ones in English alone. Their influence on European
+folk-tales has been very great: it is probable that nearly one-tenth
+of these can be traced to the Bidpai literature. (See Notes v. ix. x.
+xiii. xv.)</p>
+
+<p>Other collections of a similar character, arranged in a frame, and
+derived ultimately from Buddhistic sources, also reached Europe and
+formed popular reading in the Middle Ages. Among these may be
+mentioned <span class="smcap">The Tales of Sindibad</span>, known to Europe as <i>The Seven Sages
+of Rome:</i> from this we get the Gellert story (<i>cf. Celtic Fairy
+Tales</i>), though it also occurs in the Bidpai. Another popular
+collection was that associated with the life of St. Buddha, who has
+been canonised as St. Josaphat: <span class="smcap">Barlaam and Josaphat</span> tells of his
+conversion and much else besides, including the tale of the Three
+Caskets, used by Shakespeare in the <i>Merchant of Venice</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the Indian tales reached Europe at the time of the Crusades,
+either orally or in collections no longer extant. The earliest
+selection of these was the <i>Disciplina Clericalis</i> of Petrus Alphonsi,
+a Spanish Jew converted about 1106: his tales were to be used as
+seasoning for sermons, and strong seasoning they must have proved.
+Another Spanish collection of considerably later date was entitled <i>El
+Conde Lucanor</i> (Eng. trans. by W. York): this contains the fable of
+<i>The Man, his Son, and their Ass</i>, which they ride or carry as the
+popular voice decides. But the most famous collection of this kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+was that known as <span class="smcap">Gesta Romanorum</span>, much of which was certainly derived
+from Oriental and ultimately Indian sources, and so might more
+appropriately be termed <i>Gesta Indorum</i>.</p>
+
+<p>All these collections, which reached Europe in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, became very popular, and were used by monks and
+friars to enliven their sermons as <span class="smcap">Exempla</span>. Prof. Crane has given a
+full account of this very curious phenomenon in his erudite edition of
+the <i>Exempla of Jacques de Vitry</i> (Folk Lore Society, 1890). The
+Indian stories were also used by the Italian <i>Novellieri</i>, much of
+Boccaccio and his school being derived from this source. As these
+again gave material for the Elizabethan Drama, chiefly in W. Painter's
+<i>Palace of Pleasure</i>, a collection of translated <i>Novelle</i> which I
+have edited (Lond., 3 vols. 1890), it is not surprising that we can at
+times trace portions of Shakespeare back to India. It should also be
+mentioned that one-half of La Fontaine's Fables (Bks. vii.-xii.) are
+derived from Indian sources. (<i>See</i> Note on No. v.)</p>
+
+<p>In India itself the collection of stories in frames went on and still
+goes on. Besides those already mentioned there are the stories of
+<i>Vikram and the Vampire</i> (Vetala), translated among others by the late
+Sir Richard Burton, and the seventy stories of a parrot (<i>Suka
+Saptati</i>). The whole of this literature was summed up by Somadeva, c.
+1200 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> in a huge compilation entitled <i>Katha Sarit Sagara</i> (&quot;Ocean
+of the Stream of Stories&quot;). Of this work, written in very florid
+style, Mr. Tawney has produced a translation in two volumes in the
+<i>Bibliotheca Indica</i>. Unfortunately, there is a Divorce Court
+atmosphere about the whole book, and my selections from it have been
+accordingly restricted. (Notes, No. xi.)</p>
+
+<p>So much for a short sketch of Indian folk-tales so far as they have
+been reduced to writing in the native literature.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The Jatakas are
+probably the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the
+greater part of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years
+old. It is certain that much (perhaps one-fifth) of the popular
+literature of modern Europe is derived from those portions of this
+large bulk which came west with the Crusades through the medium of
+Arabs and Jews. In his elaborate <i>Einleitung</i> to the <i>Pantschatantra</i>,
+the Indian version of the Fables of Bidpai, Prof. Benfey contended
+with enormous erudition that the majority of folk-tale incidents were
+to be found in the Bidpai literature. His introduction consisted of
+over 200 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>monographs on the spread of Indian tales to Europe. He wrote
+in 1859, before the great outburst of folk-tale collection in Europe,
+and he had not thus adequate materials to go about in determining the
+extent of Indian influence on the popular mind of Europe. But he made
+it clear that for beast-tales and for drolls, the majority of those
+current in the mouths of occidental people were derived from Eastern
+and mainly Indian sources. He was not successful, in my opinion, in
+tracing the serious fairy tale to India. Few of the tales in the
+Indian literary collections could be dignified by the name of fairy
+tales, and it was clear that if these were to be traced to India, an
+examination of the contemporary folk-tales of the peninsula would have
+to be attempted.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> An admirable and full account of this literature was
+given by M. A. Barth in <i>M&eacute;lusine</i>, t. iv. No. 12, and t. v. No. 1.
+See also Table i. of Prof. Rhys-Davids' <i>Birth Stories</i>.</p></div>
+
+<p>The collection of current Indian folk-tales has been the work of the
+last quarter of a century, a work, even after what has been achieved,
+still in its initial stages. The credit of having begun the process is
+due to Miss Frere, who, while her father was Governor of the Bombay
+Presidency, took down from the lips of her <i>ayah</i>, Anna de Souza, one
+of a Lingaet family from Goa who had been Christian for three
+generations, the tales she afterwards published with Mr. Murray in
+1868, under the title, &quot;<i>Old Deccan Days, or, Indian Fairy Legends
+current in Southern India, collected from oral tradition by M. Frere,
+with an introduction and notes by Sir Bartle Frere</i>.&quot; Her example was
+followed by Miss Stokes in her <i>Indian Fairy Tales</i> (London, Ellis &amp;
+White, 1880), who took down her tales from two <i>ayahs</i> and a
+<i>Khitmatgar</i>, all of them Bengalese&mdash;the <i>ayahs</i> Hindus, and the man a
+Mohammedan. Mr. Ralston introduced the volume with some remarks which
+dealt too much with sun-myths for present-day taste. Another
+collection from Bengal was that of Lal Behari Day, a Hindu gentleman,
+in his <i>Folk-Tales of Bengal</i> (London, Macmillan, 1883). The Panjab
+and the Kashmir then had their turn: Mrs. Steel collected, and Captain
+(now Major) Temple edited and annotated, their <i>Wideawake Stories</i>
+(London, Tr&uuml;bner, 1884), stories capitally told and admirably
+annotated. Captain Temple increased the value of this collection by a
+remarkable analysis of all the incidents contained in the two hundred
+Indian folk-tales collected up to this date. It is not too much to say
+that this analysis marks an onward step in the scientific study of the
+folk-tale: there is such a thing, derided as it may be. I have
+throughout the Notes been able to draw attention to Indian parallels
+by a simple reference to Major Temple's Analysis.</p>
+
+<p>Major Temple has not alone himself collected: he has been the cause
+that many others have collected. In the pages of the <i>Indian
+Antiquary</i>, edited by him, there have appeared from time to time
+folk-tales collected from all parts of India. Some of these have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+issued separately. Sets of tales from Southern India, collected by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, have been issued under the title <i>Folk-Lore of
+Southern India</i>, three fascicules of which have been recently
+re-issued by Mrs. Kingscote under the title, <i>Tales of the Sun</i> (W. H.
+Allen, 1891): it would have been well if the identity of the two works
+had been clearly explained. The largest addition to our knowledge of
+the Indian folk-tale that has been made since <i>Wideawake Stories</i> is
+that contained in Mr. Knowles' <i>Folk-Tales of Kashmir</i> (Tr&uuml;bner's
+Oriental Library, 1887), sixty-three stories, some of great length.
+These, with Mr. Campbell's <i>Santal Tales</i> (1892); Ramaswami Raju's
+<i>Indian Fables</i> (London, Sonnenschein, n.d.); M. Thornhill, <i>Indian
+Fairy Tales</i> (London, 1889); and E. J. Robinson, <i>Tales of S. India</i>
+(1885), together with those contained in books of travel like
+Thornton's <i>Bannu</i> or Smeaton's <i>Karens of Burmah</i> bring up the list
+of printed Indian folk-tales to over 350&mdash;a respectable total indeed,
+but a mere drop in the ocean of the stream of stories that must exist
+in such a huge population as that of India: the Central Provinces in
+particular are practically unexplored. There are doubtless many
+collections still unpublished. Col. Lewin has large numbers, besides
+the few published in his <i>Lushai Grammar</i>; and Mr. M. L. Dames has a
+number of Baluchi tales which I have been privileged to use.
+Altogether, India now ranks among the best represented countries for
+printed folk-tales, coming only after Russia (1500), Germany (1200),
+Italy and France (1000 each.)<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Counting the ancient with the modern,
+India has probably some 600 to 700 folk-tales printed and translated
+in accessible form. There should be enough material to determine the
+vexed question of the relations between the European and the Indian
+collections.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Finland boasts of 12,000, but most of these lie unprinted
+among the archives of the Helsingfors Literary Society.</p></div>
+
+<p>This question has taken a new departure with the researches of M.
+Emanuel Cosquin in his <i>Contes populaires de Lorraine</i> (Paris, 1886,
+2<sup>e</sup> tirage, 1890), undoubtedly the most important contribution to the
+scientific study of the folk-tale since the Grimms. M. Cosquin gives
+in the annotations to the eighty-four tales which he has collected in
+Lorraine a mass of information as to the various forms which the tales
+take in other countries of Europe and in the East. In my opinion, the
+work he has done for the European folk-tale is even more valuable than
+the conclusions he draws from it as to the relations with India. He
+has taken up the work which Wilhelm Grimm dropped in 1859, and shown
+from the huge accumulations of folk-tales that have appeared during
+the last thirty years that there is a common fund of folk-tales which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>every country of Europe without exception possesses, though this does
+not of course preclude them from possessing others that are not shared
+by the rest. M. Cosquin further contends that the whole of these have
+come from the East, ultimately from India, not by literary
+transmission, as Benfey contended, but by oral transmission. He has
+certainly shown that very many of the most striking incidents common
+to European folk-tales are also to be found in Eastern <i>m&auml;hrchen</i>.
+What, however, he has failed to show is that some of these may not
+have been carried out to the Eastern world by Europeans. Borrowing
+tales is a mutual process, and when Indian meets European, European
+meets Indian; which borrowed from which, is a question which we have
+very few criteria to decide. It should be added that Mr W. A. Clouston
+has in England collected with exemplary industry a large number of
+parallels between Indian and European folk-tale incidents in his
+<i>Popular Tales and Fictions</i> (Edinburgh, 2 vols., 1887) and <i>Book of
+Noodles</i> (London, 1888). Mr Clouston has not openly expressed his
+conviction that all folk-tales are Indian in origin: he prefers to
+convince us <i>non vi sed s&aelig;pe cadendo</i>. He has certainly made out a
+good case for tracing all European drolls, or comic folk-tales, from
+the East.</p>
+
+<p>With the fairy tale strictly so called&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, the serious folk-tale
+of romantic adventure&mdash;I am more doubtful. It is mainly a modern
+product in India as in Europe, so far as literary evidence goes. The
+vast bulk of the Jatakas does not contain a single example worthy the
+name, nor does the Bidpai literature. Some of Somadeva's tales,
+however, approach the nature of fairy tales, but there are several
+Celtic tales which can be traced to an earlier date than his (1200
+<span class="smcap">a.d.</span>) and are equally near to fairy tales. Yet it is dangerous to
+trust to mere non-appearance in literature as proof of non-existence
+among the folk. To take our own tales here in England, there is not a
+single instance of a reference to <i>Jack and the Beanstalk</i> for the
+last three hundred years, yet it is undoubtedly a true folk-tale. And
+it is indeed remarkable how many of the <i>formul&aelig;</i> of fairy tales have
+been found of recent years in India. Thus, the <i>Magic Fiddle</i>, found
+among the Santals by Mr. Campbell in two variants (see Notes on vi.),
+contains the germ idea of the wide-spread story represented in Great
+Britain by the ballad of <i>Binnorie</i> (see <i>English Fairy Tales</i>, No.
+ix.). Similarly, Mr. Knowles' collection has added considerably to the
+number of Indian variants of European &quot;formul&aelig;&quot; beyond those noted by
+M. Cosquin.</p>
+
+<p>It is still more striking as regards <i>incidents</i>. In a paper read
+before the Folk-Lore Congress of 1891, and reprinted in the
+<i>Transactions</i>, pp. 76 <i>seq.</i>, I have drawn up a list of some 630
+incidents found in common among European folk-tales (including
+drolls). Of these, I reckon that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> about 250 have been already found
+among Indian folk-tales, and the number is increased by each new
+collection that is made or printed. The moral of this is, that India
+belongs to a group of peoples who have a common store of stories;
+India belongs to Europe for purposes of comparative folk-tales.</p>
+
+<p>Can we go further and say that India is the source of all the
+incidents that are held in common by European children? I think we may
+answer &quot;Yes&quot; as regards droll incidents, the travels of many of which
+we can trace, and we have the curious result that European children
+owe their earliest laughter to Hindu wags. As regards the serious
+incidents further inquiry is needed. Thus, we find the incident of an
+&quot;external soul&quot; (Life Index, Captain Temple very appropriately named
+it) in Asbjornsen's <i>Norse Tales</i> and in Miss Frere's <i>Old Deccan
+Days</i> (see Notes on <i>Punchkin</i>). Yet the latter is a very suspicious
+source, since Miss Frere derived her tales from a Christian <i>ayah</i>
+whose family had been in Portuguese Goa for a hundred years. May they
+not have got the story of the giant with his soul outside his body
+from some European sailor touching at Goa? This is to a certain extent
+negatived by the fact of the frequent occurrence of the incident in
+Indian folk-tales (Captain Temple gave a large number of instances in
+<i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 404-5). On the other hand, Mr. Frazer in his
+<i>Golden Bough</i> has shown the wide spread of the idea among all savage
+or semi-savage tribes. (See Note on No. iv.)</p>
+
+<p>In this particular case we may be doubtful; but in others, again&mdash;as
+the incident of the rat's tail up nose (see Notes on <i>The Charmed
+Ring</i>)&mdash;there can be little doubt of the Indian origin. And generally,
+so far as the incidents are marvellous and of true fairy-tale
+character, the presumption is in favour of India, because of the
+vitality of animism or metempsychosis in India throughout all historic
+time. No Hindu would doubt the fact of animals speaking or of men
+transformed into plants and animals. The European may once have had
+these beliefs, and may still hold them implicitly as &quot;survivals&quot;; but
+in the &quot;survival&quot; stage they cannot afford material for artistic
+creation, and the fact that the higher minds of Europe for the last
+thousand years have discountenanced these beliefs has not been
+entirely without influence. Of one thing there is practical certainty:
+the fairy tales that are common to the Indo-European world were
+invented once for all in a certain locality, and thence spread to all
+the countries in culture contact with the original source. The mere
+fact that contiguous countries have more similarities in their story
+store than distant ones is sufficient to prove this: indeed, the fact
+that any single country has spread throughout it a definite set of
+folk-tales as distinctive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> as its flora and fauna, is sufficient to
+prove it. It is equally certain that not all folk-tales have come from
+one source, for each country has tales peculiar to itself. The
+question is as to the source of the tales that are common to all
+European children, and increasing evidence seems to show that this
+common nucleus is derived from India and India alone. The Hindus have
+been more successful than others, because of two facts: they have had
+the appropriate &quot;atmosphere&quot; of metempsychosis, and they have also had
+spread among the people sufficient literary training and mental grip
+to invent plots. The Hindu tales have ousted the native European,
+which undoubtedly existed independently; indeed, many still survive,
+especially in Celtic lands. Exactly in the same way, Perrault's tales
+have ousted the older English folk-tales, and it is with the utmost
+difficulty that one can get true English fairy tales because <i>Red
+Riding Hood</i>, <i>Cinderella</i>, <i>Blue Beard</i>, <i>Puss in Boots</i> and the
+rest, have survived in the struggle for existence among English
+folk-tales. So far as Europe has a common store of fairy tales, it
+owes this to India.</p>
+
+<p>I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not hold with Benfey that all
+European folk-tales are derived from the Bidpai literature and similar
+literary products, nor with M. Cosquin that they are all derived from
+India. The latter scholar has proved that there is a nucleus of
+stories in every European land which is common to all. I calculate
+that this includes from 30 to 50 per cent. of the whole, and it is
+this common stock of Europe that I regard as coming from India mainly
+at the time of the Crusades, and chiefly by oral transmission. It
+includes all the beast tales and most of the drolls, but evidence is
+still lacking about the more serious fairy tales, though it is
+increasing with every fresh collection of folk-tales in India, the
+great importance of which is obvious from the above considerations.</p>
+
+<p>In the following Notes I give, as on the two previous occasions, the
+<i>source</i> whence I derived the tale, then <i>parallels</i>, and finally
+<i>remarks</i>. For Indian <i>parallels</i> I have been able to refer to Major
+Temple's remarkable Analysis of Indian Folk-tale incidents at the end
+of <i>Wideawake Stories</i> (pp. 386-436), for European ones to my
+alphabetical List of Incidents, with bibliographical references, in
+<i>Transactions of Folk-Lore Congress</i>, 1892, pp. 87-98. My <i>remarks</i>
+have been mainly devoted to tracing the relation between the Indian
+and the European tales, with the object of showing that the latter
+have been derived from the former. I have, however, to some extent
+handicapped myself, as I have avoided giving again the Indian versions
+of stories already given in <i>English Fairy Tales</i> or <i>Celtic Fairy
+Tales</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>I. THE LION AND THE CRANE.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;V. Fausb&ouml;ll, <i>Five J&#257;takas</i>, Copenhagen, 1861, pp. 35-8,
+text and translation of the <i>J&#257;vasakuna J&#257;taka</i>. I have ventured
+to English Prof. Fausb&ouml;ll's version, which was only intended as a
+&quot;crib&quot; to the Pali. For the omitted Introduction, see <i>supra</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;I have given a rather full collection of parallels,
+running to about a hundred numbers, in my <i>&AElig;sop</i>, pp. 232-4. The chief
+of these are: (1) for the East, the Midrashic version (&quot;Lion and
+Egyptian Partridge&quot;), in the great Rabbinic commentary on Genesis
+(<i>Bereshith-rabba</i>, c. 64); (2) in classical antiquity, Ph&aelig;drus, i. 8
+(&quot;Wolf and Crane&quot;), and Babrius, 94 (&quot;Wolf and Heron&quot;), and the Greek
+proverb Suidas, ii. 248 (&quot;Out of the Wolf's Mouth&quot;); (3) in the Middle
+Ages, the so-called Greek <i>&AElig;sop</i>, ed. Halm, 276 <i>b</i>, really prose
+versions of Babrius and &quot;Romulus,&quot; or prose of Ph&aelig;drus, i. 8, also the
+Romulus of Ademar (fl. 1030), 64; it occurs also on the Bayeux
+Tapestry, in Marie de France, 7, and in Benedict of Oxford's <i>Mishle
+Shualim</i> (Heb.), 8; (4) Stainh&ouml;wel took it from the &quot;Romulus&quot; into his
+German &AElig;sop (1480), whence all the modern European &AElig;sops are derived.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;I have selected <i>The Wolf and the Crane</i> as my typical
+example in my &quot;History of the &AElig;sopic Fable,&quot; and can only give here a
+rough summary of the results I there arrived at concerning the fable,
+merely premising that these results are at present no more than
+hypotheses. The similarity of the Jataka form with that familiar to
+us, and derived by us in the last resort from Ph&aelig;drus, is so striking
+that few will deny some historical relation between them. I conjecture
+that the Fable originated in India, and came West by two different
+routes. First, it came by oral tradition to Egypt, as one of the
+Libyan Fables which the ancients themselves distinguished from the
+&AElig;sopic Fables. It was, however, included by Demetrius Phalereus, tyrant
+of Athens, and founder of the Alexandrian library c. 300 <span class="smcap">b.c.</span>, in his
+<i>Assemblies of &AElig;sopic Fables</i>, which I have shown to be the source of
+Ph&aelig;drus' Fables c. 30 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> Besides this, it came from Ceylon in the
+Fables of Kybises&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, Kasyapa the Buddha&mdash;c. 50 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>, was adapted
+into Hebrew, and used for political purposes, by Rabbi Joshua ben
+Chananyah in a harangue to the Jews c. 120 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>, begging them to be
+patient while within the jaws of Rome. The Hebrew form uses the lion,
+not the wolf, as the ingrate, which enables us to decide on the Indian
+<i>provenance</i> of the Midrashic version. It may be remarked that the use
+of the lion in this and other Jatakas is indirectly a testimony to
+their great age, as the lion has become rarer and rarer in India
+during<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> historic times, and is now confined to the Gir forest of
+Kathi&aacute;war, where only a dozen specimens exist, and are strictly
+preserved.</p>
+
+<p>The verses at the end are the earliest parts of the Jataka, being in
+more archaic Pali than the rest: the story is told by the commentator
+(c. 400 <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>) to illustrate them. It is probable that they were
+brought over on the first introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon, c. 241
+<span class="smcap">b.c.</span> This would give them an age of over two thousand years, nearly
+three hundred years earlier than Ph&aelig;drus, from whom comes our <i>Wolf
+and Crane</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II. PRINCESS LABAM.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Miss Stokes, <i>Indian Fairy Tales</i>, No. xxii. pp. 153-63,
+told by M&uacute;niy&aacute;, one of the ayahs. I have left it unaltered, except
+that I have replaced &quot;God&quot; by &quot;Khuda,&quot; the word originally used (see
+Notes <i>l. c.</i>, p. 237).</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;The tabu, as to a particular direction, occurs in other
+Indian stories as well as in European folk-tales (see notes on Stokes,
+p. 286). The <i>grateful animals</i> theme occurs in &quot;The Soothsayer's Son&quot;
+(<i>infra</i>, No. x.), and frequently in Indian folk-tales (see Temple's
+Analysis, III. i. 5-7; <i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 412-3). The thorn in
+the tiger's foot is especially common (Temple, <i>l. c.</i>, 6, 9), and
+recalls the story of Androclus, which occurs in the derivates of
+Ph&aelig;drus, and may thus be Indian in origin (see Benfey,
+<i>Panschatantra</i>, i. 211, and the parallels given in my <i>&AElig;sop</i>, Ro.
+iii. I. p. 243). The theme is, however, equally frequent in European
+folk-tales: see my List of Incidents, <i>Proc. Folk-Lore Congress</i>, p.
+91, s.v. &quot;Grateful Animals&quot; and &quot;Gifts by Grateful Animals.&quot;
+Similarly, the &quot;Bride Wager&quot; incident at the end is common to a large
+number of Indian and European folk-tales (Temple, Analysis, p. 430; my
+List, <i>l. c. sub voce</i>). The tasks are also equally common (<i>cf.</i>
+&quot;Battle of the Birds&quot; in <i>Celtic Fairy Tales</i>), though the exact forms
+as given in &quot;Princess Labam&quot; are not known in Europe.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;We have here a concrete instance of the relation of Indian
+and European fairy-tales. The human mind may be the same everywhere,
+but it is not likely to hit upon the sequence of incidents, <i>Direction
+tabu</i>&mdash;<i>Grateful Animals</i>&mdash;<i>Bride-wager</i>&mdash;<i>Tasks</i>, by accident, or
+independently: Europe must have borrowed from India, or India from
+Europe. As this must have occurred within historic times, indeed
+within the last thousand years, when even European peasants are not
+likely to have <i>invented</i>, even if they believed, in the incident of
+the grateful animals, the probability is in favour of borrowing from
+India, possibly through the intermediation of Arabs at the time of
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> Crusades. It is only a probability, but we cannot in any case
+reach more than probability in this matter, just at present.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III. LAMBIKIN.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Steel-Temple, <i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 69-72, originally
+published in <i>Indian Antiquary</i>, xii. 175. The droll is common
+throughout the Panjab.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;The similarity of the concluding episode with the finish
+of the &quot;Three Little Pigs&quot; (<i>Eng. Fairy Tales</i>, No. xiv.) In my notes
+on that droll I have pointed out that the pigs were once goats or kids
+with &quot;hair on their chinny chin chin.&quot; This brings the tale a stage
+nearer to the Lambikin.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;The similarity of Pig No. 3 rolling down hill in the churn
+and the Lambikin in the Drumikin can scarcely be accidental, though,
+it must be confessed, the tale has undergone considerable modification
+before it reached England.</p>
+
+
+<h3>IV. PUNCHKIN.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Miss Frere, <i>Old Deccan Days</i>, pp. 1-16, from her ayah,
+Anna de Souza, of a Lingaet family settled and Christianised at Goa
+for three generations. I should perhaps add that a Prudhan is a Prime
+Minister, or Vizier; Punts are the same, and Sirdars, nobles.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;The son of seven mothers is a characteristic Indian
+conception, for which see Notes on &quot;The Son of Seven Queens&quot; in this
+collection, No. xvi. The mother transformed, envious stepmother, ring
+recognition, are all incidents common to East and West;
+bibliographical references for parallels may be found under these
+titles in my List of Incidents. The external soul of the ogre has been
+studied by Mr. E. Clodd in <i>Folk-Lore Journal</i>, vol. ii., &quot;The
+Philosophy of Punchkin,&quot; and still more elaborately in the section,
+&quot;The External Soul in Folk-tales,&quot; in Mr. Frazer's <i>Golden Bough</i>, ii.
+pp. 296-326. See also Major Temple's Analysis, II. iii., <i>Wideawake
+Stories</i>, pp. 404-5, who there gives the Indian parallels.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Both Mr. Clodd and Mr. Frazer regard the essence of the
+tale to consist in the conception of an external soul or &quot;life-index,&quot;
+and they both trace in this a &quot;survival&quot; of savage philosophy, which
+they consider occurs among all men at a certain stage of culture. But
+the most cursory examination of the sets of tales containing these
+incidents in Mr. Frazer's analyses shows that many, indeed the
+majority, of these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> tales cannot be independent of one another; for
+they contain not alone the incident of an external materialised soul,
+but the further point that this is contained in something else, which
+is enclosed in another thing, which is again surrounded by a wrapper.
+This Chinese ball arrangement is found in the Deccan (&quot;Punchkin&quot;); in
+Bengal (Day, <i>Folk-Tales of Bengal</i>); in Russia (Ralston, p. 103
+<i>seq.</i>, &quot;Koschkei the Deathless,&quot; also in Mr. Lang's <i>Red Fairy
+Book</i>); in Servia (Mijatovics, <i>Servian Folk-Lore</i>, p. 172); in South
+Slavonia (Wratislaw, p. 225); in Rome (Miss Busk, p. 164); in Albania
+(Dozon, p. 132 <i>seq.</i>); in Transylvania (Haltrich, No. 34); in
+Schleswig-Holstein (M&uuml;llenhoff, p. 404); in Norway (Asbj&ouml;rnsen, No.
+36, <i>ap.</i> Dasent, <i>Pop. Tales</i>, p. 55, &quot;The Giant who had no Heart in
+his Body&quot;); and finally, in the Hebrides (Campbell, <i>Pop. Tales</i>, p.
+10, <i>cf. Celtic Fairy Tales</i>, No. xvii., &quot;Sea Maiden&quot;). Here we have
+the track of this remarkable idea of an external soul enclosed in a
+succession of wrappings, which we can trace from Hindostan to the
+Hebrides.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to imagine that we have not here the actual migration
+of the tale from East to West. In Bengal we have the soul &quot;in a
+necklace, in a box, in the heart of a <i>boal</i> fish, in a tank&quot;; in
+Albania &quot;it is in a pigeon, in a hare, in the silver tusk of a wild
+boar&quot;; in Rome it is &quot;in a stone, in the head of a bird, in the head
+of a leveret, in the middle head of a seven-headed hydra&quot;; in Russia
+&quot;it is in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in a casket, in an oak&quot;; in
+Servia it is &quot;in a board, in the heart of a fox, in a mountain&quot;; in
+Transylvania &quot;it is in a light, in an egg, in a duck, in a pond, in a
+mountain&quot;; in Norway it is &quot;in an egg, in a duck, in a well, in a
+church, on an island, in a lake&quot;; in the Hebrides it is &quot;in an egg, in
+the belly of a duck, in the belly of a wether, under a flagstone on
+the threshold.&quot; It is impossible to imagine the human mind
+independently imagining such bizarre convolutions. They were borrowed
+from one nation to the other, and till we have reason shown to the
+contrary, the original lender was a Hindu. I should add that the mere
+conception of an external soul occurs in the oldest Egyptian tale of
+&quot;The Two Brothers,&quot; but the wrappings are absent.</p>
+
+
+<h3>V. THE BROKEN POT.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;<i>Pantschatantra</i>, V. ix., tr. Benfey, ii. 345-6.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;Benfey, in &sect; 209 of his <i>Einleitung</i>, gives
+bibliographical references to most of those which are given at length
+in Prof. M. M&uuml;ller's brilliant essay on &quot;The Migration of Fables&quot;
+(<i>Selected Essays</i>, i. 500-76), which is entirely devoted to the
+travels of the fable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> from India to La Fontaine. See also Mr.
+Clouston, <i>Pop. Tales</i>, ii. 432 <i>seq.</i> I have translated the Hebrew
+version in my essay, &quot;Jewish Influence on the Diffusion of
+Folk-Tales,&quot; pp. 6-7. Our proverb, &quot;Do not count your chickens before
+they are hatched,&quot; is ultimately to be derived from India.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;The stories of Alnaschar, the Barber's fifth brother in
+the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, and of La Perette, who counted her chickens
+before they were hatched, in La Fontaine, are demonstrably derived
+from the same Indian original from which our story was obtained. The
+travels of the &quot;Fables of Bidpai&quot; from India to Europe are well known
+and distinctly traceable. I have given a rough summary of the chief
+critical results in the introduction to my edition of the earliest
+English version of the <i>Fables of Bidpai</i>, by Sir Thomas North, of
+Plutarch fame (London, D. Nutt, &quot;Biblioth&egrave;que de Carabas,&quot; 1888),
+where I have given an elaborate genealogical table of the
+multitudinous versions. La Fontaine's version, which has rendered the
+fable so familiar to us all, comes from Bonaventure des Periers,
+<i>Contes et Nouvelles</i>, who got it from the <i>Dialogus Creaturarum</i> of
+Nicholaus Pergamenus, who derived it from the <i>Sermones</i> of Jacques de
+Vitry (see Prof. Crane's edition, No. li.), who probably derived it
+from the <i>Directorium Human&aelig; Vit&aelig;</i> of John of Capua, a converted Jew,
+who translated it from the Hebrew version of the Arabic <i>Kalilah wa
+Dimnah</i>, which was itself derived from the old Syriac version of a
+Pehlevi translation of the original Indian work, probably called after
+Karataka and Damanaka, the names of two jackals who figure in the
+earlier stories of the book. Prof. Rhys-Davids informs me that these
+names are more akin to Pali than to Sanskrit, which makes it still
+more probable that the whole literature is ultimately to be derived
+from a Buddhist source.</p>
+
+<p>The theme of La Perette is of interest as showing the <i>literary</i>
+transmission of tales from Orient to Occident. It also shows the
+possibility of an influence of literary on oral tradition, as is shown
+by our proverb, and by the fact, which Benfey mentions, that La
+Fontaine's story has had influence on two of Grimm's tales, Nos. 164,
+168.</p>
+
+
+<h3>VI. THE MAGIC FIDDLE.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;A. Campbell, <i>Santal Folk-Tales</i>, 1892, pp. 52-6, with some
+verbal alterations. A Bonga is the presiding spirit of a certain kind
+of rice land; Doms and Hadis are low-caste aborigines, whose touch is
+considered polluting. The Santals are a forest tribe, who live in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+Santal Parganas, 140 miles N.W. of Calcutta (Sir W. W. Hunter, <i>The
+Indian Empire</i>, 57-60).</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;Another version occurs in Campbell, p. 106 <i>seq.</i>, which
+shows that the story is popular among the Santals. It is obvious,
+however, that neither version contains the real finish of the story,
+which must have contained the denunciation of the magic fiddle of the
+murderous sisters. This would bring it under the formula of <i>The
+Singing Bone</i>, which M. Monseur has recently been studying with a
+remarkable collection of European variants in the Bulletin of the
+Wallon Folk-Lore Society of Li&egrave;ge (<i>cf. Eng. Fairy Tales</i>, No. ix.).
+There is a singing bone in Steel-Temple's <i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 127
+<i>seq.</i> (&quot;Little Anklebone&quot;).</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Here we have another theme of the common store of European
+folk-tales found in India. Unfortunately, the form in which it occurs
+is mutilated, and we cannot draw any definite conclusion from it.</p>
+
+
+<h3>VII. THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;The Baka-J&#257;taka, Fausb&ouml;ll, No. 38, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp.
+315-21. The Buddha this time is the Genius of the Tree.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0339.jpg" width="500" height="399" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;This J&#257;taka got into the Bidpai literature, and
+occurs in all its multitudinous offshoots (<i>see</i> Benfey, <i>Einleitung</i>,
+&sect; 60) among others in the earliest English translation by North (my
+edition, pp. 118-22), where the crane becomes &quot;a great Paragone of
+India (of those that liue a hundredth yeares and neuer mue their
+feathers).&quot; The crab,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> on hearing the ill news &quot;called to Parliament
+all the Fishes of the Lake,&quot; and before all are devoured destroys the
+Paragon, as in the Jataka, and returned to the remaining fishes, who
+&quot;all with one consent gave hir many a thanke.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;An interesting point, to which I have drawn attention in
+my Introduction to North's Bidpai, is the probability that the
+illustrations of the tales as well as the tales themselves, were
+translated, so to speak, from one country to another. We can trace
+them in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic MSS., and a few are extant on
+Buddhist Stupas. Under these circumstances, it may be of interest to
+compare with Mr. Batten's conception of the Crane and the Crab
+(<i>supra</i>, p. 50) that of the German artist who illustrated the first
+edition of the Latin Bidpai, probably following the traditional
+representations of the MS., which itself could probably trace back to
+India.</p>
+
+
+<h3>VIII. LOVING LAILI.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Miss Stokes, <i>Indian Fairy Tales</i>, pp. 73-84. Majnun and
+Laili are conventional names for lovers, the Romeo and Juliet of
+Hindostan.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;Living in animals' bellies occurs elsewhere in Miss
+Stokes' book, pp. 66, 124; also in Miss Frere's, 188. The restoration
+of beauty by fire occurs as a frequent theme (Temple, Analysis, III.
+vi. f. p. 418). Readers will be reminded of the <i>d&eacute;nouement</i> of Mr.
+Rider Haggard's <i>She</i>. Resuscitation from ashes has been used very
+effectively by Mr. Lang in his delightful <i>Prince Prigio</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;The white skin and blue eyes of Prince Majnun deserve
+attention. They are possibly a relic of the days of Aryan conquest,
+when the fair-skinned, fair-haired Aryan conquered the swarthier
+aboriginals. The name for caste in Sanskrit is <i>varna</i>, &quot;colour&quot;; and
+one Hindu cannot insult another more effectually than by calling him a
+black man. <i>Cf.</i> Stokes, pp. 238-9, who suggests that the red hair is
+something solar, and derived from myths of the solar hero.</p>
+
+
+<h3>IX. THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Steel-Temple, <i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 116-20; first
+published in <i>Indian Antiquary</i>, xii. p. 170 <i>seq.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;No less than 94 parallels are given by Prof. K. Krohn in
+his elaborate discussion of this fable in his dissertation, <i>Mann und
+Fuchs</i>, (Helsingfors, 1891), pp. 38-60; to which may be added three
+Indian variants, omitted by him, but mentioned by Capt. Temple, <i>l.
+c.</i>, p. 324,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> in the <i>Bh&acirc;gavata Pur&acirc;na</i>, the <i>Gul Bak&acirc;ol&icirc;</i> and <i>Ind.
+Ant.</i> xii. 177; and a couple more in my <i>&AElig;sop</i>, p. 253: add Smeaton,
+<i>Karens</i>, p. 126.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Prof. Krohn comes to the conclusion that the majority of
+the oral forms of the tale come from literary versions (p. 47),
+whereas the <i>Reynard</i> form has only had influence on a single variant.
+He reduces the century of variants to three type forms. The first
+occurs in two Egyptian versions collected in the present day, as well
+as in Petrus Alphonsi in the twelfth century, and the <i>Fabul&aelig;
+Extravagantes</i> of the thirteenth or fourteenth: here the ingrate
+animal is a crocodile, which asks to be carried away from a river
+about to dry up, and there is only one judge. The second is that
+current in India and represented by the story in the present
+collection: here the judges are three. The third is that current among
+Western Europeans, which has spread to S. Africa and N. and S.
+America: also three judges. Prof. K. Krohn counts the first the
+original form, owing to the single judge and the naturalness of the
+opening, by which the critical situation is brought about. The further
+question arises, whether this form, though found in Egypt now, is
+indigenous there, and if so, how it got to the East. Prof. Krohn
+grants the possibility of the Egyptian form having been invented in
+India and carried to Egypt, and he allows that the European forms have
+been influenced by the Indian. The &quot;Egyptian&quot; form is found in Burmah
+(Smeaton, <i>l. c.</i>, p. 128), as well as the Indian, a fact of which
+Prof. K. Krohn was unaware though it turns his whole argument. The
+evidence we have of other folk-tales of the beast-epic emanating from
+India improves the chances of this also coming from that source. One
+thing at least is certain: all these hundred variants come ultimately
+from one source. The incident &quot;Inside again&quot; of the <i>Arabian Nights</i>
+(the Djinn and the bottle) and European tales is also a secondary
+derivate.</p>
+
+
+<h3>X. THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Mrs. Kingscote, <i>Tales of the Sun</i> (p. 11 <i>seq.</i>), from
+Pandit Natesa Sastri's <i>Folk-Lore of Southern India</i>, pt. ii.,
+originally from <i>Ind. Antiquary</i>. I have considerably condensed and
+modified the somewhat Babu English of the original.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;See Benfey, <i>Pantschatantra</i>, &sect; 71, i. pp. 193-222, who
+quotes the <i>Karma J&#257;taka</i> as the ultimate source: it also occurs in
+the <i>Saccankira J&#257;taka</i> (Fausb&ouml;ll, No. 73), trans. Rev. R. Morris,
+<i>Folk-Lore Jour.</i> iii. 348 <i>seq.</i> The story of the ingratitude of man
+compared with the gratitude of beasts came early to the West, where it
+occurs in the <i>Gesta Romanorum</i>, c. 119. It was possibly from an early
+form of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> this collection that Richard C&#339;ur de Lion got the story,
+and used it to rebuke the ingratitude of the English nobles on his
+return in 1195. Matthew Paris tells the story, <i>sub anno</i> (it is an
+addition of his to Ralph Disset), <i>Hist. Major</i>, ed. Luard, ii. 413-6,
+how a lion and a serpent and a Venetian named Vitalis were saved from
+a pit by a woodman, Vitalis promising him half his fortune, fifty
+talents. The lion brings his benefactor a leveret, the serpent &quot;gemmam
+pretiosam,&quot; probably &quot;the precious jewel in his head&quot; to which
+Shakespeare alludes (<i>As You Like It</i>, ii. I., <i>cf.</i> Benfey, <i>l. c.</i>,
+p. 214, <i>n.</i>), but Vitalis refuses to have anything to do with him,
+and altogether repudiates the fifty talents. &quot;H&aelig;c referebat Rex
+Richardus munificus, ingratos redarguendo.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Apart from the interest of its wide travels, and its
+appearance in the standard medi&aelig;val History of England by Matthew
+Paris, the modern story shows the remarkable persistence of folk-tales
+in the popular mind. Here we have collected from the Hindu peasant of
+to-day a tale which was probably told before Buddha, over two thousand
+years ago, and certainly included among the Jatakas before the
+Christian era. The same thing has occurred with <i>The Tiger, Brahman,
+and Jackal</i> (No. ix. <i>supra</i>).</p>
+
+
+<h3>XI. HARISARMAN.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Somadeva, <i>Katha-Sarit-Sagara</i>, trans. Tawney (Calcutta,
+1880), i. pp. 272-4. I have slightly toned down the inflated style of
+the original.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels </i>&mdash;Benfey has collected and discussed a number in <i>Orient
+and Occident</i>, i. 371 <i>seq.</i>; see also Tawney, <i>ad loc</i>. The most
+remarkable of the parallels is that afforded by the Grimms' &quot;Doctor
+Allwissend&quot; (No. 98), which extends even to such a minute point as his
+exclamation, &quot;Ach, ich armer Krebs,&quot; whereupon a crab is discovered
+under a dish. The usual form of discovery of the thieves is for the
+Dr. Knowall to have so many days given him to discover the thieves,
+and at the end of the first day he calls out, &quot;There's one of them,&quot;
+meaning the days, just as one of the thieves peeps through at him.
+Hence the title and the plot of C. Lever's <i>One of Them</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XII. THE CHARMED RING.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Knowles, <i>Folk-Tales of Kashmir</i>, pp. 20-8.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;The incident of the Aiding Animals is frequent in
+folk-tales: see bibliographical references, <i>sub voce</i>, in my List of
+Incidents, <i>Trans. Folk-Lore Congress</i>, p. 88; also Knowles, 21,
+<i>n.</i>;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> and Temple, <i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 401, 412. The Magic Ring
+is also &quot;common form&quot; in folk-tales; <i>cf.</i> K&ouml;hler <i>ap.</i> Marie de
+France, <i>Lais</i>, ed. Warncke, p. lxxxiv. And the whole story is to be
+found very widely spread from India (<i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 196-206)
+to England (<i>Eng. Fairy Tales</i>, No. xvii, &quot;Jack and his Golden
+Snuff-box,&quot; <i>cf.</i> Notes, <i>ibid.</i>), the most familiar form of it being
+&quot;Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;M. Cosquin has pointed out (<i>Contes de Lorraine</i>, p. xi.
+<i>seq.</i>) that the incident of the rat's-tail-up-nose to recover the
+ring from the stomach of an ogress, is found among Arabs, Albanians,
+Bretons, and Russians. It is impossible to imagine that
+incident&mdash;occurring in the same series of incidents&mdash;to have been
+invented more than once, and if that part of the story has been
+borrowed from India, there is no reason why the whole of it should not
+have arisen in India, and have been spread to the West. The English
+variant was derived from an English Gipsy, and suggests the
+possibility that for this particular story the medium of transmission
+has been the Gipsies. This contains the incident of the loss of the
+ring by the faithful animal, which again could not have been
+independently invented.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XIII. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE.</h3>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/image_0343.jpg" width="500" height="445" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;The <i>Kacchapa J&#257;taka</i>, Fausb&ouml;ll, No. 215; also in his
+<i>Five J&#257;takas</i>, pp. 16, 41, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp. viii-x.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;It occurs also in the Bidpai literature, in nearly all
+its multitudinous offshoots. See Benfey, <i>Einleitung</i>, &sect;84; also my
+<i>Bidpai</i>, E, 4 <i>a</i>; and North's text, pp. 170-5, where it is the
+taunts of the other birds that cause the catastrophe: &quot;O here is a
+brave sight, looke, here is a goodly ieast, what bugge haue we here,&quot;
+said some. &quot;See, see, she hangeth by the throte, and therefor she
+speaketh not,&quot; saide others; &quot;and the beast flieth not like a beast;&quot;
+so she opened her mouth and &quot;pashte hir all to pieces.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;I have reproduced in my edition the original illustration
+of the first English Bidpai, itself derived from the Italian block. A
+replica of it here may serve to show that it could be used equally
+well to illustrate the Pali original as its English
+great-great-great-great-great-great grand-child.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XIV. LAC OF RUPEES.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Knowles, <i>Folk-Tales of Kashmir</i>, pp. 32-41. I have reduced
+the pieces of advice to three, and curtailed somewhat.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;See <i>Celtic Fairy Tales</i>, No. xxii., &quot;Tale of Ivan,&quot;
+from the old Cornish, now extinct, and notes <i>ibid.</i> Mr. Clouston
+points out (<i>Pop. Tales</i>, ii. 319) that it occurs in Buddhist
+literature, in &quot;Buddaghoshas Parables,&quot; as &quot;The Story of Kulla
+Pauthaka.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;It is indeed curious to find the story better told in
+Cornwall than in the land of its birth, but there can be little doubt
+that the Buddhist version is the earliest and original form of the
+story. The piece of advice was originally a charm, in which a youth
+was to say to himself, &quot;Why are you busy? Why are you busy?&quot; He does
+so when thieves are about, and so saves the king's treasures, of which
+he gets an appropriate share. It would perhaps be as well if many of
+us should say to ourselves &quot;<i>Ghatesa, ghatesa, kim k&aacute;rana?</i>&quot;</p>
+
+
+<h3>XV. THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;<i>Pantschatantra</i>, III. v., tr. Benfey, ii. 244-7.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels</i> given in my <i>&AElig;sop</i>, Ro. ii. 10, p. 40. The chief points
+about them are&mdash;(1) though the tale does not exist in either Ph&aelig;drus
+or Babrius, it occurs in prose derivates from the Latin by Ademar, 65,
+and &quot;Romulus,&quot; ii. 10, and from Greek, in Gabrias, 45, and the prose
+<i>&AElig;sop</i>, ed. Halm, 96; Gitlbauer has restored the Babrian form in his
+edition of Babrius, No. 160. (2) The fable occurs among folk-tales,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+Grimm, 105; Woycicki, <i>Poln. M&auml;hr.</i> 105; Gering, <i>Islensk. &AElig;vent.</i> 59,
+possibly derived from La Fontaine, x. 12.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Benfey has proved most ingeniously and conclusively
+(<i>Einl.</i> i. 359) that the Indian fable is the source of both Latin and
+Greek fables. I may borrow from my <i>&AElig;sop</i>, p. 93, parallel abstracts
+of the three versions, putting Benfey's results in a graphic form,
+series of bars indicating the passages where the classical fables have
+failed to preserve the original.</p>
+
+<table summary="Details">
+  <tr>
+    <td><p class="center"><span class="smcap">Bidpai</span>.</p>
+
+<p>A Brahmin once observed a snake in his field, and thinking
+it the tutelary spirit of the field, he offered it a
+libation of milk in a bowl. Next day he finds a piece of
+gold in the bowl, and he receives this each day after
+offering the libation. One day he had to go elsewhere, and
+he sent his son with the libation. The son sees the gold,
+and thinking the serpent's hole full of treasure determines
+to slay the snake. He strikes at its head with a cudgel, and
+the enraged serpent stings him to death. The Brahmin mourns
+his son's death, but next morning as usual brings the
+libation of milk (in the hope of getting the gold as
+before). The serpent appears after a long delay at the mouth
+of its lair, and declares their friendship at an end, as it
+could not forget the blow of the Brahmin's son, nor the
+Brahmin his son's death from the bite of the snake.</p>
+
+<p><i>Pants.</i> III. v. (Benf. 244-7).</p></td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td><p class="center"><span class="smcap">Ph&aelig;drine</span>.</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&mdash;A good man had become friendly with the snake, who came
+into his house and brought luck with it, so that the man
+became rich through it.&mdash;&mdash;One day he struck the serpent,
+which disappeared, and with it the man's riches. The good
+man tries to make it up, but the serpent declares their
+friendship at an end, as it could not forget the  blow.&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Ph&aelig;d. Dressl. VII. 28 (Rom. II. xi.)</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Babrian</span>.</p>
+
+<p>A serpent stung a farmer's son to death. The father pursued
+the serpent with an axe, and struck off part of its tail.
+Afterwards fearing its vengeance he brought food and honey
+to its lair, and begged reconciliation. The serpent,
+however, declares friendship impossible, as it could not
+forget the blow&mdash;&mdash;nor the farmer his son's death from the
+bite of the snake.</p>
+
+<p>&AElig;sop, Halm 96<sup>b</sup> (Babrius-Gitlb. 160).</p></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>In the Indian fable every step of the action is thoroughly justified,
+whereas the Latin form does not explain why the snake was friendly in
+the first instance, or why the good man was enraged afterwards; and
+the Greek form starts abruptly, without explaining why the serpent had
+killed the farmer's son. Make a composite of the Ph&aelig;drine and Babrian
+forms, and you get the Indian one, which is thus shown to be the
+original of both.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>XVI. THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Steel-Temple, <i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 98-110, originally
+published in <i>Ind. Antiq.</i> x. 147 <i>seq.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;A long variant follows in <i>Ind. Antiq.</i>, <i>l. c.</i> M.
+Cosquin refers to several Oriental variants, <i>l. c.</i> p. xxx. <i>n.</i> For
+the direction tabu, see Note on Princess Labam, <i>supra</i>, No. ii. The
+&quot;letter to kill bearer&quot; and &quot;letter substituted&quot; are frequent in both
+European (see my List <i>s. v.</i>) and Indian Folk-Tales (Temple,
+Analysis, II. iv. <i>b</i>, 6, p. 410). The idea of a son of seven mothers
+could only arise in a polygamous country. It occurs in &quot;Punchkin,&quot;
+<i>supra</i>, No. iv.; Day, <i>Folk-Tales of Bengal</i>, 117 <i>seq.</i>; <i>Ind.
+Antiq.</i> i. 170 (Temple, <i>l. c.</i>, 398).</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;M. Cosquin (<i>Contes de Lorraine</i>, p. xxx.) points out how,
+in a Sicilian story, Gonzenbach (<i>Sizil. M&auml;hr.</i> No. 80), the seven
+co-queens are transformed into seven step-daughters of the envious
+witch who causes their eyes to be taken out. It is thus probable,
+though M. Cosquin does not point this out, that the &quot;envious
+step-mother&quot; of folk-tales (see my List, <i>s. v.</i>) was originally an
+envious co-wife. But there can be little doubt of what M. Cosquin
+<i>does</i> point out&mdash;viz., that the Sicilian story is derived from the
+Indian one.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XVII. A LESSON FOR KINGS.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;<i>R&#257;jov&#257;da J&#257;taka</i>, Fausb&ouml;ll, No. 151, tr.
+Rhys-Davids, pp. xxii.-vi.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;This is one of the earliest of moral allegories in
+existence. The moralising tone of the Jatakas must be conspicuous to
+all reading them. Why, they can moralise even the Tar Baby (see
+<i>infra</i>, Note on &quot;Demon with the Matted Hair,&quot; No. xxv.).</p>
+
+
+<h3>XVIII. PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Kingscote, <i>Tales of the Sun</i>. I have changed the Indian
+mercantile numerals into those of English &quot;back-slang,&quot; which make a
+very good parallel.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XIX. RAJA RASALU.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Steel-Temple, <i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 247-80, omitting
+&quot;How Raja Rasalu was Born,&quot; &quot;How Raja Rasalu's Friends Forsook Him,&quot;
+&quot;How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants,&quot; and &quot;How Raja Rasalu became a
+Jogi.&quot; A further version in Temple, <i>Legends of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> Panjab</i>, vol. i.
+<i>Chaupur</i>, I should explain, is a game played by two players with
+eight men, each on a board in the shape of a cross, four men to each
+cross covered with squares. The moves of the men are decided by the
+throws of a long form of dice. The object of the game is to see which
+of the players can first move all his men into the black centre square
+of the cross (Temple, <i>l. c.</i>, p. 344, and <i>Legends of Panjab</i>, i.
+243-5). It is sometimes said to be the origin of chess.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;Rev. C. Swynnerton, &quot;Four Legends about Raja Rasalu,&quot; in
+<i>Folk-Lore Journal</i>, p. 158 <i>seq.</i>, also in separate book much
+enlarged, <i>The Adventures of Raja Rasalu</i>, Calcutta, 1884. Curiously
+enough, the real interest of the story comes after the end of our part
+of it, for Kokilan, when she grows up, is married to Raja Rasalu, and
+behaves as sometimes youthful wives behave to elderly husbands. He
+gives her her lover's heart to eat, <i>&agrave; la</i> Decameron, and she dashes
+herself over the rocks. For the parallels of this part of the legend
+see my edition of Painter's <i>Palace of Pleasure</i>, tom. i. Tale 39, or,
+better, the <i>Programm</i> of H. Patzig, <i>Zur Geschichte der Herzm&auml;re</i>
+(Berlin, 1891). Gambling for life occurs in Celtic and other
+folk-tales; <i>cf.</i> my List of Incidents, <i>s. v.</i> &quot;Gambling for Magic
+Objects.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Raja Rasalu is possibly a historic personage, according to
+Capt. Temple, <i>Calcutta Review</i>, 1884, p. 397, flourishing in the
+eighth or ninth century. There is a place called Sirikap ka-kila in
+the neighbourhood of Sialkot, the traditional seat of Rasalu on the
+Indus, not far from Atlock.</p>
+
+<p>Herr Patzig is strongly for the Eastern origin of the romance, and
+finds its earliest appearance in the West in the Anglo-Norman
+troubadour, Thomas' <i>Lai Guirun</i>, where it becomes part of the Tristan
+cycle. There is, so far as I know, no proof of the earliest part of
+the Rasalu legend (<i>our</i> part) coming to Europe, except the existence
+of the gambling incidents of the same kind in Celtic and other
+folk-tales.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XX. THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;The <i>S&#299;ha Camma J&#257;taka</i>, Fausb&ouml;ll, No. 189, trans.
+Rhys-Davids, pp. v. vi.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;It also occurs in Somadeva, <i>Katha Sarit Sagara</i>, ed.
+Tawney, ii. 65, and <i>n</i>. For &AElig;sopic parallels <i>cf.</i> my <i>&AElig;sop</i>, Av. iv.
+It is in Babrius, ed. Gitlbaur, 218 (from Greek prose &AElig;sop, ed. Halm,
+No. 323), and Avian, ed. Ellis, 5, whence it came into the modern
+&AElig;sop.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Avian wrote towards the end of the third century, and put
+into Latin mainly those portions of Babrius which are unparalleled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> by
+Ph&aelig;drus. Consequently, as I have shown, he has a much larger
+proportion of Eastern elements than Ph&aelig;drus. There can be little doubt
+that the Ass in the Lion's Skin is from India. As Prof. Rhys-Davids
+remarks, the Indian form gives a plausible motive for the masquerade
+which is wanting in the ordinary &AElig;sopic version.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XXI. THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Steel-Temple, <i>Wideawake Stories</i>, pp. 215-8.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels</i> enumerated in my <i>&AElig;sop</i>, Av. xvii. See also Jacques de
+Vitry, <i>Exempla</i>, ed. Crane, No. 196 (see notes, p. 212), and Bozon,
+<i>Contes moralis&eacute;s</i>, No. 112. It occurs in Avian, ed. Ellis, No. 22.
+Mr. Kipling has a very similar tale in his <i>Life's Handicap</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Here we have collected in modern India what one cannot
+help thinking is the Indian original of a fable of Avian. The
+preceding number showed one of his fables existing among the Jatakas,
+probably before the Christian era. This makes it likely that we shall
+find an earlier Indian original of the fable of the Avaricious and
+Envious, perhaps among the Jatakas still untranslated.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XXII. THE BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Miss Stokes' <i>Indian Fairy Tales</i>, No. 20, pp. 119-137.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels</i> to heroes and heroines in European fairy tales, with stars
+on their foreheads, are given with some copiousness in Stokes, <i>l.
+c.</i>, pp. 242-3. This is an essentially Indian trait; almost all Hindus
+have some tribal or caste mark on their bodies or faces. The choice of
+the hero disguised as a menial is also common property of Indian and
+European fairy tales: see Stokes, <i>l. c.</i>, p. 231, and my List of
+Incidents (<i>s. v.</i> &quot;Menial Disguise.&quot;)</p>
+
+
+<h3>XXIII. THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Kindly communicated by Mr. M. L. Dames from his unpublished
+collection of Baluchi tales.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Unholy fakirs are rather rare. See Temple, Analysis, I.
+ii. <i>a</i>, p. 394.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XXIV. WHY THE FISH LAUGHED.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Knowles, <i>Folk-Tales of Kashmir</i>, pp. 484-90.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;The latter part is the formula of the Clever Lass who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+guesses riddles. She has been bibliographised by Prof. Child, <i>Eng.
+and Scotch Ballads</i>, i. 485; see also Benfey, <i>Kl. Schr.</i> ii. 156
+<i>seq.</i> The sex test at the end is different from any of those
+enumerated by Prof. K&ouml;hler on Gonzenbach, <i>Sezil. M&auml;hr.</i> ii. 216.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Here we have a further example of a whole formula, or
+series of incidents, common to most European collections, found in
+India, and in a quarter, too, where European influence is little
+likely to penetrate. Prof. Benfey, in an elaborate dissertation (&quot;Die
+Kluge Dirne,&quot; in <i>Ausland</i>, 1859, Nos. 20-25, now reprinted in <i>Kl.
+Schr.</i> ii. 156 <i>seq.</i>), has shown the wide spread of the theme both in
+early Indian literature (though probably there derived from the folk)
+and in modern European folk literature.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XXV. THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;The <i>Panc&#257;vudha-J&#257;taka</i>, Fausb&ouml;ll, No. 55, kindly
+translated for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, of Christ's College,
+Cambridge. There is a brief abstract of the Jataka in Prof. Estlin
+Carpenter's sermon, <i>Three Ways of Salvation</i>, 1884, p. 27, where my
+attention was first called to this Jataka.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;Most readers of these Notes will remember the central
+episode of Mr. J. C. Harris' <i>Uncle Remus</i>, in which Brer Fox, annoyed
+at Brer Rabbit's depredations, fits up &quot;a contrapshun, what he calls a
+Tar Baby.&quot; Brer Rabbit, coming along that way, passes the time of day
+with Tar Baby, and, annoyed at its obstinate silence, hits it with
+right fist and with left, with left fist and with right, which
+successively stick to the &quot;contrapshun,&quot; till at last he butts with
+his head, and that sticks too, whereupon Brer Fox, who all this time
+had &quot;lain low,&quot; saunters out, and complains of Brer Rabbit that he is
+too stuck up. In the sequel Brer Rabbit begs Brer Fox that he may
+&quot;drown me as deep ez you please, skin me, scratch out my eyeballs,
+t'ar out my years by the roots, en cut off my legs, but do don't fling
+me in dat brier patch;&quot; which, of course, Brer Fox does, only to be
+informed by the cunning Brer Rabbit that he had been &quot;bred en bawn in
+a brier patch.&quot; The story is a favourite one with the negroes: it
+occurs in Col. Jones' <i>Negro Myths of the Georgia Coast</i> (Uncle Remus
+is from S. Carolina), also among those of Brazil (Romero, <i>Contos do
+Brazil</i>), and in the West Indian Islands (Mr. Lang, &quot;At the Sign of
+the Ship,&quot; <i>Longman's Magazine</i>, Feb. 1889). We can trace it to
+Africa, where it occurs in Cape Colony (<i>South African Folk-Lore
+Journal</i>, vol. i.).</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is so
+preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally
+connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches
+the matter, and gives us a landing-stage between India and America.
+There can be little doubt that the Jataka of Prince Five Weapons came
+to Africa, possibly by Buddhist missionaries, spread among the
+negroes, and then took ship in the holds of slavers for the New World,
+where it is to be found in fuller form than any yet discovered in the
+home of its birth. I say Buddhist missionaries, because there is a
+certain amount of evidence that the negroes have Buddhistic symbols
+among them, and we can only explain the identification of Brer Rabbit
+with Prince Five Weapons, and so with Buddha himself, by supposing the
+change to have originated among Buddhists, where it would be quite
+natural. For one of the most celebrated metempsychoses of Buddha is
+that detailed in the <i>Sasa J&#257;taka</i> (Fausb&ouml;ll, No. 316, tr. R.
+Morris, <i>Folk-Lore Journal</i>, ii. 336), in which the Buddha, as a hare,
+performs a sublime piece of self-sacrifice, and as a reward is
+translated to the moon, where he can be seen to this day as &quot;the hare
+in the moon.&quot; Every Buddhist is reminded of the virtue of
+self-sacrifice whenever the moon is full, and it is easy to understand
+how the Buddha became identified as the Hare or Rabbit. A striking
+confirmation of this, in connection with our immediate subject, is
+offered by Mr. Harris' sequel volume, <i>Nights with Uncle Remus</i>. Here
+there is a whole chapter (xxx.) on &quot;Brer Rabbit and his famous Foot,&quot;
+and it is well known how the worship of Buddha's foot developed in
+later Buddhism. No wonder Brer Rabbit is so 'cute: he is nothing less
+than an incarnation of Buddha. Among the Karens of Burmah, where
+Buddhist influence is still active, the Hare holds exactly the same
+place in their folk-lore as Brer Rabbit among the negroes. The sixth
+chapter of Mr. Smeaton's book on them is devoted to &quot;Fireside
+Stories,&quot; and is entirely taken up with adventures of the Hare, all of
+which can be parallelled from <i>Uncle Remus</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Curiously enough, the negro form of the five-fold attack&mdash;&quot;fighting
+with <i>five</i> fists,&quot; Mr. Barr would call it&mdash;is probably nearer to the
+original legend than that preserved in the Jataka, though 2000 years
+older. For we may be sure that the thunderbolt of Knowledge did not
+exist in the original, but was introduced by some Buddhist Mr. Barlow,
+who, like Alice's Duchess, ended all his tales with: &quot;And the moral of
+that is&mdash;&mdash;&quot; For no well-bred demon would have been taken in by so
+simple a &quot;sell&quot; as that indulged in by Prince Five-Weapons in our
+Jataka, and it is probable, therefore, that <i>Uncle Remus</i> preserves a
+reminiscence of the original Indian reading of the tale. On the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
+hand, it is probable that Carlyle's Indian god with the fire in his
+belly was derived from Prince Five-Weapons.</p>
+
+<p>The negro variant has also suggested to Mr. Batten an explanation of
+the whole story which is extremely plausible, though it introduces a
+method of folk-lore exegesis which has been overdriven to death. The
+<i>Sasa J&#257;taka</i> identifies the Brer Rabbit Buddha with the hare in
+the moon. It is well known that Easterns explain an eclipse of the
+moon as due to its being swallowed up by a Dragon or Demon. May not,
+asks Mr. Batten, the <i>Pancavudha J&#257;taka</i> be an idealised account of
+an eclipse of the moon? This suggestion receives strong confirmation
+from the Demon's reference to Rahu, who does, in Indian myth swallow
+the moon at times of eclipse. The Jataka accordingly contains the
+Buddhist explanation why the moon&mdash;<i>i.e.</i> the hare in the moon, <i>i.e.</i>
+Buddha&mdash;is not altogether swallowed up by the Demon of Eclipse, the
+Demon with the Matted Hair. Mr. Batten adds that in imagining what
+kind of Demon the Eclipse Demon was, the Jataka writer was probably
+aided by recollections of some giant octopus, who has saucer eyes and
+a kind of hawk's beak, knobs on its &quot;tusks,&quot; and a very variegated
+belly (gasteropod). It is obviously unfair of Mr. Batten both to
+illustrate and also to explain so well the Tar Baby Jataka&mdash;taking the
+scientific bread, so to speak, out of a poor folk-lorist's mouth&mdash;but
+his explanations seem to me so convincing that I cannot avoid
+including them in these Notes.</p>
+
+<p>I am, however, not so much concerned with the original explanation of
+the Jataka as to trace its travels across the continents of Asia,
+Africa, and America. I think I have done this satisfactorily, and will
+have thereby largely strengthened the case for less extensive travels
+of other tales. I have sufficient confidence of the method employed to
+venture on that most hazardous of employments, scientific prophecy. I
+venture to predict that the Tar Baby story will be found in Madagascar
+in a form nearer the Indian than Uncle Remus, and I will go further,
+and say that it will <i>not</i> be found in the grand Helsingfors
+collection of folk-tales, though this includes 12,000, of which 1000
+are beast-tales.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XXVI. THE IVORY PALACE.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Knowles, <i>Folk-Tales of Kashmir</i>, pp. 211-25, with some
+slight omissions. Gulizar is Persian for rosy-cheeked.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;Stokes, <i>Indian Fairy Tales</i>, No. 27. &quot;Panwpatti Rani,&quot;
+pp. 208-15, is the same story. Another version in the collection
+<i>Baital Pachisi</i>, No. 1.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;The themes of love by mirror, and the faithful friend, are
+common European, though the calm attempt at poisoning is perhaps
+characteristically Indian, and reads like a page from Mr. Kipling.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XXVII. SUN, MOON, AND WIND.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Miss Frere, <i>Old Deccan Days</i>, No. 10, pp. 153-5.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Miss Frere observes that she has not altered the
+traditional mode of the Moon's conveyance of dinner to her mother the
+Star, though it must, she fears, impair the value of the story as a
+moral lesson in the eyes of all instructors of youth.</p>
+
+
+<h3>XXVIII. HOW WICKED SONS WERE DUPED.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;Knowles. <i>Folk-Tales of Kashmir</i>, pp. 241-2.</p>
+
+<p><i>Parallels.</i>&mdash;A Gaelic parallel was given by Campbell in <i>Trans.
+Ethnol. Soc.</i>, ii. p. 336; an Anglo-Latin one from the Middle Ages by
+T. Wright in <i>Latin Stories</i> (Percy Soc.), No. 26; and for these and
+points of anthropological interest in the Celtic variant see Mr.
+Gomme's article in <i>Folk-Lore</i>, i. pp. 197-206, &quot;A Highland Folk-Tale
+and its Origin in Custom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;Mr. Gomme is of opinion that the tale arose from certain
+rhyming formul&aelig; occurring in the Gaelic and Latin tales as written on
+a mallet left by the old man in the box opened after his death. The
+rhymes are to the effect that a father who gives up his wealth to his
+children in his own lifetime deserves to be put to death with the
+mallet. Mr. Gomme gives evidence that it was an archaic custom to put
+oldsters to death after they had become helpless. He also points out
+that it was customary for estates to be divided and surrendered during
+the owners' lifetime, and generally he connects a good deal of
+primitive custom with our story. I have already pointed out in
+<i>Folk-Lore</i>, p. 403, that the existence of the tale in Kashmir without
+any reference to the mallet makes it impossible for the rhymes on the
+mallet to be the source of the story. As a matter of fact, it is a
+very embarrassing addition to it, since the rhyme tells against the
+parent, and the story is intended to tell against the ungrateful
+children. The existence of the tale in India renders it likely enough
+that it is not indigenous to the British Isles, but an Oriental
+importation. It is obvious, therefore, that it cannot be used as
+anthropological evidence of the existence of the primitive customs to
+be found in it. The whole incident, indeed, is a striking example of
+the dangers of the anthropological method of dealing with folk-tales
+before some attempt is made to settle the questions of origin and
+diffusion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>XXIX. THE PIGEON AND THE CROW.</h3>
+<p><i>Source.</i>&mdash;The <i>Lola J&#257;taka</i>, Fausb&ouml;ll, No. 274, kindly translated
+and slightly abridged for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse.</p>
+
+<p><i>Remarks.</i>&mdash;We began with an animal Jataka, and may appropriately
+finish with one which shows how effectively the writers of the Jatakas
+could represent animal folk, and how terribly moral they invariably
+were in their tales. I should perhaps add that the Bodhisat is not
+precisely the Buddha himself but a character which is on its way to
+becoming perfectly enlightened, and so may be called a future Buddha.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES***</p>
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@@ -0,0 +1,8207 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Indian Fairy Tales, Edited by Joseph Jacobs,
+Illustrated by John D. Batten and Gloria Cardew
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Indian Fairy Tales
+
+
+Editor: Joseph Jacobs
+
+Release Date: March 13, 2003  [eBook #7128]
+Most recently updated: May 1, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team and revised by Sankar Viswanathan, Fritz
+Ohrenschall, Sania Ali Mirza, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(http://www.pgdp.net) using page images generously made available by
+Internet Archive (http://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the lovely original illustrations.
+      See 7128-h.htm or 7128-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7128/7128-h/7128-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7128/7128-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/indiantales00jacorich
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      A letter following a carat character is superscripted.
+      For example, in "2^e" the "e" is superscripted.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Indian Fairy Tales]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration: PRINCESS LABAM]
+
+
+INDIAN FAIRY TALES
+
+Selected and Edited by
+
+JOSEPH JACOBS
+
+Editor of "Folk Lore"
+
+Illustrated by John D. Batten
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+David Nutt, 270, 271 Strand
+1892
+
+
+
+
+_Only One Hundred and Sixty Copies of this
+Edition on Japanese Vellum Paper have been printed,
+of which One Hundred and Fifty are for Sale.
+
+This is No. 147_
+
+
+_The Illustrations in this Book were coloured by hand by
+Miss Gloria Cardew._
+
+
+
+
+   _TO
+   MY DEAR LITTLE PHIL_
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+From the extreme West of the Indo-European world, we go this year to
+the extreme East. From the soft rain and green turf of Gaeldom, we
+seek the garish sun and arid soil of the Hindoo. In the Land of Ire,
+the belief in fairies, gnomes, ogres and monsters is all but dead; in
+the Land of Ind it still flourishes in all the vigour of animism.
+
+Soils and national characters differ; but fairy tales are the same in
+plot and incidents, if not in treatment. The majority of the tales in
+this volume have been known in the West in some form or other, and the
+problem arises how to account for their simultaneous existence in
+farthest West and East. Some--as Benfey in Germany, M. Cosquin in
+France, and Mr. Clouston in England--have declared that India is the
+Home of the Fairy Tale, and that all European fairy tales have been
+brought from thence by Crusaders, by Mongol missionaries, by Gipsies,
+by Jews, by traders, by travellers. The question is still before the
+courts, and one can only deal with it as an advocate. So far as my
+instructions go, I should be prepared, within certain limits, to hold
+a brief for India. So far as the children of Europe have their fairy
+stories in common, these--and they form more than a third of the
+whole--are derived from India. In particular, the majority of the
+Drolls or comic tales and jingles can be traced, without much
+difficulty, back to the Indian peninsula.
+
+Certainly there is abundant evidence of the early transmission by
+literary means of a considerable number of drolls and folk-tales from
+India about the time of the Crusaders. The collections known in Europe
+by the titles of _The Fables of Bidpai_, _The Seven Wise Masters_,
+_Gesta Romanorum_, and _Barlaam and Josaphat_, were extremely popular
+during the Middle Ages, and their contents passed on the one hand into
+the _Exempla_ of the monkish preachers, and on the other into the
+_Novelle_ of Italy, thence, after many days, to contribute their quota
+to the Elizabethan Drama. Perhaps nearly one-tenth of the main
+incidents of European folk-tales can be traced to this source.
+
+There are even indications of an earlier literary contact between
+Europe and India, in the case of one branch of the folk-tale, the
+Fable or Beast Droll. In a somewhat elaborate discussion[1] I have
+come to the conclusion that a goodly number of the fables that pass
+under the name of the Samian slave, Aesop, were derived from India,
+probably from the same source whence the same tales were utilised in
+the Jatakas, or Birth-stories of Buddha. These Jatakas contain a large
+quantity of genuine early Indian folk-tales, and form the earliest
+collection of folk-tales in the world, a sort of Indian Grimm,
+collected more than two thousand years before the good German brothers
+went on their quest among the folk with such delightful results. For
+this reason I have included a considerable number of them in this
+volume; and shall be surprised if tales that have roused the laughter
+and wonder of pious Buddhists for the last two thousand years, cannot
+produce the same effect on English children. The Jatakas have been
+fortunate in their English translators, who render with vigour and
+point; and I rejoice in being able to publish the translation of two
+new Jatakas, kindly done into English for this volume by Mr. W. H. D.
+Rouse, of Christ's College, Cambridge. In one of these I think I have
+traced the source of the Tar Baby incident in "Uncle Remus."
+
+[Footnote 1: "History of the Aesopic Fable," the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's _Fables of Esope_ (London, Nutt, 1889).]
+
+Though Indian fairy tales are the earliest in existence, yet they are
+also from another point of view the youngest. For it is only about
+twenty-five years ago that Miss Frere began the modern collection of
+Indian folk-tales with her charming "Old Deccan Days" (London, John
+Murray, 1868; fourth edition, 1889). Her example has been followed by
+Miss Stokes, by Mrs. Steel, and Captain (now Major) Temple, by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, by Mr. Knowles and Mr. Campbell, as well as
+others who have published folk-tales in such periodicals as the
+_Indian Antiquary_ and _The Orientalist_. The story-store of modern
+India has been well dipped into during the last quarter of a century,
+though the immense range of the country leaves room for any number of
+additional workers and collections. Even so far as the materials
+already collected go, a large number of the commonest incidents in
+European folk-tales have been found in India. Whether brought there or
+born there, we have scarcely any criterion for judging; but as some of
+those still current among the folk in India can be traced back more
+than a millennium, the presumption is in favour of an Indian origin.
+
+From all these sources--from the Jatakas, from the Bidpai, and from
+the more recent collections--I have selected those stories which throw
+most light on the origin of Fable and Folk-tales, and at the same time
+are most likely to attract English children. I have not, however,
+included too many stories of the Grimm types, lest I should repeat
+the contents of the two preceding volumes of this series. This has to
+some degree weakened the case for India as represented by this book.
+The need of catering for the young ones has restricted my selection
+from the well-named "Ocean of the Streams of Story," _Katha-Sarit
+Sagara_ of Somadeva. The stories existing in Pali and Sanskrit I have
+taken from translations, mostly from the German of Benfey or the
+vigorous English of Professor Rhys-Davids, whom I have to thank for
+permission to use his versions of the Jatakas.
+
+I have been enabled to make this book a representative collection of
+the Fairy Tales of Ind by the kindness of the original collectors or
+their publishers. I have especially to thank Miss Frere, who kindly
+made an exception in my favour, and granted me the use of that fine
+story, "Punchkin," and that quaint myth, "How Sun, Moon, and Wind went
+out to Dinner." Miss Stokes has been equally gracious in granting me
+the use of characteristic specimens from her "Indian Fairy Tales." To
+Major Temple I owe the advantage of selecting from his admirable
+_Wideawake Stories_, and Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. have allowed
+me to use Mr. Knowles' "Folk-tales of Kashmir," in their Oriental
+Library; and Messrs. W. H. Allen have been equally obliging with
+regard to Mrs. Kingscote's "Tales of the Sun." Mr. M. L. Dames has
+enabled me add to the published story-store of India by granting me
+the use of one from his inedited collection of Baluchi folk-tales.
+
+I have again to congratulate myself on the co-operation of my friend
+Mr. J. D. Batten in giving beautiful or amusing form to the creations
+of the folk fancy of the Hindoos. It is no slight thing to embody, as
+he has done, the glamour and the humour both of the Celt and of the
+Hindoo. It is only a further proof that Fairy Tales are something more
+than Celtic or Hindoo. They are human.
+
+JOSEPH JACOBS.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+
+I.      THE LION AND THE CRANE                        1
+
+II.     HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM     3
+
+III.    THE LAMBIKIN                                 17
+
+IV.     PUNCHKIN                                     21
+
+V.      THE BROKEN POT                               38
+
+VI.     THE MAGIC FIDDLE                             40
+
+VII.    THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED                    46
+
+VIII.   LOVING LAILI                                 51
+
+IX.     THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL       66
+
+X.      THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON                         70
+
+XI.     HARISARMAN                                   85
+
+XII.    THE CHARMED RING                             90
+
+XIII.   THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE                      100
+
+XIV.    A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A PIECE OF ADVICE       103
+
+XV.     THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT                     112
+
+XVI.    THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS                     115
+
+XVII.   A LESSON FOR KINGS                          127
+
+XVIII.  PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL                   132
+
+XIX.    RAJA RASALU                                 136
+
+XX.     THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN                  150
+
+XXI.    THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER             152
+
+XXII.   THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD
+            AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN                  156
+
+XXIII.  THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR                    179
+
+XXIV.   WHY THE FISH LAUGHED                        186
+
+XXV.    THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR              194
+
+XXVI.   THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS       199
+
+XXVII.  SUN, MOON, AND WIND GO OUT TO DINNER        218
+
+XXVIII. HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED              221
+
+XXIX.   THE PIGEON AND THE CROW                     223
+
+        NOTES AND REFERENCES                        227
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Full-page Illustrations
+
+
+PRINCESS LABAM                              _Frontispiece_
+
+THE LION AND THE CRANE          _To face page_       2
+
+PUNCHKIN                                 "          36
+
+LOVING LAILI                             "          64
+
+THE CHARMED RING                         "          96
+
+THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS                  "         120
+
+RAJA RASALU                              "         146
+
+BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD                "         165
+
+DEMON WITH MATTED HAIR                   "         196
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     [Plates, vignettes, initials, and cuts are from "process"
+     blocks supplied by Messrs. J. C. Drummond & Co. of Covent
+     Garden.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+The Lion and the Crane
+
+
+The Bodhisatta was at one time born in the region of Himavanta as a
+white crane; now Brahmadatta was at that time reigning in Benares. Now
+it chanced that as a lion was eating meat a bone stuck in his throat.
+The throat became swollen, he could not take food, his suffering was
+terrible. The crane seeing him, as he was perched on a tree looking
+for food, asked, "What ails thee, friend?" He told him why. "I could
+free thee from that bone, friend, but dare not enter thy mouth for
+fear thou mightest eat me." "Don't be afraid, friend, I'll not eat
+thee; only save my life." "Very well," says he, and caused him to lie
+down on his left side. But thinking to himself, "Who knows what this
+fellow will do," he placed a small stick upright between his two jaws
+that he could not close his mouth, and inserting his head inside his
+mouth struck one end of the bone with his beak. Whereupon the bone
+dropped and fell out. As soon as he had caused the bone to fall, he
+got out of the lion's mouth, striking the stick with his beak so that
+it fell out, and then settled on a branch. The lion gets well, and
+one day was eating a buffalo he had killed. The crane thinking "I will
+sound him," settled on a branch just over him, and in conversation
+spoke this first verse:
+
+    "A service have we done thee
+      To the best of our ability,
+    King of the Beasts! Your Majesty!
+      What return shall we get from thee?"
+
+In reply the Lion spoke the second verse:
+
+    "As I feed on blood,
+      And always hunt for prey,
+    'Tis much that thou art still alive
+      Having once been between my teeth."
+
+Then in reply the crane said the two other verses:
+
+    "Ungrateful, doing no good,
+      Not doing as he would be done by,
+    In him there is no gratitude,
+      To serve him is useless.
+
+    "His friendship is not won
+      By the clearest good deed.
+    Better softly withdraw from him,
+      Neither envying nor abusing."
+
+And having thus spoken the crane flew away.
+
+_And when the great Teacher, Gautama the Buddha, told this tale, he
+used to add: "Now at that time the lion was Devadatta the Traitor, but
+the white crane was I myself."_
+
+[Illustration: THE LION AND THE CRANE]
+
+
+
+
+How the Raja's Son won the Princess Labam.
+
+
+In a country there was a Raja who had an only son who every day went
+out to hunt. One day the Rani, his mother, said to him, "You can hunt
+wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the
+fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth
+side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labam, and that then he
+would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess.
+
+The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time;
+but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was
+allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth
+side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to
+hunt on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle,
+and nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it.
+The young Raja shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up
+to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Raja, who was
+called Hiraman parrot.
+
+When Hiraman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the
+other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Raja's son
+shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labam."
+
+Then the parrots all flew back to their Raja, chattering. The prince
+was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he
+said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labam? Where does she live?"
+But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never get
+to the Princess Labam's country." That is all they would say.
+
+The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more;
+and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would
+not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed
+very ill.
+
+At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the
+Princess Labam. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like.
+Tell me where her country is."
+
+"We do not know where it is," answered his father and mother.
+
+"Then I must go and look for it," said the prince.
+
+"No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only son.
+Stay with us. You will never find the Princess Labam."
+
+"I must try and find her," said the prince. "Perhaps God will show me
+the way. If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but
+perhaps I shall die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I
+must go."
+
+So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with
+him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And
+he took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other
+weapons, "for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him
+plenty of rupees.
+
+Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said
+good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her
+handkerchief and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her
+son. "My child," she said to him, "When you are hungry eat some of
+these sweetmeats."
+
+He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a
+jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his
+horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to
+himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I
+will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He opened
+his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in it. He
+took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid the two
+sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and another, and
+another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he found an ant.
+"Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the ants shall eat
+them." Then the Ant-Raja came and stood before him and said, "You have
+been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and we will
+come to you."
+
+The Raja's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his
+journey. He rode on and on until he came to another jungle, and there
+he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly
+from the pain.
+
+"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Raja. "What is the matter
+with you?"
+
+"I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered the tiger,
+"and it hurts me so; that is why I roar."
+
+"Well," said the Raja's son, "I will take it out for you. But
+perhaps, as you are a tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat
+me?"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Oh, no," said the tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well."
+
+Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn
+out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than
+ever--so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came
+bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming,
+and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife.
+
+"No one hurt me," answered the husband; "but a Raja's son came and
+took the thorn out of my foot."
+
+"Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife.
+
+"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger.
+
+"I won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife.
+
+Then the tiger called the Raja's son, and when he came the tiger and
+his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good
+dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at
+the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said
+good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in
+trouble, think of me, and we will come to you."
+
+The Raja's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he
+found four fakirs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four
+things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he
+wished to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels,
+food, or clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he
+wanted, no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and
+rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war
+on him, "Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the
+stick would beat them and the rope would tie them up.
+
+The four fakirs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, "I
+want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so
+on.
+
+The Raja's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will
+shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets
+to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets
+to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets
+to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who
+gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and
+rope." To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his first arrow.
+Away raced the fakirs to get it. When they brought it back to him he
+shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he
+shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot
+off the fourth.
+
+While they were away looking for the fourth arrow the Raja's son let
+his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl,
+the stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish
+to go to the Princess Labam's country." The little bed instantly rose
+up into the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to
+the Princess Labam's country, where it settled on the ground. The
+Raja's son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?"
+
+"The Princess Labam's country," they answered. Then the prince went on
+till he came to a house where he saw an old woman.
+
+"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from?"
+
+"I come from a far country," he said; "do let me stay with you
+to-night."
+
+"No," she answered, "I cannot let you stay with me; for our king has
+ordered that men from other countries may not stay in his country. You
+cannot stay in my house."
+
+"You are my aunty," said the prince; "let me remain with you for this
+one night. You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then
+the wild beasts will eat me."
+
+"Well," said the old woman, "you may stay here to-night; but to-morrow
+morning you must go away, for if the king hears you have passed the
+night in my house, he will have me seized and put into prison."
+
+Then she took him into her house, and the Raja's son was very glad.
+The old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her, "Aunty," he
+said, "I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying,
+"Bag, I want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious
+dinner, served up on two gold plates. The old woman and the Raja's son
+then dined together.
+
+When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch
+some water."
+
+"Don't go," said the prince. "You shall have plenty of water
+directly." So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want some
+water," and then it filled with water. When it was full, the prince
+cried out, "Stop, bowl," and the bowl stopped filling. "See, aunty,"
+he said, "with this bowl I can always get as much water as I want."
+
+By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Raja's son, "why don't
+you light a lamp?"
+
+"There is no need," she said. "Our king has forbidden the people in
+his country to light any lamps; for, as soon as it is dark, his
+daughter, the Princess Labam, comes and sits on her roof, and she
+shines so that she lights up all the country and our houses, and we
+can see to do our work as if it were day."
+
+When it was quite black night the princess got up. She dressed herself
+in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and across her
+head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone like the
+moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her room, and sat
+on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came out of her
+house; she only came out at night. All the people in her father's
+country then went about their work and finished it.
+
+The Raja's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He
+said to himself, "How lovely she is!"
+
+At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down
+from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and
+asleep, the Raja's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. "Bed," he
+said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labam's bed-room." So the
+little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep.
+
+The young Raja took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of
+betel-leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he
+laid near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back
+to the old woman's house.
+
+Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and
+began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the
+princess.
+
+"We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody knew the
+prince had come in the night and put it all there.
+
+In the morning the old woman came to the Raja's son. "Now it is
+morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the king finds out all I
+have done for you, he will seize me."
+
+"I am ill to-day, dear aunty," said the prince; "do let me stay till
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"Good," said the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner
+out of the bag, and the bowl gave them water.
+
+When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve
+o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was
+soon fast asleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed, and it carried
+him to the princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most
+lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the
+princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house
+and slept till morning.
+
+In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl she was delighted.
+"See, mother," she said; "Khuda must have given me this shawl, it is
+so beautiful." Her mother was very glad too.
+
+"Yes, my child," she said; "Khuda must have given you this splendid
+shawl."
+
+When it was morning the old woman said to the Raja's son, "Now you
+must really go."
+
+"Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let me stay a few
+days longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that no one may
+see me." So the old woman let him stay.
+
+When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and
+jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went
+to sleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room.
+There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring."
+The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labam's
+hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much
+frightened.
+
+"Who are you?" she said to the prince. "Where do you come from? Why do
+you come to my room?"
+
+"Do not be afraid, princess," he said; "I am no thief. I am a great
+Raja's son. Hiraman parrot, who lives in the jungle where I went to
+hunt, told me your name, and then I left my father and mother, and
+came to see you."
+
+"Well," said the princess, "as you are the son of such a great Raja,
+I will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that
+I wish to marry you."
+
+The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning
+came the princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Raja has
+come to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this
+to the king.
+
+"Good," said the king; "but if this Raja's son wishes to marry my
+daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I will kill
+him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, and out of
+this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this he shall
+die."
+
+In the morning the Raja's son told the old woman that he intended to
+marry the princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this
+country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rajas and
+Rajas' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them
+all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do
+whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if
+he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things
+the king tells him to do; so all the Rajas and Rajas' sons who have
+tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do
+go away." But the prince would not listen to anything she said.
+
+The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his
+servants brought the Raja's son to the king's court-house to the king.
+There the king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to
+crush all the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him
+to the court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to
+the prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have
+him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard
+seed, you will die."
+
+The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil
+out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if
+I do not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old
+woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the
+Ant-Raja, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Raja and his ants came to
+him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Raja.
+
+The prince showed him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I
+crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not
+take the oil to the king to-morrow morning, he will kill me."
+
+"Be happy," said the Ant-Raja; "lie down and sleep; we will crush all
+the oil out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall
+take it to the king." The Raja's son lay down and slept, and the ants
+crushed out the oil for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the
+oil.
+
+The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the
+king said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so,
+you must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a
+long time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what
+to do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let
+them loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country;
+and he did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons
+who wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these
+demons; "for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be
+killed, and then I shall be rid of them."
+
+When he heard of the demons the Raja's son was very sad. "What can I
+do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then
+he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and
+said, "Why are you so sad?" The Raja's son answered, "The king has
+ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do
+this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my
+wife will fight with them for you."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then the Raja's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were
+all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he
+put on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the
+king, and said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?"
+"Yes," said the king, who did not care in the least who killed his
+demons, provided they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the
+Raja's son, "and these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and
+the tigers and the demons fought and fought until the tigers had
+killed the demons.
+
+"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before
+I give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must
+go and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you."
+
+The Raja's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old
+woman's house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the
+sky is the king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up
+with him, and the Raja's son beat the drum, and the king heard him.
+Still, when he came down, the king would not give him his daughter.
+"You have," he said to the prince, "done the three things I told you
+to do; but you must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the
+Raja's son.
+
+Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his
+court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax
+hatchet, and said, "To-morrow morning you must cut this trunk in two
+with this wax hatchet."
+
+The Raja's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad,
+and thought that now the Raja would certainly kill him. "I had his oil
+crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons killed
+by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But now what
+can I do? How can I cut that thick tree-trunk in two with a wax
+hatchet?"
+
+At night he went on his bed to see the princess. "To-morrow," he said
+to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the princess.
+
+"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet.
+How can I ever do that?" said the Raja's son. "Do not be afraid," said
+the princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite
+easily."
+
+Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince.
+"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the
+tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labam commands you to let yourself be cut in
+two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax
+hatchet's blade."
+
+The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the
+minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade
+touched the tree-trunk it split into two pieces.
+
+The king said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took
+place. All the Rajas and kings of the countries round were asked to
+come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the
+prince's son said to his wife, "Let us go to my father's country." The
+Princess Labam's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and
+rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's
+country, where they lived happily.
+
+The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only, as no one
+ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick.
+
+
+
+
+The Lambikin
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a wee wee Lambikin, who frolicked about on
+his little tottery legs, and enjoyed himself amazingly.
+
+Now one day he set off to visit his Granny, and was jumping with joy
+to think of all the good things he should get from her, when who
+should he meet but a Jackal, who looked at the tender young morsel and
+said: "Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk and said:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Jackal thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+By-and-by he met a Vulture, and the Vulture, looking hungrily at the
+tender morsel before him, said: "Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk, and said:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Vulture thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+And by-and-by he met a Tiger, and then a Wolf, and a Dog, and an
+Eagle, and all these, when they saw the tender little morsel, said:
+"Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+But to all of them Lambikin replied, with a little frisk:
+
+    "To Granny's house I go,
+    Where I shall fatter grow,
+    Then you can eat me so."
+
+At last he reached his Granny's house, and said, all in a great hurry,
+"Granny, dear, I've promised to get very fat; so, as people ought to
+keep their promises, please put me into the corn-bin _at once_."
+
+So his Granny said he was a good boy, and put him into the corn-bin,
+and there the greedy little Lambikin stayed for seven days, and ate,
+and ate, and ate, until he could scarcely waddle, and his Granny said
+he was fat enough for anything, and must go home. But cunning little
+Lambikin said that would never do, for some animal would be sure to
+eat him on the way back, he was so plump and tender.
+
+"I'll tell you what you must do," said Master Lambikin, "you must make
+a little drumikin out of the skin of my little brother who died, and
+then I can sit inside and trundle along nicely, for I'm as tight as a
+drum myself."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+So his Granny made a nice little drumikin out of his brother's skin,
+with the wool inside, and Lambikin curled himself up snug and warm in
+the middle, and trundled away gaily. Soon he met with the Eagle, who
+called out:
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Mr. Lambikin, curled up in his soft warm nest, replied:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin.  Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+"How very annoying!" sighed the Eagle, thinking regretfully of the
+tender morsel he had let slip.
+
+Meanwhile Lambikin trundled along, laughing to himself, and singing:
+
+    "Tum-pa, tum-too;
+    Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Every animal and bird he met asked him the same question:
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And to each of them the little slyboots replied:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin. Tum-pa, tum too;
+    Tum-pa, tum-too; Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Then they all sighed to think of the tender little morsel they had let
+slip.
+
+At last the Jackal came limping along, for all his sorry looks as
+sharp as a needle, and he too called out--
+
+    "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+    Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Lambikin, curled up in his snug little nest, replied gaily:
+
+    "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+    On little Drumikin! Tum-pa----"
+
+But he never got any further, for the Jackal recognised his voice at
+once, and cried: "Hullo! you've turned yourself inside out, have you?
+Just you come out of that!"
+
+Whereupon he tore open Drumikin and gobbled up Lambikin.
+
+
+
+
+Punchkin
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven beautiful daughters.
+They were all good girls; but the youngest, named Balna, was more
+clever than the rest. The Raja's wife died when they were quite little
+children, so these seven poor Princesses were left with no mother to
+take care of them.
+
+The Raja's daughters took it by turns to cook their father's dinner
+every day, whilst he was absent deliberating with his Ministers on the
+affairs of the nation.
+
+About this time the Prudhan died, leaving a widow and one daughter;
+and every day, every day, when the seven Princesses were preparing
+their father's dinner, the Prudhan's widow and daughter would come and
+beg for a little fire from the hearth. Then Balna used to say to her
+sisters, "Send that woman away; send her away. Let her get the fire at
+her own house. What does she want with ours? If we allow her to come
+here, we shall suffer for it some day."
+
+But the other sisters would answer, "Be quiet, Balna; why must you
+always be quarrelling with this poor woman? Let her take some fire if
+she likes." Then the Prudhan's widow used to go to the hearth and take
+a few sticks from it; and whilst no one was looking, she would quickly
+throw some mud into the midst of the dishes which were being prepared
+for the Raja's dinner.
+
+Now the Raja was very fond of his daughters. Ever since their mother's
+death they had cooked his dinner with their own hands, in order to
+avoid the danger of his being poisoned by his enemies. So, when he
+found the mud mixed up with his dinner, he thought it must arise from
+their carelessness, as it did not seem likely that any one should have
+put mud there on purpose; but being very kind he did not like to
+reprove them for it, although this spoiling of the curry was repeated
+many successive days.
+
+At last, one day, he determined to hide, and watch his daughters
+cooking, and see how it all happened; so he went into the next room,
+and watched them through a hole in the wall.
+
+There he saw his seven daughters carefully washing the rice and
+preparing the curry, and as each dish was completed, they put it by
+the fire ready to be cooked. Next he noticed the Prudhan's widow come
+to the door, and beg for a few sticks from the fire to cook her
+dinner with. Balna turned to her, angrily, and said, "Why don't you
+keep fuel in your own house, and not come here every day and take
+ours? Sisters, don't give this woman any more wood; let her buy it for
+herself."
+
+Then the eldest sister answered, "Balna, let the poor woman take the
+wood and the fire; she does us no harm." But Balna replied, "If you
+let her come here so often, maybe she will do us some harm, and make
+us sorry for it, some day."
+
+The Raja then saw the Prudhan's widow go to the place where all his
+dinner was nicely prepared, and, as she took the wood, she threw a
+little mud into each of the dishes.
+
+At this he was very angry, and sent to have the woman seized and
+brought before him. But when the widow came, she told him that she had
+played this trick because she wanted to gain an audience with him; and
+she spoke so cleverly, and pleased him so well with her cunning words,
+that instead of punishing her, the Raja married her, and made her his
+Ranee, and she and her daughter came to live in the palace.
+
+Now the new Ranee hated the seven poor Princesses, and wanted to get
+them, if possible, out of the way, in order that her daughter might
+have all their riches, and live in the palace as Princess in their
+place; and instead of being grateful to them for their kindness to
+her, she did all she could to make them miserable. She gave them
+nothing but bread to eat, and very little of that, and very little
+water to drink; so these seven poor little Princesses, who had been
+accustomed to have everything comfortable about them, and good food
+and good clothes all their lives long, were very miserable and
+unhappy; and they used to go out every day and sit by their dead
+mother's tomb and cry--and say:
+
+"Oh mother, mother, cannot you see your poor children, how unhappy we
+are, and how we are starved by our cruel step-mother?"
+
+One day, whilst they were thus sobbing and crying, lo and behold! a
+beautiful pomelo tree grew up out of the grave, covered with fresh
+ripe pomeloes, and the children satisfied their hunger by eating some
+of the fruit, and every day after this, instead of trying to eat the
+bad dinner their step-mother provided for them, they used to go out to
+their mother's grave and eat the pomeloes which grew there on the
+beautiful tree.
+
+Then the Ranee said to her daughter, "I cannot tell how it is, every
+day those seven girls say they don't want any dinner, and won't eat
+any; and yet they never grow thin nor look ill; they look better than
+you do. I cannot tell how it is." And she bade her watch the seven
+Princesses, and see if any one gave them anything to eat.
+
+So next day, when the Princesses went to their mother's grave, and
+were eating the beautiful pomeloes, the Prudhan's daughter followed
+them, and saw them gathering the fruit.
+
+Then Balna said to her sisters, "Do you not see that girl watching us?
+Let us drive her away, or hide the pomeloes, else she will go and tell
+her mother all about it, and that will be very bad for us."
+
+But the other sisters said, "Oh no, do not be unkind, Balna. The girl
+would never be so cruel as to tell her mother. Let us rather invite
+her to come and have some of the fruit." And calling her to them,
+they gave her one of the pomeloes.
+
+No sooner had she eaten it, however, than the Prudhan's daughter went
+home and said to her mother, "I do not wonder the seven Princesses
+will not eat the dinner you prepare for them, for by their mother's
+grave there grows a beautiful pomelo tree, and they go there every day
+and eat the pomeloes. I ate one, and it was the nicest I have ever
+tasted."
+
+The cruel Ranee was much vexed at hearing this, and all next day she
+stayed in her room, and told the Raja that she had a very bad
+headache. The Raja was deeply grieved, and said to his wife, "What can
+I do for you?" She answered, "There is only one thing that will make
+my headache well. By your dead wife's tomb there grows a fine pomelo
+tree; you must bring that here, and boil it, root and branch, and put
+a little of the water in which it has been boiled, on my forehead, and
+that will cure my headache." So the Raja sent his servants, and had
+the beautiful pomelo tree pulled up by the roots, and did as the Ranee
+desired; and when some of the water, in which it had been boiled, was
+put on her forehead, she said her headache was gone and she felt quite
+well.
+
+Next day, when the seven Princesses went as usual to the grave of
+their mother, the pomelo tree had disappeared. Then they all began to
+cry very bitterly.
+
+Now there was by the Ranee's tomb a small tank, and as they were
+crying they saw that the tank was filled with a rich cream-like
+substance, which quickly hardened into a thick white cake. At seeing
+this all the Princesses were very glad, and they ate some of the cake,
+and liked it; and next day the same thing happened, and so it went on
+for many days. Every morning the Princesses went to their mother's
+grave, and found the little tank filled with the nourishing cream-like
+cake. Then the cruel step-mother said to her daughter: "I cannot tell
+how it is, I have had the pomelo tree which used to grow by the
+Ranee's grave destroyed, and yet the Princesses grow no thinner, nor
+look more sad, though they never eat the dinner I give them. I cannot
+tell how it is!"
+
+And her daughter said, "I will watch."
+
+Next day, while the Princesses were eating the cream cake, who should
+come by but their step-mother's daughter. Balna saw her first, and
+said, "See, sisters, there comes that girl again. Let us sit round the
+edge of the tank and not allow her to see it, for if we give her some
+of our cake, she will go and tell her mother; and that will be very
+unfortunate for us."
+
+The other sisters, however, thought Balna unnecessarily suspicious,
+and instead of following her advice, they gave the Prudhan's daughter
+some of the cake, and she went home and told her mother all about it.
+
+The Ranee, on hearing how well the Princesses fared, was exceedingly
+angry, and sent her servants to pull down the dead Ranee's tomb, and
+fill the little tank with the ruins. And not content with this, she
+next day pretended to be very, very ill--in fact, at the point of
+death--and when the Raja was much grieved, and asked her whether it
+was in his power to procure her any remedy, she said to him: "Only one
+thing can save my life, but I know you will not do it." He replied,
+"Yes, whatever it is, I will do it." She then said, "To save my life,
+you must kill the seven daughters of your first wife, and put some of
+their blood on my forehead and on the palms of my hands, and their
+death will be my life." At these words the Raja was very sorrowful;
+but because he feared to break his word, he went out with a heavy
+heart to find his daughters.
+
+He found them crying by the ruins of their mother's grave.
+
+Then, feeling he could not kill them, the Raja spoke kindly to them,
+and told them to come out into the jungle with him; and there he made
+a fire and cooked some rice, and gave it to them. But in the
+afternoon, it being very hot, the seven Princesses all fell asleep,
+and when he saw they were fast asleep, the Raja, their father, stole
+away and left them (for he feared his wife), saying to himself: "It is
+better my poor daughters should die here, than be killed by their
+step-mother."
+
+He then shot a deer, and returning home, put some of its blood on the
+forehead and hands of the Ranee, and she thought then that he had
+really killed the Princesses, and said she felt quite well.
+
+Meantime the seven Princesses awoke, and when they found themselves
+all alone in the thick jungle they were much frightened, and began to
+call out as loud as they could, in hopes of making their father hear;
+but he was by that time far away, and would not have been able to hear
+them even had their voices been as loud as thunder.
+
+It so happened that this very day the seven young sons of a
+neighbouring Raja chanced to be hunting in that same jungle, and as
+they were returning home, after the day's sport was over, the youngest
+Prince said to his brothers: "Stop, I think I hear some one crying and
+calling out. Do you not hear voices? Let us go in the direction of
+the sound, and find out what it is."
+
+So the seven Princes rode through the wood until they came to the
+place where the seven Princesses sat crying and wringing their hands.
+At the sight of them the young Princes were very much astonished, and
+still more so on learning their story; and they settled that each
+should take one of these poor forlorn ladies home with him, and marry
+her.
+
+So the first and eldest Prince took the eldest Princess home with him,
+and married her.
+
+And the second took the second;
+
+And the third took the third;
+
+And the fourth took the fourth;
+
+And the fifth took the fifth;
+
+And the sixth took the sixth;
+
+And the seventh, and the handsomest of all, took the beautiful Balna.
+
+And when they got to their own land, there was great rejoicing
+throughout the kingdom, at the marriage of the seven young Princes to
+seven such beautiful Princesses.
+
+About a year after this Balna had a little son, and his uncles and
+aunts were so fond of the boy that it was as if he had seven fathers
+and seven mothers. None of the other Princes and Princesses had any
+children, so the son of the seventh Prince and Balna was acknowledged
+their heir by all the rest.
+
+They had thus lived very happily for some time, when one fine day the
+seventh Prince (Balna's husband) said he would go out hunting, and
+away he went; and they waited long for him, but he never came back.
+
+Then his six brothers said they would go and see what had become of
+him; and they went away, but they also did not return.
+
+And the seven Princesses grieved very much, for they feared that their
+kind husbands must have been killed.
+
+One day, not long after this had happened, as Balna was rocking her
+baby's cradle, and whilst her sisters were working in the room below,
+there came to the palace door a man in a long black dress, who said
+that he was a Fakir, and came to beg. The servants said to him, "You
+cannot go into the palace--the Raja's sons have all gone away; we
+think they must be dead, and their widows cannot be interrupted by
+your begging." But he said, "I am a holy man, you must let me in."
+Then the stupid servants let him walk through the palace, but they did
+not know that this was no Fakir, but a wicked Magician named Punchkin.
+
+Punchkin Fakir wandered through the palace, and saw many beautiful
+things there, till at last he reached the room where Balna sat singing
+beside her little boy's cradle. The Magician thought her more
+beautiful than all the other beautiful things he had seen, insomuch
+that he asked her to go home with him and to marry him. But she said,
+"My husband, I fear, is dead, but my little boy is still quite young;
+I will stay here and teach him to grow up a clever man, and when he is
+grown up he shall go out into the world, and try and learn tidings of
+his father. Heaven forbid that I should ever leave him, or marry you."
+At these words the Magician was very angry, and turned her into a
+little black dog, and led her away; saying, "Since you will not come
+with me of your own free will, I will make you." So the poor Princess
+was dragged away, without any power of effecting an escape, or of
+letting her sisters know what had become of her. As Punchkin passed
+through the palace gate the servants said to him, "Where did you get
+that pretty little dog?" And he answered, "One of the Princesses gave
+it to me as a present." At hearing which they let him go without
+further questioning.
+
+Soon after this, the six elder Princesses heard the little baby, their
+nephew, begin to cry, and when they went upstairs they were much
+surprised to find him all alone, and Balna nowhere to be seen. Then
+they questioned the servants, and when they heard of the Fakir and the
+little black dog, they guessed what had happened, and sent in every
+direction seeking them, but neither the Fakir nor the dog were to be
+found. What could six poor women do? They gave up all hopes of ever
+seeing their kind husbands, and their sister, and her husband, again,
+and devoted themselves thenceforward to teaching and taking care of
+their little nephew.
+
+Thus time went on, till Balna's son was fourteen years old. Then, one
+day, his aunts told him the history of the family; and no sooner did
+he hear it, than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of
+his father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to
+bring them home again. His aunts, on learning his determination, were
+much alarmed and tried to dissuade him, saying, "We have lost our
+husbands, and our sister and her husband, and you are now our sole
+hope; if you go away, what shall we do?" But he replied, "I pray you
+not to be discouraged; I will return soon, and if it is possible bring
+my father and mother and uncles with me." So he set out on his
+travels; but for some months he could learn nothing to help him in
+his search.
+
+At last, after he had journeyed many hundreds of weary miles, and
+become almost hopeless of ever hearing anything further of his
+parents, he one day came to a country that seemed full of stones, and
+rocks, and trees, and there he saw a large palace with a high tower;
+hard by which was a Malee's little house.
+
+As he was looking about, the Malee's wife saw him, and ran out of the
+house and said, "My dear boy, who are you that dare venture to this
+dangerous place?" He answered, "I am a Raja's son, and I come in
+search of my father, and my uncles, and my mother whom a wicked
+enchanter bewitched."
+
+Then the Malee's wife said, "This country and this palace belong to a
+great enchanter; he is all powerful, and if any one displeases him, he
+can turn them into stones and trees. All the rocks and trees you see
+here were living people once, and the Magician turned them to what
+they now are. Some time ago a Raja's son came here, and shortly
+afterwards came his six brothers, and they were all turned into stones
+and trees; and these are not the only unfortunate ones, for up in that
+tower lives a beautiful Princess, whom the Magician has kept prisoner
+there for twelve years, because she hates him and will not marry him."
+
+Then the little Prince thought, "These must be my parents and my
+uncles. I have found what I seek at last." So he told his story to the
+Malee's wife, and begged her to help him to remain in that place
+awhile and inquire further concerning the unhappy people she
+mentioned; and she promised to befriend him, and advised his
+disguising himself lest the Magician should see him, and turn him
+likewise into stone. To this the Prince agreed. So the Malee's wife
+dressed him up in a saree, and pretended that he was her daughter.
+
+One day, not long after this, as the Magician was walking in his
+garden he saw the little girl (as he thought) playing about, and asked
+her who she was. She told him she was the Malee's daughter, and the
+Magician said, "You are a pretty little girl, and to-morrow you shall
+take a present of flowers from me to the beautiful lady who lives in
+the tower."
+
+The young Prince was much delighted at hearing this, and went
+immediately to inform the Malee's wife; after consultation with whom
+he determined that it would be more safe for him to retain his
+disguise, and trust to the chance of a favourable opportunity for
+establishing some communication with his mother, if it were indeed
+she.
+
+Now it happened that at Balna's marriage her husband had given her a
+small gold ring on which her name was engraved, and she had put it on
+her little son's finger when he was a baby, and afterwards when he was
+older his aunts had had it enlarged for him, so that he was still able
+to wear it. The Malee's wife advised him to fasten the well-known
+treasure to one of the bouquets he presented to his mother, and trust
+to her recognising it. This was not to be done without difficulty, as
+such a strict watch was kept over the poor Princess (for fear of her
+ever establishing communication with her friends), that though the
+supposed Malee's daughter was permitted to take her flowers every day,
+the Magician or one of his slaves was always in the room at the time.
+At last one day, however, opportunity favoured him, and when no one
+was looking, the boy tied the ring to a nosegay, and threw it at
+Balna's feet. It fell with a clang on the floor, and Balna, looking to
+see what made the strange sound, found the little ring tied to the
+flowers. On recognising it, she at once believed the story her son
+told her of his long search, and begged him to advise her as to what
+she had better do; at the same time entreating him on no account to
+endanger his life by trying to rescue her. She told him that for
+twelve long years the Magician had kept her shut up in the tower
+because she refused to marry him, and she was so closely guarded that
+she saw no hope of release.
+
+Now Balna's son was a bright, clever boy, so he said, "Do not fear,
+dear mother; the first thing to do is to discover how far the
+Magician's power extends, in order that we may be able to liberate my
+father and uncles, whom he has imprisoned in the form of rocks and
+trees. You have spoken to him angrily for twelve long years; now
+rather speak kindly. Tell him you have given up all hopes of again
+seeing the husband you have so long mourned, and say you are willing
+to marry him. Then endeavour to find out what his power consists in,
+and whether he is immortal, or can be put to death."
+
+Balna determined to take her son's advice; and the next day sent for
+Punchkin, and spoke to him as had been suggested.
+
+The Magician, greatly delighted, begged her to allow the wedding to
+take place as soon as possible.
+
+But she told him that before she married him he must allow her a
+little more time, in which she might make his acquaintance, and that,
+after being enemies so long, their friendship could but strengthen by
+degrees. "And do tell me," she said, "are you quite immortal? Can
+death never touch you? And are you too great an enchanter ever to feel
+human suffering?"
+
+"Why do you ask?" said he.
+
+"Because," she replied, "if I am to be your wife, I would fain know
+all about you, in order, if any calamity threatens you, to overcome,
+or if possible to avert it."
+
+"It is true," he added, "that I am not as others. Far, far away,
+hundreds of thousands of miles from this, there lies a desolate
+country covered with thick jungle. In the midst of the jungle grows a
+circle of palm trees, and in the centre of the circle stand six
+chattees full of water, piled one above another: below the sixth
+chattee is a small cage which contains a little green parrot; on the
+life of the parrot depends my life; and if the parrot is killed I must
+die. It is, however," he added, "impossible that the parrot should
+sustain any injury, both on account of the inaccessibility of the
+country, and because, by my appointment, many thousand genii surround
+the palm trees, and kill all who approach the place."
+
+Balna told her son what Punchkin had said; but at the same time
+implored him to give up all idea of getting the parrot.
+
+The Prince, however, replied, "Mother, unless I can get hold of that
+parrot, you, and my father, and uncles, cannot be liberated: be not
+afraid, I will shortly return. Do you, meantime, keep the Magician in
+good humour--still putting off your marriage with him on various
+pretexts; and before he finds out the cause of delay, I will be here."
+So saying, he went away.
+
+Many, many weary miles did he travel, till at last he came to a thick
+jungle; and, being very tired, sat down under a tree and fell asleep.
+He was awakened by a soft rustling sound, and looking about him, saw a
+large serpent which was making its way to an eagle's nest built in the
+tree under which he lay, and in the nest were two young eagles. The
+Prince seeing the danger of the young birds, drew his sword, and
+killed the serpent; at the same moment a rushing sound was heard in
+the air, and the two old eagles, who had been out hunting for food for
+their young ones, returned. They quickly saw the dead serpent and the
+young Prince standing over it; and the old mother eagle said to him,
+"Dear boy, for many years all our young ones have been devoured by
+that cruel serpent; you have now saved the lives of our children;
+whenever you are in need, therefore, send to us and we will help you;
+and as for these little eagles, take them, and let them be your
+servants."
+
+At this the Prince was very glad, and the two eaglets crossed their
+wings, on which he mounted; and they carried him far, far away over
+the thick jungles, until he came to the place where grew the circle of
+palm trees, in the midst of which stood the six chattees full of
+water. It was the middle of the day, and the heat was very great. All
+round the trees were the genii fast asleep; nevertheless, there were
+such countless thousands of them, that it would have been quite
+impossible for any one to walk through their ranks to the place; down
+swooped the strong-winged eaglets--down jumped the Prince; in an
+instant he had overthrown the six chattees full of water, and seized
+the little green parrot, which he rolled up in his cloak; while, as
+he mounted again into the air, all the genii below awoke, and finding
+their treasure gone, set up a wild and melancholy howl.
+
+Away, away flew the little eagles, till they came to their home in the
+great tree; then the Prince said to the old eagles, "Take back your
+little ones; they have done me good service; if ever again I stand in
+need of help, I will not fail to come to you." He then continued his
+journey on foot till he arrived once more at the Magician's palace,
+where he sat down at the door and began playing with the parrot.
+Punchkin saw him, and came to him quickly, and said, "My boy, where
+did you get that parrot? Give it to me, I pray you."
+
+But the Prince answered, "Oh no, I cannot give away my parrot, it is a
+great pet of mine; I have had it many years."
+
+Then the Magician said, "If it is an old favourite, I can understand
+your not caring to give it away; but come what will you sell it for?"
+
+"Sir," replied the Prince, "I will not sell my parrot."
+
+Then Punchkin got frightened, and said, "Anything, anything; name what
+price you will, and it shall be yours." The Prince answered, "Let the
+seven Raja's sons whom you turned into rocks and trees be instantly
+liberated."
+
+"It is done as you desire," said the Magician, "only give me my
+parrot." And with that, by a stroke of his wand, Balna's husband and
+his brothers resumed their natural shapes. "Now, give me my parrot,"
+repeated Punchkin.
+
+"Not so fast, my master," rejoined the Prince; "I must first
+beg that you will restore to life all whom you have thus imprisoned."
+
+[Illustration: Punchkin's Prisoners are set free.]
+
+The Magician immediately waved his wand again; and, whilst he cried,
+in an imploring voice, "Give me my parrot!" the whole garden became
+suddenly alive: where rocks, and stones, and trees had been before,
+stood Rajas, and Punts, and Sirdars, and mighty men on prancing
+horses, and jewelled pages, and troops of armed attendants.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried Punchkin. Then the boy took hold of the
+parrot, and tore off one of its wings; and as he did so the Magician's
+right arm fell off.
+
+Punchkin then stretched out his left arm, crying, "Give me my parrot!"
+The Prince pulled off the parrot's second wing, and the Magician's
+left arm tumbled off.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried he, and fell on his knees. The Prince
+pulled off the parrot's right leg, the Magician's right leg fell off:
+the Prince pulled off the parrot's left leg, down fell the Magician's
+left.
+
+Nothing remained of him save the limbless body and the head; but still
+he rolled his eyes, and cried, "Give me my parrot!" "Take your parrot,
+then," cried the boy, and with that he wrung the bird's neck, and
+threw it at the Magician; and, as he did so, Punchkin's head twisted
+round, and, with a fearful groan, he died!
+
+Then they let Balna out of the tower; and she, her son, and the seven
+Princes went to their own country, and lived very happily ever
+afterwards. And as to the rest of the world, every one went to his own
+house.
+
+
+
+
+The Broken Pot
+
+
+There lived in a certain place a Brahman, whose name was
+Svabhavak_ri_pa_n_a, which means "a born miser." He had collected a
+quantity of rice by begging, and after having dined off it, he filled
+a pot with what was left over. He hung the pot on a peg on the wall,
+placed his couch beneath, and looking intently at it all the night, he
+thought, "Ah, that pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if there should
+be a famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. With this
+I shall buy a couple of goats. They will have young ones every six
+months, and thus I shall have a whole herd of goats. Then, with the
+goats, I shall buy cows. As soon as they have calved, I shall sell the
+calves. Then, with the calves, I shall buy buffaloes; with the
+buffaloes, mares. When the mares have foaled, I shall have plenty of
+horses; and when I sell them, plenty of gold. With that gold I shall
+get a house with four wings. And then a Brahman will come to my house,
+and will give me his beautiful daughter, with a large dowry. She will
+have a son, and I shall call him Somasarman.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+When he is old enough to be danced on his father's knee, I shall sit
+with a book at the back of the stable, and while I am reading, the boy
+will see me, jump from his mother's lap, and run towards me to be
+danced on my knee. He will come too near the horse's hoof, and, full
+of anger, I shall call to my wife, 'Take the baby; take him!' But she,
+distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me. Then I get up, and
+give her such a kick with my foot." While he thought this, he gave a
+kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell over him, and
+made him quite white. Therefore, I say, "He who makes foolish plans
+for the future will be white all over, like the father of
+Somasarman."
+
+
+
+
+The Magic Fiddle
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived seven brothers and a sister. The brothers
+were married, but their wives did not do the cooking for the family.
+It was done by their sister, who stopped at home to cook. The wives
+for this reason bore their sister-in-law much ill-will, and at length
+they combined together to oust her from the office of cook and general
+provider, so that one of themselves might obtain it. They said, "She
+does not go out to the fields to work, but remains quietly at home,
+and yet she has not the meals ready at the proper time." They then
+called upon their Bonga, and vowing vows unto him they secured his
+good-will and assistance; then they said to the Bonga, "At midday when
+our sister-in-law goes to bring water, cause it thus to happen, that
+on seeing her pitcher the water shall vanish, and again slowly
+re-appear. In this way she will be delayed. Let the water not flow
+into her pitcher, and you may keep the maiden as your own."
+
+At noon when she went to bring water, it suddenly dried up before her,
+and she began to weep. Then after a while the water began slowly to
+rise. When it reached her ankles she tried to fill her pitcher, but it
+would not go under the water. Being frightened she began to wail and
+cry to her brother:
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise until it reached her knee, when she began
+to wail again:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise, and when it reached her waist, she cried
+again:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water still rose, and when it reached her neck she kept on crying:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,
+    Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+At length the water became so deep that she felt herself drowning,
+then she cried aloud:
+
+    "Oh! my brother, the water measures a man's height,
+    Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill."
+
+The pitcher filled with water, and along with it she sank and was
+drowned. The Bonga then transformed her into a Bonga like himself, and
+carried her off.
+
+After a time she re-appeared as a bamboo growing on the embankment of
+the tank in which she had been drowned. When the bamboo had grown to
+an immense size, a Jogi, who was in the habit of passing that way,
+seeing it, said to himself, "This will make a splendid fiddle." So one
+day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin,
+the bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up." When
+he lifted his axe to cut high up the stem, the bamboo cried out, "Do
+not cut near the top, cut at the root." When the Jogi again prepared
+himself to cut at the root as requested, the bamboo said, "Do not cut
+at the root, cut higher up;" and when he was about to cut higher up,
+it again called out to him, "Do not cut high up, cut at the root." The
+Jogi by this time felt sure that a Bonga was trying to frighten him,
+so becoming angry he cut down the bamboo at the root, and taking it
+away made a fiddle out of it. The instrument had a superior tone and
+delighted all who heard it. The Jogi carried it with him when he went
+a-begging, and through the influence of its sweet music he returned
+home every evening with a full wallet.
+
+He now and then visited, when on his rounds, the house of the Bonga
+girl's brothers, and the strains of the fiddle affected them greatly.
+Some of them were moved even to tears, for the fiddle seemed to wail
+as one in bitter anguish. The elder brother wished to purchase it, and
+offered to support the Jogi for a whole year if he would consent to
+part with his wonderful instrument. The Jogi, however, knew its value,
+and refused to sell it.
+
+It so happened that the Jogi some time after went to the house of a
+village chief, and after playing a tune or two on his fiddle asked for
+something to eat. They offered to buy his fiddle and promised a high
+price for it, but he refused to sell it, as his fiddle brought to him
+his means of livelihood. When they saw that he was not to be prevailed
+upon, they gave him food and a plentiful supply of liquor. Of the
+latter he drank so freely that he presently became intoxicated. While
+he was in this condition, they took away his fiddle, and substituted
+their own old one for it. When the Jogi recovered, he missed his
+instrument, and suspecting that it had been stolen asked them to
+return it to him. They denied having taken it, so he had to depart,
+leaving his fiddle behind him. The chief's son, being a musician, used
+to play on the Jogi's fiddle, and in his hands the music it gave forth
+delighted the ears of all who heard it.
+
+When all the household were absent at their labours in the fields, the
+Bonga girl used to come out of the bamboo fiddle, and prepared the
+family meal. Having eaten her own share, she placed that of the
+chief's son under his bed, and covering it up to keep off the dust,
+re-entered the fiddle. This happening every day, the other members of
+the household thought that some girl friend of theirs was in this
+manner showing her interest in the young man, so they did not trouble
+themselves to find out how it came about. The young chief, however,
+was determined to watch, and see which of his girl friends was so
+attentive to his comfort. He said in his own mind, "I will catch her
+to-day, and give her a sound beating; she is causing me to be ashamed
+before the others." So saying, he hid himself in a corner in a pile of
+firewood. In a short time the girl came out of the bamboo fiddle, and
+began to dress her hair. Having completed her toilet, she cooked the
+meal of rice as usual, and having eaten some herself, she placed the
+young man's portion under his bed, as before, and was about to enter
+the fiddle again, when he, running out from his hiding-place, caught
+her in his arms. The Bonga girl exclaimed, "Fie! Fie! you may be a
+Dom, or you may be a Hadi of some other caste with whom I cannot
+marry." He said, "No. But from to-day, you and I are one." So they
+began lovingly to hold converse with each other. When the others
+returned home in the evening, they saw that she was both a human being
+and a Bonga, and they rejoiced exceedingly.
+
+Now in course of time the Bonga girl's family became very poor, and
+her brothers on one occasion came to the chief's house on a visit.
+
+The Bonga girl recognised them at once, but they did not know who she
+was. She brought them water on their arrival, and afterwards set
+cooked rice before them. Then sitting down near them, she began in
+wailing tones to upbraid them on account of the treatment she had been
+subjected to by their wives. She related all that had befallen her,
+and wound up by saying, "You must have known it all, and yet you did
+not interfere to save me." And that was all the revenge she took.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+The Cruel Crane Outwitted
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Long ago the Bodisat was born to a forest life as the Genius of a tree
+standing near a certain lotus pond.
+
+Now at that time the water used to run short at the dry season in a
+certain pond, not over large, in which there were a good many fish.
+And a crane thought on seeing the fish:
+
+"I must outwit these fish somehow or other and make a prey of them."
+
+And he went and sat down at the edge of the water, thinking how he
+should do it.
+
+When the fish saw him, they asked him, "What are you sitting there
+for, lost in thought?"
+
+"I am sitting thinking about you," said he.
+
+"Oh, sir! what are you thinking about us?" said they.
+
+"Why," he replied; "there is very little water in this pond, and but
+little for you to eat; and the heat is so great! So I was thinking,
+'What in the world will these fish do now?'"
+
+"Yes, indeed, sir! what _are_ we to do?" said they.
+
+"If you will only do as I bid you, I will take you in my beak to a
+fine large pond, covered with all the kinds of lotuses, and put you
+into it," answered the crane.
+
+"That a crane should take thought for the fishes is a thing unheard
+of, sir, since the world began. It's eating us, one after the other,
+that you're aiming at."
+
+"Not I! So long as you trust me, I won't eat you. But if you don't
+believe me that there is such a pond, send one of you with me to go
+and see it."
+
+Then they trusted him, and handed over to him one of their number--a
+big fellow, blind of one eye, whom they thought sharp enough in any
+emergency, afloat or ashore.
+
+Him the crane took with him, let him go in the pond, showed him the
+whole of it, brought him back, and let him go again close to the other
+fish. And he told them all the glories of the pond.
+
+And when they heard what he said, they exclaimed, "All right, sir! You
+may take us with you."
+
+Then the crane took the old purblind fish first to the bank of the
+other pond, and alighted in a Varana-tree growing on the bank there.
+But he threw it into a fork of the tree, struck it with his beak, and
+killed it; and then ate its flesh, and threw its bones away at the
+foot of the tree. Then he went back and called out:
+
+"I've thrown that fish in; let another one come."
+
+And in that manner he took all the fish, one by one, and ate them,
+till he came back and found no more!
+
+But there was still a crab left behind there; and the crane thought he
+would eat him too, and called out:
+
+"I say, good crab, I've taken all the fish away, and put them into a
+fine large pond. Come along. I'll take you too!"
+
+"But how will you take hold of me to carry me along?"
+
+"I'll bite hold of you with my beak."
+
+"You'll let me fall if you carry me like that. I won't go with you!"
+
+"Don't be afraid! I'll hold you quite tight all the way."
+
+Then said the crab to himself, "If this fellow once got hold of fish,
+he would never let them go in a pond! Now if he should really put me
+into the pond, it would be capital; but if he doesn't--then I'll cut
+his throat, and kill him!" So he said to him:
+
+"Look here, friend, you won't be able to hold me tight enough; but we
+crabs have a famous grip. If you let me catch hold of you round the
+neck with my claws, I shall be glad to go with you."
+
+And the other did not see that he was trying to outwit him, and
+agreed. So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely
+as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, "Off with you,
+now!"
+
+And the crane took him and showed him the pond, and then turned off
+towards the Varana-tree.
+
+"Uncle!" cried the crab, "the pond lies that way, but you are taking
+me this way!"
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" answered the crane. "Your dear little uncle,
+your very sweet nephew, you call me! You mean me to understand, I
+suppose, that I am your slave, who has to lift you up and carry you
+about with him! Now cast your eye upon the heap of fish-bones lying at
+the root of yonder Varana-tree. Just as I have eaten those fish, every
+one of them, just so I will devour you as well!"
+
+"Ah! those fishes got eaten through their own stupidity," answered the
+crab; "but I'm not going to let you eat _me_. On the contrary, is it
+_you_ that I am going to destroy. For you in your folly have not seen
+that I was outwitting you. If we die, we die both together; for I will
+cut off this head of yours, and cast it to the ground!" And so saying,
+he gave the crane's neck a grip with his claws, as with a vice.
+
+Then gasping, and with tears trickling from his eyes, and trembling
+with the fear of death, the crane beseeched him, saying, "O my Lord!
+Indeed I did not intend to eat you. Grant me my life!"
+
+"Well, well! step down into the pond, and put me in there."
+
+And he turned round and stepped down into the pond, and placed the
+crab on the mud at its edge. But the crab cut through its neck as
+clean as one would cut a lotus-stalk with a hunting-knife, and then
+only entered the water!
+
+When the Genius who lived in the Varana-tree saw this strange affair,
+he made the wood resound with his plaudits, uttering in a pleasant
+voice the verse:
+
+    "The villain, though exceeding clever,
+    Shall prosper not by his villainy.
+    He may win indeed, sharp-witted in deceit,
+    But only as the Crane here from the Crab!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+Loving Laili
+
+
+Once there was a king called King Dantal, who had a great many rupees
+and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnun,
+who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red
+cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing
+with the Wazir's son, Husain Mahamat, in King Dantal's garden, which
+was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees.
+They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat
+them. King Dantal had a teacher for them to teach them to read and
+write.
+
+One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnun said
+to his father, "Husain Mahamat and I should like to go and hunt." His
+father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else
+they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phalana country,
+hunting all the way, but they only founds jackals and birds.
+
+The Raja of the Phalana country was called Munsuk Raja, and he had a
+daughter named Laili, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and
+black hair.
+
+One night, some time before Prince Majnun came to her father's
+kingdom, as she slept, Khuda sent to her an angel in the form of a man
+who told her that she should marry Prince Majnun and no one else, and
+that this was Khuda's command to her. When Laili woke she told her
+father of the angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid
+no attention to her story. From that time she began repeating,
+"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun," and would say nothing else. Even as
+she sat and ate her food she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want
+Majnun." Her father used to get quite vexed with her. "Who is this
+Majnun? who ever heard of this Majnun?" he would say.
+
+"He is the man I am to marry," said Laili. "Khuda has ordered me to
+marry no one but Majnun." And she was half mad.
+
+Meanwhile, Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to hunt in the Phalana
+country; and as they were riding about, Laili came out on her horse to
+eat the air, and rode behind them. All the time she kept saying,
+"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." The prince heard her, and turned
+round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this Laili looked at him, and
+the moment she saw him she fell deeply in love with him, and she said
+to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince Majnun that Khuda says I am
+to marry." And she went home to her father and said, "Father, I wish
+to marry the prince who has come to your kingdom; for I know he is the
+Prince Majnun I am to marry."
+
+"Very well, you shall have him for your husband," said Munsuk Raja.
+"We will ask him to-morrow." Laili consented to wait, although she was
+very impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phalana kingdom
+that night, and when Laili heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She
+would not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants
+said to her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to
+jungle, till she got farther and farther away from her own country.
+All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun;" and so
+she wandered about for twelve years.
+
+At the end of the twelve years she met a fakir--he was really an
+angel, but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always
+say, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun'?" She answered, "I am the
+daughter of the king of the Phalana country, and I want to find Prince
+Majnun; tell me where his kingdom is."
+
+"I think you will never get there," said the fakir, "for it is very
+far from hence, and you have to cross many rivers to reach it." But
+Laili said she did not care; she must see Prince Majnun. "Well," said
+the fakir, "when you come to the Bhagirathi river you will see a big
+fish, a Rohu; and you must get him to carry you to Prince Majnun's
+country, or you will never reach it."
+
+She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhagirathi river.
+There was a great big fish called the Rohu fish. It was yawning just
+as she got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat into its
+stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun." At this the
+Rohu fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast as he
+could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came and
+perched on his back, and said "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said the
+poor fish "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise."
+
+"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down
+and see." So the Rohu opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he
+came up again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said
+the crow, and he flew away. This news did not comfort the poor Rohu,
+and he swam on and on till he came to Prince Majnun's country. There
+he stopped. And a jackal came down to the river to drink. "Oh,
+jackal," said the Rohu, "do tell me what I have inside me."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"How can I tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside
+you." So the Rohu opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down
+his throat; but he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and
+saying, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away
+quickly, I am afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal
+came an enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have
+in my stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun.'"
+
+The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go down and see what
+it is." The snake went down: when he returned he said, "You have a
+Rakshas in your stomach, but if you will let me cut you open, it will
+come out of you." "If you do that, I shall die," said the Rohu. "Oh,
+no," said the snake, "you will not, for I will give you a medicine
+that will make you quite well again." So the fish agreed, and the
+snake got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped Laili.
+
+She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle,
+and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohu; and she was no
+longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his
+back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and
+she wandered on and on till she got to Majnun's court-house, where
+King Majnun was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want
+King Majnun," she said.
+
+So they went in and said to Prince Majnun, "An old woman outside says
+she wants you." "I cannot leave this place," said he; "send her in
+here." They brought her in and the prince asked her what she wanted.
+"I want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four years ago you came
+to my father the Phalana Raja's country, and I wanted to marry you
+then; but you went away without marrying me. Then I went mad, and I
+have wandered about all these years looking for you." Prince Majnun
+said, "Very good."
+
+"Pray to Khuda," said Laili, "to make us both young again, and then we
+shall be married." So the prince prayed to Khuda, and Khuda said to
+him, "Touch Laili's clothes and they will catch fire, and when they
+are on fire, she and you will become young again." When he touched
+Laili's clothes they caught fire, and she and he became young again.
+And there were great feasts, and they were married, and travelled to
+the Phalana country to see her father and mother.
+
+Now Laili's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter that
+they had become quite blind, and her father kept always repeating,
+"Laili, Laili, Laili." When Laili saw their blindness, she prayed to
+Khuda to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as the
+father and mother saw Laili, they hugged her and kissed her, and then
+they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince
+Majnun and Laili stayed with Munsuk Raja and his wife for three years,
+and then they returned to King Dantal, and lived happily for some time
+with him.
+
+They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country to
+country to eat the air and amuse themselves.
+
+One day Prince Majnun said to Laili, "Let us go through this jungle."
+"No, no," said Laili; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will
+happen to me." But Prince Majnun laughed, and went into the jungle.
+And as they were going through it, Khuda thought, "I should like to
+know how much Prince Majnun loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if
+she died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one
+of his angels in the form of a fakir into the jungle; and the angel
+went up to Laili, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she
+fell to the ground a heap of ashes.
+
+Prince Majnun was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Laili
+turned into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his
+father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a
+great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go
+again into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahamat. King
+Dantal wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Laili for my
+wife; I will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnun.
+
+"How can you marry Laili? Laili is dead. She will never come back to
+you," said the father.
+
+"Then I'll not have any wife at all," said Prince Majnun.
+
+Meanwhile Laili was living in the jungle where her husband had left
+her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnun had gone, the fakir had
+taken her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay
+and water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them,
+and so Laili regained her human form, and Khuda sent life into it. But
+Laili had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long
+nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her
+teeth, as she had been when she came out of the Rohu fish; and she
+lived in the jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on
+saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun."
+
+At last the angel who had come as a fakir and thrown the powder at
+her, said to Khuda, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in
+the jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun,'
+and eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnun."
+"Well," said Khuda, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not
+speak to Majnun if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if
+he is afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the
+next day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her
+human shape when Prince Majnun loves her, feeds her with his own food,
+and lets her sleep in his bed."
+
+So the angel came to Laili again as a fakir and carried her to King
+Dantal's garden. "Now," he said, "it is Khuda's command that you stay
+here till Prince Majnun comes to walk in the garden, and then you may
+show yourself to him. But you must not speak to him, if he is afraid
+of you; and should he be afraid of you, you will the next day become a
+little white dog." He then told her what she must do as a little dog
+to regain her human form.
+
+Laili stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince
+Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to walk in the garden. King Dantal was
+now a very old man, and Husain Mahamat, though he was really only as
+old as Prince Majnun, looked a great deal older than the prince, who
+had been made quite young again when he married Laili.
+
+As Prince Majnun and the Wazir's son walked in the garden, they
+gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit
+the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnun was busy
+eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahamat, he
+turned towards him and saw Laili walking behind the Wazir's son. "Oh,
+look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas or
+a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Laili looked at him
+beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness;
+but this only frightened Majnun the more. "It is a Rakshas, a
+Rakshas!" he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazir's
+son; and as they ran away, Laili disappeared into the jungle. They ran
+to King Dantal, and Majnun told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in
+the garden that had come to eat them.
+
+"What nonsense," said his father. "Fancy two grown men being so
+frightened by an old ayah or a fakir! And if it had been a Rakshas, it
+would not have eaten you." Indeed King Dantal did not believe Majnun
+had seen anything at all, till Husain Mahamat said the prince was
+speaking the exact truth. They had the garden searched for the
+terrible old woman, but found nothing, and King Dantal told his son he
+was very silly to be so much frightened. However, Prince Majnun would
+not walk in the garden any more.
+
+The next day Laili turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape
+she came into the palace, where Prince Majnun soon became very fond of
+her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out
+hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnun fed her
+with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the
+little dog slept in his bed.
+
+But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay
+the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and
+now Prince Majnun was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or
+some such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried
+out, "What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Laili
+answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Laili, and I want to
+marry you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle,
+though I begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm
+would happen to me, and then a fakir came and threw powder in my face,
+and I became a heap of ashes. But Khuda gave me my life again, and
+brought me here, after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle
+crying for you, and now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you
+will marry me, I shall not be a little dog any more." Majnun, however,
+said "How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you be Laili? I
+am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in
+great terror.
+
+In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the
+prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old
+woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do
+nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so
+easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in
+great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would came
+back at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you
+can make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old
+woman as you are?"
+
+That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there
+in place of the dog, crying "Majnun, Majnun, I want to marry you. I
+have loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's
+kingdom a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me,
+and we should have been married then if you had not gone away so
+suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you." "Well," said
+Majnun, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I will marry
+you."
+
+Laili said, "Oh, that is quite easy. Khuda will make me a young girl
+again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you
+will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your
+room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it
+when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite
+alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at
+all on." In the morning Laili took her little dog's form, and
+disappeared in the garden.
+
+Prince Majnun told all this to his father, who told him to do all the
+old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazir's son
+walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit.
+"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit."
+Husain Mahamat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till
+he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and
+gather it." So Majnun went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and
+he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am
+afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that
+will eat me."
+
+"No," said King Dantal; "remember, Laili will be naked; you must go
+alone and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in the fruit,
+for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call me with a
+loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not be able to
+eat you."
+
+Then Majnun took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for
+he shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Laili, young
+and far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her
+extreme beauty, Majnun fell backwards fainting on the floor.
+
+Laili took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sari
+(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantal,
+and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnun fallen down like this? Why will
+he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen
+me so many, many times."
+
+King Dantal answered, "It is because you are so beautiful. You are
+far, far more beautiful than you ever were. But he will be very happy
+directly." Then the King got some water, and they bathed Majnun's face
+and gave him some to drink, and he sat up again.
+
+Then Laili said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am Laili?"
+
+"Oh!" said Prince Majnun, "I see you are Laili come back to me, but
+your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted when I
+saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantal had all the
+drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments played
+on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to the
+servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakirs.
+
+After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnun and his wife
+went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a
+groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden.
+"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnun.
+
+"No, no," said Laili; "it belongs to a bad Raja, Chumman Basa, a very
+wicked man." But Majnun insisted on going in, and in spite of all
+Laili could say, he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as
+he was looking at the flowers, Laili saw Chumman Basa coming towards
+them, and she read in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and
+seize her. So she said to Majnun, "Come, come, let us go; do not go
+near that bad man. I see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he
+will kill you to seize me."
+
+"What nonsense," said Majnun. "I believe he is a very good Raja.
+Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away."
+
+"Well," said Laili, "it is better that you should be killed than I,
+for if I were to be killed a second time, Khuda would not give me my
+life again; but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now
+Chumman Basa had come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought
+Prince Majnun; but when he was speaking to Majnun, he drew his
+scimitar and cut off the prince's head at one blow.
+
+Laili sat quite still on her horse, and as the Raja came towards her
+she said, "Why did you kill my husband?"
+
+"Because I want to take you," he answered.
+
+"You cannot," said Laili.
+
+"Yes, I can," said the Raja.
+
+"Take me, then," said Laili to Chumman Basa; so he came quite close
+and put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she
+put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long
+as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant
+till it was such a length! and then Laili made a great sweep with her
+arm and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Basa's head at one
+touch.
+
+Then Laili slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnun's dead
+body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from
+the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like
+healing medicine. Then she put Majnun's head on his shoulders, and
+smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnun woke up and
+said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had
+slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Raja's dead body by
+Laili's horse.
+
+"What's that?" said Majnun.
+
+"That is the wicked Raja who killed you to seize me, just as I said he
+would."
+
+"Who killed him?" asked Majnun.
+
+"I did," answered Laili, "and it was I who brought you to life."
+
+"Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do so," said Majnun.
+
+"No," said Laili, "for he is a wicked man, and will try to do you
+harm." But Majnun asked her for such a long time, and so earnestly to
+bring the wicked Raja to life, that at least she said, "Jump up on the
+horse, then, and go far away with the groom."
+
+"What will you do," said Majnun, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you."
+
+"I will take care of myself," said Laili; "but this man is so wicked,
+he may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnun got up on the
+horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Laili.
+Then she set the wicked Raja's head straight on his shoulders, and
+she squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine
+came out of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife
+had passed, and just as she saw the Raja opening his eyes, she began
+to run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Raja, who
+tried to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband,
+and they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantal's
+palace.
+
+[Illustration: How Loving Laili became young again]
+
+There Prince Majnun told everything to his father, who was horrified
+and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said.
+"Why did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now
+dead." Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's
+safety, and gave many, many rupees to the fakirs. And he made so much
+of Laili. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he
+built a splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of
+ground about it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and
+heaps of servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but
+their servants to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not
+allow Majnun to go out of them, nor Laili; "for," said King Dantal,
+"Laili is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take
+her away."
+
+
+
+
+The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to
+get out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when
+he failed.
+
+By chance a poor Brahman came by. "Let me out of this cage, oh pious
+one!" cried the tiger.
+
+"Nay, my friend," replied the Brahman mildly, "you would probably eat
+me if I did."
+
+"Not at all!" swore the tiger with many oaths; "on the contrary, I
+should be for ever grateful, and serve you as a slave!"
+
+Now when the tiger sobbed and sighed and wept and swore, the pious
+Brahman's heart softened, and at last he consented to open the door of
+the cage. Out popped the tiger, and, seizing the poor man, cried,
+"What a fool you are! What is to prevent my eating you now, for after
+being cooped up so long I am just terribly hungry!"
+
+In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a
+promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to
+question as to the justice of the tiger's action.
+
+So the Brahman first asked a _pipal_ tree what it thought of the
+matter, but the _pipal_ tree replied coldly, "What have you to
+complain about? Don't I give shade and shelter to every one who passes
+by, and don't they in return tear down my branches to feed their
+cattle? Don't whimper--be a man!"
+
+Then the Brahman, sad at heart, went further afield till he saw a
+buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it, for it
+answered, "You are a fool to expect gratitude! Look at me! Whilst I
+gave milk they fed me on cotton-seed and oil-cake, but now I am dry
+they yoke me here, and give me refuse as fodder!"
+
+The Brahman, still more sad, asked the road to give him its opinion.
+
+"My dear sir," said the road, "how foolish you are to expect anything
+else! Here am I, useful to everybody, yet all, rich and poor, great
+and small, trample on me as they go past, giving me nothing but the
+ashes of their pipes and the husks of their grain!"
+
+On this the Brahman turned back sorrowfully, and on the way he met a
+jackal, who called out, "Why, what's the matter, Mr. Brahman? You look
+as miserable as a fish out of water!"
+
+The Brahman told him all that had occurred. "How very confusing!" said
+the jackal, when the recital was ended; "would you mind telling me
+over again, for everything has got so mixed up?"
+
+The Brahman told it all over again, but the jackal shook his head in a
+distracted sort of way, and still could not understand.
+
+"It's very odd," said he, sadly, "but it all seems to go in at one ear
+and out at the other! I will go to the place where it all happened,
+and then perhaps I shall be able to give a judgment."
+
+So they returned to the cage, by which the tiger was waiting for the
+Brahman, and sharpening his teeth and claws.
+
+"You've been away a long time!" growled the savage beast, "but now let
+us begin our dinner."
+
+"_Our_ dinner!" thought the wretched Brahman, as his knees knocked
+together with fright; "what a remarkably delicate way of putting it!"
+
+"Give me five minutes, my lord!" he pleaded, "in order that I may
+explain matters to the jackal here, who is somewhat slow in his wits."
+
+The tiger consented, and the Brahman began the whole story over again,
+not missing a single detail, and spinning as long a yarn as possible.
+
+"Oh, my poor brain! oh, my poor brain!" cried the jackal, wringing its
+paws. "Let me see! how did it all begin? You were in the cage, and the
+tiger came walking by----"
+
+"Pooh!" interrupted the tiger, "what a fool you are! _I_ was in the
+cage."
+
+"Of course!" cried the jackal, pretending to tremble with fright;
+"yes! I was in the cage--no I wasn't--dear! dear! where are my wits?
+Let me see--the tiger was in the Brahman, and the cage came walking
+by----no, that's not it, either! Well, don't mind me, but begin your
+dinner, for I shall never understand!"
+
+"Yes, you shall!" returned the tiger, in a rage at the jackal's
+stupidity; "I'll _make_ you understand! Look here--I am the tiger----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the Brahman----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the cage----"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And I was in the cage--do you understand?"
+
+"Yes--no---- Please, my lord----"
+
+"Well?" cried the tiger impatiently.
+
+"Please, my lord!--how did you get in?"
+
+"How!--why in the usual way, of course!"
+
+"Oh, dear me!--my head is beginning to whirl again! Please don't be
+angry, my lord, but what is the usual way?"
+
+At this the tiger lost patience, and, jumping into the cage, cried,
+"This way! Now do you understand how it was?"
+
+"Perfectly!" grinned the jackal, as he dexterously shut the door, "and
+if you will permit me to say so, I think matters will remain as they
+were!"
+
+
+
+
+The Soothsayer's Son
+
+
+A soothsayer when on his deathbed wrote out the horoscope of his
+second son, whose name was Gangazara, and bequeathed it to him as his
+only property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son. The
+second son thought over the horoscope, and said to himself:
+
+"Alas! am I born to this only in the world? The sayings of my father
+never failed. I have seen them prove true to the last word while he
+was living; and how has he fixed my horoscope! 'FROM MY BIRTH
+POVERTY!' Nor is that my only fate. 'FOR TEN YEARS, IMPRISONMENT'--a
+fate harder than poverty; and what comes next? 'DEATH ON THE
+SEA-SHORE'; which means that I must die away from home, far from
+friends and relatives on a sea-coast. Now comes the most curious part
+of the horoscope, that I am to 'HAVE SOME HAPPINESS AFTERWARDS!' What
+this happiness is, is an enigma to me."
+
+Thus thought he, and after all the funeral obsequies of his father
+were over, took leave of his elder brother, and started for Benares.
+He went by the middle of the Deccan, avoiding both the coasts, and
+went on journeying and journeying for weeks and months, till at last
+he reached the Vindhya mountains. While passing that desert he had to
+journey for a couple of days through a sandy plain, with no signs of
+life or vegetation. The little store of provision with which he was
+provided for a couple of days, at last was exhausted. The chombu,
+which he carried always full, filling it with the sweet water from the
+flowing rivulet or plenteous tank, he had exhausted in the heat of the
+desert. There was not a morsel in his hand to eat; nor a drop of water
+to drink. Turn his eyes wherever he might he found a vast desert, out
+of which he saw no means of escape. Still he thought within himself,
+"Surely my father's prophecy never proved untrue. I must survive this
+calamity to find my death on some sea-coast." So thought he, and this
+thought gave him strength of mind to walk fast and try to find a drop
+of water somewhere to slake his dry throat.
+
+At last he succeeded; heaven threw in his way a ruined well. He
+thought he could collect some water if he let down his chombu with the
+string that he always carried noosed to the neck of it. Accordingly he
+let it down; it went some way and stopped, and the following words
+came from the well: "Oh, relieve me! I am the king of tigers, dying
+here of hunger. For the last three days I have had nothing. Fortune
+has sent you here. If you assist me now you will find a sure help in
+me throughout your life. Do not think that I am a beast of prey. When
+you have become my deliverer I will never touch you. Pray, kindly lift
+me up." Gangazara thought: "Shall I take him out or not? If I take him
+out he may make me the first morsel of his hungry mouth. No; that he
+will not do. For my father's prophecy never came untrue. I must die on
+a sea coast, and not by a tiger." Thus thinking, he asked the
+tiger-king to hold tight to the vessel, which he accordingly did, and
+he lifted him up slowly. The tiger reached the top of the well and
+felt himself on safe ground. True to his word, he did no harm to
+Gangazara. On the other hand, he walked round his patron three times,
+and standing before him, humbly spoke the following words: "My
+life-giver, my benefactor! I shall never forget this day, when I
+regained my life through your kind hands. In return for this kind
+assistance I pledge my oath to stand by you in all calamities.
+Whenever you are in any difficulty just think of me. I am there with
+you ready to oblige you by all the means that I can. To tell you
+briefly how I came in here: Three days ago I was roaming in yonder
+forest, when I saw a goldsmith passing through it. I chased him. He,
+finding it impossible to escape my claws, jumped into this well, and
+is living to this moment in the very bottom of it. I also jumped in,
+but found myself on the first ledge of the well; he is on the last and
+fourth ledge. In the second lives a serpent half-famished with hunger.
+On the third lies a rat, also half-famished, and when you again begin
+to draw water these may request you first to release them. In the same
+way the goldsmith also may ask you. I beg you, as your bosom friend,
+never assist that wretched man, though he is your relation as a human
+being. Goldsmiths are never to be trusted. You can place more faith in
+me, a tiger, though I feast sometimes upon men, in a serpent, whose
+sting makes your blood cold the very next moment, or in a rat, which
+does a thousand pieces of mischief in your house. But never trust a
+goldsmith. Do not release him; and if you do, you shall surely repent
+of it one day or other." Thus advising, the hungry tiger went away
+without waiting for an answer.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Gangazara thought several times of the eloquent way in which the tiger
+spoke, and admired his fluency of speech. But still his thirst was not
+quenched. So he let down his vessel again, which was now caught hold
+of by the serpent, who addressed him thus: "Oh, my protector! Lift me
+up. I am the king of serpents, and the son of Adisesha, who is now
+pining away in agony for my disappearance. Release me now. I shall
+ever remain your servant, remember your assistance, and help you
+throughout life in all possible ways. Oblige me: I am dying."
+Gangazara, calling again to mind the "DEATH ON THE SEA-SHORE" of the
+prophecy lifted him up. He, like the tiger-king, walked round him
+thrice, and prostrating himself before him spoke thus: "Oh, my
+life-giver, my father, for so I must call you, as you have given me
+another birth. I was three days ago basking myself in the morning sun,
+when I saw a rat running before me. I chased him. He fell into this
+well. I followed him, but instead of falling on the third storey where
+he is now lying, I fell into the second. I am going away now to see my
+father. Whenever you are in any difficulty just think of me. I will be
+there by your side to assist you by all possible means." So saying,
+the Nagaraja glided away in zigzag movements, and was out of sight in
+a moment.
+
+The poor son of the Soothsayer, who was now almost dying of thirst,
+let down his vessel for a third time. The rat caught hold of it, and
+without discussing he lifted up the poor animal at once. But it would
+not go away without showing its gratitude: "Oh, life of my life! My
+benefactor! I am the king of rats. Whenever you are in any calamity
+just think of me. I will come to you, and assist you. My keen ears
+overheard all that the tiger-king told you about the goldsmith, who is
+in the fourth storey. It is nothing but a sad truth that goldsmiths
+ought never to be trusted. Therefore, never assist him as you have
+done to us all. And if you do, you will suffer for it. I am hungry;
+let me go for the present." Thus taking leave of his benefactor, the
+rat, too, ran away.
+
+Gangazara for a while thought upon the repeated advice given by the
+three animals about releasing the goldsmith: "What wrong would there
+be in my assisting him? Why should I not release him also?" So
+thinking to himself, Gangazara let down the vessel again. The
+goldsmith caught hold of it, and demanded help. The Soothsayer's son
+had no time to lose; he was himself dying of thirst. Therefore he
+lifted the goldsmith up, who now began his story. "Stop for a while,"
+said Gangazara, and after quenching his thirst by letting down his
+vessel for the fifth time, still fearing that some one might remain in
+the well and demand his assistance, he listened to the goldsmith, who
+began as follows: "My dear friend, my protector, what a deal of
+nonsense these brutes have been talking to you about me; I am glad you
+have not followed their advice. I am just now dying of hunger. Permit
+me to go away. My name is Manikkasari. I live in the East main street
+of Ujjaini, which is twenty kas to the south of this place, and so
+lies on your way when you return from Benares. Do not forget to come
+to me and receive my kind remembrances of your assistance, on your way
+back to your country." So saying, the goldsmith took his leave, and
+Gangazara also pursued his way north after the above adventures.
+
+He reached Benares, and lived there for more than ten years, and quite
+forgot the tiger, serpent, rat, and goldsmith. After ten years of
+religious life, thoughts of home and of his brother rushed into his
+mind. "I have secured enough merit now by my religious observances.
+Let me return home." Thus thought Gangazara within himself, and very
+soon he was on his way back to his country. Remembering the prophecy
+of his father he returned by the same way by which he went to Benares
+ten years before. While thus retracing his steps he reached the ruined
+well where he had released the three brute kings and the goldsmith. At
+once the old recollections rushed into his mind, and he thought of the
+tiger to test his fidelity. Only a moment passed, and the tiger-king
+came running before him carrying a large crown in his mouth, the
+glitter of the diamonds of which for a time outshone even the bright
+rays of the sun. He dropped the crown at his life-giver's feet, and,
+putting aside all his pride, humbled himself like a pet cat to the
+strokes of his protector, and began in the following words: "My
+life-giver! How is it that you have forgotten me, your poor servant,
+for such a long time? I am glad to find that I still occupy a corner
+in your mind. I can never forget the day when I owed my life to your
+lotus hands. I have several jewels with me of little value. This
+crown, being the best of all, I have brought here as a single ornament
+of great value, which you can carry with you and dispose of in your
+own country." Gangazara looked at the crown, examined it over and
+over, counted and recounted the gems, and thought within himself that
+he would become the richest of men by separating the diamonds and
+gold, and selling them in his own country. He took leave of the
+tiger-king, and after his disappearance thought of the kings of
+serpents and rats, who came in their turn with their presents, and
+after the usual greetings and exchange of words took their leave.
+Gangazara was extremely delighted at the faithfulness with which the
+brute beasts behaved, and went on his way to the south. While going
+along he spoke to himself thus: "These beasts have been very faithful
+in their assistance. Much more, therefore, must Manikkasari be
+faithful. I do not want anything from him now. If I take this crown
+with me as it is, it occupies much space in my bundle. It may also
+excite the curiosity of some robbers on the way. I will go now to
+Ujjaini on my way. Manikkasari requested me to see him without failure
+on my return journey. I shall do so, and request him to have the crown
+melted, the diamonds and gold separated. He must do that kindness at
+least for me. I shall then roll up these diamonds and gold ball in my
+rags, and wend my way homewards." Thus thinking and thinking, he
+reached Ujjaini. At once he inquired for the house of his goldsmith
+friend, and found him without difficulty. Manikkasari was extremely
+delighted to find on his threshold him who ten years before,
+notwithstanding the advice repeatedly given him by the sage-looking
+tiger, serpent, and rat, had relieved him from the pit of death.
+Gangazara at once showed him the crown that he received from the
+tiger-king, told him how he got it, and requested his kind assistance
+to separate the gold and diamonds. Manikkasari agreed to do so, and
+meanwhile asked his friend to rest himself for a while to have his
+bath and meals; and Gangazara, who was very observant of his religious
+ceremonies, went direct to the river to bathe.
+
+How came the crown in the jaws of the tiger? The king of Ujjaini had a
+week before gone with all his hunters on a hunting expedition. All of
+a sudden the tiger-king started from the wood, seized the king, and
+vanished.
+
+When the king's attendants informed the prince about the death of his
+father he wept and wailed, and gave notice that he would give half of
+his kingdom to any one who should bring him news about the murderer of
+his father. The goldsmith knew full well that it was a tiger that
+killed the king, and not any hunter's hands, since he had heard from
+Gangazara how he obtained the crown. Still, he resolved to denounce
+Gangazara as the king's murderer, so, hiding the crown under his
+garments, he flew to the palace. He went before the prince and
+informed him that the assassin was caught, and placed the crown before
+him. The prince took it into his hands, examined it, and at once gave
+half the kingdom to Manikkasari, and then inquired about the murderer.
+"He is bathing in the river, and is of such and such appearance," was
+the reply. At once four armed soldiers flew to the river, and bound
+the poor Brahman hand and foot, while he, sitting in meditation, was
+without any knowledge of the fate that hung over him. They brought
+Gangazara to the presence of the prince, who turned his face away from
+the supposed murderer, and asked his soldiers to throw him into a
+dungeon. In a minute, without knowing the cause, the poor Brahman
+found himself in the dark dungeon.
+
+It was a dark cellar underground, built with strong stone walls, into
+which any criminal guilty of a capital offence was ushered to breathe
+his last there without food and drink. Such was the cellar into which
+Gangazara was thrust. What were his thoughts when he reached that
+place? "It is of no use to accuse either the goldsmith or the prince
+now. We are all the children of fate. We must obey her commands. This
+is but the first day of my father's prophecy. So far his statement is
+true. But how am I going to pass ten years here? Perhaps without
+anything to sustain life I may drag on my existence for a day or two.
+But how pass ten years? That cannot be, and I must die. Before death
+comes let me think of my faithful brute friends."
+
+So pondered Gangazara in the dark cell underground, and at that moment
+thought of his three friends. The tiger-king, serpent-king, and
+rat-king assembled at once with their armies at a garden near the
+dungeon, and for a while did not know what to do. They held their
+council, and decided to make an underground passage from the inside
+of a ruined well to the dungeon. The rat raja issued an order at once
+to that effect to his army. They, with their teeth, bored the ground a
+long way to the walls of the prison. After reaching it they found that
+their teeth could not work on the hard stones. The bandicoots were
+then specially ordered for the business; they, with their hard teeth,
+made a small slit in the wall for a rat to pass and repass without
+difficulty. Thus a passage was effected.
+
+The rat raja entered first to condole with his protector on his
+misfortune, and undertook to supply his protector with provisions.
+"Whatever sweetmeats or bread are prepared in any house, one and all
+of you must try to bring whatever you can to our benefactor. Whatever
+clothes you find hanging in a house, cut down, dip the pieces in
+water, and bring the wet bits to our benefactor. He will squeeze them
+and gather water for drink! and the bread and sweetmeats shall form
+his food." Having issued these orders, the king of the rats took leave
+of Gangazara. They, in obedience to their king's order, continued to
+supply him with provisions and water.
+
+The snake-king said: "I sincerely condole with you in your calamity;
+the tiger-king also fully sympathises with you, and wants me to tell
+you so, as he cannot drag his huge body here as we have done with our
+small ones. The king of the rats has promised to do his best to
+provide you with food. We would now do what we can for your release.
+From this day we shall issue orders to our armies to oppress all the
+subjects of this kingdom. The deaths by snake-bite and tigers shall
+increase a hundredfold from this day, and day by day it shall continue
+to increase till your release. Whenever you hear people near you, you
+had better bawl out so as to be heard by them: 'The wretched prince
+imprisoned me on the false charge of having killed his father, while
+it was a tiger that killed him. From that day these calamities have
+broken out in his dominions. If I were released I would save all by my
+powers of healing poisonous wounds and by incantations.' Some one may
+report this to the king, and if he knows it, you will obtain your
+liberty." Thus comforting his protector in trouble, he advised him to
+pluck up courage, and took leave of him. From that day tigers and
+serpents, acting under the orders of their kings, united in killing as
+many persons and cattle as possible. Every day people were carried
+away by tigers or bitten by serpents. Thus passed months and years.
+Gangazara sat in the dark cellar, without the sun's light falling upon
+him, and feasted upon the breadcrumbs and sweetmeats that the rats so
+kindly supplied him with. These delicacies had completely changed his
+body into a red, stout, huge, unwieldy mass of flesh. Thus passed full
+ten years, as prophesied in the horoscope.
+
+Ten complete years rolled away in close imprisonment. On the last
+evening of the tenth year one of the serpents got into the bed-chamber
+of the princess and sucked her life. She breathed her last. She was
+the only daughter of the king. The king at once sent for all the
+snake-bite curers. He promised half his kingdom and his daughter's
+hand to him who would restore her to life. Now a servant of the king
+who had several times overheard Gangazara's cries, reported the matter
+to him. The king at once ordered the cell to be examined. There was
+the man sitting in it. How had he managed to live so long in the cell?
+Some whispered that he must be a divine being. Thus they discussed,
+while they brought Gangazara to the king.
+
+The king no sooner saw Gangazara than he fell on the ground. He was
+struck by the majesty and grandeur of his person. His ten years'
+imprisonment in the deep cell underground had given a sort of lustre
+to his body. His hair had first to be cut before his face could be
+seen. The king begged forgiveness for his former fault, and requested
+him to revive his daughter.
+
+"Bring me within an hour all the corpses of men and cattle, dying and
+dead, that remain unburnt or unburied within the range of your
+dominions; I shall revive them all," were the only words that
+Gangazara spoke.
+
+Cartloads of corpses of men and cattle began to come in every minute.
+Even graves, it is said, were broken open, and corpses buried a day or
+two before were taken out and sent for their revival. As soon as all
+were ready, Gangazara took a vessel full of water and sprinkled it
+over them all, thinking only of his snake-king and tiger-king. All
+rose up as if from deep slumber, and went to their respective homes.
+The princess, too, was restored to life. The joy of the king knew no
+bounds. He cursed the day on which he imprisoned him, blamed himself
+for having believed the word of a goldsmith, and offered him the hand
+of his daughter and the whole kingdom, instead of half, as he
+promised. Gangazara would not accept anything, but asked the king to
+assemble all his subjects in a wood near the town. "I shall there call
+in all the tigers and serpents, and give them a general order."
+
+When the whole town was assembled, just at the dusk of evening,
+Gangazara sat dumb for a moment, and thought upon the Tiger King and
+the Serpent King, who came with all their armies. People began to take
+to their heels at the sight of tigers. Gangazara assured them of
+safety, and stopped them.
+
+The grey light of the evening, the pumpkin colour of Gangazara, the
+holy ashes scattered lavishly over his body, the tigers and snakes
+humbling themselves at his feet, gave him the true majesty of the god
+Gangazara. For who else by a single word could thus command vast
+armies of tigers and serpents, said some among the people. "Care not
+for it; it may be by magic. That is not a great thing. That he revived
+cartloads of corpses shows him to be surely Gangazara," said others.
+
+"Why should you, my children, thus trouble these poor subjects of
+Ujjaini? Reply to me, and henceforth desist from your ravages." Thus
+said the Soothsayer's son, and the following reply came from the king
+of the tigers: "Why should this base king imprison your honour,
+believing the mere word of a goldsmith that your honour killed his
+father? All the hunters told him that his father was carried away by a
+tiger. I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck.
+I did it, and gave the crown to your honour. The prince makes no
+inquiry, and at once imprisons your honour. How can we expect justice
+from such a stupid king as that? Unless he adopt a better standard of
+justice we will go on with our destruction."
+
+The king heard, cursed the day on which he believed in the word of a
+goldsmith, beat his head, tore his hair, wept and wailed for his
+crime, asked a thousand pardons, and swore to rule in a just way from
+that day. The serpent-king and tiger-king also promised to observe
+their oath as long as justice prevailed, and took their leave. The
+goldsmith fled for his life. He was caught by the soldiers of the
+king, and was pardoned by the generous Gangazara, whose voice now
+reigned supreme. All returned to their homes.
+
+The king again pressed Gangazara to accept the hand of his daughter.
+He agreed to do so, not then, but some time afterwards. He wished to
+go and see his elder brother first, and then to return and marry the
+princess. The king agreed; and Gangazara left the city that very day
+on his way home.
+
+It so happened that unwittingly he took a wrong road, and had to pass
+near a sea-coast. His elder brother was also on his way up to Benares
+by that very same route. They met and recognised each other, even at a
+distance. They flew into each other's arms. Both remained still for a
+time almost unconscious with joy. The pleasure of Gangazara was so
+great that he died of joy.
+
+The elder brother was a devout worshipper of Ganesa. That was a
+Friday, a day very sacred to that god. The elder brother took the
+corpse to the nearest Ganesa temple and called upon him. The god came,
+and asked him what he wanted. "My poor brother is dead and gone; and
+this is his corpse. Kindly keep it in your charge till I finish
+worshipping you. If I leave it anywhere else the devils may snatch it
+away when I am absent worshipping you; after finishing the rites I
+shall burn him." Thus said the elder brother, and, giving the corpse
+to the god Ganesa, he went to prepare himself for that deity's
+ceremonials. Ganesa made over the corpse to his Ganas, asking them to
+watch over it carefully. But instead of that they devoured it.
+
+The elder brother, after finishing the puja, demanded his brother's
+corpse of the god. The god called his Ganas, who came to the front
+blinking, and fearing the anger of their master. The god was greatly
+enraged. The elder brother was very angry. When the corpse was not
+forthcoming he cuttingly remarked, "Is this, after all, the return for
+my deep belief in you? You are unable even to return my brother's
+corpse." Ganesa was much ashamed at the remark. So he, by his divine
+power, gave him a living Gangazara instead of the dead corpse. Thus
+was the second son of the Soothsayer restored to life.
+
+The brothers had a long talk about each other's adventures. They both
+went to Ujjaini, where Gangazara married the princess, and succeeded
+to the throne of that kingdom. He reigned for a long time, conferring
+several benefits upon his brother. And so the horoscope was fully
+fulfilled.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+
+
+Harisarman
+
+
+There was a certain Brahman in a certain village, named Harisarman. He
+was poor and foolish and in evil case for want of employment, and he
+had very many children, that he might reap the fruit of his misdeeds
+in a former life. He wandered about begging with his family, and at
+last he reached a certain city, and entered the service of a rich
+householder called Sthuladatta. His sons became keepers of
+Sthuladatta's cows and other property, and his wife a servant to him,
+and he himself lived near his house, performing the duty of an
+attendant. One day there was a feast on account of the marriage of the
+daughter of Sthuladatta, largely attended by many friends of the
+bridegroom, and merry-makers. Harisarman hoped that he would be able
+to fill himself up to the throat with ghee and flesh and other
+dainties, and get the same for his family, in the house of his patron.
+While he was anxiously expecting to be fed, no one thought of him.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then he was distressed at getting nothing to eat, and he said to his
+wife at night, "It is owing to my poverty and stupidity that I am
+treated with such disrespect here; so I will pretend by means of an
+artifice to possess a knowledge of magic, so that I may become an
+object of respect to this Sthuladatta; so, when you get an
+opportunity, tell him that I possess magical knowledge." He said this
+to her, and after turning the matter over in his mind, while people
+were asleep he took away from the house of Sthuladatta a horse on
+which his master's son-in-law rode. He placed it in concealment at
+some distance, and in the morning the friends of the bridegroom could
+not find the horse, though they searched in every direction. Then,
+while Sthuladatta was distressed at the evil omen, and searching for
+the thieves who had carried off the horse, the wife of Harisarman came
+and said to him, "My husband is a wise man, skilled in astrology and
+magical sciences; he can get the horse back for you; why do you not
+ask him?" When Sthuladatta heard that, he called Harisarman, who
+said, "Yesterday I was forgotten, but to-day, now the horse is stolen,
+I am called to mind," and Sthuladatta then propitiated the Brahman
+with these words--"I forgot you, forgive me"--and asked him to tell
+him who had taken away their horse. Then Harisarman drew all kinds of
+pretended diagrams, and said: "The horse has been placed by thieves on
+the boundary line south from this place. It is concealed there, and
+before it is carried off to a distance, as it will be at close of day,
+go quickly and bring it." When they heard that, many men ran and
+brought the horse quickly, praising the discernment of Harisarman.
+Then Harisarman was honoured by all men as a sage, and dwelt there in
+happiness, honoured by Sthuladatta.
+
+Now, as days went on, much treasure, both of gold and jewels, had been
+stolen by a thief from the palace of the king. As the thief was not
+known, the king quickly summoned Harisarman on account of his
+reputation for knowledge of magic. And he, when summoned, tried to
+gain time, and said, "I will tell you to-morrow," and then he was
+placed in a chamber by the king, and carefully guarded. And he was sad
+because he had pretended to have knowledge. Now in that palace there
+was a maid named Jihva (which means Tongue), who, with the assistance
+of her brother, had stolen that treasure from the interior of the
+palace. She, being alarmed at Harisarman's knowledge, went at night
+and applied her ear to the door of that chamber in order to find out
+what he was about. And Harisarman, who was alone inside, was at that
+very moment blaming his own tongue, that had made a vain assumption of
+knowledge. He said: "O Tongue, what is this that you have done
+through your greediness? Wicked one, you will soon receive punishment
+in full." When Jihva heard this, she thought, in her terror, that she
+had been discovered by this wise man, and she managed to get in where
+he was, and falling at his feet, she said to the supposed wizard:
+"Brahman, here I am, that Jihva whom you have discovered to be the
+thief of the treasure, and after I took it I buried it in the earth in
+a garden behind the palace, under a pomegranate tree. So spare me, and
+receive the small quantity of gold which is in my possession."
+
+When Harisarman heard that, he said to her proudly: "Depart, I know
+all this; I know the past, present and future; but I will not denounce
+you, being a miserable creature that has implored my protection. But
+whatever gold is in your possession you must give back to me." When he
+said this to the maid, she consented, and departed quickly. But
+Harisarman reflected in his astonishment: "Fate brings about, as if in
+sport, things impossible, for when calamity was so near, who would
+have thought chance would have brought us success? While I was blaming
+my jihva, the thief Jihva suddenly flung herself at my feet. Secret
+crimes manifest themselves by means of fear." Thus thinking, he passed
+the night happily in the chamber. And in the morning he brought the
+king, by some skilful parade of pretended knowledge into the garden,
+and led him up to the treasure, which was buried under the pomegranate
+tree, and said that the thief had escaped with a part of it. Then the
+king was pleased, and gave him the revenue of many villages.
+
+But the minister, named Devajnanin, whispered in the king's ear: "How
+can a man possess such knowledge unattainable by men, without having
+studied the books of magic; you may be certain that this is a specimen
+of the way he makes a dishonest livelihood, by having a secret
+intelligence with thieves. It will be much better to test him by some
+new artifice." Then the king of his own accord brought a covered
+pitcher into which he had thrown a frog, and said to Harisarman,
+"Brahman, if you can guess what there is in this pitcher, I will do
+you great honour to-day." When the Brahman Harisarman heard that, he
+thought that his last hour had come, and he called to mind the pet
+name of "Froggie" which his father had given him in his childhood in
+sport, and, impelled by luck, he called to himself by his pet name,
+lamenting his hard fate, and suddenly called out: "This is a fine
+pitcher for you, Froggie; it will soon become the swift destroyer of
+your helpless self." The people there, when they heard him say that,
+raised a shout of applause, because his speech chimed in so well with
+the object presented to him, and murmured, "Ah! a great sage, he knows
+even about the frog!" Then the king, thinking that this was all due to
+knowledge of divination, was highly delighted, and gave Harisarman the
+revenue of more villages, with gold, an umbrella, and state carriages
+of all kinds. So Harisarman prospered in the world.
+
+
+
+
+The Charmed Ring
+
+
+A merchant started his son in life with three hundred rupees, and bade
+him go to another country and try his luck in trade. The son took the
+money and departed. He had not gone far before he came across some
+herdsmen quarrelling over a dog, that some of them wished to kill.
+"Please do not kill the dog," pleaded the young and tender-hearted
+fellow; "I will give you one hundred rupees for it." Then and there,
+of course, the bargain was concluded, and the foolish fellow took the
+dog, and continued his journey. He next met with some people fighting
+about a cat. Some of them wanted to kill it, but others not. "Oh!
+please do not kill it," said he; "I will give you one hundred rupees
+for it." Of course they at once gave him the cat and took the money.
+He went on till he reached a village, where some folk were quarrelling
+over a snake that had just been caught. Some of them wished to kill
+it, but others did not. "Please do not kill the snake," said he; "I
+will give you one hundred rupees." Of course the people agreed, and
+were highly delighted.
+
+What a fool the fellow was! What would he do now that all his money
+was gone? What could he do except return to his father? Accordingly he
+went home.
+
+"You fool! You scamp!" exclaimed his father when he had heard how his
+son had wasted all the money that had been given to him. "Go and live
+in the stables and repent of your folly. You shall never again enter
+my house."
+
+So the young man went and lived in the stables. His bed was the grass
+spread for the cattle, and his companions were the dog, the cat, and
+the snake, which he had purchased so dearly. These creatures got very
+fond of him, and would follow him about during the day, and sleep by
+him at night; the cat used to sleep at his feet, the dog at his head,
+and the snake over his body, with its head hanging on one side and its
+tail on the other.
+
+One day the snake in course of conversation said to its master, "I am
+the son of Raja Indrasha. One day, when I had come out of the ground
+to drink the air, some people seized me, and would have slain me had
+you not most opportunely arrived to my rescue. I do not know how I
+shall ever be able to repay you for your great kindness to me. Would
+that you knew my father! How glad he would be to see his son's
+preserver!"
+
+"Where does he live? I should like to see him, if possible," said the
+young man.
+
+"Well said!" continued the snake. "Do you see yonder mountain? At the
+bottom of that mountain there is a sacred spring. If you will come
+with me and dive into that spring, we shall both reach my father's
+country. Oh! how glad he will be to see you! He will wish to reward
+you, too. But how can he do that? However, you may be pleased to
+accept something at his hand. If he asks you what you would like, you
+would, perhaps, do well to reply, 'The ring on your right hand, and
+the famous pot and spoon which you possess.' With these in your
+possession, you would never need anything, for the ring is such that a
+man has only to speak to it, and immediately a beautiful furnished
+mansion will be provided for him, while the pot and the spoon will
+supply him with all manner of the rarest and most delicious foods."
+
+Attended by his three companions the man walked to the well and
+prepared to jump in, according to the snake's directions. "O master!"
+exclaimed the cat and dog, when they saw what he was going to do.
+"What shall we do? Where shall we go?"
+
+"Wait for me here," he replied. "I am not going far. I shall not be
+long away." On saying this, he dived into the water and was lost to
+sight.
+
+"Now what shall we do?" said the dog to the cat.
+
+"We must remain here," replied the cat, "as our master ordered. Do not
+be anxious about food. I will go to the people's houses and get plenty
+of food for both of us." And so the cat did, and they both lived very
+comfortably till their master came again and joined them.
+
+The young man and the snake reached their destination in safety; and
+information of their arrival was sent to the Raja. His highness
+commanded his son and the stranger to appear before him. But the snake
+refused, saying that it could not go to its father till it was
+released from this stranger, who had saved it from a most terrible
+death, and whose slave it therefore was. Then the Raja went and
+embraced his son, and saluting the stranger welcomed him to his
+dominions. The young man stayed there a few days, during which he
+received the Raja's right-hand ring, and the pot and spoon, in
+recognition of His Highness's gratitude to him for having delivered
+his son. He then returned. On reaching the top of the spring he found
+his friends, the dog and the cat, waiting for him. They told one
+another all they had experienced since they had last seen each other,
+and were all very glad. Afterwards they walked together to the river
+side, where it was decided to try the powers of the charmed ring and
+pot and spoon.
+
+The merchant's son spoke to the ring, and immediately a beautiful
+house and a lovely princess with golden hair appeared. He spoke to the
+pot and spoon, also, and the most delicious dishes of food were
+provided for them. So he married the princess, and they lived very
+happily for several years, until one morning the princess, while
+arranging her toilet, put the loose hairs into a hollow bit of reed
+and threw them into the river that flowed along under the window. The
+reed floated on the water for many miles, and was at last picked up by
+the prince of that country, who curiously opened it and saw the golden
+hair. On finding it the prince rushed off to the palace, locked
+himself up in his room, and would not leave it. He had fallen
+desperately in love with the woman whose hair he had picked up, and
+refused to eat, or drink, or sleep, or move, till she was brought to
+him. The king, his father, was in great distress about the matter, and
+did not know what to do. He feared lest his son should die and leave
+him without an heir. At last he determined to seek the counsel of his
+aunt, who was an ogress. The old woman consented to help him, and
+bade him not to be anxious, as she felt certain that she would succeed
+in getting the beautiful woman for his son's wife.
+
+She assumed the shape of a bee and went along buzzing, and buzzing,
+and buzzing. Her keen sense of smell soon brought her to the beautiful
+princess, to whom she appeared as an old hag, holding in one hand a
+stick by way of support. She introduced herself to the beautiful
+princess and said, "I am your aunt, whom you have never seen before,
+because I left the country just after your birth." She also embraced
+and kissed the princess by way of adding force to her words. The
+beautiful princess was thoroughly deceived. She returned the ogress's
+embrace, and invited her to come and stay in the house as long as she
+could, and treated her with such honour and attention, that the ogress
+thought to herself, "I shall soon accomplish my errand." When she had
+been in the house three days, she began to talk of the charmed ring,
+and advised her to keep it instead of her husband, because the latter
+was constantly out shooting and on other such-like expeditions, and
+might lose it. Accordingly the beautiful princess asked her husband
+for the ring, and he readily gave it to her.
+
+The ogress waited another day before she asked to see the precious
+thing. Doubting nothing, the beautiful princess complied, when the
+ogress seized the ring, and reassuming the form of a bee flew away
+with it to the palace, where the prince was lying nearly on the point
+of death. "Rise up. Be glad. Mourn no more," she said to him. "The
+woman for whom you yearn will appear at your summons. See, here is the
+charm, whereby you may bring her before you." The prince was almost
+mad with joy when he heard these words, and was so desirous of seeing
+the beautiful princess, that he immediately spoke to the ring, and the
+house with its fair occupant descended in the midst of the palace
+garden. He at once entered the building, and telling the beautiful
+princess of his intense love, entreated her to be his wife. Seeing no
+escape from the difficulty, she consented on the condition that he
+would wait one month for her.
+
+Meanwhile the merchant's son had returned from hunting and was
+terribly distressed not to find his house and wife. There was the
+place only, just as he knew it before he had tried the charmed ring
+which Raja Indrasha had given him. He sat down and determined to put
+an end to himself. Presently the cat and dog came up. They had gone
+away and hidden themselves, when they saw the house and everything
+disappear. "O master!" they said, "stay your hand. Your trial is
+great, but it can be remedied. Give us one month, and we will go and
+try to recover your wife and house."
+
+"Go," said he, "and may the great God aid your efforts. Bring back my
+wife, and I shall live."
+
+So the cat and dog started off at a run, and did not stop till they
+reached the place whither their mistress and the house had been taken.
+"We may have some difficulty here," said the cat. "Look, the king has
+taken our master's wife and house for himself. You stay here. I will
+go to the house and try to see her." So the dog sat down, and the cat
+climbed up to the window of the room, wherein the beautiful princess
+was sitting, and entered. The princess recognised the cat, and
+informed it of all that had happened to her since she had left them.
+
+"But is there no way of escape from the hands of these people?" she
+asked.
+
+"Yes," replied the cat, "if you can tell me where the charmed ring
+is."
+
+"The ring is in the stomach of the ogress," she said.
+
+"All right," said the cat, "I will recover it. If we once get it,
+everything is ours." Then the cat descended the wall of the house, and
+went and laid down by a rat's hole and pretended she was dead. Now at
+that time a great wedding chanced to be going on among the rat
+community of that place, and all the rats of the neighbourhood were
+assembled in that one particular mine by which the cat had lain down.
+The eldest son of the king of the rats was about to be married. The
+cat got to know of this, and at once conceived the idea of seizing the
+bridegroom and making him render the necessary help. Consequently,
+when the procession poured forth from the hole squealing and jumping
+in honour of the occasion, it immediately spotted the bridegroom and
+pounced down on him. "Oh! let me go, let me go," cried the terrified
+rat. "Oh! let him go," squealed all the company. "It is his wedding
+day."
+
+"No, no," replied the cat. "Not unless you do something for me.
+Listen. The ogress, who lives in that house with the prince and his
+wife, has swallowed a ring, which I very much want. If you will
+procure it for me, I will allow the rat to depart unharmed. If you do
+not, then your prince dies under my feet."
+
+"Very well, we agree," said they all. "Nay, if we do not get the ring
+for you, devour us all."
+
+[Illustration: THE CHARMED RING]
+
+This was rather a bold offer. However, they accomplished the
+thing. At midnight, when the ogress was sound asleep, one of the rats
+went to her bedside, climbed up on her face, and inserted its tail
+into her throat; whereupon the ogress coughed violently, and the ring
+came out and rolled on to the floor. The rat immediately seized the
+precious thing and ran off with it to its king, who was very glad, and
+went at once to the cat and released its son.
+
+As soon as the cat received the ring, she started back with the dog to
+go and tell their master the good tidings. All seemed safe now. They
+had only to give the ring to him, and he would speak to it, and the
+house and beautiful princess would again be with them, and everything
+would go on as happily as before. "How glad master will be!" they
+thought, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Now, on the
+way they had to cross a stream. The dog swam, and the cat sat on its
+back. Now the dog was jealous of the cat, so he asked for the ring,
+and threatened to throw the cat into the water if it did not give it
+up; whereupon the cat gave up the ring. Sorry moment, for the dog at
+once dropped it, and a fish swallowed it.
+
+"Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" said the dog.
+
+"What is done is done," replied the cat. "We must try to recover it,
+and if we do not succeed we had better drown ourselves in this stream.
+I have a plan. You go and kill a small lamb, and bring it here to me."
+
+"All right," said the dog, and at once ran off. He soon came back with
+a dead lamb, and gave it to the cat. The cat got inside the lamb and
+lay down, telling the dog to go away a little distance and keep quiet.
+Not long after this a nadhar, a bird whose look can break the bones
+of a fish, came and hovered over the lamb, and eventually pounced down
+on it to carry it away. On this the cat came out and jumped on to the
+bird, and threatened to kill it if it did not recover the lost ring.
+This was most readily promised by the nadhar, who immediately flew off
+to the king of the fishes, and ordered it to make inquiries and to
+restore the ring. The king of the fishes did so, and the ring was
+found and carried back to the cat.
+
+"Come along now; I have got the ring," said the cat to the dog.
+
+"No, I will not," said the dog, "unless you let me have the ring. I
+can carry it as well as you. Let me have it or I will kill you." So
+the cat was obliged to give up the ring. The careless dog very soon
+dropped it again. This time it was picked up and carried off by a
+kite.
+
+"See, see, there it goes--away to that big tree," the cat exclaimed.
+
+"Oh! oh! what have I done?" cried the dog.
+
+"You foolish thing, I knew it would be so," said the cat. "But stop
+your barking, or you will frighten away the bird to some place where
+we shall not be able to trace it."
+
+The cat waited till it was quite dark, and then climbed the tree,
+killed the kite, and recovered the ring. "Come along," it said to the
+dog when it reached the ground. "We must make haste now. We have been
+delayed. Our master will die from grief and suspense. Come on."
+
+The dog, now thoroughly ashamed of itself, begged the cat's pardon for
+all the trouble it had given. It was afraid to ask for the ring the
+third time, so they both reached their sorrowing master in safety and
+gave him the precious charm. In a moment his sorrow was turned into
+joy. He spoke to the ring, and his beautiful wife and house
+reappeared, and he and everybody were as happy as ever they could be.
+
+
+
+
+The Talkative Tortoise
+
+
+The future Buddha was once born in a minister's family, when
+Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares; and when he grew up, he became
+the king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual.
+
+Now this king was very talkative; while he was speaking, others had no
+opportunity for a word. And the future Buddha, wanting to cure this
+talkativeness of his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing
+so.
+
+At that time there was living, in a pond in the Himalaya mountains, a
+tortoise. Two young hamsas, or wild ducks, who came to feed there,
+made friends with him. And one day, when they had become very intimate
+with him, they said to the tortoise:
+
+"Friend tortoise! the place where we live, at the Golden Cave on Mount
+Beautiful in the Himalaya country, is a delightful spot. Will you come
+there with us?"
+
+"But how can I get there?"
+
+"We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, and will say
+nothing to anybody."
+
+"Oh! that I can do. Take me with you."
+
+"That's right," said they. And making the tortoise bite hold of a
+stick, they themselves took the two ends in their teeth, and flew up
+into the air.
+
+Seeing him thus carried by the hamsas, some villagers called out, "Two
+wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along on a stick!" Whereupon the
+tortoise wanted to say, "If my friends choose to carry me, what is
+that to you, you wretched slaves!" So just as the swift flight of the
+wild ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the city of
+Benares, he let go of the stick he was biting, and falling in the open
+courtyard, split in two! And there arose a universal cry, "A tortoise
+has fallen in the open courtyard, and has split in two!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The king, taking the future Buddha, went to the place, surrounded by
+his courtiers; and looking at the tortoise, he asked the Bodisat,
+"Teacher! how comes he to be fallen here?"
+
+The future Buddha thought to himself, "Long expecting, wishing to
+admonish the king, have I sought for some means of doing so. This
+tortoise must have made friends with the wild ducks; and they must
+have made him bite hold of the stick, and have flown up into the air
+to take him to the hills. But he, being unable to hold his tongue
+when he hears any one else talk, must have wanted to say something,
+and let go the stick; and so must have fallen down from the sky, and
+thus lost his life." And saying, "Truly, O king! those who are called
+chatter-boxes--people whose words have no end--come to grief like
+this," he uttered these Verses:
+
+    "Verily the tortoise killed himself
+    Whilst uttering his voice;
+    Though he was holding tight the stick,
+    By a word himself he slew.
+
+    "Behold him then, O excellent by strength!
+    And speak wise words, not out of season.
+    You see how, by his talking overmuch,
+    The tortoise fell into this wretched plight!"
+
+The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said, "O Teacher!
+are you speaking of us?"
+
+And the Bodisat spake openly, and said, "O great king! be it thou, or
+be it any other, whoever talks beyond measure meets with some mishap
+like this."
+
+And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became a man of few
+words.
+
+
+
+
+A Lac of Rupees for a Bit of Advice
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+A poor blind Brahman and his wife were dependent on their son for
+their subsistence. Every day the young fellow used to go out and get
+what he could by begging. This continued for some time, till at last
+he became quite tired of such a wretched life, and determined to go
+and try his luck in another country. He informed his wife of his
+intention, and ordered her to manage somehow or other for the old
+people during the few months that he would be absent. He begged her to
+be industrious, lest his parents should be angry and curse him.
+
+One morning he started with some food in a bundle, and walked on day
+after day, till he reached the chief city of the neighbouring country.
+Here he went and sat down by a merchant's shop and asked alms. The
+merchant inquired whence he had come, why he had come, and what was
+his caste; to which he replied that he was a Brahman, and was
+wandering hither and thither begging a livelihood for himself and wife
+and parents. Moved with pity for the man, the merchant advised him to
+visit the kind and generous king of that country, and offered to
+accompany him to the court. Now at that time it happened that the king
+was seeking for a Brahman to look after a golden temple which he had
+just had built. His Majesty was very glad, therefore, when he saw the
+Brahman and heard that he was good and honest. He at once deputed him
+to the charge of this temple, and ordered fifty kharwars of rice and
+one hundred rupees to be paid to him every year as wages.
+
+Two months after this, the Brahman's wife, not having heard any news
+of her husband, left the house and went in quest of him. By a happy
+fate she arrived at the very place that he had reached, where she
+heard that every morning at the golden temple a golden rupee was given
+in the king's name to any beggar who chose to go for it. Accordingly,
+on the following morning she went to the place and met her husband.
+
+"Why have you come here?" he asked. "Why have you left my parents?
+Care you not whether they curse me and I die? Go back immediately, and
+await my return."
+
+"No, no," said the woman. "I cannot go back to starve and see your old
+father and mother die. There is not a grain of rice left in the
+house."
+
+"O Bhagawant!" exclaimed the Brahman. "Here, take this," he continued,
+scribbling a few lines on some paper, and then handing it to her, "and
+give it to the king. You will see that he will give you a lac of
+rupees for it." Thus saying he dismissed her, and the woman left.
+
+On this scrap of paper were written three pieces of advice--First, If
+a person is travelling and reaches any strange place at night, let him
+be careful where he puts up, and not close his eyes in sleep, lest he
+close them in death. Secondly, If a man has a married sister, and
+visits her in great pomp, she will receive him for the sake of what
+she can obtain from him; but if he comes to her in poverty, she will
+frown on him and disown him. Thirdly, If a man has to do any work, he
+must do it himself, and do it with might and without fear.
+
+On reaching her home the Brahmani told her parents of her meeting with
+her husband, and what a valuable piece of paper he had given her; but
+not liking to go before the king herself, she sent one of her
+relations. The king read the paper, and ordering the man to be
+flogged, dismissed him. The next morning the Brahmani took the paper,
+and while she was going along the road to the darbar reading it, the
+king's son met her, and asked what she was reading, whereupon she
+replied that she held in her hands a paper containing certain bits of
+advice, for which she wanted a lac of rupees. The prince asked her to
+show it to him, and when he had read it gave her a parwana for the
+amount, and rode on. The poor Brahmani was very thankful. That day she
+laid in a great store of provisions, sufficient to last them all for a
+long time.
+
+In the evening the prince related to his father the meeting with the
+woman, and the purchase of the piece of paper. He thought his father
+would applaud the act. But it was not so. The king was more angry than
+before, and banished his son from the country.
+
+So the prince bade adieu to his mother and relations and friends, and
+rode off on his horse, whither he did not know. At nightfall he
+arrived at some place, where a man met him, and invited him to lodge
+at his house. The prince accepted the invitation, and was treated like
+a prince. Matting was spread for him to squat on, and the best
+provisions set before him.
+
+"Ah!" thought he, as he lay down to rest, "here is a case for the
+first piece of advice that the Brahmani gave me. I will not sleep
+to-night."
+
+It was well that he thus resolved, for in the middle of the night the
+man rose up, and taking a sword in his hand, rushed to the prince with
+the intention of killing him. But he rose up and spoke.
+
+"Do not slay me," he said. "What profit would you get from my death?
+If you killed me you would be sorry afterwards, like that man who
+killed his dog."
+
+"What man? What dog?" he asked.
+
+"I will tell you," said the prince, "if you will give me that sword."
+
+So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:
+
+"Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant who had a pet dog. He
+was suddenly reduced to poverty, and had to part with his dog. He got
+a loan of five thousand rupees from a brother merchant, leaving the
+dog as a pledge, and with the money began business again. Not long
+after this the other merchant's shop was broken into by thieves and
+completely sacked. There was hardly ten rupees' worth left in the
+place. The faithful dog, however, knew what was going on, and went and
+followed the thieves, and saw where they deposited the things, and
+then returned.
+
+"In the morning there was great weeping and lamentation in the
+merchant's house when it was known what had happened. The merchant
+himself nearly went mad. Meanwhile the dog kept on running to the
+door, and pulling at his master's shirt and paijamas, as though
+wishing him to go outside. At last a friend suggested that, perhaps,
+the dog knew something of the whereabouts of the things, and advised
+the merchant to follow its leadings. The merchant consented, and went
+after the dog right up to the very place where the thieves had hidden
+the goods. Here the animal scraped and barked, and showed in various
+ways that the things were underneath. So the merchant and his friends
+dug about the place, and soon came upon all the stolen property.
+Nothing was missing. There was everything just as the thieves had
+taken them.
+
+"The merchant was very glad. On returning to his house, he at once
+sent the dog back to its old master with a letter rolled under the
+collar, wherein he had written about the sagacity of the beast, and
+begged his friend to forget the loan and to accept another five
+thousand rupees as a present. When this merchant saw his dog coming
+back again, he thought, 'Alas! my friend is wanting the money. How can
+I pay him? I have not had sufficient time to recover myself from my
+recent losses. I will slay the dog ere he reaches the threshold, and
+say that another must have slain it. Thus there will be an end of my
+debt. No dog, no loan.' Accordingly he ran out and killed the poor
+dog, when the letter fell out of its collar. The merchant picked it up
+and read it. How great was his grief and disappointment when he knew
+the facts of the case!
+
+"Beware," continued the prince, "lest you do that which afterwards you
+would give your life not to have done."
+
+By the time the prince had concluded this story it was nearly morning,
+and he went away, after rewarding the man.
+
+The prince then visited the country belonging to his brother-in-law.
+He disguised himself as a jogi, and sitting down by a tree near the
+palace, pretended to be absorbed in worship. News of the man and of
+his wonderful piety reached the ears of the king. He felt interested
+in him, as his wife was very ill; and he had sought for hakims to cure
+her, but in vain. He thought that, perhaps, this holy man could do
+something for her. So he sent to him. But the jogi refused to tread
+the halls of a king, saying that his dwelling was the open air, and
+that if his Majesty wished to see him he must come himself and bring
+his wife to the place. Then the king took his wife and brought her to
+the jogi. The holy man bade her prostrate herself before him, and when
+she had remained in this position for about three hours, he told her
+to rise and go, for she was cured.
+
+In the evening there was great consternation in the palace, because
+the queen had lost her pearl rosary, and nobody knew anything about
+it. At length some one went to the jogi, and found it on the ground by
+the place where the queen had prostrated herself. When the king heard
+this he was very angry, and ordered the jogi to be executed. This
+stern order, however, was not carried out, as the prince bribed the
+men and escaped from the country. But he knew that the second bit of
+advice was true.
+
+Clad in his own clothes, the prince was walking along one day when he
+saw a potter crying and laughing alternately with his wife and
+children. "O fool," said he, "what is the matter? If you laugh, why do
+you weep? If you weep, why do you laugh?"
+
+"Do not bother me," said the potter. "What does it matter to you?"
+
+"Pardon me," said the prince, "but I should like to know the reason."
+
+"The reason is this, then," said the potter. "The king of this country
+has a daughter whom he is obliged to marry every day, because all her
+husbands die the first night of their stay with her. Nearly all the
+young men of the place have thus perished, and our son will be called
+on soon. We laugh at the absurdity of the thing--a potter's son
+marrying a princess, and we cry at the terrible consequence of the
+marriage. What can we do?"
+
+"Truly a matter for laughing and weeping. But weep no more," said the
+prince. "I will exchange places with your son, and will be married to
+the princess instead of him. Only give me suitable garments, and
+prepare me for the occasion."
+
+So the potter gave him beautiful raiment and ornaments, and the prince
+went to the palace. At night he was conducted to the apartment of the
+princess. "Dread hour!" thought he; "am I to die like the scores of
+young men before me?" He clenched his sword with firm grip, and lay
+down on his bed, intending to keep awake all the night and see what
+would happen. In the middle of the night he saw two Shahmars come out
+from the nostrils of the princess. They stole over towards him,
+intending to kill him, like the others who had been before him: but he
+was ready for them. He laid hold of his sword, and when the snakes
+reached his bed he struck at them and killed them. In the morning the
+king came as usual to inquire, and was surprised to hear his daughter
+and the prince talking gaily together. "Surely," said he, "this man
+must be her husband, as he only can live with her."
+
+"Where do you come from? Who are you?" asked the king, entering the
+room.
+
+"O king!" replied the prince, "I am the son of a king who rules over
+such-and-such a country."
+
+When he heard this the king was very glad, and bade the prince to
+abide in his palace, and appointed him his successor to the throne.
+The prince remained at the palace for more than a year, and then asked
+permission to visit his own country, which was granted. The king gave
+him elephants, horses, jewels, and abundance of money for the expenses
+of the way and as presents for his father, and the prince started.
+
+On the way he had to pass through the country belonging to his
+brother-in-law, whom we have already mentioned. Report of his arrival
+reached the ears of the king, who came with rope-tied hands and
+haltered neck to do him homage. He most humbly begged him to stay at
+his palace, and to accept what little hospitality could be provided.
+While the prince was staying at the palace he saw his sister, who
+greeted him with smiles and kisses. On leaving he told her how she and
+her husband had treated him at his first visit, and how he had
+escaped; and then gave them two elephants, two beautiful horses,
+fifteen soldiers, and ten lacs rupees' worth of jewels.
+
+Afterwards he went to his own home, and informed his mother and father
+of his arrival. Alas! his parents had both become blind from weeping
+about the loss of their son. "Let him come in," said the king, "and
+put his hands upon our eyes, and we shall see again." So the prince
+entered, and was most affectionately greeted by his old parents; and
+he laid his hands on their eyes, and they saw again.
+
+Then the prince told his father all that had happened to him, and how
+he had been saved several times by attending to the advice that he had
+purchased from the Brahmani. Whereupon the king expressed his sorrow
+for having sent him away, and all was joy and peace again.
+
+
+
+
+The Gold-giving Serpent
+
+
+Now in a certain place there lived a Brahman named Haridatta. He was a
+farmer, but poor was the return his labour brought him. One day, at
+the end of the hot hours, the Brahman, overcome by the heat, lay down
+under the shadow of a tree to have a doze. Suddenly he saw a great
+hooded snake creeping out of an ant-hill near at hand. So he thought
+to himself, "Sure this is the guardian deity of the field, and I have
+not ever worshipped it. That's why my farming is in vain. I will at
+once go and pay my respects to it."
+
+When he had made up his mind, he got some milk, poured it into a bowl,
+and went to the ant-hill, and said aloud: "O Guardian of this Field!
+all this while I did not know that you dwelt here. That is why I have
+not yet paid my respects to you; pray forgive me." And he laid the
+milk down and went to his house. Next morning he came and looked, and
+he saw a gold denar in the bowl, and from that time onward every day
+the same thing occurred: he gave milk to the serpent and found a gold
+denar.
+
+One day the Brahman had to go to the village, and so he ordered his
+son to take the milk to the ant-hill. The son brought the milk, put
+it down, and went back home. Next day he went again and found a
+denar, so he thought to himself: "This ant-hill is surely full
+of golden denars; I'll kill the serpent, and take them all for
+myself." So next day, while he was giving the milk to the serpent, the
+Brahman's son struck it on the head with a cudgel. But the serpent
+escaped death by the will of fate, and in a rage bit the Brahman's son
+with its sharp fangs, and he fell down dead at once. His people raised
+him a funeral pyre not far from the field and burnt him to ashes.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Two days afterwards his father came back, and when he learnt his son's
+fate he grieved and mourned. But after a time, he took the bowl of
+milk, went to the ant-hill, and praised the serpent with a loud voice.
+After a long, long time the serpent appeared, but only with its head
+out of the opening of the ant-hill, and spoke to the Brahman: "'Tis
+greed that brings you here, and makes you even forget the loss of
+your son. From this time forward friendship between us is impossible.
+Your son struck me in youthful ignorance, and I have bitten him to
+death. How can I forget the blow with the cudgel? And how can you
+forget the pain and grief at the loss of your son?" So speaking, it
+gave the Brahman a costly pearl and disappeared. But before it went
+away it said: "Come back no more." The Brahman took the pearl, and
+went back home, cursing the folly of his son.
+
+
+
+
+The Son of Seven Queens
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived a King who had seven Queens, but no
+children. This was a great grief to him, especially when he remembered
+that on his death there would be no heir to inherit the kingdom.
+
+Now it happened one day that a poor old fakir came to the King, and
+said, "Your prayers are heard, your desire shall be accomplished, and
+one of your seven Queens shall bear a son."
+
+The King's delight at this promise knew no bounds, and he gave orders
+for appropriate festivities to be prepared against the coming event
+throughout the length and breadth of the land.
+
+Meanwhile the seven Queens lived luxuriously in a splendid palace,
+attended by hundreds of female slaves, and fed to their hearts'
+content on sweetmeats and confectionery.
+
+Now the King was very fond of hunting, and one day, before he started,
+the seven Queens sent him a message saying, "May it please our dearest
+lord not to hunt towards the north to-day, for we have dreamt bad
+dreams, and fear lest evil should befall you."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The King, to allay their anxiety, promised regard for their wishes,
+and set out towards the south; but as luck would have it, although he
+hunted diligently, he found no game. Nor had he more success to the
+east or west, so that, being a keen sportsman, and determined not to
+go home empty-handed, he forgot all about his promise, and turned to
+the north. Here also he was at first unsuccessful, but just as he had
+made up his mind to give up for that day, a white hind with golden
+horns and silver hoofs flashed past him into a thicket. So quickly did
+it pass that he scarcely saw it; nevertheless a burning desire to
+capture and possess the beautiful strange creature filled his breast.
+He instantly ordered his attendants to form a ring round the thicket,
+and so encircle the hind; then, gradually narrowing the circle, he
+pressed forward till he could distinctly see the white hind panting in
+the midst. Nearer and nearer he advanced, till, just as he thought to
+lay hold of the beautiful strange creature, it gave one mighty bound,
+leapt clean over the King's head, and fled towards the mountains.
+Forgetful of all else, the King, setting spurs to his horse, followed
+at full speed. On, on he galloped, leaving his retinue far behind,
+keeping the white hind in view, never drawing bridle, until, finding
+himself in a narrow ravine with no outlet, he reined in his steed.
+Before him stood a miserable hovel, into which, being tired after his
+long, unsuccessful chase, he entered to ask for a drink of water. An
+old woman, seated in the hut at a spinning-wheel, answered his request
+by calling to her daughter, and immediately from an inner room came a
+maiden so lovely and charming, so white-skinned and golden-haired,
+that the King was transfixed by astonishment at seeing so beautiful a
+sight in the wretched hovel.
+
+She held the vessel of water to the King's lips, and as he drank he
+looked into her eyes, and then it became clear to him that the girl
+was no other than the white hind with the golden horns and silver feet
+he had chased so far.
+
+Her beauty bewitched him, so he fell on his knees, begging her to
+return with him as his bride; but she only laughed, saying seven
+Queens were quite enough even for a King to manage. However, when he
+would take no refusal, but implored her to have pity on him, promising
+her everything she could desire, she replied, "Give me the eyes of
+your seven Queens, and then perhaps I may believe you mean what you
+say."
+
+The King was so carried away by the glamour of the white hind's
+magical beauty, that he went home at once, had the eyes of his seven
+Queens taken out, and, after throwing the poor blind creatures into a
+noisome dungeon whence they could not escape, set off once more for
+the hovel in the ravine, bearing with him his horrible offering. But
+the white hind only laughed cruelly when she saw the fourteen eyes,
+and threading them as a necklace, flung it round her mother's neck,
+saying, "Wear that, little mother, as a keepsake, whilst I am away in
+the King's palace."
+
+Then she went back with the bewitched monarch, as his bride, and he
+gave her the seven Queens' rich clothes and jewels to wear, the seven
+Queens' palace to live in, and the seven Queens' slaves to wait upon
+her; so that she really had everything even a witch could desire.
+
+Now, very soon after the seven wretched hapless Queens had their eyes
+torn out, and were cast into prison, a baby was born to the youngest
+of the Queens. It was a handsome boy, but the other Queens were very
+jealous that the youngest amongst them should be so fortunate. But
+though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved
+so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son.
+Almost as soon as he could walk about he began scraping at the mud
+wall of their dungeon, and in an incredibly short space of time had
+made a hole big enough for him to crawl through. Through this he
+disappeared, returning in an hour or so laden with sweetmeats, which
+he divided equally amongst the seven blind Queens.
+
+As he grew older he enlarged the hole, and slipped out two or three
+times every day to play with the little nobles in the town. No one
+knew who the tiny boy was, but everybody liked him, and he was so full
+of funny tricks and antics, so merry and bright, that he was sure to
+be rewarded by some girdle-cakes, a handful of parched grain, or some
+sweetmeats. All these things he brought home to his seven mothers, as
+he loved to call the seven blind Queens, who by his help lived on in
+their dungeon when all the world thought they had starved to death
+ages before.
+
+At last, when he was quite a big lad, he one day took his bow and
+arrow, and went out to seek for game. Coming by chance past the palace
+where the white hind lived in wicked splendour and magnificence, he
+saw some pigeons fluttering round the white marble turrets, and,
+taking good aim, shot one dead. It came tumbling past the very window
+where the white Queen was sitting; she rose to see what was the
+matter, and looked out. At the first glance of the handsome young lad
+standing there bow in hand, she knew by witchcraft that it was the
+King's son.
+
+She nearly died of envy and spite, determining to destroy the lad
+without delay; therefore, sending a servant to bring him to her
+presence, she asked him if he would sell her the pigeon he had just
+shot.
+
+"No," replied the sturdy lad, "the pigeon is for my seven blind
+mothers, who live in the noisome dungeon, and who would die if I did
+not bring them food."
+
+"Poor souls!" cried the cunning white witch; "would you not like to
+bring them their eyes again? Give me the pigeon, my dear, and I
+faithfully promise to show you where to find them."
+
+Hearing this, the lad was delighted beyond measure, and gave up the
+pigeon at once. Whereupon the white Queen told him to seek her mother
+without delay, and ask for the eyes which she wore as a necklace.
+
+"She will not fail to give them," said the cruel Queen, "if you show
+her this token on which I have written what I want done."
+
+So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these
+words inscribed on it--"Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his
+blood like water!"
+
+Now, as the son of seven Queens could not read, he took the fatal
+message cheerfully, and set off to find the white Queen's mother.
+
+Whilst he was journeying he passed through a town, where every one of
+the inhabitants looked so sad, that he could not help asking what was
+the matter. They told him it was because the King's only daughter
+refused to marry; so when her father died there would be no heir to
+the throne. They greatly feared she must be out of her mind, for
+though every good-looking young man in the kingdom had been shown to
+her, she declared she would only marry one who was the son of seven
+mothers, and who ever heard of such a thing? The King, in despair, had
+ordered every man who entered the city gates to be led before the
+Princess; so, much to the lad's impatience, for he was in an immense
+hurry to find his mothers' eyes, he was dragged into the
+presence-chamber.
+
+No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she blushed, and,
+turning to the King, said, "Dear father, this is my choice!"
+
+Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.
+
+[Illustration: THE SON OF SEVEN MOTHERS]
+
+The inhabitants nearly went wild with joy, but the son of seven
+Queens said he would not marry the Princess unless they first let him
+recover his mothers' eyes. When the beautiful bride heard his story,
+she asked to see the potsherd, for she was very learned and clever.
+Seeing the treacherous words, she said nothing, but taking another
+similar-shaped bit of potsherd, she wrote on it these words--"Take
+care of this lad, giving him all he desires," and returned it to the
+son of seven Queens, who, none the wiser, set off on his quest.
+
+Ere long he arrived at the hovel in the ravine where the white witch's
+mother, a hideous old creature, grumbled dreadfully on reading the
+message, especially when the lad asked for the necklace of eyes.
+Nevertheless she took it off, and gave it him, saying, "There are only
+thirteen of 'em now, for I lost one last week."
+
+The lad, however, was only too glad to get any at all, so he hurried
+home as fast as he could to his seven mothers, and gave two eyes
+apiece to the six elder Queens; but to the youngest he gave one,
+saying, "Dearest little mother!--I will be your other eye always!"
+
+After this he set off to marry the Princess, as he had promised, but
+when passing by the white Queen's palace he saw some pigeons on the
+roof. Drawing his bow, he shot one, and it came fluttering past the
+window. The white hind looked out, and lo! there was the King's son
+alive and well.
+
+She cried with hatred and disgust, but sending for the lad, asked him
+how he had returned so soon, and when she heard how he had brought
+home the thirteen eyes, and given them to the seven blind Queens, she
+could hardly restrain her rage. Nevertheless she pretended to be
+charmed with his success, and told him that if he would give her this
+pigeon also, she would reward him with the Jogi's wonderful cow, whose
+milk flows all day long, and makes a pond as big as a kingdom. The
+lad, nothing loth, gave her the pigeon; whereupon, as before, she bade
+him go ask her mother for the cow, and gave him a potsherd whereon was
+written--"Kill this lad without fail, and sprinkle his blood like
+water!"
+
+But on the way the son of seven Queens looked in on the Princess, just
+to tell her how he came to be delayed, and she, after reading the
+message on the potsherd, gave him another in its stead; so that when
+the lad reached the old hag's hut and asked her for the Jogi's cow,
+she could not refuse, but told the boy how to find it; and bidding him
+of all things not to be afraid of the eighteen thousand demons who
+kept watch and ward over the treasure, told him to be off before she
+became too angry at her daughter's foolishness in thus giving away so
+many good things.
+
+Then the lad did as he had been told bravely. He journeyed on and on
+till he came to a milk-white pond, guarded by the eighteen thousand
+demons. They were really frightful to behold, but, plucking up
+courage, he whistled a tune as he walked through them, looking neither
+to the right nor the left. By-and-by he came upon the Jogi's cow,
+tall, white, and beautiful, while the Jogi himself, who was king of
+all the demons, sat milking her day and night, and the milk streamed
+from her udder, filling the milk-white tank.
+
+The Jogi, seeing the lad, called out fiercely, "What do you want
+here?"
+
+Then the lad answered, according to the old hag's bidding, "I want
+your skin, for King Indra is making a new kettle-drum, and says your
+skin is nice and tough."
+
+Upon this the Jogi began to shiver and shake (for no Jinn or Jogi
+dares disobey King Indra's command), and, falling at the lad's feet,
+cried, "If you will spare me I will give you anything I possess, even
+my beautiful white cow!"
+
+To this the son of seven Queens, after a little pretended hesitation,
+agreed, saying that after all it would not be difficult to find a nice
+tough skin like the Jogi's elsewhere; so, driving the wonderful cow
+before him, he set off homewards. The seven Queens were delighted to
+possess so marvellous an animal, and though they toiled from morning
+till night making curds and whey, besides selling milk to the
+confectioners, they could not use half the cow gave, and became richer
+and richer day by day.
+
+Seeing them so comfortably off, the son of seven Queens started with a
+light heart to marry the Princess; but when passing the white hind's
+palace he could not resist sending a bolt at some pigeons which were
+cooing on the parapet. One fell dead just beneath the window where the
+white Queen was sitting. Looking out, she saw the lad hale and hearty
+standing before her, and grew whiter than ever with rage and spite.
+
+She sent for him to ask how he had returned so soon, and when she
+heard how kindly her mother had received him, she very nearly had a
+fit; however, she dissembled her feelings as well as she could, and,
+smiling sweetly, said she was glad to have been able to fulfil her
+promise, and that if he would give her this third pigeon, she would do
+yet more for him than she had done before, by giving him the
+million-fold rice, which ripens in one night.
+
+The lad was of course delighted at the very idea, and, giving up the
+pigeon, set off on his quest, armed as before with a potsherd, on
+which was written, "Do not fail this time. Kill the lad, and sprinkle
+his blood like water!"
+
+But when he looked in on his Princess, just to prevent her becoming
+anxious about him, she asked to see the potsherd as usual, and
+substituted another, on which was written, "Yet again give this lad
+all he requires, for his blood shall be as your blood!"
+
+Now when the old hag saw this, and heard how the lad wanted the
+million-fold rice which ripens in a single night, she fell into the
+most furious rage, but being terribly afraid of her daughter, she
+controlled herself, and bade the boy go and find the field guarded by
+eighteen millions of demons, warning him on no account to look back
+after having plucked the tallest spike of rice, which grew in the
+centre.
+
+So the son of seven Queens set off, and soon came to the field where,
+guarded by eighteen millions of demons, the million-fold rice grew. He
+walked on bravely, looking neither to the right or left, till he
+reached the centre and plucked the tallest ear, but as he turned
+homewards a thousand sweet voices rose behind him, crying in tenderest
+accents, "Pluck me too! oh, please pluck me too!" He looked back, and
+lo! there was nothing left of him but a little heap of ashes!
+
+Now as time passed by and the lad did not return, the old hag grew
+uneasy, remembering the message "his blood shall be as your blood"; so
+she set off to see what had happened.
+
+Soon she came to the heap of ashes, and knowing by her arts what it
+was, she took a little water, and kneading the ashes into a paste,
+formed it into the likeness of a man; then, putting a drop of blood
+from her little finger into its mouth, she blew on it, and instantly
+the son of seven Queens started up as well as ever.
+
+"Don't you disobey orders again!" grumbled the old hag, "or next time
+I'll leave you alone. Now be off, before I repent of my kindness!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+So the son of seven Queens returned joyfully to his seven mothers,
+who, by the aid of the million-fold rice, soon became the richest
+people in the kingdom. Then they celebrated their son's marriage to
+the clever Princess with all imaginable pomp; but the bride was so
+clever, she would not rest until she had made known her husband to his
+father, and punished the wicked white witch. So she made her husband
+build a palace exactly like the one in which the seven Queens had
+lived, and in which the white witch now dwelt in splendour. Then, when
+all was prepared, she bade her husband give a grand feast to the King.
+Now the King had heard much of the mysterious son of seven Queens, and
+his marvellous wealth, so he gladly accepted the invitation; but what
+was his astonishment when on entering the palace he found it was a
+facsimile of his own in every particular! And when his host, richly
+attired, led him straight to the private hall, where on royal thrones
+sat the seven Queens, dressed as he had last seen them, he was
+speechless with surprise, until the Princess, coming forward, threw
+herself at his feet, and told him the whole story. Then the King awoke
+from his enchantment, and his anger rose against the wicked white hind
+who had bewitched him so long, until he could not contain himself. So
+she was put to death, and her grave ploughed over, and after that the
+seven Queens returned to their own splendid palace, and everybody
+lived happily.
+
+
+
+
+A Lesson for Kings
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the
+future Buddha returned to life as his son and heir. And when the day
+came for choosing a name, they called him Prince Brahma-datta. He grew
+up in due course; and when he was sixteen years old, went to
+Takkasila, and became accomplished in all arts. And after his father
+died he ascended the throne, and ruled the kingdom with righteousness
+and equity. He gave judgments without partiality, hatred, ignorance,
+or fear. Since he thus reigned with justice, with justice also his
+ministers administered the law. Law-suits being thus decided with
+justice, there were none who brought false cases. And as these ceased,
+the noise and tumult of litigation ceased in the king's court. Though
+the judges sat all day in the court, they had to leave without any one
+coming for justice. It came to this, that the Hall of Justice would
+have to be closed!
+
+Then the future Buddha thought, "It cannot be from my reigning with
+righteousness that none come for judgment; the bustle has ceased, and
+the Hall of Justice will have to be closed. I must, therefore, now
+examine into my own faults; and if I find that anything is wrong in
+me, put that away, and practise only virtue."
+
+Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him his faults, but among
+those around him he found no one who would tell him of any fault, but
+heard only his own praise.
+
+Then he thought, "It is from fear of me that these men speak only good
+things, and not evil things," and he sought among those people who
+lived outside the palace. And finding no fault-finder there, he sought
+among those who lived outside the city, in the suburbs, at the four
+gates. And there too finding no one to find fault, and hearing only
+his own praise, he determined to search the country places.
+
+So he made over the kingdom to his ministers, and mounted his chariot;
+and taking only his charioteer, left the city in disguise. And
+searching the country through, up to the very boundary, he found no
+fault-finder, and heard only of his own virtue; and so he turned back
+from the outer-most boundary, and returned by the high road towards
+the city.
+
+Now at that time the king of Kosala, Mallika by name, was also ruling
+his kingdom with righteousness; and when seeking for some fault in
+himself, he also found no fault-finder in the palace but only heard of
+his own virtue! So seeking in country places, he too came to that
+very spot. And these two came face to face in a low cart-track with
+precipitous sides, where there was no space for a chariot to get out
+of the way!
+
+Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the charioteer of the
+king of Benares, "Take thy chariot out of the way!"
+
+But he said, "Take thy chariot out of the way, O charioteer! In this
+chariot sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Benares, the great king
+Brahma-datta."
+
+Yet the other replied, "In this chariot, O charioteer, sitteth the
+lord over the kingdom of Kosala, the great king Mallika. Take thy
+carriage out of the way, and make room for the chariot of our king!"
+
+Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, "They say then
+that he too is a king! What _is_ now to be done?" After some
+consideration, he said to himself, "I know a way. I'll find out how
+old he is, and then I'll let the chariot of the younger be got out of
+the way, and so make room for the elder."
+
+And when he had arrived at that conclusion, he asked that charioteer
+what the age of the king of Kosala was. But on inquiry he found that
+the ages of both were equal. Then he inquired about the extent of his
+kingdom, and about his army, and his wealth, and his renown, and about
+the country he lived in, and his caste and tribe and family. And he
+found that both were lords of a kingdom three hundred leagues in
+extent; and that in respect of army and wealth and renown, and the
+countries in which they lived, and their caste and their tribe and
+their family, they were just on a par!
+
+Then he thought, "I will make way for the most righteous." And he
+asked, "What kind of righteousness has this king of yours?"
+
+Then the chorister of the king of Kosala, proclaiming his king's
+wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza:
+
+    "The strong he overthrows by strength,
+    The mild by mildness, does Mallika;
+    The good he conquers by goodness,
+    And the wicked by wickedness too.
+      Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+      Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, "Well, have you
+told all the virtues of your king?"
+
+"Yes," said the other.
+
+"If these are his _virtues_, where are then his faults?" replied he.
+
+The other said, "Well, for the nonce, they shall be faults, if you
+like! But pray, then, what is the kind of goodness your king has?"
+
+And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called unto him to
+hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza:
+
+    "Anger he conquers by calmness,
+    And by goodness the wicked;
+    The stingy he conquers by gifts,
+    And by truth the speaker of lies.
+      Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+      Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king and his charioteer
+alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed
+their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares!
+
+
+
+
+Pride goeth before a Fall
+
+
+In a certain village there lived ten cloth merchants, who always went
+about together. Once upon a time they had travelled far afield, and
+were returning home with a great deal of money which they had obtained
+by selling their wares. Now there happened to be a dense forest near
+their village, and this they reached early one morning. In it there
+lived three notorious robbers, of whose existence the traders had
+never heard, and while they were still in the middle of it the robbers
+stood before them, with swords and cudgels in their hands, and ordered
+them to lay down all they had. The traders had no weapons with them,
+and so, though they were many more in number, they had to submit
+themselves to the robbers, who took away everything from them, even
+the very clothes they wore, and gave to each only a small loin-cloth a
+span in breadth and a cubit in length.
+
+The idea that they had conquered ten men and plundered all their
+property, now took possession of the robbers' minds. They seated
+themselves like three monarchs before the men they had plundered, and
+ordered them to dance to them before returning home. The merchants
+now mourned their fate. They had lost all they had, except their
+loin-cloth, and still the robbers were not satisfied, but ordered them
+to dance.
+
+There was, among the ten merchants, one who was very clever. He
+pondered over the calamity that had come upon him and his friends, the
+dance they would have to perform, and the magnificent manner in which
+the three robbers had seated themselves on the grass. At the same time
+he observed that these last had placed their weapons on the ground, in
+the assurance of having thoroughly cowed the traders, who were now
+commencing to dance. So he took the lead in the dance, and, as a song
+is always sung by the leader on such occasions, to which the rest keep
+time with hands and feet, he thus began to sing:
+
+    "We are enty men,
+    They are erith men:
+    If each erith man,
+    Surround eno men
+    Eno man remains.
+    _Ta, tai, tom, tadingana._"
+
+The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader was
+merely singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for the leader
+commenced from a distance, and had sung the song over twice before he
+and his companions commenced to approach the robbers. They had
+understood his meaning, because they had been trained in trade.
+
+When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a
+purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"What is the price of this cloth?" one trader will ask another.
+
+"Enty rupees," another will reply, meaning "ten rupees."
+
+Thus, there is no possibility of the purchaser knowing what is meant
+unless he be acquainted with trade language. By the rules of this
+secret language erith means "three," enty means "ten," and eno means
+"one." So the leader by his song meant to hint to his fellow-traders
+that they were ten men, the robbers only three, that if three pounced
+upon each of the robbers, nine of them could hold them down, while the
+remaining one bound the robbers' hands and feet.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The three thieves, glorying in their victory, and little understanding
+the meaning of the song and the intentions of the dancers, were
+proudly seated chewing betel and tobacco. Meanwhile the song was sung
+a third time. _Ta tai tom_ had left the lips of the singer; and,
+before _tadingana_ was out of them, the traders separated into parties
+of three, and each party pounced upon a thief. The remaining one--the
+leader himself--tore up into long narrow strips a large piece of
+cloth, six cubits long, and tied the hands and feet of the robbers.
+These were entirely humbled now, and rolled on the ground like three
+bags of rice!
+
+The ten traders now took back all their property, and armed themselves
+with the swords and cudgels of their enemies; and when they reached
+their village, they often amused their friends and relatives by
+relating their adventure.
+
+
+
+
+Raja Rasalu.
+
+
+Once there lived a great Raja, whose name was Salabhan, and he had a
+Queen, by name Lona, who, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine,
+had never a child to gladden her eyes. After a long time, however, a
+son was promised to her.
+
+Queen Lona returned to the palace, and when the time for the birth of
+the promised son drew nigh, she inquired of three Jogis who came
+begging to her gate, what the child's fate would be, and the youngest
+of them answered and said, "Oh, Queen! the child will be a boy, and he
+will live to be a great man. But for twelve years you must not look
+upon his face, for if either you or his father see it before the
+twelve years are past, you will surely die! This is what you must do;
+as soon as the child is born you must send him away to a cellar
+underneath the ground, and never let him see the light of day for
+twelve years. After they are over, he may come forth, bathe in the
+river, put on new clothes, and visit you. His name shall be Raja
+Rasalu, and he shall be known far and wide."
+
+So, when a fair young Prince was in due time born into the world, his
+parents hid him away in an underground palace, with nurses, and
+servants, and everything else a King's son might desire. And with him
+they sent a young colt, born the same day, and sword, spear, and
+shield, against the day when Raja Rasalu should go forth into the
+world.
+
+So there the child lived, playing with his colt, and talking to his
+parrot, while the nurses taught him all things needful for a King's
+son to know.
+
+Young Rasalu lived on, far from the light of day, for eleven long
+years, growing tall and strong, yet contented to remain playing with
+his colt, and talking to his parrot; but when the twelfth year began,
+the lad's heart leapt up with desire for change, and he loved to
+listen to the sounds of life which came to him in his palace-prison
+from the outside world.
+
+"I must go and see where the voices come from!" he said; and when his
+nurses told him he must not go for one year more, he only laughed
+aloud, saying, "Nay! I stay no longer here for any man!"
+
+Then he saddled his Arab horse Bhaunr, put on his shining armour, and
+rode forth into the world; but mindful of what his nurses had oft told
+him, when he came to the river, he dismounted, and, going into the
+water, washed himself and his clothes.
+
+Then, clean of raiment, fair of face, and brave of heart, he rode on
+his way until he reached his father's city. There he sat down to rest
+awhile by a well, where the women were drawing water in earthen
+pitchers. Now, as they passed him, their full pitchers poised upon
+their heads, the gay young Prince flung stones at the earthen
+vessels, and broke them all. Then the women, drenched with water,
+went weeping and wailing to the palace, complaining to the King that a
+mighty young Prince in shining armour, with a parrot on his wrist and
+a gallant steed beside him, sat by the well, and broke their pitchers.
+
+Now, as soon as Rajah Salabhan heard this, he guessed at once that it
+was Prince Rasalu come forth before the time, and, mindful of the
+Jogis' words that he would die if he looked on his son's face before
+twelve years were past, he did not dare to send his guards to seize
+the offender and bring him to be judged. So he bade the women be
+comforted, and take pitchers of iron and brass, giving new ones from
+his treasury to those who did not possess any of their own.
+
+But when Prince Rasalu saw the women returning to the well with
+pitchers of iron and brass, he laughed to himself, and drew his mighty
+bow till the sharp-pointed arrows pierced the metal vessels as though
+they had been clay.
+
+Yet still the King did not send for him, so he mounted his steed and
+set off in the pride of his youth and strength to the palace. He
+strode into the audience hall, where his father sat trembling, and
+saluted him with all reverence; but Raja Salabhan, in fear of his
+life, turned his back hastily and said never a word in reply.
+
+Then Prince Rasalu called scornfully to him across the hall:
+
+    "I came to greet thee, King, and not to harm thee!
+      What have I done that thou shouldst turn away?
+    Sceptre and empire have no power to charm me--
+      I go to seek a worthier prize than they!"
+
+Then he strode away, full of bitterness and anger; but, as he passed
+under the palace windows, he heard his mother weeping, and the sound
+softened his heart, so that his wrath died down, and a great
+loneliness fell upon him, because he was spurned by both father and
+mother. So he cried sorrowfully,
+
+    "Oh heart crown'd with grief, hast thou nought
+      But tears for thy son?
+    Art mother of mine?  Give one thought
+      To my life just begun!"
+
+And Queen Lona answered through her tears:
+
+    "Yea! mother am I, though I weep,
+      So hold this word sure,--
+    Go, reign king of all men, but keep
+      Thy heart good and pure!"
+
+So Raja Rasalu was comforted, and began to make ready for fortune. He
+took with him his horse Bhaunr and his parrot, both of whom had lived
+with him since he was born.
+
+So they made a goodly company, and Queen Lona, when she saw them
+going, watched them from her window till she saw nothing but a cloud
+of dust on the horizon; then she bowed her head on her hands and wept,
+saying:
+
+    "Oh! son who ne'er gladdened mine eyes,
+    Let the cloud of thy going arise,
+    Dim the sunlight and darken the day;
+    For the mother whose son is away
+            Is as dust!"
+
+Rasalu had started off to play chaupur with King Sarkap. And as he
+journeyed there came a fierce storm of thunder and lightning, so that
+he sought shelter, and found none save an old graveyard, where a
+headless corpse lay upon the ground. So lonesome was it that even the
+corpse seemed company, and Rasalu, sitting down beside it, said:
+
+    "There is no one here, nor far nor near,
+      Save this breathless corpse so cold and grim;
+    Would God he might come to life again,
+      'Twould be less lonely to talk to him."
+
+And immediately the headless corpse arose and sat beside Raja Rasalu.
+And he, nothing astonished, said to it:
+
+    "The storm beats fierce and loud,
+      The clouds rise thick in the west;
+    What ails thy grave and shroud,
+      Oh corpse! that thou canst not rest?"
+
+Then the headless corpse replied:
+
+    "On earth I was even as thou,
+      My turban awry like a king,
+    My head with the highest, I trow,
+      Having my fun and my fling,
+    Fighting my foes like a brave,
+      Living my life with a swing.
+            And, now I am dead,
+            Sins, heavy as lead,
+    Will give me no rest in my grave!"
+
+So the night passed on, dark and dreary, while Rasalu sat in the
+graveyard and talked to the headless corpse. Now when morning broke
+and Rasalu said he must continue his journey, the headless corpse
+asked him whither he was going, and when he said "to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap," the corpse begged him to give up the idea saying, "I am
+King Sarkap's brother, and I know his ways. Every day, before
+breakfast, he cuts off the heads of two or three men, just to amuse
+himself. One day no one else was at hand, so he cut off mine, and he
+will surely cut off yours on some pretence or another. However, if you
+are determined to go and play chaupur with him, take some of the bones
+from this graveyard, and make your dice out of them, and then the
+enchanted dice with which my brother plays will lose their virtue.
+Otherwise he will always win."
+
+So Rasalu took some of the bones lying about, and fashioned them into
+dice, and these he put into his pocket. Then, bidding adieu to the
+headless corpse, he went on his way to play chaupur with the King.
+
+Now, as Raja Rasalu, tender-hearted and strong, journeyed along to
+play chaupur with the King, he came to a burning forest, and a voice
+rose from the fire saying, "Oh, traveller! for God's sake save me from
+the fire!"
+
+Then the Prince turned towards the burning forest, and, lo! the voice
+was the voice of a tiny cricket. Nevertheless, Rasalu, tender-hearted
+and strong, snatched it from the fire and set it at liberty. Then the
+little creature, full of gratitude, pulled out one of its feelers, and
+giving it to its preserver, said, "Keep this, and should you ever be
+in trouble, put it into the fire, and instantly I will come to your
+aid."
+
+The Prince smiled, saying, "What help could _you_ give _me_?"
+Nevertheless, he kept the hair and went on his way.
+
+Now, when he reached the city of King Sarkap, seventy maidens,
+daughters of the King, came out to meet him,--seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter; but one, the youngest
+of them all, when she saw the gallant young Prince riding on Bhaunr
+Iraqi, going gaily to his doom, was filled with pity, and called to
+him saying:
+
+    "Fair Prince, on the charger so gray,
+        Turn thee back! turn thee back!
+    Or lower thy lance for the fray;
+    Thy head will be forfeit to-day!
+    Dost love life? then, stranger, I pray,
+        Turn thee back! turn thee back!"
+
+But he, smiling at the maiden, answered lightly:
+
+    "Fair maiden, I come from afar,
+    Sworn conqueror in love and in war!
+    King Sarkap my coming will rue,
+    His head in four pieces I'll hew;
+    Then forth as a bridegroom I'll ride,
+    With you, little maid, as my bride!"
+
+Now when Rasalu replied so gallantly, the maiden looked in his face,
+and seeing how fair he was, and how brave and strong, she straightway
+fell in love with him, and would gladly have followed him through the
+world.
+
+But the other sixty-nine maidens, being jealous, laughed scornfully at
+her, saying, "Not so fast, oh gallant warrior! If you would marry our
+sister you must first do our bidding, for you will be our younger
+brother."
+
+"Fair sisters!" quoth Rasalu gaily, "give me my task and I will
+perform it."
+
+So the sixty-nine maidens mixed a hundred-weight of millet seed with a
+hundred-weight of sand, and giving it to Rasalu, bade him separate the
+seed from the sand.
+
+Then he bethought him of the cricket, and drawing the feeler from his
+pocket, thrust it into the fire. And immediately there was a whirring
+noise in the air, and a great flight of crickets alighted beside him,
+and amongst them the cricket whose life he had saved.
+
+Then Rasalu said, "Separate the millet seed from the sand."
+
+"Is that all?" quoth the cricket; "had I known how small a job you
+wanted me to do, I would not have assembled so many of my brethren."
+
+With that the flight of crickets set to work, and in one night they
+separated the seed from the sand.
+
+Now when the sixty-nine fair maidens, daughters of the king saw that
+Rasalu had performed his task, they set him another, bidding him swing
+them all, one by one, in their swings, until they were tired.
+
+Whereupon he laughed, saying, "There are seventy of you, counting my
+little bride yonder, and I am not going to spend my life swinging
+girls! Why, by the time I have given each of you a swing, the first
+will be wanting another! No! if you want a swing, get in, all seventy
+of you, into one swing, and then I'll see what can be done."
+
+So the seventy maidens climbed into one swing, and Raja Rasalu,
+standing in his shining armour, fastened the ropes to his mighty bow,
+and drew it up to its fullest bent. Then he let go, and like an arrow
+the swing shot into the air, with its burden of seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter.
+
+But as it swung back again, Rasalu, standing there in his shining
+armour, drew his sharp sword and severed the ropes. Then the seventy
+fair maidens fell to the ground headlong; and some were bruised and
+some broken, but the only one who escaped unhurt was the maiden who
+loved Rasalu, for she fell out last, on the top of the others, and so
+came to no harm.
+
+After this, Rasalu strode on fifteen paces, till he came to the
+seventy drums, that every one who came to play chaupur with the King
+had to beat in turn; and he beat them so loudly that he broke them
+all. Then he came to the seventy gongs, all in a row, and he hammered
+them so hard that they cracked to pieces.
+
+Seeing this, the youngest Princess, who was the only one who could
+run, fled to her father the King in a great fright, saying:
+
+    "A mighty Prince, Sarkap! making havoc, rides along,
+    He swung us, seventy maidens fair, and threw us out headlong;
+    He broke the drums you placed there and the gongs too in his pride,
+    Sure, he will kill thee, father mine, and take me for his bride!"
+
+But King Sarkap replied scornfully:
+
+    "Silly maiden, thy words make a lot
+      Of a very small matter;
+    For fear of my valour, I wot,
+      His armour will clatter.
+    As soon as I've eaten my bread
+    I'll go forth and cut off his head!"
+
+Notwithstanding these brave and boastful words, he was in reality very
+much afraid, having heard of Rasalu's renown. And learning that he was
+stopping at the house of an old woman in the city, till the hour for
+playing chaupur arrived, Sarkap sent slaves to him with trays of
+sweetmeats and fruit, as to an honoured guest. But the food was
+poisoned.
+
+Now when the slaves brought the trays to Raja Rasalu, he rose up
+haughtily, saying, "Go, tell your master I have nought to do with him
+in friendship. I am his sworn enemy, and I eat not of his salt!"
+
+So saying, he threw the sweetmeats to Raja Sarkap's dog, which had
+followed the slave, and lo! the dog died.
+
+Then Rasalu was very wroth, and said bitterly, "Go back to Sarkap,
+slaves! and tell him that Rasalu deems it no act of bravery to kill
+even an enemy by treachery."
+
+Now, when evening came, Raja Rasalu went forth to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap, and as he passed some potters' kilns he saw a cat
+wandering about restlessly; so he asked what ailed her, that she never
+stood still, and she replied, "My kittens are in an unbaked pot in the
+kiln yonder. It has just been set alight, and my children will be
+baked alive; therefore I cannot rest!"
+
+Her words moved the heart of Raja Rasalu, and, going to the potter, he
+asked him to sell the kiln as it was; but the potter replied that he
+could not settle a fair price till the pots were burnt, as he could
+not tell how many would come out whole. Nevertheless, after some
+bargaining, he consented at last to sell the kiln, and Rasalu, having
+searched all the pots, restored the kittens to their mother, and she,
+in gratitude for his mercy, gave him one of them, saying, "Put it in
+your pocket, for it will help you when you are in difficulties." So
+Raja Rasalu put the kitten in his pocket, and went to play chaupur
+with the King.
+
+Now, before they sat down to play, Raja Sarkap fixed his stakes,--on
+the first game, his kingdom; on the second, the wealth of the whole
+world; and, on the third, his own head. So, likewise, Raja Rasalu
+fixed his stakes,--on the first game, his arms; on the second, his
+horse; and, on the third, his own head.
+
+Then they began to play, and it fell to Rasalu's lot to make the first
+move. Now he, forgetful of the dead man's warning, played with the
+dice given him by Raja Sarkap, besides which, Sarkap let loose his
+famous rat, Dhol Raja, and it ran about the board, upsetting the
+chaupur pieces on the sly, so that Rasalu lost the first game, and
+gave up his shining armour.
+
+Then the second game began, and once more Dhol Raja, the rat, upset
+the pieces; and Rasalu, losing the game, gave up his faithful steed.
+Then Bhaunr, the Arab steed, who stood by, found voice, and cried to
+his master,
+
+        "Sea-born am I, bought with much gold;
+        Dear Prince! trust me now as of old.
+          I'll carry you far from these wiles--
+    My flight, all unspurr'd, will be swift as a bird,
+          For thousands and thousands of miles!
+    Or if needs you must stay; ere the next game you play,
+          Place hand in your pocket, I pray!"
+
+Hearing this, Raja Sarkap frowned, and bade his slaves remove Bhaunr,
+the Arab steed, since he gave his master advice in the game. Now, when
+the slaves came to lead the faithful steed away, Rasalu could
+not refrain from tears, thinking over the long years during which
+Bhaunr, the Arab steed, had been his companion. But the horse cried
+out again,
+
+    "Weep not, dear Prince! I shall not eat my bread
+    Of stranger hands, nor to strange stall be led.
+    Take thy right hand, and place it as I said."
+
+[Illustration: Raja Rasalu plays chaupur with Raja Sarkap.]
+
+These words roused some recollection in Rasalu's mind, and when, just
+at this moment, the kitten in his pocket began to struggle, he
+remembered all about the warning, and the dice made from dead men's
+bones. Then his heart rose up once more, and he called boldly to Raja
+Sarkap, "Leave my horse and arms here for the present. Time enough to
+take them away when you have won my head!"
+
+Now, Raja Sarkap, seeing Rasalu's confident bearing, began to be
+afraid, and ordered all the women of his palace to come forth in their
+gayest attire and stand before Rasalu, so as to distract his attention
+from the game. But he never even looked at them, and drawing the dice
+from his pocket, said to Sarkap, "We have played with your dice all
+this time; now we will play with mine."
+
+Then the kitten went and sat at the window through which the rat Dhol
+Raja used to come, and the game began.
+
+After a while, Sarkap, seeing Raja Rasalu was winning, called to his
+rat, but when Dhol Raja saw the kitten he was afraid, and would not go
+further. So Rasalu won, and took back his arms. Next he played for his
+horse, and once more Raja Sarkap called for his rat; but Dhol Raja,
+seeing the kitten keeping watch, was afraid. So Rasalu won the second
+stake, and took back Bhaunr, the Arab steed.
+
+Then Sarkap brought all his skill to bear on the third and last game,
+saying,
+
+    "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+    For sooth this is a man with whom I play.
+    No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+    As Sarkap does, so do, for Sarkap's sake!"
+
+But Rasalu answered back,
+
+    "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+    For sooth it is a man with whom I play.
+    No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+    As Heaven does, so do, for Heaven's sake!"
+
+So they began to play, whilst the women stood round in a circle, and
+the kitten watched Dhol Raja from the window. Then Sarkap lost, first
+his kingdom, then the wealth of the whole world, and lastly his head.
+
+Just then, a servant came in to announce the birth of a daughter to
+Raja Sarkap, and he, overcome by misfortunes, said, "Kill her at once!
+for she has been born in an evil moment, and has brought her father
+ill luck!"
+
+But Rasalu rose up in his shining armour, tender-hearted and strong,
+saying, "Not so, oh king! She has done no evil. Give me this child to
+wife; and if you will vow, by all you hold sacred, never again to play
+chaupur for another's head, I will spare yours now!"
+
+Then Sarkap vowed a solemn vow never to play for another's head; and
+after that he took a fresh mango branch, and the new-born babe, and
+placing them on a golden dish gave them to Rasalu.
+
+Now, as he left the palace, carrying with him the new-born babe and
+the mango branch, he met a band of prisoners, and they called out to
+him,
+
+    "A royal hawk art thou, oh King! the rest
+    But timid wild-fowl.  Grant us our request,--
+    Unloose these chains, and live for ever blest!"
+
+And Raja Rasalu hearkened to them, and bade King Sarkap set them at
+liberty.
+
+Then he went to the Murti Hills, and placed the new-born babe,
+Kokilan, in an underground palace, and planted the mango branch at the
+door, saying, "In twelve years the mango tree will blossom; then will
+I return and marry Kokilan."
+
+And after twelve years, the mango tree began to flower, and Raja
+Rasalu married the Princess Kokilan, whom he won from Sarkap when he
+played chaupur with the King.
+
+
+
+
+The Ass in the Lion's Skin
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+At the same time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the
+future Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up,
+he gained his living by tilling the ground.
+
+At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
+goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took
+the pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's
+skin, and turn him loose in the rice and barley fields. And when the
+watchmen in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking
+him for a lion.
+
+So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and whilst he was getting
+his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion's skin, and
+turned him loose in a barley-field. The watchmen in the field dared
+not go up to him; but going home, they published the news. Then all
+the villagers came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing
+chanks, and beating drums, they went near the field and shouted.
+Terrified with the fear of death, the ass uttered a cry--the bray of
+an ass!
+
+And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced
+the First Verse:
+
+    "This is not a lion's roaring,
+    Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's;
+    Dressed in a lion's skin,
+      'Tis a wretched ass that roars!"
+
+But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
+till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away.
+Then the hawker came; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight,
+pronounced the Second Verse:
+
+    "Long might the ass,
+    Clad in a lion's skin,
+    Have fed on the barley green.
+    But he brayed!
+      And that moment he came to ruin."
+
+And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot!
+
+
+
+
+The Farmer and the Money-lender
+
+
+There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a
+money-lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the
+money-lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, farmer
+went to the money-lender's house, and said, "You can't squeeze water
+from a stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell
+me the secret of becoming rich."
+
+"My friend," returned the money-lender, piously, "riches come from
+Ram--ask _him_."
+
+"Thank you, I will!" replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three
+girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.
+
+First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point
+out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on
+his way without a word. Next the farmer met a Jogi or devotee, and to
+him he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. At last, he
+came upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was
+hungry, the kindly farmer gave him his last cake, and sitting down to
+rest beside him, entered into conversation.
+
+"And where are you going?" asked the poor man, at length.
+
+"Oh, I have a long journey before me, for I am going to find Ram!"
+replied the farmer. "I don't suppose you could tell me which way to
+go?"
+
+"Perhaps I can," said the poor man, smiling, "for _I_ am Ram! What do
+you want of me?"
+
+Then the farmer told the whole story, and Ram, taking pity on him,
+gave him a conch shell, and showed him how to blow it in a particular
+way, saying, "Remember! whatever you wish for, you have only to blow
+the conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care
+of that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their
+wiles!"
+
+The farmer went back to his village rejoicing. In fact the
+money-lender noticed his high spirits at once, and said to himself,
+"Some good fortune must have befallen the stupid fellow, to make him
+hold his head so jauntily." Therefore he went over to the simple
+farmer's house, and congratulated him on his good fortune, in such
+cunning words, pretending to have heard all about it, that before long
+the farmer found himself telling the whole story--all except the
+secret of blowing the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer
+was not quite such a fool as to tell that.
+
+Nevertheless, the money-lender determined to have the conch by hook or
+by crook, and as he was villain enough not to stick at trifles, he
+waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.
+
+But, after nearly bursting himself with blowing the conch in every
+conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the secret as a bad job.
+However, being determined to succeed he went back to the farmer, and
+said, coolly, "Look here; I've got your conch, but I can't use it; you
+haven't got it, so it's clear you can't use it either. Business is at
+a stand-still unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you
+back your conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one
+condition, which is this,--whatever you get from it, I am to get
+double."
+
+"Never!" cried the farmer; "that would be the old business all over
+again!"
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+"Not at all!" replied the wily money-lender; "you will have your
+share! Now, don't be a dog in the manger, for if _you_ get all you
+want, what can it matter to you if _I_ am rich or poor?"
+
+At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit
+to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and from that time,
+no matter what he gained by the power of the conch, the money-lender
+gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon the
+farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of
+anything.
+
+At last, there came a very dry season,--so dry that the farmer's crops
+withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a
+well to water them, and lo! there was the well, _but the money-lender
+had two!_--two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any farmer
+to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at
+last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it
+loudly, and cried out, "Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And
+so he was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course was blind of
+both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he
+fell into one, and was drowned.
+
+Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a
+money-lender--but only by losing one of his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+The Boy who had a Moon on his Forehead and a Star on his Chin
+
+
+In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come
+daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the
+gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, "When I am
+married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has
+never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead and a star on his
+chin." Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her.
+
+But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy
+she would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should
+like very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had
+already four Queens he had no child. He went, therefore, to the
+gardener and told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted
+the gardener and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for
+their daughter to become a princess. So they said "Yes" to the King,
+and invited all their friends to the wedding. The King invited all
+his, and he gave the gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the
+wedding was held with great feasting and rejoicing.
+
+A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to
+have her son; and the King's four other Queens came constantly to see
+her. One day they said to her, "The King hunts every day; and the time
+is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill
+whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your
+illness, what would you do then?"
+
+When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to
+him, "Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or
+sick while you are away, how could I send for you?" The King gave her
+a kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to
+her, "Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far
+away I may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you."
+
+Next morning when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other Queens
+came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her
+kettle-drum. "Oh," they said, "do drum on it just to see if the King
+really will come to you."
+
+"No, I will not," she said; "for why should I call him from his
+hunting when I do not want him?"
+
+"Don't mind interrupting his hunting," they answered. "Do try if he
+really will come to you when you beat your kettle-drum." So at last,
+just to please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her.
+
+"Why have you called me?" he said. "See, I have left my hunting to
+come to you."
+
+"I want nothing," she answered; "I only wished to know if you really
+would come to me when I beat my drum."
+
+"Very well," answered the King; "but do not call me again unless you
+really need me." Then he returned to his hunting.
+
+The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four
+Queens again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and
+begged her to beat her drum once more, "just to see if the King will
+really come to see you this time." At first she refused, but at last
+she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But
+when he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and
+said to her, "Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come to
+you when you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you like,
+but I will not come to you," and then he went away in a rage.
+
+The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat
+her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum,
+but he thought, "She does not really want me; she is only trying to
+see if I will go to her."
+
+Meanwhile the four other Queens came to her, and they said, "Here it
+is the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a
+handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind
+your eyes." She answered, "Very well, bind my eyes." The four wives
+then tied a handkerchief over them.
+
+Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a
+moon on his forehead and a star on his chin, and before the poor
+mother had seen him, the four wicked Queens took the boy to the nurse
+and said to her, "Now you must not let this child make the least sound
+for fear his mother should hear him; and in the night you must either
+kill him, or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him.
+If you obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees." All
+this they did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put
+him into a box, and the four Queens went back to the gardener's
+daughter.
+
+First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took
+the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, "Look! this
+is your son!" The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, "What will
+the King say when he finds no child?" But she could do nothing.
+
+When the King came home, he was furious at hearing his youngest wife,
+the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the
+beautiful little son she had promised him. He made her one of the
+palace servants, and never spoke to her.
+
+In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the
+beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle.
+There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the
+box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The
+King's dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she
+did with the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four Queens (who
+gave her a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she
+had put the box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the
+beautiful little boy, he was very much delighted and said, "If it
+pleases Khuda that this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will
+not eat him, but I will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach."
+This he did.
+
+After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and
+thought, "I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead." Then he brought
+the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was
+now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he
+swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he
+went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up
+the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and
+caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his
+great beauty.
+
+But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and
+he saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran
+to the four Queens and said to them, "Inside the King's dog there is a
+child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star
+on his chin. Such a child has never been seen!" At this the four wives
+were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from
+hunting they said to him, "While you were away your dog came to our
+rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are
+afraid he will kill us." "Do not be afraid," said the King. "Eat your
+dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning."
+
+Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog
+heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to
+kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if
+I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him."
+
+So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called
+Suri, and said to her, "Suri, I want to give you something, for the
+King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of
+whatever I give you?"
+
+"Let me see what it is," said Suri, "I will take care of it if I
+can." Then they both went together to the wide plain, and there the
+dog brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him. "I never saw such
+a beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he has a moon on
+his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the greatest care of
+him." So saying she swallowed the little prince. The dog made her a
+great many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;" and the cow
+then went back to her stable.
+
+Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot.
+
+The child now lived in Suri's stomach; and when one whole year had
+passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and
+said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead.
+But I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy;
+and he played about, and Suri was delighted; she loved him and
+caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned
+to her stable.
+
+At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up
+the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight,
+and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very
+happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable.
+The child was now three years old.
+
+But this time the cowherd had followed Suri, and had seen the
+wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four
+Queens, "The King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon
+on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been
+seen before!"
+
+At this the Queens were terrified. They tore their clothes and their
+hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why
+they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to
+kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never
+mind," said the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be
+killed to-morrow morning."
+
+Now Suri heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said
+to herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight,
+she went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and
+quite untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one
+could go near him with safety, he was so savage. Suri said to this
+horse, "Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give
+you, because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?"
+
+"Good," said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Suri brought up the
+child, and the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will
+take the greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride
+me, but this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when
+he had done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this
+boy's sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the
+jungle and there killed.
+
+The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in
+it for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I
+will see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and
+then he loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all
+about the stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go.
+Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years old.
+After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At
+the end of another year, when the boy was five years old, Katar
+brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play about
+the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him
+again.
+
+But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was
+morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the
+four wicked Queens, and told them all he had seen, and all about the
+wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar.
+On hearing the groom's story the four Queens cried, and tore their
+hair and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at
+evening and asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your
+horse Katar came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and
+we ran away for fear he should kill us."
+
+"Never mind," said the King. "Only eat your dinner and be happy. I
+will have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he thought that two men unaided
+could not kill such a wicked horse, so he ordered his servants to bid
+his troop of sepoys shoot him.
+
+So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and
+he took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any
+one who let his horse escape.
+
+Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up
+the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of
+the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must
+put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such
+as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the
+sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my
+back." Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies'
+country, so he could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor
+any of his people knew this. When all was ready, Katar burst out of
+his stable, with the prince on his back, rushed past the King himself
+before the King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great
+jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw his horse
+had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy distinctly. The
+sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast;
+and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Then the King had
+to give it up and go home; and the sepoys went to their homes. The
+King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse escape,
+for he himself had let him do so.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they
+stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and
+the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they
+started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in
+another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father,
+but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my
+back." Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle;
+take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with
+your sword and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some
+poor, common clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was
+dressed in them the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I
+will take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain,
+so that when you want me you will always find me. You must now go away
+and find service with some one in this country."
+
+This made the boy very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said.
+"What shall I do all alone in this country?"
+
+"Do not be afraid," answered Katar. "You will find service, and I will
+always stay here to help you when you want me. So go, only before you
+go, twist my right ear." The boy did so, and his horse instantly
+became a donkey. "Now twist your right ear," said Katar. And when the
+boy had twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, but a poor,
+common-looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were hidden.
+
+Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain
+merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. "I am a poor man,"
+answered the boy, "and I want service." "Good," said the grain
+merchant, "you shall be my servant."
+
+Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and one night at
+twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's
+cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest
+daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could
+sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair,
+and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying
+singing. "Who are you? where do you come from?" she asked.
+
+But he answered nothing.
+
+"Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to him?" thought the
+little princess, and she went away. On the second night the same thing
+happened, and on the third night too. But on the third night, when she
+found she could not make him answer her, she said to him, "What a
+strange man you are not to answer me when I speak to you." But still
+he remained silent, so she went away.
+
+The next day, when he had finished his work, the young prince went to
+the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, "Are you quite well and
+happy?" "Yes, I am," answered the boy. "I am servant to a grain
+merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and
+sung a song, and each night the youngest princess has come to me and
+asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing.
+What shall I do now?" The horse said, "Next time she asks you who you
+are, tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country
+to find service here."
+
+The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when every
+one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his sweet
+song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, and came
+to him. "Who are you? Whence do you come?" she asked.
+
+[Illustration: THE BOY WITH THE MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD]
+
+"I am a very poor man," he answered. "I came from my own country to
+seek service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants."
+Then she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's
+garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same
+questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers.
+
+Then she went to her father, and said to him, "Father, I wish to be
+married; but I must choose my husband myself." Her father consented to
+this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rajas in the land,
+saying, "My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on
+choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to
+marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you
+and make her choice."
+
+A great many Kings, Rajas, and their sons accepted this invitation and
+came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to
+them, "To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden" (the
+King's garden was very large), "for then my youngest daughter will
+come and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she
+will choose."
+
+The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the
+next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she
+dressed herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful
+jewels; then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her
+hand she took a gold necklace.
+
+Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rajas, and their sons
+were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the
+garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants.
+
+The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings
+and Rajas and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the
+neck of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody
+laughed, and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the
+Rajas said, "What fooling is this?" and they pushed the pretended poor
+man away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, "Get
+out of the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty
+for you to come near us!" The boy went far away from them, and stood a
+long way off to see what would happen.
+
+Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garden again,
+holding her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round
+the boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, "How can the King's
+daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!" and the Kings and
+the Rajas, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the
+garden. But the princess said, "Take care! take care! You must not
+turn him out. Leave him alone." Then she put him on her elephant, and
+took him to the palace.
+
+The Kings and Rajas and their sons were very much astonished, and
+said, "What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of
+us, but chooses that very poor man!" Her father then stood up, and
+said to them all, "I promised my daughter she should marry any one she
+pleased, and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall
+marry him." And so the princess and the boy were married with great
+pomp and splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her
+choice; and the Kings, the Rajas and their sons, all returned to their
+homes.
+
+Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes, and they
+laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed to
+be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See! our sister has married
+this poor, common man!" Their six husbands used to go out hunting
+every day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds
+of game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and
+for the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed
+at home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made
+her very sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt
+every day, but my husband never hunts at all."
+
+At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as my
+sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home
+quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home,
+instead of doing as they do?"
+
+One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air."
+
+"Very good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses."
+
+"No," said the young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he
+went to the jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time
+had seemed to be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he
+said; "I have married the youngest princess; and when we were married
+everybody laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor,
+common man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife
+is very sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and
+bring home quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very
+proud of them. But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I
+should like to hunt very much."
+
+"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy
+had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer.
+"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a
+beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own
+left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a
+grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, got on
+his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt.
+
+He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer.
+That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful
+young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six
+princes wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they
+grew hungry and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food
+with them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a
+tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him.
+By his side was some delicious water, and also some roast meat.
+
+When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that
+handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come
+from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many
+salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are
+you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder
+daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have
+hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not
+recognise their brother-in-law in the least.
+
+"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and
+drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to
+do," they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall
+die." "Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a
+red-hot pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food
+and water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they
+thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be
+covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to
+drink." Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in
+the fire; he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave
+them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had
+finished they made him many salaams and went home.
+
+The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he
+mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people
+looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young
+prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin."
+But no one recognised him. When he came near the King's palace, all
+the King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew
+him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who
+he could be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had
+ever been seen.
+
+At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest
+princess," he answered.
+
+"No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for he is a poor,
+common-looking, and ugly man."
+
+"But I am he," answered the prince; only no one would believe him.
+
+"Tell us the truth," said the servants; "who are you?"
+
+"Perhaps you cannot recognise me," said the young prince, "but call
+the youngest princess here. I wish to speak to her." The servants
+called her, and she came. "That man is not my husband," she said at
+once. "My husband is not nearly as handsome as that man. This must be
+a prince from another country."
+
+Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my
+husband?"
+
+"Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," answered the
+young prince.
+
+"No you are not, you are not telling me the truth," said the little
+princess. "My husband is not a handsome man like you. I married a very
+poor, common-looking man."
+
+"That is true," he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I
+was the grain merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your
+father's garden and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who
+I was and where I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same
+thing happened the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told
+you I was a very poor man, and had come from my country to seek
+service in yours, and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then
+you told your father you wished to marry, but must choose your own
+husband; and when all the Kings and Rajas were seated in your father's
+garden, you sat on an elephant and went round and looked at them all;
+and then twice hung your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me.
+See, here is your necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief
+you gave me on our wedding day."
+
+Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a
+beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to
+him. "Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now
+you are beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome
+man as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then
+she worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a
+husband. "I have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one
+like him in this country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on
+his chin." Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her
+father and mother and to every one. They all said they had never seen
+any one like him, and were all very happy. And the young prince lived
+as before in the King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the
+King's stables.
+
+One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his
+court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him,
+"There are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said
+the King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said
+the young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and
+every one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would
+not believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and
+then you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a
+thief on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and
+the King and everybody in the court-house saw the mark of the red-hot
+pice. The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was
+very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at
+him and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man.
+
+Now, when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was
+married, he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all
+that had happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he
+said to him, "I will take you back to your father's country." So two
+months after the young prince had revenged himself on his
+brothers-in-law, Katar said to him, "It is time for you to return to
+your father. Get the King to let you go to your own country, and I
+will tell you what to do when we get there."
+
+The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his
+wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see
+my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my
+father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them,
+and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave
+them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many
+horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great
+many sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the
+prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they
+reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the
+prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Suri
+had swallowed him so often.
+
+When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the
+prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had
+come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to
+ask whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in
+which he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to
+make war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has
+come to see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a
+grand feast, to which every one in your country must come--men and
+women, old and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children,
+fakirs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and
+I will feast them all."
+
+The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men,
+women, and children of all castes, fakirs, and sepoys, in his country
+to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give
+them. So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All
+came, at least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to
+go to the feast, for no one had thought of her.
+
+When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not
+there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to
+my feast?"
+
+"Yes, every one," said the King.
+
+"Are you sure of that?" asked the prince.
+
+"Quite sure," answered the King.
+
+"I am sure one woman has not come," said the prince. "She is your
+gardener's daughter, who was once your wife and is now a servant in
+your palace."
+
+"True," said the King, "I had forgotten her." Then the prince told his
+servants to take his finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's
+daughter. They were to bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and
+handsome jewels, and then bring her to him in the palanquin.
+
+While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King
+thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed particularly
+the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he wondered in
+what country the young prince was born.
+
+And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and
+the young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her
+into the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives
+looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered
+that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and
+since then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could
+not do enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see
+her.
+
+When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's
+daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest
+dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this
+handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I
+never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?"
+
+Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the
+King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and
+wondering who he was.
+
+One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he
+answered.
+
+"Do you know who I am?" asked the prince.
+
+"No," said the King. "Tell me who you are."
+
+"I am your son," answered the prince, "and the gardener's daughter is
+my mother."
+
+The King shook his head sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when
+I have never had any children?"
+
+"But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked Queens
+told you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a son;
+but it was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they
+tried to kill me."
+
+The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my son," he said; "but
+as I never had a child, you cannot be my son." "Do you remember your
+dog Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do you remember your cow
+Suri, and how you had her killed too? Your wives made you kill them
+because of me. And," he said, taking the King to Katar, "do you know
+whose horse that is?"
+
+The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse Katar."
+"Yes," said the prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you
+out of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the
+prince was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth,
+and of his life up to that moment; and when the King found the
+beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put
+his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy.
+
+"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live
+with me always."
+
+"No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go to your palace.
+I only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I have found her, I
+will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. I have married a
+King's daughter, and we live with her father."
+
+"But now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father.
+"You and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my
+palace."
+
+"That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will kill your
+four wicked Queens with your own hand. If you will do that, we will
+come and live with you."
+
+So the King killed his Queens, and then he and his wife, the
+gardener's daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in
+the King's palace, and lived there happily together for ever after;
+and the King thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for
+ridding him of his four wicked wives.
+
+Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with
+the young prince, and never left him.
+
+
+
+
+The Prince and the Fakir
+
+
+There was once upon a time a King who had no children. Now this King
+went and laid him down to rest at a place where four roads met, so
+that every one who passed had to step over him.
+
+At last a Fakir came along, and he said to the King, "Man, why are you
+lying here?"
+
+He replied, "Fakir, a thousand men have come and passed by; you pass
+on too."
+
+But the Fakir said, "Who are you, man?"
+
+The King replied, "I am a King, Fakir. Of goods and gold I have no
+lack, but I have lived long and have no children. So I have come here,
+and have laid me down at the cross-roads. My sins and offences have
+been very many, so I have come and am lying here that men may pass
+over me, and perchance my sins may be forgiven me, and God may be
+merciful, and I may have a son."
+
+The Fakir answered him, "Oh King! If you have children, what will you
+give me?"
+
+"Whatever you ask, Fakir," answered the King.
+
+The Fakir said, "Of goods and gold I have no lack, but I will say a
+prayer for you, and you will have two sons; one of those sons will be
+mine."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+Then he took out two sweetmeats and handed them to the King, and said,
+"King! take these two sweetmeats and give them to your wives; give
+them to the wives you love best."
+
+The King took the sweetmeats and put them in his bosom.
+
+Then the Fakir said, "King! in a year I will return, and of the two
+sons who will be born to you one is mine and one yours."
+
+The King said, "Well, I agree."
+
+Then the Fakir went on his way, and the King came home and gave one
+sweetmeat to each of his two wives. After some time two sons were born
+to the King. Then what did the King do but place those two sons in an
+underground room, which he had built in the earth.
+
+Some time passed, and one day the Fakir appeared, and said, "King!
+bring me that son of yours!"
+
+What did the King do but bring two slave-girls' sons and present them
+to the Fakir. While the Fakir was sitting there the King's sons were
+sitting down below in their cellar eating their food. Just then a
+hungry ant had carried away a grain of rice from their food, and was
+going along with it to her children. Another stronger ant came up and
+attacked her in order to get this grain of rice. The first ant said,
+"O ant, why do you drag this away from me? I have long been lame in my
+feet, and I have got just one grain, and am carrying it to my
+children. The King's sons are sitting in the cellar eating their food;
+you go and fetch a grain from there; why should you take mine from
+me?" On this the second ant let go and did not rob the first, but went
+off to where the King's sons were eating their food.
+
+On hearing this the Fakir said, "King! these are not your sons; go and
+bring those children who are eating their food in the cellar."
+
+Then the King went and brought his own sons. The Fakir chose the
+eldest son and took him away, and set off with him on his journey.
+When he got home he told the King's son to go out to gather fuel.
+
+So the King's son went out to gather cow-dung, and when he had
+collected some he brought it in.
+
+Then the Fakir looked at the King's son and put on a great pot, and
+said, "Come round here, my pupil."
+
+But the King's son said, "Master first, and pupil after."
+
+The Fakir told him to come once, he told him twice, he told him three
+times, and each time the King's son answered, "Master first, and pupil
+after."
+
+Then the Fakir made a dash at the King's son, thinking to catch him
+and throw him into the caldron. There were about a hundred gallons of
+oil in this caldron, and the fire was burning beneath it. Then the
+King's son, lifting the Fakir, gave him a jerk and threw him into the
+caldron, and he was burnt, and became roast meat. He then saw a key of
+the Fakir's lying there; he took this key and opened the door of the
+Fakir's house. Now many men were locked up in this house; two horses
+were standing there in a hut of the Fakir's; two greyhounds were tied
+up there; two simurgs were imprisoned, and two tigers also stood
+there. So the King's son let all the creatures go, and took them out
+of the house, and they all returned thanks to God. Next he let out all
+the men who were in prison. He took away with him the two horses, and
+he took away the two tigers, and he took away the two hounds, and he
+took away the two simurgs, and with them he set out for another
+country.
+
+As he went along the road he saw above him a bald man, grazing a herd
+of calves, and this bald man called out to him, "Fellow! can you fight
+at all?"
+
+The King's son replied, "When I was little I could fight a bit, and
+now, if any one wants to fight, I am not so unmanly as to turn my
+back. Come, I will fight you."
+
+The bald man said, "If I throw you, you shall be my slave; and if you
+throw me, I will be your slave." So they got ready and began to fight,
+and the King's son threw him.
+
+On this the King's son said, "I will leave my beasts here, my simurgs,
+tigers, and dogs, and horses; they will all stay here while I go to
+the city to see the sights. I appoint the tiger as guard over my
+property. And you are my slave, you, too, must stay here with my
+belongings." So the King's son started off to the city to see the
+sights, and arrived at a pool.
+
+He saw that it was a pleasant pool, and thought he would stop and
+bathe there, and therewith he began to strip off his clothes.
+
+Now the King's daughter, who was sitting on the roof of the palace,
+saw his royal marks, and she said, "This man is a king; when I marry,
+I will marry him and no other." So she said to her father, "My father;
+I wish to marry."
+
+"Good," said her father.
+
+Then the King made a proclamation: "Let all men, great and small,
+attend to-day in the hall of audience, for the King's daughter will
+to-day take a husband."
+
+All the men of the land assembled, and the traveller Prince also came,
+dressed in the Fakir's clothes, saying to himself, "I must see this
+ceremony to-day." He went in and sat down.
+
+The King's daughter came out and sat in the balcony, and cast her
+glance round all the assembly. She noticed that the traveller Prince
+was sitting in the assembly in Fakir's attire.
+
+The Princess said to her handmaiden, "Take this dish of henna, go to
+that traveller dressed like a Fakir, and sprinkle scent on him from
+the dish."
+
+The handmaiden obeyed the Princess's order, went to him, and sprinkled
+the scent over him.
+
+Then the people said, "The slave-girl has made a mistake."
+
+But she replied, "The slave-girl has made no mistake, 'tis her
+mistress has made the mistake."
+
+On this the King married his daughter to the Fakir, who was really no
+Fakir, but a Prince.
+
+What fate had decreed came to pass in that country, and they were
+married. But the King of that city became very sad in his heart,
+because when so many chiefs and nobles were sitting there his daughter
+had chosen none of them, but had chosen that Fakir; but he kept these
+thoughts concealed in his heart.
+
+One day the traveller Prince said, "Let all the King's sons-in-law
+come out with me to-day to hunt."
+
+People said, "What is this Fakir that he should go a-hunting?"
+
+However, they all set out for the hunt, and fixed their meeting-place
+at a certain pool.
+
+The newly married Prince went to his tigers, and told his tigers and
+hounds to kill and bring in a great number of gazelles and hog-deer
+and markhor. Instantly they killed and brought in a great number. Then
+taking with him these spoils of the chase, the Prince came to the pool
+settled on as a meeting-place. The other Princes, sons-in-law of the
+King of that city, also assembled there; but they had brought in no
+game, and the new Prince had brought a great deal. Thence they
+returned home to the town, and went to the King their father-in-law,
+to present their game.
+
+Now that King had no son. Then the new Prince told him that in fact
+he, too, was a Prince. At this the King, his father-in-law, was
+greatly delighted and took him by the hand and embraced him. He seated
+him by himself, saying, "O Prince, I return thanks that you have come
+here and become my son-in-law; I am very happy at this, and I make
+over my kingdom to you."
+
+
+
+
+Why the Fish Laughed.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+As a certain fisherwoman passed by a palace crying her fish, the queen
+appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show
+what she had. At that moment a very big fish jumped about in the
+bottom of the basket.
+
+"Is it a he or a she?" inquired the queen. "I wish to purchase a she
+fish."
+
+On hearing this the fish laughed aloud.
+
+"It's a he," replied the fisherwoman, and proceeded on her rounds.
+
+The queen returned to her room in a great rage; and on coming to see
+her in the evening, the king noticed that something had disturbed her.
+
+"Are you indisposed?" he said.
+
+"No; but I am very much annoyed at the strange behaviour of a fish. A
+woman brought me one to-day, and on my inquiring whether it was a male
+or female, the fish laughed most rudely."
+
+"A fish laugh! Impossible! You must be dreaming."
+
+"I am not a fool. I speak of what I have seen with my own eyes and
+have heard with my own ears."
+
+"Passing strange! Be it so. I will inquire concerning it."
+
+On the morrow the king repeated to his vizier what his wife had told
+him, and bade him investigate the matter, and be ready with a
+satisfactory answer within six months, on pain of death. The vizier
+promised to do his best, though he felt almost certain of failure. For
+five months he laboured indefatigably to find a reason for the
+laughter of the fish. He sought everywhere and from every one. The
+wise and learned, and they who were skilled in magic and in all manner
+of trickery, were consulted. Nobody, however, could explain the
+matter; and so he returned broken-hearted to his house, and began to
+arrange his affairs in prospect of certain death, for he had had
+sufficient experience of the king to know that His Majesty would not
+go back from his threat. Amongst other things, he advised his son to
+travel for a time, until the king's anger should have somewhat cooled.
+
+The young fellow, who was both clever and handsome, started off
+whithersoever Kismat might lead him. He had been gone some days, when
+he fell in with an old farmer, who also was on a journey to a certain
+village. Finding the old man very pleasant, he asked him if he might
+accompany him, professing to be on a visit to the same place. The old
+farmer agreed, and they walked along together. The day was hot, and
+the way was long and weary.
+
+"Don't you think it would be pleasanter if you and I sometimes gave
+one another a lift?" said the youth.
+
+"What a fool the man is!" thought the old farmer.
+
+Presently they passed through a field of corn ready for the sickle,
+and looking like a sea of gold as it waved to and fro in the breeze.
+
+"Is this eaten or not?" said the young man.
+
+Not understanding his meaning, the old man replied, "I don't know."
+
+After a little while the two travellers arrived at a big village,
+where the young man gave his companion a clasp-knife, and said, "Take
+this, friend, and get two horses with it; but mind and bring it back,
+for it is very precious."
+
+The old man, looking half amused and half angry, pushed back the
+knife, muttering something to the effect that his friend was either a
+fool himself or else trying to play the fool with him. The young man
+pretended not to notice his reply, and remained almost silent till
+they reached the city, a short distance outside which was the old
+farmer's house. They walked about the bazaar and went to the mosque,
+but nobody saluted them or invited them to come in and rest.
+
+"What a large cemetery!" exclaimed the young man.
+
+"What does the man mean," thought the old farmer, "calling this
+largely populated city a cemetery?"
+
+On leaving the city their way led through a cemetery where a few
+people were praying beside a grave and distributing chapatis and
+kulchas to passers-by, in the name of their beloved dead. They
+beckoned to the two travellers and gave them as much as they would.
+
+"What a splendid city this is!" said the young man.
+
+"Now, the man must surely be demented!" thought the old farmer. "I
+wonder what he will do next? He will be calling the land water, and
+the water land; and be speaking of light where there is darkness, and
+of darkness when it is light." However, he kept his thoughts to
+himself.
+
+Presently they had to wade through a stream that ran along the edge of
+the cemetery. The water was rather deep, so the old farmer took off
+his shoes and paijamas and crossed over; but the young man waded
+through it with his shoes and paijamas on.
+
+"Well! I never did see such a perfect fool, both in word and in deed,"
+said the old man to himself.
+
+However, he liked the fellow; and thinking that he would amuse his
+wife and daughter, he invited him to come and stay at his house as
+long as he had occasion to remain in the village.
+
+"Thank you very much," the young man replied; "but let me first
+inquire, if you please, whether the beam of your house is strong."
+
+The old farmer left him in despair, and entered his house laughing.
+
+"There is a man in yonder field," he said, after returning their
+greetings. "He has come the greater part of the way with me, and I
+wanted him to put up here as long as he had to stay in this village.
+But the fellow is such a fool that I cannot make anything out of him.
+He wants to know if the beam of this house is all right. The man must
+be mad!" and saying this, he burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+"Father," said the farmer's daughter, who was a very sharp and wise
+girl, "this man, whosoever he is, is no fool, as you deem him. He only
+wishes to know if you can afford to entertain him."
+
+"Oh! of course," replied the farmer. "I see. Well perhaps you can help
+me to solve some of his other mysteries. While we were walking
+together he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as
+he thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding."
+
+"Most assuredly," said the girl. "He meant that one of you should tell
+a story to beguile the time."
+
+"Oh yes. Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me
+whether it was eaten or not."
+
+"And didn't you know the meaning of this, father? He simply wished to
+know if the man was in debt or not; because, if the owner of the field
+was in debt, then the produce of the field was as good as eaten to
+him; that is, it would have to go to his creditors."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes; of course! Then, on entering a certain village, he
+bade me take his clasp knife and get two horses with it, and bring
+back the knife again to him."
+
+"Are not two stout sticks as good as two horses for helping one along
+on the road? He only asked you to cut a couple of sticks and be
+careful not to lose his knife."
+
+"I see," said the farmer. "While we were walking over the city we did
+not see anybody that we knew, and not a soul gave us a scrap of
+anything to eat, till we were passing the cemetery; but there some
+people called to us and put into our hands some chapatis and kulchas;
+so my companion called the city a cemetery, and the cemetery a city."
+
+"This also is to be understood, father, if one thinks of the city as
+the place where everything is to be obtained, and of inhospitable
+people as worse than the dead. The city, though crowded with people,
+was as if dead, as far as you were concerned; while, in the cemetery,
+which is crowded with the dead, you were saluted by kind friends and
+provided with bread."
+
+"True, true!" said the astonished farmer. "Then, just now, when we
+were crossing the stream, he waded through it without taking off his
+shoes and paijamas."
+
+"I admire his wisdom," replied the girl. "I have often thought how
+stupid people were to venture into that swiftly flowing stream and
+over those sharp stones with bare feet. The slightest stumble and they
+would fall, and be wetted from head to foot. This friend of yours is a
+most wise man. I should like to see him and speak to him."
+
+"Very well," said the farmer; "I will go and find him, and bring him
+in."
+
+"Tell him, father, that our beams are strong enough, and then he will
+come in. I'll send on ahead a present to the man, to show him that we
+can afford to have him for our guest."
+
+Accordingly she called a servant and sent him to the young man with a
+present of a basin of ghee, twelve chapatis, and a jar of milk, and
+the following message:--"O friend, the moon is full; twelve months
+make a year, and the sea is overflowing with water."
+
+Half-way the bearer of this present and message met his little son,
+who, seeing what was in the basket, begged his father to give him some
+of the food. His father foolishly complied. Presently he saw the young
+man, and gave him the rest of the present and the message.
+
+"Give your mistress my salam," he replied, "and tell her that the moon
+is new, and that I can only find eleven months in the year, and the
+sea is by no means full."
+
+Not understanding the meaning of these words, the servant repeated
+them word for word, as he had heard them, to his mistress; and thus
+his theft was discovered, and he was severely punished. After a little
+while the young man appeared with the old farmer. Great attention was
+shown to him, and he was treated in every way as if he were the son of
+a great man, although his humble host knew nothing of his origin. At
+length he told them everything--about the laughing of the fish, his
+father's threatened execution, and his own banishment--and asked their
+advice as to what he should do.
+
+"The laughing of the fish," said the girl, "which seems to have been
+the cause of all this trouble, indicates that there is a man in the
+palace who is plotting against the king's life."
+
+"Joy, joy!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "There is yet time for me to
+return and save my father from an ignominious and unjust death, and
+the king from danger."
+
+The following day he hastened back to his own country, taking with him
+the farmer's daughter. Immediately on arrival he ran to the palace and
+informed his father of what he had heard. The poor vizier, now almost
+dead from the expectation of death, was at once carried to the king,
+to whom he repeated the news that his son had just brought.
+
+"Never!" said the king.
+
+"But it must be so, Your Majesty," replied the vizier; "and in order
+to prove the truth of what I have heard, I pray you to call together
+all the maids in your palace, and order them to jump over a pit,
+which must be dug. We'll soon find out whether there is any man
+there."
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+The king had the pit dug, and commanded all the maids belonging to the
+palace to try to jump it. All of them tried, but only one succeeded.
+That one was found to be a man!!
+
+Thus was the queen satisfied, and the faithful old vizier saved.
+
+Afterwards, as soon as could be, the vizier's son married the old
+farmer's daughter; and a most happy marriage it was.
+
+
+
+
+The Demon with the Matted Hair
+
+
+_This story the Teacher told in Jetavana about a Brother who had
+ceased striving after righteousness. Said the Teacher to him: "Is it
+really true that you have ceased all striving?"--"Yes, Blessed One,"
+he replied. Then the Teacher said: "O Brother, in former days wise men
+made effort in the place where effort should be made, and so attained
+unto royal power." And he told a story of long ago._
+
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was King of Benares, the
+Bodhisatta was born as son of his chief queen. On his name-day they
+asked 800 Brahmans, having satisfied them with all their desires,
+about his lucky marks. The Brahmans who had skill in divining from
+such marks beheld the excellence of his, and made answer:
+
+"Full of goodness, great King, is your son, and when you die he will
+become king; he shall be famous and renowned for his skill with the
+five weapons, and shall be the chief man in all India." On hearing
+what the Brahmans had to say, they gave him the name of the Prince of
+the Five Weapons, sword, spear, bow, battle-axe, and shield.
+
+When he came to years of discretion, and had attained the measure of
+sixteen years, the King said to him:
+
+"My son, go and complete your education."
+
+"Who shall be my teacher?" the lad asked.
+
+"Go, my son; in the kingdom of Candahar, in the city of Takkasila, is
+a far-famed teacher from whom I wish you to learn. Take this, and give
+it him for a fee." With that he gave him a thousand pieces of money,
+and dismissed him.
+
+The lad departed, and was educated by this teacher; he received the
+Five Weapons from him as a gift, bade him farewell, and leaving
+Takkasila, he began his journey to Benares, armed with the Five
+Weapons.
+
+On his way he came to a forest inhabited by the Demon with the Matted
+Hair. At the entering in of the forest some men saw him, and cried
+out:
+
+"Hullo, young sir, keep clear of that wood! There's a Demon in it
+called he of the Matted Hair: he kills every man he sees!" And they
+tried to stop him. But the Bodhisatta, having confidence in himself,
+went straight on, fearless as a maned lion.
+
+When he reached mid-forest the Demon showed himself. He made himself
+as tall as a palm tree; his head was the size of a pagoda, his eyes as
+big as saucers, and he had two tusks all over knobs and bulbs; he had
+the face of a hawk, a variegated belly, and blue hands and feet.
+
+"Where are you going?" he shouted. "Stop! You'll make a meal for me!"
+
+Said the Bodhisatta: "Demon, I came here trusting in myself. I advise
+you to be careful how you come near me. Here's a poisoned arrow, which
+I'll shoot at you and knock you down!" With this menace, he fitted to
+his bow an arrow dipped in deadly poison, and let fly. The arrow stuck
+fast in the Demon's hair. Then he shot and shot, till he had shot away
+fifty arrows; and they all stuck in the Demon's hair. The Demon
+snapped them all off short, and threw them down at his feet; then came
+up to the Bodhisatta, who drew his sword and struck the Demon,
+threatening him the while. His sword--it was three-and-thirty inches
+long--stuck in the Demon's hair! The Bodhisatta struck him with his
+spear--that stuck too! He struck him with his club--and that stuck
+too!
+
+When the Bodhisatta saw that this had stuck fast, he addressed the
+Demon. "You, Demon!" said he, "did you never hear of me before--the
+Prince of the Five Weapons? When I came into the forest which you live
+in I did not trust to my bow and other weapons. This day will I pound
+you and grind you to powder!" Thus did he declare his resolve, and
+with a shout he hit at the Demon with his right hand. It stuck fast in
+his hair! He hit him with his left hand--that stuck too! With his
+right foot he kicked him--that stuck too; then with his left--and that
+stuck too! Then he butted at him with his head, crying, "I'll pound
+you to powder!" and his head stuck fast like the rest.
+
+Thus the Bodhisatta was five times snared, caught fast in five places,
+hanging suspended: yet he felt no fear--was not even nervous.
+
+[Illustration: THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR]
+
+Thought the Demon to himself: "Here's a lion of a man! A
+noble man! More than man is he! Here he is, caught by a Demon like me;
+yet he will not fear a bit. Since I have ravaged this road, I never
+saw such a man. Now, why is it that he does not fear?" He was
+powerless to eat the man, but asked him: "Why is it, young sir, that
+you are not frightened to death?"
+
+"Why should I fear, Demon?" replied he. "In one life a man can die but
+once. Besides, in my belly is a thunderbolt; if you eat me, you will
+never be able to digest it; this will tear your inwards into little
+bits, and kill you: so we shall both perish. That is why I fear
+nothing." (By this, the Bodhisatta meant the weapon of knowledge which
+he had within him.)
+
+When he heard this, the Demon thought: "This young man speaks the
+truth. A piece of the flesh of such a lion-man as he would be too much
+for me to digest, if it were no bigger than a kidney-bean. I'll let
+him go!" So, being frightened to death, he let go the Bodhisatta,
+saying:
+
+"Young sir, you are a lion of a man! I will not eat you up. I set you
+free from my hands, as the moon is disgorged from the jaws of Rahu
+after the eclipse. Go back to the company of your friends and
+relations!"
+
+And the Bodhisatta said: "Demon, I will go, as you say. You were born
+a Demon, cruel, blood-bibbing, devourer of the flesh and gore of
+others, because you did wickedly in former lives. If you still go on
+doing wickedly, you will go from darkness to darkness. But now that
+you have seen me you will find it impossible to do wickedly. Taking
+the life of living creatures causes birth, as an animal, in the world
+of Petas, or in the body of an Asura, or, if one is reborn as a man,
+it makes his life short." With this and the like monition he told him
+the disadvantage of the five kinds of wickedness, and the profit of
+the five kinds of virtue, and frightened the Demon in various ways,
+discoursing to him until he subdued him and made him self-denying, and
+established him in the five kinds of virtue; he made him worship the
+deity to whom offerings were made in that wood; and having carefully
+admonished him, departed out of it.
+
+At the entrance of the forest he told all to the people thereabout;
+and went on to Benares, armed with his five weapons. Afterwards he
+became king, and ruled righteously; and after giving alms and doing
+good he passed away according to his deeds.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_And the Teacher, when this tale was ended, became perfectly
+enlightened, and repeated this verse_:
+
+    _Whose mind and heart from all desire is free,
+    Who seeks for peace by living virtuously,
+      He in due time will sever all the bonds
+    That bind him fast to life, and cease to be._
+
+_Thus the Teacher reached the summit, through sainthood and the
+teaching of the law, and thereupon he declared the Four Truths. At the
+end of the declaring of the Truths, this Brother also attained to
+sainthood. Then the Teacher made the connexion, and gave the key to
+the birth-tale, saying: "At that time Angulimala was the Demon, but
+the Prince of the Five Weapons was I myself."_
+
+
+
+
+The Ivory City and its Fairy Princess
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+One day a young prince was out practising archery with the son of his
+father's chief vizier, when one of the arrows accidentally struck the
+wife of a merchant, who was walking about in an upper room of a house
+close by. The prince aimed at a bird that was perched on the
+window-sill of that room, and had not the slightest idea that anybody
+was at hand, or he would not have shot in that direction.
+Consequently, not knowing what had happened, he and the vizier's son
+walked away, the vizier's son chaffing him because he had missed the
+bird.
+
+Presently the merchant went to ask his wife about something, and found
+her lying, to all appearance, dead in the middle of the room, and an
+arrow fixed in the ground within half a yard of her head. Supposing
+that she was dead, he rushed to the window and shrieked, "Thieves
+thieves! They have killed my wife." The neighbours quickly gathered,
+and the servants came running upstairs to see what was the matter. It
+happened that the woman had fainted, and that there was only a very
+slight wound in her breast where the arrow had grazed.
+
+As soon as the woman recovered her senses she told them that two young
+men had passed by the place with their bows and arrows, and that one
+of them had most deliberately aimed at her as she stood by the window.
+
+On hearing this the merchant went to the king, and told him what had
+taken place. His Majesty was much enraged at such audacious
+wickedness, and swore that most terrible punishment should be visited
+on the offender if he could be discovered. He ordered the merchant to
+go back and ascertain whether his wife could recognise the young men
+if she saw them again.
+
+"Oh yes," replied the woman, "I should know them again among all the
+people in the city."
+
+"Then," said the king, when the merchant brought back this reply,
+"to-morrow I will cause all the male inhabitants of this city to pass
+before your house, and your wife will stand at the window and watch
+for the man who did this wanton deed."
+
+A royal proclamation was issued to this effect. So the next day all
+the men and boys of the city, from the age of ten years upwards,
+assembled and marched by the house of the merchant. By chance (for
+they both had been excused from obeying this order) the king's son and
+the vizier's son were also in the company, and passed by in the crowd.
+They came to see the tamasha.
+
+As soon as these two appeared in front of the merchant's window they
+were recognised by the merchant's wife, and at once reported to the
+king.
+
+"My own son and the son of my chief vizier!" exclaimed the king, who
+had been present from the commencement. "What examples for the people!
+Let them both be executed."
+
+"Not so, your Majesty," said the vizier, "I beseech you. Let the facts
+of the case be thoroughly investigated. How is it?" he continued,
+turning to the two young men. "Why have you done this cruel thing?"
+
+"I shot an arrow at a bird that was sitting on the sill of an open
+window in yonder house, and missed," answered the prince. "I suppose
+the arrow struck the merchant's wife. Had I known that she or anybody
+had been near I should not have shot in that direction."
+
+"We will speak of this later on," said the king, on hearing this
+answer. "Dismiss the people. Their presence is no longer needed."
+
+In the evening his Majesty and the vizier had a long and earnest talk
+about their two sons. The king wished both of them to be executed; but
+the vizier suggested that the prince should be banished from the
+country. This was finally agreed to.
+
+Accordingly, on the following morning, a little company of soldiers
+escorted the prince out of the city. When they reached the last
+custom-house the vizier's son overtook them. He had come with all
+haste, bringing with him four bags of muhrs on four horses. "I am
+come," he said, throwing his arms round the prince's neck, "because I
+cannot let you go alone. We have lived together, we will be exiled
+together, and we will die together. Turn me not back, if you love me."
+
+"Consider," the prince answered, "what you are doing. All kinds of
+trial may be before me. Why should you leave your home and country to
+be with me?"
+
+"Because I love you," he said, "and shall never be happy without you."
+
+So the two friends walked along hand in hand as fast as they could to
+get out of the country, and behind them marched the soldiers and the
+horses with their valuable burdens. On reaching a place on the borders
+of the king's dominions the prince gave the soldiers some gold, and
+ordered them to return. The soldiers took the money and left; they did
+not, however, go very far, but hid themselves behind rocks and stones,
+and waited till they were quite sure that the prince did not intend to
+come back.
+
+On and on the exiles walked, till they arrived at a certain village,
+where they determined to spend the night under one of the big trees of
+the place. The prince made preparations for a fire, and arranged the
+few articles of bedding that they had with them, while the vizier's
+son went to the baniya and the baker and the butcher to get something
+for their dinner. For some reason he was delayed; perhaps the tsut was
+not quite ready, or the baniya had not got all the spices prepared.
+After waiting half an hour the prince became impatient, and rose up
+and walked about.
+
+He saw a pretty, clear little brook running along not far from their
+resting-place, and hearing that its source was not far distant, he
+started off to find it. The source was a beautiful lake, which at that
+time was covered with the magnificent lotus flower and other water
+plants. The prince sat down on the bank, and being thirsty took up
+some of the water in his hand. Fortunately he looked into his hand
+before drinking, and there, to his great astonishment, he saw
+reflected whole and clear the image of a beautiful fairy. He looked
+round, hoping to see the reality; but seeing no person, he drank the
+water, and put out his hand to take some more. Again he saw the
+reflection in the water which was in his palm. He looked around as
+before, and this time discovered a fairy sitting by the bank on the
+opposite side of the lake. On seeing her he fell so madly in love with
+her that he dropped down in a swoon.
+
+When the vizier's son returned, and found the fire lighted, the horses
+securely fastened, and the bags of muhrs lying altogether in a heap,
+but no prince, he did not know what to think. He waited a little
+while, and then shouted; but not getting any reply, he got up and went
+to the brook. There he came across the footmarks of his friend. Seeing
+these, he went back at once for the money and the horses, and bringing
+them with him, he tracked the prince to the lake, where he found him
+lying to all appearance dead.
+
+"Alas! alas!" he cried, and lifting up the prince, he poured some
+water over his head and face. "Alas! my brother, what is this? Oh! do
+not die and leave me thus. Speak, speak! I cannot bear this!"
+
+In a few minutes the prince, revived by the water, opened his eyes,
+and looked about wildly.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "But what is the matter,
+brother?"
+
+"Go away," replied the prince. "I don't want to say anything to you,
+or to see you. Go away."
+
+"Come, come; let us leave this place. Look, I have brought some food
+for you, and horses, and everything. Let us eat and depart."
+
+"Go alone," replied the prince.
+
+"Never," said the vizier's son. "What has happened to suddenly
+estrange you from me? A little while ago we were brethren, but now you
+detest the sight of me."
+
+"I have looked upon a fairy," the prince said. "But a moment I saw her
+face; for when she noticed that I was looking at her she covered her
+face with lotus petals. Oh, how beautiful she was! And while I gazed
+she took out of her bosom an ivory box, and held it up to me. Then I
+fainted. Oh! if you can get me that fairy for my wife, I will go
+anywhere with you."
+
+"Oh, brother," said the vizier's son, "you have indeed seen a fairy.
+She is a fairy of the fairies. This is none other than Gulizar of the
+Ivory City. I know this from the signs that she gave you. From her
+covering her face with lotus petals I learn her name, and from her
+showing you the ivory box I learn where she lives. Be patient, and
+rest assured that I will arrange your marriage with her."
+
+When the prince heard these encouraging words he felt much comforted,
+rose up, and ate, and then went away gladly with his friend.
+
+On the way they met two men. These two men belonged to a family of
+robbers. There were eleven of them altogether. One, an elder sister,
+stayed at home and cooked the food, and the other ten--all
+brothers--went out, two and two, and walked about the four different
+ways that ran through that part of the country, robbing those
+travellers who could not resist them, and inviting others, who were
+too powerful for two of them to manage, to come and rest at their
+house, where the whole family attacked them and stole their goods.
+These thieves lived in a kind of tower, which had several strong-rooms
+in it, and under it was a great pit, wherein they threw the corpses of
+the poor unfortunates who chanced to fall into their power.
+
+The two men came forward, and, politely accosting them, begged them to
+come and stay at their house for the night. "It is late," they said,
+"and there is not another village within several miles."
+
+"Shall we accept this good man's invitation, brother?" asked the
+prince.
+
+The vizier's son frowned slightly in token of disapproval; but the
+prince was tired, and thinking that it was only a whim of his
+friend's, he said to the men, "Very well. It is very kind of you to
+ask us."
+
+So they all four went to the robbers' tower.
+
+Seated in a room, with the door fastened on the outside, the two
+travellers bemoaned their fate.
+
+"It is no good groaning," said the vizier's son. "I will climb to the
+window, and see whether there are any means of escape. Yes! yes!" he
+whispered, when he had reached the window-hole. "Below there is a
+ditch surrounded by a high wall. I will jump down and reconnoitre. You
+stay here, and wait till I return."
+
+Presently he came back and told the prince that he had seen a most
+ugly woman, whom he supposed was the robbers' housekeeper. She had
+agreed to release them on the promise of her marriage with the prince.
+
+So the woman led the way out of the enclosure by a secret door.
+
+"But where are the horses and the goods?" the vizier's son inquired.
+
+"You cannot bring them," the woman said. "To go out by any other way
+would be to thrust oneself into the grave."
+
+"All right, then; they also shall go out by this door. I have a charm,
+whereby I can make them thin or fat." So the vizier's son fetched the
+horses without any person knowing it, and repeating the charm, he made
+them pass through the narrow doorway like pieces of cloth, and when
+they were all outside restored them to their former condition. He at
+once mounted his horse and laid hold of the halter of one of the other
+horses, and then beckoning to the prince to do likewise, he rode off.
+The prince saw his opportunity, and in a moment was riding after him,
+having the woman behind him.
+
+Now the robbers heard the galloping of the horses, and ran out and
+shot their arrows at the prince and his companions. And one of the
+arrows killed the woman, so they had to leave her behind.
+
+On, on they rode, until they reached a village where they stayed the
+night. The following morning they were off again, and asked for Ivory
+City from every passer-by. At length they came to this famous city,
+and put up at a little hut that belonged to an old woman, from whom
+they feared no harm, and with whom, therefore, they could abide in
+peace and comfort. At first the old woman did not like the idea of
+these travellers staying in her house, but the sight of a muhr, which
+the prince dropped in the bottom of a cup in which she had given him
+water, and a present of another muhr from the vizier's son, quickly
+made her change her mind. She agreed to let them stay there for a few
+days.
+
+As soon as her work was over the old woman came and sat down with her
+lodgers. The vizier's son pretended to be utterly ignorant of the
+place and people. "Has this city a name?" he asked the old woman.
+
+"Of course it has, you stupid. Every little village, much more a city,
+and such a city as this, has a name."
+
+"What is the name of this city?"
+
+"Ivory City. Don't you know that? I thought the name was known all
+over the world."
+
+On the mention of the name Ivory City the prince gave a deep sigh. The
+vizier's son looked as much as to say, "Keep quiet, or you'll discover
+the secret."
+
+"Is there a king of this country?" continued the vizier's son.
+
+"Of course there is, and a queen, and a princess."
+
+"What are their names?"
+
+"The name of the princess is Gulizar, and the name of the queen----"
+
+The vizier's son interrupted the old woman by turning to look at the
+prince, who was staring like a madman. "Yes," he said to him
+afterwards, "we are in the right country. We shall see the beautiful
+princess."
+
+One morning the two travellers noticed the old woman's most careful
+toilette: how careful she was in the arrangement of her hair and the
+set of her kasabah and puts.
+
+"Who is coming?" said the vizier's son.
+
+"Nobody," the old woman replied.
+
+"Then where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to see my daughter, who is a servant of the Princess
+Gulizar. I see her and the princess every day. I should have gone
+yesterday, if you had not been here and taken up all my time."
+
+"Ah-h-h! Be careful not to say anything about us in the hearing of the
+princess." The vizier's son asked her not to speak about them at the
+palace, hoping that, because she had been told not to do so, she would
+mention their arrival, and thus the princess would be informed of
+their coming.
+
+On seeing her mother the girl pretended to be very angry. "Why have
+you not been for two days?" she asked.
+
+"Because, my dear," the old woman answered, "two young travellers, a
+prince and the son of some great vizier, have taken up their abode in
+my hut, and demand so much of my attention. It is nothing but cooking
+and cleaning, and cleaning and cooking, all day long. I can't
+understand the men," she added; "one of them especially appears very
+stupid. He asked me the name of this country and the name of the
+king. Now where can these men have come from, that they do not know
+these things? However, they are very great and very rich. They each
+give me a muhr every morning and every evening."
+
+After this the old woman went and repeated almost the same words to
+the princess, on the hearing of which the princess beat her severely;
+and threatened her with a severer punishment if she ever again spoke
+of the strangers before her.
+
+In the evening, when the old woman had returned to her hut, she told
+the vizier's son how sorry she was that she could not help breaking
+her promise, and how the princess had struck her because she mentioned
+their coming and all about them.
+
+"Alas! alas!" said the prince, who had eagerly listened to every word.
+"What, then, will be her anger at the sight of a man?"
+
+"Anger?" said the vizier's son, with an astonished air. "She would be
+exceedingly glad to see one man. I know this. In this treatment of the
+old woman I see her request that you will go and see her during the
+coming dark fortnight."
+
+"Heaven be praised!" the prince exclaimed.
+
+The next time the old woman went to the palace Gulizar called one of
+her servants and ordered her to rush into the room while she was
+conversing with the old woman; and if the old woman asked what was the
+matter, she was to say that the king's elephants had gone mad, and
+were rushing about the city and bazaar in every direction, and
+destroying everything in their way.
+
+The servant obeyed, and the old woman, fearing lest the elephants
+should go and push down her hut and kill the prince and his friend,
+begged the princess to let her depart. Now Gulizar had obtained a
+charmed swing, that landed whoever sat on it at the place wherever
+they wished to be. "Get the swing," she said to one of the servants
+standing by. When it was brought she bade the old woman step into it
+and desire to be at home.
+
+The old woman did so, and was at once carried through the air quickly
+and safely to her hut, where she found her two lodgers safe and sound.
+"Oh!" she cried, "I thought that both of you would be killed by this
+time. The royal elephants have got loose and are running about wildly.
+When I heard this I was anxious about you. So the princess gave me
+this charmed swing to return in. But come, let us get outside before
+the elephants arrive and batter down the place."
+
+"Don't believe this," said the vizier's son. "It is a mere hoax. They
+have been playing tricks with you."
+
+"You will soon have your heart's desire," he whispered aside to the
+prince. "These things are signs."
+
+Two days of the dark fortnight had elapsed, when the prince and the
+vizier's son seated themselves in the swing, and wished themselves
+within the grounds of the palace. In a moment they were there, and
+there too was the object of their search standing by one of the palace
+gates, and longing to see the prince quite as much as he was longing
+to see her.
+
+Oh, what a happy meeting it was!
+
+"At last," said Gulizar, "I have seen my beloved, my husband."
+
+"A thousand thanks to Heaven for bringing me to you," said the prince.
+
+Then the prince and Gulizar betrothed themselves to one another and
+parted, the one for the hut and the other for the palace, both of them
+feeling happier than they had ever been before.
+
+Henceforth the prince visited Gulizar every day and returned to the
+hut every night. One morning Gulizar begged him to stay with her
+always. She was constantly afraid of some evil happening to
+him--perhaps robbers would slay him, or sickness attack him, and then
+she would be deprived of him. She could not live without seeing him.
+The prince showed her that there was no real cause for fear, and said
+that he felt he ought to return to his friend at night, because he had
+left his home and country and risked his life for him; and, moreover,
+if it had not been for his friend's help he would never have met with
+her.
+
+Gulizar for the time assented, but she determined in her heart to get
+rid of the vizier's son as soon as possible. A few days after this
+conversation she ordered one of her maids to make a pilaw. She gave
+special directions that a certain poison was to be mixed into it while
+cooking, and as soon as it was ready the cover was to be placed on the
+saucepan, so that the poisonous steam might not escape. When the pilaw
+was ready she sent it at once by the hand of a servant to the vizier's
+son with this message: "Gulizar, the princess, sends you an offering
+in the name of her dead uncle."
+
+On receiving the present the vizier's son thought that the prince had
+spoken gratefully of him to the princess, and therefore she had thus
+remembered him. Accordingly he sent back his salam and expressions of
+thankfulness.
+
+When it was dinner-time he took the saucepan of pilaw and went out to
+eat it by the stream. Taking off the lid, he threw it aside on the
+grass and then washed his hands. During the minute or so that he was
+performing these ablutions, the green grass under the cover of the
+saucepan turned quite yellow. He was astonished, and suspecting that
+there was poison in the pilaw, he took a little and threw it to some
+crows that were hopping about. The moment the crows ate what was
+thrown to them they fell down dead.
+
+"Heaven be praised," exclaimed the vizier's son, "who has preserved me
+from death at this time!"
+
+On the return of the prince that evening the vizier's son was very
+reticent and depressed. The prince noticed this change in him, and
+asked what was the reason. "Is it because I am away so much at the
+palace?" The vizier's son saw that the prince had nothing to do with
+the sending of the pilaw, and therefore told him everything.
+
+"Look here," he said, "in this handkerchief is some pilaw that the
+princess sent me this morning in the name of her deceased uncle. It is
+saturated with poison. Thank Heaven, I discovered it in time!"
+
+"Oh, brother! who could have done this thing? Who is there that
+entertains enmity against you?"
+
+"The Princess Gulizar. Listen. The next time you go to see her, I
+entreat you to take some snow with you; and just before seeing the
+princess put a little of it into both your eyes. It will provoke
+tears, and Gulizar will ask you why you are crying. Tell her that you
+weep for the loss of your friend, who died suddenly this morning.
+Look! take, too, this wine and this shovel, and when you have feigned
+intense grief at the death of your friend, bid the princess to drink a
+little of the wine. It is strong, and will immediately send her into a
+deep sleep. Then, while she is asleep, heat the shovel and mark her
+back with it. Remember to bring back the shovel again, and also to
+take her pearl necklace. This done, return. Now fear not to execute
+these instructions, because on the fulfilment of them depends your
+fortune and happiness. I will arrange that your marriage with the
+princess shall be accepted by the king, her father, and all the
+court."
+
+The prince promised that he would do everything as the vizier's son
+had advised him; and he kept his promise.
+
+The following night, on the return of the prince from his visit to
+Gulizar, he and the vizier's son, taking the horses and bags of muhrs,
+went to a graveyard about a mile or so distant. It was arranged that
+the vizier's son should act the part of a fakir and the prince the
+part of the fakir's disciple and servant.
+
+In the morning, when Gulizar had returned to her senses, she felt a
+smarting pain in her back, and noticed that her pearl necklace was
+gone. She went at once and informed the king of the loss of her
+necklace, but said nothing to him about the pain in her back.
+
+The king was very angry when he heard of the theft, and caused
+proclamation concerning it to be made throughout all the city and
+surrounding country.
+
+"It is well," said the vizier's son, when he heard of this
+proclamation. "Fear not, my brother, but go and take this necklace,
+and try to sell it in the bazaar."
+
+The prince took it to a goldsmith and asked him to buy it.
+
+"How much do you want for it?" asked the man.
+
+"Fifty thousand rupees," the prince replied.
+
+"All right," said the man; "wait here while I go and fetch the money."
+
+The prince waited and waited, till at last the goldsmith returned,
+and with him the kotwal, who at once took the prince into custody on
+the charge of stealing the princess's necklace.
+
+"How did you get the necklace?" the kotwal asked.
+
+"A fakir, whose servant I am, gave it to me to sell in the bazaar,"
+the prince replied. "Permit me, and I will show you where he is."
+
+The prince directed the kotwal and the policeman to the place where he
+had left the vizier's son, and there they found the fakir with his
+eyes shut and engaged in prayer. Presently, when he had finished his
+devotions, the kotwal asked him to explain how he had obtained
+possession of the princess's necklace.
+
+"Call the king hither," he replied, "and then I will tell his Majesty
+face to face."
+
+On this some men went to the king and told him what the fakir had
+said. His Majesty came, and seeing the fakir so solemn and earnest in
+his devotions, he was afraid to rouse his anger, lest peradventure the
+displeasure of Heaven should descend on him, and so he placed his
+hands together in the attitude of a supplicant, and asked, "How did
+you get my daughter's necklace?"
+
+"Last night," replied the fakir, "we were sitting here by this tomb
+worshipping Khuda, when a ghoul, dressed as a princess, came and
+exhumed a body that had been buried a few days ago, and began to eat
+it. On seeing this I was filled with anger, and beat her back with a
+shovel, which lay on the fire at the time. While running away from me
+her necklace got loose and dropped. You wonder at these words, but
+they are not difficult to prove. Examine your daughter, and you will
+find the marks of the burn on her back. Go, and if it is as I say,
+send the princess to me, and I will punish her."
+
+The king went back to the palace, and at once ordered the princess's
+back to be examined.
+
+"It is so," said the maid-servant; "the burn is there."
+
+"Then let the girl be slain immediately," the king shouted.
+
+"No, no, your Majesty," they replied. "Let us send her to the fakir
+who discovered this thing, that he may do whatever he wishes with
+her."
+
+The king agreed, and so the princess was taken to the graveyard.
+
+"Let her be shut up in a cage, and be kept near the grave whence she
+took out the corpse," said the fakir.
+
+This was done, and in a little while the fakir and his disciple and
+the princess were left alone in the graveyard. Night had not long cast
+its dark mantle over the scene when the fakir and his disciple threw
+off their disguise, and taking their horses and luggage, appeared
+before the cage. They released the princess, rubbed some ointment over
+the scars on her back, and then sat her upon one of their horses
+behind the prince. Away they rode fast and far, and by the morning
+were able to rest and talk over their plans in safety. The vizier's
+son showed the princess some of the poisoned pilaw that she had sent
+him, and asked whether she had repented of her ingratitude. The
+princess wept, and acknowledged that he was her greatest helper and
+friend.
+
+A letter was sent to the chief vizier telling him of all that had
+happened to the prince and the vizier's son since they had left their
+country. When the vizier read the letter he went and informed the
+king. The king caused a reply to be sent to the two exiles, in which
+he ordered them not to return, but to send a letter to Gulizar's
+father, and inform him of everything. Accordingly they did this; the
+prince wrote the letter at the vizier's son's dictation.
+
+On reading the letter Gulizar's father was much enraged with his
+viziers and other officials for not discovering the presence in his
+country of these illustrious visitors, as he was especially anxious to
+ingratiate himself in the favour of the prince and the vizier's son.
+He ordered the execution of some of the viziers on a certain date.
+
+"Come," he wrote back to the vizier's son, "and stay at the palace.
+And if the prince desires it, I will arrange for his marriage with
+Gulizar as soon as possible."
+
+The prince and the vizier's son most gladly accepted the invitation,
+and received a right noble welcome from the king. The marriage soon
+took place, and then after a few weeks the king gave them presents of
+horses and elephants, and jewels and rich cloths, and bade them start
+for their own land; for he was sure that the king would now receive
+them. The night before they left the viziers and others, whom the king
+intended to have executed as soon as his visitors had left, came and
+besought the vizier's son to plead for them, and promised that they
+each would give him a daughter in marriage. He agreed to do so, and
+succeeded in obtaining their pardon.
+
+Then the prince, with his beautiful bride Gulizar, and the vizier's
+son, attended by a troop of soldiers, and a large number of camels and
+horses bearing very much treasure, left for their own land. In the
+midst of the way they passed the tower of the robbers, and with the
+help of the soldiers they razed it to the ground, slew all its
+inmates, and seized the treasure which they had been amassing there
+for several years.
+
+At length they reached their own country, and when the king saw his
+son's beautiful wife and his magnificent retinue he was at once
+reconciled, and ordered him to enter the city and take up his abode
+there.
+
+Henceforth all was sunshine on the path of the prince. He became a
+great favourite, and in due time succeeded to the throne, and ruled
+the country for many, many years in peace and happiness.
+
+
+
+
+How Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to Dinner
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+One day Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and
+aunts Thunder and Lightning. Their mother (one of the most distant
+Stars you see far up in the sky) waited alone for her children's
+return.
+
+Now both Sun and Wind were greedy and selfish. They enjoyed the great
+feast that had been prepared for them, without a thought of saving any
+of it to take home to their mother--but the gentle Moon did not
+forget her. Of every dainty dish that was brought round, she placed a
+small portion under one of her beautiful long finger-nails, that Star
+might also have a share in the treat.
+
+On their return, their mother, who had kept watch for them all night
+long with her little bright eye, said, "Well, children, what have you
+brought home for me?" Then Sun (who was eldest) said, "I have brought
+nothing home for you. I went out to enjoy myself with my friends--not
+to fetch a dinner for my mother!" And Wind said, "Neither have I
+brought anything home for you, mother. You could hardly expect me to
+bring a collection of good things for you, when I merely went out for
+my own pleasure." But Moon said, "Mother, fetch a plate, see what I
+have brought you." And shaking her hands she showered down such a
+choice dinner as never was seen before.
+
+Then Star turned to Sun and spoke thus, "Because you went out to amuse
+yourself with your friends, and feasted and enjoyed yourself, without
+any thought of your mother at home--you shall be cursed. Henceforth,
+your rays shall ever be hot and scorching, and shall burn all that
+they touch. And men shall hate you, and cover their heads when you
+appear."
+
+(And that is why the Sun is so hot to this day.)
+
+Then she turned to Wind and said, "You also who forgot your mother in
+the midst of your selfish pleasures--hear your doom. You shall always
+blow in the hot dry weather, and shall parch and shrivel all living
+things. And men shall detest and avoid you from this very time."
+
+(And that is why the Wind in the hot weather is still so
+disagreeable.)
+
+But to Moon she said, "Daughter, because you remembered your mother,
+and kept for her a share in your own enjoyment, from henceforth you
+shall be ever cool, and calm, and bright. No noxious glare shall
+accompany your pure rays, and men shall always call you 'blessed.'"
+
+(And that is why the moon's light is so soft, and cool, and beautiful
+even to this day.)
+
+
+
+
+How the Wicked Sons were Duped.
+
+
+A very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death,
+sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did
+not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them
+were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old fellow had to bear
+with much abuse and cruelty from his sons. Wretched, selfish ingrates!
+Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their
+father, hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received
+their patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them--nay, the sooner
+the better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And
+they let the poor old man know what they felt.
+
+One day he met a friend and related to him all his troubles. The
+friend sympathised very much with him, and promised to think over the
+matter, and call in a little while and tell him what to do. He did so;
+in a few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of
+stones and gravel before him.
+
+"Look here, friend," said he. "Your sons will get to know of my coming
+here to-day, and will inquire about it. You must pretend that I came
+to discharge a long-standing debt with you, and that you are several
+thousands of rupees richer than you thought you were. Keep these bags
+in your own hands, and on no account let your sons get to them as long
+as you are alive. You will soon find them change their conduct towards
+you. Salaam. I will come again soon to see how you are getting on."
+
+When the young men got to hear of this further increase of wealth they
+began to be more attentive and pleasing to their father than ever
+before. And thus they continued to the day of the old man's demise,
+when the bags were greedily opened, and found to contain only stones
+and gravel!
+
+
+
+
+The Pigeon and the Crow
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+
+Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was a Pigeon, and lived in a
+nest-basket which a rich man's cook had hung up in the kitchen, in
+order to earn merit by it. A greedy Crow, flying near, saw all sorts
+of delicate food lying about in the kitchen, and fell a-hungering
+after it. "How in the world can I get some?" thought he? At last he
+hit upon a plan.
+
+When the Pigeon went to search for food, behind him, following,
+following, came the Crow.
+
+"What do you want, Mr. Crow? You and I don't feed alike."
+
+"Ah, but I like you and your ways! Let me be your chum, and let us
+feed together."
+
+The Pigeon agreed, and they went on in company. The Crow pretended to
+feed along with the Pigeon, but ever and anon he would turn back, peck
+to bits some heap of cow-dung, and eat a fat worm. When he had got a
+bellyful of them, up he flies, as pert as you like:
+
+"Hullo, Mr. Pigeon, what a time you take over your meal! One ought to
+draw the line somewhere. Let's be going home before it is too late."
+And so they did.
+
+The cook saw that his Pigeon had brought a friend, and hung up another
+basket for him.
+
+A few days afterwards there was a great purchase of fish which came to
+the rich man's kitchen. How the Crow longed for some! So there he lay,
+from early morn, groaning and making a great noise. Says the Pigeon to
+the Crow:
+
+"Come, Sir Crow, and get your breakfast!"
+
+"Oh dear! oh dear! I have such a fit of indigestion!" says he.
+
+"Nonsense! Crows never have indigestion," said the Pigeon. "If you eat
+a lamp-wick, that stays in your stomach a little while; but anything
+else is digested in a trice, as soon as you eat it. Now do what I tell
+you; don't behave in this way just for seeing a little fish."
+
+"Why do you say that, master? I have indigestion."
+
+"Well, be careful," said the Pigeon, and flew away.
+
+The cook prepared all the dishes, and then stood at the kitchen door,
+wiping the sweat off his body. "Now's my time!" thought Mr. Crow, and
+alighted on a dish containing some dainty food. Click! The cook heard
+it, and looked round. Ah! he caught the Crow, and plucked all the
+feathers out of his head, all but one tuft; he powdered ginger and
+cummin, mixed it up with butter-milk, and rubbed it well all over the
+bird's body.
+
+"That's for spoiling my master's dinner and making me throw it away!"
+said he, and threw him into his basket. Oh, how it hurt!
+
+By-and-by the Pigeon came in, and saw the Crow lying there, making a
+great noise. He made great game of him, and repeated a verse of
+poetry:
+
+    "Who is this tufted crane I see
+    Lying where he's no right to be?
+    Come out! my friend, the crow is near,
+    And he may do you harm, I fear!"
+
+To this the Crow answered with another:
+
+    "No tufted crane am I--no, no!
+    I'm nothing but a greedy crow.
+    I would not do as I was told,
+    So now I'm plucked, as you behold."
+
+And the Pigeon rejoined with a third verse:
+
+    "You'll come to grief again, I know--
+    It is your nature to do so;
+    If people make a dish of meat,
+    'Tis not for little birds to eat."
+
+Then the Pigeon flew away, saying: "I can't live with this creature
+any longer." And the Crow lay there groaning till he died.
+
+
+
+
+Notes and References
+
+
+The story literature of India is in a large measure the outcome of the
+moral revolution of the peninsula connected with the name of Gautama
+Buddha. As the influence of his life and doctrines grew, a tendency
+arose to connect all the popular stories of India round the great
+teacher. This could be easily effected owing to the wide spread of the
+belief in metempsychosis. All that was told of the sages of the past
+could be interpreted of the Buddha by representing them as
+pre-incarnations of him. Even with Fables, or beast-tales, this could
+be done, for the Hindoos were Darwinists long before Darwin, and
+regarded beasts as cousins of men and stages of development in the
+progress of the soul through the ages. Thus, by identifying the Buddha
+with the heroes of all folk-tales and the chief characters in the
+beast-drolls, the Buddhists were enabled to incorporate the whole of
+the story-store of Hindostan in their sacred books, and enlist on
+their side the tale-telling instincts of men.
+
+In making Buddha the centre figure of the popular literature of India,
+his followers also invented the Frame as a method of literary art. The
+idea of connecting a number of disconnected stories familiar to us
+from _The Arabian Nights_, Boccaccio's _Decamerone_, Chaucer's
+_Canterbury Tales_, or even _Pickwick_, is directly traceable to the
+plan of making Buddha the central figure of India folk-literature.
+Curiously enough, the earliest instance of this in Buddhist literature
+was intended to be a Decameron, ten tales of Buddha's previous births,
+told of each of the ten Perfections. Asvagosha, the earlier Boccaccio,
+died when he had completed thirty-four of the Birth-Tales. But other
+collections were made, and at last a corpus of the JATAKAS, or
+Birth-Tales of the Buddha, was carried over to Ceylon, possibly as
+early as the first introduction of Buddhism, 241 B.C. There they have
+remained till the present day, and have at last been made accessible
+in a complete edition in the original Pali by Prof. Fausboll.
+
+These JATAKAS, as we now have them, are enshrined in a commentary on
+the _gathas_, or moral verses, written in Ceylon by one of
+Buddhaghosa's school in the fifth century A.D. They invariably begin
+with a "Story of the Present," an incident in Buddha's life which
+calls up to him a "Story of the Past," a folk-tale in which he had
+played a part during one of his former incarnations. Thus the fable of
+the Lion and the Crane, which opens the present collection, is
+introduced by a "Story of the Present" in the following words:--
+
+"A service have we done thee" [the opening words of the _gatha_ or
+moral verse]. "This the Master told while living at Jetavana
+concerning Devadatta's treachery. Not only now, O Bhickkus, but in a
+former existence was Devadatta ungrateful. And having said this he
+told a tale." Then follows the tale as given above (pp. 1, 2), and the
+commentary concludes: "The Master, having given the lesson, summed up
+the Jataka thus: 'At that time, the Lion was Devadatta, and the Crane
+was I myself.'" Similarly, with each story of the past the Buddha
+identifies himself, or is mentioned as identical with, the virtuous
+hero of the folk-tale. These Jatakas are 550 in number, and have been
+reckoned to include some 2000 tales. Some of these had been translated
+by Mr. Rhys-Davids (_Buddhist Birth Stories, I._, Trubner's Oriental
+Library, 1880), Prof. Fausboll (_Five Jatakas_, Copenhagen), and Dr.
+R. Morris (_Folk-Lore Journal_, vols. ii.-v.). A few exist sculptured
+on the earliest Buddhist Stupas. Thus several of the circular figure
+designs on the reliefs from Amaravati, now on the grand staircase of
+the British Museum, represent Jatakas, or previous births of the
+Buddha.
+
+Some of the Jatakas bear a remarkable resemblance to some of the most
+familiar FABLES OF AESOP. So close is the resemblance, indeed, that it
+is impossible not to surmise an historical relation between the two.
+What this relation is I have discussed at considerable length in the
+"History of the Aesopic Fable," which forms the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's _Esope_ (London, D. Nutt, "Bibliotheque de
+Carabas," 1889). In this place I can only roughly summarise my
+results. I conjecture that a collection of fables existed in India
+before Buddha and independently of the Jatakas, and connected with the
+name of Kasyapa, who was afterwards made by the Buddhists into the
+latest of the twenty-seven pre-incarnations of the Buddha. This
+collection of the Fables of Kasyapa was brought to Europe with a
+deputation from the Cingalese King Chandra Muka Siwa (obiit 52 A.D.)
+to the Emperor Claudius about 50 A.D., and was done into Greek as the
+[Greek: Logoi Lybikoi] of "Kybises." These were utilised by
+Babrius (from whom the Greek Aesop is derived) and Avian, and so came
+into the European Aesop. I have discussed all those that are to be
+found in the Jatakas in the "History" before mentioned, i. pp. 54-72
+(see Notes i. xv. xx.). In these Notes henceforth I refer to this
+"History" as my _Aesop_.
+
+There were probably other Buddhist collections of a similar nature to
+the Jatakas with a framework. When the Hindu reaction against Buddhism
+came, the Brahmins adapted these, with the omission of Buddha as the
+central figure. There is scarcely any doubt that the so-called FABLES
+OF BIDPAI were thus derived from Buddhistic sources. In its Indian
+form this is now extant as a _Panchatantra_ or Pentateuch, five books
+of tales connected by a Frame. This collection is of special interest
+to us in the present connection, as it has come to Europe in various
+forms and shapes. I have edited Sir Thomas North's English version of
+an Italian adaptation of a Spanish translation of a Latin version of a
+Hebrew translation of an Arabic adaptation of the Pehlevi version of
+the Indian original (_Fables of Bidpai_, London, D. Nutt,
+"Bibliotheque de Carabas," 1888). In this I give a genealogical table
+of the various versions, from which I calculate that the tales have
+been translated into thirty-eight languages in 112 different versions,
+twenty different ones in English alone. Their influence on European
+folk-tales has been very great: it is probable that nearly one-tenth
+of these can be traced to the Bidpai literature. (See Notes v. ix. x.
+xiii. xv.)
+
+Other collections of a similar character, arranged in a frame, and
+derived ultimately from Buddhistic sources, also reached Europe and
+formed popular reading in the Middle Ages. Among these may be
+mentioned THE TALES OF SINDIBAD, known to Europe as _The Seven Sages
+of Rome:_ from this we get the Gellert story (_cf. Celtic Fairy
+Tales_), though it also occurs in the Bidpai. Another popular
+collection was that associated with the life of St. Buddha, who has
+been canonised as St. Josaphat: BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT tells of his
+conversion and much else besides, including the tale of the Three
+Caskets, used by Shakespeare in the _Merchant of Venice_.
+
+Some of the Indian tales reached Europe at the time of the Crusades,
+either orally or in collections no longer extant. The earliest
+selection of these was the _Disciplina Clericalis_ of Petrus Alphonsi,
+a Spanish Jew converted about 1106: his tales were to be used as
+seasoning for sermons, and strong seasoning they must have proved.
+Another Spanish collection of considerably later date was entitled _El
+Conde Lucanor_ (Eng. trans. by W. York): this contains the fable of
+_The Man, his Son, and their Ass_, which they ride or carry as the
+popular voice decides. But the most famous collection of this kind
+was that known as GESTA ROMANORUM, much of which was certainly derived
+from Oriental and ultimately Indian sources, and so might more
+appropriately be termed _Gesta Indorum_.
+
+All these collections, which reached Europe in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, became very popular, and were used by monks and
+friars to enliven their sermons as EXEMPLA. Prof. Crane has given a
+full account of this very curious phenomenon in his erudite edition of
+the _Exempla of Jacques de Vitry_ (Folk Lore Society, 1890). The
+Indian stories were also used by the Italian _Novellieri_, much of
+Boccaccio and his school being derived from this source. As these
+again gave material for the Elizabethan Drama, chiefly in W. Painter's
+_Palace of Pleasure_, a collection of translated _Novelle_ which I
+have edited (Lond., 3 vols. 1890), it is not surprising that we can at
+times trace portions of Shakespeare back to India. It should also be
+mentioned that one-half of La Fontaine's Fables (Bks. vii.-xii.) are
+derived from Indian sources. (_See_ Note on No. v.)
+
+In India itself the collection of stories in frames went on and still
+goes on. Besides those already mentioned there are the stories of
+_Vikram and the Vampire_ (Vetala), translated among others by the late
+Sir Richard Burton, and the seventy stories of a parrot (_Suka
+Saptati_). The whole of this literature was summed up by Somadeva, c.
+1200 A.D. in a huge compilation entitled _Katha Sarit Sagara_ ("Ocean
+of the Stream of Stories"). Of this work, written in very florid
+style, Mr. Tawney has produced a translation in two volumes in the
+_Bibliotheca Indica_. Unfortunately, there is a Divorce Court
+atmosphere about the whole book, and my selections from it have been
+accordingly restricted. (Notes, No. xi.)
+
+So much for a short sketch of Indian folk-tales so far as they have
+been reduced to writing in the native literature.[2] The Jatakas are
+probably the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the
+greater part of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years
+old. It is certain that much (perhaps one-fifth) of the popular
+literature of modern Europe is derived from those portions of this
+large bulk which came west with the Crusades through the medium of
+Arabs and Jews. In his elaborate _Einleitung_ to the _Pantschatantra_,
+the Indian version of the Fables of Bidpai, Prof. Benfey contended
+with enormous erudition that the majority of folk-tale incidents were
+to be found in the Bidpai literature. His introduction consisted of
+over 200 monographs on the spread of Indian tales to Europe. He wrote
+in 1859, before the great outburst of folk-tale collection in Europe,
+and he had not thus adequate materials to go about in determining the
+extent of Indian influence on the popular mind of Europe. But he made
+it clear that for beast-tales and for drolls, the majority of those
+current in the mouths of occidental people were derived from Eastern
+and mainly Indian sources. He was not successful, in my opinion, in
+tracing the serious fairy tale to India. Few of the tales in the
+Indian literary collections could be dignified by the name of fairy
+tales, and it was clear that if these were to be traced to India, an
+examination of the contemporary folk-tales of the peninsula would have
+to be attempted.
+
+[Footnote 2: An admirable and full account of this literature was
+given by M. A. Barth in _Melusine_, t. iv. No. 12, and t. v. No. 1.
+See also Table i. of Prof. Rhys-Davids' _Birth Stories_.]
+
+The collection of current Indian folk-tales has been the work of the
+last quarter of a century, a work, even after what has been achieved,
+still in its initial stages. The credit of having begun the process is
+due to Miss Frere, who, while her father was Governor of the Bombay
+Presidency, took down from the lips of her _ayah_, Anna de Souza, one
+of a Lingaet family from Goa who had been Christian for three
+generations, the tales she afterwards published with Mr. Murray in
+1868, under the title, "_Old Deccan Days, or, Indian Fairy Legends
+current in Southern India, collected from oral tradition by M. Frere,
+with an introduction and notes by Sir Bartle Frere_." Her example was
+followed by Miss Stokes in her _Indian Fairy Tales_ (London, Ellis &
+White, 1880), who took down her tales from two _ayahs_ and a
+_Khitmatgar_, all of them Bengalese--the _ayahs_ Hindus, and the man a
+Mohammedan. Mr. Ralston introduced the volume with some remarks which
+dealt too much with sun-myths for present-day taste. Another
+collection from Bengal was that of Lal Behari Day, a Hindu gentleman,
+in his _Folk-Tales of Bengal_ (London, Macmillan, 1883). The Panjab
+and the Kashmir then had their turn: Mrs. Steel collected, and Captain
+(now Major) Temple edited and annotated, their _Wideawake Stories_
+(London, Trubner, 1884), stories capitally told and admirably
+annotated. Captain Temple increased the value of this collection by a
+remarkable analysis of all the incidents contained in the two hundred
+Indian folk-tales collected up to this date. It is not too much to say
+that this analysis marks an onward step in the scientific study of the
+folk-tale: there is such a thing, derided as it may be. I have
+throughout the Notes been able to draw attention to Indian parallels
+by a simple reference to Major Temple's Analysis.
+
+Major Temple has not alone himself collected: he has been the cause
+that many others have collected. In the pages of the _Indian
+Antiquary_, edited by him, there have appeared from time to time
+folk-tales collected from all parts of India. Some of these have been
+issued separately. Sets of tales from Southern India, collected by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, have been issued under the title _Folk-Lore of
+Southern India_, three fascicules of which have been recently
+re-issued by Mrs. Kingscote under the title, _Tales of the Sun_ (W. H.
+Allen, 1891): it would have been well if the identity of the two works
+had been clearly explained. The largest addition to our knowledge of
+the Indian folk-tale that has been made since _Wideawake Stories_ is
+that contained in Mr. Knowles' _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_ (Trubner's
+Oriental Library, 1887), sixty-three stories, some of great length.
+These, with Mr. Campbell's _Santal Tales_ (1892); Ramaswami Raju's
+_Indian Fables_ (London, Sonnenschein, n.d.); M. Thornhill, _Indian
+Fairy Tales_ (London, 1889); and E. J. Robinson, _Tales of S. India_
+(1885), together with those contained in books of travel like
+Thornton's _Bannu_ or Smeaton's _Karens of Burmah_ bring up the list
+of printed Indian folk-tales to over 350--a respectable total indeed,
+but a mere drop in the ocean of the stream of stories that must exist
+in such a huge population as that of India: the Central Provinces in
+particular are practically unexplored. There are doubtless many
+collections still unpublished. Col. Lewin has large numbers, besides
+the few published in his _Lushai Grammar_; and Mr. M. L. Dames has a
+number of Baluchi tales which I have been privileged to use.
+Altogether, India now ranks among the best represented countries for
+printed folk-tales, coming only after Russia (1500), Germany (1200),
+Italy and France (1000 each.)[3] Counting the ancient with the modern,
+India has probably some 600 to 700 folk-tales printed and translated
+in accessible form. There should be enough material to determine the
+vexed question of the relations between the European and the Indian
+collections.
+
+[Footnote 3: Finland boasts of 12,000, but most of these lie unprinted
+among the archives of the Helsingfors Literary Society.]
+
+This question has taken a new departure with the researches of M.
+Emanuel Cosquin in his _Contes populaires de Lorraine_ (Paris, 1886,
+2^e tirage, 1890), undoubtedly the most important contribution to the
+scientific study of the folk-tale since the Grimms. M. Cosquin gives
+in the annotations to the eighty-four tales which he has collected in
+Lorraine a mass of information as to the various forms which the tales
+take in other countries of Europe and in the East. In my opinion, the
+work he has done for the European folk-tale is even more valuable than
+the conclusions he draws from it as to the relations with India. He
+has taken up the work which Wilhelm Grimm dropped in 1859, and shown
+from the huge accumulations of folk-tales that have appeared during
+the last thirty years that there is a common fund of folk-tales which
+every country of Europe without exception possesses, though this does
+not of course preclude them from possessing others that are not shared
+by the rest. M. Cosquin further contends that the whole of these have
+come from the East, ultimately from India, not by literary
+transmission, as Benfey contended, but by oral transmission. He has
+certainly shown that very many of the most striking incidents common
+to European folk-tales are also to be found in Eastern _mahrchen_.
+What, however, he has failed to show is that some of these may not
+have been carried out to the Eastern world by Europeans. Borrowing
+tales is a mutual process, and when Indian meets European, European
+meets Indian; which borrowed from which, is a question which we have
+very few criteria to decide. It should be added that Mr W. A. Clouston
+has in England collected with exemplary industry a large number of
+parallels between Indian and European folk-tale incidents in his
+_Popular Tales and Fictions_ (Edinburgh, 2 vols., 1887) and _Book of
+Noodles_ (London, 1888). Mr Clouston has not openly expressed his
+conviction that all folk-tales are Indian in origin: he prefers to
+convince us _non vi sed saepe cadendo_. He has certainly made out a
+good case for tracing all European drolls, or comic folk-tales, from
+the East.
+
+With the fairy tale strictly so called--_i.e._, the serious folk-tale
+of romantic adventure--I am more doubtful. It is mainly a modern
+product in India as in Europe, so far as literary evidence goes. The
+vast bulk of the Jatakas does not contain a single example worthy the
+name, nor does the Bidpai literature. Some of Somadeva's tales,
+however, approach the nature of fairy tales, but there are several
+Celtic tales which can be traced to an earlier date than his (1200
+A.D.) and are equally near to fairy tales. Yet it is dangerous to
+trust to mere non-appearance in literature as proof of non-existence
+among the folk. To take our own tales here in England, there is not a
+single instance of a reference to _Jack and the Beanstalk_ for the
+last three hundred years, yet it is undoubtedly a true folk-tale. And
+it is indeed remarkable how many of the _formulae_ of fairy tales have
+been found of recent years in India. Thus, the _Magic Fiddle_, found
+among the Santals by Mr. Campbell in two variants (see Notes on vi.),
+contains the germ idea of the wide-spread story represented in Great
+Britain by the ballad of _Binnorie_ (see _English Fairy Tales_, No.
+ix.). Similarly, Mr. Knowles' collection has added considerably to the
+number of Indian variants of European "formulae" beyond those noted by
+M. Cosquin.
+
+It is still more striking as regards _incidents_. In a paper read
+before the Folk-Lore Congress of 1891, and reprinted in the
+_Transactions_, pp. 76 _seq._, I have drawn up a list of some 630
+incidents found in common among European folk-tales (including
+drolls). Of these, I reckon that about 250 have been already found
+among Indian folk-tales, and the number is increased by each new
+collection that is made or printed. The moral of this is, that India
+belongs to a group of peoples who have a common store of stories;
+India belongs to Europe for purposes of comparative folk-tales.
+
+Can we go further and say that India is the source of all the
+incidents that are held in common by European children? I think we may
+answer "Yes" as regards droll incidents, the travels of many of which
+we can trace, and we have the curious result that European children
+owe their earliest laughter to Hindu wags. As regards the serious
+incidents further inquiry is needed. Thus, we find the incident of an
+"external soul" (Life Index, Captain Temple very appropriately named
+it) in Asbjornsen's _Norse Tales_ and in Miss Frere's _Old Deccan
+Days_ (see Notes on _Punchkin_). Yet the latter is a very suspicious
+source, since Miss Frere derived her tales from a Christian _ayah_
+whose family had been in Portuguese Goa for a hundred years. May they
+not have got the story of the giant with his soul outside his body
+from some European sailor touching at Goa? This is to a certain extent
+negatived by the fact of the frequent occurrence of the incident in
+Indian folk-tales (Captain Temple gave a large number of instances in
+_Wideawake Stories_, pp. 404-5). On the other hand, Mr. Frazer in his
+_Golden Bough_ has shown the wide spread of the idea among all savage
+or semi-savage tribes. (See Note on No. iv.)
+
+In this particular case we may be doubtful; but in others, again--as
+the incident of the rat's tail up nose (see Notes on _The Charmed
+Ring_)--there can be little doubt of the Indian origin. And generally,
+so far as the incidents are marvellous and of true fairy-tale
+character, the presumption is in favour of India, because of the
+vitality of animism or metempsychosis in India throughout all historic
+time. No Hindu would doubt the fact of animals speaking or of men
+transformed into plants and animals. The European may once have had
+these beliefs, and may still hold them implicitly as "survivals"; but
+in the "survival" stage they cannot afford material for artistic
+creation, and the fact that the higher minds of Europe for the last
+thousand years have discountenanced these beliefs has not been
+entirely without influence. Of one thing there is practical certainty:
+the fairy tales that are common to the Indo-European world were
+invented once for all in a certain locality, and thence spread to all
+the countries in culture contact with the original source. The mere
+fact that contiguous countries have more similarities in their story
+store than distant ones is sufficient to prove this: indeed, the fact
+that any single country has spread throughout it a definite set of
+folk-tales as distinctive as its flora and fauna, is sufficient to
+prove it. It is equally certain that not all folk-tales have come from
+one source, for each country has tales peculiar to itself. The
+question is as to the source of the tales that are common to all
+European children, and increasing evidence seems to show that this
+common nucleus is derived from India and India alone. The Hindus have
+been more successful than others, because of two facts: they have had
+the appropriate "atmosphere" of metempsychosis, and they have also had
+spread among the people sufficient literary training and mental grip
+to invent plots. The Hindu tales have ousted the native European,
+which undoubtedly existed independently; indeed, many still survive,
+especially in Celtic lands. Exactly in the same way, Perrault's tales
+have ousted the older English folk-tales, and it is with the utmost
+difficulty that one can get true English fairy tales because _Red
+Riding Hood_, _Cinderella_, _Blue Beard_, _Puss in Boots_ and the
+rest, have survived in the struggle for existence among English
+folk-tales. So far as Europe has a common store of fairy tales, it
+owes this to India.
+
+I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not hold with Benfey that all
+European folk-tales are derived from the Bidpai literature and similar
+literary products, nor with M. Cosquin that they are all derived from
+India. The latter scholar has proved that there is a nucleus of
+stories in every European land which is common to all. I calculate
+that this includes from 30 to 50 per cent. of the whole, and it is
+this common stock of Europe that I regard as coming from India mainly
+at the time of the Crusades, and chiefly by oral transmission. It
+includes all the beast tales and most of the drolls, but evidence is
+still lacking about the more serious fairy tales, though it is
+increasing with every fresh collection of folk-tales in India, the
+great importance of which is obvious from the above considerations.
+
+In the following Notes I give, as on the two previous occasions, the
+_source_ whence I derived the tale, then _parallels_, and finally
+_remarks_. For Indian _parallels_ I have been able to refer to Major
+Temple's remarkable Analysis of Indian Folk-tale incidents at the end
+of _Wideawake Stories_ (pp. 386-436), for European ones to my
+alphabetical List of Incidents, with bibliographical references, in
+_Transactions of Folk-Lore Congress_, 1892, pp. 87-98. My _remarks_
+have been mainly devoted to tracing the relation between the Indian
+and the European tales, with the object of showing that the latter
+have been derived from the former. I have, however, to some extent
+handicapped myself, as I have avoided giving again the Indian versions
+of stories already given in _English Fairy Tales_ or _Celtic Fairy
+Tales_.
+
+
+I. THE LION AND THE CRANE.
+
+_Source._--V. Fausboll, _Five Jatakas_, Copenhagen, 1861, pp. 35-8,
+text and translation of the _Javasakuna Jataka_. I have ventured
+to English Prof. Fausboll's version, which was only intended as a
+"crib" to the Pali. For the omitted Introduction, see _supra_.
+
+_Parallels._--I have given a rather full collection of parallels,
+running to about a hundred numbers, in my _Aesop_, pp. 232-4. The chief
+of these are: (1) for the East, the Midrashic version ("Lion and
+Egyptian Partridge"), in the great Rabbinic commentary on Genesis
+(_Bereshith-rabba_, c. 64); (2) in classical antiquity, Phaedrus, i. 8
+("Wolf and Crane"), and Babrius, 94 ("Wolf and Heron"), and the Greek
+proverb Suidas, ii. 248 ("Out of the Wolf's Mouth"); (3) in the Middle
+Ages, the so-called Greek _Aesop_, ed. Halm, 276 _b_, really prose
+versions of Babrius and "Romulus," or prose of Phaedrus, i. 8, also the
+Romulus of Ademar (fl. 1030), 64; it occurs also on the Bayeux
+Tapestry, in Marie de France, 7, and in Benedict of Oxford's _Mishle
+Shualim_ (Heb.), 8; (4) Stainhowel took it from the "Romulus" into his
+German Aesop (1480), whence all the modern European Aesops are derived.
+
+_Remarks._--I have selected _The Wolf and the Crane_ as my typical
+example in my "History of the Aesopic Fable," and can only give here a
+rough summary of the results I there arrived at concerning the fable,
+merely premising that these results are at present no more than
+hypotheses. The similarity of the Jataka form with that familiar to
+us, and derived by us in the last resort from Phaedrus, is so striking
+that few will deny some historical relation between them. I conjecture
+that the Fable originated in India, and came West by two different
+routes. First, it came by oral tradition to Egypt, as one of the
+Libyan Fables which the ancients themselves distinguished from the
+Aesopic Fables. It was, however, included by Demetrius Phalereus,
+tyrant of Athens, and founder of the Alexandrian library c. 300 B.C.,
+in his _Assemblies of Aesopic Fables_, which I have shown to be the
+source of Phaedrus' Fables c. 30 A.D. Besides this, it came from Ceylon
+in the Fables of Kybises--_i.e._, Kasyapa the Buddha--c. 50 A.D., was
+adapted into Hebrew, and used for political purposes, by Rabbi Joshua
+ben Chananyah in a harangue to the Jews c. 120 A.D., begging them to be
+patient while within the jaws of Rome. The Hebrew form uses the lion,
+not the wolf, as the ingrate, which enables us to decide on the Indian
+_provenance_ of the Midrashic version. It may be remarked that the use
+of the lion in this and other Jatakas is indirectly a testimony to
+their great age, as the lion has become rarer and rarer in India
+during historic times, and is now confined to the Gir forest of
+Kathiawar, where only a dozen specimens exist, and are strictly
+preserved.
+
+The verses at the end are the earliest parts of the Jataka, being in
+more archaic Pali than the rest: the story is told by the commentator
+(c. 400 A.D.) to illustrate them. It is probable that they were
+brought over on the first introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon, c. 241
+B.C. This would give them an age of over two thousand years, nearly
+three hundred years earlier than Phaedrus, from whom comes our _Wolf
+and Crane_.
+
+
+II. PRINCESS LABAM.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. xxii. pp. 153-63,
+told by Muniya, one of the ayahs. I have left it unaltered, except
+that I have replaced "God" by "Khuda," the word originally used (see
+Notes _l. c._, p. 237).
+
+_Parallels._--The tabu, as to a particular direction, occurs in other
+Indian stories as well as in European folk-tales (see notes on Stokes, p.
+286). The _grateful animals_ theme occurs in "The Soothsayer's Son"
+(_infra_, No. x.), and frequently in Indian folk-tales (see Temple's
+Analysis, III. i. 5-7; _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 412-3). The thorn in the
+tiger's foot is especially common (Temple, _l. c._, 6, 9), and recalls the
+story of Androclus, which occurs in the derivates of Phaedrus, and may thus
+be Indian in origin (see Benfey, _Panschatantra_, i. 211, and the parallels
+given in my _Aesop_, Ro. iii. I. p. 243). The theme is, however, equally
+frequent in European folk-tales: see my List of Incidents, _Proc. Folk-Lore
+Congress_, p. 91, s.v. "Grateful Animals" and "Gifts by Grateful Animals."
+Similarly, the "Bride Wager" incident at the end is common to a large
+number of Indian and European folk-tales (Temple, Analysis, p. 430; my
+List, _l. c. sub voce_). The tasks are also equally common (_cf._ "Battle
+of the Birds" in _Celtic Fairy Tales_), though the exact forms as given in
+"Princess Labam" are not known in Europe.
+
+_Remarks._--We have here a concrete instance of the relation of Indian
+and European fairy-tales. The human mind may be the same everywhere,
+but it is not likely to hit upon the sequence of incidents, _Direction
+tabu_--_Grateful Animals_--_Bride-wager_--_Tasks_, by accident, or
+independently: Europe must have borrowed from India, or India from
+Europe. As this must have occurred within historic times, indeed
+within the last thousand years, when even European peasants are not
+likely to have _invented_, even if they believed, in the incident of
+the grateful animals, the probability is in favour of borrowing from
+India, possibly through the intermediation of Arabs at the time of
+the Crusades. It is only a probability, but we cannot in any case
+reach more than probability in this matter, just at present.
+
+
+III. LAMBIKIN.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 69-72, originally
+published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. 175. The droll is common
+throughout the Panjab.
+
+_Parallels._--The similarity of the concluding episode with the finish
+of the "Three Little Pigs" (_Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. xiv.) In my notes
+on that droll I have pointed out that the pigs were once goats or kids
+with "hair on their chinny chin chin." This brings the tale a stage
+nearer to the Lambikin.
+
+_Remarks._--The similarity of Pig No. 3 rolling down hill in the churn
+and the Lambikin in the Drumikin can scarcely be accidental, though,
+it must be confessed, the tale has undergone considerable modification
+before it reached England.
+
+
+IV. PUNCHKIN.
+
+_Source._--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, pp. 1-16, from her ayah,
+Anna de Souza, of a Lingaet family settled and Christianised at Goa
+for three generations. I should perhaps add that a Prudhan is a Prime
+Minister, or Vizier; Punts are the same, and Sirdars, nobles.
+
+_Parallels._--The son of seven mothers is a characteristic Indian
+conception, for which see Notes on "The Son of Seven Queens" in this
+collection, No. xvi. The mother transformed, envious stepmother, ring
+recognition, are all incidents common to East and West;
+bibliographical references for parallels may be found under these
+titles in my List of Incidents. The external soul of the ogre has been
+studied by Mr. E. Clodd in _Folk-Lore Journal_, vol. ii., "The
+Philosophy of Punchkin," and still more elaborately in the section,
+"The External Soul in Folk-tales," in Mr. Frazer's _Golden Bough_, ii.
+pp. 296-326. See also Major Temple's Analysis, II. iii., _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 404-5, who there gives the Indian parallels.
+
+_Remarks._--Both Mr. Clodd and Mr. Frazer regard the essence of the
+tale to consist in the conception of an external soul or "life-index,"
+and they both trace in this a "survival" of savage philosophy, which
+they consider occurs among all men at a certain stage of culture. But
+the most cursory examination of the sets of tales containing these
+incidents in Mr. Frazer's analyses shows that many, indeed the
+majority, of these tales cannot be independent of one another; for
+they contain not alone the incident of an external materialised soul,
+but the further point that this is contained in something else, which
+is enclosed in another thing, which is again surrounded by a wrapper.
+This Chinese ball arrangement is found in the Deccan ("Punchkin"); in
+Bengal (Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_); in Russia (Ralston, p. 103
+_seq._, "Koschkei the Deathless," also in Mr. Lang's _Red Fairy
+Book_); in Servia (Mijatovics, _Servian Folk-Lore_, p. 172); in South
+Slavonia (Wratislaw, p. 225); in Rome (Miss Busk, p. 164); in Albania
+(Dozon, p. 132 _seq._); in Transylvania (Haltrich, No. 34); in
+Schleswig-Holstein (Mullenhoff, p. 404); in Norway (Asbjornsen, No.
+36, _ap._ Dasent, _Pop. Tales_, p. 55, "The Giant who had no Heart in
+his Body"); and finally, in the Hebrides (Campbell, _Pop. Tales_, p.
+10, _cf. Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xvii., "Sea Maiden"). Here we have
+the track of this remarkable idea of an external soul enclosed in a
+succession of wrappings, which we can trace from Hindostan to the
+Hebrides.
+
+It is difficult to imagine that we have not here the actual migration
+of the tale from East to West. In Bengal we have the soul "in a
+necklace, in a box, in the heart of a _boal_ fish, in a tank"; in
+Albania "it is in a pigeon, in a hare, in the silver tusk of a wild
+boar"; in Rome it is "in a stone, in the head of a bird, in the head
+of a leveret, in the middle head of a seven-headed hydra"; in Russia
+"it is in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in a casket, in an oak"; in
+Servia it is "in a board, in the heart of a fox, in a mountain"; in
+Transylvania "it is in a light, in an egg, in a duck, in a pond, in a
+mountain"; in Norway it is "in an egg, in a duck, in a well, in a
+church, on an island, in a lake"; in the Hebrides it is "in an egg, in
+the belly of a duck, in the belly of a wether, under a flagstone on
+the threshold." It is impossible to imagine the human mind
+independently imagining such bizarre convolutions. They were borrowed
+from one nation to the other, and till we have reason shown to the
+contrary, the original lender was a Hindu. I should add that the mere
+conception of an external soul occurs in the oldest Egyptian tale of
+"The Two Brothers," but the wrappings are absent.
+
+
+V. THE BROKEN POT.
+
+_Source._--_Pantschatantra_, V. ix., tr. Benfey, ii. 345-6.
+
+_Parallels._--Benfey, in section 209 of his _Einleitung_, gives
+bibliographical references to most of those which are given at length
+in Prof. M. Muller's brilliant essay on "The Migration of Fables"
+(_Selected Essays_, i. 500-76), which is entirely devoted to the
+travels of the fable from India to La Fontaine. See also Mr.
+Clouston, _Pop. Tales_, ii. 432 _seq._ I have translated the Hebrew
+version in my essay, "Jewish Influence on the Diffusion of
+Folk-Tales," pp. 6-7. Our proverb, "Do not count your chickens before
+they are hatched," is ultimately to be derived from India.
+
+_Remarks._--The stories of Alnaschar, the Barber's fifth brother in
+the _Arabian Nights_, and of La Perette, who counted her chickens
+before they were hatched, in La Fontaine, are demonstrably derived
+from the same Indian original from which our story was obtained. The
+travels of the "Fables of Bidpai" from India to Europe are well known
+and distinctly traceable. I have given a rough summary of the chief
+critical results in the introduction to my edition of the earliest
+English version of the _Fables of Bidpai_, by Sir Thomas North, of
+Plutarch fame (London, D. Nutt, "Bibliotheque de Carabas," 1888),
+where I have given an elaborate genealogical table of the
+multitudinous versions. La Fontaine's version, which has rendered the
+fable so familiar to us all, comes from Bonaventure des Periers,
+_Contes et Nouvelles_, who got it from the _Dialogus Creaturarum_ of
+Nicholaus Pergamenus, who derived it from the _Sermones_ of Jacques de
+Vitry (see Prof. Crane's edition, No. li.), who probably derived it
+from the _Directorium Humanae Vitae_ of John of Capua, a converted Jew,
+who translated it from the Hebrew version of the Arabic _Kalilah wa
+Dimnah_, which was itself derived from the old Syriac version of a
+Pehlevi translation of the original Indian work, probably called after
+Karataka and Damanaka, the names of two jackals who figure in the
+earlier stories of the book. Prof. Rhys-Davids informs me that these
+names are more akin to Pali than to Sanskrit, which makes it still
+more probable that the whole literature is ultimately to be derived
+from a Buddhist source.
+
+The theme of La Perette is of interest as showing the _literary_
+transmission of tales from Orient to Occident. It also shows the
+possibility of an influence of literary on oral tradition, as is shown
+by our proverb, and by the fact, which Benfey mentions, that La
+Fontaine's story has had influence on two of Grimm's tales, Nos. 164,
+168.
+
+
+VI. THE MAGIC FIDDLE.
+
+_Source._--A. Campbell, _Santal Folk-Tales_, 1892, pp. 52-6, with some
+verbal alterations. A Bonga is the presiding spirit of a certain kind
+of rice land; Doms and Hadis are low-caste aborigines, whose touch is
+considered polluting. The Santals are a forest tribe, who live in the
+Santal Parganas, 140 miles N.W. of Calcutta (Sir W. W. Hunter, _The
+Indian Empire_, 57-60).
+
+_Parallels._--Another version occurs in Campbell, p. 106 _seq._, which
+shows that the story is popular among the Santals. It is obvious,
+however, that neither version contains the real finish of the story,
+which must have contained the denunciation of the magic fiddle of the
+murderous sisters. This would bring it under the formula of _The
+Singing Bone_, which M. Monseur has recently been studying with a
+remarkable collection of European variants in the Bulletin of the
+Wallon Folk-Lore Society of Liege (_cf. Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. ix.).
+There is a singing bone in Steel-Temple's _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 127
+_seq._ ("Little Anklebone").
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have another theme of the common store of European
+folk-tales found in India. Unfortunately, the form in which it occurs
+is mutilated, and we cannot draw any definite conclusion from it.
+
+
+VII. THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED.
+
+_Source._--The Baka-Jataka, Fausboll, No. 38, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp.
+315-21. The Buddha this time is the Genius of the Tree.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+_Parallels._--This Jataka got into the Bidpai literature, and
+occurs in all its multitudinous offshoots (_see_ Benfey, _Einleitung_,
+section 60) among others in the earliest English translation by North (my
+edition, pp. 118-22), where the crane becomes "a great Paragone of
+India (of those that liue a hundredth yeares and neuer mue their
+feathers)." The crab, on hearing the ill news "called to Parliament
+all the Fishes of the Lake," and before all are devoured destroys the
+Paragon, as in the Jataka, and returned to the remaining fishes, who
+"all with one consent gave hir many a thanke."
+
+_Remarks._--An interesting point, to which I have drawn attention in
+my Introduction to North's Bidpai, is the probability that the
+illustrations of the tales as well as the tales themselves, were
+translated, so to speak, from one country to another. We can trace
+them in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic MSS., and a few are extant on
+Buddhist Stupas. Under these circumstances, it may be of interest to
+compare with Mr. Batten's conception of the Crane and the Crab
+(_supra_, p. 50) that of the German artist who illustrated the first
+edition of the Latin Bidpai, probably following the traditional
+representations of the MS., which itself could probably trace back to
+India.
+
+
+VIII. LOVING LAILI.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, pp. 73-84. Majnun and
+Laili are conventional names for lovers, the Romeo and Juliet of
+Hindostan.
+
+_Parallels._--Living in animals' bellies occurs elsewhere in Miss
+Stokes' book, pp. 66, 124; also in Miss Frere's, 188. The restoration
+of beauty by fire occurs as a frequent theme (Temple, Analysis, III.
+vi. f. p. 418). Readers will be reminded of the _denouement_ of Mr.
+Rider Haggard's _She_. Resuscitation from ashes has been used very
+effectively by Mr. Lang in his delightful _Prince Prigio_.
+
+_Remarks._--The white skin and blue eyes of Prince Majnun deserve
+attention. They are possibly a relic of the days of Aryan conquest,
+when the fair-skinned, fair-haired Aryan conquered the swarthier
+aboriginals. The name for caste in Sanskrit is _varna_, "colour"; and
+one Hindu cannot insult another more effectually than by calling him a
+black man. _Cf._ Stokes, pp. 238-9, who suggests that the red hair is
+something solar, and derived from myths of the solar hero.
+
+
+IX. THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 116-20; first
+published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. p. 170 _seq._
+
+_Parallels._--No less than 94 parallels are given by Prof. K. Krohn in
+his elaborate discussion of this fable in his dissertation, _Mann und
+Fuchs_, (Helsingfors, 1891), pp. 38-60; to which may be added three
+Indian variants, omitted by him, but mentioned by Capt. Temple, _l.
+c._, p. 324, in the _Bhagavata Purana_, the _Gul Bakaoli_ and _Ind.
+Ant._ xii. 177; and a couple more in my _Aesop_, p. 253: add Smeaton,
+_Karens_, p. 126.
+
+_Remarks._--Prof. Krohn comes to the conclusion that the majority of
+the oral forms of the tale come from literary versions (p. 47),
+whereas the _Reynard_ form has only had influence on a single variant.
+He reduces the century of variants to three type forms. The first
+occurs in two Egyptian versions collected in the present day, as well
+as in Petrus Alphonsi in the twelfth century, and the _Fabulae
+Extravagantes_ of the thirteenth or fourteenth: here the ingrate
+animal is a crocodile, which asks to be carried away from a river
+about to dry up, and there is only one judge. The second is that
+current in India and represented by the story in the present
+collection: here the judges are three. The third is that current among
+Western Europeans, which has spread to S. Africa and N. and S.
+America: also three judges. Prof. K. Krohn counts the first the
+original form, owing to the single judge and the naturalness of the
+opening, by which the critical situation is brought about. The further
+question arises, whether this form, though found in Egypt now, is
+indigenous there, and if so, how it got to the East. Prof. Krohn
+grants the possibility of the Egyptian form having been invented in
+India and carried to Egypt, and he allows that the European forms have
+been influenced by the Indian. The "Egyptian" form is found in Burmah
+(Smeaton, _l. c._, p. 128), as well as the Indian, a fact of which
+Prof. K. Krohn was unaware though it turns his whole argument. The
+evidence we have of other folk-tales of the beast-epic emanating from
+India improves the chances of this also coming from that source. One
+thing at least is certain: all these hundred variants come ultimately
+from one source. The incident "Inside again" of the _Arabian Nights_
+(the Djinn and the bottle) and European tales is also a secondary
+derivate.
+
+
+X. THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON.
+
+_Source._--Mrs. Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_ (p. 11 _seq._), from
+Pandit Natesa Sastri's _Folk-Lore of Southern India_, pt. ii.,
+originally from _Ind. Antiquary_. I have considerably condensed and
+modified the somewhat Babu English of the original.
+
+_Parallels._--See Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, section 71, i. pp. 193-222, who
+quotes the _Karma Jataka_ as the ultimate source: it also occurs in
+the _Saccankira Jataka_ (Fausboll, No. 73), trans. Rev. R. Morris,
+_Folk-Lore Jour._ iii. 348 _seq._ The story of the ingratitude of man
+compared with the gratitude of beasts came early to the West, where it
+occurs in the _Gesta Romanorum_, c. 119. It was possibly from an early
+form of this collection that Richard Coeur de Lion got the story,
+and used it to rebuke the ingratitude of the English nobles on his
+return in 1195. Matthew Paris tells the story, _sub anno_ (it is an
+addition of his to Ralph Disset), _Hist. Major_, ed. Luard, ii. 413-6,
+how a lion and a serpent and a Venetian named Vitalis were saved from
+a pit by a woodman, Vitalis promising him half his fortune, fifty
+talents. The lion brings his benefactor a leveret, the serpent "gemmam
+pretiosam," probably "the precious jewel in his head" to which
+Shakespeare alludes (_As You Like It_, ii. I., _cf._ Benfey, _l. c._,
+p. 214, _n._), but Vitalis refuses to have anything to do with him,
+and altogether repudiates the fifty talents. "Haec referebat Rex
+Richardus munificus, ingratos redarguendo."
+
+_Remarks._--Apart from the interest of its wide travels, and its
+appearance in the standard mediaeval History of England by Matthew
+Paris, the modern story shows the remarkable persistence of folk-tales
+in the popular mind. Here we have collected from the Hindu peasant of
+to-day a tale which was probably told before Buddha, over two thousand
+years ago, and certainly included among the Jatakas before the
+Christian era. The same thing has occurred with _The Tiger, Brahman,
+and Jackal_ (No. ix. _supra_).
+
+
+XI. HARISARMAN.
+
+_Source._--Somadeva, _Katha-Sarit-Sagara_, trans. Tawney (Calcutta,
+1880), i. pp. 272-4. I have slightly toned down the inflated style of
+the original.
+
+_Parallels _--Benfey has collected and discussed a number in _Orient
+and Occident_, i. 371 _seq._; see also Tawney, _ad loc_. The most
+remarkable of the parallels is that afforded by the Grimms' "Doctor
+Allwissend" (No. 98), which extends even to such a minute point as his
+exclamation, "Ach, ich armer Krebs," whereupon a crab is discovered
+under a dish. The usual form of discovery of the thieves is for the
+Dr. Knowall to have so many days given him to discover the thieves,
+and at the end of the first day he calls out, "There's one of them,"
+meaning the days, just as one of the thieves peeps through at him.
+Hence the title and the plot of C. Lever's _One of Them_.
+
+
+XII. THE CHARMED RING.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 20-8.
+
+_Parallels._--The incident of the Aiding Animals is frequent in
+folk-tales: see bibliographical references, _sub voce_, in my List of
+Incidents, _Trans. Folk-Lore Congress_, p. 88; also Knowles, 21,
+_n._; and Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 401, 412. The Magic Ring
+is also "common form" in folk-tales; _cf._ Kohler _ap._ Marie de
+France, _Lais_, ed. Warncke, p. lxxxiv. And the whole story is to be
+found very widely spread from India (_Wideawake Stories_, pp. 196-206)
+to England (_Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. xvii, "Jack and his Golden
+Snuff-box," _cf._ Notes, _ibid._), the most familiar form of it being
+"Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp."
+
+_Remarks._--M. Cosquin has pointed out (_Contes de Lorraine_, p. xi.
+_seq._) that the incident of the rat's-tail-up-nose to recover the
+ring from the stomach of an ogress, is found among Arabs, Albanians,
+Bretons, and Russians. It is impossible to imagine that
+incident--occurring in the same series of incidents--to have been
+invented more than once, and if that part of the story has been
+borrowed from India, there is no reason why the whole of it should not
+have arisen in India, and have been spread to the West. The English
+variant was derived from an English Gipsy, and suggests the
+possibility that for this particular story the medium of transmission
+has been the Gipsies. This contains the incident of the loss of the
+ring by the faithful animal, which again could not have been
+independently invented.
+
+
+XIII. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE.
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+_Source._--The _Kacchapa Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 215; also in his
+_Five Jatakas_, pp. 16, 41, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp. viii-x.
+
+_Parallels._--It occurs also in the Bidpai literature, in nearly all
+its multitudinous offshoots. See Benfey, _Einleitung_, section 84; also my
+_Bidpai_, E, 4 _a_; and North's text, pp. 170-5, where it is the
+taunts of the other birds that cause the catastrophe: "O here is a
+brave sight, looke, here is a goodly ieast, what bugge haue we here,"
+said some. "See, see, she hangeth by the throte, and therefor she
+speaketh not," saide others; "and the beast flieth not like a beast;"
+so she opened her mouth and "pashte hir all to pieces."
+
+_Remarks._--I have reproduced in my edition the original illustration
+of the first English Bidpai, itself derived from the Italian block.
+A replica of it here may serve to show that it could be used
+equally well to illustrate the Pali original as its English
+great-great-great-great-great-great grand-child.
+
+
+XIV. LAC OF RUPEES.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 32-41. I have reduced
+the pieces of advice to three, and curtailed somewhat.
+
+_Parallels._--See _Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xxii., "Tale of Ivan,"
+from the old Cornish, now extinct, and notes _ibid._ Mr. Clouston
+points out (_Pop. Tales_, ii. 319) that it occurs in Buddhist
+literature, in "Buddaghoshas Parables," as "The Story of Kulla
+Pauthaka."
+
+_Remarks._--It is indeed curious to find the story better told in
+Cornwall than in the land of its birth, but there can be little doubt
+that the Buddhist version is the earliest and original form of the
+story. The piece of advice was originally a charm, in which a youth
+was to say to himself, "Why are you busy? Why are you busy?" He does
+so when thieves are about, and so saves the king's treasures, of which
+he gets an appropriate share. It would perhaps be as well if many of
+us should say to ourselves "_Ghatesa, ghatesa, kim karana?_"
+
+
+XV. THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT.
+
+_Source._--_Pantschatantra_, III. v., tr. Benfey, ii. 244-7.
+
+_Parallels_ given in my _Aesop_, Ro. ii. 10, p. 40. The chief points
+about them are--(1) though the tale does not exist in either Phaedrus
+or Babrius, it occurs in prose derivates from the Latin by Ademar, 65,
+and "Romulus," ii. 10, and from Greek, in Gabrias, 45, and the prose
+_Aesop_, ed. Halm, 96; Gitlbauer has restored the Babrian form in his
+edition of Babrius, No. 160. (2) The fable occurs among folk-tales,
+Grimm, 105; Woycicki, _Poln. Mahr._ 105; Gering, _Islensk. Aevent._ 59,
+possibly derived from La Fontaine, x. 12.
+
+_Remarks._--Benfey has proved most ingeniously and conclusively
+(_Einl._ i. 359) that the Indian fable is the source of both Latin and
+Greek fables. I may borrow from my _Aesop_, p. 93, parallel abstracts
+of the three versions, putting Benfey's results in a graphic form,
+series of bars indicating the passages where the classical fables have
+failed to preserve the original.
+
+           BIDPAI.                |       PHAEDRINE.
+
+ A Brahmin once observed a snake  |----A good man had become
+ in his field, and thinking it    |friendly with the snake, who
+ the tutelary spirit of the       |came into his house and brought
+ field, he offered it a libation  |luck with it, so that the man
+ of milk in a bowl. Next day he   |became rich through it.----One
+ finds a piece of gold in the     |day he struck the serpent, which
+ bowl, and he receives this each  |disappeared, and with it the
+ day after offering the libation. |man's riches. The good man tries
+ One day he had to go elsewhere,  |to make it up, but the serpent
+ and he sent his son with the     |declares their friendship at an
+ libation. The son sees the gold, |end, as it could not forget the
+ and thinking the serpent's hole  |blow.----
+ full of treasure determines to   |
+ slay the snake. He strikes at    |Phaed. Dressl. VII. 28 (Rom. II. xi.)
+ its head with a cudgel, and the  |
+ enraged serpent stings him to    |            BABRIAN.
+ death. The Brahmin mourns his    |A serpent stung a farmer's son
+ son's death, but next morning as |to death. The father pursued the
+ usual brings the libation of     |serpent with an axe, and struck
+ milk (in the hope of getting the |off part of its tail. Afterwards
+ gold as before). The serpent     |fearing its vengeance he brought
+ appears after a long delay at    |food and honey to its lair, and
+ the mouth of its lair, and       |begged reconciliation. The
+ declares their friendship at an  |serpent, however, declares
+ end, as it could not forget the  |friendship impossible, as it
+ blow of the Brahmin's son, nor   |could not forget the blow----nor
+ the Brahmin his son's death from |the farmer his son's death from
+ the bite of the snake.           |the bite of the snake.
+                                  |
+_Pants._ III. v. (Benf. 244-7).   |Aesop, Halm 96^b (Babrius-Gitlb. 160).
+                                  |
+
+In the Indian fable every step of the action is thoroughly justified,
+whereas the Latin form does not explain why the snake was friendly in
+the first instance, or why the good man was enraged afterwards; and
+the Greek form starts abruptly, without explaining why the serpent had
+killed the farmer's son. Make a composite of the Phaedrine and Babrian
+forms, and you get the Indian one, which is thus shown to be the
+original of both.
+
+
+XVI. THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 98-110, originally
+published in _Ind. Antiq._ x. 147 _seq._
+
+_Parallels._--A long variant follows in _Ind. Antiq._, _l. c._ M.
+Cosquin refers to several Oriental variants, _l. c._ p. xxx. _n._ For
+the direction tabu, see Note on Princess Labam, _supra_, No. ii. The
+"letter to kill bearer" and "letter substituted" are frequent in both
+European (see my List _s. v._) and Indian Folk-Tales (Temple,
+Analysis, II. iv. _b_, 6, p. 410). The idea of a son of seven mothers
+could only arise in a polygamous country. It occurs in "Punchkin,"
+_supra_, No. iv.; Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_, 117 _seq._; _Ind.
+Antiq._ i. 170 (Temple, _l. c._, 398).
+
+_Remarks._--M. Cosquin (_Contes de Lorraine_, p. xxx.) points out how,
+in a Sicilian story, Gonzenbach (_Sizil. Mahr._ No. 80), the seven
+co-queens are transformed into seven step-daughters of the envious
+witch who causes their eyes to be taken out. It is thus probable,
+though M. Cosquin does not point this out, that the "envious
+step-mother" of folk-tales (see my List, _s. v._) was originally an
+envious co-wife. But there can be little doubt of what M. Cosquin
+_does_ point out--viz., that the Sicilian story is derived from the
+Indian one.
+
+
+XVII. A LESSON FOR KINGS.
+
+_Source._--_Rajovada Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 151, tr.
+Rhys-Davids, pp. xxii.-vi.
+
+_Remarks._--This is one of the earliest of moral allegories in
+existence. The moralising tone of the Jatakas must be conspicuous to
+all reading them. Why, they can moralise even the Tar Baby (see
+_infra_, Note on "Demon with the Matted Hair," No. xxv.).
+
+
+XVIII. PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL.
+
+_Source._--Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_. I have changed the Indian
+mercantile numerals into those of English "back-slang," which make a
+very good parallel.
+
+
+XIX. RAJA RASALU.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 247-80, omitting
+"How Raja Rasalu was Born," "How Raja Rasalu's Friends Forsook Him,"
+"How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants," and "How Raja Rasalu became a
+Jogi." A further version in Temple, _Legends of Panjab_, vol. i.
+_Chaupur_, I should explain, is a game played by two players with
+eight men, each on a board in the shape of a cross, four men to each
+cross covered with squares. The moves of the men are decided by the
+throws of a long form of dice. The object of the game is to see which
+of the players can first move all his men into the black centre square
+of the cross (Temple, _l. c._, p. 344, and _Legends of Panjab_, i.
+243-5). It is sometimes said to be the origin of chess.
+
+_Parallels._--Rev. C. Swynnerton, "Four Legends about Raja Rasalu," in
+_Folk-Lore Journal_, p. 158 _seq._, also in separate book much
+enlarged, _The Adventures of Raja Rasalu_, Calcutta, 1884. Curiously
+enough, the real interest of the story comes after the end of our part
+of it, for Kokilan, when she grows up, is married to Raja Rasalu, and
+behaves as sometimes youthful wives behave to elderly husbands. He
+gives her her lover's heart to eat, _a la_ Decameron, and she dashes
+herself over the rocks. For the parallels of this part of the legend
+see my edition of Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, tom. i. Tale 39, or,
+better, the _Programm_ of H. Patzig, _Zur Geschichte der Herzmare_
+(Berlin, 1891). Gambling for life occurs in Celtic and other
+folk-tales; _cf._ my List of Incidents, _s. v._ "Gambling for Magic
+Objects."
+
+_Remarks._--Raja Rasalu is possibly a historic personage, according to
+Capt. Temple, _Calcutta Review_, 1884, p. 397, flourishing in the
+eighth or ninth century. There is a place called Sirikap ka-kila in
+the neighbourhood of Sialkot, the traditional seat of Rasalu on the
+Indus, not far from Atlock.
+
+Herr Patzig is strongly for the Eastern origin of the romance, and
+finds its earliest appearance in the West in the Anglo-Norman
+troubadour, Thomas' _Lai Guirun_, where it becomes part of the Tristan
+cycle. There is, so far as I know, no proof of the earliest part of
+the Rasalu legend (_our_ part) coming to Europe, except the existence
+of the gambling incidents of the same kind in Celtic and other
+folk-tales.
+
+
+XX. THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN.
+
+_Source._--The _Siha Camma Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 189, trans.
+Rhys-Davids, pp. v. vi.
+
+_Parallels._--It also occurs in Somadeva, _Katha Sarit Sagara_, ed.
+Tawney, ii. 65, and _n_. For Aesopic parallels _cf._ my _Aesop_, Av. iv.
+It is in Babrius, ed. Gitlbaur, 218 (from Greek prose Aesop, ed. Halm,
+No. 323), and Avian, ed. Ellis, 5, whence it came into the modern
+Aesop.
+
+_Remarks._--Avian wrote towards the end of the third century, and put
+into Latin mainly those portions of Babrius which are unparalleled by
+Phaedrus. Consequently, as I have shown, he has a much larger
+proportion of Eastern elements than Phaedrus. There can be little doubt
+that the Ass in the Lion's Skin is from India. As Prof. Rhys-Davids
+remarks, the Indian form gives a plausible motive for the masquerade
+which is wanting in the ordinary Aesopic version.
+
+
+XXI. THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER.
+
+_Source._--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 215-8.
+
+_Parallels_ enumerated in my _Aesop_, Av. xvii. See also Jacques de
+Vitry, _Exempla_, ed. Crane, No. 196 (see notes, p. 212), and Bozon,
+_Contes moralises_, No. 112. It occurs in Avian, ed. Ellis, No. 22.
+Mr. Kipling has a very similar tale in his _Life's Handicap_.
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have collected in modern India what one cannot
+help thinking is the Indian original of a fable of Avian. The
+preceding number showed one of his fables existing among the Jatakas,
+probably before the Christian era. This makes it likely that we shall
+find an earlier Indian original of the fable of the Avaricious and
+Envious, perhaps among the Jatakas still untranslated.
+
+
+XXII. THE BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD.
+
+_Source._--Miss Stokes' _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 20, pp. 119-137.
+
+_Parallels_ to heroes and heroines in European fairy tales, with stars
+on their foreheads, are given with some copiousness in Stokes, _l.
+c._, pp. 242-3. This is an essentially Indian trait; almost all Hindus
+have some tribal or caste mark on their bodies or faces. The choice of
+the hero disguised as a menial is also common property of Indian and
+European fairy tales: see Stokes, _l. c._, p. 231, and my List of
+Incidents (_s. v._ "Menial Disguise.")
+
+
+XXIII. THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR.
+
+_Source._--Kindly communicated by Mr. M. L. Dames from his unpublished
+collection of Baluchi tales.
+
+_Remarks._--Unholy fakirs are rather rare. See Temple, Analysis, I.
+ii. _a_, p. 394.
+
+
+XXIV. WHY THE FISH LAUGHED.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 484-90.
+
+_Parallels._--The latter part is the formula of the Clever Lass who
+guesses riddles. She has been bibliographised by Prof. Child, _Eng.
+and Scotch Ballads_, i. 485; see also Benfey, _Kl. Schr._ ii. 156
+_seq._ The sex test at the end is different from any of those
+enumerated by Prof. Kohler on Gonzenbach, _Sezil. Mahr._ ii. 216.
+
+_Remarks._--Here we have a further example of a whole formula, or
+series of incidents, common to most European collections, found in
+India, and in a quarter, too, where European influence is little
+likely to penetrate. Prof. Benfey, in an elaborate dissertation ("Die
+Kluge Dirne," in _Ausland_, 1859, Nos. 20-25, now reprinted in _Kl.
+Schr._ ii. 156 _seq._), has shown the wide spread of the theme both in
+early Indian literature (though probably there derived from the folk)
+and in modern European folk literature.
+
+
+XXV. THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR.
+
+_Source._--The _Pancavudha-Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 55, kindly
+translated for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, of Christ's College,
+Cambridge. There is a brief abstract of the Jataka in Prof. Estlin
+Carpenter's sermon, _Three Ways of Salvation_, 1884, p. 27, where my
+attention was first called to this Jataka.
+
+_Parallels._--Most readers of these Notes will remember the central
+episode of Mr. J. C. Harris' _Uncle Remus_, in which Brer Fox, annoyed
+at Brer Rabbit's depredations, fits up "a contrapshun, what he calls a
+Tar Baby." Brer Rabbit, coming along that way, passes the time of day
+with Tar Baby, and, annoyed at its obstinate silence, hits it with
+right fist and with left, with left fist and with right, which
+successively stick to the "contrapshun," till at last he butts with
+his head, and that sticks too, whereupon Brer Fox, who all this time
+had "lain low," saunters out, and complains of Brer Rabbit that he is
+too stuck up. In the sequel Brer Rabbit begs Brer Fox that he may
+"drown me as deep ez you please, skin me, scratch out my eyeballs,
+t'ar out my years by the roots, en cut off my legs, but do don't fling
+me in dat brier patch;" which, of course, Brer Fox does, only to be
+informed by the cunning Brer Rabbit that he had been "bred en bawn in
+a brier patch." The story is a favourite one with the negroes: it
+occurs in Col. Jones' _Negro Myths of the Georgia Coast_ (Uncle Remus
+is from S. Carolina), also among those of Brazil (Romero, _Contos do
+Brazil_), and in the West Indian Islands (Mr. Lang, "At the Sign of
+the Ship," _Longman's Magazine_, Feb. 1889). We can trace it to
+Africa, where it occurs in Cape Colony (_South African Folk-Lore
+Journal_, vol. i.).
+
+_Remarks._--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is so
+preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently
+invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally
+connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches
+the matter, and gives us a landing-stage between India and America.
+There can be little doubt that the Jataka of Prince Five Weapons came
+to Africa, possibly by Buddhist missionaries, spread among the
+negroes, and then took ship in the holds of slavers for the New World,
+where it is to be found in fuller form than any yet discovered in the
+home of its birth. I say Buddhist missionaries, because there is a
+certain amount of evidence that the negroes have Buddhistic symbols
+among them, and we can only explain the identification of Brer Rabbit
+with Prince Five Weapons, and so with Buddha himself, by supposing the
+change to have originated among Buddhists, where it would be quite
+natural. For one of the most celebrated metempsychoses of Buddha is
+that detailed in the _Sasa Jataka_ (Fausboll, No. 316, tr. R.
+Morris, _Folk-Lore Journal_, ii. 336), in which the Buddha, as a hare,
+performs a sublime piece of self-sacrifice, and as a reward is
+translated to the moon, where he can be seen to this day as "the hare
+in the moon." Every Buddhist is reminded of the virtue of
+self-sacrifice whenever the moon is full, and it is easy to understand
+how the Buddha became identified as the Hare or Rabbit. A striking
+confirmation of this, in connection with our immediate subject, is
+offered by Mr. Harris' sequel volume, _Nights with Uncle Remus_. Here
+there is a whole chapter (xxx.) on "Brer Rabbit and his famous Foot,"
+and it is well known how the worship of Buddha's foot developed in
+later Buddhism. No wonder Brer Rabbit is so 'cute: he is nothing less
+than an incarnation of Buddha. Among the Karens of Burmah, where
+Buddhist influence is still active, the Hare holds exactly the same
+place in their folk-lore as Brer Rabbit among the negroes. The sixth
+chapter of Mr. Smeaton's book on them is devoted to "Fireside
+Stories," and is entirely taken up with adventures of the Hare, all of
+which can be parallelled from _Uncle Remus_.
+
+Curiously enough, the negro form of the five-fold attack--"fighting
+with _five_ fists," Mr. Barr would call it--is probably nearer to the
+original legend than that preserved in the Jataka, though 2000 years
+older. For we may be sure that the thunderbolt of Knowledge did not
+exist in the original, but was introduced by some Buddhist Mr. Barlow,
+who, like Alice's Duchess, ended all his tales with: "And the moral of
+that is----" For no well-bred demon would have been taken in by so
+simple a "sell" as that indulged in by Prince Five-Weapons in our
+Jataka, and it is probable, therefore, that _Uncle Remus_ preserves a
+reminiscence of the original Indian reading of the tale. On the other
+hand, it is probable that Carlyle's Indian god with the fire in his
+belly was derived from Prince Five-Weapons.
+
+The negro variant has also suggested to Mr. Batten an explanation of
+the whole story which is extremely plausible, though it introduces a
+method of folk-lore exegesis which has been overdriven to death. The
+_Sasa Jataka_ identifies the Brer Rabbit Buddha with the hare in
+the moon. It is well known that Easterns explain an eclipse of the
+moon as due to its being swallowed up by a Dragon or Demon. May not,
+asks Mr. Batten, the _Pancavudha Jataka_ be an idealised account of
+an eclipse of the moon? This suggestion receives strong confirmation
+from the Demon's reference to Rahu, who does, in Indian myth swallow
+the moon at times of eclipse. The Jataka accordingly contains the
+Buddhist explanation why the moon--_i.e._ the hare in the moon, _i.e._
+Buddha--is not altogether swallowed up by the Demon of Eclipse, the
+Demon with the Matted Hair. Mr. Batten adds that in imagining what
+kind of Demon the Eclipse Demon was, the Jataka writer was probably
+aided by recollections of some giant octopus, who has saucer eyes and
+a kind of hawk's beak, knobs on its "tusks," and a very variegated
+belly (gasteropod). It is obviously unfair of Mr. Batten both to
+illustrate and also to explain so well the Tar Baby Jataka--taking the
+scientific bread, so to speak, out of a poor folk-lorist's mouth--but
+his explanations seem to me so convincing that I cannot avoid
+including them in these Notes.
+
+I am, however, not so much concerned with the original explanation of
+the Jataka as to trace its travels across the continents of Asia,
+Africa, and America. I think I have done this satisfactorily, and will
+have thereby largely strengthened the case for less extensive travels
+of other tales. I have sufficient confidence of the method employed to
+venture on that most hazardous of employments, scientific prophecy. I
+venture to predict that the Tar Baby story will be found in Madagascar
+in a form nearer the Indian than Uncle Remus, and I will go further,
+and say that it will _not_ be found in the grand Helsingfors
+collection of folk-tales, though this includes 12,000, of which 1000
+are beast-tales.
+
+
+XXVI. THE IVORY PALACE.
+
+_Source._--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 211-25, with some
+slight omissions. Gulizar is Persian for rosy-cheeked.
+
+_Parallels._--Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 27. "Panwpatti Rani,"
+pp. 208-15, is the same story. Another version in the collection
+_Baital Pachisi_, No. 1.
+
+_Remarks._--The themes of love by mirror, and the faithful friend, are
+common European, though the calm attempt at poisoning is perhaps
+characteristically Indian, and reads like a page from Mr. Kipling.
+
+
+XXVII. SUN, MOON, AND WIND.
+
+_Source._--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, No. 10, pp. 153-5.
+
+_Remarks._--Miss Frere observes that she has not altered the
+traditional mode of the Moon's conveyance of dinner to her mother the
+Star, though it must, she fears, impair the value of the story as a
+moral lesson in the eyes of all instructors of youth.
+
+
+XXVIII. HOW WICKED SONS WERE DUPED.
+
+_Source._--Knowles. _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 241-2.
+
+_Parallels._--A Gaelic parallel was given by Campbell in _Trans.
+Ethnol. Soc._, ii. p. 336; an Anglo-Latin one from the Middle Ages by
+T. Wright in _Latin Stories_ (Percy Soc.), No. 26; and for these and
+points of anthropological interest in the Celtic variant see Mr.
+Gomme's article in _Folk-Lore_, i. pp. 197-206, "A Highland Folk-Tale
+and its Origin in Custom."
+
+_Remarks._--Mr. Gomme is of opinion that the tale arose from certain
+rhyming formulae occurring in the Gaelic and Latin tales as written on
+a mallet left by the old man in the box opened after his death. The
+rhymes are to the effect that a father who gives up his wealth to his
+children in his own lifetime deserves to be put to death with the
+mallet. Mr. Gomme gives evidence that it was an archaic custom to put
+oldsters to death after they had become helpless. He also points out
+that it was customary for estates to be divided and surrendered during
+the owners' lifetime, and generally he connects a good deal of
+primitive custom with our story. I have already pointed out in
+_Folk-Lore_, p. 403, that the existence of the tale in Kashmir without
+any reference to the mallet makes it impossible for the rhymes on the
+mallet to be the source of the story. As a matter of fact, it is a
+very embarrassing addition to it, since the rhyme tells against the
+parent, and the story is intended to tell against the ungrateful
+children. The existence of the tale in India renders it likely enough
+that it is not indigenous to the British Isles, but an Oriental
+importation. It is obvious, therefore, that it cannot be used as
+anthropological evidence of the existence of the primitive customs to
+be found in it. The whole incident, indeed, is a striking example of
+the dangers of the anthropological method of dealing with folk-tales
+before some attempt is made to settle the questions of origin and
+diffusion.
+
+
+XXIX. THE PIGEON AND THE CROW.
+
+_Source._--The _Lola Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 274, kindly translated
+and slightly abridged for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse.
+
+_Remarks._--We began with an animal Jataka, and may appropriately
+finish with one which shows how effectively the writers of the Jatakas
+could represent animal folk, and how terribly moral they invariably
+were in their tales. I should perhaps add that the Bodhisat is not
+precisely the Buddha himself but a character which is on its way to
+becoming perfectly enlightened, and so may be called a future Buddha.
+
+
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Indian Fairy Tales, by Collected by Joseph Jacobs
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
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+Title: Indian Fairy Tales
+
+Author: Collected by Joseph Jacobs
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7128]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 13, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+INDIAN FAIRY TALES
+
+
+_Selected and edited by_
+JOSEPH JACOBS
+
+_Illustrated by_
+JOHN D. BATTEN
+
+TO MY DEAR LITTLE PHIL
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+From the extreme West of the Indo-European world, we go this year to
+the extreme East. From the soft rain and green turf of Gaeldom, we seek
+the garish sun and arid soil of the Hindoo. In the Land of Ire, the
+belief in fairies, gnomes, ogres and monsters is all but dead; in the
+Land of Ind it still flourishes in all the vigour of animism.
+
+Soils and national characters differ; but fairy tales are the same in
+plot and incidents, if not in treatment. The majority of the tales in
+this volume have been known in the West in some form or other, and the
+problem arises how to account for their simultaneous existence in
+farthest West and East. Some--as Benfey in Germany, M. Cosquin in
+France, and Mr. Clouston in England--have declared that India is the
+Home of the Fairy Tale, and that all European fairy tales have been
+brought from thence by Crusaders, by Mongol missionaries, by Gipsies,
+by Jews, by traders, by travellers. The question is still before the
+courts, and one can only deal with it as an advocate. So far as my
+instructions go, I should be prepared, within certain limits, to hold a
+brief for India. So far as the children of Europe have their fairy
+stories in common, these--and they form more than a third of the whole
+--are derived from India. In particular, the majority of the Drolls or
+comic tales and jingles can be traced, without much difficulty, back to
+the Indian peninsula.
+
+Certainly there is abundant evidence of the early transmission by
+literary means of a considerable number of drolls and folk-tales from
+India about the time of the Crusaders. The collections known in Europe
+by the titles of _The Fables of Bidpai, The Seven Wise Masters, Gesia
+Romanorum_, and _Barlaam and Josaphat_, were extremely popular
+during the Middle Ages, and their contents passed on the one hand into
+the _Exempla_ of the monkish preachers, and on the other into the
+_Novelle_ of Italy, thence, after many days, to contribute their
+quota to the Elizabethan Drama. Perhaps nearly one-tenth of the main
+incidents of European folktales can be traced to this source.
+
+There are even indications of an earlier literary contact between
+Europe and India, in the case of one branch of the folk-tale, the Fable
+or Beast Droll. In a somewhat elaborate discussion [Footnote: "History
+of the Aesopic Fable," the introductory volume to my edition of Caxton's
+_Fables of Esope_ (London, Nutt, 1889).] I have come to the
+conclusion that a goodly number of the fables that pass under the name
+of the Samian slave, Aesop, were derived from India, probably from the
+same source whence the same tales were utilised in the Jatakas, or
+Birth-stories of Buddha. These Jatakas contain a large quantity of
+genuine early Indian folk-tales, and form the earliest collection of
+folk-tales in the world, a sort of Indian Grimm, collected more than
+two thousand years before the good German brothers went on their quest
+among the folk with such delightful results. For this reason I have
+included a considerable number of them in this volume; and shall be
+surprised if tales that have roused the laughter and wonder of pious
+Buddhists for the last two thousand years, cannot produce the same
+effect on English children. The Jatakas have been fortunate in their
+English translators, who render with vigour and point; and I rejoice
+in being able to publish the translation of two new Jatakas, kindly
+done into English for this volume by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, of Christ's
+College, Cambridge. In one of these I think I have traced the source
+of the Tar Baby incident in "Uncle Remus."
+
+Though Indian fairy tales are the earliest in existence, yet they are
+also from another point of view the youngest. For it is only about
+twenty-five years ago that Miss Frere began the modern collection of
+Indian folk-tales with her charming "Old Deccan Days" (London, John
+Murray, 1868; fourth edition, 1889). Her example has been followed by
+Miss Stokes, by Mrs. Steel, and Captain (now Major) Temple, by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, by Mr. Knowles and Mr. Campbell, as well as
+others who have published folk-tales in such periodicals as the
+_Indian Antiquary_ and _The Orientalist_. The story-store of
+modern India has been well dipped into during the last quarter of a
+century, though the immense range of the country leaves room for any
+number of additional workers and collections. Even so far as the
+materials already collected go, a large number of the commonest
+incidents in European folk-tales have been found in India. Whether
+brought there or born there, we have scarcely any criterion for
+judging; but as some of those still current among the folk in India can
+be traced back more than a millennium, the presumption is in favour of
+an Indian origin.
+
+From all these sources--from the Jatakas, from the Bidpai, and from the
+more recent collections--I have selected those stories which throw most
+light on the origin of Fable and Folk-tales, and at the same time are
+most likely to attract English children. I have not, however, included
+too many stories of the Grimm types, lest I should repeat the contents
+of the two preceding volumes of this series. This has to some degree
+weakened the case for India as represented by this book. The need of
+catering for the young ones has restricted my selection from the well-
+named "Ocean of the Streams of Story," _Katha-Sarit Sagara_ of
+Somadeva. The stories existing in Pali and Sanskrit I have taken from
+translations, mostly from the German of Benfey or the vigorous English
+of Professor Rhys-Davids, whom I have to thank for permission to use
+his versions of the Jatakas.
+
+I have been enabled to make this book a representative collection of
+the Fairy Tales of Ind by the kindness of the original collectors or
+their publishers. I have especially to thank Miss Frere, who kindly
+made an exception in my favour, and granted me the use of that fine
+story, "Punchkin," and that quaint myth, "How Sun, Moon, and Wind went
+out to Dinner." Miss Stokes has been equally gracious in granting me
+the use of characteristic specimens from her "Indian Fairy Tales." To
+Major Temple I owe the advantage of selecting from his admirable
+_Wideawake Stories_, and Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. have
+allowed me to use Mr. Knowles' "Folk-tales of Kashmir," in their
+Oriental Library; and Messrs. W. H. Allen have been equally obliging
+with regard to Mrs. Kingscote's "Tales of the Sun." Mr. M. L. Dames has
+enabled me add to the published story-store of India by granting me the
+use of one from his inedited collection of Baluchi folk-tales.
+
+I have again to congratulate myself an the co-operation of my friend
+Mr. J. D. Batten in giving beautiful or amusing form to the creations
+of the folk fancy of the Hindoos. It is no slight thing to embody, as
+he has done, the glamour and the humour both of the Celt and of the
+Hindoo. It is only a further proof that Fairy Tales are something more
+than Celtic or Hindoo. They are human.
+
+JOSEPH JACOBS.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+I.      THE LION AND THE CRANE
+II.     HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM
+III.    THE LAMBIKIN
+IV.     PUNCHKIN
+V.      THE BROKEN POT
+VI.     THE MAGIC FIDDLE
+VII.    THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED
+VIII.   LOVING LAILI
+IX.     THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN AND THE JACKAL
+X.      THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON
+XI.     HARISARMAN
+XII.    THE CHARMED RING
+XIII.   THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE
+XIV.    A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A PIECE OF ADVICE
+XV.     THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT
+XVI.    THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS
+XVII.   A LESSON FOR KINGS
+XVIII.  PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL
+XIX.    RAJA RASALU
+XX.     THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN
+XXI.    THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER
+XXII.   THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN
+XXIII.  THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR
+XXIV.   WHY THE FISH LAUGHED
+XXV.    THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR
+XXVI.   THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS
+XXVII.  SUN, MOON, AND WIND GO OUT TO DINNER
+XXVIII. HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED
+XXIX.   THE PIGEON AND THE CROW
+
+NOTES AND REFERENCES
+
+
+
+THE LION AND THE CRANE
+
+The Bodhisatta was at one time born in the region of Himavanta as a
+white crane; now Brahmadatta was at that time reigning in Benares. Now
+it chanced that as a lion was eating meat a bone stuck in his throat.
+The throat became swollen, he could not take food, his suffering was
+terrible. The crane seeing him, as he was perched an a tree looking for
+food, asked, "What ails thee, friend?" He told him why. "I could free
+thee from that bone, friend, but dare not enter thy mouth for fear thou
+mightest eat me." "Don't be afraid, friend, I'll not eat thee; only
+save my life." "Very well," says he, and caused him to lie down on his
+left side. But thinking to himself, "Who knows what this fellow will
+do," he placed a small stick upright between his two jaws that he could
+not close his mouth, and inserting his head inside his mouth struck one
+end of the bone with his beak. Whereupon the bone dropped and fell out.
+As soon as he had caused the bone to fall, he got out of the lion's
+mouth, striking the stick with his beak so that it fell out, and then
+settled on a branch. The lion gets well, and one day was eating a
+buffalo he had killed. The crane, thinking "I will sound him," settled
+an a branch just over him, and in conversation spoke this first verse:
+
+  "A service have we done thee
+    To the best of our ability,
+  King of the Beasts! Your Majesty!
+    What return shall we get from thee?"
+
+In reply the Lion spoke the second verse:
+
+  "As I feed on blood,
+    And always hunt for prey,
+  'Tis much that thou art still alive
+    Having once been between my teeth."
+
+Then in reply the crane said the two other verses:
+
+  "Ungrateful, doing no good,
+    Not doing as he would be done by,
+  In him there is no gratitude,
+    To serve him is useless.
+
+  "His friendship is not won
+    By the clearest good deed.
+  Better softly withdraw from him,
+    Neither envying nor abusing."
+
+And having thus spoken the crane flew away.
+
+_And when the great Teacher, Gautama the Buddha, told this tale, he
+used to add: "Now at that time the lion was Devadatta the Traitor, but
+the white crane was I myself_."
+
+
+
+HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM
+
+In a country there was a Raja who had an only son who every day went
+out to hunt. One day the Rani, his mother, said to him, "You can hunt
+wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the
+fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth
+side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labam, and that then he
+would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess.
+
+The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time;
+but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was
+allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth
+side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to hunt
+on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle, and
+nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it. The
+young Raja shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up to
+the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Raja, who was called
+Hiraman parrot.
+
+When Hiraman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the
+other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Raja's son
+shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labam."
+
+Then the parrots all flew back to their Raja, chattering. The prince
+was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he
+said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labam? Where does she live?"
+But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never get
+to the Princess Labam's country." That is all they would say.
+
+The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more;
+and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would
+not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed
+very ill.
+
+At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the
+Princess Labam. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like.
+Tell me where her country is."
+
+"We do not know where it is," answered his father and mother.
+
+"Then I must go and look for it," said the prince.
+
+"No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only son. Stay
+with us. You will never find the Princess Labam."
+
+"I must try and find her," said the prince. "Perhaps God will show me
+the way. If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but perhaps
+I shall die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I must go."
+
+So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with
+him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And he
+took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other weapons,
+"for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him plenty of
+rupees.
+
+Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said
+good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her handkerchief
+and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her son. "My child,"
+she said to him, "When you are hungry eat some of these sweetmeats."
+
+He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a
+jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his
+horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to
+himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I
+will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He opened
+his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in it. He
+took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid the two
+sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and another, and
+another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he found an ant.
+"Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the ants shall eat
+them." Then the Ant-Raja came and stood before him and said, "You have
+been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and we will
+come to you."
+
+The Raja's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his
+journey. He rode on and on until he came to another jungle, and there
+he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly from
+the pain.
+
+"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Raja. "What is the matter
+with you?"
+
+"I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered the tiger,
+"and it hurts me so; that is why I roar."
+
+"Well," said the Raja's son, "I will take it out for you. But perhaps,
+as you are a tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat me?"
+
+"Oh, no," said the tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well."
+
+Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn
+out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than
+ever--so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came
+bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming,
+and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him.
+
+
+"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife. "No one
+hurt me," answered the husband; "but a Raja's son came and took the
+thorn out of my foot."
+
+"Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife.
+
+"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger.
+
+"I won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife.
+
+Then the tiger called the Raja's son, and when he came the tiger and
+his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good
+dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at
+the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said
+good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in
+trouble, think of me, and we will come to you."
+
+The Raja's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he
+found four fakirs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four
+things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he wished
+to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels, food, or
+clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he wanted,
+no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and rope, to
+which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war on him,
+"Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the stick would
+beat them and the rope would tie them up.
+
+The four fakirs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, "I
+want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so
+on.
+
+The Raja's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will
+shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets
+to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets
+to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets
+to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who
+gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and
+rope." To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his first arrow.
+Away raced the fakirs to get it. When they brought it back to him he
+shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he
+shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot off
+the fourth.
+
+While they were away looking for the fourth arrow the Raja's son let
+his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl, the
+stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish to go
+to the Princess Labam's country." The little bed instantly rose up into
+the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to the
+Princess Labam's country, where it settled on the ground. The Raja's
+son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?"
+
+"The Princess Labam's country," they answered. Then the prince went on
+till he came to a house where he saw an old woman.
+
+"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from?"
+
+"I come from a far country," he said; "do let me stay with you to-
+night."
+
+"No," she answered, "I cannot let you stay with me; for our king has
+ordered that men from other countries may not stay in his country. You
+cannot stay in my house."
+
+"You are my aunty," said the prince; "let me remain with you for this
+one night. You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then the
+wild beasts will eat me."
+
+"Well," said the old woman, "you may stay here to-night; but to-morrow
+morning you must go away, for if the king hears you have passed the
+night in my house, he will have me seized and put into prison."
+
+Then she took him into her house, and the Raja's son was very glad. The
+old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her, "Aunty," he said,
+"I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying, "Bag, I
+want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious dinner,
+served up on two gold plates. The old woman and the Raja's son then
+dined together.
+
+When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch
+some water."
+
+"Don't go," said the prince. "You shall have plenty of water directly."
+So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want some water," and then
+it filled with water. When it was full, the prince cried out, "Stop,
+bowl," and the bowl stopped filling. "See, aunty," he said, "with this
+bowl I can always get as much water as I want."
+
+By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Raja's son, "why don't
+you light a lamp?"
+
+"There is no need," she said. "Our king has forbidden the people in his
+country to light any lamps; for, as soon as it is dark, his daughter,
+the Princess Labam, comes and sits on her roof, and she shines so that
+she lights up all the country and our houses, and we can see to do our
+work as if it were day."
+
+When it was quite black night the princess got up. She dressed herself
+in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and across her
+head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone like the
+moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her room, and sat
+on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came out of her
+house; she only came out at night. All the people in her father's
+country then went about their work and finished it.
+
+The Raja's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He
+said to himself, "How lovely she is!"
+
+At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down
+from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and
+asleep, the Raja's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. "Bed," he
+said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labam's bed-room." So the
+little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep.
+
+The young Raja took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of betel-
+leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he laid
+near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back to
+the old woman's house.
+
+Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and
+began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the
+princess.
+
+"We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody knew the
+prince had come in the night and put it all there.
+
+In the morning the old woman came to the Raja's son. "Now it is
+morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the king finds out all I
+have done for you, he will seize me."
+
+"I am ill to-day, dear aunty," said the prince; "do let me stay till
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"Good," said the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner
+out of the bag, and the bowl gave them water.
+
+When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve
+o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was
+soon fast asleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed, and it carried
+him to the princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most
+lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the
+princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house
+and slept till morning.
+
+In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl she was delighted.
+"See, mother," she said; "Khuda must have given me this shawl, it is so
+beautiful." Her mother was very glad too.
+
+"Yes, my child," she said; "Khuda must have given you this splendid
+shawl."
+
+When it was morning the old woman said to the Raja's son, "Now you must
+really go."
+
+"Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let me stay a few days
+longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that no one may see me."
+So the old woman let him stay.
+
+When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and
+jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went
+to sleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room.
+There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring."
+The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labam's
+hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much
+frightened.
+
+"Who are you?" she said to the prince. "Where do you come from? Why do
+you come to my room?"
+
+"Do not be afraid, princess," he said; "I am no thief. I am a great
+Raja's son. Hiraman parrot, who lives in the jungle where I went to
+hunt, told me your name, and then I left my father and mother, and came
+to see you."
+
+"Well," said the princess, "as you are the son of such a great Raja, I
+will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that I
+wish to marry you."
+
+The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning
+came the princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Raja has come
+to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this to the
+king.
+
+"Good," said the king; "but if this Raja's son wishes to marry my
+daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I will kill
+him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, and out of
+this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this he shall
+die."
+
+In the morning the Raja's son told the old woman that he intended to
+marry the princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this
+country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rajas and
+Rajas' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them
+all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do
+whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if
+he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things
+the king tells him to do; so all the Rajas and Rajas' sons who have
+tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do go
+away." But the prince would not listen to anything she said.
+
+The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his servants
+brought the Raja's son to the king's court-house to the king. There the
+king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to crush all
+the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him to the
+court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to the
+prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have him
+killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard seed,
+you will die."
+
+The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil
+out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if I
+do not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old
+woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the
+Ant-Raja, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Raja and his ants came to
+him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Raja.
+
+The prince showed him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I
+crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not
+take the oil to the king to-morrow morning, he will kill me."
+
+"Be happy," said the Ant-Raja; "lie down and sleep; we will crush all
+the oil out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall
+take it to the king." The Raja's son lay down and slept, and the ants
+crushed out the oil for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the
+oil.
+
+The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the
+king said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so, you
+must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a long
+time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what to do
+with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let them
+loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country; and he
+did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons who
+wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these demons;
+"for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be killed, and
+then I shall be rid of them."
+
+When he heard of the demons the Raja's son was very sad. "What can I
+do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then
+he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and
+said, "Why are you so sad?" The Raja's son answered, "The king has
+ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do
+this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my wife
+will fight with them for you."
+
+Then the Raja's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were
+all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he put
+on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the king, and
+said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?" "Yes," said
+the king, who did not care in the least who killed his demons, provided
+they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the Raja's son, "and
+these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and the tigers and the
+demons fought and fought until the tigers had killed the demons.
+
+"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before I
+give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must go
+and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you."
+
+The Raja's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old woman's
+house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the sky is the
+king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up with him, and
+the Raja's son beat the drum, and the king heard him. Still, when he
+came down, the king would not give him his daughter. "You have," he
+said to the prince, "done the three things I told you to do; but you
+must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the Raja's son.
+
+Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his
+court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax
+hatchet, and said, "Tomorrow morning you must cut this trunk in two
+with this wax hatchet."
+
+The Raja's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad, and
+thought that now the Raja would certainly kill him. "I had his oil
+crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons killed
+by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But now what
+can I do? How can I cut that thick tree-trunk in two with a wax
+hatchet?"
+
+At night he went on his bed to see the princess. "To-morrow," he said
+to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the princess.
+
+"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet.
+How can I ever do that?" said the Raja's son. "Do not be afraid," said
+the princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite
+easily."
+
+Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince.
+"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the
+tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labam commands you to let yourself be cut in
+two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax
+hatchet's blade."
+
+The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the
+minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade
+touched the tree-trunk it split into two pieces.
+
+The king said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took
+place. All the Rajas and kings of the countries round were asked to
+come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the
+prince's son said to his wife, "Let us go to my father's country." The
+Princess Labam's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and
+rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's
+country, where they lived happily.
+
+The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only, as no one
+ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick.
+
+
+
+THE LAMBIKIN
+
+Once upon a time there was a wee wee Lambikin, who frolicked about on
+his little tottery legs, and enjoyed himself amazingly.
+
+Now one day he set off to visit his Granny, and was jumping with joy to
+think of all the good things he should get from her, when who should he
+meet but a Jackal, who looked at the tender young morsel and said:
+"Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk and said:
+
+  "To Granny's house I go,
+  Where I shall fatter grow,
+  Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Jackal thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+By-and-by he met a Vulture, and the Vulture, looking hungrily at the
+tender morsel before him, said: "Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk, and said:
+
+  "To Granny's house I go,
+  Where I shall fatter grow,
+  Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Vulture thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+And by-and-by he met a Tiger, and then a Wolf, and a Dog, and an Eagle,
+and all these, when they saw the tender little morsel, said: "Lambikin!
+Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+But to all of them Lambikin replied, with a little frisk:
+
+  "To Granny's house I go,
+  Where I shall fatter grow,
+  Then you can eat me so."
+
+At last he reached his Granny's house, and said, all in a great hurry,
+"Granny, dear, I've promised to get very fat; so, as people ought to
+keep their promises, please put me into the corn-bin _at once_."
+
+So his Granny said he was a good boy, and put him into the corn-bin,
+and there the greedy little Lambikin stayed for seven days, and ate,
+and ate, and ate, until he could scarcely waddle, and his Granny said
+he was fat enough for anything, and must go home. But cunning little
+Lambikin said that would never do, for some animal would be sure to eat
+him on the way back, he was so plump and tender.
+
+"I'll tell you what you must do," said Master Lambikin, "you must make
+a little drumikin out of the skin of my little brother who died, and
+then I can sit inside and trundle along nicely, for I'm as tight as a
+drum myself."
+
+So his Granny made a nice little drumikin out of his brother's skin,
+with the wool inside, and Lambikin curled himself up snug and warm in
+the middle, and trundled away gaily. Soon he met with the Eagle, who
+called out:
+
+  "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+  Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Mr. Lambikin, curled up in his soft warm nest, replied:
+
+  "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+  On little Drumikin. Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+"How very annoying!" sighed the Eagle, thinking regretfully of the
+tender morsel he had let slip.
+
+Meanwhile Lambikin trundled along, laughing to himself, and singing:
+
+  "Tum-pa, tum-too;
+  Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Every animal and bird he met asked him the same question:
+
+  "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+  Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And to each of them the little slyboots replied:
+
+  "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+  On little Drumikin. Tum-pa, tum too;
+  Tum-pa, tum-too; Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Then they all sighed to think of the tender little morsel they had let
+slip.
+
+At last the Jackal came limping along, for all his sorry looks as sharp
+as a needle, and he too called out--
+
+  "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+  Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Lambikin, curled up in his snug little nest, replied gaily:
+
+  "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+  On little Drumikin! Tum-pa--"
+
+But he never got any further, for the Jackal recognised his voice at
+once, and cried: "Hullo! you've turned yourself inside out, have you?
+Just you come out of that!"
+
+Whereupon he tore open Drumikin and gobbled up Lambikin.
+
+
+
+PUNCHKIN
+
+Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven beautiful daughters.
+They were all good girls; but the youngest, named Balna, was more
+clever than the rest. The Raja's wife died when they were quite little
+children, so these seven poor Princesses were left with no mother to
+take care of them.
+
+The Raja's daughters took it by turns to cook their father's dinner
+every day, whilst he was absent deliberating with his Ministers on the
+affairs of the nation.
+
+About this time the Prudhan died, leaving a widow and one daughter; and
+every day, every day, when the seven Princesses were preparing their
+father's dinner, the Prudhan's widow and daughter would come and beg
+for a little fire from the hearth. Then Balna used to say to her
+sisters, "Send that woman away; send her away. Let her get the fire at
+her own house. What does she want with ours? If we allow her to come
+here, we shall suffer for it some day."
+
+But the other sisters would answer, "Be quiet, Balna; why must you
+always be quarrelling with this poor woman? Let her take some fire if
+she likes." Then the Prudhan's widow used to go to the hearth and take
+a few sticks from it; and whilst no one was looking, she would quickly
+throw some mud into the midst of the dishes which were being prepared
+for the Raja's dinner.
+
+Now the Raja was very fond of his daughters. Ever since their mother's
+death they had cooked his dinner with their own hands, in order to
+avoid the danger of his being poisoned by his enemies. So, when he
+found the mud mixed up with his dinner, he thought it must arise from
+their carelessness, as it did not seem likely that any one should have
+put mud there on purpose; but being very kind he did not like to
+reprove them for it, although this spoiling of the curry was repeated
+many successive days.
+
+At last, one day, he determined to hide, and watch his daughters
+cooking, and see how it all happened; so he went into the next room,
+and watched them through a hole in the wall.
+
+There he saw his seven daughters carefully washing the rice and
+preparing the curry, and as each dish was completed, they put it by the
+fire ready to be cooked. Next he noticed the Prudhan's widow come to
+the door, and beg for a few sticks from the fire to cook her dinner
+with. Balna turned to her, angrily, and said, "Why don't you keep fuel
+in your own house, and not come here every day and take ours? Sisters,
+don't give this woman any more wood; let her buy it for herself."
+
+Then the eldest sister answered, "Balna, let the poor woman take the
+wood and the fire; she does us no harm." But Balna replied, "If you let
+her come here so often, maybe she will do us some harm, and make us
+sorry for it, some day."
+
+The Raja then saw the Prudhan's widow go to the place where all his
+dinner was nicely prepared, and, as she took the wood, she threw a
+little mud into each of the dishes.
+
+At this he was very angry, and sent to have the woman seized and
+brought before him. But when the widow came, she told him that she had
+played this trick because she wanted to gain an audience with him; and
+she spoke so cleverly, and pleased him so well with her cunning words,
+that instead of punishing her, the Raja married her, and made her his
+Ranee, and she and her daughter came to live in the palace.
+
+Now the new Ranee hated the seven poor Princesses, and wanted to get
+them, if possible, out of the way, in order that her daughter might
+have all their riches, and live in the palace as Princess in their
+place; and instead of being grateful to them for their kindness to her,
+she did all she could to make them miserable. She gave them nothing but
+bread to eat, and very little of that, and very little water to drink;
+so these seven poor little Princesses, who had been accustomed to have
+everything comfortable about them, and good food and good clothes all
+their lives long, were very miserable and unhappy; and they used to go
+out every day and sit by their dead mother's tomb and cry--and say:
+
+"Oh mother, mother, cannot you see your poor children, how unhappy we
+are, and how we are starved by our cruel step-mother?"
+
+One day, whilst they were thus sobbing and crying, lo and behold! a
+beautiful pomelo tree grew up out of the grave, covered with fresh ripe
+pomeloes, and the children satisfied their hunger by eating some of the
+fruit, and every day after this, instead of trying to eat the bad
+dinner their step-mother provided for them, they used to go out to
+their mother's grave and eat the pomeloes which grew there on the
+beautiful tree.
+
+Then the Ranee said to her daughter, "I cannot tell how it is, every
+day those seven girls say they don't want any dinner, and won't eat
+any; and yet they never grow thin nor look ill; they look better than
+you do. I cannot tell how it is." And she bade her watch the seven
+Princesses, and see if any one gave them anything to eat.
+
+So next day, when the Princesses went to their mother's grave, and were
+eating the beautiful pomeloes, the Prudhan's daughter followed them,
+and saw them gathering the fruit.
+
+Then Balna said to her sisters, "Do you not see that girl watching us?
+Let us drive her away, or hide the pomeloes, else she will go and tell
+her mother all about it, and that will be very bad for us."
+
+But the other sisters said, "Oh no, do not be unkind, Balna. The girl
+would never be so cruel as to tell her mother. Let us rather invite her
+to come and have some of the fruit." And calling her to them, they gave
+her one of the pomeloes.
+
+No sooner had she eaten it, however, than the Prudhan's daughter went
+home and said to her mother, "I do not wonder the seven Princesses will
+not eat the dinner you prepare for them, for by their mother's grave
+there grows a beautiful pomelo tree, and they go there every day and
+eat the pomeloes. I ate one, and it was the nicest I have ever tasted."
+
+The cruel Ranee was much vexed at hearing this, and all next day she
+stayed in her room, and told the Raja that she had a very bad headache.
+The Raja was deeply grieved, and said to his wife, "What can I do for
+you?" She answered, "There is only one thing that will make my headache
+well. By your dead wife's tomb there grows a fine pomelo tree; you must
+bring that here, and boil it, root and branch, and put a little of the
+water in which it has been boiled, on my forehead, and that will cure
+my headache." So the Raja sent his servants, and had the beautiful
+pomelo tree pulled up by the roots, and did as the Ranee desired; and
+when some of the water, in which it had been boiled, was put on her
+forehead, she said her headache was gone and she felt quite well.
+
+Next day, when the seven Princesses went as usual to the grave of their
+mother, the pomelo tree had disappeared. Then they all began to cry
+very bitterly.
+
+Now there was by the Ranee's tomb a small tank, and as they were crying
+they saw that the tank was filled with a rich cream-like substance,
+which quickly hardened into a thick white cake. At seeing this all the
+Princesses were very glad, and they ate some of the cake, and liked it;
+and next day the same thing happened, and so it went on for many days.
+Every morning the Princesses went to their mother's grave, and found
+the little tank filled with the nourishing cream-like cake. Then the
+cruel step-mother said to her daughter: "I cannot tell how it is, I
+have had the pomelo tree which used to grow by the Ranee's grave
+destroyed, and yet the Princesses grow no thinner, nor look more sad,
+though they never eat the dinner I give them. I cannot tell how it is!"
+
+And her daughter said, "I will watch."
+
+Next day, while the Princesses were eating the cream cake, who should
+come by but their step-mother's daughter. Balna saw her first, and
+said, "See, sisters, there comes that girl again. Let us sit round the
+edge of the tank and not allow her to see it, for if we give her some
+of our cake, she will go and tell her mother; and that will be very
+unfortunate for us."
+
+The other sisters, however, thought Balna unnecessarily suspicious, and
+instead of following her advice, they gave the Prudhan's daughter some
+of the cake, and she went home and told her mother all about it.
+
+The Ranee, on hearing how well the Princesses fared, was exceedingly
+angry, and sent her servants to pull down the dead Ranee's tomb, and
+fill the little tank with the ruins. And not content with this, she
+next day pretended to be very, very ill--in fact, at the point of
+death--and when the Raja was much grieved, and asked her whether it was
+in his power to procure her any remedy, she said to him: "Only one
+thing can save my life, but I know you will not do it." He replied,
+"Yes, whatever it is, I will do it." She then said, "To save my life,
+you must kill the seven daughters of your first wife, and put some of
+their blood on my forehead and on the palms of my hands, and their
+death will be my life." At these words the Raja was very sorrowful; but
+because he feared to break his word, he went out with a heavy heart to
+find his daughters.
+
+He found them crying by the ruins of their mother's grave.
+
+Then, feeling he could not kill them, the Raja spoke kindly to them,
+and told them to come out into the jungle with him; and there he made a
+fire and cooked some rice, and gave it to them. But in the afternoon,
+it being very hot, the seven Princesses all fell asleep, and when he
+saw they were fast asleep, the Raja, their father, stole away and left
+them (for he feared his wife), saying to himself: "It is better my poor
+daughters should die here, than be killed by their step-mother."
+
+He then shot a deer, and returning home, put some of its blood on the
+forehead and hands of the Ranee, and she thought then that he had
+really killed the Princesses, and said she felt quite well.
+
+Meantime the seven Princesses awoke, and when they found themselves all
+alone in the thick jungle they were much frightened, and began to call
+out as loud as they could, in hopes of making their father hear; but he
+was by that time far away, and would not have been able to hear them
+even had their voices been as loud as thunder.
+
+It so happened that this very day the seven young sons of a
+neighbouring Raja chanced to be hunting in that same jungle, and as
+they were returning home, after the day's sport was over, the youngest
+Prince said to his brothers "Stop, I think I hear some one crying and
+calling out. Do you not hear voices? Let us go in the direction of the
+sound, and find out what it is."
+
+So the seven Princes rode through the wood until they came to the place
+where the seven Princesses sat crying and wringing their hands. At the
+sight of them the young Princes were very much astonished, and still
+more so on learning their story; and they settled that each should take
+one of these poor forlorn ladies home with him, and marry her.
+
+So the first and eldest Prince took the eldest Princess home with him,
+and married her.
+
+And the second took the second;
+
+And the third took the third;
+
+And the fourth took the fourth;
+
+And the fifth took the fifth;
+
+And the sixth took the sixth;
+
+And the seventh, and the handsomest of all, took the beautiful Balna.
+
+And when they got to their own land, there was great rejoicing
+throughout the kingdom, at the marriage of the seven young Princes to
+seven such beautiful Princesses.
+
+About a year after this Balna had a little son, and his uncles and
+aunts were so fond of the boy that it was as if he had seven fathers
+and seven mothers. None of the other Princes and Princesses had any
+children, so the son of the seventh Prince and Balna was acknowledged
+their heir by all the rest.
+
+They had thus lived very happily for some time, when one fine day the
+seventh Prince (Balna's husband) said he would go out hunting, and away
+he went; and they waited long for him, but he never came back.
+
+Then his six brothers said they would go and see what had become of
+him; and they went away, but they also did not return.
+
+And the seven Princesses grieved very much, for they feared that their
+kind husbands must have been killed.
+
+One day, not long after this had happened, as Balna was rocking her
+baby's cradle, and whilst her sisters were working in the room below,
+there came to the palace door a man in a long black dress, who said
+that he was a Fakir, and came to beg. The servants said to him, "You
+cannot go into the palace--the Raja's sons have all gone away; we think
+they must be dead, and their widows cannot be interrupted by your
+begging." But he said, "I am a holy man, you must let me in." Then the
+stupid servants let him walk through the palace, but they did not know
+that this was no Fakir, but a wicked Magician named Punchkin.
+
+Punchkin Fakir wandered through the palace, and saw many beautiful
+things there, till at last he reached the room where Balna sat singing
+beside her little boy's cradle. The Magician thought her more beautiful
+than all the other beautiful things he had seen, insomuch that he asked
+her to go home with him and to marry him. But she said, "My husband, I
+fear, is dead, but my little boy is still quite young; I will stay here
+and teach him to grow up a clever man, and when he is grown up he shall
+go out into the world, and try and learn tidings of his father. Heaven
+forbid that I should ever leave him, or marry you." At these words the
+Magician was very angry, and turned her into a little black dog, and
+led her away; saying, "Since you will not come with me of your own free
+will, I will make you." So the poor Princess was dragged away, without
+any power of effecting an escape, or of letting her sisters know what
+had become of her. As Punchkin passed through the palace gate the
+servants said to him, "Where did you get that pretty little dog?" And
+he answered, "One of the Princesses gave it to me as a present." At
+hearing which they let him go without further questioning.
+
+Soon after this, the six elder Princesses heard the little baby, their
+nephew, begin to cry, and when they went upstairs they were much
+surprised to find him all alone, and Balna nowhere to be seen. Then
+they questioned the servants, and when they heard of the Fakir and the
+little black dog, they guessed what had happened, and sent in every
+direction seeking them, but neither the Fakir nor the dog were to be
+found. What could six poor women do? They gave up all hopes of ever
+seeing their kind husbands, and their sister, and her husband, again,
+and devoted themselves thenceforward to teaching and taking care of
+their little nephew.
+
+Thus time went on, till Balna's son was fourteen years old. Then, one
+day, his aunts told him the history of the family; and no sooner did he
+hear it, than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of his
+father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to bring
+them home again. His aunts, on learning his determination, were much
+alarmed and tried to dissuade him, saying, "We have lost our husbands,
+and our sister and her husband, and you are now our sole hope; if you
+go away, what shall we do?" But he replied, "I pray you not to be
+discouraged; I will return soon, and if it is possible bring my father
+and mother and uncles with me." So he set out on his travels; but for
+some months he could learn nothing to help him in his search.
+
+At last, after he had journeyed many hundreds of weary miles, and
+become almost hopeless of ever hearing anything further of his parents,
+he one day came to a country that seemed full of stones, and rocks, and
+trees, and there he saw a large palace with a high tower; hard by which
+was a Malee's little house.
+
+As he was looking about, the Malee's wife saw him, and ran out of the
+house and said, "My dear boy, who are you that dare venture to this
+dangerous place?" He answered, "I am a Raja's son, and I come in search
+of my father, and my uncles, and my mother whom a wicked enchanter
+bewitched."
+
+Then the Malee's wife said, "This country and this palace belong to a
+great enchanter; he is all powerful, and if any one displeases him, he
+can turn them into stones and trees. All the rocks and trees you see
+here were living people once, and the Magician turned them to what they
+now are. Some time ago a Raja's son came here, and shortly afterwards
+came his six brothers, and they were all turned into stones and trees;
+and these are not the only unfortunate ones, for up in that tower lives
+a beautiful Princess, whom the Magician has kept prisoner there for
+twelve years, because she hates him and will not marry him."
+
+Then the little Prince thought, "These must be my parents and my
+uncles. I have found what I seek at last." So he told his story to the
+Malee's wife, and begged her to help him to remain in that place awhile
+and inquire further concerning the unhappy people she mentioned; and
+she promised to befriend him, and advised his disguising himself lest
+the Magician should see him, and turn him likewise into stone. To this
+the Prince agreed. So the Malee's wife dressed him up in a saree, and
+pretended that he was her daughter.
+
+One day, not long after this, as the Magician was walking in his garden
+he saw the little girl (as he thought) playing about, and asked her who
+she was. She told him she was the Malee's daughter, and the Magician
+said, "You are a pretty little girl, and to-morrow you shall take a
+present of flowers from me to the beautiful lady who lives in the
+tower."
+
+The young Prince was much delighted at hearing this, and went
+immediately to inform the Malee's wife; after consultation with whom he
+determined that it would be more safe for him to retain his disguise,
+and trust to the chance of a favourable opportunity for establishing
+some communication with his mother, if it were indeed she.
+
+Now it happened that at Balna's marriage her husband had given her a
+small gold ring on which her name was engraved, and she had put it on
+her little son's finger when he was a baby, and afterwards when he was
+older his aunts had had it enlarged for him, so that he was still able
+to wear it. The Malee's wife advised him to fasten the well-known
+treasure to one of the bouquets he presented to his mother, and trust
+to her recognising it. This was not to be done without difficulty, as
+such a strict watch was kept over the poor Princess (for fear of her
+ever establishing communication with her friends), that though the
+supposed Malee's daughter was permitted to take her flowers every day,
+the Magician or one of his slaves was always in the room at the time.
+At last one day, however, opportunity favoured him, and when no one was
+looking, the boy tied the ring to a nosegay, and threw it at Balna's
+feet. It fell with a clang on the floor, and Balna, looking to see what
+made the strange sound, found the little ring tied to the flowers. On
+recognising it, she at once believed the story her son told her of his
+long search, and begged him to advise her as to what she had better do;
+at the same time entreating him on no account to endanger his life by
+trying to rescue her. She told him that for twelve long years the
+Magician had kept her shut up in the tower because she refused to marry
+him, and she was so closely guarded that she saw no hope of release.
+
+Now Balna's son was a bright, clever boy, so he said, "Do not fear,
+dear mother; the first thing to do is to discover how far the
+Magician's power extends, in order that we may be able to liberate my
+father and uncles, whom he has imprisoned in the form of rocks and
+trees. You have spoken to him angrily for twelve long years; now rather
+speak kindly. Tell him you have given up all hopes of again seeing the
+husband you have so long mourned, and say you are willing to marry him.
+Then endeavour to find out what his power consists in, and whether he
+is immortal, or can be put to death."
+
+Balna determined to take her son's advice; and the next day sent for
+Punchkin, and spoke to him as had been suggested.
+
+The Magician, greatly delighted, begged her to allow the wedding to
+take place as soon as possible.
+
+But she told him that before she married him he must allow her a little
+more time, in which she might make his acquaintance, and that, after
+being enemies so long, their friendship could but strengthen by
+degrees. "And do tell me," she said, "are you quite immortal? Can death
+never touch you? And are you too great an enchanter ever to feel human
+suffering?"
+
+"Why do you ask?" said he.
+
+"Because," she replied, "if I am to be your wife, I would fain know all
+about you, in order, if any calamity threatens you, to overcome, or if
+possible to avert it."
+
+"It is true," he added, "that I am not as others. Far, far away,
+hundreds of thousands of miles from this, there lies a desolate country
+covered with thick jungle. In the midst of the jungle grows a circle of
+palm trees, and in the centre of the circle stand six chattees full of
+water, piled one above another: below the sixth chattee is a small cage
+which contains a little green parrot; on the life of the parrot depends
+my life; and if the parrot is killed I must die. It is, however," he
+added, "impossible that the parrot should sustain any injury, both on
+account of the inaccessibility of the country, and because, by my
+appointment, many thousand genii surround the palm trees, and kill all
+who approach the place."
+
+Balna told her son what Punchkin had said; but at the same time
+implored him to give up all idea of getting the parrot.
+
+The Prince, however, replied, "Mother, unless I can get hold of that
+parrot, you, and my father, and uncles, cannot be liberated: be not
+afraid, I will shortly return. Do you, meantime, keep the Magician in
+good humour--still putting off your marriage with him on various
+pretexts; and before he finds out the cause of delay, I will be here."
+So saying, he went away.
+
+Many, many weary miles did he travel, till at last he came to a thick
+jungle; and, being very tired, sat down under a tree and fell asleep.
+He was awakened by a soft rustling sound, and looking about him, saw a
+large serpent which was making its way to an eagle's nest built in the
+tree under which he lay, and in the nest were two young eagles. The
+Prince seeing the danger of the young birds, drew his sword, and killed
+the serpent; at the same moment a rushing sound was heard in the air,
+and the two old eagles, who had been out hunting for food for their
+young ones, returned. They quickly saw the dead serpent and the young
+Prince standing over it; and the old mother eagle said to him, "Dear
+boy, for many years all our young ones have been devoured by that cruel
+serpent; you have now saved the lives of our children; whenever you are
+in need, therefore, send to us and we will help you; and as for these
+little eagles, take them, and let them be your servants."
+
+At this the Prince was very glad, and the two eaglets crossed their
+wings, on which he mounted; and they carried him far, far away over the
+thick jungles, until he came to the place where grew the circle of palm
+trees, in the midst of which stood the six chattees full of water. It
+was the middle of the day, and the heat was very great. All round the
+trees were the genii fast asleep; nevertheless, there were such
+countless thousands of them, that it would have been quite impossible
+for any one to walk through their ranks to the place; down swooped the
+strong-winged eaglets--down jumped the Prince; in an instant he had
+overthrown the six chattees full of water, and seized the little green
+parrot, which he rolled up in his cloak; while, as he mounted again
+into the air, all the genii below awoke, and finding their treasure
+gone, set up a wild and melancholy howl.
+
+Away, away flew the little eagles, till they came to their home in the
+great tree; then the Prince said to the old eagles, "Take back your
+little ones; they have done me good service; if ever again I stand in
+need of help, I will not fail to come to you." He then continued his
+journey on foot till he arrived once more at the Magician's palace,
+where he sat down at the door and began playing with the parrot.
+Punchkin saw him, and came to him quickly, and said, "My boy, where did
+you get that parrot? Give it to me, I pray you."
+
+But the Prince answered, "Oh no, I cannot give away my parrot, it is a
+great pet of mine; I have had it many years."
+
+Then the Magician said, "If it is an old favourite, I can understand
+your not caring to give it away; but come what will you sell it for?"
+
+"Sir," replied the Prince, "I will not sell my parrot."
+
+Then Punchkin got frightened, and said, "Anything, anything; name what
+price you will, and it shall be yours." The Prince answered, "Let the
+seven Raja's sons whom you turned into rocks and trees be instantly
+liberated."
+
+"It is done as you desire," said the Magician, "only give me my
+parrot." And with that, by a stroke of his wand, Balna's husband and
+his brothers resumed their natural shapes. "Now, give me my parrot,"
+repeated Punchkin.
+
+"Not so fast, my master," rejoined the Prince; "I must first beg that
+you will restore to life all whom you have thus imprisoned."
+
+The Magician immediately waved his wand again; and, whilst he cried, in
+an imploring voice, "Give me my parrot!" the whole garden became
+suddenly alive: where rocks, and stones, and trees had been before,
+stood Rajas, and Punts, and Sirdars, and mighty men on prancing horses,
+and jewelled pages, and troops of armed attendants.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried Punchkin. Then the boy took hold of the
+parrot, and tore off one of its wings; and as he did so the Magician's
+right arm fell off.
+
+Punchkin then stretched out his left arm, crying, "Give me my parrot!"
+The Prince pulled off the parrot's second wing, and the Magician's left
+arm tumbled off.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried he, and fell on his knees. The Prince pulled
+off the parrot's right leg, the Magician's right leg fell off: the
+Prince pulled off the parrot's left leg, down fell the Magician's left.
+
+Nothing remained of him save the limbless body and the head; but still
+he rolled his eyes, and cried, "Give me my parrot!" "Take your parrot,
+then," cried the boy, and with that he wrung the bird's neck, and threw
+it at the Magician; and, as he did so, Punchkin's head twisted round,
+and, with a fearful groan, he died!
+
+Then they let Balna out of the tower; and she, her son, and the seven
+Princes went to their own country, and lived very happily ever
+afterwards. And as to the rest of the world, every one went to his own
+house.
+
+
+
+THE BROKEN POT
+
+There lived in a certain place a Brahman, whose name was
+Svabhavak_ri_pa_n_a, which means "a born miser." He had collected
+a quantity of rice by begging, and after having dined off it, he filled a
+pot with what was left over. He hung the pot on a peg on the wall,
+placed his couch beneath, and looking intently at it all the night, he
+thought, "Ah, that pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if there should be
+a famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. With this I
+shall buy a couple of goats. They will have young ones every six months,
+and thus I shall have a whole herd of goats. Then, with the goats, I
+shall buy cows. As soon as they have calved, I shall sell the calves.
+Then, with the calves, I shall buy buffaloes; with the buffaloes, mares.
+When the mares have foaled, I shall have plenty of horses; and when
+I sell them, plenty of gold. With that gold I shall get a house with four
+wings. And then a Brahman will come to my house, and will give me his
+beautiful daughter, with a large dowry. She will have a son, and I shall
+call him Somasarman. When he is old enough to be danced on his
+father's knee, I shall sit with a book at the back of the stable, and while
+I am reading, the boy will see me, jump from his mother's lap, and run
+towards me to be danced on my knee. He will come too near the
+horse's hoof, and, full of anger, I shall call to my wife, 'Take the baby;
+take him!' But she, distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me.
+Then I get up, and give her such a kick with my foot." While he thought
+this, he gave a kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell
+over him, and made him quite white. Therefore, I say, "He who makes
+foolish plans for the future will be white all over, like the father of
+Somasarman."
+
+
+
+THE MAGIC FIDDLE
+
+Once upon a time there lived seven brothers and a sister. The brothers
+were married, but their wives did not do the cooking for the family. It
+was done by their sister, who stopped at home to cook. The wives for
+this reason bore their sister-in-law much ill-will, and at length they
+combined together to oust her from the office of cook and general
+provider, so that one of themselves might obtain it. They said, "She
+does not go out to the fields to work, but remains quietly at home, and
+yet she has not the meals ready at the proper time." They then called
+upon their Bonga, and vowing vows unto him they secured his good-will
+and assistance; then they said to the Bonga, "At midday, when our
+sister-in-law goes to bring water, cause it thus to happen, that on
+seeing her pitcher, the water shall vanish, and again slowly re-appear.
+In this way she will be delayed. Let the water not flow into her
+pitcher, and you may keep the maiden as your own."
+
+At noon when she went to bring water, it suddenly dried up before her,
+and she began to weep. Then after a while the water began slowly to
+rise. When it reached her ankles she tried to fill her pitcher, but it
+would not go under the water. Being frightened she began to wail and
+cry to her brother:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,
+  Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise until it reached her knee, when she began
+to wail again:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,
+  Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise, and when it reached her waist, she cried
+again:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,
+  Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water still rose, and when it reached her neck she kept on crying:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,
+  Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+At length the water became so deep that she felt herself drowning, then
+she cried aloud:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water measures a man's height,
+  Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill."
+
+The pitcher filled with water, and along with it she sank and was
+drowned. The Bonga then transformed her into a Bonga like himself, and
+carried her off.
+
+After a time she re-appeared as a bamboo growing on the embankment of
+the tank in which she had been drowned. When the bamboo had grown to an
+immense size, a Jogi, who was in the habit of passing that way, seeing
+it, said to himself, "This will make a splendid fiddle." So one day he
+brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin, the
+bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up." When he
+lifted his axe to cut high up the stem, the bamboo cried out, "Do not
+cut near the top, cut at the root." When the Jogi again prepared
+himself to cut at the root as requested, the bamboo said, "Do not cut
+at the root, cut higher up;" and when he was about to cut higher up, it
+again called out to him, "Do not cut high up, cut at the root." The
+Jogi by this time felt sure that a Bonga was trying to frighten him, so
+becoming angry he cut down the bamboo at the root, and taking it away
+made a fiddle out of it. The instrument had a superior tone and
+delighted all who heard it. The Jogi carried it with him when he went
+a-begging, and through the influence of its sweet music he returned
+home every evening with a full wallet.
+
+He now and then visited, when on his rounds, the house of the Bonga
+girl's brothers, and the strains of the fiddle affected them greatly.
+Some of them were moved even to tears, for the fiddle seemed to wail as
+one in bitter anguish. The elder brother wished to purchase it, and
+offered to support the Jogi for a whole year if he would consent to
+part with his wonderful instrument. The Jogi, however, knew its value,
+and refused to sell it.
+
+It so happened that the Jogi some time after went to the house of a
+village chief, and after playing a tune or two on his fiddle asked for
+something to eat. They offered to buy his fiddle and promised a high
+price for it, but he refused to sell it, as his fiddle brought to him
+his means of livelihood. When they saw that he was not to be prevailed
+upon, they gave him food and a plentiful supply of liquor. Of the
+latter he drank so freely that he presently became intoxicated. While
+he was in this condition, they took away his fiddle, and substituted
+their own old one for it. When the Jogi recovered, he missed his
+instrument, and suspecting that it had been stolen asked them to return
+it to him. They denied having taken it, so he had to depart, leaving
+his fiddle behind him. The chief's son, being a musician, used to play
+on the Jogi's fiddle, and in his hands the music it gave forth
+delighted the ears of all who heard it.
+
+When all the household were absent at their labours in the fields, the
+Bonga girl used to come out of the bamboo fiddle, and prepared the
+family meal. Having eaten her own share, she placed that of the chief's
+son under his bed, and covering it up to keep off the dust, re-entered
+the fiddle. This happening every day, the other members of the
+household thought that some girl friend of theirs was in this manner
+showing her interest in the young man, so they did not trouble
+themselves to find out how it came about. The young chief, however, was
+determined to watch, and see which of his girl friends was so attentive
+to his comfort. He said in his own mind, "I will catch her to-day, and
+give her a sound beating; she is causing me to be ashamed before the
+others." So saying, he hid himself in a corner in a pile of firewood.
+In a short time the girl came out of the bamboo fiddle, and began to
+dress her hair. Having completed her toilet, she cooked the meal of
+rice as usual, and having eaten some herself, she placed the young
+man's portion under his bed, as before, and was about to enter the
+fiddle again, when he, running out from his hiding-place, caught her in
+his arms. The Bonga girl exclaimed, "Fie! Fie! you may be a Dom, or you
+may be a Hadi of some other caste with whom I cannot marry." He said,
+"No. But from to-day, you and I are one." So they began lovingly to
+hold converse with each other. When the others returned home in the
+evening, they saw that she was both a human being and a Bonga, and they
+rejoiced exceedingly.
+
+Now in course of time the Bonga girl's family became very poor, and her
+brothers on one occasion came to the chief's house on a visit.
+
+The Bonga girl recognised them at once, but they did not know who she
+was. She brought them water on their arrival, and afterwards set cooked
+rice before them. Then sitting down near them, she began in wailing
+tones to upbraid them on account of the treatment she had been
+subjected to by their wives. She related all that had befallen her, and
+wound up by saying, "You must have known it all, and yet you did not
+interfere to save me." And that was all the revenge she took.
+
+
+
+THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED
+
+Long ago the Bodisat was born to a forest life as the Genius of a tree
+standing near a certain lotus pond.
+
+Now at that time the water used to run short at the dry season in a
+certain pond, not over large, in which there were a good many fish. And
+a crane thought on seeing the fish.
+
+"I must outwit these fish somehow or other and make a prey of them."
+
+And he went and sat down at the edge of the water, thinking how he
+should do it.
+
+When the fish saw him, they asked him, "What are you sitting there for,
+lost in thought?"
+
+"I am sitting thinking about you," said he.
+
+"Oh, sir! what are you thinking about us?" said they.
+
+"Why," he replied; "there is very little water in this pond, and but
+little for you to eat; and the heat is so great! So I was thinking,
+'What in the world will these fish do now?'"
+
+"Yes, indeed, sir! what _are_ we to do?" said they.
+
+"If you will only do as I bid you, I will take you in my beak to a fine
+large pond, covered with all the kinds of lotuses, and put you into
+it," answered the crane.
+
+"That a crane should take thought for the fishes is a thing unheard of,
+sir, since the world began. It's eating us, one after the other, that
+you're aiming at."
+
+"Not I! So long as you trust me, I won't eat you. But if you don't
+believe me that there is such a pond, send one of you with me to go and
+see it."
+
+Then they trusted him, and handed over to him one of their number--a
+big fellow, blind of one eye, whom they thought sharp enough in any
+emergency, afloat or ashore.
+
+Him the crane took with him, let him go in the pond, showed him the
+whole of it, brought him back, and let him go again close to the other
+fish. And he told them all the glories of the pond.
+
+And when they heard what he said, they exclaimed, "All right, sir! You
+may take us with you."
+
+Then the crane took the old purblind fish first to the bank of the
+other pond, and alighted in a Varana-tree growing on the bank there.
+But he threw it into a fork of the tree, struck it with his beak, and
+killed it; and then ate its flesh, and threw its bones away at the foot
+of the tree. Then he went back and called out:
+
+"I've thrown that fish in; let another one come."
+
+And in that manner he took all the fish, one by one, and ate them, till
+he came back and found no more!
+
+But there was still a crab left behind there; and the crane thought he
+would eat him too, and called out:
+
+"I say, good crab, I've taken all the fish away, and put them into a
+fine large pond. Come along. I'll take you too!"
+
+"But how will you take hold of me to carry me along?"
+
+"I'll bite hold of you with my beak."
+
+"You'll let me fall if you carry me like that. I won't go with you!"
+
+"Don't be afraid! I'll hold you quite tight all the way."
+
+Then said the crab to himself, "If this fellow once got hold of fish,
+he would never let them go in a pond! Now if he should really put me
+into the pond, it would be capital; but if he doesn't--then I'll cut
+his throat, and kill him!" So he said to him:
+
+"Look here, friend, you won't be able to hold me tight enough; but we
+crabs have a famous grip. If you let me catch hold of you round the
+neck with my claws, I shall be glad to go with you."
+
+And the other did not see that he was trying to outwit him, and agreed.
+So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely as with
+a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, "Off with you, now!"
+
+And the crane took him and showed him the pond, and then turned off
+towards the Varana-tree.
+
+"Uncle!" cried the crab, "the pond lies that way, but you are taking me
+this way!"
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" answered the crane. "Your dear little uncle,
+your very sweet nephew, you call me! You mean me to understand, I
+suppose, that I am your slave, who has to lift you up and carry you
+about with him! Now cast your eye upon the heap of fish-bones lying at
+the root of yonder Varana-tree. Just as I have eaten those fish, every
+one of them, just so I will devour you as well!"
+
+"Ah! those fishes got eaten through their own stupidity," answered the
+crab; "but I'm not going to let you eat _me_. On the contrary, is
+it _you_ that I am going to destroy. For you in your folly have
+not seen that I was outwitting you. If we die, we die both together;
+for I will cut off this head of yours, and cast it to the ground!" And
+so saying, he gave the crane's neck a grip with his claws, as with a
+vice.
+
+Then gasping, and with tears trickling from his eyes, and trembling
+with the fear of death, the crane beseeched him, saying, "O my Lord!
+Indeed I did not intend to eat you. Grant me my life!"
+
+"Well, well! step down into the pond, and put me in there."
+
+And he turned round and stepped down into the pond, and placed the crab
+on the mud at its edge. But the crab cut through its neck as clean as
+one would cut a lotus-stalk with a hunting-knife, and then only entered
+the water!
+
+When the Genius who lived in the Varana-tree saw this strange affair,
+he made the wood resound with his plaudits, uttering in a pleasant
+voice the verse:
+
+  "The villain, though exceeding clever,
+  Shall prosper not by his villainy.
+  He may win indeed, sharp-witted in deceit,
+  But only as the Crane here from the Crab!"
+
+
+
+LOVING LAILI
+
+Once there was a king called King Dantal, who had a great many rupees
+and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnun,
+who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red
+cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing
+with the Wazir's son, Husain Mahamat, in King Dantal's garden, which
+was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees.
+They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat
+them. King Dantal had a teacher for them to teach them to read and
+write.
+
+One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnun said to
+his father, "Husain Mahamat and I should like to go and hunt." His
+father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else
+they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phalana country, hunting
+all the way, but they only founds jackals and birds.
+
+The Raja of the Phalana country was called Munsuk Raja, and he had a
+daughter named Laili, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and
+black hair.
+
+One night, some time before Prince Majnun came to her father's kingdom,
+as she slept, Khuda sent to her an angel in the form of a man who told
+her that she should marry Prince Majnun and no one else, and that this
+was Khuda's command to her. When Laili woke she told her father of the
+angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid no attention to
+her story. From that time she began repeating, "Majnun, Majnun; I want
+Majnun," and would say nothing else. Even as she sat and ate her food
+she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." Her father used to
+get quite vexed with her. "Who is this Majnun? who ever heard of this
+Majnun?" he would say.
+
+"He is the man I am to marry," said Laili. "Khuda has ordered me to
+marry no one but Majnun." And she was half mad.
+
+Meanwhile, Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to hunt in the Phalana
+country; and as they were riding about, Laili came out on her horse to
+eat the air, and rode behind them. All the time she kept saying,
+"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." The prince heard her, and turned
+round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this Laili looked at him, and
+the moment she saw him she fell deeply in love with him, and she said
+to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince Majnun that Khuda says I am
+to marry." And she went home to her father and said, "Father, I wish to
+marry the prince who has come to your kingdom; for I know he is the
+Prince Majnun I am to marry."
+
+"Very well, you shall have him for your husband," said Munsuk Raja. "We
+will ask him to-morrow." Laili consented to wait, although she was very
+impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phalana kingdom that
+night, and when Laili heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She would
+not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants said to
+her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to jungle,
+till she got farther and farther away from her own country. All the
+time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun;" and so she
+wandered about for twelve years.
+
+At the end of the twelve years she met a fakir--he was really an angel,
+but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always say,
+'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun'?" She answered, "I am the daughter of
+the king of the Phalana country, and I want to find Prince Majnun; tell
+me where his kingdom is."
+
+"I think you will never get there," said the fakir, "for it is very far
+from hence, and you have to cross many rivers to reach it." But Laili
+said she did not care; she must see Prince Majnun. "Well," said the
+fakir, "when you come to the Bhagirathi river you will see a big fish,
+a Rohu; and you must get him to carry you to Prince Majnun's country,
+or you will never reach it."
+
+She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhagirathi river. There
+was a great big fish called the Rohu fish. It was yawning just as she
+got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat into its
+stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun." At this the
+Rohu fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast as he
+could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came and
+perched on his back, and said "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said the poor
+fish "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise."
+
+"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down
+and see."
+
+So the Rohu opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he came up
+again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said the
+crow, and he flew away.
+
+This news did not comfort the poor Rohu, and he swam on and on till he
+came to Prince Majnun's country. There he stopped. And a jackal came
+down to the river to drink. "Oh, jackal," said the Rohu "do tell me
+what I have inside me."
+
+"How can I tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside
+you." So the Rohu opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down his
+throat; but he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and
+saying, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away
+quickly, I am afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal
+came an enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have in
+my stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnun, Majnun;
+I want Majnun.'"
+
+The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go down and see what it
+is." The snake went down: when he returned he said, "You have a Rakshas
+in your stomach, but if you will let me cut you open, it will come out
+of you." "If you do that, I shall die," said the Rohu. "Oh, no," said
+the snake, "you will not, for I will give you a medicine that will make
+you quite well again." So the fish agreed, and the snake got a knife
+and cut him open, and out jumped Laili.
+
+She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle,
+and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohu; and she was no
+longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his
+back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and
+she wandered on and on till she got to Majnun's court-house, where King
+Majnun was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnun, Majnun; I
+want Majnun," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want King Majnun,"
+she said.
+
+So they went in and said to Prince Majnun, "An old woman outside says
+she wants you." "I cannot leave this place," said he; "send her in
+here." They brought her in and the prince asked her what she wanted. "I
+want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four years ago you came to my
+father the Phalana Raja's country, and I wanted to marry you then; but
+you went away without marrying me. Then I went mad, and I have wandered
+about all these years looking for you." Prince Majnun said, "Very
+good."
+
+"Pray to Khuda," said Laili, "to make us both young again, and then we
+shall be married." So the prince prayed to Khuda, and Khuda said to
+him, "Touch Laili's clothes and they will catch fire, and when they are
+on fire, she and you will become young again." When he touched Laili's
+clothes they caught fire, and she and he became young again. And there
+were great feasts, and they were married, and travelled to the Phalana
+country to see her father and mother.
+
+Now Laili's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter that
+they had become quite blind, and her father kept always repeating,
+"Laili, Laili, Laili." When Laili saw their blindness, she prayed to
+Khuda to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as the
+father and mother saw Laili, they hugged her and kissed her, and then
+they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince
+Majnum and Laili stayed with Munsuk Raja and his wife for three years,
+and then they returned to King Dantal, and lived happily for some time
+with him. They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country
+to country to eat the air and amuse themselves.
+
+One day Prince Majnun said to Laili, "Let us go through this jungle."
+"No, no," said Laili; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will
+happen to me." But Prince Majnun laughed, and went into the jungle. And
+as they were going through it, Khuda thought, "I should like to know
+how much Prince Majnun loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if she
+died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one of
+his angels in the form of a fakir into the jungle; and the angel went
+up to Laili, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she fell
+to the ground a heap of ashes.
+
+Prince Majnun was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Laili
+turned into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his
+father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a
+great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go again
+into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahamat. King Dantal
+wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Laili for my wife; I
+will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnun.
+
+"How can you marry Laili? Laili is dead. She will never come back to
+you," said the father. "Then I'll not have any wife at all," said
+Prince Majnun.
+
+Meanwhile Laili was living in the jungle where her husband had left her
+a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnun had gone, the fakir had taken
+her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay and
+water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them, and so
+Laili regained her human form, and Khuda sent life into it. But Laili
+had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long nose, and
+teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her teeth, as she
+had been when she came out of the Rohu fish; and she lived in the
+jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on saying, "Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun."
+
+At last the angel who had come as a fakir and thrown the powder at her,
+said to Khuda, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in the
+jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun,' and
+eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnun." "Well,"
+said Khuda, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not speak to
+Majnun if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if he is
+afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the next
+day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her human
+shape when Prince Majnun loves her, feeds her with his own food, and
+lets her sleep in his bed."
+
+So the angel came to Laili again as a fakir and carried her to King
+Dantal's garden. "Now," he said, "it is Khuda's command that you stay
+here till Prince Majnun comes to walk in the garden, and then you may
+show yourself to him. But you must not speak to him, if he is afraid of
+you; and should he be afraid of you, you will the next day become a
+little white dog." He then told her what she must do as a little dog to
+regain her human form.
+
+Laili stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince
+Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to walk in the garden. King Dantal was
+now a very old man, and Husain Mahamat, though he was really only as
+old as Prince Majnun, looked a great deal older than the prince, who
+had been made quite young again when he married Laili.
+
+As Prince Majnun and the Wazir's son walked in the garden, they
+gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit
+the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnun was busy
+eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahamat, he
+turned towards him and saw Laili walking behind the Wazir's son.
+
+"Oh, look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas
+or a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Laili looked at him
+beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness;
+but this only frightened Majnun the more. "It is a Rakshas, a Rakshas!"
+he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazir's son; and as
+they ran away, Laili disappeared into the jungle. They ran to King
+Dantal, and Majnun told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in the
+garden that had come to eat them.
+
+"What nonsense," said his father. "Fancy two grown men being so
+frightened by an old ayah or a fakir! And if it had been a Rakshas, it
+would not have eaten you." Indeed King Dantal did not believe Majnun
+had seen anything at all, till Husain Mahamat said the prince was
+speaking the exact truth. They had the garden searched for the terrible
+old woman, but found nothing, and King Dantal told his son he was very
+silly to be so much frightened. However, Prince Majnun would not walk
+in the garden any more.
+
+The next day Laili turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape
+she came into the palace, where Prince Majnun soon became very fond of
+her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out
+hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnun fed her
+with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the
+little dog slept in his bed.
+
+But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay
+the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and
+now Prince Majnun was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or some
+such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried out,
+"What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Laili
+answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Laili, and I want to marry
+you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle, though I
+begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm would happen
+to me, and then a fakir came and threw powder in my face, and I became
+a heap of ashes. But Khuda gave me my life again, and brought me here,
+after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle crying for you, and
+now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you will marry me, I shall
+not be a little dog any more." Majnun, however, said "How can I marry
+an old woman like you? how can you be Laili? I am sure you are a
+Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in great terror.
+
+In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the
+prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old
+woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do
+nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so
+easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in
+great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would came back
+at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you can
+make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old woman as
+you are?"
+
+That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there in
+place of the dog, crying "Majnun, Majnun, I want to marry you. I have
+loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's kingdom
+a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me, and we
+should have been married then if you had not gone away so suddenly, and
+for long, long years I followed you."
+
+"Well," said Majnun, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I
+will marry you."
+
+Laili said, "Oh, that is quite easy. Khuda will make me a young girl
+again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you
+will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your
+room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it
+when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite
+alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at
+all on." In the morning Laili took her little dog's form, and
+disappeared in the garden.
+
+Prince Majnun told all this to his father, who told him to do all the
+old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazir's son
+walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit.
+"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit."
+Husain Mahamat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till
+he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and
+gather it." So Majnun went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and
+he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am
+afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that
+will eat me."
+
+"No," said King Dantal; "remember, Laili will be naked; you must go
+alone and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in the fruit,
+for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call me with a
+loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not be able to
+eat you."
+
+Then Majnun took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for he
+shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Laili, young and
+far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her extreme
+beauty, Majnun fell backwards fainting on the floor.
+
+Laili took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sari
+(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantal,
+and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnun fallen down like this? Why will
+he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen
+me so many, many times."
+
+King Dantal answered, "It is because you are so beautiful. You are far,
+far more beautiful than you ever were. But he will be very happy
+directly." Then the King got some water, and they bathed Majnun's face
+and gave him some to drink, and he sat up again.
+
+Then Laili said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am Laili?"
+
+"Oh!" said Prince Majnun, "I see you are Laili come back to me, but
+your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted when I
+saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantal had all the
+drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments played
+on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to the
+servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakirs.
+
+After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnun and his wife
+went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a
+groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden.
+"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnun.
+
+"No, no," said Laili; "it belongs to a bad Raja, Chumman Basa, a very
+wicked man." But Majnun insisted on going in, and in spite of all Laili
+could say, he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as he was
+looking at the flowers, Laili saw Chumman Basa coming towards them, and
+she read in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and seize her.
+So she said to Majnun, "Come, come, let us go; do not go near that bad
+man. I see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he will kill you
+to seize me."
+
+"What nonsense," said Majnun. "I believe he is a very good Raja.
+Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away."
+
+"Well," said Laili, "it is better that you should be killed than I, for
+if I were to be killed a second time, Khuda would not give me my life
+again; but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now Chumman Basa
+had come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought Prince
+Majnun; but when he was speaking to Majnun, he drew his scimitar and
+cut off the prince's head at one blow.
+
+Laili sat quite still on her horse, and as the Raja came towards her
+she said, "Why did you kill my husband?"
+
+"Because I want to take you," he answered.
+
+"You cannot," said Laili.
+
+"Yes, I can," said the Raja.
+
+"Take me, then," said Laili to Chumman Basa; so he came quite close and
+put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she put
+her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long as her
+hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant till it
+was such a length! and then Laili made a great sweep with her arm and
+her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Basa's head at one touch.
+
+Then Laili slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnun's dead
+body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from
+the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like
+healing medicine. Then she put Majnun's head on his shoulders, and
+smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnun woke up and
+said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had
+slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Raja's dead body by
+Laili's horse.
+
+"What's that?" said Majnun.
+
+"That is the wicked Raja who killed you to seize me, just as I said he
+would."
+
+"Who killed him?" asked Majnun.
+
+"I did," answered Laili, "and it was I who brought you to life."
+
+"Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do so," said Majnun.
+
+"No," said Laili, "for he is a wicked man, and will try to do you
+harm." But Majnun asked her for such a long time, and so earnestly to
+bring the wicked Raja to life, that at least she said, "Jump up on the
+horse, then, and go far away with the groom."
+
+"What will you do," said Majnun, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you."
+
+"I will take care of myself," said Laili; "but this man is so wicked,
+he may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnun got up on the
+horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Laili.
+Then she set the wicked Raja's head straight on his shoulders, and she
+squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine came out
+of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife had passed,
+and just as she saw the Raja opening his eyes, she began to run, and
+she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Raja, who tried to catch
+her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband, and they rode
+so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantal's palace.
+
+There Prince Majnun told everything to his father, who was horrified
+and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said. "Why
+did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now dead."
+Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's safety, and
+gave many, many rupees to the fakirs. And he made so much of Laili. He
+loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he built a
+splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of ground about
+it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and heaps of
+servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but their servants
+to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not allow Majnun to go
+out of them, nor Laili; "for," said King Dantal, "Laili is so
+beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take her away."
+
+
+
+THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL
+
+Once upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to get
+out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when he
+failed.
+
+By chance a poor Brahman came by. "Let me out of this cage, oh pious
+one!" cried the tiger.
+
+"Nay, my friend," replied the Brahman mildly, "you would probably eat
+me if I did."
+
+"Not at all!" swore the tiger with many oaths; "on the contrary, I
+should be for ever grateful, and serve you as a slave!"
+
+Now when the tiger sobbed and sighed and wept and swore, the pious
+Brahman's heart softened, and at last he consented to open the door of
+the cage. Out popped the tiger, and, seizing the poor man, cried, "What
+a fool you are! What is to prevent my eating you now, for after being
+cooped up so long I am just terribly hungry!"
+
+In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a
+promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to
+question as to the justice of the tiger's action.
+
+So the Brahman first asked a _pipal_ tree what it thought of the
+matter, but the _pipal_ tree replied coldly, "What have you to
+complain about? Don't I give shade and shelter to every one who passes
+by, and don't they in return tear down my branches to feed their
+cattle? Don't whimper--be a man!"
+
+Then the Brahman, sad at heart, went further afield till he saw a
+buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it, for it
+answered, "You are a fool to expect gratitude! Look at me! Whilst I
+gave milk they fed me on cotton-seed and oil-cake, but now I am dry
+they yoke me here, and give me refuse as fodder!"
+
+The Brahman, still more sad, asked the road to give him its opinion.
+
+"My dear sir," said the road, "how foolish you are to expect anything
+else! Here am I, useful to everybody, yet all, rich and poor, great and
+small, trample on me as they go past, giving me nothing but the ashes
+of their pipes and the husks of their grain!"
+
+On this the Brahman turned back sorrowfully, and on the way he met a
+jackal, who called out, "Why, what's the matter, Mr. Brahman? You look
+as miserable as a fish out of water!"
+
+The Brahman told him all that had occurred. "How very confusing!" said
+the jackal, when the recital was ended; "would you mind telling me over
+again, for everything has got so mixed up?"
+
+The Brahman told it all over again, but the jackal shook his head in a
+distracted sort of way, and still could not understand.
+
+"It's very odd," said he, sadly, "but it all seems to go in at one ear
+and out at the other! I will go to the place where it all happened, and
+then perhaps I shall be able to give a judgment."
+
+So they returned to the cage, by which the tiger was waiting for the
+Brahman, and sharpening his teeth and claws.
+
+"You've been away a long time!" growled the savage beast, "but now let
+us begin our dinner."
+
+"_Our_ dinner!" thought the wretched Brahman, as his knees knocked
+together with fright; "what a remarkably delicate way of putting it!"
+
+"Give me five minutes, my lord!" he pleaded, "in order that I may
+explain matters to the jackal here, who is somewhat slow in his wits."
+
+The tiger consented, and the Brahman began the whole story over again,
+not missing a single detail, and spinning as long a yarn as possible.
+
+"Oh, my poor brain! oh, my poor brain!" cried the jackal, wringing its
+paws. "Let me see! how did it all begin? You were in the cage, and the
+tiger came walking by--"
+
+"Pooh!" interrupted the tiger, "what a fool you are! _I_ was in
+the cage."
+
+"Of course!" cried the jackal, pretending to tremble with fright; "yes!
+I was in the cage--no I wasn't--dear! dear! where are my wits? Let me
+see--the tiger was in the Brahman, and the cage came walking by--no,
+that's not it, either! Well, don't mind me, but begin your dinner, for
+I shall never understand!"
+
+"Yes, you shall!" returned the tiger, in a rage at the jackal's
+stupidity; "I'll _make_ you understand! Look here--I am the
+tiger--"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the Brahman--"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the cage--"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And I was in the cage--do you understand?"
+
+"Yes--no--Please, my lord--"
+
+"Well?" cried the tiger impatiently.
+
+"Please, my lord!--how did you get in?"
+
+"How!--why in the usual way, of course!"
+
+"Oh, dear me!--my head is beginning to whirl again! Please don't be
+angry, my lord, but what is the usual way?"
+
+At this the tiger lost patience, and, jumping into the cage, cried,
+"This way! Now do you understand how it was?"
+
+"Perfectly!" grinned the jackal, as he dexterously shut the door, "and
+if you will permit me to say so, I think matters will remain as they
+were!"
+
+
+
+THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON
+
+A soothsayer when on his deathbed wrote out the horoscope of his second
+son, whose name was Gangazara, and bequeathed it to him as his only
+property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son. The second
+son thought over the horoscope, and said to himself:
+
+"Alas! am I born to this only in the world? The sayings of my father
+never failed. I have seen them prove true to the last word while he was
+living; and how has he fixed my horoscope! 'FROM MY BIRTH POVERTY!' Nor
+is that my only fate. 'FOR TEN YEARS, IMPRISONMENT'--a fate harder than
+poverty; and what comes next? 'DEATH ON THE SEA-SHORE'; which means
+that I must die away from home, far from friends and relatives on a
+sea-coast. Now comes the most curious part of the horoscope, that I am
+to 'HAVE SOME HAPPINESS AFTERWARDS!' What this happiness is, is an
+enigma to me."
+
+Thus thought he, and after all the funeral obsequies of his father were
+over, took leave of his elder brother, and started for Benares. He went
+by the middle of the Deccan, avoiding both the coasts, and went on
+journeying and journeying for weeks and months, till at last he reached
+the Vindhya mountains. While passing that desert he had to journey for
+a couple of days through a sandy plain, with no signs of life or
+vegetation. The little store of provision with which he was provided
+for a couple of days, at last was exhausted. The chombu, which he
+carried always full, filling it with the sweet water from the flowing
+rivulet or plenteous tank, he had exhausted in the heat of the desert.
+There was not a morsel in his hand to eat; nor a drop of water to
+drink. Turn his eyes wherever he might he found a vast desert, out of
+which he saw no means of escape. Still he thought within himself,
+"Surely my father's prophecy never proved untrue. I must survive this
+calamity to find my death on some sea-coast." So thought he, and this
+thought gave him strength of mind to walk fast and try to find a drop
+of water somewhere to slake his dry throat.
+
+At last he succeeded; heaven threw in his way a ruined well. He thought
+he could collect some water if he let down his chombu with the string
+that he always carried noosed to the neck of it. Accordingly he let it
+down; it went some way and stopped, and the following words came from
+the well: "Oh, relieve me! I am the king of tigers, dying here of
+hunger. For the last three days I have had nothing. Fortune has sent
+you here. If you assist me now you will find a sure help in me
+throughout your life. Do not think that I am a beast of prey. When you
+have become my deliverer I will never touch you. Pray, kindly lift me
+up." Gangazara thought: "Shall I take him out or not? If I take him out
+he may make me the first morsel of his hungry mouth. No; that he will
+not do. For my father's prophecy never came untrue. I must die on a sea
+coast, and not by a tiger." Thus thinking, he asked the tiger-king to
+hold tight to the vessel, which he accordingly did, and he lifted him
+up slowly. The tiger reached the top of the well and felt himself on
+safe ground. True to his word, he did no harm to Gangazara. On the
+other hand, he walked round his patron three times, and standing before
+him, humbly spoke the following words: "My life-giver, my benefactor!
+I shall never forget this day, when I regained my life through your
+kind hands. In return for this kind assistance I pledge my oath to
+stand by you in all calamities. Whenever you are in any difficulty
+just think of me. I am there with you ready to oblige you by all the
+means that I can. To tell you briefly how I came in here: Three days
+ago I was roaming in yonder forest, when I saw a goldsmith passing
+through it. I chased him. He, finding it impossible to escape my claws,
+jumped into this well, and is living to this moment in the very bottom
+of it. I also jumped in, but found myself on the first ledge of the
+well; he is on the last and fourth ledge. In the second lives a serpent
+half-famished with hunger. On the third lies a rat, also half-famished,
+and when you again begin to draw water these may request you first to
+release them. In the same way the goldsmith also may ask you. I beg
+you, as your bosom friend, never assist that wretched man, though he is
+your relation as a human being. Goldsmiths are never to be trusted. You
+can place more faith in me, a tiger, though I feast sometimes upon men,
+in a serpent, whose sting makes your blood cold the very next moment,
+or in a rat, which does a thousand pieces of mischief in your house.
+But never trust a goldsmith. Do not release him; and if you do, you
+shall surely repent of it one day or other." Thus advising, the hungry
+tiger went away without waiting for an answer.
+
+Gangazara thought several times of the eloquent way in which the tiger
+spoke, and admired his fluency of speech. But still his thirst was not
+quenched. So he let down his vessel again, which was now caught hold of
+by the serpent, who addressed him thus: "Oh, my protector! Lift me up.
+I am the king of serpents, and the son of Adisesha, who is now pining
+away in agony for my disappearance. Release me now. I shall ever remain
+your servant, remember your assistance, and help you throughout life in
+all possible ways. Oblige me: I am dying." Gangazara, calling again to
+mind the "DEATH ON THE SEA-SHORE" of the prophecy lifted him up. He,
+like the tiger-king, walked round him thrice, and prostrating himself
+before him spoke thus: "Oh, my life-giver, my father, for so I must
+call you, as you have given me another birth. I was three days ago
+basking myself in the morning sun, when I saw a rat running before me.
+I chased him. He fell into this well. I followed him, but instead of
+falling on the third storey where he is now lying, I fell into the
+second. I am going away now to see my father. Whenever you are in any
+difficulty just think of me. I will be there by your side to assist you
+by all possible means." So saying, the Nagaraja glided away in zigzag
+movements, and was out of sight in a moment.
+
+The poor son of the Soothsayer, who was now almost dying of thirst, let
+down his vessel for a third time. The rat caught hold of it, and
+without discussing he lifted up the poor animal at once. But it would
+not go away without showing its gratitude: "Oh, life of my life! My
+benefactor! I am the king of rats. Whenever you are in any calamity
+just think of me. I will come to you, and assist you. My keen ears
+overheard all that the tiger-king told you about the goldsmith, who is
+in the fourth storey. It is nothing but a sad truth that goldsmiths
+ought never to be trusted. Therefore, never assist him as you have done
+to us all. And if you do, you will suffer for it. I am hungry; let me
+go for the present." Thus taking leave of his benefactor, the rat, too,
+ran away.
+
+Gangazara for a while thought upon the repeated advice given by the
+three animals about releasing the goldsmith: "What wrong would there be
+in my assisting him? Why should I not release him also?" So thinking to
+himself, Gangazara let down the vessel again. The goldsmith caught hold
+of it, and demanded help. The Soothsayer's son had no time to lose; he
+was himself dying of thirst.
+
+Therefore he lifted the goldsmith up, who now began his story. "Stop
+for a while," said Gangazara, and after quenching his thirst by letting
+down his vessel for the fifth time, still fearing that some one might
+remain in the well and demand his assistance, he listened to the
+goldsmith, who began as follows: "My dear friend, my protector, what a
+deal of nonsense these brutes have been talking to you about me; I am
+glad you have not followed their advice. I am just now dying of hunger.
+Permit me to go away. My name is Manikkasari. I live in the East main
+street of Ujjaini, which is twenty kas to the south of this place, and
+so lies on your way when you return from Benares. Do not forget to come
+to me and receive my kind remembrances of your assistance, on your way
+back to your country." So saying, the goldsmith took his leave, and
+Gangazara also pursued his way north after the above adventures.
+
+He reached Benares, and lived there for more than ten years, and quite
+forgot the tiger, serpent, rat, and goldsmith. After ten years of
+religious life, thoughts of home and of his brother rushed into his
+mind. "I have secured enough merit now by my religious observances. Let
+me return home." Thus thought Gangazara within himself, and very soon
+he was on his way back to his country. Remembering the prophecy of his
+father he returned by the same way by which he went to Benares ten
+years before. While thus retracing his steps he reached the ruined well
+where he had released the three brute kings and the gold smith. At once
+the old recollections rushed into his mind, and he thought of the tiger
+to test his fidelity. Only a moment passed, and the tiger-king came
+running before him carrying a large crown in his mouth, the glitter of
+the diamonds of which for a time outshone even the bright rays of the
+sun. He dropped the crown at his life-giver's feet, and, putting aside
+all his pride, humbled himself like a pet cat to the strokes of his
+protector, and began in the following words: "My life-giver! How is it
+that you have forgotten me, your poor servant, for such a long time? I
+am glad to find that I still occupy a corner in your mind. I can never
+forget the day when I owed my life to your lotus hands. I have several
+jewels with me of little value. This crown, being the best of all, I
+have brought here as a single ornament of great value, which you can
+carry with you and dispose of in your own country." Gangazara looked at
+the crown, examined it over and over, counted and recounted the gems,
+and thought within himself that he would become the richest of men by
+separating the diamonds and gold, and selling them in his own country.
+He took leave of the tiger-king, and after his disappearance thought of
+the kings of serpents and rats, who came in their turn with their
+presents, and after the usual greetings and exchange of words took
+their leave. Gangazara was extremely delighted at the faithfulness with
+which the brute beasts behaved, and went on his way to the south. While
+going along he spoke to himself thus: "These beasts have been very
+faithful in their assistance. Much more, therefore, must Manikkasari be
+faithful. I do not want anything from him now. If I take this crown
+with me as it is, it occupies much space in my bundle. It may also
+excite the curiosity of some robbers on the way. I will go now to
+Ujjaini on my way. Manikkasari requested me to see him without failure
+on my return journey. I shall do so, and request him to have the crown
+melted, the diamonds and gold separated. He must do that kindness at
+least for me. I shall then roll up these diamonds and gold ball in my
+rags, and wend my way homewards." Thus thinking and thinking, he
+reached Ujjaini. At once he inquired for the house of his goldsmith
+friend, and found him without difficulty. Manikkasari was extremely
+delighted to find on his threshold him who ten years before,
+notwithstanding the advice repeatedly given him by the sage-looking
+tiger, serpent, and rat, had relieved him from the pit of death.
+Gangazara at once showed him the crown that he received from the tiger-
+king, told him how he got it, and requested his kind assistance to
+separate the gold and diamonds. Manikkasari agreed to do so, and
+meanwhile asked his friend to rest himself for a while to have his bath
+and meals; and Gangazara, who was very observant of his religious
+ceremonies, went direct to the river to bathe.
+
+How came the crown in the jaws of the tiger? The king of Ujjaini had a
+week before gone with all his hunters on a hunting expedition. All of a
+sudden the tiger-king started from the wood, seized the king, and
+vanished.
+
+When the king's attendants informed the prince about the death of his
+father he wept and wailed, and gave notice that he would give half of
+his kingdom to any one who should bring him news about the murderer of
+his father. The goldsmith knew full well that it was a tiger that
+killed the king, and not any hunter's hands, since he had heard from
+Gangazara how he obtained the crown. Still, he resolved to denounce
+Gangazara as the king's murderer, so, hiding the crown under his
+garments, he flew to the palace. He went before the prince and informed
+him that the assassin was caught, and placed the crown before him.
+
+The prince took it into his hands, examined it, and at once gave half
+the kingdom to Manikkasari, and then inquired about the murderer. "He
+is bathing in the river, and is of such and such appearance," was the
+reply. At once four armed soldiers flew to the river, and bound the
+poor Brahman hand and foot, while he, sitting in meditation, was
+without any knowledge of the fate that hung over him. They brought
+Gangazara to the presence of the prince, who turned his face away from
+the supposed murderer, and asked his soldiers to throw him into a
+dungeon. In a minute, without knowing the cause, the poor Brahman found
+himself in the dark dungeon.
+
+It was a dark cellar underground, built with strong stone walls, into
+which any criminal guilty of a capital offence was ushered to breathe
+his last there without food and drink. Such was the cellar into which
+Gangazara was thrust. What were his thoughts when he reached that
+place? "It is of no use to accuse either the goldsmith or the prince
+now. We are all the children of fate. We must obey her commands. This
+is but the first day of my father's prophecy. So far his statement is
+true. But how am I going to pass ten years here? Perhaps without
+anything to sustain life I may drag on my existence for a day or two.
+But how pass ten years? That cannot be, and I must die. Before death
+comes let me think of my faithful brute friends."
+
+So pondered Gangazara in the dark cell underground, and at that moment
+thought of his three friends. The tiger-king, serpent-king, and rat-
+king assembled at once with their armies at a garden near the dungeon,
+and for a while did not know what to do. They held their council, and
+decided to make an underground passage from the inside of a ruined well
+to the dungeon. The rat raja issued an order at once to that effect to
+his army. They, with their teeth, bored the ground a long way to the
+walls of the prison. After reaching it they found that their teeth
+could not work on the hard stones. The bandicoots were then specially
+ordered for the business; they, with their hard teeth, made a small
+slit in the wall for a rat to pass and re-pass without difficulty. Thus
+a passage was effected.
+
+The rat raja entered first to condole with his protector on his
+misfortune, and undertook to supply his protector with provisions.
+"Whatever sweetmeats or bread are prepared in any house, one and all of
+you must try to bring whatever you can to our benefactor. Whatever
+clothes you find hanging in a house, cut down, dip the pieces in water,
+and bring the wet bits to our benefactor. He will squeeze them and
+gather water for drink! and the bread and sweetmeats shall form his
+food." Having issued these orders, the king of the rats took leave of
+Gangazara. They, in obedience to their king's order, continued to
+supply him with provisions and water.
+
+The snake-king said: "I sincerely condole with you in your calamity;
+the tiger-king also fully sympathises with you, and wants me to tell
+you so, as he cannot drag his huge body here as we have done with our
+small ones. The king of the rats has promised to do his best to provide
+you with food. We would now do what we can for your release. From this
+day we shall issue orders to our armies to oppress all the subjects of
+this kingdom. The deaths by snake-bite and tigers shall increase a
+hundredfold from this day, and day by day it shall continue to increase
+till your release. Whenever you hear people near you, you had better
+bawl out so as to be heard by them: 'The wretched prince imprisoned me
+on the false charge of having killed his father, while it was a tiger
+that killed him. From that day these calamities have broken out in his
+dominions. If I were released I would save all by my powers of healing
+poisonous wounds and by incantations.' Some one may report this to the
+king, and if he knows it, you will obtain your liberty." Thus
+comforting his protector in trouble, he advised him to pluck up
+courage, and took leave of him. From that day tigers and serpents,
+acting under the orders of their kings, united in killing as many
+persons and cattle as possible. Every day people were carried away by
+tigers or bitten by serpents. Thus passed months and years. Gangazara
+sat in the dark cellar, without the sun's light falling upon him, and
+feasted upon the breadcrumbs and sweetmeats that the rats so kindly
+supplied him with. These delicacies had completely changed his body
+into a red, stout, huge, unwieldy mass of flesh. Thus passed full ten
+years, as prophesied in the horoscope.
+
+Ten complete years rolled away in close imprisonment. On the last
+evening of the tenth year one of the serpents got into the bed-chamber
+of the princess and sucked her life. She breathed her last. She was the
+only daughter of the king. The king at once sent for all the snake-bite
+curers. He promised half his kingdom and his daughter's hand to him who
+would restore her to life. Now a servant of the king who had several
+times overheard Gangazara's cries, reported the matter to him. The king
+at once ordered the cell to be examined. There was the man sitting in
+it. How had he managed to live so long in the cell? Some whispered that
+he must be a divine being. Thus they discussed, while they brought
+Gangazara to the king.
+
+The king no sooner saw Gangazara than he fell on the ground. He was
+struck by the majesty and grandeur of his person. His ten years'
+imprisonment in the deep cell underground had given a sort of lustre to
+his body. His hair had first to be cut before his face could be seen.
+The king begged forgiveness for his former fault, and requested him to
+revive his daughter.
+
+"Bring me within an hour all the corpses of men and cattle, dying and
+dead, that remain unburnt or unburied within the range of your
+dominions; I shall revive them all," were the only words that Gangazara
+spoke.
+
+Cartloads of corpses of men and cattle began to come in every minute.
+Even graves, it is said, were broken open, and corpses buried a day or
+two before were taken out and sent for their revival. As soon as all
+were ready, Gangazara took a vessel full of water and sprinkled it over
+them all, thinking only of his snake-king and tiger-king. All rose up
+as if from deep slumber, and went to their respective homes. The
+princess, too, was restored to life. The joy of the king knew no
+bounds. He cursed the day on which he imprisoned him, blamed himself
+for having believed the word of a goldsmith, and offered him the hand
+of his daughter and the whole kingdom, instead of half, as he promised.
+Gangazara would not accept anything, but asked the king to assemble all
+his subjects in a wood near the town. "I shall there call in all the
+tigers and serpents, and give them a general order."
+
+When the whole town was assembled, just at the dusk of evening,
+Gangazara sat dumb for a moment, and thought upon the Tiger King and
+the Serpent King, who came with all their armies. People began to take
+to their heels at the sight of tigers. Gangazara assured them of
+safety, and stopped them.
+
+The grey light of the evening, the pumpkin colour of Gangazara, the
+holy ashes scattered lavishly over his body, the tigers and snakes
+humbling themselves at his feet, gave him the true majesty of the god
+Gangazara. For who else by a single word could thus command vast armies
+of tigers and serpents, said some among the people. "Care not for it;
+it may be by magic. That is not a great thing. That he revived
+cartloads of corpses shows him to be surely Gangazara," said others.
+
+"Why should you, my children, thus trouble these poor subjects of
+Ujjaini? Reply to me, and henceforth desist from your ravages." Thus
+said the Soothsayer's son, and the following reply came from the king
+of the tigers: "Why should this base king imprison your honour,
+believing the mere word of a goldsmith that your honour killed his
+father? All the hunters told him that his father was carried away by a
+tiger. I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck.
+I did it, and gave the crown to your honour. The prince makes no
+inquiry, and at once imprisons your honour. How can we expect justice
+from such a stupid king as that? Unless he adopt a better standard of
+justice we will go on with our destruction."
+
+The king heard, cursed the day on which he believed in the word of a
+goldsmith, beat his head, tore his hair, wept and wailed for his crime,
+asked a thousand pardons, and swore to rule in a just way from that
+day. The serpent-king and tiger-king also promised to observe their
+oath as long as justice prevailed, and took their leave. The gold-smith
+fled for his life. He was caught by the soldiers of the king, and was
+pardoned by the generous Gangazara, whose voice now reigned supreme.
+All returned to their homes. The king again pressed Gangazara to accept
+the hand of his daughter. He agreed to do so, not then, but some time
+afterwards. He wished to go and see his elder brother first, and then
+to return and marry the princess. The king agreed; and Gangazara left
+the city that very day on his way home.
+
+It so happened that unwittingly he took a wrong road, and had to pass
+near a sea-coast. His elder brother was also on his way up to Benares
+by that very same route. They met and recognised each other, even at a
+distance. They flew into each other's arms. Both remained still for a
+time almost unconscious with joy. The pleasure of Gangazara was so
+great that he died of joy.
+
+The elder brother was a devout worshipper of Ganesa. That was a Friday,
+a day very sacred to that god. The elder brother took the corpse to the
+nearest Ganesa temple and called upon him. The god came, and asked him
+what he wanted. "My poor brother is dead and gone; and this is his
+corpse. Kindly keep it in your charge till I finish worshipping you. If
+I leave it anywhere else the devils may snatch it away when I am absent
+worshipping you; after finishing the rites I shall burn him." Thus said
+the elder brother, and, giving the corpse to the god Ganesa, he went to
+prepare himself for that deity's ceremonials. Ganesa made over the
+corpse to his Ganas, asking them to watch over it carefully. But
+instead of that they devoured it.
+
+The elder brother, after finishing the puja, demanded his brother's
+corpse of the god. The god called his Ganas, who came to the front
+blinking, and fearing the anger of their master. The god was greatly
+enraged. The elder brother was very angry. When the corpse was not
+forthcoming he cuttingly remarked, "Is this, after all, the return for
+my deep belief in you? You are unable even to return my brother's
+corpse." Ganesa was much ashamed at the remark. So he, by his divine
+power, gave him a living Gangazara instead of the dead corpse. Thus was
+the second son of the Soothsayer restored to life.
+
+The brothers had a long talk about each other's adventures. They both
+went to Ujjaini, where Gangazara married the princess, and succeeded to
+the throne of that kingdom. He reigned for a long time, conferring
+several benefits upon his brother. And so the horoscope was fully
+fulfilled.
+
+
+
+HARISAMAN
+
+There was a certain Brahman in a certain village, named Harisarman. He
+was poor and foolish and in evil case for want of employment, and he
+had very many children, that he might reap the fruit of his misdeeds in
+a former life. He wandered about begging with his family, and at last
+he reached a certain city, and entered the service of a rich
+householder called Sthuladatta. His sons became keepers of
+Sthuladatta's cows and other property, and his wife a servant to him,
+and he himself lived near his house, performing the duty of an
+attendant. One day there was a feast on account of the marriage of the
+daughter of Sthuladatta, largely attended by many friends of the bride-
+groom, and merry-makers. Harisarman hoped that he would be able to fill
+himself up to the throat with ghee and flesh and other dainties, and
+get the same for his family, in the house of his patron. While he was
+anxiously expecting to be fed, no one thought of him.
+
+Then he was distressed at getting nothing to eat, and he said to his
+wife at night, "It is owing to my poverty and stupidity that I am
+treated with such disrespect here; so I will pretend by means of an
+artifice to possess a knowledge of magic, so that I may become an
+object of respect to this Sthuladatta; so, when you get an opportunity,
+tell him that I possess magical knowledge." He said this to her, and
+after turning the matter over in his mind, while people were asleep he
+took away from the house of Sthuladatta a horse on which his master's
+son-in-law rode. He placed it in concealment at some distance, and in
+the morning the friends of the bridegroom could not find the horse,
+though they searched in every direction. Then, while Sthuladatta was
+distressed at the evil omen, and searching for the thieves who had
+carried off the horse, the wife of Harisarman came and said to him,
+"My husband is a wise man, skilled in astrology and magical sciences;
+he can get the horse back for you; why do you not ask him?"
+
+When Sthuladatta heard that, he called Harisarman, who said, "Yesterday
+I was forgotten, but to-day, now the horse is stolen, I am called to
+mind," and Sthuladatta then propitiated the Brahman with these words--
+"I forgot you, forgive me"--and asked him to tell him who had taken
+away their horse. Then Harisarman drew all kinds of pretended diagrams,
+and said: "The horse has been placed by thieves on the boundary line
+south from this place. It is concealed there, and before it is carried
+off to a distance, as it will be at close of day, go quickly and bring
+it." When they heard that, many men ran and brought the horse quickly,
+praising the discernment of Harisarman. Then Harisarman was honoured by
+all men as a sage, and dwelt there in happiness, honoured by
+Sthuladatta.
+
+Now, as days went on, much treasure, both of gold and jewels, had been
+stolen by a thief from the palace of the king. As the thief was not
+known, the king quickly summoned Harisarman on account of his
+reputation for knowledge of magic. And he, when summoned, tried to gain
+time, and said, "I will tell you to-morrow," and then he was placed in
+a chamber by the king, and carefully guarded. And he was sad because he
+had pretended to have knowledge. Now in that palace there was a maid
+named Jihva (which means Tongue), who, with the assistance of her
+brother, had stolen that treasure from the interior of the palace. She,
+being alarmed at Harisarman's knowledge, went at night and applied her
+ear to the door of that chamber in order to find out what he was about.
+And Harisarman, who was alone inside, was at that very moment blaming
+his own tongue, that had made a vain assumption of knowledge. He said:
+"O Tongue, what is this that you have done through your greediness?
+Wicked one, you will soon receive punishment in full." When Jihva heard
+this, she thought, in her terror, that she had been discovered by this
+wise man, and she managed to get in where he was, and falling at his
+feet, she said to the supposed wizard: "Brahman, here I am, that Jihva
+whom you have discovered to be the thief of the treasure, and after I
+took it I buried it in the earth in a garden behind the palace, under a
+pomegranate tree. So spare me, and receive the small quantity of gold
+which is in my possession."
+
+When Harisarman heard that, he said to her proudly: "Depart, I know all
+this; I know the past, present and future; but I will not denounce you,
+being a miserable creature that has implored my protection. But
+whatever gold is in your possession you must give back to me." When he
+said this to the maid, she consented, and departed quickly. But
+Harisarman reflected in his astonishment: "Fate brings about, as if in
+sport, things impossible, for when calamity was so near, who would have
+thought chance would have brought us success? While I was blaming my
+jihva, the thief Jihva suddenly flung herself at my feet. Secret crimes
+manifest themselves by means of fear." Thus thinking, he passed the
+night happily in the chamber. And in the morning he brought the king,
+by some skilful parade of pretended knowledge into the garden, and led
+him up to the treasure, which was buried under the pomegranate tree,
+and said that the thief had escaped with a part of it. Then the king
+was pleased, and gave him the revenue of many villages.
+
+But the minister, named Devajnanin, whispered in the king's ear: "How
+can a man possess such knowledge unattainable by men, without having
+studied the books of magic; you may be certain that this is a specimen
+of the way he makes a dishonest livelihood, by having a secret
+intelligence with thieves. It will be much better to test him by some
+new artifice." Then the king of his own accord brought a covered
+pitcher into which he had thrown a frog, and said to Harisarman,
+"Brahman, if you can guess what there is in this pitcher, I will do you
+great honour to-day." When the Brahman Harisarman heard that, he
+thought that his last hour had come, and he called to mind the pet name
+of "Froggie" which his father had given him in his childhood in sport,
+and, impelled by luck, he called to himself by his pet name, lamenting
+his hard fate, and suddenly called out: "This is a fine pitcher for
+you, Froggie; it will soon become the swift destroyer of your helpless
+self." The people there, when they heard him say that, raised a shout
+of applause, because his speech chimed in so well with the object
+presented to him, and murmured, "Ah! a great sage, he knows even about
+the frog!" Then the king, thinking that this was all due to knowledge
+of divination, was highly delighted, and gave Harisarman the revenue of
+more villages, with gold, an umbrella, and state carriages of all
+kinds. So Harisarman prospered in the world.
+
+
+
+THE CHARMED RING
+
+A merchant started his son in life with three hundred rupees, and bade
+him go to another country and try his luck in trade. The son took the
+money and departed. He had not gone far before he came across some
+herdsmen quarrelling over a dog, that some of them wished to kill.
+"Please do not kill the dog," pleaded the young and tender-hearted
+fellow; "I will give you one hundred rupees for it." Then and there, of
+course, the bargain was concluded, and the foolish fellow took the dog,
+and continued his journey. He next met with some people fighting about
+a cat. Some of them wanted to kill it, but others not. "Oh! please do
+not kill it," said he; "I will give you one hundred rupees for it." Of
+course they at once gave him the cat and took the money. He went on
+till he reached a village, where some folk were quarrelling over a
+snake that had just been caught. Some of them wished to kill it, but
+others did not. "Please do not kill the snake," said he; "I will give
+you one hundred rupees." Of course the people agreed, and were highly
+delighted.
+
+What a fool the fellow was! What would he do now that all his money was
+gone? What could he do except return to his father? Accordingly he went
+home.
+
+"You fool! You scamp!" exclaimed his father when he had heard how his
+son had wasted all the money that had been given to him. "Go and live
+in the stables and repent of your folly. You shall never again enter my
+house."
+
+So the young man went and lived in the stables. His bed was the grass
+spread for the cattle, and his companions were the dog, the cat, and
+the snake, which he had purchased so dearly. These creatures got very
+fond of him, and would follow him about during the day, and sleep by
+him at night; the cat used to sleep at his feet, the dog at his head,
+and the snake over his body, with its head hanging on one side and its
+tail on the other.
+
+One day the snake in course of conversation said to its master, "I am
+the son of Raja Indrasha. One day, when I had come out of the ground to
+drink the air, some people seized me, and would have slain me had you
+not most opportunely arrived to my rescue. I do not know how I shall
+ever be able to repay you for your great kindness to me. Would that you
+knew my father! How glad he would be to see his son's preserver!"
+
+"Where does he live? I should like to see him, if possible," said the
+young man.
+
+"Well said!" continued the snake. "Do you see yonder mountain? At the
+bottom of that mountain there is a sacred spring. If you will come with
+me and dive into that spring, we shall both reach my father's country.
+Oh! how glad he will be to see you! He will wish to reward you, too.
+But how can he do that? However, you may be pleased to accept something
+at his hand. If he asks you what you would like, you would, perhaps, do
+well to reply, 'The ring on your right hand, and the famous pot and
+spoon which you possess.' With these in your possession, you would
+never need anything, for the ring is such that a man has only to speak
+to it, and immediately a beautiful furnished mansion will be provided
+for him, while the pot and the spoon will supply him with all manner of
+the rarest and most delicious foods."
+
+Attended by his three companions the man walked to the well and
+prepared to jump in, according to the snake's directions. "O master!"
+exclaimed the cat and dog, when they saw what he was going to do. "What
+shall we do? Where shall we go?"
+
+"Wait for me here," he replied. "I am not going far. I shall not be
+long away." On saying this, he dived into the water and was lost to
+sight.
+
+"Now what shall we do?" said the dog to the cat. "We must remain here,"
+replied the cat, "as our master ordered. Do not be anxious about food.
+I will go to the people's houses and get plenty of food for both of
+us." And so the cat did, and they both lived very comfortably till
+their master came again and joined them.
+
+The young man and the snake reached their destination in safety; and
+information of their arrival was sent to the Raja. His highness
+commanded his son and the stranger to appear before him. But the snake
+refused, saying that it could not go to its father till it was released
+from this stranger, who had saved it from a most terrible death, and
+whose slave it therefore was. Then the Raja went and embraced his son,
+and saluting the stranger welcomed him to his dominions. The young man
+stayed there a few days, during which he received the Raja's right-hand
+ring, and the pot and spoon, in recognition of His Highness's gratitude
+to him for having delivered his son. He then returned. On reaching the
+top of the spring he found his friends, the dog and the cat, waiting
+for him. They told one another all they had experienced since they had
+last seen each other, and were all very glad. Afterwards they walked
+together to the river side, where it was decided to try the powers of
+the charmed ring and pot and spoon.
+
+The merchant's son spoke to the ring, and immediately a beautiful house
+and a lovely princess with golden hair appeared. He spoke to the pot
+and spoon, also, and the most delicious dishes of food were provided
+for them. So he married the princess, and they lived very happily for
+several years, until one morning the princess, while arranging her
+toilet, put the loose hairs into a hollow bit of reed and threw them
+into the river that flowed along under the window. The reed floated on
+the water for many miles, and was at last picked up by the prince of
+that country, who curiously opened it and saw the golden hair. On
+finding it the prince rushed off to the palace, locked himself up in
+his room, and would not leave it. He had fallen desperately in love
+with the woman whose hair he had picked up, and refused to eat, or
+drink, or sleep, or move, till she was brought to him. The king, his
+father, was in great distress about the matter, and did not know what
+to do. He feared lest his son should die and leave him without an heir.
+At last he determined to seek the counsel of his aunt, who was an
+ogress. The old woman consented to help him, and bade him not to be
+anxious, as she felt certain that she would succeed in getting the
+beautiful woman for his son's wife.
+
+She assumed the shape of a bee and went along buzzing, and buzzing, and
+buzzing. Her keen sense of smell soon brought her to the beautiful
+princess, to whom she appeared as an old hag, holding in one hand a
+stick by way of support. She introduced herself to the beautiful
+princess and said, "I am your aunt, whom you have never seen before,
+because I left the country just after your birth." She also embraced
+and kissed the princess by way of adding force to her words. The
+beautiful princess was thoroughly deceived. She returned the ogress's
+embrace, and invited her to come and stay in the house as long as she
+could, and treated her with such honour and attention, that the ogress
+thought to herself, "I shall soon accomplish my errand." When she had
+been in the house three days, she began to talk of the charmed ring,
+and advised her to keep it instead of her husband, because the latter
+was constantly out shooting and on other such-like expeditions, and
+might lose it. Accordingly the beautiful princess asked her husband for
+the ring, and he readily gave it to her.
+
+The ogress waited another day before she asked to see the precious
+thing. Doubting nothing, the beautiful princess complied, when the
+ogress seized the ring, and reassuming the form of a bee flew away with
+it to the palace, where the prince was lying nearly on the point of
+death. "Rise up. Be glad. Mourn no more," she said to him. "The woman
+for whom you yearn will appear at your summons. See, here is the charm,
+whereby you may bring her before you." The prince was almost mad with
+joy when he heard these words, and was so desirous of seeing the
+beautiful princess, that he immediately spoke to the ring, and the
+house with its fair occupant descended in the midst of the palace
+garden. He at once entered the building, and telling the beautiful
+princess of his intense love, entreated her to be his wife. Seeing no
+escape from the difficulty, she consented on the condition that he
+would wait one month for her.
+
+Meanwhile the merchant's son had returned from hunting and was terribly
+distressed not to find his house and wife. There was the place only,
+just as he knew it before he had tried the charmed ring which Raja
+Indrasha had given him. He sat down and determined to put an end to
+himself. Presently the cat and dog came up. They had gone away and
+hidden themselves, when they saw the house and everything disappear. "O
+master!" they said, "stay your hand. Your trial is great, but it can be
+remedied. Give us one month, and we will go and try to recover your
+wife and house."
+
+"Go," said he, "and may the great God aid your efforts. Bring back my
+wife, and I shall live."
+
+So the cat and dog started off at a run, and did not stop till they
+reached the place whither their mistress and the house had been taken.
+"We may have some difficulty here," said the cat. "Look, the king has
+taken our master's wife and house for himself. You stay here. I will go
+to the house and try to see her." So the dog sat down, and the cat
+climbed up to the window of the room, wherein the beautiful princess
+was sitting, and entered. The princess recognised the cat, and informed
+it of all that had happened to her since she had left them.
+
+"But is there no way of escape from the hands of these people?" she
+asked.
+
+"Yes," replied the cat, "if you can tell me where the charmed ring is."
+
+"The ring is in the stomach of the ogress," she said.
+
+"All right," said the cat, "I will recover it. If we once get it,
+everything is ours." Then the cat descended the wall of the house, and
+went and laid down by a rat's hole and pretended she was dead. Now at
+that time a great wedding chanced to be going on among the rat
+community of that place, and all the rats of the neighbourhood were
+assembled in that one particular mine by which the cat had lain down.
+The eldest son of the king of the rats was about to be married. The cat
+got to know of this, and at once conceived the idea of seizing the
+bridegroom and making him render the necessary help. Consequently, when
+the procession poured forth from the hole squealing and jumping in
+honour of the occasion, it immediately spotted the bridegroom and
+pounced down on him. "Oh! let me go, let me go," cried the terrified
+rat. "Oh! let him go," squealed all the company. "It is his wedding
+day."
+
+"No, no," replied the cat. "Not unless you do some thing for me.
+Listen. The ogress, who lives in that house with the prince and his
+wife, has swallowed a ring, which I very much want. If you will procure
+it for me, I will allow the rat to depart unharmed. If you do not, then
+your prince dies under my feet."
+
+"Very well, we agree," said they all. "Nay, if we do not get the ring
+for you, devour us all."
+
+This was rather a bold offer. However, they accomplished the thing. At
+midnight, when the ogress was sound asleep, one of the rats went to her
+bedside, climbed up on her face, and inserted its tail into her throat;
+whereupon the ogress coughed violently, and the ring came out and
+rolled on to the floor. The rat immediately seized the precious thing
+and ran off with it to its king, who was very glad, and went at once to
+the cat and released its son.
+
+As soon as the cat received the ring, she started back with the dog to
+go and tell their master the good tidings. All seemed safe now. They
+had only to give the ring to him, and he would speak to it, and the
+house and beautiful princess would again be with them, and everything
+would go on as happily as before. "How glad master will be!" they
+thought, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Now, on the
+way they had to cross a stream. The dog swam, and the cat sat on its
+back. Now the dog was jealous of the cat, so he asked for the ring, and
+threatened to throw the cat into the water if it did not give it up;
+whereupon the cat gave up the ring. Sorry moment, for the dog at once
+dropped it, and a fish swallowed it.
+
+"Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" said the dog.
+
+"What is done is done," replied the cat. "We must try to recover it,
+and if we do not succeed we had better drown ourselves in this stream.
+I have a plan. You go and kill a small lamb, and bring it here to me."
+
+"All right," said the dog, and at once ran off. He soon came back with
+a dead lamb, and gave it to the cat. The cat got inside the lamb and
+lay down, telling the dog to go away a little distance and keep quiet.
+Not long after this a nadhar, a bird whose look can break the bones of
+a fish, came and hovered over the lamb, and eventually pounced down on
+it to carry it away. On this the cat came out and jumped on to the
+bird, and threatened to kill it if it did not recover the lost ring.
+This was most readily promised by the nadhar, who immediately flew off
+to the king of the fishes, and ordered it to make inquiries and to
+restore the ring. The king of the fishes did so, and the ring was found
+and carried back to the cat.
+
+"Come along now; I have got the ring," said the cat to the dog.
+
+"No, I will not," said the dog, "unless you let me have the ring. I can
+carry it as well as you. Let me have it or I will kill you." So the cat
+was obliged to give up the ring. The careless dog very soon dropped it
+again. This time it was picked up and carried off by a kite.
+
+"See, see, there it goes--away to that big tree," the cat exclaimed.
+
+"Oh! oh! what have I done?" cried the dog.
+
+"You foolish thing, I knew it would be so," said the cat. "But stop
+your barking, or you will frighten away the bird to some place where we
+shall not be able to trace it."
+
+The cat waited till it was quite dark, and then climbed the tree,
+killed the kite, and recovered the ring. "Come along," it said to the
+dog when it reached the ground. "We must make haste now. We have been
+delayed. Our master will die from grief and suspense. Come on."
+
+The dog, now thoroughly ashamed of itself, begged the cat's pardon for
+all the trouble it had given. It was afraid to ask for the ring the
+third time, so they both reached their sorrowing master in safety and
+gave him the precious charm. In a moment his sorrow was turned into
+joy. He spoke to the ring, and his beautiful wife and house reappeared,
+and he and everybody were as happy as ever they could be.
+
+
+
+THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE
+
+The future Buddha was once born in a minister's family, when Brahma-
+datta was reigning in Benares; and when he grew up, he became the
+king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual.
+
+Now this king was very talkative; while he was speaking, others had no
+opportunity for a word. And the future Buddha, wanting to cure this
+talkativeness of his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing
+so.
+
+At that time there was living, in a pond in the Himalaya mountains, a
+tortoise. Two young hamsas, or wild ducks, who came to feed there, made
+friends with him. And one day, when they had become very intimate with
+him, they said to the tortoise:
+
+"Friend tortoise! the place where we live, at the Golden Cave on Mount
+Beautiful in the Himalaya country, is a delightful spot. Will you come
+there with us?"
+
+"But how can I get there?"
+
+"We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, and will say
+nothing to anybody."
+
+"Oh! that I can do. Take me with you."
+
+"That's right," said they. And making the tortoise bite hold of a
+stick, they themselves took the two ends in their teeth, and flew up
+into the air.
+
+Seeing him thus carried by the hamsas, some villagers called out, "Two
+wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along on a stick!" Whereupon the
+tortoise wanted to say, "If my friends choose to carry me, what is that
+to you, you wretched slaves!" So just as the swift flight of the wild
+ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the city of Benares, he
+let go of the stick he was biting, and falling in the open courtyard,
+split in two! And there arose a universal cry, "A tortoise has fallen
+in the open courtyard, and has split in two!"
+
+The king, taking the future Buddha, went to the place, surrounded by
+his courtiers; and looking at the tortoise, he asked the Bodisat,
+"Teacher! how comes he to be fallen here?"
+
+The future Buddha thought to himself, "Long expecting, wishing to
+admonish the king, have I sought for some means of doing so. This
+tortoise must have made friends with the wild ducks; and they must have
+made him bite hold of the stick, and have flown up into the air to take
+him to the hills. But he, being unable to hold his tongue when he hears
+any one else talk, must have wanted to say something, and let go the
+stick; and so must have fallen down from the sky, and thus lost his
+life." And saying, "Truly, O king! those who are called chatter-boxes--
+people whose words have no end--come to grief like this," he uttered
+these Verses:
+
+  "Verily the tortoise killed himself
+  Whilst uttering his voice;
+  Though he was holding tight the stick,
+  By a word himself he slew.
+
+  "Behold him then, O excellent by strength!
+  And speak wise words, not out of season.
+  You see how, by his talking overmuch,
+  The tortoise fell into this wretched plight!"
+
+The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said, "O Teacher! are
+you speaking of us?"
+
+And the Bodisat spake openly, and said, "O great king! be it thou, or
+be it any other, whoever talks beyond measure meets with some mishap
+like this."
+
+And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became a man of few
+words.
+
+
+
+A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A BIT OF ADVICE
+
+A poor blind Brahman and his wife were dependent on their son for
+their subsistence. Every day the young fellow used to go out and get
+what he could by begging. This continued for some time, till at last he
+became quite tired of such a wretched life, and determined to go and
+try his luck in another country. He informed his wife of his intention,
+and ordered her to manage somehow or other for the old people during
+the few months that he would be absent. He begged her to be
+industrious, lest his parents should be angry and curse him.
+
+One morning he started with some food in a bundle, and walked on day
+after day, till he reached the chief city of the neighbouring country.
+Here he went and sat down by a merchant's shop and asked alms. The
+merchant inquired whence he had come, why he had come, and what was his
+caste; to which he replied that he was a Brahman, and was wandering
+hither and thither begging a livelihood for himself and wife and
+parents. Moved with pity for the man, the merchant advised him to visit
+the kind and generous king of that country, and offered to accompany
+him to the court. Now at that time it happened that the king was
+seeking for a Brahman to look after a golden temple which he had just
+had built. His Majesty was very glad, therefore, when he saw the
+Brahman and heard that he was good and honest. He at once deputed him
+to the charge of this temple, and ordered fifty kharwars of rice and
+one hundred rupees to be paid to him every year as wages.
+
+Two months after this, the Brahman's wife, not having heard any news of
+her husband, left the house and went in quest of him. By a happy fate
+she arrived at the very place that he had reached, where she heard that
+every morning at the golden temple a golden rupee was given in the
+king's name to any beggar who chose to go for it. Accordingly, on the
+following morning she went to the place and met her husband.
+
+"Why have you come here?" he asked. "Why have you left my parents? Care
+you not whether they curse me and I die? Go back immediately, and await
+my return."
+
+"No, no," said the woman. "I cannot go back to starve and see your old
+father and mother die. There is not a grain of rice left in the house."
+
+"O Bhagawant!" exclaimed the Brahman. "Here, take this," he continued,
+scribbling a few lines on some paper, and then handing it to her, "and
+give it to the king. You will see that he will give you a lac of rupees
+for it." Thus saying he dismissed her, and the woman left.
+
+On this scrap of paper were written three pieces of advice--First, If a
+person is travelling and reaches any strange place at night, let him be
+careful where he puts up, and not close his eyes in sleep, lest he
+close them in death. Secondly, If a man has a married sister, and
+visits her in great pomp, she will receive him for the sake of what she
+can obtain from him; but if he comes to her in poverty, she will frown
+on him and disown him. Thirdly, If a man has to do any work, he must do
+it himself, and do it with might and without fear.
+
+On reaching her home the Brahmani told her parents of her meeting with
+her husband, and what a valuable piece of paper he had given her; but
+not liking to go before the king herself, she sent one of her
+relations. The king read the paper, and ordering the man to be flogged,
+dismissed him. The next morning the Brahmani took the paper, and while
+she was going along the road to the darbar reading it, the king's son
+met her, and asked what she was reading, whereupon she replied that she
+held in her hands a paper containing certain bits of advice, for which
+she wanted a lac of rupees. The prince asked her to show it to him, and
+when he had read it gave her a parwana for the amount, and rode on. The
+poor Brahmani was very thankful. That day she laid in a great store of
+provisions, sufficient to last them all for a long time.
+
+In the evening the prince related to his father the meeting with the
+woman, and the purchase of the piece of paper. He thought his father
+would applaud the act. But it was not so. The king was more angry than
+before, and banished his son from the country.
+
+So the prince bade adieu to his mother and relations and friends, and
+rode off on his horse, whither he did not know. At nightfall he arrived
+at some place, where a man met him, and invited him to lodge at his
+house. The prince accepted the invitation, and was treated like a
+prince. Matting was spread for him to squat on, and the best provisions
+set before him.
+
+"Ah!" thought he, as he lay down to rest, "here is a case for the first
+piece of advice that the Brahmani gave me. I will not sleep to-night."
+
+It was well that he thus resolved, for in the middle of the night the
+man rose up, and taking a sword in his hand, rushed to the prince with
+the intention of killing him. But he rose up and spoke.
+
+"Do not slay me," he said. "What profit would you get from my death? If
+you killed me you would be sorry afterwards, like that man who killed
+his dog."
+
+"What man? What dog?" he asked.
+
+"I will tell you," said the prince, "if you will give me that sword."
+
+So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:
+
+"Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant who had a pet dog. He
+was suddenly reduced to poverty, and had to part with his dog. He got a
+loan of five thousand rupees from a brother merchant, leaving the dog
+as a pledge, and with the money began business again. Not long after
+this the other merchant's shop was broken into by thieves and
+completely sacked. There was hardly ten rupees' worth left in the
+place. The faithful dog, however, knew what was going on, and went and
+followed the thieves, and saw where they deposited the things, and then
+returned.
+
+"In the morning there was great weeping and lamentation in the
+merchant's house when it was known what had happened. The merchant
+himself nearly went mad. Meanwhile the dog kept on running to the door,
+and pulling at his master's shirt and paijamas, as though wishing him
+to go outside. At last a friend suggested that, perhaps, the dog knew
+something of the whereabouts of the things, and advised the merchant to
+follow its leadings. The merchant consented, and went after the dog
+right up to the very place where the thieves had hidden the goods. Here
+the animal scraped and barked, and showed in various ways that the
+things were underneath. So the merchant and his friends dug about the
+place, and soon came upon all the stolen property. Nothing was missing.
+There was everything just as the thieves had taken them.
+
+"The merchant was very glad. On returning to his house, he at once sent
+the dog back to its old master with a letter rolled under the collar,
+wherein he had written about the sagacity of the beast, and begged his
+friend to forget the loan and to accept another five thousand rupees as
+a present. When this merchant saw his dog coming back again, he
+thought, 'Alas! my friend is wanting the money. How can I pay him? I
+have not had sufficient time to recover myself from my recent losses. I
+will slay the dog ere he reaches the threshold, and say that another
+must have slain it. Thus there will be an end of my debt.'
+
+"No dog, no loan. Accordingly he ran out and killed the poor dog, when
+the letter fell out of its collar. The merchant picked it up and read
+it. How great was his grief and disappointment when he knew the facts
+of the case!
+
+"Beware," continued the prince, "lest you do that which afterwards you
+would give your life not to have done."
+
+By the time the prince had concluded this story it was nearly morning,
+and he went away, after rewarding the man.
+
+The prince then visited the country belonging to his brother-in-law. He
+disguised himself as a jogi, and sitting down by a tree near the
+palace, pretended to be absorbed in worship. News of the man and of his
+wonderful piety reached the ears of the king. He felt interested in
+him, as his wife was very ill; and he had sought for hakims to cure
+her, but in vain. He thought that, perhaps, this holy man could do
+something for her. So he sent to him. But the jogi refused to tread the
+halls of a king, saying that his dwelling was the open air, and that if
+his Majesty wished to see him he must come himself and bring his wife
+to the place. Then the king took his wife and brought her to the jogi.
+The holy man bade her prostrate herself before him, and when she had
+remained in this position for about three hours, he told her to rise
+and go, for she was cured.
+
+In the evening there was great consternation in the palace, because the
+queen had lost her pearl rosary, and nobody knew anything about it. At
+length some one went to the jogi, and found it on the ground by the
+place where the queen had prostrated herself. When the king heard this
+he was very angry, and ordered the jogi to be executed. This stern
+order, however, was not carried out, as the prince bribed the men and
+escaped from the country. But he knew that the second bit of advice was
+true.
+
+Clad in his own clothes, the prince was walking along one day when he
+saw a potter crying and laughing alternately with his wife and
+children. "O fool," said he, "what is the matter? If you laugh, why do
+you weep? If you weep, why do you laugh?"
+
+"Do not bother me," said the potter. "What does it matter to you?"
+
+"Pardon me," said the prince, "but I should like to know the reason."
+
+"The reason is this, then," said the potter. "The king of this country
+has a daughter whom he is obliged to marry every day, because all her
+husbands die the first night of their stay with her. Nearly all the
+young men of the place have thus perished, and our son will be called
+on soon. We laugh at the absurdity of the thing--a potter's son
+marrying a princess, and we cry at the terrible consequence of the
+marriage. What can we do?"
+
+"Truly a matter for laughing and weeping. But weep no more," said the
+prince. "I will exchange places with your son, and will be married to
+the princess instead of him. Only give me suitable garments, and
+prepare me for the occasion."
+
+So the potter gave him beautiful raiment and ornaments, and the prince
+went to the palace. At night he was conducted to the apartment of the
+princess. "Dread hour!" thought he; "am I to die like the scores of
+young men before me?" He clenched his sword with firm grip, and lay
+down on his bed, intending to keep awake all the night and see what
+would happen. In the middle of the night he saw two Shahmars come out
+from the nostrils of the princess. They stole over towards him,
+intending to kill him, like the others who had been before him: but he
+was ready for them. He laid hold of his sword, and when the snakes
+reached his bed he struck at them and killed them. In the morning the
+king came as usual to inquire, and was surprised to hear his daughter
+and the prince talking gaily together. "Surely," said he, "this man
+must be her husband, as he only can live with her."
+
+"Where do you come from? Who are you?" asked the king, entering the
+room.
+
+"O king!" replied the prince, "I am the son of a king who rules over
+such-and-such a country."
+
+When he heard this the king was very glad, and bade the prince to abide
+in his palace, and appointed him his successor to the throne. The
+prince remained at the palace for more than a year, and then asked
+permission to visit his own country, which was granted. The king gave
+him elephants, horses, jewels, and abundance of money for the expenses
+of the way and as presents for his father, and the prince started.
+
+On the way he had to pass through the country belonging to his brother-
+in-law, whom we have already mentioned. Report of his arrival reached
+the ears of the king, who came with rope-tied hands and haltered neck
+to do him homage. He most humbly begged him to stay at his palace, and
+to accept what little hospitality could be provided. While the prince
+was staying at the palace he saw his sister, who greeted him with
+smiles and kisses. On leaving he told her how she and her husband had
+treated him at his first visit, and how he had escaped; and then gave
+them two elephants, two beautiful horses, fifteen soldiers, and ten
+lacs rupees' worth of jewels.
+
+Afterwards he went to his own home, and informed his mother and father
+of his arrival. Alas! his parents had both become blind from weeping
+about the loss of their son. "Let him come in," said the king, "and put
+his hands upon our eyes, and we shall see again." So the prince
+entered, and was most affectionately greeted by his old parents; and he
+laid his hands on their eyes, and they saw again.
+
+Then the prince told his father all that had happened to him, and how
+he had been saved several times by attending to the advice that he had
+purchased from the Brahmani. Whereupon the king expressed his sorrow
+for having sent him away, and all was joy and peace again.
+
+
+
+THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT
+
+Now in a certain place there lived a Brahman named Haridatta. He was a
+farmer, but poor was the return his labour brought him. One day, at the
+end of the hot hours, the Brahman, overcome by the heat, lay down under
+the shadow of a tree to have a doze. Suddenly he saw a great hooded
+snake creeping out of an ant-hill near at hand. So he thought to
+himself, "Sure this is the guardian deity of the field, and I have not
+ever worshipped it. That's why my farming is in vain. I will at once go
+and pay my respects to it."
+
+When he had made up his mind, he got some milk, poured it into a bowl,
+and went to the ant-hill, and said aloud: "O Guardian of this Field!
+all this while I did not know that you dwelt here. That is why I have
+not yet paid my respects to you; pray forgive me." And he laid the milk
+down and went to his house. Next morning he came and looked, and he saw
+a gold denar in the bowl, and from that time onward every day the same
+thing occurred he gave milk to the serpent and found a gold denar.
+
+One day the Brahman had to go to the village, and so he ordered his son
+to take the milk to the ant-hill. The son brought the milk, put it
+down, and went back home. Next day he went again and found a denar, so
+he thought to himself: "This ant-hill is surely full of golden denars;
+I'll kill the serpent, and take them all for myself." So next day,
+while he was giving the milk to the serpent, the Brahman's son struck
+it on the head with a cudgel. But the serpent escaped death by the will
+of fate, and in a rage bit the Brahman's son with its sharp fangs, and
+he fell down dead at once. His people raised him a funeral pyre not far
+from the field and burnt him to ashes.
+
+Two days afterwards his father came back, and when he learnt his son's
+fate he grieved and mourned. But after a time, he took the bowl of
+milk, went to the ant-hill, and praised the serpent with a loud voice.
+After a long, long time the serpent appeared, but only with its head
+out of the opening of the ant-hill, and spoke to the Brahman: "'Tis
+greed that brings you here, and makes you even forget the loss of your
+son. From this time forward friendship between us is impossible. Your
+son struck me in youthful ignorance, and I have bitten him to death.
+How can I forget the blow with the cudgel? And how can you forget the
+pain and grief at the loss of your son?" So speaking, it gave the
+Brahman a costly pearl and disappeared. But before it went away it
+said: "Come back no more." The Brahman took the pearl, and went back
+home, cursing the folly of his son.
+
+
+
+THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS
+
+Once upon a time there lived a King who had seven Queens, but no
+children. This was a great grief to him, especially when he remembered
+that on his death there would be no heir to inherit the kingdom.
+
+Now it happened one day that a poor old fakir came to the King, and
+said, "Your prayers are heard, your desire shall be accomplished, and
+one of your seven Queens shall bear a son."
+
+The King's delight at this promise knew no bounds, and he gave orders
+for appropriate festivities to be prepared against the coming event
+throughout the length and breadth of the land.
+
+Meanwhile the seven Queens lived luxuriously in a splendid palace,
+attended by hundreds of female slaves, and fed to their hearts' content
+on sweetmeats and confectionery.
+
+Now the King was very fond of hunting, and one day, before he started,
+the seven Queens sent him a message saying, "May it please our dearest
+lord not to hunt towards the north to-day, for we have dreamt bad
+dreams, and fear lest evil should befall you."
+
+The king, to allay their anxiety, promised regard for their wishes, and
+set out towards the south; but as luck would have it, although he
+hunted diligently, he found no game. Nor had he more success to the
+east or west, so that, being a keen sportsman, and determined not to go
+home empty-handed, he forgot all about his promise, and turned to the
+north. Here also he was at first unsuccessful, but just as he had made
+up his mind to give up for that day, a white hind with golden horns and
+silver hoofs flashed past him into a thicket. So quickly did it pass
+that he scarcely saw it; nevertheless a burning desire to capture and
+possess the beautiful strange creature filled his breast. He instantly
+ordered his attendants to form a ring round the thicket, and so
+encircle the hind; then, gradually narrowing the circle, he pressed
+forward till he could distinctly see the white hind panting in the
+midst. Nearer and nearer he advanced, till, just as he thought to lay
+hold of the beautiful strange creature, it gave one mighty bound, leapt
+clean over the King's head, and fled towards the mountains. Forgetful
+of all else, the King, setting spurs to his horse, followed at full
+speed. On, on he galloped, leaving his retinue far behind, keeping the
+white hind in view, never drawing bridle, until, finding himself in a
+narrow ravine with no outlet, he reined in his steed. Before him stood
+a miserable hovel, into which, being tired after his long, unsuccessful
+chase, he entered to ask for a drink of water. An old woman, seated in
+the hut at a spinning-wheel, answered his request by calling to her
+daughter, and immediately from an inner room came a maiden so lovely
+and charming, so white-skinned and golden-haired, that the King was
+transfixed by astonishment at seeing so beautiful a sight in the
+wretched hovel.
+
+She held the vessel of water to the King's lips, and as he drank he
+looked into her eyes, and then it became clear to him that the girl was
+no other than the white hind with the golden horns and silver feet he
+had chased so far.
+
+Her beauty bewitched him, so he fell on his knees, begging her to
+return with him as his bride; but she only laughed, saying seven Queens
+were quite enough even for a King to manage. However, when he would
+take no refusal, but implored her to have pity on him, promising her
+everything she could desire, she replied, "Give me the eyes of your
+seven Queens, and then perhaps I may believe you mean what you say."
+
+The King was so carried away by the glamour of the white hind's magical
+beauty, that he went home at once, had the eyes of his seven Queens
+taken out, and, after throwing the poor blind creatures into a noisome
+dungeon whence they could not escape, set off once more for the hovel
+in the ravine, bearing with him his horrible offering. But the white
+hind only laughed cruelly when she saw the fourteen eyes, and threading
+them as a necklace, flung it round her mother's neck, saying, "Wear
+that, little mother, as a keepsake, whilst I am away in the King's
+palace."
+
+Then she went back with the bewitched monarch, as his bride, and he
+gave her the seven Queens' rich clothes and jewels to wear, the seven
+Queens' palace to live in, and the seven Queens' slaves to wait upon
+her; so that she really had everything even a witch could desire.
+
+Now, very soon after the seven wretched hapless Queens had their eyes
+torn out, and were cast into prison, a baby was born to the youngest of
+the Queens. It was a handsome boy, but the other Queens were very
+jealous that the youngest amongst them should be so fortunate. But
+though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved
+so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son.
+Almost as soon as he could walk about he began scraping at the mud wall
+of their dungeon, and in an incredibly short space of time had made a
+hole big enough for him to crawl through. Through this he disappeared,
+returning in an hour or so laden with sweet-meats, which he divided
+equally amongst the seven blind Queens.
+
+As he grew older he enlarged the hole, and slipped out two or three
+times every day to play with the little nobles in the town. No one knew
+who the tiny boy was, but everybody liked him, and he was so full of
+funny tricks and antics, so merry and bright, that he was sure to be
+rewarded by some girdle-cakes, a handful of parched grain, or some
+sweetmeats. All these things he brought home to his seven mothers, as
+he loved to call the seven blind Queens, who by his help lived on in
+their dungeon when all the world thought they had starved to death ages
+before.
+
+At last, when he was quite a big lad, he one day took his bow and
+arrow, and went out to seek for game. Coming by chance past the palace
+where the white hind lived in wicked splendour and magnificence, he saw
+some pigeons fluttering round the white marble turrets, and, taking
+good aim, shot one dead. It came tumbling past the very window where
+the white Queen was sitting; she rose to see what was the matter, and
+looked out. At the first glance of the handsome young lad standing
+there bow in hand, she knew by witchcraft that it was the King's son.
+
+She nearly died of envy and spite, determining to destroy the lad
+without delay; therefore, sending a servant to bring him to her
+presence, she asked him if he would sell her the pigeon he had just
+shot.
+
+"No," replied the sturdy lad, "the pigeon is for my seven blind
+mothers, who live in the noisome dungeon, and who would die if I did
+not bring them food."
+
+"Poor souls!" cried the cunning white witch; "would you not like to
+bring them their eyes again? Give me the pigeon, my dear, and I
+faithfully promise to show you where to find them."
+
+Hearing this, the lad was delighted beyond measure, and gave up the
+pigeon at once. Whereupon the white Queen told him to seek her mother
+without delay, and ask for the eyes which she wore as a necklace.
+
+"She will not fail to give them," said the cruel Queen, "if you show
+her this token on which I have written what I want done."
+
+So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these
+words inscribed on it--"Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his blood
+like water!"
+
+Now, as the son of seven Queens could not read, he took the fatal
+message cheerfully, and set off to find the white Queen's mother.
+
+Whilst he was journeying be passed through a town, where every one of
+the inhabitants looked so sad, that he could not help asking what was
+the matter. They told him it was because the King's only daughter
+refused to marry; so when her father died there would be no heir to the
+throne. They greatly feared she must be out of her mind, for though
+every good-looking young man in the kingdom had been shown to her, she
+declared she would only marry one who was the son of seven mothers, and
+who ever heard of such a thing? The King, in despair, had ordered every
+man who entered the city gates to be led before the Princess; so, much
+to the lad's impatience, for he was in an immense hurry to find his
+mothers' eyes, he was dragged into the presence-chamber.
+
+No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she blushed, and,
+turning to the King, said, "Dear father, this is my choice!"
+
+Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.
+
+The inhabitants nearly went wild with joy, but the son of seven Queens
+said he would not marry the Princess unless they first let him recover
+his mothers' eyes. When the beautiful bride heard his story, she asked
+to see the potsherd, for she was very learned and clever. Seeing the
+treacherous words, she said nothing, but taking another similar-shaped
+bit of potsherd, she wrote on it these words--"Take care of this lad,
+giving him all he desires," and returned it to the son of seven Queens,
+who, none the wiser, set off on his quest.
+
+Ere long he arrived at the hovel in the ravine where the white witch's
+mother, a hideous old creature, grumbled dreadfully on reading the
+message, especially when the lad asked for the necklace of eyes.
+Nevertheless she took it off, and gave it him, saying, "There are only
+thirteen of 'em now, for I lost one last week."
+
+The lad, however, was only too glad to get any at all, so he hurried
+home as fast as he could to his seven mothers, and gave two eyes apiece
+to the six elder Queens; but to the youngest he gave one, saying,
+"Dearest little mother!--I will be your other eye always!"
+
+After this he set off to marry the Princess, as he had promised, but
+when passing by the white Queen's palace he saw some pigeons on the
+roof. Drawing his bow, he shot one, and it came fluttering past the
+window. The white hind looked out, and lo! there was the King's son
+alive and well.
+
+She cried with hatred and disgust, but sending for the lad, asked him
+how he had returned so soon, and when she heard how he had brought home
+the thirteen eyes, and given them to the seven blind Queens, she could
+hardly restrain her rage. Nevertheless she pretended to be charmed with
+his success, and told him that if he would give her this pigeon also,
+she would reward him with the Jogi's wonderful cow, whose milk flows
+all day long, and makes a pond as big as a kingdom. The lad, nothing
+loth, gave her the pigeon; whereupon, as before, she bade him go ask
+her mother for the cow, and gave him a potsherd whereon was written--
+"Kill this lad without fail, and sprinkle his blood like water!"
+
+But on the way the son of seven Queens looked in on the Princess, just
+to tell her how he came to be delayed, and she, after reading the
+message on the potsherd, gave him another in its stead; so that when
+the lad reached the old hag's hut and asked her for the Jogi's cow, she
+could not refuse, but told the boy how to find it; and bidding him of
+all things not to be afraid of the eighteen thousand demons who kept
+watch and ward over the treasure, told him to be off before she became
+too angry at her daughter's foolishness in thus giving away so many
+good things.
+
+Then the lad did as he had been told bravely. He journeyed on and on
+till he came to a milk-white pond, guarded by the eighteen thousand
+demons. They were really frightful to behold, but, plucking up courage,
+he whistled a tune as he walked through them, looking neither to the
+right nor the left. By-and-by he came upon the Jogi's cow, tall, white,
+and beautiful, while the Jogi himself, who was king of all the demons,
+sat milking her day and night, and the milk streamed from her udder,
+filling the milk-white tank.
+
+The Jogi, seeing the lad, called out fiercely, "What do you want here?"
+
+Then the lad answered, according to the old hag's bidding, "I want your
+skin, for King Indra is making a new kettle-drum, and says your skin is
+nice and tough."
+
+Upon this the Jogi began to shiver and shake (for no Jinn or Jogi dares
+disobey King Indra's command), and, falling at the lad's feet, cried,
+"If you will spare me I will give you anything I possess, even my
+beautiful white cow!"
+
+To this the son of seven Queens, after a little pretended hesitation,
+agreed, saying that after all it would not be difficult to find a nice
+tough skin like the Jogi's elsewhere; so, driving the wonderful cow
+before him, he set off homewards. The seven Queens were delighted to
+possess so marvellous an animal, and though they toiled from morning
+till night making curds and whey, besides selling milk to the
+confectioners, they could not use half the cow gave, and became richer
+and richer day by day.
+
+Seeing them so comfortably off, the son of seven Queens started with a
+light heart to marry the Princess; but when passing the white hind's
+palace he could not resist sending a bolt at some pigeons which were
+cooing on the parapet. One fell dead just beneath the window where the
+white Queen was sitting. Looking out, she saw the lad hale and hearty
+standing before her, and grew whiter than ever with rage and spite.
+
+She sent for him to ask how he had returned so soon, and when she heard
+how kindly her mother had received him, she very nearly had a fit;
+however, she dissembled her feelings as well as she could, and, smiling
+sweetly, said she was glad to have been able to fulfil her promise, and
+that if he would give her this third pigeon, she would do yet more for
+him than she had done before, by giving him the million-fold rice,
+which ripens in one night.
+
+The lad was of course delighted at the very idea, and, giving up the
+pigeon, set off on his quest, armed as before with a potsherd, on which
+was written, "Do not fail this time. Kill the lad, and sprinkle his
+blood like water!"
+
+But when he looked in on his Princess, just to prevent her becoming
+anxious about him, she asked to see the potsherd as usual, and
+substituted another, on which was written, "Yet again give this lad all
+he requires, for his blood shall be as your blood!"
+
+Now when the old hag saw this, and heard how the lad wanted the
+million-fold rice which ripens in a single night, she fell into the
+most furious rage, but being terribly afraid of her daughter, she
+controlled herself, and bade the boy go and find the field guarded by
+eighteen millions of demons, warning him on no account to look back
+after having plucked the tallest spike of rice, which grew in the
+centre.
+
+So the son of seven Queens set off, and soon came to the field where,
+guarded by eighteen millions of demons, the million-fold rice grew. He
+walked on bravely, looking neither to the right or left, till he
+reached the centre and plucked the tallest ear, but as he turned
+homewards a thousand sweet voices rose behind him, crying in tenderest
+accents, "Pluck me too! oh, please pluck me too!" He looked back, and
+lo! there was nothing left of him but a little heap of ashes!
+
+Now as time passed by and the lad did not return, the old hag grew
+uneasy, remembering the message "his blood shall be as your blood"; so
+she set off to see what had happened.
+
+Soon she came to the heap of ashes, and knowing by her arts what it
+was, she took a little water, and kneading the ashes into a paste,
+formed it into the likeness of a man; then, putting a drop of blood
+from her little finger into its mouth, she blew on it, and instantly
+the son of seven Queens started up as well as ever.
+
+"Don't you disobey orders again!" grumbled the old hag, "or next time
+I'll leave you alone. Now be off, before I repent of my kindness!"
+
+So the son of seven Queens returned joyfully to his seven mothers, who,
+by the aid of the million-fold rice, soon became the richest people in
+the kingdom. Then they celebrated their son's marriage to the clever
+Princess with all imaginable pomp; but the bride was so clever, she
+would not rest until she had made known her husband to his father, and
+punished the wicked white witch. So she made her husband build a palace
+exactly like the one in which the seven Queens had lived, and in which
+the white witch now dwelt in splendour. Then, when all was prepared,
+she bade her husband give a grand feast to the King. Now the King had
+heard much of the mysterious son of seven Queens, and his marvellous
+wealth, so he gladly accepted the invitation; but what was his
+astonishment when on entering the palace he found it was a facsimile of
+his own in every particular! And when his host, richly attired, led him
+straight to the private hall, where on royal thrones sat the seven
+Queens, dressed as he had last seen them, he was speechless with
+surprise, until the Princess, coming forward, threw herself at his
+feet, and told him the whole story. Then the King awoke from his
+enchantment, and his anger rose against the wicked white hind who had
+bewitched him so long, until he could not contain himself. So she was
+put to death, and her grave ploughed over, and after that the seven
+Queens returned to their own splendid palace, and everybody lived
+happily.
+
+
+
+A LESSON FOR KINGS
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future
+Buddha returned to life as his son and heir. And when the day came for
+choosing a name, they called him Prince Brahma-datta. He grew up in due
+course; and when he was sixteen years old, went to Takkasila, and
+became accomplished in all arts. And after his father died he ascended
+the throne, and ruled the kingdom with righteousness and equity. He
+gave judgments without partiality, hatred, ignorance, or fear. Since he
+thus reigned with justice, with justice also his ministers administered
+the law. Lawsuits being thus decided with justice, there were none who
+brought false cases. And as these ceased, the noise and tumult of
+litigation ceased in the king's court. Though the judges sat all day in
+the court, they had to leave without any one coming for justice. It
+came to this, that the Hall of Justice would have to be closed!
+
+Then the future Buddha thought, "It cannot be from my reigning with
+righteousness that none come for judgment; the bustle has ceased, and
+the Hall of Justice will have to be closed. I must, therefore, now
+examine into my own faults; and if I find that anything is wrong in me,
+put that away, and practise only virtue."
+
+Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him his faults, but among
+those around him he found no one who would tell him of any fault, but
+heard only his own praise.
+
+Then he thought, "It is from fear of me that these men speak only good
+things, and not evil things," and he sought among those people who
+lived outside the palace. And finding no fault-finder there, he sought
+among those who lived outside the city, in the suburbs, at the four
+gates. And there too finding no one to find fault, and hearing only his
+own praise, he determined to search the country places.
+
+So he made over the kingdom to his ministers, and mounted his chariot;
+and taking only his charioteer, left the city in disguise. And
+searching the country through, up to the very boundary, he found no
+fault-finder, and heard only of his own virtue; and so he turned back
+from the outer-most boundary, and returned by the high road towards the
+city.
+
+Now at that time the king of Kosala, Mallika by name, was also ruling
+his kingdom with righteousness; and when seeking for some fault in
+himself, he also found no fault-finder in the palace, but only heard of
+his own virtue! So seeking in country places, he too came to that very
+spot. And these two came face to face in a low cart-track with
+precipitous sides, where there was no space for a chariot to get out of
+the way!
+
+Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the charioteer of the
+king of Benares, "Take thy chariot out of the way!"
+
+But he said, "Take thy chariot out of the way, O charioteer! In this
+chariot sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Benares, the great king
+Brahma-datta."
+
+Yet the other replied, "In this chariot, O charioteer, sitteth the lord
+over the kingdom of Kosala, the great king Mallika. Take thy carriage
+out of the way, and make room for the chariot of our king!"
+
+Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, "They say then that
+he too is a king! What _is_ now to be done?" After some consideration,
+he said to himself, "I know a way. I'll find out how old he is, and then
+I'll let the chariot of the younger be got out of the way, and so make
+room for the elder."
+
+And when he had arrived at that conclusion, he asked that charioteer
+what the age of the king of Kosala was. But on inquiry he found that
+the ages of both were equal. Then he inquired about the extent of his
+kingdom, and about his army, and his wealth, and his renown, and about
+the country he lived in, and his caste and tribe and family. And he
+found that both were lords of a kingdom three hundred leagues in
+extent; and that in respect of army and wealth and renown, and the
+countries in which they lived, and their caste and their tribe and
+their family, they were just on a par!
+
+Then he thought, "I will make way for the most righteous." And he
+asked, "What kind of righteousness has this king of yours?"
+
+Then the chorister of the king of Kosala, proclaiming his king's
+wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza:
+
+  "The strong he overthrows by strength,
+  The mild by mildness, does Mallika;
+  The good he conquers by goodness,
+  And the wicked by wickedness too.
+    Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+    Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, "Well, have you
+told all the virtues of your king?"
+
+"Yes," said the other.
+
+"If these are his _virtues_, where are then his faults?" replied
+he.
+
+The other said, "Well, for the nonce, they shall be faults, if you
+like! But pray, then, what is the kind of goodness your king has?"
+
+And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called unto him to
+hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza
+
+  "Anger he conquers by calmness,
+  And by goodness the wicked;
+  The stingy he conquers by gifts,
+  And by truth the speaker of lies.
+    Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+    Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king and his charioteer
+alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed
+their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares!
+
+
+
+PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL
+
+In a certain village there lived ten cloth merchants, who always went
+about together. Once upon a time they had travelled far afield, and
+were returning home with a great deal of money which they had obtained
+by selling their wares. Now there happened to be a dense forest near
+their village, and this they reached early one morning. In it there
+lived three notorious robbers, of whose existence the traders had never
+heard, and while they were still in the middle of it the robbers stood
+before them, with swords and cudgels in their hands, and ordered them
+to lay down all they had. The traders had no weapons with them, and so,
+though they were many more in number, they had to submit themselves to
+the robbers, who took away everything from them, even the very clothes
+they wore, and gave to each only a small loin-cloth a span in breadth
+and a cubit in length.
+
+The idea that they had conquered ten men and plundered all their
+property, now took possession of the robbers' minds. They seated
+themselves like three monarchs before the men they had plundered, and
+ordered them to dance to them before returning home. The merchants now
+mourned their fate. They had lost all they had, except their loin-
+cloth, and still the robbers were not satisfied, but ordered them to
+dance.
+
+There was, among the ten merchants, one who was very clever. He
+pondered over the calamity that had come upon him and his friends, the
+dance they would have to perform, and the magnificent manner in which
+the three robbers had seated themselves on the grass. At the same time
+he observed that these last had placed their weapons on the ground, in
+the assurance of having thoroughly cowed the traders, who were now
+commencing to dance. So he took the lead in the dance, and, as a song
+is always sung by the leader on such occasions, to which the rest keep
+time with hands and feet, he thus began to sing:
+
+  "We are enty men,
+  They are erith men:
+  If each erith man,   Surround eno men
+  Eno man remains.
+  _Ta, tai, tom, tadingana._"
+
+The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader was merely
+singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for the leader
+commenced from a distance, and had sung the song over twice before he
+and his companions commenced to approach the robbers. They had
+understood his meaning, because they had been trained in trade.
+
+When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a
+purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.
+
+"What is the price of this cloth?" one trader will ask another.
+
+"Enty rupees," another will reply, meaning "ten rupees."
+
+Thus, there is no possibility of the purchaser knowing what is meant
+unless he be acquainted with trade language. By the rules of this
+secret language erith means "three," enty means "ten," and eno means
+"one." So the leader by his song meant to hint to his fellow-traders
+that they were ten men, the robbers only three, that if three pounced
+upon each of the robbers, nine of them could hold them down, while the
+remaining one bound the robbers' hands and feet.
+
+The three thieves, glorying in their victory, and little understanding
+the meaning of the song and the intentions of the dancers, were proudly
+seated chewing betel and tobacco. Meanwhile the song was sung a third
+time. _Ta tai tom_ had left the lips of the singer; and, before
+_tadingana_ was out of them, the traders separated into parties of
+three, and each party pounced upon a thief. The remaining one--the
+leader himself--tore up into long narrow strips a large piece of cloth,
+six cubits long, and tied the hands and feet of the robbers. These were
+entirely humbled now, and rolled on the ground like three bags of rice!
+
+The ten traders now took back all their property, and armed themselves
+with the swords and cudgels of their enemies; and when they reached
+their village, they often amused their friends and relatives by
+relating their adventure.
+
+
+
+RAJA RASALU
+
+Once there lived a great Raja, whose name was Salabhan, and he had a
+Queen, by name Lona, who, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine,
+had never a child to gladden her eyes. After a long time, however, a
+son was promised to her.
+
+Queen Lona returned to the palace, and when the time for the birth of
+the promised son drew nigh, she inquired of three Jogis who came
+begging to her gate, what the child's fate would be, and the youngest
+of them answered and said, "Oh, Queen! the child will be a boy, and he
+will live to be a great man. But for twelve years you must not look
+upon his face, for if either you or his father see it before the twelve
+years are past, you will surely die! This is what you must do; as soon
+as the child is born you must send him away to a cellar underneath the
+ground, and never let him see the light of day for twelve years. After
+they are over, he may come forth, bathe in the river, put on new
+clothes, and visit you. His name shall be Raja Rasalu, and he shall be
+known far and wide."
+
+So, when a fair young Prince was in due time born into the world, his
+parents hid him away in an underground palace, with nurses, and
+servants, and everything else a King's son might desire. And with him
+they sent a young colt, born the same day, and sword, spear, and
+shield, against the day when Raja Rasalu should go forth into the
+world.
+
+So there the child lived, playing with his colt, and talking to his
+parrot, while the nurses taught him all things needful for a King's son
+to know.
+
+Young Rasalu lived on, far from the light of day, for eleven long
+years, growing tall and strong, yet contented to remain playing with
+his colt, and talking to his parrot; but when the twelfth year began,
+the lad's heart leapt up with desire for change, and he loved to listen
+to the sounds of life which came to him in his palace-prison from the
+outside world.
+
+"I must go and see where the voices come from!" he said; and when his
+nurses told him he must not go for one year more, he only laughed
+aloud, saying, "Nay! I stay no longer here for any man!"
+
+Then he saddled his Arab horse Bhaunr, put on his shining armour, and
+rode forth into the world; but mindful of what his nurses had oft told
+him, when he came to the river, he dismounted, and, going into the
+water, washed himself and his clothes.
+
+Then, clean of raiment, fair of face, and brave of heart, he rode on
+his way until he reached his father's city. There he sat down to rest
+awhile by a well, where the women were drawing water in earthen
+pitchers. Now, as they passed him, their full pitchers poised upon
+their heads, the gay young Prince flung stones at the earthen vessels,
+and broke them all. Then the women, drenched with water, went weeping
+and wailing to the palace, complaining to the King that a mighty young
+Prince in shining armour, with a parrot on his wrist and a gallant
+steed beside him, sat by the well, and broke their pitchers.
+
+Now, as soon as Rajah Salabhan heard this, he guessed at once that it
+was Prince Rasalu come forth before the time, and, mindful of the
+Jogis' words that he would die if he looked on his son's face before
+twelve years were past, he did not dare to send his guards to seize the
+offender and bring him to be judged. So he bade the women be comforted,
+and take pitchers of iron and brass, giving new ones from his treasury
+to those who did not possess any of their own.
+
+But when Prince Rasalu saw the women returning to the well with
+pitchers of iron and brass, he laughed to himself, and drew his mighty
+bow till the sharp-pointed arrows pierced the metal vessels as though
+they had been clay.
+
+Yet still the King did not send for him, so he mounted his steed and
+set off in the pride of his youth and strength to the palace. He strode
+into the audience hall, where his father sat trembling, and saluted him
+will all reverence; but Raja Salabhan, in fear of his life, turned his
+back hastily and said never a word in reply.
+
+Then Prince Rasalu called scornfully to him across the hall:
+
+  "I came to greet thee, King, and not to harm thee!
+     What have I done that thou shouldst turn away?
+   Sceptre and empire have no power to charm me--
+     I go to seek a worthier prize than they!"
+
+Then he strode away, full of bitterness and anger; but, as he passed
+under the palace windows, he heard his mother weeping, and the sound
+softened his heart, so that his wrath died down, and a great loneliness
+fell upon him, because he was spurned by both father and mother. So he
+cried sorrowfully,
+
+  "Oh heart crown'd with grief, hast thou nought
+    But tears for thy son?
+  Art mother of mine? Give one thought
+    To my life just begun!"
+
+And Queen Lona answered through her tears:
+
+  "Yea! mother am I, though I weep,
+    So hold this word sure,--
+  Go, reign king of all men, but keep
+    Thy heart good and pure!"
+
+So Raja Rasalu was comforted, and began to make ready for fortune. He
+took with him his horse Bhaunr and his parrot, both of whom had lived
+with him since he was born.
+
+So they made a goodly company, and Queen Lona, when she saw them going,
+watched them from her window till she saw nothing but a cloud of dust
+on the horizon; then she bowed her head on her hands and wept, saying:
+
+  "Oh! son who ne'er gladdened mine eyes,
+  Let the cloud of thy going arise,
+  Dim the sunlight and darken the day;
+  For the mother whose son is away
+      Is as dust!"
+
+Rasalu had started off to play chaupur with King Sarkap. And as he
+journeyed there came a fierce storm of thunder and lightning, so that
+he sought shelter, and found none save an old graveyard, where a
+headless corpse lay upon the ground. So lonesome was it that even the
+corpse seemed company, and Rasalu, sitting down beside it, said:
+
+  "There is no one here, nor far nor near,
+    Save this breathless corpse so cold and grim;
+  Would God he might come to life again,
+    'Twould be less lonely to talk to him."
+
+And immediately the headless corpse arose and sat beside Raja Rasalu.
+And he, nothing astonished, said to it:
+
+  "The storm beats fierce and loud,
+    The clouds rise thick in the west;
+  What ails thy grave and shroud,
+    Oh corpse! that thou canst not rest?"
+
+Then the headless corpse replied:
+
+  "On earth I was even as thou,
+    My turban awry like a king,
+  My head with the highest, I trow,
+    Having my fun and my fling,
+  Fighting my foes like a brave,
+    Living my life with a swing.
+        And, now I am dead,
+        Sins, heavy as lead,
+  Will give me no rest in my grave!"
+
+So the night passed on, dark and dreary, while Rasalu sat in the
+graveyard and talked to the headless corpse. Now when morning broke and
+Rasalu said he must continue his journey, the headless corpse asked him
+whither he was going, and when he said "to play chaupur with King
+Sarkap," the corpse begged him to give up the idea saying, "I am King
+Sarkap's brother, and I know his ways. Every day, before breakfast, he
+cuts off the heads of two or three men, just to amuse himself. One day
+no one else was at hand, so he cut off mine, and he will surely cut off
+yours on some pretence or another. However, if you are determined to go
+and play chaupur with him, take some of the bones from this graveyard,
+and make your dice out of them, and then the enchanted dice with which
+my brother plays will lose their virtue. Otherwise he will always win."
+
+So Rasalu took some of the bones lying about, and fashioned them into
+dice, and these he put into his pocket. Then, bidding adieu to the
+headless corpse, he went on his way to play chaupur with the King.
+
+Now, as Raja Rasalu, tender-hearted and strong, journeyed along to play
+chaupur with the King, he came to a burning forest, and a voice rose
+from the fire saying, "Oh, traveller! for God's sake save me from the
+fire!"
+
+Then the Prince turned towards the burning forest, and, lo! the voice
+was the voice of a tiny cricket. Nevertheless, Rasalu, tender-hearted
+and strong, snatched it from the fire and set it at liberty. Then the
+little creature, full of gratitude, pulled out one of its feelers, and
+giving it to its preserver, said, "Keep this, and should you ever be in
+trouble, put it into the fire, and instantly I will come to your aid."
+
+The Prince smiled, saying, "What help could _you_ give _me_?"
+Nevertheless, he kept the hair and went on his way.
+
+Now, when he reached the city of King Sarkap, seventy maidens,
+daughters of the King, came out to meet him,--seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter; but one, the youngest
+of them all, when she saw the gallant young Prince riding on Bhaunr
+Iraqi, going gaily to his doom, was filled with pity, and called to him
+saying:
+
+  "Fair Prince, on the charger so gray,
+      Turn thee back! turn thee back!
+  Or lower thy lance for the fray;
+  Thy head will be forfeit to-day!
+  Dost love life? then, stranger, I pray,
+      Turn thee back! turn thee back!"
+
+But he, smiling at the maiden, answered lightly:
+
+  "Fair maiden, I come from afar,
+  Sworn conqueror in love and in war!
+  King Sarkap my coming will rue,
+  His head in four pieces I'll hew;
+  Then forth as a bridegroom I'll ride,
+  With you, little maid, as my bride!"
+
+Now when Rasalu replied so gallantly, the maiden looked in his face,
+and seeing how fair he was, and how brave and strong, she straightway
+fell in love with him, and would gladly have followed him through the
+world.
+
+But the other sixty-nine maidens, being jealous, laughed scornfully at
+her, saying, "Not so fast, oh gallant warrior! If you would marry our
+sister you must first do our bidding, for you will be our younger
+brother."
+
+"Fair sisters!" quoth Rasalu gaily, "give me my task and I will perform
+it."
+
+So the sixty-nine maidens mixed a hundred-weight of millet seed with a
+hundredweight of sand, and giving it to Rasalu, bade him separate the
+seed from the sand.
+
+Then he bethought him of the cricket, and drawing the feeler from his
+pocket, thrust it into the fire. And immediately there was a whirring
+noise in the air, and a great flight of crickets alighted beside him,
+and amongst them the cricket whose life he had saved.
+
+Then Rasalu said, "Separate the millet seed from the sand."
+
+"Is that all?" quoth the cricket; "had I known how small a job you
+wanted me to do, I would not have assembled so many of my brethren."
+
+With that the flight of crickets set to work, and in one night they
+separated the seed from the sand.
+
+Now when the sixty-nine fair maidens, daughters of the king saw that
+Rasalu had performed his task, they set him another, bidding him swing
+them all, one by one, in their swings, until they were tired.
+
+Whereupon he laughed, saying, "There are seventy of you, counting my
+little bride yonder, and I am not going to spend my life swinging
+girls! Why, by the time I have given each of you a swing, the first
+will be wanting another! No! if you want a swing, get in, all seventy
+of you, into one swing, and then I'll see what can be done."
+
+So the seventy maidens climbed into one swing, and Raja Rasalu,
+standing in his shining armour, fastened the ropes to his mighty bow,
+and drew it up to its fullest bent. Then he let go, and like an arrow
+the swing shot into the air, with its burden of seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter.
+
+But as it swung back again, Kasalu, standing there in his shining
+armour, drew his sharp sword and severed the ropes. Then the seventy
+fair maidens fell to the ground headlong; and some were bruised and
+some broken, but the only one who escaped unhurt was the maiden who
+loved Rasalu, for she fell out last, on the top of the others, and so
+came to no harm.
+
+After this, Rasalu strode on fifteen paces, till he came to the seventy
+drums, that every one who came to play chaupur with the King had to
+beat in turn; and he beat them so loudly that he broke them all. Then
+he came to the seventy gongs, all in a row, and he hammered them so
+hard that they cracked to pieces.
+
+Seeing this, the youngest Princess, who was the only one who could run,
+fled to her father the King in a great fright, saying:
+
+  "A mighty Prince, Sarkap! making havoc, rides along,
+  He swung us, seventy maidens fair, and threw us out
+  headlong;
+  He broke the drums you placed there and the gongs too
+  in his pride,
+  Sure, he will kill thee, father mine, and take me for his
+  bride!"
+
+But King Sarkap replied scornfully:
+
+  "Silly maiden, thy words make a lot
+  Of a very small matter;
+  For fear of my valour, I wot,
+  His armour will clatter.
+  As soon as I've eaten my bread
+  I'll go forth and cut off his head!"
+
+Notwithstanding these brave and boastful words, he was in reality very
+much afraid, having heard of Rasalu's renown. And learning that he was
+stopping at the house of an old woman in the city, till the hour for
+playing chaupur arrived, Sarkap sent slaves to him with trays of
+sweetmeats and fruit, as to an honoured guest. But the food was
+poisoned.
+
+Now when the slaves brought the trays to Raja Rasalu, he rose up
+haughtily, saying, "Go, tell your master I have nought to do with him
+in friendship. I am his sworn enemy, and I eat not of his salt!"
+
+So saying, he threw the sweetmeats to Raja Sarkap's dog, which had
+followed the slave, and lo! the dog died.
+
+Then Rasalu was very wroth, and said bitterly, "Go back to Sarkap,
+slaves! and tell him that Rasalu deems it no act of bravery to kill
+even an enemy by treachery."
+
+Now, when evening came, Raja Rasalu went forth to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap, and as he passed some potters' kilns he saw a cat
+wandering about restlessly; so he asked what ailed her, that she never
+stood still, and she replied, "My kittens are in an unbaked pot in the
+kiln yonder. It has just been set alight, and my children will be baked
+alive; therefore I cannot rest!"
+
+Her words moved the heart of Raja Rasalu, and, going to the potter, he
+asked him to sell the kiln as it was; but the potter replied that he
+could not settle a fair price till the pots were burnt, as he could not
+tell how many would come out whole. Nevertheless, after some
+bargaining, he consented at last to sell the kiln, and Rasalu, having
+searched all the pots, restored the kittens to their mother, and she,
+in gratitude for his mercy, gave him one of them, saying, "Put it in
+your pocket, for it will help you when you are in difficulties." So
+Raja Rasalu put the kitten in his pocket, and went to play chaupur with
+the King.
+
+Now, before they sat down to play, Raja Sarkap fixed his stakes,--on
+the first game, his kingdom; on the second, the wealth of the whole
+world; and, on the third, his own head. So, likewise, Raja Rasalu fixed
+his stakes,--on the first game, his arms; on the second, his horse;
+and, on the third, his own head.
+
+Then they began to play, and it fell to Rasalu's lot to make the first
+move. Now he, forgetful of the dead man's warning, played with the dice
+given him by Raja Sarkap, besides which, Sarkap let loose his famous
+rat, Dhol Raja, and it ran about the board, upsetting the chaupur
+pieces on the sly, so that Rasalu lost the first game, and gave up his
+shining armour.
+
+Then the second game began, and once more Dhol Raja, the rat, upset the
+pieces; and Rasalu, losing the game, gave up his faithful steed. Then
+Bhaunr, the Arab steed, who stood by, found voice, and cried to his
+master,
+
+  "Sea-born am I, bought with much gold;
+  Dear Prince! trust me now as of old.
+  I'll carry you far from these wiles--
+  My flight, all unspurr'd, will be swift as a bird,
+  For thousands and thousands of miles!
+  Or if needs you must stay; ere the next game you play,
+  Place hand in your pocket, I pray!"
+
+Hearing this, Raja Sarkap frowned, and bade his slaves remove Bhaunr,
+the Arab steed, since he gave his master advice in the game. Now, when
+the slaves came to lead the faithful steed away, Rasalu could not
+refrain from tears, thinking over the long years during which Bhaunr,
+the Arab steed, had been his companion. But the horse cried out again,
+
+  "Weep not, dear Prince! I shall not eat my bread
+  Of stranger hands, nor to strange stall be led.
+  Take thy right hand, and place it as I said."
+
+These words roused some recollection in Rasalu's mind, and when, just
+at this moment, the kitten in his pocket began to struggle, he
+remembered all about the warning, and the dice made from dead men's
+bones. Then his heart rose up once more, and he called boldly to Raja
+Sarkap, "Leave my horse and arms here for the present. Time enough to
+take them away when you have won my head!"
+
+Now, Raja Sarkap, seeing Rasalu's confident bearing, began to be
+afraid, and ordered all the women of his palace to come forth in their
+gayest attire and stand before Rasalu, so as to distract his attention
+from the game. But he never even looked at them, and drawing the dice
+from his pocket, said to Sarkap, "We have played with your dice all
+this time; now we will play with mine."
+
+Then the kitten went and sat at the window through which the rat Dhol
+Raja used to come, and the game began.
+
+After a while, Sarkap, seeing Raja Rasalu was winning, called to his
+rat, but when Dhol Raja saw the kitten he was afraid, and would not go
+further. So Rasalu won, and took back his arms. Next he played for his
+horse, and once more Raja Sarkap called for his rat; but Dhol Raja,
+seeing the kitten keeping watch, was afraid. So Rasalu won the second
+stake, and took back Bhaunr, the Arab steed.
+
+Then Sarkap brought all his skill to bear on the third and last game,
+saying,
+
+  "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+  For sooth this is a man with whom I play.
+  No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+  As Sarkap does, so do, for Sarkap's sake!"
+
+But Rasalu answered back,
+
+  "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+  For sooth it is a man with whom I play.
+  No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+  As Heaven does, so do, for Heaven's sake!"
+
+So they began to play, whilst the women stood round in a circle, and
+the kitten watched Dhol Raja from the window. Then Sarkap lost, first
+his kingdom, then the wealth of the whole world, and lastly his head.
+
+Just then, a servant came in to announce the birth of a daughter to
+Raja Sarkap, and he, overcome by misfortunes, said, "Kill her at once!
+for she has been born in an evil moment, and has brought her father ill
+luck!"
+
+But Rasalu rose up in his shining armour, tender-hearted and strong,
+saying, "Not so, oh king! She has done no evil. Give me this child to
+wife; and if you will vow, by all you hold sacred, never again to play
+chaupur for another's head, I will spare yours now!"
+
+Then Sarkap vowed a solemn vow never to play for another's head; and
+after that he took a fresh mango branch, and the new-born babe, and
+placing them on a golden dish gave them to Rasalu.
+
+Now, as he left the palace, carrying with him the new-born babe and the
+mango branch, he met a band of prisoners, and they called out to him,
+
+  "A royal hawk art thou, oh King! the rest
+   But timid wild-fowl. Grant us our request,--
+   Unloose these chains, and live for ever blest!"
+
+And Raja Rasalu hearkened to them, and bade King Sarkap set them at
+liberty.
+
+Then he went to the Murti Hills, and placed the new-born babe, Kokilan,
+in an underground palace, and planted the mango branch at the door,
+saying, "In twelve years the mango tree will blossom; then will I
+return and marry Kokilan."
+
+And after twelve years, the mango tree began to flower, and Raja Rasalu
+married the Princess Kokilan, whom he won from Sarkap when he played
+chaupur with the King.
+
+
+
+THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN
+
+At the same time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future
+Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up, he gained
+his living by tilling the ground.
+
+At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
+goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took the
+pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's skin,
+and turn him loose in the rice and barley fields. And when the watchmen
+in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking him for a
+lion.
+
+So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and whilst he was getting
+his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion's skin, and
+turned him loose in a barley-field. The watchmen in the field dared not
+go up to him; but going home, they published the news. Then all the
+villagers came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing chanks, and
+beating drums, they went near the field and shouted. Terrified with the
+fear of death, the ass uttered a cry--the bray of an ass!
+
+And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced
+the First Verse:
+
+  "This is not a lion's roaring,
+  Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's;
+  Dressed in a lion's skin,
+  'Tis a wretched ass that roars!"
+
+But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
+till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away.
+Then the hawker came; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight,
+pronounced the Second Verse:
+
+  "Long might the ass,
+  Clad in a lion's skin,
+  Have fed on the barley green.
+  But he brayed!
+  And that moment he came to ruin."
+
+And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot!
+
+
+
+THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER
+
+There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a money-
+lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the money-
+lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, farmer went
+to the money-lender's house, and said, "You can't squeeze water from a
+stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell me the
+secret of becoming rich."
+
+"My friend," returned the money-lender, piously, "riches come from Ram
+--ask _him_."
+
+"Thank you, I will!" replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three
+girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.
+
+First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point
+out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on his
+way without a word, Next the farmer met a Jogi or devotee, and to him
+he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. At last, he came
+upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was hungry,
+the kindly farmer gave him his last cake, and sitting down to rest
+beside him, entered into conversation.
+
+"And where are you going?" asked the poor man, at length.
+
+"Oh, I have a long journey before me, for I am going to find Ram!"
+replied the farmer. "I don't suppose you could tell me which way to
+go?"
+
+"Perhaps I can," said the poor man, smiling, "for _I_ am Ram! What
+do you want of me?"
+
+Then the farmer told the whole story, and Ram, taking pity on him, gave
+him a conch shell, and showed him how to blow it in a particular way,
+saying, "Remember! whatever you wish for, you have only to blow the
+conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care of
+that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their wiles!"
+
+The farmer went back to his village rejoicing. In fact the money-lender
+noticed his high spirits at once, and said to himself, "Some good
+fortune must have befallen the stupid fellow, to make him hold his head
+so jauntily." Therefore he went over to the simple farmer's house, and
+congratulated him on his good fortune, in such cunning words,
+pretending to have heard all about it, that before long the farmer
+found himself telling the whole story--all except the secret of blowing
+the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer was not quite such
+a fool as to tell that.
+
+Nevertheless, the money-lender determined to have the conch by hook or
+by crook, and as he was villain enough not to stick at trifles, he
+waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.
+
+But, after nearly bursting himself with blowing the conch in every
+conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the secret as a bad job.
+However, being determined to succeed he went back to the farmer, and
+said, coolly, "Look here; I've got your conch, but I can't use it; you
+haven't got it, so it's clear you can't use it either. Business is at a
+stand-still unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you back
+your conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one
+condition, which is this,--whatever you get from it, I am to get
+double."
+
+"Never!" cried the farmer; "that would be the old business all over
+again!"
+
+"Not at all!" replied the wily money-lender; "you will have your share!
+Now, don't be a dog in the manger, for if _you_ get all you want,
+what can it matter to you if _I_ am rich or poor?"
+
+At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit
+to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and from that time,
+no matter what he gained by the power of the conch, the money-lender
+gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon the
+farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of
+anything.
+
+At last, there came a very dry season,--so dry that the farmer's crops
+withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a
+well to water them, and lo! there was the well, _but the money-lender
+had two!_--two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any farmer
+to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at
+last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it
+loudly, and cried out, "Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And so
+he, was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course was blind of
+both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he fell
+into one, and was drowned.
+
+Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a money-
+lender--but only by losing one of his eyes.
+
+
+
+THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN
+
+In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come
+daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the
+gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, "When I am
+married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has
+never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead and a star on his
+chin." Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her.
+
+But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy she
+would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should like
+very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had already
+four Queens he had no child. He went, therefore, to the gardener and
+told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted the gardener
+and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for their daughter
+to become a princess. So they said "Yes" to the King, and invited all
+their friends to the wedding. The King invited all his, and he gave the
+gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the wedding was held with
+great feasting and rejoicing.
+
+A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to
+have her son; and the King's four other Queens came constantly to see
+her. One day they said to her, "The King hunts every day; and the time
+is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill
+whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your
+illness, what would you do then?"
+
+When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to
+him, "Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or sick
+while you are away, how could I send for you?" The King gave her a
+kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to her,
+"Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far away I
+may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you."
+
+Next morning when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other Queens
+came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her
+kettle-drum. "Oh," they said, "do drum on it just to see if the King
+really will come to you."
+
+"No, I will not," she said; "for why should I call him from his hunting
+when I do not want him?"
+
+"Don't mind interrupting his hunting," they answered. "Do try if he
+really will come to you when you beat your kettle-drum." So at last,
+just to please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her.
+
+"Why have you called me?" he said. "See, I have left my hunting to come
+to you."
+
+"I want nothing," she answered; "I only wished to know if you really
+would come to me when I beat my drum."
+
+"Very well," answered the King; "but do not call me again unless you
+really need me." Then he returned to his hunting.
+
+The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four
+Queens again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and
+begged her to beat her drum once more, "just to see if the King will
+really come to see you this time." At first she refused, but at last
+she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But when
+he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and said to
+her, "Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come to you when
+you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you like, but I
+will not come to you," and then he went away in a rage.
+
+The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat
+her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum, but
+he thought, "She does not really want me; she is only trying to see if
+I will go to her."
+
+Meanwhile the four other Queens came to her, and they said, "Here it is
+the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a
+handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind your
+eyes." She answered, "Very well, bind my eyes." The four wives then
+tied a handkerchief over them.
+
+Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a
+moon on his forehead and a star on his chin, and before the poor mother
+had seen him, the four wicked Queens took the boy to the nurse and said
+to her, "Now you must not let this child make the least sound for fear
+his mother should hear him; and in the night you must either kill him,
+or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him. If you
+obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees." All this they
+did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put him into a
+box, and the four Queens went back to the gardener's daughter.
+
+First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took
+the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, "Look! this is
+your son!" The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, "What will the
+King say when he finds no child?" But she could do nothing.
+
+When the King came home; he was furious at hearing his youngest wife,
+the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the beautiful
+little son she had promised him. He made her one of the palace
+servants, and never spoke to her.
+
+In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the
+beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle.
+There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the
+box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The King's
+dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she did with
+the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four Queens (who gave her
+a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she had put the
+box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the beautiful little
+boy, he was very much delighted and said, "If it pleases Khuda that
+this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will not eat him, but I
+will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach." This he did.
+
+After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and
+thought, "I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead." Then he brought
+the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was
+now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he
+swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he
+went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up
+the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and
+caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his
+great beauty.
+
+But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and he
+saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran to
+the four Queens and said to them, "Inside the King's dog there is a
+child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on
+his chin. Such a child has never been seen!" At this the four wives
+were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from
+hunting they said to him, "While you were away your dog came to our
+rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are
+afraid he will kill us." "Do not be afraid," said the King. "Eat your
+dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning."
+
+Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog
+heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to
+kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if
+I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him."
+
+So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called
+Suri, and said to her, "Suri, I want to give you something, for the
+King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of
+whatever I give you?"
+
+"Let me see what it is," said Suri, "I will take care of it if I can."
+Then they both went together to the wide plain, and there the dog
+brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him. "I never saw such a
+beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he has a moon on his
+forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the greatest care of him."
+So saying she swallowed the little prince. The dog made her a great
+many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;" and the cow then went
+back to her stable.
+
+Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot.
+
+The child now lived in Suri's stomach; and when one whole year had
+passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and
+said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead. But
+I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy; and
+he played about, and Suri was delighted; she loved him and caressed
+him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned to her
+stable.
+
+At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up
+the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight,
+and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very
+happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable. The
+child was now three years old.
+
+But this time the cowherd had followed Suri, and had seen the wonderful
+child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four Queens, "The
+King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon on his
+forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been seen
+before!"
+
+At this the Queens were terrified. They tore their clothes and their
+hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why
+they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to
+kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never
+mind," said the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be
+killed to-morrow morning."
+
+Now Suri heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said to
+herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight, she
+went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and quite
+untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one could
+go near him with safety, he was so savage. Suri said to this horse,
+"Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give you,
+because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?"
+
+"Good," said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Suri brought up the
+child, and the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will
+take the greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride
+me, but this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when
+he had done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this
+boy's sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the
+jungle and there killed.
+
+The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in it
+for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I will
+see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and then he
+loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all about the
+stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go. Katar was very
+glad to see the child, who was now four years old. After he had played
+for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At the end of another
+year, when the boy was five years old, Katar brought him up again,
+caressed him, loved him, and let him play about the stable as he had
+done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him again.
+
+But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was
+morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the four
+wicked Queens, and told them all he had seen, and all about the
+wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar. On
+hearing the groom's story the four Queens cried, and tore their hair
+and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at evening and
+asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your horse Katar
+came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and we ran away
+for fear he should kill us."
+
+"Never mind," said the King. "Only eat your dinner and be happy. I will
+have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he thought that two men unaided could
+not kill such a wicked horse, so he ordered his servants to bid his
+troop of sepoys shoot him.
+
+So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and he
+took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any one
+who let his horse escape.
+
+Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up
+the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of
+the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must
+put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such
+as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the
+sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my back."
+Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies' country, so he
+could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor any of his
+people knew this.
+
+When all was ready, Katar burst out of his stable, with the prince on
+his back, rushed past the King himself before the King had time to
+shoot him, galloped away to the great jungle-plain, and galloped about
+all over it. The King saw his horse had a boy on his back, though he
+could not see the boy distinctly. The sepoys tried in vain to shoot the
+horse; he galloped much too fast; and at last they were all scattered
+over the plain. Then the King had to give it up and go home; and the
+sepoys went to their homes. The King could not shoot any of his sepoys
+for letting his horse escape, for he himself had let him do so.
+
+Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they
+stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and
+the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they
+started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in
+another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father,
+but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my back."
+Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle; take off
+your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with your sword
+and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some poor, common
+clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was dressed in them
+the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I will take care
+of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain, so that when
+you want me you will always find me. You must now go away and find
+service with some one in this country."
+
+This made the boy very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said.
+"What shall I do all alone in this country?"
+
+"Do not be afraid," answered Katar. "You will find service, and I will
+always stay here to help you when you want me. So go, only before you
+go, twist my right ear." The boy did so, and his horse instantly became
+a donkey. "Now twist your right ear," said Katar. And when the boy had
+twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, but a poor, common-
+looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were hidden.
+
+Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain
+merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. "I am a poor man,"
+answered the boy, "and I want service." "Good," said the grain
+merchant, "you shall be my servant."
+
+Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and one night at
+twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's
+cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest
+daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could
+sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair,
+and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying singing.
+"Who are you? where do you come from?" she asked.
+
+But he answered nothing.
+
+"Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to him?" thought the
+little princess, and she went away. On the second night the same thing
+happened, and on the third night too. But on the third night, when she
+found she could not make him answer her, she said to him, "What a
+strange man you are not to answer me when I speak to you." But still he
+remained silent, so she went away.
+
+The next day, when he had finished his work, the young prince went to
+the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, "Are you quite well and
+happy?" "Yes, I am," answered the boy. "I am servant to a grain
+merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and
+sung a song, and each night the youngest princess has come to me and
+asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing. What
+shall I do now?" The horse said, "Next time she asks you who you are,
+tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country to
+find service here."
+
+The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when every
+one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his sweet
+song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, and came
+to him. "Who are you? Whence do you come?" she asked.
+
+"I am a very poor man," he answered. "I came from my own country to
+seek service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants."
+Then she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's
+garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same
+questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers.
+
+Then she went to her father, and said to him, "Father, I wish to be
+married; but I must choose my husband myself." Her father consented to
+this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rajas in the land,
+saying, "My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on
+choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to
+marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you and
+make her choice."
+
+A great many Kings, Rajas, and their sons accepted this invitation and
+came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to
+them, "To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden" (the
+King's garden was very large), "for then my youngest daughter will come
+and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she will
+choose."
+
+The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the
+next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she dressed
+herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful jewels;
+then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her hand she
+took a gold necklace.
+
+Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rajas, and their sons
+were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the
+garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants.
+
+The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings and
+Rajas and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the neck
+of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody laughed,
+and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the Rajas
+said, "What fooling is this?" and they pushed the pretended poor man
+away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, "Get out of
+the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty for you to
+come near us!" The boy went far away from them, and stood a long way
+off to see what would happen.
+
+Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garagain, holding
+her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round the
+boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, "How can the King's
+daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!" and the Kings and
+the Rajas, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the
+garden. But the princess said, "Take care! take care! You must not turn
+him out. Leave him alone." Then she put him on her elephant, and took
+him to the palace.
+
+The Kings and Rajas and their sons were very much astonished, and said,
+"What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of us,
+but chooses that very poor man!" Her father then stood up, and said to
+them all, "I promised my daughter she should marry any one she pleased,
+and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall marry
+him." And so the princess and the boy were married with great pomp and
+splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her choice;
+and the Kings, the Rajas and their sons, all returned to their homes.
+
+Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes, and they
+laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed to
+be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See! our sister has married
+this poor, common man!" Their six husbands used to go out hunting every
+day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds of
+game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and for
+the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed at
+home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made her
+very sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt every
+day, but my husband never hunts at all."
+
+At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as my
+sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home
+quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home,
+instead of doing as they do?"
+
+One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air."
+
+"Very good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses."
+
+"No," said the young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he
+went to the jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time had
+seemed to be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he said;
+"I have married the youngest princess; and when we were married
+everybody laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor,
+common man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife
+is very sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and
+bring home quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very proud
+of them. But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I should
+like to hunt very much."
+
+"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy
+had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer.
+"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a
+beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own
+left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a
+grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, got on
+his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt.
+
+He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer.
+That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful
+young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six princes
+wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they grew hungry
+and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food with them.
+Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a tree, to dine
+and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him. By his side was
+some delicious water, and also some roast meat.
+
+When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that
+handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come
+from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many
+salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are
+you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder
+daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have
+hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not
+recognise their brother-in-law in the least.
+
+"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and
+drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to do,"
+they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall die."
+"Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a red-hot
+pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food and
+water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they
+thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be
+covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to drink."
+Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in the fire;
+he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave them good
+food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had finished they
+made him many salaams and went home.
+
+The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he
+mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people
+looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young
+prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin."
+But no one recognised him. When he came near the King's palace, all the
+King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew him, the
+gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who he could
+be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had ever been
+seen.
+
+At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest
+princess," he answered.
+
+"No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for he is a poor, common-
+looking, and ugly man."
+
+"But I am he," answered the prince; only no one would believe him.
+
+"Tell us the truth," said the servants; "who are you?"
+
+"Perhaps you cannot recognise me," said the young prince, "but call the
+youngest princess here. I wish to speak to her." The servants called
+her, and she came. "That man is not my husband," she said at once. "My
+husband is not nearly as handsome as that man. This must be a prince
+from another country."
+
+Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my husband?"
+
+"Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," answered the
+young prince.
+
+"No you are not, you are not telling me the truth," said the little
+princess. "My husband is not a handsome man like you. I married a very
+poor, common-looking man."
+
+"That is true," he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I was
+the grain merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your
+father's garden and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who I
+was and where I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same
+thing happened the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told
+you I was a very poor man, and had come from my country to seek service
+in yours, and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then you told
+your father you wished to marry, but must choose your own husband; and
+when all the Kings and Rajas were seated in your father's garden, you
+sat on an elephant and went round and looked at them all; and then
+twice hung your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me. See, here is
+your necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief you gave me
+on our wedding day."
+
+Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a
+beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to him.
+"Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now you are
+beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome man as
+you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then she
+worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a husband. "I
+have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one like him in this
+country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin." Then
+she took him into the palace, and showed him to her father and mother
+and to every one. They all said they had never seen any one like him,
+and were all very happy. And the young prince lived as before in the
+King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the King's stables.
+
+One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his court-
+house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him, "There
+are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said the
+King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said the
+young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and every
+one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would not
+believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and then
+you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a thief
+on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and the
+King and everybody in the court-house saw the mark of the red-hot pice.
+The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was very
+glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at him
+and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man.
+
+Now, when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was married,
+he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all that had
+happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he said to him,
+"I will take you back to your father's country." So two months after
+the young prince had revenged himself on his brothers-in-law, Katar
+said to him, "It is time for you to return to your father. Get the King
+to let you go to your own country, and I will tell you what to do when
+we get there."
+
+The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his
+wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see
+my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my
+father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them,
+and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave
+them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many
+horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great many
+sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the
+prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they
+reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the
+prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Suri
+had swallowed him so often.
+
+When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the
+prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had
+come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to ask
+whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in which
+he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to make
+war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has come to
+see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a grand
+feast, to which every one in your country must come--men and women, old
+and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children, fakirs, and
+sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and I will feast
+them all."
+
+The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men,
+women, and children of all castes, fakirs, and sepoys, in his country
+to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give them.
+So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All came, at
+least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to go to the
+feast, for no one had thought of her.
+
+When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not
+there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to my
+feast?"
+
+"Yes, every one," said the King.
+
+"Are you sure of that?" asked the prince.
+
+"Quite sure," answered the King.
+
+"I am sure one woman has not come," said the prince. "She is your
+gardener's daughter, who was once your wife and is now a servant in
+your palace."
+
+"True," said the King, "I had forgotten her." Then the prince told his
+servants to take his finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's
+daughter. They were to bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and
+handsome jewels, and then bring her to him in the palanquin.
+
+While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King
+thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed particularly
+the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he wondered in
+what country the young prince was born.
+
+And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and the
+young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her into
+the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives
+looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered
+that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and since
+then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could not do
+enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see her.
+
+When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's
+daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest
+dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this
+handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I
+never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?"
+
+Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the
+King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and
+wondering who he was.
+
+One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he
+answered.
+
+"Do you know who I am?" asked the prince.
+
+"No," said the King. "Tell me who you are."
+
+"I am your son," answered the prince, "and the gardener's daughter is
+my mother."
+
+The King shook his head sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when
+I have never had any children?"
+
+"But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked Queens told
+you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a son; but it
+was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they tried to
+kill me."
+
+The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my son," he said; "but as
+I never had a child, you cannot be my son." "Do you remember your dog
+Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do you remember your cow Suri,
+and how you had her killed too? Your wives made you kill them because
+of me. And," he said, taking the King to Katar, "do you know whose
+horse that is?"
+
+The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse, Katar."
+"Yes," said the prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you out
+of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the prince
+was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth, and of his
+life up to that moment; and when the King found the beautiful prince
+was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put his arms round him
+and kissed him and cried for joy.
+
+"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live
+with me always."
+
+"No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go to your palace. I
+only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I have found her, I
+will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. I have married a
+King's daughter, and we live with her father."
+
+"But now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father.
+You and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my
+palace."
+
+"That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will kill your
+four wicked Queens with your own hand. If you will do that, we will
+come and live with you."
+
+So the King killed his Queens, and then he and his wife, the gardener's
+daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in the King's
+palace, and lived there happily together for ever after; and the King
+thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for ridding him of
+his four wicked wives.
+
+Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with
+the young prince, and never left him.
+
+
+
+THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR
+
+There was once upon a time a King who had no children. Now this King
+went and laid him down to rest at a place where four roads met, so that
+every one who passed had to step over him.
+
+At last a Fakir came along, and he said to the King, "Man, why are you
+lying here?"
+
+He replied, "Fakir, a thousand men have come and passed by; you pass on
+too."
+
+But the Fakir said, "Who are you, man?"
+
+The King replied, "I am a King, Fakir. Of goods and gold I have no
+lack, but I have lived long and have no children. So I have come here,
+and have laid me down at the cross-roads. My sins and offences have
+been very many, so I have come and am lying here that men may pass over
+me, and perchance my sins may be forgiven me, and God may be merciful,
+and I may have a son."
+
+The Fakir answered him, "Oh King! If you have children, what will you
+give me?"
+
+"Whatever you ask, Fakir," answered the King. The Fakir said, "Of goods
+and gold I have no lack, but I will say a prayer for you, and you will
+have two sons; one of those sons will be mine."
+
+Then he took out two sweetmeats and handed them to the King, and said,
+"King! take these two sweetmeats and give them to your wives; give them
+to the wives you love best."
+
+The King took the sweetmeats and put them in his bosom.
+
+Then the Fakir said, "King! in a year I will return, and of the two
+sons who will be born to you one is mine and one yours."
+
+The King said, "Well, I agree."
+
+Then the Fakir went on his way, and the King came home and gave one
+sweetmeat to each of his two wives. After some time two sons were born
+to the King. Then what did the King do but place those two sons in an
+underground room, which he had built in the earth.
+
+Some time passed, and one day the Fakir appeared, and said, "King!
+bring me that son of yours!"
+
+What did the King do but bring two slave-girls' sons and present them
+to the Fakir. While the Fakir was sitting there the King's sons were
+sitting down below in their cellar eating their food. Just then a
+hungry ant had carried away a grain of rice from their food, and was
+going along with it to her children. Another stronger ant came up and
+attacked her in order to get this grain of rice. The first ant said, "O
+ant, why do you drag this away from me? I have long been lame in my
+feet, and I have got just one grain, and am carrying it to my children.
+The King's sons are sitting in the cellar eating their food; you go and
+fetch a grain from there; why should you take mine from me?" On this
+the second ant let go and did not rob the first, but went off to where
+the King's sons were eating their food.
+
+On hearing this the Fakir said, "King! these are not your sons; go and
+bring those children who are eating their food in the cellar."
+
+Then the King went and brought his own sons. The Fakir chose the eldest
+son and took him away, and set off with him on his journey, When he got
+home he told the King's son to go out to gather fuel.
+
+So the King's son went out to gather cow-dung, and when he had
+collected some he brought it in.
+
+Then the Fakir looked at the King's son and put on a great pot, and
+said, "Come round here, my pupil."
+
+But the King's son said, "Master first, and pupil after."
+
+The Fakir told him to come once, he told him twice, he told him three
+times, and each time the King's son answered, "Master first, and pupil
+after."
+
+Then the Fakir made a dash at the King's son, thinking to catch him and
+throw him into the caldron. There were about a hundred gallons of oil
+in this caldron, and the fire was burning beneath it. Then the King's
+son, lifting the Fakir, gave him a jerk and threw him into the caldron,
+and he was burnt, and became roast meat. He then saw a key of the
+Fakir's lying there; he took this key and opened the door of the
+Fakir's house. Now many men were locked up in this house; two horses
+were standing there in a hut of the Fakir's; two greyhounds were tied
+up there; two simurgs were imprisoned, and two tigers also stood there.
+So the King's son let all the creatures go, and took them out of the
+house, and they all returned thanks to God. Next he let out all the men
+who were in prison. He took away with him the two horses, and he took
+away the two tigers, and he took away the two hounds, and he took away
+the two simurgs, and with them he set out for another country.
+
+As he went along the road he saw above him a bald man, grazing a herd
+of calves, and this bald man called out to him, "Fellow! can you fight
+at all?"
+
+The King's son replied, "When I was little I could fight a bit, and
+now, if any one wants to fight, I am not so unmanly as to turn my back.
+Come, I will fight you."
+
+The bald man said, "If I throw you, you shall be my slave; and if you
+throw me, I will be your slave." So they got ready and began to fight,
+and the King's son threw him.
+
+On this the King's son said, "I will leave my beasts here, my simurgs,
+tigers, and dogs, and horses; they will all stay here while I go to the
+city to see the sights. I appoint the tiger as guard over my property.
+And you are my slave, you, too, must stay here with my belongings." So
+the King's son started off to the city to see the sights, and arrived
+at a pool.
+
+He saw that it was a pleasant pool, and thought he would stop and bathe
+there, and therewith he began to strip off his clothes.
+
+Now the King's daughter, who was sitting on the roof of the palace, saw
+his royal marks, and she said, "This man is a king; when I marry, I
+will marry him and no other." So she said to her father, "My father; I
+wish to marry."
+
+"Good," said her father.
+
+Then the King made a proclamation: "Let all men, great and small,
+attend to-day in the hall of audience, for the King's daughter will to-
+day take a husband."
+
+All the men of the land assembled, and the traveller Prince also came,
+dressed in the Fakir's clothes, saying to himself, "I must see this
+ceremony to-day." He went in and sat down.
+
+The King's daughter came out and sat in the balcony, and cast her
+glance round all the assembly. She noticed that the traveller Prince
+was sitting in the assembly in Fakir's attire.
+
+The Princess said to her handmaiden, "Take this dish of henna, go to
+that traveller dressed like a Fakir, and sprinkle scent on him from the
+dish."
+
+The handmaiden obeyed the Princess's order, went to him, and sprinkled
+the scent over him.
+
+Then the people said, "The slave-girl has made a mistake."
+
+But she replied, "The slave-girl has made no mistake, 'tis her mistress
+has made the mistake."
+
+On this the King married his daughter to the Fakir, who was really no
+Fakir, but a Prince.
+
+What fate had decreed came to pass in that country, and they were
+married. But the King of that city became very sad in his heart,
+because when so many chiefs and nobles were sitting there his daughter
+had chosen none of them, but had chosen that Fakir; but he kept these
+thoughts concealed in his heart.
+
+One day the traveller Prince said, "Let all the King's sons-in-law come
+out with me to-day to hunt."
+
+People said, "What is this Fakir that he should go a-hunting?"
+
+However, they all set out for the hunt, and fixed their meeting-place
+at a certain pool.
+
+The newly married Prince went to his tigers, and told his tigers and
+hounds to kill and bring in a great number of gazelles and hog-deer and
+markhor. Instantly they killed and brought in a great number. Then
+taking with him these spoils of the chase, the Prince came to the pool
+settled on as a meeting-place. The other Princes, sons-in-law of the
+King of that city, also assembled there; but they had brought in no
+game, and the new Prince had brought a great deal. Thence they returned
+home to the town, and went to the King their father-in-law, to present
+their game.
+
+Now that King had no son. Then the new Prince told him that in fact he,
+too, was a Prince. At this the King, his father-in-law, was greatly
+delighted and took him by the hand and embraced him. He seated him by
+himself, saying, "O Prince, I return thanks that you have come here and
+become my son-in-law; I am very happy at this, and I make over my
+kingdom to you."
+
+
+
+WHY THE FISH LAUGHED
+
+As a certain fisherwoman passed by a palace crying her fish, the queen
+appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show
+what she had. At that moment a very big fish jumped about in the bottom
+of the basket.
+
+"Is it a he or a she?" inquired the queen. "I wish to purchase a she
+fish."
+
+On hearing this the fish laughed aloud.
+
+"It's a he," replied the fisherwoman, and proceeded on her rounds.
+
+The queen returned to her room in a great rage; and on coming to see
+her in the evening, the king noticed that something had disturbed her.
+
+"Are you indisposed?" he said.
+
+"No; but I am very much annoyed at the strange behaviour of a fish. A
+woman brought me one to-day, and on my inquiring whether it was a male
+or female, the fish laughed most rudely."
+
+"A fish laugh! Impossible! You must be dreaming."
+
+"I am not a fool. I speak of what I have seen with my own eyes and have
+heard with my own ears."
+
+"Passing strange! Be it so. I will inquire concerning it."
+
+On the morrow the king repeated to his vizier what his wife had told
+him, and bade him investigate the matter, and be ready with a
+satisfactory answer within six months, on pain of death. The vizier
+promised to do his best, though he felt almost certain of failure. For
+five months he laboured indefatigably to find a reason for the laughter
+of the fish. He sought everywhere and from every one. The wise and
+learned, and they who were skilled in magic and in all manner of
+trickery, were consulted. Nobody, however, could explain the matter;
+and so he returned broken-hearted to his house, and began to arrange
+his affairs in prospect of certain death, for he had had sufficient
+experience of the king to know that His Majesty would not go back from
+his threat. Amongst other things, he advised his son to travel for a
+time, until the king's anger should have somewhat cooled.
+
+The young fellow, who was both clever and handsome, started off
+whithersoever Kismat might lead him. He had been gone some days, when
+he fell in with an old farmer, who also was on a journey to a certain
+village. Finding the old man very pleasant, he asked him if he might
+accompany him, professing to be on a visit to the same place. The old
+farmer agreed, and they walked along together. The day was hot, and the
+way was long and weary.
+
+"Don't you think it would be pleasanter if you and I sometimes gave one
+another a lift?" said the youth.
+
+"What a fool the man is!" thought the old farmer.
+
+Presently they passed through a field of corn ready for the sickle, and
+looking like a sea of gold as it waved to and fro in the breeze.
+
+"Is this eaten or not?" said the young man.
+
+Not understanding his meaning, the old man replied, "I don't know."
+
+After a little while the two travellers arrived at a big village, where
+the young man gave his companion a clasp-knife, and said, "Take this,
+friend, and get two horses with it; but mind and bring it back, for it
+is very precious."
+
+The old man, looking half amused and half angry, pushed back the knife,
+muttering something to the effect that his friend was either a fool
+himself or else trying to play the fool with him. The young man
+pretended not to notice his reply, and remained almost silent till they
+reached the city, a short distance outside which was the old farmer's
+house. They walked about the bazar and went to the mosque, but nobody
+saluted them or invited them to come in and rest.
+
+"What a large cemetery!" exclaimed the young man.
+
+"What does the man mean," thought the old farmer, "calling this largely
+populated city a cemetery?"
+
+On leaving the city their way led through a cemetery where a few people
+were praying beside a grave and distributing chapatis and kulchas to
+passers-by, in the name of their beloved dead. They beckoned to the two
+travellers and gave them as much as they would.
+
+"What a splendid city this is!" said the young man.
+
+"Now, the man must surely be demented!" thought the old farmer. "I
+wonder what he will do next? He will be calling the land water, and the
+water land; and be speaking of light where there is darkness, and of
+darkness when it is light." However, he kept his thoughts to himself.
+
+Presently they had to wade through a stream that ran along the edge of
+the cemetery. The water was rather deep, so the old farmer took of his
+shoes and paijamas and crossed over; but the young man waded through it
+with his shoes and paijamas on.
+
+"Well! I never did see such a perfect fool, both in word and in deed,"
+said the old man to himself.
+
+However, he liked the fellow; and thinking that he would amuse his wife
+and daughter, he invited him to come and stay at his house as long as
+he had occasion to remain in the village.
+
+"Thank you very much," the young man replied; "but let me first
+inquire, if you please, whether the beam of your house is strong."
+
+The old farmer left him in despair, and entered his house laughing.
+
+"There is a man in yonder field," he said, after returning their
+greetings. "He has come the greater part of the way with me, and I
+wanted him to put up here as long as he had to stay in this village.
+But the fellow is such a fool that I cannot make anything out of him.
+He wants to know if the beam of this house is all right. The man must
+be mad!" and saying this, he burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+"Father," said the farmer's daughter, who was a very sharp and wise
+girl, "this man, whosoever he is, is no fool, as you deem him. He only
+wishes to know if you can afford to entertain him."
+
+"Oh! of course," replied the farmer. "I see. Well perhaps you can help
+me to solve some of his other mysteries. While we were walking together
+he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as he
+thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding."
+
+"Most assuredly," said the girl. "He meant that one of you should tell
+a story to beguile the time."
+
+"Oh yes. Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me
+whether it was eaten or not."
+
+"And didn't you know the meaning of this, father? He simply wished to
+know if the man was in debt or not; because, if the owner of the field
+was in debt, then the produce of the field was as good as eaten to him;
+that is, it would have to go to his creditors."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes; of course! Then, on entering a certain village, he bade
+me take his clasp knife and get two horses with it, and bring back the
+knife again to him."
+
+"Are not two stout sticks as good as two horses for helping one along
+on the road? He only asked you to cut a couple of sticks and be careful
+not to lose his knife."
+
+"I see," said the farmer. "While we were walking over the city we did
+not see anybody that we knew, and not a soul gave us a scrap of
+anything to eat, till we were passing the cemetery; but there some
+people called to us and put into our hands some chapatis and kulchas;
+so my companion called the city a cemetery, and the cemetery a city."
+
+"This also is to be understood, father, if one thinks of the city as
+the place where everything is to be obtained, and of inhospitable
+people as worse than the dead. The city, though crowded with people,
+was as if dead, as far as you were concerned; while, in the cemetery,
+which is crowded with the dead, you were saluted by kind friends and
+provided with bread."
+
+"True, true!" said the astonished farmer. "Then, just now, when we were
+crossing the stream, he waded through it without taking off his shoes
+and paijamas."
+
+"I admire his wisdom," replied the girl. "I have often thought how
+stupid people were to venture into that swiftly flowing stream and over
+those sharp stones with bare feet. The slightest stumble and they would
+fall, and be wetted from head to foot. This friend of yours is a most
+wise man. I should like to see him and speak to him."
+
+"Very well," said the farmer; "I will go and find him, and bring him
+in."
+
+"Tell him, father, that our beams are strong enough, and then he will
+come in. I'll send on ahead a present to the man, to show him that we
+can afford to have him for our guest."
+
+Accordingly she called a servant and sent him to the young man with a
+present of a basin of ghee, twelve chapatis, and a jar of milk, and the
+following message:--"O friend, the moon is full; twelve months make a
+year, and the sea is overflowing with water."
+
+Half-way the bearer of this present and message met his little son,
+who, seeing what was in the basket, begged his father to give him some
+of the food. His father foolishly complied. Presently he saw the young
+man, and gave him the rest of the present and the message.
+
+"Give your mistress my salam," he replied, "and tell her that the moon
+is new, and that I can only find eleven months in the year, and the sea
+is by no means full."
+
+Not understanding the meaning of these words, the servant repeated them
+word for word, as he had heard them, to his mistress; and thus his
+theft was discovered, and he was severely punished. After a little
+while the young man appeared with the old farmer. Great attention was
+shown to him, and he was treated in every way as if he were the son of
+a great man, although his humble host knew nothing of his origin. At
+length he told them everything--about the laughing of the fish, his
+father's threatened execution, and his own banishment--and asked their
+advice as to what he should do.
+
+"The laughing of the fish," said the girl, "which seems to have been
+the cause of all this trouble, indicates that there is a man in the
+palace who is plotting against the king's life."
+
+"Joy, joy!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "There is yet time for me to
+return and save my father from an ignominious and unjust death, and the
+king from danger."
+
+The following day he hastened back to his own country, taking with him
+the farmer's daughter. Immediately on arrival he ran to the palace and
+informed his father of what he had heard. The poor vizier, now almost
+dead from the expectation of death, was at once carried to the king, to
+whom he repeated the news that his son had just brought.
+
+"Never!" said the king.
+
+"But it must be so, Your Majesty," replied the vizier; "and in order to
+prove the truth of what I have heard, I pray you to call together all
+the maids in your palace, and order them to jump over a pit, which must
+be dug. We'll soon find out whether there is any man there."
+
+The king had the pit dug, and commanded all the maids belonging to the
+palace to try to jump it. All of them tried, but only one succeeded.
+That one was found to be a man!!
+
+Thus was the queen satisfied, and the faithful old vizier saved.
+
+Afterwards, as soon as could be, the vizier's son married the old
+farmer's daughter; and a most happy marriage it was.
+
+
+
+THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR
+
+_This story the Teacher told in Jetavana about a Brother who had
+ceased striving after righteousness. Said the Teacher to him: "Is it
+really true that you have ceased all striving?"--"Yes, Blessed One," he
+replied. Then the Teacher said: "O Brother, in former days wise men
+made effort in the place where effort should be made, and so attained
+unto royal power." And he told a story of long ago._
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was King of Benares, the Bodhisatta
+was born as son of his chief queen. On his name-day they asked 800
+Brahmans, having satisfied them with all their desires, about his lucky
+marks. The Brahmans who had skill in divining from such marks beheld
+the excellence of his, and made answer:
+
+"Full of goodness, great King, is your son, and when you die he will
+become king; he shall be famous and renowned for his skill with the
+five weapons, and shall be the chief man in all India." On hearing what
+the Brahmans had to say, they gave him the name of the Prince of the
+Five Weapons, sword, spear, bow, battle-axe, and shield.
+
+When he came to years of discretion, and had attained the measure of
+sixteen years, the King said to him:
+
+"My son, go and complete your education."
+
+"Who shall be my teacher?" the lad asked.
+
+"Go, my son; in the kingdom of Candahar, in the city of Takkasila, is a
+far-famed teacher from whom I wish you to learn. Take this, and give it
+him for a fee." With that he gave him a thousand pieces of money, and
+dismissed him.
+
+The lad departed, and was educated by this teacher; he received the
+Five Weapons from him as a gift, bade him farewell, and leaving
+Takkasila, he began his journey to Benares, armed with the Five
+Weapons.
+
+On his way he came to a forest inhabited by the Demon with the Matted
+Hair. At the entering in of the forest some men saw him, and cried out:
+
+"Hullo, young sir, keep clear of that wood! There's a Demon in it
+called he of the Matted Hair: he kills every man he sees!" And they
+tried to stop him. But the Bodhisatta, having confidence in himself,
+went straight on, fearless as a maned lion.
+
+When he reached mid-forest the Demon showed himself. He made himself as
+tall as a palm tree; his head was the size of a pagoda, his eyes as big
+as saucers, and he had two tusks all over knobs and bulbs; he had the
+face of a hawk, a variegated belly, and blue hands and feet.
+
+"Where are you going?" he shouted. "Stop! You'll make a meal for me!"
+
+Said the Bodhisatta: "Demon, I came here trusting in myself. I advise
+you to be careful how you come near me. Here's a poisoned arrow, which
+I'll shoot at you and knock you down!" With this menace, he fitted to
+his bow an arrow dipped in deadly poison, and let fly. The arrow stuck
+fast in the Demon's hair. Then he shot and shot, till he had shot away
+fifty arrows; and they all stuck in the Demon's hair. The Demon snapped
+them all off short, and threw them down at his feet; then came up to
+the Bodhisatta, who drew his sword and struck the Demon, threatening
+him the while. His sword--it was three-and-thirty inches long--stuck in
+the Demon's hair! The Bodhisatta struck him with his spear--that stuck
+too! He struck him with his club--and that stuck too!
+
+When the Bodhisatta saw that this had stuck fast, he addressed the
+Demon. "You, Demon!" said he, "did you never hear of me before--the
+Prince of the Five Weapons? When I came into the forest which you live
+in I did not trust to my bow and other weapons. This day will I pound
+you and grind you to powder!" Thus did he declare his resolve, and with
+a shout he hit at the Demon with his right hand. It stuck fast in his
+hair! He hit him with his left hand--that stuck too! With his right
+foot he kicked him--that stuck too; then with his left--and that stuck
+too! Then he butted at him with his head, crying, "I'll pound you to
+powder!" and his head stuck fast like the rest.
+
+Thus the Bodhisatta was five times snared, caught fast in five places,
+hanging suspended: yet he felt no fear--was not even nervous.
+
+Thought the Demon to himself: "Here's a lion of a man! A noble man!
+More than man is he! Here he is, caught by a Demon like me; yet he will
+not fear a bit. Since I have ravaged this road, I never saw such a man.
+Now, why is it that he does not fear?" He was powerless to eat the man,
+but asked him: "Why is it, young sir, that you are not frightened to
+death?"
+
+"Why should I fear, Demon?" replied he. "In one life a man can die but
+once. Besides, in my belly is a thunderbolt; if you eat me, you will
+never be able to digest it; this will tear your inwards into little
+bits, and kill you: so we shall both perish. That is why I fear
+nothing." (By this, the Bodhisatta meant the weapon of knowledge which
+he had within him.)
+
+When he heard this, the Demon thought: "This young man speaks the
+truth. A piece of the flesh of such a lion-man as he would be too much
+for me to digest, if it were no bigger than a kidney-bean. I'll let him
+go!" So, being frightened to death, he let go the Bodhisatta, saying
+"Young sir, you are a lion of a man! I will not eat you up. I set you
+free from my hands, as the moon is disgorged from the jaws of Rahu
+after the eclipse. Go back to the company of your friends and
+relations!"
+
+And the Bodhisatta said: "Demon, I will go, as you say. You were born a
+Demon, cruel, blood-bibbing, devourer of the flesh and gore of others,
+because you did wickedly in former lives. If you still go on doing
+wickedly, you will go from darkness to darkness. But now that you have
+seen me you will find it impossible to do wickedly. Taking the life of
+living creatures causes birth, as an animal, in the world of Petas, or
+in the body of an Asura, or, if one is reborn as a man, it makes his
+life short." With this and the like monition he told him the
+disadvantage of the five kinds of wickedness, and the profit of the
+five kinds of virtue, and frightened the Demon in various ways,
+discoursing to him until he subdued him and made him self-denying, and
+established him in the five kinds of virtue; he made him worship the
+deity to whom offerings were made in that wood; and having carefully
+admonished him, departed out of it.
+
+At the entrance of the forest he told all to the people thereabout; and
+went on to Benares, armed with his five weapons. Afterwards he became
+king, and ruled righteously; and after giving alms and doing good he
+passed away according to his deeds.
+
+_And the Teacher, when this tale was ended, became perfectly
+enlightened, and repeated this verse:
+
+  Whose mind and heart from all desire is free,
+  Who seeks for peace by living virtuously,
+    He in due time will sever all the bonds
+  That bind him fast to life, and cease to be.
+
+Thus the Teacher reached the summit, through sainthood and the teaching
+of the law, and thereupon he declared the Four Truths. At the end of
+the declaring of the Truths, this Brother also attained to sainthood.
+Then the Teacher made the connexion, and gave the key to the birth-
+tale, saying: "At that time Angulimala was the Demon, but the Prance of
+the Five Weapons was I myself."_
+
+
+
+THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS
+
+One day a young prince was out practising archery with the son of his
+father's chief vizier, when one of the arrows accidentally struck the
+wife of a merchant, who was walking about in an upper room of a house
+close by. The prince aimed at a bird that was perched on the window-
+sill of that room, and had not the slightest idea that anybody was at
+hand, or he would not have shot in that direction. Consequently, not
+knowing what had happened, he and the vizier's son walked away, the
+vizier's son chaffing him because he had missed the bird.
+
+Presently the merchant went to ask his wife about something, and found
+her lying, to all appearance, dead in the middle of the room, and an
+arrow fixed in the ground within half a yard of her head. Supposing
+that she was dead, he rushed to the window and shrieked, "Thieves
+thieves! They have killed my wife." The neighbours quickly gathered,
+and the servants came running upstairs to see what was the matter. It
+happened that the woman had fainted, and that there was only a very
+slight wound in her breast where the arrow had grazed.
+
+As soon as the woman recovered her senses she told them that two young
+men had passed by the place with their bows and arrows, and that one of
+them had most deliberately aimed at her as she stood by the window.
+
+On hearing this the merchant went to the king, and told him what had
+taken place. His Majesty was much enraged at such audacious wickedness,
+and swore that most terrible punishment should be visited on the
+offender if he could be discovered. He ordered the merchant to go back
+and ascertain whether his wife could recognise the young men if she saw
+them again.
+
+"Oh yes," replied the woman, "I should know them again among all the
+people in the city."
+
+"Then," said the king, when the merchant brought back this reply, "to-
+morrow I will cause all the male inhabitants of this city to pass
+before your house, and your wife will stand at the window and watch for
+the man who did this wanton deed."
+
+A royal proclamation was issued to this effect. So the next day all the
+men and boys of the city, from the age of ten years upwards, assembled
+and marched by the house of the merchant. By chance (for they both had
+been excused from obeying this order) the king's son and the vizier's
+son were also in the company, and passed by in the crowd. They came to
+see the tamasha.
+
+As soon as these two appeared in front of the merchant's window they
+were recognised by the merchant's wife, and at once reported to the
+king.
+
+"My own son and the son of my chief vizier!" exclaimed the king, who
+had been present from the commencement. "What examples for the people!
+Let them both be executed."
+
+"Not so, your Majesty," said the vizier, "I beseech you Let the facts
+of the case be thoroughly investigated. How is it?" he continued,
+turning to the two young men. "Why have you done this cruel thing?"
+
+"I shot an arrow at a bird that was sitting on the sill of an open
+window in yonder house, and missed," answered the prince. "I suppose
+the arrow struck the merchant's wife. Had I known that she or anybody
+had been near I should not have shot in that direction."
+
+"We will speak of this later on," said the king, on hearing this
+answer. "Dismiss the people. Their presence is no longer needed."
+
+In the evening his Majesty and the vizier had a long and earnest talk
+about their two sons. The king wished both of them to be executed; but
+the vizier suggested that the prince should be banished from the
+country. This was finally agreed to.
+
+Accordingly, on the following morning, a little company of soldiers
+escorted the prince out of the city. When they reached the last custom-
+house the vizier's son overtook them. He had come with all haste,
+bringing with him four bags of muhrs on four horses. "I am come," he
+said, throwing his arms round the prince's neck, "because I cannot let
+you go alone. We have lived together, we will be exiled together, and
+we will die together. Turn me not back, if you love me."
+
+"Consider," the prince answered, "what you are doing. All kinds of
+trial may be before me. Why should you leave your home and country to
+be with me?"
+
+"Because I love you," he said, "and shall never be happy without you."
+
+So the two friends walked along hand in hand as fast as they could to
+get out of the country, and behind them marched the soldiers and the
+horses with their valuable burdens. On reaching a place on the borders
+of the king's dominions the prince gave the soldiers some gold, and
+ordered them to return. The soldiers took the money and left; they did
+not, however, go very far, but hid themselves behind rocks and stones,
+and waited till they were quite sure that the prince did not intend to
+come back.
+
+On and on the exiles walked, till they arrived at a certain village,
+where they determined to spend the night under one of the big trees of
+the place. The prince made preparations for a fire, and arranged the
+few articles of bedding that they had with them, while the vizier's son
+went to the baniya and the baker and the butcher to get something for
+their dinner. For some reason he was delayed; perhaps the tsut was not
+quite ready, or the baniya had not got all the spices prepared. After
+waiting half an hour the prince became impatient, and rose up and
+walked about.
+
+He saw a pretty, clear little brook running along not far from their
+resting-place, and hearing that its source was not far distant, he
+started off to find it. The source was a beautiful lake, which at that
+time was covered with the magnificent lotus flower and other water
+plants. The prince sat down on the bank, and being thirsty took up some
+of the water in his hand. Fortunately he looked into his hand before
+drinking, and there, to his great astonishment, he saw reflected whole
+and clear the image of a beautiful fairy. He looked round, hoping to
+see the reality; but seeing no person, he drank the water, and put out
+his hand to take some more. Again he saw the reflection in the water
+which was in his palm. He looked around as before, and this time
+discovered a fairy sitting by the bank on the opposite side of the
+lake. On seeing her he fell so madly in love with her that he dropped
+down in a swoon.
+
+When the vizier's son returned, and found the fire lighted, the horses
+securely fastened, and the bags of muhrs lying altogether in a heap,
+but no prince, he did not know what to think. He waited a little while,
+and then shouted; but not getting any reply, he got up and went to the
+brook. There he came across the footmarks of his friend. Seeing these,
+he went back at once for the money and the horses, and bringing them
+with him, he tracked the prince to the lake, where he found him lying
+to all appearance dead.
+
+"Alas! alas!" he cried, and lifting up the prince, he poured some water
+over his head and face. "Alas! my brother, what is this? Oh! do not die
+and leave me thus. Speak, speak! I cannot bear this!"
+
+In a few minutes the prince, revived by the water, opened his eyes, and
+looked about wildly.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "But what is the matter,
+brother?"
+
+"Go away," replied the prince. "I don't want to say anything to you, or
+to see you. Go away."
+
+"Come, come; let us leave this place. Look, I have brought some food
+for you, and horses, and everything. Let us eat and depart."
+
+"Go alone," replied the prince.
+
+"Never," said the vizier's son. "What has happened to suddenly estrange
+you from me? A little while ago we were brethren, but now you detest
+the sight of me."
+
+"I have looked upon a fairy," the prince said. "But a moment I saw her
+face; for when she noticed that I was looking at her she covered her
+face with lotus petals. Oh, how beautiful she was! And while I gazed
+she took out of her bosom an ivory box, and held it up to me. Then I
+fainted. Oh! if you can get me that fairy for my wife, I will go
+anywhere with you."
+
+"Oh, brother," said the vizier's son, "you have indeed seen a fairy.
+She is a fairy of the fairies. This is none other than Gulizar of the
+Ivory City. I know this from the signs that she gave you. From her
+covering her face with lotus petals I learn her name, and from her
+showing you the ivory box I learn where she lives. Be patient, and rest
+assured that I will arrange your marriage with her."
+
+When the prince heard these encouraging words he felt much comforted,
+rose up, and ate, and then went away gladly with his friend.
+
+On the way they met two men. These two men belonged to a family of
+robbers. There were eleven of them altogether. One, an elder sister,
+stayed at home and cooked the food, and the other ten--all brothers--
+went out, two and two, and walked about the four different ways that
+ran through that part of the country, robbing those travellers who
+could not resist them, and inviting others, who were too powerful for
+two of them to manage, to come and rest at their house, where the whole
+family attacked them and stole their goods. These thieves lived in a
+kind of tower, which had several strong-rooms in it, and under it was a
+great pit, wherein they threw the corpses of the poor unfortunates who
+chanced to fall into their power.
+
+The two men came forward, and, politely accosting them, begged them to
+come and stay at their house for the night. "It is late," they said,
+"and there is not another village within several miles."
+
+"Shall we accept this good man's invitation, brother?" asked the
+prince.
+
+The vizier's son frowned slightly in token of disapproval; but the
+prince was tired, and thinking that it was only a whim of his friend's,
+he said to the men, "Very well. It is very kind of you to ask us."
+
+So they all four went to the robbers' tower.
+
+Seated in a room, with the door fastened on the outside, the two
+travellers bemoaned their fate.
+
+"It is no good groaning," said the vizier's son. "I will climb to the
+window, and see whether there are any means of escape. Yes! yes!" he
+whispered, when he had reached the window-hole. "Below there is a ditch
+surrounded by a high wall. I will jump down and reconnoitre. You stay
+here, and wait till I return."
+
+Presently he came back and told the prince that he had seen a most ugly
+woman, whom he supposed was the robbers' housekeeper. She had agreed to
+release them on the promise of her marriage with the prince.
+
+So the woman led the way out of the enclosure by a secret door.
+
+"But where are the horses and the goods?" the vizier's son inquired.
+
+"You cannot bring them," the woman said. "To go out by any other way
+would be to thrust oneself into the grave."
+
+"All right, then; they also shall go out by this door. I have a charm,
+whereby I can make them thin or fat." So the vizier's son fetched the
+horses without any person knowing it, and repeating the charm, he made
+them pass through the narrow doorway like pieces of cloth, and when
+they were all outside restored them to their former condition. He at
+once mounted his horse and laid hold of the halter of one of the other
+horses, and then beckoning to the prince to do likewise, he rode off.
+The prince saw his opportunity, and in a moment was riding after him,
+having the woman behind him.
+
+Now the robbers heard the galloping of the horses, and ran out and shot
+their arrows at the prince and his companions. And one of the arrows
+killed the woman, so they had to leave her behind.
+
+On, on they rode, until they reached a village where they stayed the
+night. The following morning they were off again, and asked for Ivory
+City from every passer-by. At length they came to this famous city, and
+put up at a little hut that belonged to an old woman, from whom they
+feared no harm, and with whom, therefore, they could abide in peace and
+comfort. At first the old woman did not like the idea of these
+travellers staying in her house, but the sight of a muhr, which the
+prince dropped in the bottom of a cup in which she had given him water,
+and a present of another muhr from the vizier's son, quickly made her
+change her mind. She agreed to let them stay there for a few days.
+
+As soon as her work was over the old woman came and sat down with her
+lodgers. The vizier's son pretended to be utterly ignorant of the place
+and people. "Has this city a name?" he asked the old woman.
+
+"Of course it has, you stupid. Every little village, much more a city,
+and such a city as this, has a name."
+
+"What is the name of this city?"
+
+"Ivory City. Don't you know that? I thought the name was known all over
+the world."
+
+On the mention of the name Ivory City the prince gave a deep sigh. The
+vizier's son looked as much as to say "Keep quiet, or you'll discover
+the secret."
+
+"Is there a king of this country?" continued the vizier's son.
+
+"Of course there is, and a queen, and a princess."
+
+"What are their names?"
+
+"The name of the princess is Gulizar, and the name of the queen----"
+
+The vizier's son interrupted the old woman by turning to look at the
+prince, who was staring like a madman. "Yes," he said to him
+afterwards, "we are in the right country. We shall see the beautiful
+princess."
+
+One morning the two travellers noticed the old woman's most careful
+toilette: how careful she was in the arrangement of her hair and the
+set of her kasabah and puts.
+
+"Who is coming?" said the vizier's son.
+
+"Nobody," the old woman replied.
+
+"Then where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to see my daughter, who is a servant of the Princess
+Gulizar. I see her and the princess every day. I should have gone
+yesterday, if you had not been here and taken up all my time."
+
+"Ah-h-h! Be careful not to say anything about us in the hearing of the
+princess." The vizier's son asked her not to speak about them at the
+palace, hoping that, because she had been told not to do so, she would
+mention their arrival, and thus the princess would be informed of their
+coming.
+
+On seeing her mother the girl pretended to be very angry. "Why have you
+not been for two days?" she asked.
+
+"Because, my dear," the old woman answered, "two young travellers, a
+prince and the son of some great vizier, have taken up their abode in
+my hut, and demand so much of my attention. It is nothing but cooking
+and cleaning, and cleaning and cooking, all day long. I can't
+understand the men," she added; "one of them especially appears very
+stupid. He asked me the name of this country and the name of the
+king. Now where can these men have come from, that they do not know
+these things? However, they are very great and very rich. They each
+give me a muhr every morning and every evening."
+
+After this the old woman went and repeated almost the same words to the
+princess, on the hearing of which the princess beat her severely; and
+threatened her with a severer punishment if she ever again spoke of the
+strangers before her.
+
+In the evening, when the old woman had returned to her hut, she told
+the vizier's son how sorry she was that she could not help breaking her
+promise, and how the princess had struck her because she mentioned
+their coming and all about them.
+
+"Alas! alas!" said the prince, who had eagerly listened to every word.
+"What, then, will be her anger at the sight of a man?"
+
+"Anger?" said the vizier's son, with an astonished air. "She would be
+exceedingly glad to see one man. I know this. In this treatment of the
+old woman I see her request that you will go and see her during the
+coming dark fortnight."
+
+"Heaven be praised!" the prince exclaimed.
+
+The next time the old woman went to the palace Gulizar called one of
+her servants and ordered her to rush into the room while she was
+conversing with the old woman; and if the old woman asked what was the
+matter, she was to say that the king's elephants had gone mad, and were
+rushing about the city and bazaar in every direction, and destroying
+everything in their way.
+
+The servant obeyed, and the old woman, fearing lest the elephants
+should go and push down her hut and kill the prince and his friend,
+begged the princess to let her depart. Now Gulizar had obtained a
+charmed swing, that landed whoever sat on it at the place wherever they
+wished to be. "Get the swing," she said to one of the servants standing
+by. When it was brought she bade the old woman step into it and desire
+to be at home.
+
+The old woman did so, and was at once carried through the air quickly
+and safely to her hut, where she found her two lodgers safe and sound.
+"Oh!" she cried, "I thought that both of you would be killed by this
+time. The royal elephants have got loose and are running about wildly.
+When I heard this I was anxious about you. So the princess gave me this
+charmed swing to return in. But come, let us get outside before the
+elephants arrive and batter down the place."
+
+"Don't believe this," said the vizier's son. "It is a mere hoax. They
+have been playing tricks with you."
+
+"You will soon have your heart's desire," he whispered aside to the
+prince. "These things are signs."
+
+Two days of the dark fortnight had elapsed, when the prince and the
+vizier's son seated themselves in the swing, and wished themselves
+within the grounds of the palace. In a moment they were there, and
+there too was the object of their search standing by one of the palace
+gates, and longing to see the prince quite as much as he was longing to
+see her.
+
+Oh, what a happy meeting it was!
+
+"At last," said Gulizar, "I have seen my beloved, my husband."
+
+"A thousand thanks to Heaven for bringing me to you," said the prince.
+
+Then the prince and Gulizar betrothed themselves to one another and
+parted, the one for the hut and the other for the palace, both of them
+feeling happier than they had ever been before.
+
+Henceforth the prince visited Gulizar every day and returned to the hut
+every night. One morning Gulizar begged him to stay with her always.
+She was constantly afraid of some evil happening to him--perhaps
+robbers would slay him, or sickness attack him, and then she would be
+deprived of him. She could not live without seeing him. The prince
+showed her that there was no real cause for fear, and said that he felt
+he ought to return to his friend at night, because he had left his home
+and country and risked his life for him; and, moreover, if it had not
+been for his friend's help he would never have met with her.
+
+Gulizar for the time assented, but she determined in her heart to get
+rid of the vizier's son as soon as possible. A few days after this
+conversation she ordered one of her maids to make a pilaw. She gave
+special directions that a certain poison was to be mixed into it while
+cooking, and as soon as it was ready the cover was to be placed on the
+saucepan, so that the poisonous steam might not escape. When the pilaw
+was ready she sent it at once by the hand of a servant to the vizier's
+son with this message "Gulizar, the princess, sends you an offering in
+the name of her dead uncle."
+
+On receiving the present the vizier's son thought that the prince had
+spoken gratefully of him to the princess, and therefore she had thus
+remembered him. Accordingly he sent back his salam and expressions of
+thankfulness.
+
+When it was dinner-time he took the saucepan of pilaw and went out to
+eat it by the stream. Taking off the lid, he threw it aside on the
+grass and then washed his hands. During the minute or so that he was
+performing these ablutions, the green grass under the cover of the
+saucepan turned quite yellow. He was astonished, and suspecting that
+there was poison in the pilaw, he took a little and threw it to some
+crows that were hopping about. The moment the crows ate what was thrown
+to them they fell down dead.
+
+"Heaven be praised," exclaimed the vizier's son, "who has preserved me
+from death at this time!"
+
+On the return of the prince that evening the vizier's son was very
+reticent and depressed. The prince noticed this change in him, and
+asked what was the reason. "Is it because I am away so much at the
+palace?" The vizier's son saw that the prince had nothing to do with
+the sending of the pilaw, and therefore told him everything.
+
+"Look here," he said, "in this handkerchief is some pilaw that the
+princess sent me this morning in the name of her deceased uncle. It is
+saturated with poison. Thank Heaven, I discovered it in time!"
+
+"Oh, brother! who could have done this thing? Who is there that
+entertains enmity against you?"
+
+"The Princess Gulizar. Listen. The next time you go to see her, I
+entreat you to take some snow with you; and just before seeing the
+princess put a little of it into both your eyes. It will provoke tears,
+and Gulizar will ask you why you are crying. Tell her that you weep for
+the loss of your friend, who died suddenly this morning. Look! take,
+too, this wine and this shovel, and when you have feigned intense grief
+at the death of your friend, bid the princess to drink a little of the
+wine. It is strong, and will immediately send her into a deep sleep.
+Then, while she is asleep, heat the shovel and mark her back with it.
+Remember to bring back the shovel again, and also to take her pearl
+necklace. This done, return. Now fear not to execute these
+instructions, because on the fulfilment of them depends your fortune
+and happiness. I will arrange that your marriage with the princess
+shall be accepted by the king, her father, and all the court."
+
+The prince promised that he would do everything as the vizier's son had
+advised him; and he kept his promise.
+
+The following night, on the return of the prince from his visit to
+Gulizar, he and the vizier's son, taking the horses and bags of muhrs,
+went to a graveyard about a mile or so distant. It was arranged that
+the vizier's son should act the part of a fakir and the prince the part
+of the fakir's disciple and servant.
+
+In the morning, when Gulizar had returned to her senses, she felt a
+smarting pain in her back, and noticed that her pearl necklace was
+gone. She went at once and informed the king of the loss of her
+necklace, but said nothing to him about the pain in her back.
+
+The king was very angry when he heard of the theft, and caused
+proclamation concerning it to be made throughout all the city and
+surrounding country.
+
+"It is well," said the vizier's son, when he heard of this
+proclamation. "Fear not, my brother, but go and take this necklace, and
+try to sell it in the bazaar."
+
+The prince took it to a goldsmith and asked him to buy it.
+
+"How much do you want for it?" asked the man.
+
+"Fifty thousand rupees," the prince replied.
+
+"All right," said the man; "wait here while I go and fetch the money."
+
+The prince waited and waited, till at last the goldsmith returned, and
+with him the kotwal, who at once took the prince into custody on the
+charge of stealing the princess's necklace.
+
+"How did you get the necklace?" the kotwal asked.
+
+"A fakir, whose servant I am, gave it to me to sell in the bazaar," the
+prince replied. "Permit me, and I will show you where he is."
+
+The prince directed the kotwal and the policeman to the place where he
+had left the vizier's son, and there they found the fakir with his eyes
+shut and engaged in prayer. Presently, when he had finished his
+devotions, the kotwal asked him to explain how he had obtained
+possession of the princess's necklace.
+
+"Call the king hither," he replied, "and then I will tell his Majesty
+face to face."
+
+On this some men went to the king and told him what the fakir had said.
+His Majesty came, and seeing the fakir so solemn and earnest in his
+devotions, he was afraid to rouse his anger, lest peradventure the
+displeasure of Heaven should descend on him, and so he placed his hands
+together in the attitude of a supplicant, and asked, "How did you get
+my daughter's necklace?"
+
+"Last night," replied the fakir, "we were sitting here by this tomb
+worshipping Khuda, when a ghoul, dressed as a princess, came and
+exhumed a body that had been buried a few days ago, and began to eat
+it. On seeing this I was filled with anger, and beat her back with a
+shovel, which lay on the fire at the time. While running away from me
+her necklace got loose and dropped. You wonder at these words, but they
+are not difficult to prove. Examine your daughter, and you will find
+the marks of the burn on her back. Go, and if it is as I say, send the
+princess to me, and I will punish her."
+
+The king went back to the palace, and at once ordered the princess's
+back to be examined.
+
+"It is so," said the maid-servant; "the burn is there."
+
+"Then let the girl be slain immediately," the king shouted.
+
+"No, no, your Majesty," they replied. "Let us send her to the fakir who
+discovered this thing, that he may do whatever he wishes with her."
+
+The king agreed, and so the princess was taken to the graveyard.
+
+"Let her be shut up in a cage, and be kept near the grave whence she
+took out the corpse," said the fakir.
+
+This was done, and in a little while the fakir and his disciple and the
+princess were left alone in the graveyard. Night had not long cast its
+dark mantle over the scene when the fakir and his disciple threw off
+their disguise, and taking their horses and luggage, appeared before
+the cage. They released the princess, rubbed some ointment over the
+scars on her back, and then sat her upon one of their horses behind the
+prince. Away they rode fast and far, and by the morning were able to
+rest and talk over their plans in safety. The vizier's son showed the
+princess some of the poisoned pilaw that she had sent him, and asked
+whether she had repented of her ingratitude. The princess wept, and
+acknowledged that he was her greatest helper and friend.
+
+A letter was sent to the chief vizier telling him of all that had
+happened to the prince and the vizier's son since they had left their
+country. When the vizier read the letter he went and informed the king.
+The king caused a reply to be sent to the two exiles, in which he
+ordered them not to return, but to send a letter to Gulizar's father,
+and inform him of everything. Accordingly they did this; the prince
+wrote the letter at the vizier's son's dictation.
+
+On reading the letter Gulizar's father was much enraged with his
+viziers and other officials for not discovering the presence in his
+country of these illustrious visitors, as he was especially anxious to
+ingratiate himself in the favour of the prince and the vizier's son. He
+ordered the execution of some of the viziers on a certain date.
+
+"Come," he wrote back to the vizier's son, "and stay at the palace. And
+if the prince desires it, I will arrange for his marriage with Gulizar
+as soon as possible."
+
+The prince and the vizier's son most gladly accepted the invitation,
+and received a right noble welcome from the king. The marriage soon
+took place, and then after a few weeks the king gave them presents of
+horses and elephants, and jewels and rich cloths, and bade them start
+for their own land; for he was sure that the king would now receive
+them. The night before they left the viziers and others, whom the king
+intended to have executed as soon as his visitors had left, came and
+besought the vizier's son to plead for them, and promised that they
+each would give him a daughter in marriage. He agreed to do so, and
+succeeded in obtaining their pardon.
+
+Then the prince, with his beautiful bride Gulizar, and the vizier's
+son, attended by a troop of soldiers, and a large number of camels and
+horses bearing very much treasure, left for their own land. In the
+midst of the way they passed the tower of the robbers, and with the
+help of the soldiers they razed it to the ground, slew all its inmates,
+and seized the treasure which they had been amassing there for several
+years.
+
+At length they reached their own country, and when the king saw his
+son's beautiful wife and his magnificent retinue he was at once
+reconciled, and ordered him to enter the city and take up his abode
+there.
+
+Henceforth all was sunshine on the path of the prince. He became a
+great favourite, and in due time succeeded to the throne, and ruled the
+country for many, many years in peace and happiness.
+
+
+
+HOW SUN, MOON, AND WIND WENT OUT TO DINNER
+
+One day Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and aunts
+Thunder and Lightning. Their mother (one of the most distant Stars you
+see far up in the sky) waited alone for her children's return.
+
+Now both Sun and Wind were greedy and selfish. They enjoyed the great
+feast that had been prepared for them, without a thought of saving any
+of it to take home to their mother--but the gentle Moon did not forget
+her. Of every dainty dish that was brought round, she placed a small
+portion under one of her beautiful long finger-nails, that Star might
+also have a share in the treat.
+
+On their return, their mother, who had kept watch for them all night
+long with her little bright eye, said, "Well, children, what have you
+brought home for me?" Then Sun (who was eldest) said, "I have brought
+nothing home for you. I went out to enjoy myself with my friends--not
+to fetch a dinner for my mother!" And Wind said, "Neither have I
+brought anything home for you, mother. You could hardly expect me to
+bring a collection of good things for you, when I merely went out for
+my own pleasure." But Moon said, "Mother, fetch a plate, see what I
+have brought you." And shaking her hands she showered down such a
+choice dinner as never was seen before.
+
+Then Star turned to Sun and spoke thus, "Because you went out to amuse
+yourself with your friends, and feasted and enjoyed yourself, without
+any thought of your mother at home--you shall be cursed. Henceforth,
+your rays shall ever be hot and scorching, and shall burn all that they
+touch. And men shall hate you, and cover their heads when you appear."
+
+(And that is why the Sun is so hot to this day.)
+
+Then she turned to Wind and said, "You also who forgot your mother in
+the midst of your selfish pleasures--hear your doom. You shall always
+blow in the hot dry weather, and shall parch and shrivel all living
+things. And men shall detest and avoid you from this very time."
+
+(And that is why the Wind in the hot weather is still so disagreeable.)
+
+But to Moon she said, "Daughter, because you remembered your mother,
+and kept for her a share in your own enjoyment, from henceforth you
+shall be ever cool, and calm, and bright. No noxious glare shall
+accompany your pure rays, and men shall always call you 'blessed."'
+
+(And that is why the moon's light is so soft, and cool, and beautiful
+even to this day.)
+
+
+
+HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED
+
+A very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death,
+sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did
+not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them
+were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old fellow had to bear with
+much abuse and cruelty from his sons. Wretched, selfish ingrates!
+Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their father,
+hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received their
+patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them--nay, the sooner the
+better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And they
+let the poor old man know what they felt.
+
+One day he met a friend and related to him all his troubles. The friend
+sympathised very much with him, and promised to think over the matter,
+and call in a little while and tell him what to do. He did so; in a
+few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of stones
+and gravel before him.
+
+"Look here, friend," said he. "Your sons will get to know of my coming
+here to-day, and will inquire about it. You must pretend that I came to
+discharge a long-standing debt with you, and that you are several
+thousands of rupees richer than you thought you were. Keep these bags
+in your own hands, and on no account let your sons get to them as long
+as you are alive. You will soon find them change their conduct towards
+you. Salaam. I will come again soon to see how you are getting on."
+
+When the young men got to hear of this further increase of wealth they
+began to be more attentive and pleasing to their father than ever
+before. And thus they continued to the day of the old man's demise,
+when the bags were greedily opened, and found to contain only stones
+and gravel!
+
+
+
+THE PIGEON AND THE CROW
+
+Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was a Pigeon, and lived in a nest-
+basket which a rich man's cook had hung up in the kitchen, in order to
+earn merit by it. A greedy Crow, flying near, saw all sorts of delicate
+food lying about in the kitchen, and fell a-hungering after it. "How in
+the world can I get some?" thought he? At last he hit upon a plan.
+
+When the Pigeon went to search for food, behind him, following,
+following, came the Crow.
+
+"What do you want, Mr. Crow? You and I don't feed alike."
+
+"Ah, but I like you and your ways! Let me be your chum, and let us feed
+together."
+
+The Pigeon agreed, and they went on in company. The Crow pretended to
+feed along with the Pigeon, but ever and anon he would turn back, peck
+to bits some heap of cow-dung, and eat a fat worm. When he had got a
+bellyful of them, up he flies, as pert as you like:
+
+"Hullo, Mr. Pigeon, what a time you take over your meal! One ought to
+draw the line somewhere. Let's be going home before it is too late."
+And so they did.
+
+The cook saw that his Pigeon had brought a friend, and hung up another
+basket for him.
+
+A few days afterwards there was a great purchase of fish which came to
+the rich man's kitchen. How the Crow longed for some! So there he lay,
+from early morn, groaning and making a great noise. Says the Pigeon to
+the Crow:
+
+"Come, Sir Crow, and get your breakfast!"'
+
+"Oh dear! oh dear! I have such a fit of indigestion!" says he.
+
+"Nonsense! Crows never have indigestion," said the Pigeon. "If you eat
+a lamp-wick, that stays in your stomach a little while; but anything
+else is digested in a trice, as soon as you eat it. Now do what I tell
+you; don't behave in this way just for seeing a little fish."
+
+"Why do you say that, master? I have indigestion."
+
+"Well, be careful," said the Pigeon, and flew away.
+
+The cook prepared all the dishes, and then stood at the kitchen door,
+wiping the sweat off his body. "Now's my time!" thought Mr. Crow, and
+alighted on a dish containing some dainty food. Click! The cook heard
+it, and looked round. Ah! he caught the Crow, and plucked all the
+feathers out of his head, all but one tuft; he powdered ginger and
+cummin, mixed it up with butter-milk, and rubbed it well all over the
+bird's body.
+
+"That's for spoiling my master's dinner and making me throw it away!"
+said he, and threw him into his basket. Oh, how it hurt!
+
+By-and-by the Pigeon came in, and saw the Crow lying there, making a
+great noise. He made great game of him, and repeated a verse of poetry:
+
+  "Who is this tufted crane I see
+  Lying where he's no right to be?
+  Come out! my friend, the crow is near,
+  And he may do you harm, I fear!"
+
+To this the Crow answered with another:
+
+  "No tufted crane am I--no, no!
+  I'm nothing but a greedy crow.
+  I would not do as I was told,
+  So now I'm plucked, as you behold."
+
+And the Pigeon rejoined with a third verse:
+
+  "You'll come to grief again, I know--
+  It is your nature to do so;
+  If people make a dish of meat,
+  'Tis not for little birds to eat."
+
+Then the Pigeon flew away, saying: "I can't live with this creature any
+longer." And the Crow lay there groaning till he died.
+
+
+
+NOTES AND REFERENCES
+
+The story literature of India is in a large measure the outcome of the
+moral revolution of the peninsula connected with the name of Gautama
+Buddha. As the influence of his life and doctrines grew, a tendency
+arose to connect all the popular stories of India round the great
+teacher. This could be easily effected owing to the wide spread of the
+belief in metempsychosis. All that was told of the sages of the past
+could be interpreted of the Buddha by representing them as pre-
+incarnations of him. Even with Fables, or beast-tales, this could be
+done, for the Hindoos were Darwinists long before Darwin, and regarded
+beasts as cousins of men and stages of development in the progress of
+the soul through the ages. Thus, by identifying the Buddha with the
+heroes of all folk-tales and the chief characters in the beast-drolls,
+the Buddhists were enabled to incorporate the whole of the story-store
+of Hindostan in their sacred books, and enlist on their side the tale-
+telling instincts of men.
+
+In making Buddha the centre figure of the popular literature of India,
+his followers also invented the Frame as a method of literary art. The
+idea of connecting a number of disconnected stories familiar to us from
+_The Arabian Nights_, Boccaccio's _Decamerone_, Chaucer's _Canterbury
+Tales_, or even _Pickwick_, is directly traceable to the plan of
+making Buddha the central figure of India folk-literature. Curiously
+enough, the earliest instance of this in Buddhist literature was intended
+to be a Decameron, ten tales of Buddha's previous births, told of each
+of the ten Perfections. Asvagosha, the earlier Boccaccio, died when he
+had completed thirty-four of the Birth-Tales. But other collections were
+made, and at last a corpus of the JATAKAS, or Birth-Tales of the Buddha,
+was carried over to Ceylon, possibly as early as the first introduction of
+Buddhism, 241 B.C. There they have remained till the present day, and
+have at last been made accessible in a complete edition in the original
+Pali by Prof. Fausboll.
+
+These JATAKAS, as we now have them, are enshrined in a commentary on
+the _gathas_, or moral verses, written in Ceylon by one of
+Buddhaghosa's school in the fifth century A.D. They invariably begin
+with a "Story of the Present," an incident in Buddha's life which
+calls up to him a "Story of the Past," a folk-tale in which he had
+played a part during one of his former incarnations. Thus the fable of
+the Lion and the Crane, which opens the present collection, is
+introduced by a "Story of the Present" in the following words:--
+
+"A service have we done thee" [the opening words of the _gatha_ or
+moral verse]. "This the Master told while living at Jetavana concerning
+Devadatta's treachery. Not only now, O Bhickkus, but in a former
+existence was Devadatta ungrateful. And having said this he told a
+tale" Then follows the tale as given above, and the commentary
+concludes: "The Master, having given the lesson, summed up the Jataka
+thus: 'At that time, the Lion was Devadatta, and the Crane was I
+myself.'" Similarly, with each story of the past the Buddha identifies
+himself, or is mentioned as identical with, the virtuous hero of the
+folk-tale. These Jatakas are 550 in number, and have been reckoned to
+include some 2000 tales. Some of these had been translated by Mr.
+Rhys-Davids (_Buddhist Birth Stories, I._, Trubner's Oriental
+Library, 1880), Prof. Fausboll (_Five Jatakas_, Copenhagen), and Dr.
+R. Morris (_Folk-Lore Journal_, vols. ii.-v.). A few exist sculptured
+on the earliest Buddhist Stupas. Thus several of the circular figure
+designs on the reliefs from Amaravati, now on the grand staircase of the
+British Museum, represent Jatakas, or previous births of the Buddha.
+
+Some of the Jatakas bear a remarkable resemblance to some of the most
+familiar FABLES OF AESOP. So close is the resemblance, indeed, that it
+is impossible not to surmise an historical relation between the two.
+What this relation is I have discussed at considerable length in the
+"History of the Aesopic Fable," which forms the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's _Esope_ (London, D. Nutt, "Bibliotheque de
+Carabas," 1889). In this place I can only roughly summarise my results.
+I conjecture that a collection of fables existed in India before Buddha
+and independently of the Jatakas, and connected with the name of
+Kasyapa, who was afterwards made by the Buddhists into the latest of
+the twenty-seven pre-incarnations of the Buddha. This collection of the
+Fables of Kasyapa was brought to Europe with a deputation from the
+Cingalese King Chandra Muka Siwa (obiit 52 A.D.) to the Emperor
+Claudius about 50 A.D., and was done into Greek as the [Greek: Logoi
+Lubikoi] of "Kybises." These were utilised by Babrius (from whom the
+Greek Aesop is derived) and Avian, and so came into the European Aesop.
+I have discussed all those that are to be found in the Jatakas in the
+"History" before mentioned, i. pp. 54-72 (see Notes i. xv. xx.). In
+these Notes henceforth I refer to this "History" as my _Aesop_.
+
+There were probably other Buddhist collections of a similar nature to
+the Jatakas with a framework. When the Hindu reaction against Buddhism
+came, the Brahmins adapted these, with the omission of Buddha as the
+central figure. There is scarcely any doubt that the so-called FABLES
+OF BIDPAI were thus derived from Buddhistic sources. In its Indian form
+this is now extant as a _Panchatantra_ or Pentateuch, five books
+of tales connected by a Frame. This collection is of special interest
+to us in the present connection, as it has come to Europe in various
+forms and shapes. I have edited Sir Thomas North's English version of
+an Italian adaptation of a Spanish translation of a Latin version of a
+Hebrew translation of an Arabic adaptation of the Pehlevi version of
+the Indian original (_Fables of Bidpai_, London, D. Nutt,
+"Bibliotheque de Carabas," 1888). In this I give a genealogical table
+of the various versions, from which I calculate that the tales have
+been translated into thirty-eight languages in 112 different versions,
+twenty different ones in English alone. Their influence on European
+folk-tales has been very great: it is probable that nearly one-tenth of
+these can be traced to the Bidpai literature. (See Notes v. ix. x.
+xiii. xv.)
+
+Other collections of a similar character, arranged in a frame, and
+derived ultimately from Buddhistic sources, also reached Europe and
+formed popular reading in the Middle Ages. Among these may be mentioned
+THE TALES OF SINDIBAD, known to Europe as _The Seven Sages of
+Rome:_ from this we get the Gellert story (_cf. Celtic Fairy
+Tales_), though it also occurs in the Bidpai. Another popular
+collection was that associated with the life of St. Buddha, who has
+been canonised as St. Josaphat: BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT tells of his
+conversion and much else besides, including the tale of the Three
+Caskets, used by Shakespeare in the _Merchant of Venice_.
+
+Some of the Indian tales reached Europe at the time of the Crusades,
+either orally or in collections no longer extant. The earliest
+selection of these was the _Disciplina Clericalis_ of Petrus
+Alphonsi, a Spanish Jew converted about 1106: his tales were to be used
+as seasoning for sermons, and strong seasoning they must have proved.
+Another Spanish collection of considerably later date was entitled
+_El Conde Lucanor_ (Eng. trans. by W. York): this contains the
+fable of _The Man, his Son, and their Ass_, which they ride or
+carry as the popular voice decides. But the most famous collection of
+this kind was that known as GESTA ROMANORUM, much of which was
+certainly derived from Oriental and ultimately Indian sources, and so
+might more appropriately be termed _Gesta Indorum_.
+
+All these collections, which reached Europe in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, became very popular, and were used by monks and
+friars to enliven their sermons as EXEMPLA. Prof. Crane has given a
+full account of this very curious phenomenon in his erudite edition of
+the _Exempla of Jacques de Vitry_ (Folk Lore Society, 1890). The
+Indian stories were also used by the Italian _Novellieri_, much of
+Boccaccio and his school being derived from this source. As these again
+gave material for the Elizabethan Drama, chiefly in W. Painter's
+_Palace of Pleasure_, a collection of translated _Novelle_ which
+I have edited (Lond., 3 vols. 1890), it is not surprising that we can at
+times trace portions of Shakespeare back to India. It should also be
+mentioned that one-half of La Fontaine's Fables (Bks. vii.-xii.) are
+derived from Indian sources. (_See_ Note on No. v.)
+
+In India itself the collection of stories in frames went on and still
+goes on. Besides those already mentioned there are the stories of
+_Vikram and the Vampire_ (Vetala), translated among others by the
+late Sir Richard Burton, and the seventy stories of a parrot (_Suka
+Saptati_.) The whole of this literature was summed up by Somnadeva,
+c. 1200 A.D. in a huge compilation entitled _Katha Sarit Sagara_
+("Ocean of the Stream of Stories"). Of this work, written in very
+florid style, Mr. Tawney has produced a translation in two volumes in
+the _Bibliotheca Indica_. Unfortunately, there is a Divorce Court
+atmosphere about the whole book, and my selections from it have been
+accordingly restricted. (Notes, No. xi.)
+
+So much for a short sketch of Indian folk-tales so far as they have
+been reduced to writing in the native literature. [Footnote: An
+admirable and full account of this literature was given by M. A. Barth
+in _Melusine_, t. iv. No. 12, and t. v. No. 1. See also Table i.
+of Prof. Rhys-Davids' _Birth Stories_.] The Jatakas are probably
+the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the greater part
+of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years old. It is
+certain that much (perhaps one-fifth) of the popular literature of
+modern Europe is derived from those portions of this large bulk which
+came west with the Crusades through the medium of Arabs and Jews. In
+his elaborate _Einleitung_ to the _Pantschatantra_, the Indian
+version of the Fables of Bidpai, Prof. Benfey contended with enormous
+erudition that the majority of folk-tale incidents were to be found in the
+Bidpai literature. His introduction consisted of over 200 monographs on
+the spread of Indian tales to Europe. He wrote in 1859, before the great
+outburst of folk-tale collection in Europe, and he had not thus adequate
+materials to go about in determining the extent of Indian influence on
+the popular mind of Europe. But he made it clear that for beast-tales and
+for drolls, the majority of those current in the mouths of occidental
+people were derived from Eastern and mainly Indian sources. He was
+not successful, in my opinion, in tracing the serious fairy tale to India.
+Few of the tales in the Indian literary collections could be dignified by
+the name of fairy tales, and it was clear that if these were to be traced
+to India, an examination of the contemporary folk-tales of the peninsula
+would have to be attempted.
+
+The collection of current Indian folk-tales has been the work of the
+last quarter of a century, a work, even after what has been achieved,
+still in its initial stages. The credit of having begun the process is
+due to Miss Frere, who, while her father was Governor of the Bombay
+Presidency, took down from the lips of her _ayah_, Anna de Souza,
+one of a Lingaet family from Goa who had been Christian for three
+generations, the tales she afterwards published with Mr. Murray in
+1868, under the title, "_Old Deccan Days, or, Indian Fairy Legends
+current in Southern India, collected from oral tradition by M. Frere,
+with an introduction and notes by Sir Bartle Frere_." Her example
+was followed by Miss Stokes in her _Indian Fairy Tales_ (London,
+Ellis & White, 1880), who took down her tales from two _ayahs_ and
+a _Khitmatgar_, all of them Bengalese--the _ayahs_ Hindus, and
+the man a Mohammedan. Mr. Ralston introduced the volume with some
+remarks which dealt too much with sun-myths for present-day taste.
+Another collection from Bengal was that of Lal Behari Day, a Hindu
+gentleman, in his _Folk-Tales of Bengal_ (London, Macmillan,
+1883). The Panjab and the Kashmir then had their turn: Mrs. Steel
+collected, and Captain (now Major) Temple edited and annotated, their
+_Wideawake Stories_ (London, Trubner, 1884), stories capitally
+told and admirably annotated. Captain Temple increased the value of
+this collection by a remarkable analysis of all the incidents contained
+in the two hundred Indian folk-tales collected up to this date. It is
+not too much to say that this analysis marks an onward step in the
+scientific study of the folk-tale: there is such a thing, derided as it
+may be. I have throughout the Notes been able to draw attention to
+Indian parallels by a simple reference to Major Temple's Analysis.
+
+Major Temple has not alone himself collected: he has been the cause
+that many others have collected. In the pages of the _Indian
+Antiquary_, edited by him, there have appeared from time to time
+folk-tales collected from all parts of India. Some of these have been
+issued separately. Sets of tales from Southern India, collected by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, have been issued under the title _Folk-Lore of
+Southern India_, three fascicules of which have been recently re-
+issued by Mrs. Kingscote under the title, _Tales of the Sun_ (W.
+H. Allen, 1891): it would have been well if the identity of the two
+works had been clearly explained. The largest addition to our knowledge
+of the Indian folk-tale that has been made since _Wideawake
+Stories_ is that contained in Mr. Knowles' _Folk-Tales of
+Kashmir_ (Trubner's Oriental Library, 1887), sixty-three stories,
+some of great length. These, with Mr. Campbell's _Santal Tales_
+(1892); Ramaswami Raju's _Indian Fables_ (London, Sonnenschein,
+n. d.); M. Thornhill, _Indian Fairy Tales_ (London, 1889); and E.
+J. Robinson, _Tales of S. India_ (1885), together with those
+contained in books of travel like Thornton's _Bannu_ or Smeaton's
+_Karens of Burmah_ bring up the list of printed Indian folk-tales
+to over 350--a respectable total indeed, but a mere drop in the
+ocean of the stream of stories that must exist in such a huge
+population as that of India: the Central Provinces in particular are
+practically unexplored. There are doubtless many collections still
+unpublished. Col. Lewin has large numbers, besides the few published in
+his _Lushai Grammar_; and Mr. M. L. Dames has a number of Baluchi
+tales which I have been privileged to use. Altogether, India now ranks
+among the best represented countries for printed folk-tales, coming
+only after Russia (1500), Germany (1200), Italy and France (1000 each.)
+[Footnote: Finland boasts of 12,000 but most of these lie unprinted
+among the archives of the Helsingfors Literary Society.] Counting the
+ancient with the modern, India has probably some 600 to 700 folk-tales
+printed and translated in accessible form. There should be enough
+material to determine the vexed question of the relations between the
+European and the Indian collections.
+
+This question has taken a new departure with the researches of M.
+Emanuel Cosquin in his _Contes populaires de Lorraine_ (Paris,
+1886, 2  tirage, 1890), undoubtedly the most important contribution
+to the scientific study of the folk-tale since the Grimms. M. Cosquin
+gives in the annotations to the eighty-four tales which he has
+collected in Lorraine a mass of information as to the various forms
+which the tales take in other countries of Europe and in the East. In
+my opinion, the work he has done for the European folk-tale is even
+more valuable than the conclusions he draws from it as to the relations
+with India. He has taken up the work which Wilhelm Grimm dropped in
+1859, and shown from the huge accumulations of folk-tales that have
+appeared during the last thirty years that there is a common fund of
+folk-tales which every country of Europe without exception possesses,
+though this does not of course preclude them from possessing others
+that are not shared by the rest. M. Cosquin further contends that the
+whole of these have come from the East, ultimately from India, not by
+literary transmission, as Benfey contended, but by oral transmission.
+He has certainly shown that very many of the most striking incidents
+common to European folk-tales are also to be found in Eastern
+_mahrchen_. What, however, he has failed to show is that some of
+these may not have been carried out to the Eastern world by Europeans.
+Borrowing tales is a mutual process, and when Indian meets European,
+European meets Indian; which borrowed from which, is a question which
+we have very few criteria to decide. It should be added that Mr W. A.
+Clouston has in England collected with exemplary industry a large
+number of parallels between Indian and European folk-tale incidents in
+his _Popular Tales and Fictions_ (Edinburgh, 2 vols., 1887) and
+_Book of Noodles_ (London, 1888). Mr Clouston has not openly
+expressed his conviction that all folk-tales are Indian in origin: he
+prefers to convince us _non vi sed saepe cadendo_. He has certainly
+made out a good case for tracing all European drolls, or comic folk-
+tales, from the East.
+
+With the fairy tale strictly so called--_i.e._, the serious folk-
+tale of romantic adventure--I am more doubtful. It is mainly a modern
+product in India as in Europe, so far as literary evidence goes. The
+vast bulk of the Jatakas does not contain a single example worthy the
+name, nor does the Bidpai literature. Some of Somadeva's tales,
+however, approach the nature of fairy tales, but there are several
+Celtic tales which can be traced to an earlier date than his (1200
+A.D.) and are equally near to fairy tales. Yet it is dangerous to trust
+to mere non-appearance in literature as proof of non-existence among
+the folk. To take our own tales here in England, there is not a single
+instance of a reference to _Jack and the Beanstalk_ for the last
+three hundred years, yet it is undoubtedly a true folk-tale. And it is
+indeed remarkable how many of the _formulae_ of fairy tales have
+been found of recent years in India. Thus, the _Magic Fiddle_,
+found among the Santals by Mr. Campbell in two variants (see Notes on
+vi.), contains the germ idea of the wide-spread story represented in
+Great Britain by the ballad of _Binnorie_ (see _English Fairy
+Tales_, No. ix.). Similarly, Mr. Knowles' collection has added
+considerably to the number of Indian variants of European "formulae"
+beyond those noted by M. Cosquin.
+
+It is still more striking as regards _incidents_. In a paper read
+before the Folk-Lore Congress of 1891, and reprinted in the
+_Transactions_, pp. 76 _seq._, I have drawn up a list of some
+630 incidents found in common among European folk-tales (including
+drolls). Of these, I reckon that about 250 have been already found
+among Indian folk-tales, and the number is increased by each new
+collection that is made or printed. The moral of this is, that India
+belongs to a group of peoples who have a common store of stories; India
+belongs to Europe for purposes of comparative folk-tales.
+
+Can we go further and say that India is the source of all the incidents
+that are held in common by European children? I think we may answer
+"Yes" as regards droll incidents, the travels of many of which we can
+trace, and we have the curious result that European children owe their
+earliest laughter to Hindu wags. As regards the serious incidents
+further inquiry is needed. Thus, we find the incident of an "external
+soul" (Life Index, Captain Temple very appropriately named it) in
+Asbjornsen's _Norse Tales_ and in Miss Frere's _Old Deccan
+Days_ (see Notes on _Punchkin_). Yet the latter is a very
+suspicious source, since Miss Frere derived her tales from a Christian
+_ayah_ whose family had been in Portuguese Goa for a hundred
+years. May they not have got the story of the giant with his soul
+outside his body from some European sailor touching at Goa? This is to
+a certain extent negatived by the fact of the frequent occurrence of
+the incident in Indian folk-tales (Captain Temple gave a large number
+of instances in _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 404-5). On the other
+hand, Mr. Frazer in his _Golden Bough_ has shown the wide spread
+of the idea among all savage or semi-savage tribes. (See Note on No.
+iv.)
+
+In this particular case we may be doubtful; but in others, again--as
+the incident of the rat's tail up nose (see Notes on _The Charmed
+Ring_)--there can be little doubt of the Indian origin. And
+generally, so far as the incidents are marvellous and of true fairy-
+tale character, the presumption is in favour of India, because of the
+vitality of animism or metempsychosis in India throughout all historic
+time. No Hindu would doubt the fact of animals speaking or of men
+transformed into plants and animals. The European may once have had
+these beliefs, and may still hold them implicitly as "survivals"; but
+in the "survival" stage they cannot afford material for artistic
+creation, and the fact that the higher minds of Europe for the last
+thousand years have discountenanced these beliefs has not been entirely
+without influence. Of one thing there is practical certainty: the fairy
+tales that are common to the Indo-European world were invented once for
+all in a certain locality; and thence spread to all the countries in
+culture contact with the original source. The mere fact that contiguous
+countries have more similarities in their story store than distant ones
+is sufficient to prove this: indeed, the fact that any single country
+has spread throughout it a definite set of folk-tales as distinctive as
+its flora and fauna, is sufficient to prove it. It is equally certain
+that not all folk-tales have come from one source, for each country has
+tales peculiar to itself. The question is as to the source of the tales
+that are common to all European children, and increasing evidence seems
+to show that this common nucleus is derived from India and India alone.
+The Hindus have been more successful than others, because of two facts:
+they have had the appropriate "atmosphere" of metempsychosis, and they
+have also had spread among the people sufficient literary training and
+mental grip to invent plots. The Hindu tales have ousted the native
+European, which undoubtedly existed independently; indeed, many still
+survive, especially in Celtic lands. Exactly in the same way,
+Perrault's tales have ousted the older English folk-tales, and it is
+with the utmost difficulty that one can get true English fairy tales
+because _Red Riding Hood_, _Cinderella_, _Blue Beard_, _Puss in
+Boots_ and the rest, have survived in the struggle for existence
+among English folk-tales. So far as Europe has a common store of fairy
+tales, it owes this to India.
+
+I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not hold with Benfey that all
+European folk-tales are derived from the Bidpai literature and similar
+literary products, nor with M. Cosquin that they are all derived from
+India. The latter scholar has proved that there is a nucleus of stories
+in every European land which is common to all. I calculate that this
+includes from 30 to 50 per cent. of the whole, and it is this common
+stock of Europe that I regard as coming from India mainly at the time
+of the Crusades, and chiefly by oral transmission. It includes all the
+beast tales and most of the drolls, but evidence is still lacking about
+the more serious fairy tales, though it is increasing with every fresh
+collection of folk-tales in India, the great importance of which is
+obvious from the above considerations.
+
+In the following Notes I give, as on the two previous occasions, the
+_source_ whence I derived the tale, then _parallels_, and finally
+_remarks_. For Indian _parallels_ I have been able to refer to
+Major Temple's remarkable Analysis of Indian Folk-tale incidents at the
+end of _Wide-awake Stories_ (pp. 386-436), for European ones to
+my alphabetical List of Incidents, with bibliographical references, in
+_Transactions of Folk-Lore Congress_, 1892, pp. 87-98. My _remarks_
+have been mainly devoted to tracing the relation between the Indian
+and the European tales, with the object of showing that the latter
+have been derived from the former. I have, however, to some extent
+handicapped myself, as I have avoided giving again the Indian versions
+of stories already given in _English Fairy Tales_ or _Celtic Fairy Tales_.
+
+
+
+I. THE LION AND THE CRANE.
+
+_Source_.--V. Fausboll, _Five Jatakas_; Copenhagen, 1861, pp.
+35-8, text and translation of the _Javasakuna Jataka_. I have
+ventured to English Prof. Fausboll's version, which was only intended as
+a "crib" to the Pali. For the omitted Introduction, see _supra_.
+
+_Parallels_.--I have given a rather full collection of parallels,
+running to about a hundred numbers, in my _Aesop_, pp. 232-4. The
+chief of these are: (i) for the East, the Midrashic version ("Lion and
+Egyptian Partridge"), in the great Rabbinic commentary on Genesis
+(_Bereshith-rabba_, c. 64); (2) in classical antiquity, Phaedrus,
+i. 8 ("Wolf and Crane"), and Babrius, 94 ("Wolf and Heron"), and the
+Greek proverb Suidas, ii. 248 ("Out of the Wolf's Mouth"); (3) in the
+Middle Ages, the so-called Greek Aesop, ed. Halm, 276 _b_, really
+prose versions of Babrius and "Romulus," or prose of Phaedrus, i. 8,
+also the Romulus of Ademar (fl. 1030), 64; it occurs also on the Bayeux
+Tapestry, in Marie de France, 7, and in Benedict of Oxford's _Mishle
+Shualim_ (Heb.), 8; (4) Stainhowel took it from the "Romulus" into
+his German Aesop (1480), whence all the modern European Aesops are
+derived.
+
+_Remarks_.--I have selected _The Wolf and the Crane_ as my
+typical example in my "History of the Aesopic Fable," and can only give
+here a rough summary of the results I there arrived at concerning the
+fable, merely premising that these results are at present no more than
+hypotheses. The similarity of the Jataka form with that familiar to us,
+and derived by us in the last resort from Phaedrus, is so striking that
+few will deny some historical relation between them. I conjecture that
+the Fable originated in India, and came West by two different routes.
+First, it came by oral tradition to Egypt, as one of the Libyan Fables
+which the ancients themselves distinguished from the Aesopic Fables. It
+was, however, included by Demetrius Phalereus, tyrant of Athens, and
+founder of the Alexandrian library c. 300 B.C., in his _Assemblies of
+Aesopic Fables_, which I have shown to be the source of Phaedrus'
+Fables c. 30 A.D. Besides this, it came from Ceylon in the Fables of
+Kybises--i.e., Kasyapa the Buddha--c. 50 A.D., was adapted into Hebrew,
+and used for political purposes, by Rabbi Joshua ben Chananyah in a
+harangue to the Jews c. 120 A.D., begging them to be patient while
+within the jaws of Rome. The Hebrew form uses the lion, not the wolf,
+as the ingrate, which enables us to decide on the Indian _provenance_
+of the Midrashic version. It may be remarked that the use of the lion
+in this and other Jatakas is indirectly a testimony to their great age,
+as the lion has become rarer and rarer in India during historic times,
+and is now confined to the Gir forest of Kathiawar, where only a dozen
+specimens exist, and are strictly preserved.
+
+The verses at the end are the earliest parts of the Jataka, being in
+more archaic Pali than the rest: the story is told by the commentator
+(c. 400 A.D.) to illustrate them. It is probable that they were brought
+over on the first introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon, c. 241 B.C.
+This would give them an age of over two thousand years, nearly three
+hundred years earlier than Phaedrus, from whom comes our _Wolf and
+Crane_.
+
+
+
+II. PRINCESS LABAM.
+
+_Source_.--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. xxii. pp.
+153-63, told by Muniya, one of the ayahs. I have left it unaltered,
+except that I have replaced "God" by "Khuda," the word originally used
+(see Notes _l. c._, p 237).
+
+_Parallels_.--The tabu, as to a particular direction, occurs in
+other Indian stories as well as in European folk-tales (see notes on
+Stokes, p. 286). The _grateful animals_ theme occurs in "The
+Soothsayer's Son" (_infra_, No. x.), and frequently in Indian
+folk-tales (see Temple's Analysis, III. i. 5-7; _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 412-3). The thorn in the tiger's foot is especially
+common (Temple, _l. c._, 6, 9), and recalls the story of Androclus,
+which occurs in the derivates of Phaedrus, and may thus be
+Indian in origin (see Benfey, _Panschatantra_, i. 211, and the
+parallels given in my _Aesop_, Ro. iii. 1. p. 243). The theme is,
+however, equally frequent in European folk-tales: see my List of
+Incidents, _Proc. Folk-Lore Congress_, p. 91, s.v. "Grateful
+Animals" and "Gifts by Grateful Animals." Similarly, the "Bride Wager"
+incident at the end is common to a large number of Indian and European
+folk-tales (Temple, Analysis, p. 430; my List, _l. c. sub voce_).
+The tasks are also equally common (_cf._ "Battle of the Birds" in
+_Celtic Fairy Tales_), though the exact forms as given in
+"Princess Labam" are not known in Europe.
+
+_Remarks_.--We have here a concrete instance of the relation of
+Indian and European fairy-tales. The human mind may be the same
+everywhere, but it is not likely to hit upon the sequence of incidents,
+_Direction tabu_--_Grateful Animals_--_Bride-wager_--_Tasks_, by
+accident, or independently: Europe must have borrowed from India, or
+India from Europe. As this must have occurred within historic times,
+indeed within the last thousand years, when even European peasants
+are not likely to have _invented_, even if they believed, in the incident
+of the grateful animals, the probability is in favour of borrowing from
+India, possibly through the intermediation of Arabs at the time of the
+Crusades. It is only a probability, but we cannot in any case reach more
+than probability in this matter, just at present.
+
+
+
+III. LAMBIKIN.
+
+_Source_.--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 69-72,
+originally published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. 175. The droll is
+common throughout the Panjab.
+
+_Parallels_.--The similarity of the concluding episode with the
+finish of the "Three Little Pigs" (Eng. Fairy Tales, No. xiv.) In my
+notes on that droll I have pointed out that the pigs were once goats or
+kids with "hair on their chinny chin chin." This brings the tale a
+stage nearer to the Lambikin.
+
+_Remarks_.--The similarity of Pig No. 3 rolling down hill in the
+churn and the Lambikin in the Drumikin can scarcely be accidental,
+though, it must be confessed, the tale has undergone considerable
+modification before it reached England.
+
+
+
+IV. PUNCHKIN.
+
+_Source_.--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, pp. 1-16, from her
+ayah, Anna de Souza, of a Lingaet family settled and Christianised at
+Goa for three generations. I should perhaps add that a Prudhan is a
+Prime Minister, or Vizier; Punts are the same, and Sirdars, nobles.
+
+_Parallels_.--The son of seven mothers is a characteristic Indian
+conception, for which see Notes on "The Son of Seven Queens" in this
+collection, No. xvi. The mother transformed, envious stepmother, ring
+recognition, are all incidents common to East and West; bibliographical
+references for parallels may be found under these titles in my List of
+Incidents. The external soul of the ogre has been studied by Mr. E.
+Clodd in _Folk-Lore Journal_, vol. ii., "The Philosophy of
+Punchkin," and still more elaborately in the section, "The External
+Soul in Folk-tales," in Mr. Frazer's _Golden Bough_, ii. pp. 296-
+326. See also Major Temple's Analysis, II. iii., _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 404-5, who there gives the Indian parallels.
+
+_Remarks_.--Both Mr. Clodd and Mr. Frazer regard the essence of
+the tale to consist in the conception of an external soul or "life-
+index," and they both trace in this a "survival" of savage philosophy,
+which they consider occurs among all men at a certain stage of culture.
+But the most cursory examination of the sets of tales containing these
+incidents in Mr. Frazer's analyses shows that many, indeed the
+majority, of these tales cannot be independent of one another; for they
+contain not alone the incident of an external materialised soul, but
+the further point that this is contained in something else, which is
+enclosed in another thing, which is again surrounded by a wrapper. This
+Chinese ball arrangement is found in the Deccan ("Punchkin"); in Bengal
+(Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_); in Russia (Ralston, p. 103
+_seq._, "Koschkei the Deathless," also in Mr. Lang's _Red Fairy
+Book_); in Servia (Mijatovics, _Servian Folk-Lore,_ p. 172); in
+South Slavonia (Wratislaw, p. 225); in Rome (Miss Busk, p. 164); in
+Albania (Dozon, p. 132 _seq._); in Transylvania (Haltrich, No.
+34); in Schleswig-Holstein (Mullenhoff, p. 404); in Norway
+(Asbjornsen, No. 36, _ap._ Dasent, _Pop. Tales_, p. 55, "The
+Giant who had no Heart in his Body"); and finally, in the Hebrides
+(Campbell, _Pop. Tales_, p. 10, _cf. Celtic Fairy Tales_, No.
+xvii., "Sea Maiden"). Here we have the track of this remarkable idea of
+an external soul enclosed in a succession of wrappings, which we can
+trace from Hindostan to the Hebrides.
+
+It is difficult to imagine that we have not here the actual migration
+of the tale from East to West. In Bengal we have the soul "in a
+necklace, in a box, in the heart of a _boal_ fish, in a tank"; in
+Albania "it is in a pigeon, in a hare, in the silver tusk of a wild
+boar"; in Rome it is "in a stone, in the head of a bird, in the head of
+a leveret, in the middle head of a seven-headed hydra"; in Russia "it
+is in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in a casket, in an oak"; in Servia
+it is "in a board, in the heart of a fox, in a mountain"; in
+Transylvania "it is in a light, in an egg, in a duck, in a pond, in a
+mountain;" in Norway it is "in an egg, in a duck, in a well, in a
+church, on an island, in a lake"; in the Hebrides it is "in an egg, in
+the belly of a duck, in the belly of a wether, under a flagstone on the
+threshold." It is impossible to imagine the human mind independently
+imagining such bizarre convolutions. They were borrowed from one nation
+to the other, and till we have reason shown to the contrary, the
+original lender was a Hindu. I should add that the mere conception of
+an external soul occurs in the oldest Egyptian tale of "The Two
+Brothers," but the wrappings are absent.
+
+
+
+V. THE BROKEN POT.
+
+_Source.--Pantschatantra_, V. ix., tr. Benfey, ii. 345-6.
+
+_Parallels._--Benfey, in S 209 of his _Einleitung_, gives
+bibliographical references to most of those which are given at length in
+Prof. M. Muller's brilliant essay on "The Migration of Fables"
+(_Selected Essays_, i. 500-76), which is entirely devoted to the
+travels of the fable from India to La Fontaine. See also Mr. Clouston,
+_Pop. Tales_, ii. 432 _seq._ I have translated the Hebrew version
+in my essay, "Jewish Influence on the Diffusion of Folk-Tales," pp. 6-7.
+Our proverb, "Do not count your chickens before they are hatched," is
+ultimately to be derived from India.
+
+_Remarks--The stories of Alnaschar, the Barber's fifth brother in the
+_Arabian Nights_, and of La Perette, who counted her chickens
+before they were hatched, in La Fontaine, are demonstrably derived from
+the same Indian original from which our story was obtained. The travels
+of the "Fables of Bidpai" from India to Europe are well known and
+distinctly traceable. I have given a rough summary of the chief
+critical results in the introduction to my edition of the earliest
+English version of the _Fables of Bidpai_, by Sir Thomas North, of
+Plutarch fame (London, D. Nutt, "Bibliotheque de Carabas," 1888), where
+I have given an elaborate genealogical table of the multitudinous
+versions. La Fontaine's version, which has rendered the fable so
+familiar to us all, comes from Bonaventure des Periers, _Contes et
+Nouvelles_, who got it from the _Dialogus Creaturarum_ of Nicholaus
+Pergamenus, who derived it from the _Sermones_ of Jacques de Vitry
+(see Prof. Crane's edition, No. li.), who probably derived it from the
+_Directorium Humanae Vitae_ of John of Capua, a converted Jew,
+who translated it from the Hebrew version of the Arabic _Kalilah wa
+Dimnah,_ which was itself derived from the old Syriac version of a
+Pehlevi translation of the original Indian work, probably called after
+Karataka and Damanaka, the names of two jackals who figure in the
+earlier stories of the book. Prof. Rhys-Davids informs me that these names
+are more akin to Pali than to Sanskrit, which makes it still more probable
+that the whole literature is ultimately to be derived from a Buddhist
+source.
+
+The theme of La Perette is of interest as showing the _literary_
+transmission of tales from Orient to Occident. It also shows the
+possibility of an influence of literary on oral tradition, as is shown
+by our proverb, and by the fact, which Benfey mentions, that La
+Fontaine's story has had influence on two of Grimm's tales, Nos. 164,
+168.
+
+
+
+VI. THE MAGIC FIDDLE.
+
+_Source_.--A. Campbell, _Santal Folk-Tales_, 1892, pp. 52-6,
+with some verbal alterations. A Bonga is the presiding spirit of a
+certain kind of rice land; Doms and Hadis are low-caste aborigines,
+whose touch is considered polluting. The Santals are a forest tribe,
+who live in the Santal Parganas, 140 miles N. W. of Calcutta (Sir W. W.
+Hunter, _The Indian Empire_, 57-60).
+
+_Parallels_.--Another version occurs in Campbell, p. 106
+_seq._, which shows that the story is popular among the Santals.
+It is obvious, however, that neither version contains the real finish
+of the story, which must have contained the denunciation of the magic
+fiddle of the murderous sisters. This would bring it under the formula
+of _The Singing Bone_, which M. Monseur has recently been studying
+with a remarkable collection of European variants in the Bulletin of
+the Wallon Folk-Lore Society of Liege (_cf. Eng. Fairy Tales_, No.
+ix.). There is a singing bone in Steel-Temple's _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 127 _seq._ ("Little Anklebone").
+
+_Remarks_.--Here we have another theme of the common store of
+European folk-tales found in India. Unfortunately, the form in which it
+occurs is mutilated, and we cannot draw any definite conclusion from
+it.
+
+
+
+VII. THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED.
+
+_Source_.--The Baka-Jataka, Fausboll, No. 38, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp.
+315-21. The Buddha this time is the Genius of the Tree.
+
+_Parallels_.--This Jataka got into the Bidpai literature, and
+occurs in all its multitudinous offshoots (_see_ Benfey, _Einleitung_,
+S 60) among others in the earliest English translation by North (my
+edition, pp. 118-22), where the crane becomes "a great Paragone of
+India (of those that live a hundredth yeares and never mue their
+feathers)." The crab, on hearing the ill news "called to Parliament all the
+Fishes of the Lake," and before all are devoured destroys the Paragon,
+as in the Jataka, and returned to the remaining fishes, who "all with one
+consent gave hir many a thanke."
+
+_Remarks_.--An interesting point, to which I have drawn attention
+in my Introduction to North's Bidpai, is the probability that the
+illustrations of the tales as well as the tales themselves, were
+translated, so to speak, from one country to another. We can trace them
+in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic MSS., and a few are extant on Buddhist
+Stupas. Under these circumstances, it may be of interest to compare
+with Mr. Batten's conception of the Crane and the Crab (_supra_,
+p. 50) that of the German artist who illustrated the first edition of
+the Latin Bidpai, probably following the traditional representations of
+the MS., which itself could probably trace back to India.
+
+
+
+VIII. LOVING LAILI
+
+_Source_.--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, pp. 73-84.
+Majnun and Laili are conventional names for lovers, the Romeo and
+Juliet of Hindostan.
+
+_Parallels_.--Living in animals' bellies occurs elsewhere in Miss
+Stokes' book, pp. 66, 124; also in Miss Frere's, 188. The restoration
+of beauty by fire occurs as a frequent theme (Temple, Analysis, III.
+vi. f. p. 418). Readers will be reminded of the _denouement_ of
+Mr. Rider Haggard's _She_. Resuscitation from ashes has been used
+very effectively by Mr. Lang in his delightful _Prince Prigio_.
+
+_Remarks_.--The white skin and blue eyes of Prince Majnun deserve
+attention. They are possibly a relic of the days of Aryan conquest,
+when the fair-skinned, fair-haired Aryan conquered the swarthier
+aboriginals. The name for caste in Sanskrit is _varna_, "colour";
+and one Hindu cannot insult another more effectually than by calling
+him a black man. _Cf._ Stokes, pp. 238-9, who suggests that the
+red hair is something solar, and derived from myths of the solar hero.
+
+
+
+IX. THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL.
+
+_Source_.--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 116-20;
+first published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. p. 170 _seq._
+
+_Parallels_.--No less than 94 parallels are given by Prof. K.
+Krohn in his elaborate discussion of this fable in his dissertation,
+_Mann und Fuchs_, (Helsingfors, 1891), pp. 38-60; to which may be
+added three Indian variants, omitted by him, but mentioned by Capt.
+Temple, _l. c._, p. 324, in the _Bhagavata Purana_, the _Gul
+Bakaoli_ and _Ind. Ant._ xii. 177; and a couple more in my _Aesop_,
+p. 253: add Smeaton, _Karens_, p. 126.
+
+_Remarks_.--Prof. Krohn comes to the conclusion that the majority
+of the oral forms of the tale come from literary versions (p. 47),
+whereas the _Reynard_ form has only had influence on a single
+variant. He reduces the century of variants to three type forms. The
+first occurs in two Egyptian versions collected in the present day, as
+well as in Petrus Alphonsi in the twelfth century, and the _Fabulae
+Extravagantes_ of the thirteenth or fourteenth: here the ingrate
+animal is a crocodile, which asks to be carried away from a river about
+to dry up, and there is only one judge. The second is that current in
+India and represented by the story in the present collection: here the
+judges are three. The third is that current among Western Europeans,
+which has spread to S. Africa and N. and S. America: also three judges.
+Prof. K. Krohn counts the first the original form, owing to the single
+judge and the naturalness of the opening, by which the critical
+situation is brought about. The further question arises, whether this
+form, though found in Egypt now, is indigenous there, and if so, how it
+got to the East. Prof. Krohn grants the possibility of the Egyptian
+form having been invented in India and carried to Egypt, and he allows
+that the European forms have been influenced by the Indian. The
+"Egyptian" form is found in Burmah (Smeaton, _l. c._, p. 128), as
+well as the Indian, a fact of which Prof. K. Krohn was unaware though
+it turns his whole argument. The evidence we have of other folk-tales
+of the beast-epic emanating from India improves the chances of this
+also coming from that source. One thing at least is certain: all these
+hundred variants come ultimately from one source. The incident "Inside
+again" of the _Arabian Nights_ (the Djinn and the bottle) and
+European tales is also a secondary derivate.
+
+
+
+X. THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON.
+
+_Source_.--Mrs. Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_ (p. 11
+_seq._), from Pandit Natesa Sastri's _Folk-Lore of Southern
+India_, pt. ii., originally from _Ind. Antiquary_. I have considerably
+condensed and modified the somewhat Babu English of the original.
+
+_Parallels_.--See Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, S 71, i. pp. 193-
+222, who quotes the _Karma Jataka_ as the ultimate source: it
+also occurs in the _Saccankira Jataka_ (Fausboll, No. 73), trans.
+Rev. R. Morris, _Folk-Lore Jour._ iii. 348 _seq._ The story
+of the ingratitude of man compared with the gratitude of beasts came
+early to the West, where it occurs in the _Gesta Romanorum_, c.
+119. It was possibly from an early form of this collection that Richard
+Coeur de Lion got the story, and used it to rebuke the ingratitude of
+the English nobles on his return in 1195. Matthew Paris tells the
+story, _sub anno_ (it is an addition of his to Ralph Disset),
+_Hist. Major_, ed. Luard, ii. 413-6, how a lion and a serpent and
+a Venetian named Vitalis were saved from a pit by a woodman, Vitalis
+promising him half his fortune, fifty talents. The lion brings his
+benefactor a leveret, the serpent "gemmam pretiosam," probably "the
+precious jewel in his head" to which Shakespeare alludes (_As You
+Like It_, ii. 1., cf. Benfey, _l.c._, p. 214, _n._), but Vitalis
+refuses to have anything to do with him, and altogether repudiates the
+fifty talents. "Haec referebat Rex Richardus munificus, ingratos
+redarguendo."
+
+_Remarks_.--Apart from the interest of its wide travels, and its
+appearance in the standard mediaeval History of England by Matthew
+Paris, the modern story shows the remarkable persistence of folk-tales
+in the popular mind. Here we have collected from the Hindu peasant of
+to-day a tale which was probably told before Buddha, over two thousand
+years ago, and certainly included among the Jatakas before the
+Christian era. The same thing has occurred with _The Tiger, Brahman,
+and Jackal_ (No. ix. _supra_).
+
+
+
+XI. HARISARMAN.
+
+_Source_.--Somadeva, _Katha-Sarit-Sagara_, trans. Tawney
+(Calcutta, 1880), i. pp. 272-4. I have slightly toned down the inflated
+style of the original.
+
+_Parallels_.--Benfey has collected and discussed a number in
+_Orient and Occident_, i. 371 _seq._; see also Tawney, _ad loc._
+The most remarkable of the parallels is that afforded by the Grimms'
+"Doctor Allwissend" (No. 98), which extends even to such a minute point
+as his exclamation, "Ach, ich armer Krebs," whereupon a crab is
+discovered under a dish. The usual form of discovery of the thieves is for
+the Dr. Knowall to have so many days given him to discover the thieves,
+and at the end of the first day he calls out, "There's one of them,"
+meaning the days, just as one of the thieves peeps through at him.
+Hence the title and the plot of C. Lever's _One of Them_.
+
+
+
+XII. THE CHARMED RING.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 20-8.
+
+_Parallels_.--The incident of the Aiding Animals is frequent in
+folk-tales: see bibliographical references, _sub voce_, in my List
+of Incidents, _Trans. Folk-Lore Congress_, p. 88; also Knowles,
+21, _n._; and Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 401, 412. The
+Magic Ring is also "common form" in folk-tales; _cf._ Kohler
+_ap._ Marie de France, _Lais_, ed. Warncke, p. lxxxiv. And the
+whole story is to be found very widely spread from India (_Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 196-206) to England (_Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. xvii, "Jack
+and his Golden Snuff-box," _cf._ Notes, _ibid._), the most familiar
+form of it being "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp."
+
+_Remarks_.--M. Cosquin has pointed out (_Contes de Lorraine_,
+p. xi. _seq._) that the incident of the rat's-tail-up-nose to recover
+the ring from the stomach of an ogress, is found among Arabs,
+Albanians, Bretons, and Russians. It is impossible to imagine that
+incident--occurring in the same series of incidents--to have been
+invented more than once, and if that part of the story has been
+borrowed from India, there is no reason why the whole of it should not
+have arisen in India, and have been spread to the West. The English
+variant was derived from an English Gipsy, and suggests the possibility
+that for this particular story the medium of transmission has been the
+Gipsies. This contains the incident of the loss of the ring by the
+faithful animal, which again could not have been independently
+invented.
+
+
+
+XIII. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE.
+
+_Source_.---The _Kacchapa Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 215; also in
+his _Five Jatakas_, pp. 16, 41, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp. viii-x.
+
+_Parallels_.--It occurs also in the Bidpai literature, in nearly
+all its multitudinous offshoots. See Benfey, _Einleitung_, S 84;
+also my _Bidpai_, E, 4 _a_; and North's text, pp. 170-5, where it
+is the taunts of the other birds that cause the catastrophe: "O here is a
+brave sight, looke, here is a goodly ieast, what bugge haue we here,"
+said some. "See, see, she hangeth by the throte, and therefor she
+speaketh not," saide others; "and the beast flieth not like a beast;" so
+she opened her mouth and "pashte hir all to pieces."
+
+_Remarks_.-I have reproduced in my edition the original
+illustration of the first English Bidpai, itself derived from the
+Italian block. A replica of it here may serve to show that it could be
+used equally well to illustrate the Pali original as its English great-
+great-great-great-great-great grand-child.
+
+
+
+XIV. LAC OF RUPEES.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 32-41. I
+have reduced the pieces of advice to three, and curtailed somewhat.
+
+_Parallels_.--See _Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xxii., _"Tale
+of Ivan,"_ from the old Cornish, now extinct, and notes _ibid._
+Mr. Clouston points out (_Pop. Tales_, ii. 319) that it occurs in
+Buddhist literature, in "Buddaghoshas Parables," as "The Story of Kulla
+Pauthaka."
+
+_Remarks_.--It is indeed curious to find the story better told in
+Cornwall than in the land of its birth, but there can be little doubt
+that the Buddhist version is the earliest and original form of the
+story. The piece of advice was originally a charm, in which a youth was
+to say to himself, "Why are you busy? Why are you busy?" He does so
+when thieves are about, and so saves the king's treasures, of which he
+gets an appropriate share. It would perhaps be as well if many of us
+should say to ourselves "_Ghatesa, ghatesa, kim karana?_"
+
+
+
+XV. THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT.
+
+_Source_.--_Pantschatantra_, III. v., tr. Benfey, ii. 244-7.
+
+_Parallels_ given in my Aesop, Ro. ii. 10, p. 40. The chief points
+about them are--(1) though the tale does not exist in either Phaedrus or
+Babrius, it occurs in prose derivates from the Latin by Ademar, 65, and
+"Romulus," ii. 10, and from Greek, in Gabrias, 45, and the prose _Aesop_,
+ed. Halm, 96; Gitlbauer has restored the Babrian form in his edition of
+Babrius, No. 160. (2) The fable occurs among folk-tales, Grimm, 105;
+Woycicki, _Poln. Mahr._ 105; Gering, _Islensk. Aevent_ 59, possibly
+derived from La Fontaine, x. 12.
+
+_Remarks_.--Benfey has proved most ingeniously and conclusively
+(_Einl._) that the Indian fable is the source of both Latin and
+Greek fables. I may borrow from my _Aesop_, p. 93, parallel abstracts
+of the three versions, putting Benfey's results in a graphic form,
+series of bars indicating the passages where the classical fables have
+failed to preserve the original.
+
+
+BIDPAI.
+
+A Brahmin once observed a snake in his field, and thinking it the
+tutelary spirit of the field, he offered it a libation of milk in a
+bowl. Next day he finds a piece of gold in the bowl, and he receives
+this each day after offering the libation. One day he had to go
+elsewhere, and he sent his son with the libation. The son sees the
+gold, and thinking the serpent's hole full of treasure determines to
+slay the snake. He strikes at its head with a cudgel, and the enraged
+serpent stings him to death. The Brahmin mourns his son's death, but
+next morning as usual brings the libation of milk (in the hope of
+getting the gold as before). The serpent appears after a long delay at
+the mouth of its lair, and declares their friendship at an end, as it
+could not forget the blow of the Brahmin's son, nor the Brahmin his
+son's death from the bite of the snake.
+
+_Pants_. III. v. (Benf. 244-7).
+
+
+PHAEDRINE.
+
+----A good man had become friendly with the snake, who came into his
+house and brought luck with it, so that the man became rich through
+it.----One day he struck the serpent, which disappeared, and with it
+the man's riches. The good man tries to make it up, but the serpent
+declares their friendship at an end, as it could not forget the blow.----
+
+Phaed. Dressl. VII. 28 (Rom. II. xi.)
+
+
+BABRIAN.
+
+----------------A serpent stung a farmer's son to death. The father
+pursued the serpent with an axe, and struck off part of its tail.
+Afterwards fearing its vengeance he brought food and honey to its lair,
+and begged reconciliation. The serpent, however, declares friendship
+impossible, as it could not forget the blow--nor the farmer his son's
+death from the bite of the snake.
+
+Aesop; Halm 96b (Babrius-Gitlb. 160).
+
+In the Indian fable every step of the action is thoroughly justified,
+whereas the Latin form does not explain why the snake was friendly in
+the first instance, or why the good man was enraged afterwards; and the
+Greek form starts abruptly, without explaining why the serpent had
+killed the farmer's son. Make a composite of the Phaedrine and Babrian
+forms, and you get the Indian one, which is thus shown to be the
+original of both.
+
+
+
+XVI. THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS.
+
+_Source_.--Steel Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 98-110,
+originally published in _Ind. Antiq._ x. 147 _seq._
+
+_Parallels_.--A long variant follows in _Ind. Antiq._, _l.
+c._ M. Cosquin refers to several Oriental variants, _l. c._ p.
+xxx. _n._ For the direction tabu, see Note on Princess Labam,
+_supra_, No. ii. The "letter to kill bearer" and "letter substituted"
+are frequent in both European (see my List _s. v._) and Indian
+Folk-Tales (Temple, Analysis, II. iv. _b_, 6, p. 410). The idea of a
+son of seven mothers could only arise in a polygamous country. It occurs
+in "Punchkin," _supra_, No. iv.; Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_, 117
+_seq.; Ind. Antiq._ i. 170 (Temple, _l. c._, 398).
+
+_Remarks._--M. Cosquin (_Contes de Lorraine_, p. xxx.)
+points out how, in a Sicilian story, Gonzenbach (_Sizil. Mahr._
+No. 80), the seven co-queens are transformed into seven step-daughters
+of the envious witch who causes their eyes to be taken out. It is thus
+probable, though M. Cosquin does not point this out, that the "envious
+step-mother" of folk-tales (see my List, _s. v._) was originally
+an envious co-wife. But there can be little doubt of what M. Cosquin
+_does_ point out--viz., that the Sicilian story is derived from
+the Indian one.
+
+
+
+XVII. A LESSON FOR KINGS.
+
+_Source.--Rajovada Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 151, tr. Rhys-Davids,
+pp. xxii.-vi.
+
+_Remarks_.--This is one of the earliest of moral allegories in
+existence. The moralising tone of the Jatakas must be conspicuous to
+all reading them. Why, they can moralise even the Tar Baby (see
+_infra_, Note on "Demon with the Matted Hair," No. xxv.).
+
+
+
+XVIII. PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL.
+
+_Source_.--Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_. I have changed the
+Indian mercantile numerals into those of English "back-slang," which
+make a very good parallel.
+
+
+
+XIX. RAJA RASALU.
+
+_Source_.--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 247-80,
+omitting "How Raja Rasalu was Born," "How Raja Rasalu's Friends Forsook
+Him," "How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants," and "How Raja Rasalu became
+a Jogi." A further version in Temple, _Legends of _Panjab_, vol.
+i. _Chaupur_, I should explain, is a game played by two players
+with eight men, each on a board in the shape of a cross, four men to
+each cross covered with squares. The moves of the men are decided by
+the throws of a long form of dice. The object of the game is to see
+which of the players can first move all his men into the black centre
+square of the cross (Temple, _l. c._, p. 344, and _Legends of
+Panjab_, i. 243-5) It is sometimes said to be the origin of chess.
+
+_Parallels_.--Rev. C. Swynnerton, "Four Legends about Raja Rasalu,"
+in _Folk-Lore Journal_, p. 158 _seq._, also in separate book
+much enlarged, _The Adventures of Raja Rasalu_, Calcutta, 1884.
+Curiously enough, the real interest of the story comes after the end of
+our part of it, for Kokilan, when she grows up, is married to Raja
+Rasalu, and behaves as sometimes youthful wives behave to elderly
+husbands. He gives her her lover's heart to eat, _a la_ Decameron,
+and she dashes herself over the rocks. For the parallels of this part
+of the legend see my edition of Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_,
+tom. i. Tale 39, or, better, the _Programm_ of H. Patzig, _Zur
+Geschichte der Herzmare_ (Berlin, 1891). Gambling for life occurs in
+Celtic and other folk-tales; _cf._ my List of Incidents, _s.
+v._ "Gambling for Magic Objects."
+
+_Remarks_.--Raja Rasalu is possibly a historic personage,
+according to Capt. Temple, _Calcutta Review_, 1884, p. 397,
+flourishing in the eighth or ninth century. There is a place called
+Sirikap ka-kila in the neighbourhood of Sialkot, the traditional seat
+of Rasalu on the Indus, not far from Atlock.
+
+Herr Patzig is strongly for the Eastern origin of the romance, and
+finds its earliest appearance in the West in the Anglo-Norman
+troubadour, Thomas' _Lai Guirun_, where it becomes part of the
+Tristan cycle. There is, so far as I know, no proof of the earliest
+part of the Rasalu legend (_our_ part) coming to Europe, except
+the existence of the gambling incidents of the same kind in Celtic and
+other folk-tales.
+
+
+
+XX. THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN.
+
+_Source_.--The _Siha Camma Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 189,
+trans. Rhys-Davids, pp. v. vi.
+
+_Parallels_.--It also occurs in Somadeva, _Katha Sarit
+Sagara_, ed. Tawney, ii. 65, and _n._ For Aesopic parallels _cf._
+my _Aesop_, Av. iv. It is in Babrius, ed. Gitlbaur, 218 (from Greek prose
+Aesop, ed. Halm, No. 323), and Avian, ed. Ellis, 5, whence it came into
+the modern Aesop.
+
+_Remarks_.--Avian wrote towards the end of the third century, and
+put into Latin mainly those portions of Babrius which are unparalleled
+by Phaedrus. Consequently, as I have shown, he has a much larger
+proportion of Eastern elements than Phaedrus. There can be little doubt
+that the Ass in the Lion's Skin is from India. As Prof. Rhys-Davids
+remarks, the Indian form gives a plausible motive for the masquerade
+which is wanting in the ordinary Aesopic version.
+
+
+
+XXI. THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER.
+
+_Source_.--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 215-8.
+
+_Parallels_ enumerated in my _Aesop_, Av. xvii. See also
+Jacques de Vitry, _Exempla_, ed. Crane, No. 196 (see notes, p.
+212), and Bozon, _Contes moralises_, No. 112. It occurs in Avian,
+ed. Ellis, No. 22. Mr. Kipling has a very similar tale in his _Life's
+Handicap_.
+
+_Remarks_.--Here we have collected in modern India what one cannot
+help thinking is the Indian original of a fable of Avian. The preceding
+number showed one of his fables existing among the Jatakas, probably
+before the Christian era. This makes it likely that we shall find an
+earlier Indian original of the fable of the Avaricious and Envious,
+perhaps among the Jatakas still untranslated.
+
+
+
+XXII. THE BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD.
+
+_Source_.--Miss Stokes' _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 20, pp.
+119-137.
+
+_Parallels_ to heroes and heroines in European fairy tales, with
+stars on their foreheads, are given with some copiousness in Stokes,
+_l. c._, pp. 242-3. This is an essentially Indian trait; almost
+all Hindus have some tribal or caste mark on their bodies or faces. The
+choice of the hero disguised as a menial is also common property of
+Indian and European fairy tales: see Stokes, _l. c._, p. 231, and
+my List of Incidents (_s. v._ "Menial Disguise.")
+
+
+
+XXIII. THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR.
+
+_Source_.--Kindly communicated by Mr. M. L. Dames from his
+unpublished collection of Baluchi tales.
+
+_Remarks_.--Unholy fakirs are rather rare. See Temple, Analysis,
+I. ii. _a_, p. 394.
+
+
+
+XXIV. WHY THE FISH LAUGHED.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 484-90.
+
+_Parallels_.--The latter part is the formula of the Clever Lass
+who guesses riddles. She has been bibliographised by Prof. Child,
+_Eng. and Scotch Ballads_, i. 485; see also Benfey, _Kl. Schr._
+ii. 156 _seq._ The sex test at the end is different from any of those
+enumerated by Prof. Kohler on Gonzenbach, _Sezil. Mahr._ ii. 216.
+
+_Remarks_.--Here we have a further example of a whole formula, or
+series of incidents, common to most European collections, found in
+India, and in a quarter, too, where European influence is little likely
+to penetrate. Prof. Benfey, in an elaborate dissertation ("Die Kluge
+Dirne," in _Ausland_, 1859, Nos. 20-25, now reprinted in _Kl.
+Schr._ ii. 156 _seq._), has shown the wide spread of the theme
+both in early Indian literature (though probably there derived from the
+folk) and in modern European folk literature.
+
+
+
+XXV. THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR.
+
+_Source_.--_The Pancavudha Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 55,
+kindly translated for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, of Christ's
+College, Cambridge. There is a brief abstract of the Jataka in Prof.
+Estlin Carpenter's sermon, _Three Ways of Salvation_, 1884, p. 27,
+where my attention was first called to this Jataka.
+
+_Parallels_.--Most readers of these Notes will remember the
+central episode of Mr. J. C. Harris' _Uncle Remus_, in which Brer
+Fox, annoyed at Brer Rabbit's depredations, fits up "a contrapshun,
+what he calls a Tar Baby." Brer Rabbit, coming along that way, passes
+the time of day with Tar Baby, and, annoyed at its obstinate silence,
+hits it with right fist and with left, with left fist and with right,
+which successively stick to the "contrapshun," till at last he butts
+with his head, and that sticks too, whereupon Brer Fox, who all this
+time had "lain low," saunters out, and complains of Brer Rabbit that he
+is too stuck up. In the sequel Brer Rabbits begs Brer Fox that he may
+"drown me as deep ez you please, skin me, scratch out my eyeballs, t'ar
+out my years by the roots, en cut off my legs, but do don't fling me in
+dat brier patch;" which, of course, Brer Fox does, only to be informed
+by the cunning Brer Rabbit that he had been "bred en bawn in a brier
+patch." The story is a favourite one with the negroes: it occurs in
+Col. Jones' _Negro Myths of the Georgia Coast_ (Uncle Remus is
+from S. Carolina), also among those of Brazil (Romero, _Contos do
+Brazil_), and in the West Indian Islands (Mr. Lang, "At the Sign of
+the Ship," _Longman's Magazine_, Feb. 1889). We can trace it to
+Africa, where it occurs in Cape Colony (_South African Folk-Lore
+Journal_, vol. i.).
+
+_Remarks_.--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is
+so preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently
+invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally
+connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches
+the matter, and gives us a landing-stage between India and America.
+There can be little doubt that the Jataka of Prince Five-Weapons came
+to Africa, possibly by Buddhist missionaries, spread among the negroes,
+and then took ship in the holds of slavers for the New World, where it
+is to be found in fuller form than any yet discovered in the home of
+its birth. I say Buddhist missionaries, because there is a certain
+amount of evidence that the negroes have Buddhistic symbols among them,
+and we can only explain the identification of Brer Rabbit with Prince
+Five Weapons, and so with Buddha himself, by supposing the change to
+have originated among Buddhists, where it would be quite natural. For
+one of the most celebrated metempsychoses of Buddha is that detailed in
+the _Sasa Jataka_ (Fausboll, No. 316, tr. R. Morris, _Folk-Lore
+Journal_, ii. 336), in which the Buddha, as a hare, performs a
+sublime piece of self-sacrifice, and as a reward is translated to the
+moon, where he can be seen to this day as "the hare in the moon." Every
+Buddhist is reminded of the virtue of self-sacrifice whenever the moon
+is full, and it is easy to understand how the Buddha became identified
+as the Hare or Rabbit. A striking confirmation of this, in connection
+with our immediate subject, is offered by Mr. Harris' sequel volume,
+_Nights with Uncle Remus_. Here there is a whole chapter (xxx.) on
+"Brer Rabbit and his famous Foot," and it is well known how the worship
+of Buddha's foot developed in later Buddhism. No wonder Brer Rabbit is
+so 'cute: he is nothing less than an incarnation of Buddha. Among the
+Karens of Burmah, where Buddhist influence is still active, the Hare
+holds exactly the same place in their folk-lore as Brer Rabbit among
+the negroes. The sixth chapter of Mr. Smeaton's book on them is devoted
+to "Fireside Stories," and is entirely taken up with adventures of the
+Hare, all of which can be paralleled from _Uncle Remus_.
+
+Curiously enough, the negro form of the five-fold attack--"fighting
+with _five_ fists," Mr. Barr would call it--is probably nearer to
+the original legend than that preserved in the Jataka, though 2000
+years older. For we may be sure that the thunderbolt of Knowledge did
+not exist in the original, but was introduced by some Buddhist Mr.
+Barlow, who, like Alice's Duchess, ended all his tales with: "And the
+moral of that is----" For no well-bred demon would have been taken in
+by so simple a "sell" as that indulged in by Prince Five-Weapons in our
+Jataka, and it is probable, therefore, that _Uncle Remus_ preserves a
+reminiscence of the original Indian reading of the tale. On the other
+hand, it is probable that Carlyle's Indian god with the fire in his
+belly was derived from Prince Five-Weapons.
+
+The negro variant has also suggested to Mr. Batten an explanation of
+the whole story which is extremely plausible, though it introduces a
+method of folk-lore exegesis which has been overdriven to death. The
+_Sasa Jataka_ identifies the Brer Rabbit Buddha with the hare in
+the moon. It is well known that Easterns explain an eclipse of the moon
+as due to its being swallowed up by a Dragon or Demon. May not, asks
+Mr. Batten, the _Pancavudha Jataka_ be an idealised account of an
+eclipse of the moon? This suggestion receives strong confirmation from
+the Demon's reference to Rahu, who does, in Indian myth swallow the
+moon at times of eclipse. The Jataka accordingly contains the Buddhist
+explanation why the moon--_i.e._ the hare in the moon, _i.e._
+Buddha--is not altogether swallowed up by the Demon of Eclipse, the
+Demon with the Matted Hair. Mr. Batten adds that in imagining what kind
+of Demon the Eclipse Demon was, the Jataka writer was probably aided by
+recollections of some giant octopus, who has saucer eyes and a kind of
+hawk's beak, knobs on its "tusks," and a very variegated belly
+(gastropod). It is obviously unfair of Mr. Batten both to illustrate
+and also to explain so well the Tar Baby Jataka--taking the scientific
+bread, so to speak, out of a poor folklorist's mouth--but his
+explanations seem to me so convincing that I cannot avoid including
+them in these Notes.
+
+I am, however, not so much concerned with the original explanation of
+the Jataka as to trace its travels across the continents of Asia,
+Africa, and America. I think I have done this satisfactorily, and will
+have thereby largely strengthened the case for less extensive travels
+of other tales. I have sufficient confidence of the method employed to
+venture on that most hazardous of employments, scientific prophecy. I
+venture to predict that the Tar Baby story will be found in Madagascar
+in a form nearer the Indian than Uncle Remus, and I will go further,
+and say that it will _not_ be found in the grand Helsingfors
+collection of folk-tales, though this includes 12,000, of which 1000
+are beast-tales.
+
+
+
+XXVI. THE IVORY PALACE.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 211--25,
+with some slight omissions. Gulizar is Persian for rosy-cheeked.
+
+_Parallels_.--Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 27.
+"Panwpatti Rani," pp. 208-15, is the same story. Another version in the
+collection _Baital Pachisi_, No. 1.
+
+_Remarks_.--The themes of love by mirror, and the faithful friend,
+are common European, though the calm attempt at poisoning is perhaps
+characteristically Indian, and reads like a page from Mr. Kipling.
+
+
+
+XXVII. SUN, MOON, AND WIND.
+
+_Source_.--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, No. 10 pp. 153-5.
+
+_Remarks_.--Miss Frere observes that she has not altered the
+traditional mode of the Moon's conveyance of dinner to her mother the
+Star, though it must, she fears, impair the value of the story as a
+moral lesson in the eyes of all instructors of youth.
+
+
+
+XXVIII. HOW WICKED SONS WERE DUPED.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 241-2.
+
+_Parallels_.--A Gaelic parallel was given by Campbell in _Trans.
+Ethnol. Soc._, ii. p. 336; an Anglo-Latin one from the Middle Ages
+by T. Wright in _Latin Stories_ (Percy Soc.), No. 26; and for
+these and points of anthropological interest in the Celtic variant see
+Mr. Gomme's article in _Folk-Lore_, i. pp. 197-206, "A Highland
+Folk-Tale and its Origin in Custom."
+
+_Remarks_.--Mr. Gomme is of opinion that the tale arose from
+certain rhyming formulae occurring in the Gaelic and Latin tales as
+written on a mallet left by the old man in the box opened after his
+death. The rhymes are to the effect that a father who gives up his
+wealth to his children in his own lifetime deserves to be put to death
+with the mallet. Mr. Gomme gives evidence that it was an archaic custom
+to put oldsters to death after they had become helpless. He also points
+out that it was customary for estates to be divided and surrendered
+during the owners' lifetime, and generally he connects a good deal of
+primitive custom with our story. I have already pointed out in _Folk-
+Lore_, p. 403, that the existence of the tale in Kashmir without any
+reference to the mallet makes it impossible for the rhymes on the
+mallet to be the source of the story. As a matter of fact, it is a very
+embarrassing addition to it, since the rhyme tells against the parent,
+and the story is intended to tell against the ungrateful children. The
+existence of the tale in India renders it likely enough that it is not
+indigenous to the British Isles, but an Oriental importation. It is
+obvious, therefore, that it cannot be used as anthropological evidence
+of the existence of the primitive customs to be found in it. The whole
+incident, indeed, is a striking example of the dangers of the
+anthropological method of dealing with folk-tales before some attempt
+is made to settle the questions of origin and diffusion.
+
+
+
+XXIX. THE PIGEON AND THE CROW.
+
+_Source_.--The _Lola Jataka_, Fausboll, No. 274, kindly
+translated and slightly abridged for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse.
+
+_Remarks_.--We began with an animal Jataka, and may appropriately
+finish with one which shows how effectively the writers of the Jatakas
+could represent animal folk, and how terribly moral they invariably
+were in their tales. I should perhaps add that the Bodhisat is not
+precisely the Buddha himself but a character which is on its way to
+becoming perfectly enlightened, and so may be called a future Buddha.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Indian Fairy Tales, by Collected by Joseph Jacobs
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+Project Gutenberg's Indian Fairy Tales, by Collected by Joseph Jacobs
+
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+Title: Indian Fairy Tales
+
+Author: Collected by Joseph Jacobs
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7128]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 13, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+INDIAN FAIRY TALES
+
+
+_Selected and edited by_
+JOSEPH JACOBS
+
+_Illustrated by_
+JOHN D. BATTEN
+
+TO MY DEAR LITTLE PHIL
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+From the extreme West of the Indo-European world, we go this year to
+the extreme East. From the soft rain and green turf of Gaeldom, we seek
+the garish sun and arid soil of the Hindoo. In the Land of Ire, the
+belief in fairies, gnomes, ogres and monsters is all but dead; in the
+Land of Ind it still flourishes in all the vigour of animism.
+
+Soils and national characters differ; but fairy tales are the same in
+plot and incidents, if not in treatment. The majority of the tales in
+this volume have been known in the West in some form or other, and the
+problem arises how to account for their simultaneous existence in
+farthest West and East. Some--as Benfey in Germany, M. Cosquin in
+France, and Mr. Clouston in England--have declared that India is the
+Home of the Fairy Tale, and that all European fairy tales have been
+brought from thence by Crusaders, by Mongol missionaries, by Gipsies,
+by Jews, by traders, by travellers. The question is still before the
+courts, and one can only deal with it as an advocate. So far as my
+instructions go, I should be prepared, within certain limits, to hold a
+brief for India. So far as the children of Europe have their fairy
+stories in common, these--and they form more than a third of the whole
+--are derived from India. In particular, the majority of the Drolls or
+comic tales and jingles can be traced, without much difficulty, back to
+the Indian peninsula.
+
+Certainly there is abundant evidence of the early transmission by
+literary means of a considerable number of drolls and folk-tales from
+India about the time of the Crusaders. The collections known in Europe
+by the titles of _The Fables of Bidpai, The Seven Wise Masters, Gesia
+Romanorum_, and _Barlaam and Josaphat_, were extremely popular
+during the Middle Ages, and their contents passed on the one hand into
+the _Exempla_ of the monkish preachers, and on the other into the
+_Novelle_ of Italy, thence, after many days, to contribute their
+quota to the Elizabethan Drama. Perhaps nearly one-tenth of the main
+incidents of European folktales can be traced to this source.
+
+There are even indications of an earlier literary contact between
+Europe and India, in the case of one branch of the folk-tale, the Fable
+or Beast Droll. In a somewhat elaborate discussion [Footnote: "History
+of the Aesopic Fable," the introductory volume to my edition of Caxton's
+_Fables of Esope_ (London, Nutt, 1889).] I have come to the
+conclusion that a goodly number of the fables that pass under the name
+of the Samian slave, Aesop, were derived from India, probably from the
+same source whence the same tales were utilised in the Jatakas, or
+Birth-stories of Buddha. These Jatakas contain a large quantity of
+genuine early Indian folk-tales, and form the earliest collection of
+folk-tales in the world, a sort of Indian Grimm, collected more than
+two thousand years before the good German brothers went on their quest
+among the folk with such delightful results. For this reason I have
+included a considerable number of them in this volume; and shall be
+surprised if tales that have roused the laughter and wonder of pious
+Buddhists for the last two thousand years, cannot produce the same
+effect on English children. The Jatakas have been fortunate in their
+English translators, who render with vigour and point; and I rejoice
+in being able to publish the translation of two new Jatakas, kindly
+done into English for this volume by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, of Christ's
+College, Cambridge. In one of these I think I have traced the source
+of the Tar Baby incident in "Uncle Remus."
+
+Though Indian fairy tales are the earliest in existence, yet they are
+also from another point of view the youngest. For it is only about
+twenty-five years ago that Miss Frere began the modern collection of
+Indian folk-tales with her charming "Old Deccan Days" (London, John
+Murray, 1868; fourth edition, 1889). Her example has been followed by
+Miss Stokes, by Mrs. Steel, and Captain (now Major) Temple, by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, by Mr. Knowles and Mr. Campbell, as well as
+others who have published folk-tales in such periodicals as the
+_Indian Antiquary_ and _The Orientalist_. The story-store of
+modern India has been well dipped into during the last quarter of a
+century, though the immense range of the country leaves room for any
+number of additional workers and collections. Even so far as the
+materials already collected go, a large number of the commonest
+incidents in European folk-tales have been found in India. Whether
+brought there or born there, we have scarcely any criterion for
+judging; but as some of those still current among the folk in India can
+be traced back more than a millennium, the presumption is in favour of
+an Indian origin.
+
+From all these sources--from the Jatakas, from the Bidpai, and from the
+more recent collections--I have selected those stories which throw most
+light on the origin of Fable and Folk-tales, and at the same time are
+most likely to attract English children. I have not, however, included
+too many stories of the Grimm types, lest I should repeat the contents
+of the two preceding volumes of this series. This has to some degree
+weakened the case for India as represented by this book. The need of
+catering for the young ones has restricted my selection from the well-
+named "Ocean of the Streams of Story," _Katha-Sarit Sagara_ of
+Somadeva. The stories existing in Pali and Sanskrit I have taken from
+translations, mostly from the German of Benfey or the vigorous English
+of Professor Rhys-Davids, whom I have to thank for permission to use
+his versions of the Jatakas.
+
+I have been enabled to make this book a representative collection of
+the Fairy Tales of Ind by the kindness of the original collectors or
+their publishers. I have especially to thank Miss Frere, who kindly
+made an exception in my favour, and granted me the use of that fine
+story, "Punchkin," and that quaint myth, "How Sun, Moon, and Wind went
+out to Dinner." Miss Stokes has been equally gracious in granting me
+the use of characteristic specimens from her "Indian Fairy Tales." To
+Major Temple I owe the advantage of selecting from his admirable
+_Wideawake Stories_, and Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. have
+allowed me to use Mr. Knowles' "Folk-tales of Kashmir," in their
+Oriental Library; and Messrs. W. H. Allen have been equally obliging
+with regard to Mrs. Kingscote's "Tales of the Sun." Mr. M. L. Dames has
+enabled me add to the published story-store of India by granting me the
+use of one from his inedited collection of Baluchi folk-tales.
+
+I have again to congratulate myself an the co-operation of my friend
+Mr. J. D. Batten in giving beautiful or amusing form to the creations
+of the folk fancy of the Hindoos. It is no slight thing to embody, as
+he has done, the glamour and the humour both of the Celt and of the
+Hindoo. It is only a further proof that Fairy Tales are something more
+than Celtic or Hindoo. They are human.
+
+JOSEPH JACOBS.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+I.      THE LION AND THE CRANE
+II.     HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM
+III.    THE LAMBIKIN
+IV.     PUNCHKIN
+V.      THE BROKEN POT
+VI.     THE MAGIC FIDDLE
+VII.    THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED
+VIII.   LOVING LAILI
+IX.     THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN AND THE JACKAL
+X.      THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON
+XI.     HARISARMAN
+XII.    THE CHARMED RING
+XIII.   THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE
+XIV.    A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A PIECE OF ADVICE
+XV.     THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT
+XVI.    THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS
+XVII.   A LESSON FOR KINGS
+XVIII.  PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL
+XIX.    RAJA RASALU
+XX.     THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN
+XXI.    THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER
+XXII.   THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN
+XXIII.  THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR
+XXIV.   WHY THE FISH LAUGHED
+XXV.    THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR
+XXVI.   THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS
+XXVII.  SUN, MOON, AND WIND GO OUT TO DINNER
+XXVIII. HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED
+XXIX.   THE PIGEON AND THE CROW
+
+NOTES AND REFERENCES
+
+
+
+THE LION AND THE CRANE
+
+The Bodhisatta was at one time born in the region of Himavanta as a
+white crane; now Brahmadatta was at that time reigning in Benares. Now
+it chanced that as a lion was eating meat a bone stuck in his throat.
+The throat became swollen, he could not take food, his suffering was
+terrible. The crane seeing him, as he was perched an a tree looking for
+food, asked, "What ails thee, friend?" He told him why. "I could free
+thee from that bone, friend, but dare not enter thy mouth for fear thou
+mightest eat me." "Don't be afraid, friend, I'll not eat thee; only
+save my life." "Very well," says he, and caused him to lie down on his
+left side. But thinking to himself, "Who knows what this fellow will
+do," he placed a small stick upright between his two jaws that he could
+not close his mouth, and inserting his head inside his mouth struck one
+end of the bone with his beak. Whereupon the bone dropped and fell out.
+As soon as he had caused the bone to fall, he got out of the lion's
+mouth, striking the stick with his beak so that it fell out, and then
+settled on a branch. The lion gets well, and one day was eating a
+buffalo he had killed. The crane, thinking "I will sound him," settled
+an a branch just over him, and in conversation spoke this first verse:
+
+  "A service have we done thee
+    To the best of our ability,
+  King of the Beasts! Your Majesty!
+    What return shall we get from thee?"
+
+In reply the Lion spoke the second verse:
+
+  "As I feed on blood,
+    And always hunt for prey,
+  'Tis much that thou art still alive
+    Having once been between my teeth."
+
+Then in reply the crane said the two other verses:
+
+  "Ungrateful, doing no good,
+    Not doing as he would be done by,
+  In him there is no gratitude,
+    To serve him is useless.
+
+  "His friendship is not won
+    By the clearest good deed.
+  Better softly withdraw from him,
+    Neither envying nor abusing."
+
+And having thus spoken the crane flew away.
+
+_And when the great Teacher, Gautama the Buddha, told this tale, he
+used to add: "Now at that time the lion was Devadatta the Traitor, but
+the white crane was I myself_."
+
+
+
+HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM
+
+In a country there was a Raja who had an only son who every day went
+out to hunt. One day the Rani, his mother, said to him, "You can hunt
+wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the
+fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth
+side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labam, and that then he
+would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess.
+
+The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time;
+but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was
+allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth
+side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to hunt
+on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle, and
+nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it. The
+young Raja shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up to
+the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Raja, who was called
+Hiraman parrot.
+
+When Hiraman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the
+other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Raja's son
+shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labam."
+
+Then the parrots all flew back to their Raja, chattering. The prince
+was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he
+said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labam? Where does she live?"
+But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never get
+to the Princess Labam's country." That is all they would say.
+
+The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more;
+and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would
+not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed
+very ill.
+
+At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the
+Princess Labam. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like.
+Tell me where her country is."
+
+"We do not know where it is," answered his father and mother.
+
+"Then I must go and look for it," said the prince.
+
+"No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only son. Stay
+with us. You will never find the Princess Labam."
+
+"I must try and find her," said the prince. "Perhaps God will show me
+the way. If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but perhaps
+I shall die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I must go."
+
+So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with
+him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And he
+took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other weapons,
+"for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him plenty of
+rupees.
+
+Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said
+good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her handkerchief
+and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her son. "My child,"
+she said to him, "When you are hungry eat some of these sweetmeats."
+
+He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a
+jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his
+horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to
+himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I
+will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He opened
+his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in it. He
+took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid the two
+sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and another, and
+another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he found an ant.
+"Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the ants shall eat
+them." Then the Ant-Raja came and stood before him and said, "You have
+been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and we will
+come to you."
+
+The Raja's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his
+journey. He rode on and on until he came to another jungle, and there
+he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly from
+the pain.
+
+"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Raja. "What is the matter
+with you?"
+
+"I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered the tiger,
+"and it hurts me so; that is why I roar."
+
+"Well," said the Raja's son, "I will take it out for you. But perhaps,
+as you are a tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat me?"
+
+"Oh, no," said the tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well."
+
+Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn
+out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than
+ever--so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came
+bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming,
+and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him.
+
+
+"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife. "No one
+hurt me," answered the husband; "but a Raja's son came and took the
+thorn out of my foot."
+
+"Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife.
+
+"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger.
+
+"I won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife.
+
+Then the tiger called the Raja's son, and when he came the tiger and
+his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good
+dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at
+the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said
+good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in
+trouble, think of me, and we will come to you."
+
+The Raja's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he
+found four fakirs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four
+things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he wished
+to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels, food, or
+clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he wanted,
+no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and rope, to
+which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war on him,
+"Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the stick would
+beat them and the rope would tie them up.
+
+The four fakirs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, "I
+want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so
+on.
+
+The Raja's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will
+shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets
+to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets
+to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets
+to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who
+gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and
+rope." To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his first arrow.
+Away raced the fakirs to get it. When they brought it back to him he
+shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he
+shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot off
+the fourth.
+
+While they were away looking for the fourth arrow the Raja's son let
+his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl, the
+stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish to go
+to the Princess Labam's country." The little bed instantly rose up into
+the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to the
+Princess Labam's country, where it settled on the ground. The Raja's
+son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?"
+
+"The Princess Labam's country," they answered. Then the prince went on
+till he came to a house where he saw an old woman.
+
+"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from?"
+
+"I come from a far country," he said; "do let me stay with you to-
+night."
+
+"No," she answered, "I cannot let you stay with me; for our king has
+ordered that men from other countries may not stay in his country. You
+cannot stay in my house."
+
+"You are my aunty," said the prince; "let me remain with you for this
+one night. You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then the
+wild beasts will eat me."
+
+"Well," said the old woman, "you may stay here to-night; but to-morrow
+morning you must go away, for if the king hears you have passed the
+night in my house, he will have me seized and put into prison."
+
+Then she took him into her house, and the Raja's son was very glad. The
+old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her, "Aunty," he said,
+"I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying, "Bag, I
+want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious dinner,
+served up on two gold plates. The old woman and the Raja's son then
+dined together.
+
+When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch
+some water."
+
+"Don't go," said the prince. "You shall have plenty of water directly."
+So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want some water," and then
+it filled with water. When it was full, the prince cried out, "Stop,
+bowl," and the bowl stopped filling. "See, aunty," he said, "with this
+bowl I can always get as much water as I want."
+
+By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Raja's son, "why don't
+you light a lamp?"
+
+"There is no need," she said. "Our king has forbidden the people in his
+country to light any lamps; for, as soon as it is dark, his daughter,
+the Princess Labam, comes and sits on her roof, and she shines so that
+she lights up all the country and our houses, and we can see to do our
+work as if it were day."
+
+When it was quite black night the princess got up. She dressed herself
+in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and across her
+head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone like the
+moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her room, and sat
+on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came out of her
+house; she only came out at night. All the people in her father's
+country then went about their work and finished it.
+
+The Raja's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He
+said to himself, "How lovely she is!"
+
+At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down
+from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and
+asleep, the Raja's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. "Bed," he
+said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labam's bed-room." So the
+little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep.
+
+The young Raja took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of betel-
+leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he laid
+near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back to
+the old woman's house.
+
+Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and
+began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the
+princess.
+
+"We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody knew the
+prince had come in the night and put it all there.
+
+In the morning the old woman came to the Raja's son. "Now it is
+morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the king finds out all I
+have done for you, he will seize me."
+
+"I am ill to-day, dear aunty," said the prince; "do let me stay till
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"Good," said the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner
+out of the bag, and the bowl gave them water.
+
+When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve
+o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was
+soon fast asleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed, and it carried
+him to the princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most
+lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the
+princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house
+and slept till morning.
+
+In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl she was delighted.
+"See, mother," she said; "Khuda must have given me this shawl, it is so
+beautiful." Her mother was very glad too.
+
+"Yes, my child," she said; "Khuda must have given you this splendid
+shawl."
+
+When it was morning the old woman said to the Raja's son, "Now you must
+really go."
+
+"Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let me stay a few days
+longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that no one may see me."
+So the old woman let him stay.
+
+When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and
+jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went
+to sleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room.
+There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring."
+The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labam's
+hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much
+frightened.
+
+"Who are you?" she said to the prince. "Where do you come from? Why do
+you come to my room?"
+
+"Do not be afraid, princess," he said; "I am no thief. I am a great
+Raja's son. Hiraman parrot, who lives in the jungle where I went to
+hunt, told me your name, and then I left my father and mother, and came
+to see you."
+
+"Well," said the princess, "as you are the son of such a great Raja, I
+will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that I
+wish to marry you."
+
+The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning
+came the princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Raja has come
+to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this to the
+king.
+
+"Good," said the king; "but if this Raja's son wishes to marry my
+daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I will kill
+him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, and out of
+this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this he shall
+die."
+
+In the morning the Raja's son told the old woman that he intended to
+marry the princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this
+country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rajas and
+Rajas' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them
+all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do
+whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if
+he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things
+the king tells him to do; so all the Rajas and Rajas' sons who have
+tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do go
+away." But the prince would not listen to anything she said.
+
+The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his servants
+brought the Raja's son to the king's court-house to the king. There the
+king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to crush all
+the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him to the
+court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to the
+prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have him
+killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard seed,
+you will die."
+
+The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil
+out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if I
+do not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old
+woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the
+Ant-Raja, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Raja and his ants came to
+him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Raja.
+
+The prince showed him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I
+crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not
+take the oil to the king to-morrow morning, he will kill me."
+
+"Be happy," said the Ant-Raja; "lie down and sleep; we will crush all
+the oil out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall
+take it to the king." The Raja's son lay down and slept, and the ants
+crushed out the oil for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the
+oil.
+
+The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the
+king said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so, you
+must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a long
+time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what to do
+with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let them
+loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country; and he
+did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons who
+wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these demons;
+"for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be killed, and
+then I shall be rid of them."
+
+When he heard of the demons the Raja's son was very sad. "What can I
+do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then
+he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and
+said, "Why are you so sad?" The Raja's son answered, "The king has
+ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do
+this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my wife
+will fight with them for you."
+
+Then the Raja's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were
+all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he put
+on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the king, and
+said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?" "Yes," said
+the king, who did not care in the least who killed his demons, provided
+they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the Raja's son, "and
+these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and the tigers and the
+demons fought and fought until the tigers had killed the demons.
+
+"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before I
+give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must go
+and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you."
+
+The Raja's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old woman's
+house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the sky is the
+king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up with him, and
+the Raja's son beat the drum, and the king heard him. Still, when he
+came down, the king would not give him his daughter. "You have," he
+said to the prince, "done the three things I told you to do; but you
+must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the Raja's son.
+
+Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his
+court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax
+hatchet, and said, "Tomorrow morning you must cut this trunk in two
+with this wax hatchet."
+
+The Raja's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad, and
+thought that now the Raja would certainly kill him. "I had his oil
+crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons killed
+by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But now what
+can I do? How can I cut that thick tree-trunk in two with a wax
+hatchet?"
+
+At night he went on his bed to see the princess. "To-morrow," he said
+to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the princess.
+
+"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet.
+How can I ever do that?" said the Raja's son. "Do not be afraid," said
+the princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite
+easily."
+
+Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince.
+"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the
+tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labam commands you to let yourself be cut in
+two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax
+hatchet's blade."
+
+The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the
+minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade
+touched the tree-trunk it split into two pieces.
+
+The king said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took
+place. All the Rajas and kings of the countries round were asked to
+come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the
+prince's son said to his wife, "Let us go to my father's country." The
+Princess Labam's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and
+rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's
+country, where they lived happily.
+
+The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only, as no one
+ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick.
+
+
+
+THE LAMBIKIN
+
+Once upon a time there was a wee wee Lambikin, who frolicked about on
+his little tottery legs, and enjoyed himself amazingly.
+
+Now one day he set off to visit his Granny, and was jumping with joy to
+think of all the good things he should get from her, when who should he
+meet but a Jackal, who looked at the tender young morsel and said:
+"Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk and said:
+
+  "To Granny's house I go,
+  Where I shall fatter grow,
+  Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Jackal thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+By-and-by he met a Vulture, and the Vulture, looking hungrily at the
+tender morsel before him, said: "Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+But Lambikin only gave a little frisk, and said:
+
+  "To Granny's house I go,
+  Where I shall fatter grow,
+  Then you can eat me so."
+
+The Vulture thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
+
+And by-and-by he met a Tiger, and then a Wolf, and a Dog, and an Eagle,
+and all these, when they saw the tender little morsel, said: "Lambikin!
+Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!"
+
+But to all of them Lambikin replied, with a little frisk:
+
+  "To Granny's house I go,
+  Where I shall fatter grow,
+  Then you can eat me so."
+
+At last he reached his Granny's house, and said, all in a great hurry,
+"Granny, dear, I've promised to get very fat; so, as people ought to
+keep their promises, please put me into the corn-bin _at once_."
+
+So his Granny said he was a good boy, and put him into the corn-bin,
+and there the greedy little Lambikin stayed for seven days, and ate,
+and ate, and ate, until he could scarcely waddle, and his Granny said
+he was fat enough for anything, and must go home. But cunning little
+Lambikin said that would never do, for some animal would be sure to eat
+him on the way back, he was so plump and tender.
+
+"I'll tell you what you must do," said Master Lambikin, "you must make
+a little drumikin out of the skin of my little brother who died, and
+then I can sit inside and trundle along nicely, for I'm as tight as a
+drum myself."
+
+So his Granny made a nice little drumikin out of his brother's skin,
+with the wool inside, and Lambikin curled himself up snug and warm in
+the middle, and trundled away gaily. Soon he met with the Eagle, who
+called out:
+
+  "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+  Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Mr. Lambikin, curled up in his soft warm nest, replied:
+
+  "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+  On little Drumikin. Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+"How very annoying!" sighed the Eagle, thinking regretfully of the
+tender morsel he had let slip.
+
+Meanwhile Lambikin trundled along, laughing to himself, and singing:
+
+  "Tum-pa, tum-too;
+  Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Every animal and bird he met asked him the same question:
+
+  "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+  Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And to each of them the little slyboots replied:
+
+  "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+  On little Drumikin. Tum-pa, tum too;
+  Tum-pa, tum-too; Tum-pa, tum-too!"
+
+Then they all sighed to think of the tender little morsel they had let
+slip.
+
+At last the Jackal came limping along, for all his sorry looks as sharp
+as a needle, and he too called out--
+
+  "Drumikin! Drumikin!
+  Have you seen Lambikin?"
+
+And Lambikin, curled up in his snug little nest, replied gaily:
+
+  "Fallen into the fire, and so will you
+  On little Drumikin! Tum-pa--"
+
+But he never got any further, for the Jackal recognised his voice at
+once, and cried: "Hullo! you've turned yourself inside out, have you?
+Just you come out of that!"
+
+Whereupon he tore open Drumikin and gobbled up Lambikin.
+
+
+
+PUNCHKIN
+
+Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven beautiful daughters.
+They were all good girls; but the youngest, named Balna, was more
+clever than the rest. The Raja's wife died when they were quite little
+children, so these seven poor Princesses were left with no mother to
+take care of them.
+
+The Raja's daughters took it by turns to cook their father's dinner
+every day, whilst he was absent deliberating with his Ministers on the
+affairs of the nation.
+
+About this time the Prudhan died, leaving a widow and one daughter; and
+every day, every day, when the seven Princesses were preparing their
+father's dinner, the Prudhan's widow and daughter would come and beg
+for a little fire from the hearth. Then Balna used to say to her
+sisters, "Send that woman away; send her away. Let her get the fire at
+her own house. What does she want with ours? If we allow her to come
+here, we shall suffer for it some day."
+
+But the other sisters would answer, "Be quiet, Balna; why must you
+always be quarrelling with this poor woman? Let her take some fire if
+she likes." Then the Prudhan's widow used to go to the hearth and take
+a few sticks from it; and whilst no one was looking, she would quickly
+throw some mud into the midst of the dishes which were being prepared
+for the Raja's dinner.
+
+Now the Raja was very fond of his daughters. Ever since their mother's
+death they had cooked his dinner with their own hands, in order to
+avoid the danger of his being poisoned by his enemies. So, when he
+found the mud mixed up with his dinner, he thought it must arise from
+their carelessness, as it did not seem likely that any one should have
+put mud there on purpose; but being very kind he did not like to
+reprove them for it, although this spoiling of the curry was repeated
+many successive days.
+
+At last, one day, he determined to hide, and watch his daughters
+cooking, and see how it all happened; so he went into the next room,
+and watched them through a hole in the wall.
+
+There he saw his seven daughters carefully washing the rice and
+preparing the curry, and as each dish was completed, they put it by the
+fire ready to be cooked. Next he noticed the Prudhan's widow come to
+the door, and beg for a few sticks from the fire to cook her dinner
+with. Balna turned to her, angrily, and said, "Why don't you keep fuel
+in your own house, and not come here every day and take ours? Sisters,
+don't give this woman any more wood; let her buy it for herself."
+
+Then the eldest sister answered, "Balna, let the poor woman take the
+wood and the fire; she does us no harm." But Balna replied, "If you let
+her come here so often, maybe she will do us some harm, and make us
+sorry for it, some day."
+
+The Raja then saw the Prudhan's widow go to the place where all his
+dinner was nicely prepared, and, as she took the wood, she threw a
+little mud into each of the dishes.
+
+At this he was very angry, and sent to have the woman seized and
+brought before him. But when the widow came, she told him that she had
+played this trick because she wanted to gain an audience with him; and
+she spoke so cleverly, and pleased him so well with her cunning words,
+that instead of punishing her, the Raja married her, and made her his
+Ranee, and she and her daughter came to live in the palace.
+
+Now the new Ranee hated the seven poor Princesses, and wanted to get
+them, if possible, out of the way, in order that her daughter might
+have all their riches, and live in the palace as Princess in their
+place; and instead of being grateful to them for their kindness to her,
+she did all she could to make them miserable. She gave them nothing but
+bread to eat, and very little of that, and very little water to drink;
+so these seven poor little Princesses, who had been accustomed to have
+everything comfortable about them, and good food and good clothes all
+their lives long, were very miserable and unhappy; and they used to go
+out every day and sit by their dead mother's tomb and cry--and say:
+
+"Oh mother, mother, cannot you see your poor children, how unhappy we
+are, and how we are starved by our cruel step-mother?"
+
+One day, whilst they were thus sobbing and crying, lo and behold! a
+beautiful pomelo tree grew up out of the grave, covered with fresh ripe
+pomeloes, and the children satisfied their hunger by eating some of the
+fruit, and every day after this, instead of trying to eat the bad
+dinner their step-mother provided for them, they used to go out to
+their mother's grave and eat the pomeloes which grew there on the
+beautiful tree.
+
+Then the Ranee said to her daughter, "I cannot tell how it is, every
+day those seven girls say they don't want any dinner, and won't eat
+any; and yet they never grow thin nor look ill; they look better than
+you do. I cannot tell how it is." And she bade her watch the seven
+Princesses, and see if any one gave them anything to eat.
+
+So next day, when the Princesses went to their mother's grave, and were
+eating the beautiful pomeloes, the Prudhan's daughter followed them,
+and saw them gathering the fruit.
+
+Then Balna said to her sisters, "Do you not see that girl watching us?
+Let us drive her away, or hide the pomeloes, else she will go and tell
+her mother all about it, and that will be very bad for us."
+
+But the other sisters said, "Oh no, do not be unkind, Balna. The girl
+would never be so cruel as to tell her mother. Let us rather invite her
+to come and have some of the fruit." And calling her to them, they gave
+her one of the pomeloes.
+
+No sooner had she eaten it, however, than the Prudhan's daughter went
+home and said to her mother, "I do not wonder the seven Princesses will
+not eat the dinner you prepare for them, for by their mother's grave
+there grows a beautiful pomelo tree, and they go there every day and
+eat the pomeloes. I ate one, and it was the nicest I have ever tasted."
+
+The cruel Ranee was much vexed at hearing this, and all next day she
+stayed in her room, and told the Raja that she had a very bad headache.
+The Raja was deeply grieved, and said to his wife, "What can I do for
+you?" She answered, "There is only one thing that will make my headache
+well. By your dead wife's tomb there grows a fine pomelo tree; you must
+bring that here, and boil it, root and branch, and put a little of the
+water in which it has been boiled, on my forehead, and that will cure
+my headache." So the Raja sent his servants, and had the beautiful
+pomelo tree pulled up by the roots, and did as the Ranee desired; and
+when some of the water, in which it had been boiled, was put on her
+forehead, she said her headache was gone and she felt quite well.
+
+Next day, when the seven Princesses went as usual to the grave of their
+mother, the pomelo tree had disappeared. Then they all began to cry
+very bitterly.
+
+Now there was by the Ranee's tomb a small tank, and as they were crying
+they saw that the tank was filled with a rich cream-like substance,
+which quickly hardened into a thick white cake. At seeing this all the
+Princesses were very glad, and they ate some of the cake, and liked it;
+and next day the same thing happened, and so it went on for many days.
+Every morning the Princesses went to their mother's grave, and found
+the little tank filled with the nourishing cream-like cake. Then the
+cruel step-mother said to her daughter: "I cannot tell how it is, I
+have had the pomelo tree which used to grow by the Ranee's grave
+destroyed, and yet the Princesses grow no thinner, nor look more sad,
+though they never eat the dinner I give them. I cannot tell how it is!"
+
+And her daughter said, "I will watch."
+
+Next day, while the Princesses were eating the cream cake, who should
+come by but their step-mother's daughter. Balna saw her first, and
+said, "See, sisters, there comes that girl again. Let us sit round the
+edge of the tank and not allow her to see it, for if we give her some
+of our cake, she will go and tell her mother; and that will be very
+unfortunate for us."
+
+The other sisters, however, thought Balna unnecessarily suspicious, and
+instead of following her advice, they gave the Prudhan's daughter some
+of the cake, and she went home and told her mother all about it.
+
+The Ranee, on hearing how well the Princesses fared, was exceedingly
+angry, and sent her servants to pull down the dead Ranee's tomb, and
+fill the little tank with the ruins. And not content with this, she
+next day pretended to be very, very ill--in fact, at the point of
+death--and when the Raja was much grieved, and asked her whether it was
+in his power to procure her any remedy, she said to him: "Only one
+thing can save my life, but I know you will not do it." He replied,
+"Yes, whatever it is, I will do it." She then said, "To save my life,
+you must kill the seven daughters of your first wife, and put some of
+their blood on my forehead and on the palms of my hands, and their
+death will be my life." At these words the Raja was very sorrowful; but
+because he feared to break his word, he went out with a heavy heart to
+find his daughters.
+
+He found them crying by the ruins of their mother's grave.
+
+Then, feeling he could not kill them, the Raja spoke kindly to them,
+and told them to come out into the jungle with him; and there he made a
+fire and cooked some rice, and gave it to them. But in the afternoon,
+it being very hot, the seven Princesses all fell asleep, and when he
+saw they were fast asleep, the Raja, their father, stole away and left
+them (for he feared his wife), saying to himself: "It is better my poor
+daughters should die here, than be killed by their step-mother."
+
+He then shot a deer, and returning home, put some of its blood on the
+forehead and hands of the Ranee, and she thought then that he had
+really killed the Princesses, and said she felt quite well.
+
+Meantime the seven Princesses awoke, and when they found themselves all
+alone in the thick jungle they were much frightened, and began to call
+out as loud as they could, in hopes of making their father hear; but he
+was by that time far away, and would not have been able to hear them
+even had their voices been as loud as thunder.
+
+It so happened that this very day the seven young sons of a
+neighbouring Raja chanced to be hunting in that same jungle, and as
+they were returning home, after the day's sport was over, the youngest
+Prince said to his brothers "Stop, I think I hear some one crying and
+calling out. Do you not hear voices? Let us go in the direction of the
+sound, and find out what it is."
+
+So the seven Princes rode through the wood until they came to the place
+where the seven Princesses sat crying and wringing their hands. At the
+sight of them the young Princes were very much astonished, and still
+more so on learning their story; and they settled that each should take
+one of these poor forlorn ladies home with him, and marry her.
+
+So the first and eldest Prince took the eldest Princess home with him,
+and married her.
+
+And the second took the second;
+
+And the third took the third;
+
+And the fourth took the fourth;
+
+And the fifth took the fifth;
+
+And the sixth took the sixth;
+
+And the seventh, and the handsomest of all, took the beautiful Balna.
+
+And when they got to their own land, there was great rejoicing
+throughout the kingdom, at the marriage of the seven young Princes to
+seven such beautiful Princesses.
+
+About a year after this Balna had a little son, and his uncles and
+aunts were so fond of the boy that it was as if he had seven fathers
+and seven mothers. None of the other Princes and Princesses had any
+children, so the son of the seventh Prince and Balna was acknowledged
+their heir by all the rest.
+
+They had thus lived very happily for some time, when one fine day the
+seventh Prince (Balna's husband) said he would go out hunting, and away
+he went; and they waited long for him, but he never came back.
+
+Then his six brothers said they would go and see what had become of
+him; and they went away, but they also did not return.
+
+And the seven Princesses grieved very much, for they feared that their
+kind husbands must have been killed.
+
+One day, not long after this had happened, as Balna was rocking her
+baby's cradle, and whilst her sisters were working in the room below,
+there came to the palace door a man in a long black dress, who said
+that he was a Fakir, and came to beg. The servants said to him, "You
+cannot go into the palace--the Raja's sons have all gone away; we think
+they must be dead, and their widows cannot be interrupted by your
+begging." But he said, "I am a holy man, you must let me in." Then the
+stupid servants let him walk through the palace, but they did not know
+that this was no Fakir, but a wicked Magician named Punchkin.
+
+Punchkin Fakir wandered through the palace, and saw many beautiful
+things there, till at last he reached the room where Balna sat singing
+beside her little boy's cradle. The Magician thought her more beautiful
+than all the other beautiful things he had seen, insomuch that he asked
+her to go home with him and to marry him. But she said, "My husband, I
+fear, is dead, but my little boy is still quite young; I will stay here
+and teach him to grow up a clever man, and when he is grown up he shall
+go out into the world, and try and learn tidings of his father. Heaven
+forbid that I should ever leave him, or marry you." At these words the
+Magician was very angry, and turned her into a little black dog, and
+led her away; saying, "Since you will not come with me of your own free
+will, I will make you." So the poor Princess was dragged away, without
+any power of effecting an escape, or of letting her sisters know what
+had become of her. As Punchkin passed through the palace gate the
+servants said to him, "Where did you get that pretty little dog?" And
+he answered, "One of the Princesses gave it to me as a present." At
+hearing which they let him go without further questioning.
+
+Soon after this, the six elder Princesses heard the little baby, their
+nephew, begin to cry, and when they went upstairs they were much
+surprised to find him all alone, and Balna nowhere to be seen. Then
+they questioned the servants, and when they heard of the Fakir and the
+little black dog, they guessed what had happened, and sent in every
+direction seeking them, but neither the Fakir nor the dog were to be
+found. What could six poor women do? They gave up all hopes of ever
+seeing their kind husbands, and their sister, and her husband, again,
+and devoted themselves thenceforward to teaching and taking care of
+their little nephew.
+
+Thus time went on, till Balna's son was fourteen years old. Then, one
+day, his aunts told him the history of the family; and no sooner did he
+hear it, than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of his
+father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to bring
+them home again. His aunts, on learning his determination, were much
+alarmed and tried to dissuade him, saying, "We have lost our husbands,
+and our sister and her husband, and you are now our sole hope; if you
+go away, what shall we do?" But he replied, "I pray you not to be
+discouraged; I will return soon, and if it is possible bring my father
+and mother and uncles with me." So he set out on his travels; but for
+some months he could learn nothing to help him in his search.
+
+At last, after he had journeyed many hundreds of weary miles, and
+become almost hopeless of ever hearing anything further of his parents,
+he one day came to a country that seemed full of stones, and rocks, and
+trees, and there he saw a large palace with a high tower; hard by which
+was a Malee's little house.
+
+As he was looking about, the Malee's wife saw him, and ran out of the
+house and said, "My dear boy, who are you that dare venture to this
+dangerous place?" He answered, "I am a Raja's son, and I come in search
+of my father, and my uncles, and my mother whom a wicked enchanter
+bewitched."
+
+Then the Malee's wife said, "This country and this palace belong to a
+great enchanter; he is all powerful, and if any one displeases him, he
+can turn them into stones and trees. All the rocks and trees you see
+here were living people once, and the Magician turned them to what they
+now are. Some time ago a Raja's son came here, and shortly afterwards
+came his six brothers, and they were all turned into stones and trees;
+and these are not the only unfortunate ones, for up in that tower lives
+a beautiful Princess, whom the Magician has kept prisoner there for
+twelve years, because she hates him and will not marry him."
+
+Then the little Prince thought, "These must be my parents and my
+uncles. I have found what I seek at last." So he told his story to the
+Malee's wife, and begged her to help him to remain in that place awhile
+and inquire further concerning the unhappy people she mentioned; and
+she promised to befriend him, and advised his disguising himself lest
+the Magician should see him, and turn him likewise into stone. To this
+the Prince agreed. So the Malee's wife dressed him up in a saree, and
+pretended that he was her daughter.
+
+One day, not long after this, as the Magician was walking in his garden
+he saw the little girl (as he thought) playing about, and asked her who
+she was. She told him she was the Malee's daughter, and the Magician
+said, "You are a pretty little girl, and to-morrow you shall take a
+present of flowers from me to the beautiful lady who lives in the
+tower."
+
+The young Prince was much delighted at hearing this, and went
+immediately to inform the Malee's wife; after consultation with whom he
+determined that it would be more safe for him to retain his disguise,
+and trust to the chance of a favourable opportunity for establishing
+some communication with his mother, if it were indeed she.
+
+Now it happened that at Balna's marriage her husband had given her a
+small gold ring on which her name was engraved, and she had put it on
+her little son's finger when he was a baby, and afterwards when he was
+older his aunts had had it enlarged for him, so that he was still able
+to wear it. The Malee's wife advised him to fasten the well-known
+treasure to one of the bouquets he presented to his mother, and trust
+to her recognising it. This was not to be done without difficulty, as
+such a strict watch was kept over the poor Princess (for fear of her
+ever establishing communication with her friends), that though the
+supposed Malee's daughter was permitted to take her flowers every day,
+the Magician or one of his slaves was always in the room at the time.
+At last one day, however, opportunity favoured him, and when no one was
+looking, the boy tied the ring to a nosegay, and threw it at Balna's
+feet. It fell with a clang on the floor, and Balna, looking to see what
+made the strange sound, found the little ring tied to the flowers. On
+recognising it, she at once believed the story her son told her of his
+long search, and begged him to advise her as to what she had better do;
+at the same time entreating him on no account to endanger his life by
+trying to rescue her. She told him that for twelve long years the
+Magician had kept her shut up in the tower because she refused to marry
+him, and she was so closely guarded that she saw no hope of release.
+
+Now Balna's son was a bright, clever boy, so he said, "Do not fear,
+dear mother; the first thing to do is to discover how far the
+Magician's power extends, in order that we may be able to liberate my
+father and uncles, whom he has imprisoned in the form of rocks and
+trees. You have spoken to him angrily for twelve long years; now rather
+speak kindly. Tell him you have given up all hopes of again seeing the
+husband you have so long mourned, and say you are willing to marry him.
+Then endeavour to find out what his power consists in, and whether he
+is immortal, or can be put to death."
+
+Balna determined to take her son's advice; and the next day sent for
+Punchkin, and spoke to him as had been suggested.
+
+The Magician, greatly delighted, begged her to allow the wedding to
+take place as soon as possible.
+
+But she told him that before she married him he must allow her a little
+more time, in which she might make his acquaintance, and that, after
+being enemies so long, their friendship could but strengthen by
+degrees. "And do tell me," she said, "are you quite immortal? Can death
+never touch you? And are you too great an enchanter ever to feel human
+suffering?"
+
+"Why do you ask?" said he.
+
+"Because," she replied, "if I am to be your wife, I would fain know all
+about you, in order, if any calamity threatens you, to overcome, or if
+possible to avert it."
+
+"It is true," he added, "that I am not as others. Far, far away,
+hundreds of thousands of miles from this, there lies a desolate country
+covered with thick jungle. In the midst of the jungle grows a circle of
+palm trees, and in the centre of the circle stand six chattees full of
+water, piled one above another: below the sixth chattee is a small cage
+which contains a little green parrot; on the life of the parrot depends
+my life; and if the parrot is killed I must die. It is, however," he
+added, "impossible that the parrot should sustain any injury, both on
+account of the inaccessibility of the country, and because, by my
+appointment, many thousand genii surround the palm trees, and kill all
+who approach the place."
+
+Balna told her son what Punchkin had said; but at the same time
+implored him to give up all idea of getting the parrot.
+
+The Prince, however, replied, "Mother, unless I can get hold of that
+parrot, you, and my father, and uncles, cannot be liberated: be not
+afraid, I will shortly return. Do you, meantime, keep the Magician in
+good humour--still putting off your marriage with him on various
+pretexts; and before he finds out the cause of delay, I will be here."
+So saying, he went away.
+
+Many, many weary miles did he travel, till at last he came to a thick
+jungle; and, being very tired, sat down under a tree and fell asleep.
+He was awakened by a soft rustling sound, and looking about him, saw a
+large serpent which was making its way to an eagle's nest built in the
+tree under which he lay, and in the nest were two young eagles. The
+Prince seeing the danger of the young birds, drew his sword, and killed
+the serpent; at the same moment a rushing sound was heard in the air,
+and the two old eagles, who had been out hunting for food for their
+young ones, returned. They quickly saw the dead serpent and the young
+Prince standing over it; and the old mother eagle said to him, "Dear
+boy, for many years all our young ones have been devoured by that cruel
+serpent; you have now saved the lives of our children; whenever you are
+in need, therefore, send to us and we will help you; and as for these
+little eagles, take them, and let them be your servants."
+
+At this the Prince was very glad, and the two eaglets crossed their
+wings, on which he mounted; and they carried him far, far away over the
+thick jungles, until he came to the place where grew the circle of palm
+trees, in the midst of which stood the six chattees full of water. It
+was the middle of the day, and the heat was very great. All round the
+trees were the genii fast asleep; nevertheless, there were such
+countless thousands of them, that it would have been quite impossible
+for any one to walk through their ranks to the place; down swooped the
+strong-winged eaglets--down jumped the Prince; in an instant he had
+overthrown the six chattees full of water, and seized the little green
+parrot, which he rolled up in his cloak; while, as he mounted again
+into the air, all the genii below awoke, and finding their treasure
+gone, set up a wild and melancholy howl.
+
+Away, away flew the little eagles, till they came to their home in the
+great tree; then the Prince said to the old eagles, "Take back your
+little ones; they have done me good service; if ever again I stand in
+need of help, I will not fail to come to you." He then continued his
+journey on foot till he arrived once more at the Magician's palace,
+where he sat down at the door and began playing with the parrot.
+Punchkin saw him, and came to him quickly, and said, "My boy, where did
+you get that parrot? Give it to me, I pray you."
+
+But the Prince answered, "Oh no, I cannot give away my parrot, it is a
+great pet of mine; I have had it many years."
+
+Then the Magician said, "If it is an old favourite, I can understand
+your not caring to give it away; but come what will you sell it for?"
+
+"Sir," replied the Prince, "I will not sell my parrot."
+
+Then Punchkin got frightened, and said, "Anything, anything; name what
+price you will, and it shall be yours." The Prince answered, "Let the
+seven Raja's sons whom you turned into rocks and trees be instantly
+liberated."
+
+"It is done as you desire," said the Magician, "only give me my
+parrot." And with that, by a stroke of his wand, Balna's husband and
+his brothers resumed their natural shapes. "Now, give me my parrot,"
+repeated Punchkin.
+
+"Not so fast, my master," rejoined the Prince; "I must first beg that
+you will restore to life all whom you have thus imprisoned."
+
+The Magician immediately waved his wand again; and, whilst he cried, in
+an imploring voice, "Give me my parrot!" the whole garden became
+suddenly alive: where rocks, and stones, and trees had been before,
+stood Rajas, and Punts, and Sirdars, and mighty men on prancing horses,
+and jewelled pages, and troops of armed attendants.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried Punchkin. Then the boy took hold of the
+parrot, and tore off one of its wings; and as he did so the Magician's
+right arm fell off.
+
+Punchkin then stretched out his left arm, crying, "Give me my parrot!"
+The Prince pulled off the parrot's second wing, and the Magician's left
+arm tumbled off.
+
+"Give me my parrot!" cried he, and fell on his knees. The Prince pulled
+off the parrot's right leg, the Magician's right leg fell off: the
+Prince pulled off the parrot's left leg, down fell the Magician's left.
+
+Nothing remained of him save the limbless body and the head; but still
+he rolled his eyes, and cried, "Give me my parrot!" "Take your parrot,
+then," cried the boy, and with that he wrung the bird's neck, and threw
+it at the Magician; and, as he did so, Punchkin's head twisted round,
+and, with a fearful groan, he died!
+
+Then they let Balna out of the tower; and she, her son, and the seven
+Princes went to their own country, and lived very happily ever
+afterwards. And as to the rest of the world, every one went to his own
+house.
+
+
+
+THE BROKEN POT
+
+There lived in a certain place a Brahman, whose name was
+Svabhavak_ri_pa_n_a, which means "a born miser." He had collected
+a quantity of rice by begging, and after having dined off it, he filled a
+pot with what was left over. He hung the pot on a peg on the wall,
+placed his couch beneath, and looking intently at it all the night, he
+thought, "Ah, that pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if there should be
+a famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. With this I
+shall buy a couple of goats. They will have young ones every six months,
+and thus I shall have a whole herd of goats. Then, with the goats, I
+shall buy cows. As soon as they have calved, I shall sell the calves.
+Then, with the calves, I shall buy buffaloes; with the buffaloes, mares.
+When the mares have foaled, I shall have plenty of horses; and when
+I sell them, plenty of gold. With that gold I shall get a house with four
+wings. And then a Brahman will come to my house, and will give me his
+beautiful daughter, with a large dowry. She will have a son, and I shall
+call him Somasarman. When he is old enough to be danced on his
+father's knee, I shall sit with a book at the back of the stable, and while
+I am reading, the boy will see me, jump from his mother's lap, and run
+towards me to be danced on my knee. He will come too near the
+horse's hoof, and, full of anger, I shall call to my wife, 'Take the baby;
+take him!' But she, distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me.
+Then I get up, and give her such a kick with my foot." While he thought
+this, he gave a kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell
+over him, and made him quite white. Therefore, I say, "He who makes
+foolish plans for the future will be white all over, like the father of
+Somasarman."
+
+
+
+THE MAGIC FIDDLE
+
+Once upon a time there lived seven brothers and a sister. The brothers
+were married, but their wives did not do the cooking for the family. It
+was done by their sister, who stopped at home to cook. The wives for
+this reason bore their sister-in-law much ill-will, and at length they
+combined together to oust her from the office of cook and general
+provider, so that one of themselves might obtain it. They said, "She
+does not go out to the fields to work, but remains quietly at home, and
+yet she has not the meals ready at the proper time." They then called
+upon their Bonga, and vowing vows unto him they secured his good-will
+and assistance; then they said to the Bonga, "At midday, when our
+sister-in-law goes to bring water, cause it thus to happen, that on
+seeing her pitcher, the water shall vanish, and again slowly re-appear.
+In this way she will be delayed. Let the water not flow into her
+pitcher, and you may keep the maiden as your own."
+
+At noon when she went to bring water, it suddenly dried up before her,
+and she began to weep. Then after a while the water began slowly to
+rise. When it reached her ankles she tried to fill her pitcher, but it
+would not go under the water. Being frightened she began to wail and
+cry to her brother:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,
+  Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise until it reached her knee, when she began
+to wail again:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,
+  Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water continued to rise, and when it reached her waist, she cried
+again:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,
+  Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+The water still rose, and when it reached her neck she kept on crying:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,
+  Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."
+
+At length the water became so deep that she felt herself drowning, then
+she cried aloud:
+
+  "Oh! my brother, the water measures a man's height,
+  Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill."
+
+The pitcher filled with water, and along with it she sank and was
+drowned. The Bonga then transformed her into a Bonga like himself, and
+carried her off.
+
+After a time she re-appeared as a bamboo growing on the embankment of
+the tank in which she had been drowned. When the bamboo had grown to an
+immense size, a Jogi, who was in the habit of passing that way, seeing
+it, said to himself, "This will make a splendid fiddle." So one day he
+brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin, the
+bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up." When he
+lifted his axe to cut high up the stem, the bamboo cried out, "Do not
+cut near the top, cut at the root." When the Jogi again prepared
+himself to cut at the root as requested, the bamboo said, "Do not cut
+at the root, cut higher up;" and when he was about to cut higher up, it
+again called out to him, "Do not cut high up, cut at the root." The
+Jogi by this time felt sure that a Bonga was trying to frighten him, so
+becoming angry he cut down the bamboo at the root, and taking it away
+made a fiddle out of it. The instrument had a superior tone and
+delighted all who heard it. The Jogi carried it with him when he went
+a-begging, and through the influence of its sweet music he returned
+home every evening with a full wallet.
+
+He now and then visited, when on his rounds, the house of the Bonga
+girl's brothers, and the strains of the fiddle affected them greatly.
+Some of them were moved even to tears, for the fiddle seemed to wail as
+one in bitter anguish. The elder brother wished to purchase it, and
+offered to support the Jogi for a whole year if he would consent to
+part with his wonderful instrument. The Jogi, however, knew its value,
+and refused to sell it.
+
+It so happened that the Jogi some time after went to the house of a
+village chief, and after playing a tune or two on his fiddle asked for
+something to eat. They offered to buy his fiddle and promised a high
+price for it, but he refused to sell it, as his fiddle brought to him
+his means of livelihood. When they saw that he was not to be prevailed
+upon, they gave him food and a plentiful supply of liquor. Of the
+latter he drank so freely that he presently became intoxicated. While
+he was in this condition, they took away his fiddle, and substituted
+their own old one for it. When the Jogi recovered, he missed his
+instrument, and suspecting that it had been stolen asked them to return
+it to him. They denied having taken it, so he had to depart, leaving
+his fiddle behind him. The chief's son, being a musician, used to play
+on the Jogi's fiddle, and in his hands the music it gave forth
+delighted the ears of all who heard it.
+
+When all the household were absent at their labours in the fields, the
+Bonga girl used to come out of the bamboo fiddle, and prepared the
+family meal. Having eaten her own share, she placed that of the chief's
+son under his bed, and covering it up to keep off the dust, re-entered
+the fiddle. This happening every day, the other members of the
+household thought that some girl friend of theirs was in this manner
+showing her interest in the young man, so they did not trouble
+themselves to find out how it came about. The young chief, however, was
+determined to watch, and see which of his girl friends was so attentive
+to his comfort. He said in his own mind, "I will catch her to-day, and
+give her a sound beating; she is causing me to be ashamed before the
+others." So saying, he hid himself in a corner in a pile of firewood.
+In a short time the girl came out of the bamboo fiddle, and began to
+dress her hair. Having completed her toilet, she cooked the meal of
+rice as usual, and having eaten some herself, she placed the young
+man's portion under his bed, as before, and was about to enter the
+fiddle again, when he, running out from his hiding-place, caught her in
+his arms. The Bonga girl exclaimed, "Fie! Fie! you may be a Dom, or you
+may be a Hadi of some other caste with whom I cannot marry." He said,
+"No. But from to-day, you and I are one." So they began lovingly to
+hold converse with each other. When the others returned home in the
+evening, they saw that she was both a human being and a Bonga, and they
+rejoiced exceedingly.
+
+Now in course of time the Bonga girl's family became very poor, and her
+brothers on one occasion came to the chief's house on a visit.
+
+The Bonga girl recognised them at once, but they did not know who she
+was. She brought them water on their arrival, and afterwards set cooked
+rice before them. Then sitting down near them, she began in wailing
+tones to upbraid them on account of the treatment she had been
+subjected to by their wives. She related all that had befallen her, and
+wound up by saying, "You must have known it all, and yet you did not
+interfere to save me." And that was all the revenge she took.
+
+
+
+THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED
+
+Long ago the Bodisat was born to a forest life as the Genius of a tree
+standing near a certain lotus pond.
+
+Now at that time the water used to run short at the dry season in a
+certain pond, not over large, in which there were a good many fish. And
+a crane thought on seeing the fish.
+
+"I must outwit these fish somehow or other and make a prey of them."
+
+And he went and sat down at the edge of the water, thinking how he
+should do it.
+
+When the fish saw him, they asked him, "What are you sitting there for,
+lost in thought?"
+
+"I am sitting thinking about you," said he.
+
+"Oh, sir! what are you thinking about us?" said they.
+
+"Why," he replied; "there is very little water in this pond, and but
+little for you to eat; and the heat is so great! So I was thinking,
+'What in the world will these fish do now?'"
+
+"Yes, indeed, sir! what _are_ we to do?" said they.
+
+"If you will only do as I bid you, I will take you in my beak to a fine
+large pond, covered with all the kinds of lotuses, and put you into
+it," answered the crane.
+
+"That a crane should take thought for the fishes is a thing unheard of,
+sir, since the world began. It's eating us, one after the other, that
+you're aiming at."
+
+"Not I! So long as you trust me, I won't eat you. But if you don't
+believe me that there is such a pond, send one of you with me to go and
+see it."
+
+Then they trusted him, and handed over to him one of their number--a
+big fellow, blind of one eye, whom they thought sharp enough in any
+emergency, afloat or ashore.
+
+Him the crane took with him, let him go in the pond, showed him the
+whole of it, brought him back, and let him go again close to the other
+fish. And he told them all the glories of the pond.
+
+And when they heard what he said, they exclaimed, "All right, sir! You
+may take us with you."
+
+Then the crane took the old purblind fish first to the bank of the
+other pond, and alighted in a Varana-tree growing on the bank there.
+But he threw it into a fork of the tree, struck it with his beak, and
+killed it; and then ate its flesh, and threw its bones away at the foot
+of the tree. Then he went back and called out:
+
+"I've thrown that fish in; let another one come."
+
+And in that manner he took all the fish, one by one, and ate them, till
+he came back and found no more!
+
+But there was still a crab left behind there; and the crane thought he
+would eat him too, and called out:
+
+"I say, good crab, I've taken all the fish away, and put them into a
+fine large pond. Come along. I'll take you too!"
+
+"But how will you take hold of me to carry me along?"
+
+"I'll bite hold of you with my beak."
+
+"You'll let me fall if you carry me like that. I won't go with you!"
+
+"Don't be afraid! I'll hold you quite tight all the way."
+
+Then said the crab to himself, "If this fellow once got hold of fish,
+he would never let them go in a pond! Now if he should really put me
+into the pond, it would be capital; but if he doesn't--then I'll cut
+his throat, and kill him!" So he said to him:
+
+"Look here, friend, you won't be able to hold me tight enough; but we
+crabs have a famous grip. If you let me catch hold of you round the
+neck with my claws, I shall be glad to go with you."
+
+And the other did not see that he was trying to outwit him, and agreed.
+So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely as with
+a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, "Off with you, now!"
+
+And the crane took him and showed him the pond, and then turned off
+towards the Varana-tree.
+
+"Uncle!" cried the crab, "the pond lies that way, but you are taking me
+this way!"
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" answered the crane. "Your dear little uncle,
+your very sweet nephew, you call me! You mean me to understand, I
+suppose, that I am your slave, who has to lift you up and carry you
+about with him! Now cast your eye upon the heap of fish-bones lying at
+the root of yonder Varana-tree. Just as I have eaten those fish, every
+one of them, just so I will devour you as well!"
+
+"Ah! those fishes got eaten through their own stupidity," answered the
+crab; "but I'm not going to let you eat _me_. On the contrary, is
+it _you_ that I am going to destroy. For you in your folly have
+not seen that I was outwitting you. If we die, we die both together;
+for I will cut off this head of yours, and cast it to the ground!" And
+so saying, he gave the crane's neck a grip with his claws, as with a
+vice.
+
+Then gasping, and with tears trickling from his eyes, and trembling
+with the fear of death, the crane beseeched him, saying, "O my Lord!
+Indeed I did not intend to eat you. Grant me my life!"
+
+"Well, well! step down into the pond, and put me in there."
+
+And he turned round and stepped down into the pond, and placed the crab
+on the mud at its edge. But the crab cut through its neck as clean as
+one would cut a lotus-stalk with a hunting-knife, and then only entered
+the water!
+
+When the Genius who lived in the Varana-tree saw this strange affair,
+he made the wood resound with his plaudits, uttering in a pleasant
+voice the verse:
+
+  "The villain, though exceeding clever,
+  Shall prosper not by his villainy.
+  He may win indeed, sharp-witted in deceit,
+  But only as the Crane here from the Crab!"
+
+
+
+LOVING LAILI
+
+Once there was a king called King Dantal, who had a great many rupees
+and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnun,
+who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red
+cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing
+with the Wazir's son, Husain Mahamat, in King Dantal's garden, which
+was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees.
+They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat
+them. King Dantal had a teacher for them to teach them to read and
+write.
+
+One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnun said to
+his father, "Husain Mahamat and I should like to go and hunt." His
+father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else
+they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phalana country, hunting
+all the way, but they only founds jackals and birds.
+
+The Raja of the Phalana country was called Munsuk Raja, and he had a
+daughter named Laili, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and
+black hair.
+
+One night, some time before Prince Majnun came to her father's kingdom,
+as she slept, Khuda sent to her an angel in the form of a man who told
+her that she should marry Prince Majnun and no one else, and that this
+was Khuda's command to her. When Laili woke she told her father of the
+angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid no attention to
+her story. From that time she began repeating, "Majnun, Majnun; I want
+Majnun," and would say nothing else. Even as she sat and ate her food
+she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." Her father used to
+get quite vexed with her. "Who is this Majnun? who ever heard of this
+Majnun?" he would say.
+
+"He is the man I am to marry," said Laili. "Khuda has ordered me to
+marry no one but Majnun." And she was half mad.
+
+Meanwhile, Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to hunt in the Phalana
+country; and as they were riding about, Laili came out on her horse to
+eat the air, and rode behind them. All the time she kept saying,
+"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." The prince heard her, and turned
+round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this Laili looked at him, and
+the moment she saw him she fell deeply in love with him, and she said
+to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince Majnun that Khuda says I am
+to marry." And she went home to her father and said, "Father, I wish to
+marry the prince who has come to your kingdom; for I know he is the
+Prince Majnun I am to marry."
+
+"Very well, you shall have him for your husband," said Munsuk Raja. "We
+will ask him to-morrow." Laili consented to wait, although she was very
+impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phalana kingdom that
+night, and when Laili heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She would
+not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants said to
+her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to jungle,
+till she got farther and farther away from her own country. All the
+time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun;" and so she
+wandered about for twelve years.
+
+At the end of the twelve years she met a fakir--he was really an angel,
+but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always say,
+'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun'?" She answered, "I am the daughter of
+the king of the Phalana country, and I want to find Prince Majnun; tell
+me where his kingdom is."
+
+"I think you will never get there," said the fakir, "for it is very far
+from hence, and you have to cross many rivers to reach it." But Laili
+said she did not care; she must see Prince Majnun. "Well," said the
+fakir, "when you come to the Bhagirathi river you will see a big fish,
+a Rohu; and you must get him to carry you to Prince Majnun's country,
+or you will never reach it."
+
+She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhagirathi river. There
+was a great big fish called the Rohu fish. It was yawning just as she
+got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat into its
+stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun." At this the
+Rohu fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast as he
+could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came and
+perched on his back, and said "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said the poor
+fish "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise."
+
+"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down
+and see."
+
+So the Rohu opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he came up
+again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said the
+crow, and he flew away.
+
+This news did not comfort the poor Rohu, and he swam on and on till he
+came to Prince Majnun's country. There he stopped. And a jackal came
+down to the river to drink. "Oh, jackal," said the Rohu "do tell me
+what I have inside me."
+
+"How can I tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside
+you." So the Rohu opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down his
+throat; but he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and
+saying, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away
+quickly, I am afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal
+came an enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have in
+my stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnun, Majnun;
+I want Majnun.'"
+
+The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go down and see what it
+is." The snake went down: when he returned he said, "You have a Rakshas
+in your stomach, but if you will let me cut you open, it will come out
+of you." "If you do that, I shall die," said the Rohu. "Oh, no," said
+the snake, "you will not, for I will give you a medicine that will make
+you quite well again." So the fish agreed, and the snake got a knife
+and cut him open, and out jumped Laili.
+
+She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle,
+and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohu; and she was no
+longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his
+back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and
+she wandered on and on till she got to Majnun's court-house, where King
+Majnun was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnun, Majnun; I
+want Majnun," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want King Majnun,"
+she said.
+
+So they went in and said to Prince Majnun, "An old woman outside says
+she wants you." "I cannot leave this place," said he; "send her in
+here." They brought her in and the prince asked her what she wanted. "I
+want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four years ago you came to my
+father the Phalana Raja's country, and I wanted to marry you then; but
+you went away without marrying me. Then I went mad, and I have wandered
+about all these years looking for you." Prince Majnun said, "Very
+good."
+
+"Pray to Khuda," said Laili, "to make us both young again, and then we
+shall be married." So the prince prayed to Khuda, and Khuda said to
+him, "Touch Laili's clothes and they will catch fire, and when they are
+on fire, she and you will become young again." When he touched Laili's
+clothes they caught fire, and she and he became young again. And there
+were great feasts, and they were married, and travelled to the Phalana
+country to see her father and mother.
+
+Now Laili's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter that
+they had become quite blind, and her father kept always repeating,
+"Laili, Laili, Laili." When Laili saw their blindness, she prayed to
+Khuda to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as the
+father and mother saw Laili, they hugged her and kissed her, and then
+they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince
+Majnum and Laili stayed with Munsuk Raja and his wife for three years,
+and then they returned to King Dantal, and lived happily for some time
+with him. They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country
+to country to eat the air and amuse themselves.
+
+One day Prince Majnun said to Laili, "Let us go through this jungle."
+"No, no," said Laili; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will
+happen to me." But Prince Majnun laughed, and went into the jungle. And
+as they were going through it, Khuda thought, "I should like to know
+how much Prince Majnun loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if she
+died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one of
+his angels in the form of a fakir into the jungle; and the angel went
+up to Laili, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she fell
+to the ground a heap of ashes.
+
+Prince Majnun was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Laili
+turned into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his
+father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a
+great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go again
+into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahamat. King Dantal
+wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Laili for my wife; I
+will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnun.
+
+"How can you marry Laili? Laili is dead. She will never come back to
+you," said the father. "Then I'll not have any wife at all," said
+Prince Majnun.
+
+Meanwhile Laili was living in the jungle where her husband had left her
+a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnun had gone, the fakir had taken
+her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay and
+water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them, and so
+Laili regained her human form, and Khuda sent life into it. But Laili
+had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long nose, and
+teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her teeth, as she
+had been when she came out of the Rohu fish; and she lived in the
+jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on saying, "Majnun,
+Majnun; I want Majnun."
+
+At last the angel who had come as a fakir and thrown the powder at her,
+said to Khuda, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in the
+jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun,' and
+eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnun." "Well,"
+said Khuda, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not speak to
+Majnun if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if he is
+afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the next
+day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her human
+shape when Prince Majnun loves her, feeds her with his own food, and
+lets her sleep in his bed."
+
+So the angel came to Laili again as a fakir and carried her to King
+Dantal's garden. "Now," he said, "it is Khuda's command that you stay
+here till Prince Majnun comes to walk in the garden, and then you may
+show yourself to him. But you must not speak to him, if he is afraid of
+you; and should he be afraid of you, you will the next day become a
+little white dog." He then told her what she must do as a little dog to
+regain her human form.
+
+Laili stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince
+Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to walk in the garden. King Dantal was
+now a very old man, and Husain Mahamat, though he was really only as
+old as Prince Majnun, looked a great deal older than the prince, who
+had been made quite young again when he married Laili.
+
+As Prince Majnun and the Wazir's son walked in the garden, they
+gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit
+the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnun was busy
+eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahamat, he
+turned towards him and saw Laili walking behind the Wazir's son.
+
+"Oh, look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas
+or a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Laili looked at him
+beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness;
+but this only frightened Majnun the more. "It is a Rakshas, a Rakshas!"
+he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazir's son; and as
+they ran away, Laili disappeared into the jungle. They ran to King
+Dantal, and Majnun told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in the
+garden that had come to eat them.
+
+"What nonsense," said his father. "Fancy two grown men being so
+frightened by an old ayah or a fakir! And if it had been a Rakshas, it
+would not have eaten you." Indeed King Dantal did not believe Majnun
+had seen anything at all, till Husain Mahamat said the prince was
+speaking the exact truth. They had the garden searched for the terrible
+old woman, but found nothing, and King Dantal told his son he was very
+silly to be so much frightened. However, Prince Majnun would not walk
+in the garden any more.
+
+The next day Laili turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape
+she came into the palace, where Prince Majnun soon became very fond of
+her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out
+hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnun fed her
+with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the
+little dog slept in his bed.
+
+But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay
+the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and
+now Prince Majnun was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or some
+such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried out,
+"What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Laili
+answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Laili, and I want to marry
+you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle, though I
+begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm would happen
+to me, and then a fakir came and threw powder in my face, and I became
+a heap of ashes. But Khuda gave me my life again, and brought me here,
+after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle crying for you, and
+now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you will marry me, I shall
+not be a little dog any more." Majnun, however, said "How can I marry
+an old woman like you? how can you be Laili? I am sure you are a
+Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in great terror.
+
+In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the
+prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old
+woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do
+nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so
+easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in
+great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would came back
+at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you can
+make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old woman as
+you are?"
+
+That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there in
+place of the dog, crying "Majnun, Majnun, I want to marry you. I have
+loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's kingdom
+a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me, and we
+should have been married then if you had not gone away so suddenly, and
+for long, long years I followed you."
+
+"Well," said Majnun, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I
+will marry you."
+
+Laili said, "Oh, that is quite easy. Khuda will make me a young girl
+again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you
+will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your
+room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it
+when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite
+alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at
+all on." In the morning Laili took her little dog's form, and
+disappeared in the garden.
+
+Prince Majnun told all this to his father, who told him to do all the
+old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazir's son
+walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit.
+"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit."
+Husain Mahamat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till
+he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and
+gather it." So Majnun went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and
+he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am
+afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that
+will eat me."
+
+"No," said King Dantal; "remember, Laili will be naked; you must go
+alone and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in the fruit,
+for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call me with a
+loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not be able to
+eat you."
+
+Then Majnun took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for he
+shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Laili, young and
+far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her extreme
+beauty, Majnun fell backwards fainting on the floor.
+
+Laili took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sari
+(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantal,
+and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnun fallen down like this? Why will
+he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen
+me so many, many times."
+
+King Dantal answered, "It is because you are so beautiful. You are far,
+far more beautiful than you ever were. But he will be very happy
+directly." Then the King got some water, and they bathed Majnun's face
+and gave him some to drink, and he sat up again.
+
+Then Laili said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am Laili?"
+
+"Oh!" said Prince Majnun, "I see you are Laili come back to me, but
+your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted when I
+saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantal had all the
+drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments played
+on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to the
+servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakirs.
+
+After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnun and his wife
+went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a
+groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden.
+"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnun.
+
+"No, no," said Laili; "it belongs to a bad Raja, Chumman Basa, a very
+wicked man." But Majnun insisted on going in, and in spite of all Laili
+could say, he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as he was
+looking at the flowers, Laili saw Chumman Basa coming towards them, and
+she read in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and seize her.
+So she said to Majnun, "Come, come, let us go; do not go near that bad
+man. I see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he will kill you
+to seize me."
+
+"What nonsense," said Majnun. "I believe he is a very good Raja.
+Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away."
+
+"Well," said Laili, "it is better that you should be killed than I, for
+if I were to be killed a second time, Khuda would not give me my life
+again; but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now Chumman Basa
+had come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought Prince
+Majnun; but when he was speaking to Majnun, he drew his scimitar and
+cut off the prince's head at one blow.
+
+Laili sat quite still on her horse, and as the Raja came towards her
+she said, "Why did you kill my husband?"
+
+"Because I want to take you," he answered.
+
+"You cannot," said Laili.
+
+"Yes, I can," said the Raja.
+
+"Take me, then," said Laili to Chumman Basa; so he came quite close and
+put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she put
+her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long as her
+hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant till it
+was such a length! and then Laili made a great sweep with her arm and
+her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Basa's head at one touch.
+
+Then Laili slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnun's dead
+body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from
+the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like
+healing medicine. Then she put Majnun's head on his shoulders, and
+smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnun woke up and
+said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had
+slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Raja's dead body by
+Laili's horse.
+
+"What's that?" said Majnun.
+
+"That is the wicked Raja who killed you to seize me, just as I said he
+would."
+
+"Who killed him?" asked Majnun.
+
+"I did," answered Laili, "and it was I who brought you to life."
+
+"Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do so," said Majnun.
+
+"No," said Laili, "for he is a wicked man, and will try to do you
+harm." But Majnun asked her for such a long time, and so earnestly to
+bring the wicked Raja to life, that at least she said, "Jump up on the
+horse, then, and go far away with the groom."
+
+"What will you do," said Majnun, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you."
+
+"I will take care of myself," said Laili; "but this man is so wicked,
+he may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnun got up on the
+horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Laili.
+Then she set the wicked Raja's head straight on his shoulders, and she
+squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine came out
+of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife had passed,
+and just as she saw the Raja opening his eyes, she began to run, and
+she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Raja, who tried to catch
+her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband, and they rode
+so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantal's palace.
+
+There Prince Majnun told everything to his father, who was horrified
+and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said. "Why
+did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now dead."
+Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's safety, and
+gave many, many rupees to the fakirs. And he made so much of Laili. He
+loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he built a
+splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of ground about
+it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and heaps of
+servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but their servants
+to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not allow Majnun to go
+out of them, nor Laili; "for," said King Dantal, "Laili is so
+beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take her away."
+
+
+
+THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL
+
+Once upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to get
+out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when he
+failed.
+
+By chance a poor Brahman came by. "Let me out of this cage, oh pious
+one!" cried the tiger.
+
+"Nay, my friend," replied the Brahman mildly, "you would probably eat
+me if I did."
+
+"Not at all!" swore the tiger with many oaths; "on the contrary, I
+should be for ever grateful, and serve you as a slave!"
+
+Now when the tiger sobbed and sighed and wept and swore, the pious
+Brahman's heart softened, and at last he consented to open the door of
+the cage. Out popped the tiger, and, seizing the poor man, cried, "What
+a fool you are! What is to prevent my eating you now, for after being
+cooped up so long I am just terribly hungry!"
+
+In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a
+promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to
+question as to the justice of the tiger's action.
+
+So the Brahman first asked a _pipal_ tree what it thought of the
+matter, but the _pipal_ tree replied coldly, "What have you to
+complain about? Don't I give shade and shelter to every one who passes
+by, and don't they in return tear down my branches to feed their
+cattle? Don't whimper--be a man!"
+
+Then the Brahman, sad at heart, went further afield till he saw a
+buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it, for it
+answered, "You are a fool to expect gratitude! Look at me! Whilst I
+gave milk they fed me on cotton-seed and oil-cake, but now I am dry
+they yoke me here, and give me refuse as fodder!"
+
+The Brahman, still more sad, asked the road to give him its opinion.
+
+"My dear sir," said the road, "how foolish you are to expect anything
+else! Here am I, useful to everybody, yet all, rich and poor, great and
+small, trample on me as they go past, giving me nothing but the ashes
+of their pipes and the husks of their grain!"
+
+On this the Brahman turned back sorrowfully, and on the way he met a
+jackal, who called out, "Why, what's the matter, Mr. Brahman? You look
+as miserable as a fish out of water!"
+
+The Brahman told him all that had occurred. "How very confusing!" said
+the jackal, when the recital was ended; "would you mind telling me over
+again, for everything has got so mixed up?"
+
+The Brahman told it all over again, but the jackal shook his head in a
+distracted sort of way, and still could not understand.
+
+"It's very odd," said he, sadly, "but it all seems to go in at one ear
+and out at the other! I will go to the place where it all happened, and
+then perhaps I shall be able to give a judgment."
+
+So they returned to the cage, by which the tiger was waiting for the
+Brahman, and sharpening his teeth and claws.
+
+"You've been away a long time!" growled the savage beast, "but now let
+us begin our dinner."
+
+"_Our_ dinner!" thought the wretched Brahman, as his knees knocked
+together with fright; "what a remarkably delicate way of putting it!"
+
+"Give me five minutes, my lord!" he pleaded, "in order that I may
+explain matters to the jackal here, who is somewhat slow in his wits."
+
+The tiger consented, and the Brahman began the whole story over again,
+not missing a single detail, and spinning as long a yarn as possible.
+
+"Oh, my poor brain! oh, my poor brain!" cried the jackal, wringing its
+paws. "Let me see! how did it all begin? You were in the cage, and the
+tiger came walking by--"
+
+"Pooh!" interrupted the tiger, "what a fool you are! _I_ was in
+the cage."
+
+"Of course!" cried the jackal, pretending to tremble with fright; "yes!
+I was in the cage--no I wasn't--dear! dear! where are my wits? Let me
+see--the tiger was in the Brahman, and the cage came walking by--no,
+that's not it, either! Well, don't mind me, but begin your dinner, for
+I shall never understand!"
+
+"Yes, you shall!" returned the tiger, in a rage at the jackal's
+stupidity; "I'll _make_ you understand! Look here--I am the
+tiger--"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the Brahman--"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And that is the cage--"
+
+"Yes, my lord!"
+
+"And I was in the cage--do you understand?"
+
+"Yes--no--Please, my lord--"
+
+"Well?" cried the tiger impatiently.
+
+"Please, my lord!--how did you get in?"
+
+"How!--why in the usual way, of course!"
+
+"Oh, dear me!--my head is beginning to whirl again! Please don't be
+angry, my lord, but what is the usual way?"
+
+At this the tiger lost patience, and, jumping into the cage, cried,
+"This way! Now do you understand how it was?"
+
+"Perfectly!" grinned the jackal, as he dexterously shut the door, "and
+if you will permit me to say so, I think matters will remain as they
+were!"
+
+
+
+THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON
+
+A soothsayer when on his deathbed wrote out the horoscope of his second
+son, whose name was Gangazara, and bequeathed it to him as his only
+property, leaving the whole of his estate to his eldest son. The second
+son thought over the horoscope, and said to himself:
+
+"Alas! am I born to this only in the world? The sayings of my father
+never failed. I have seen them prove true to the last word while he was
+living; and how has he fixed my horoscope! 'FROM MY BIRTH POVERTY!' Nor
+is that my only fate. 'FOR TEN YEARS, IMPRISONMENT'--a fate harder than
+poverty; and what comes next? 'DEATH ON THE SEA-SHORE'; which means
+that I must die away from home, far from friends and relatives on a
+sea-coast. Now comes the most curious part of the horoscope, that I am
+to 'HAVE SOME HAPPINESS AFTERWARDS!' What this happiness is, is an
+enigma to me."
+
+Thus thought he, and after all the funeral obsequies of his father were
+over, took leave of his elder brother, and started for Benares. He went
+by the middle of the Deccan, avoiding both the coasts, and went on
+journeying and journeying for weeks and months, till at last he reached
+the Vindhya mountains. While passing that desert he had to journey for
+a couple of days through a sandy plain, with no signs of life or
+vegetation. The little store of provision with which he was provided
+for a couple of days, at last was exhausted. The chombu, which he
+carried always full, filling it with the sweet water from the flowing
+rivulet or plenteous tank, he had exhausted in the heat of the desert.
+There was not a morsel in his hand to eat; nor a drop of water to
+drink. Turn his eyes wherever he might he found a vast desert, out of
+which he saw no means of escape. Still he thought within himself,
+"Surely my father's prophecy never proved untrue. I must survive this
+calamity to find my death on some sea-coast." So thought he, and this
+thought gave him strength of mind to walk fast and try to find a drop
+of water somewhere to slake his dry throat.
+
+At last he succeeded; heaven threw in his way a ruined well. He thought
+he could collect some water if he let down his chombu with the string
+that he always carried noosed to the neck of it. Accordingly he let it
+down; it went some way and stopped, and the following words came from
+the well: "Oh, relieve me! I am the king of tigers, dying here of
+hunger. For the last three days I have had nothing. Fortune has sent
+you here. If you assist me now you will find a sure help in me
+throughout your life. Do not think that I am a beast of prey. When you
+have become my deliverer I will never touch you. Pray, kindly lift me
+up." Gangazara thought: "Shall I take him out or not? If I take him out
+he may make me the first morsel of his hungry mouth. No; that he will
+not do. For my father's prophecy never came untrue. I must die on a sea
+coast, and not by a tiger." Thus thinking, he asked the tiger-king to
+hold tight to the vessel, which he accordingly did, and he lifted him
+up slowly. The tiger reached the top of the well and felt himself on
+safe ground. True to his word, he did no harm to Gangazara. On the
+other hand, he walked round his patron three times, and standing before
+him, humbly spoke the following words: "My life-giver, my benefactor!
+I shall never forget this day, when I regained my life through your
+kind hands. In return for this kind assistance I pledge my oath to
+stand by you in all calamities. Whenever you are in any difficulty
+just think of me. I am there with you ready to oblige you by all the
+means that I can. To tell you briefly how I came in here: Three days
+ago I was roaming in yonder forest, when I saw a goldsmith passing
+through it. I chased him. He, finding it impossible to escape my claws,
+jumped into this well, and is living to this moment in the very bottom
+of it. I also jumped in, but found myself on the first ledge of the
+well; he is on the last and fourth ledge. In the second lives a serpent
+half-famished with hunger. On the third lies a rat, also half-famished,
+and when you again begin to draw water these may request you first to
+release them. In the same way the goldsmith also may ask you. I beg
+you, as your bosom friend, never assist that wretched man, though he is
+your relation as a human being. Goldsmiths are never to be trusted. You
+can place more faith in me, a tiger, though I feast sometimes upon men,
+in a serpent, whose sting makes your blood cold the very next moment,
+or in a rat, which does a thousand pieces of mischief in your house.
+But never trust a goldsmith. Do not release him; and if you do, you
+shall surely repent of it one day or other." Thus advising, the hungry
+tiger went away without waiting for an answer.
+
+Gangazara thought several times of the eloquent way in which the tiger
+spoke, and admired his fluency of speech. But still his thirst was not
+quenched. So he let down his vessel again, which was now caught hold of
+by the serpent, who addressed him thus: "Oh, my protector! Lift me up.
+I am the king of serpents, and the son of Adisesha, who is now pining
+away in agony for my disappearance. Release me now. I shall ever remain
+your servant, remember your assistance, and help you throughout life in
+all possible ways. Oblige me: I am dying." Gangazara, calling again to
+mind the "DEATH ON THE SEA-SHORE" of the prophecy lifted him up. He,
+like the tiger-king, walked round him thrice, and prostrating himself
+before him spoke thus: "Oh, my life-giver, my father, for so I must
+call you, as you have given me another birth. I was three days ago
+basking myself in the morning sun, when I saw a rat running before me.
+I chased him. He fell into this well. I followed him, but instead of
+falling on the third storey where he is now lying, I fell into the
+second. I am going away now to see my father. Whenever you are in any
+difficulty just think of me. I will be there by your side to assist you
+by all possible means." So saying, the Nagaraja glided away in zigzag
+movements, and was out of sight in a moment.
+
+The poor son of the Soothsayer, who was now almost dying of thirst, let
+down his vessel for a third time. The rat caught hold of it, and
+without discussing he lifted up the poor animal at once. But it would
+not go away without showing its gratitude: "Oh, life of my life! My
+benefactor! I am the king of rats. Whenever you are in any calamity
+just think of me. I will come to you, and assist you. My keen ears
+overheard all that the tiger-king told you about the goldsmith, who is
+in the fourth storey. It is nothing but a sad truth that goldsmiths
+ought never to be trusted. Therefore, never assist him as you have done
+to us all. And if you do, you will suffer for it. I am hungry; let me
+go for the present." Thus taking leave of his benefactor, the rat, too,
+ran away.
+
+Gangazara for a while thought upon the repeated advice given by the
+three animals about releasing the goldsmith: "What wrong would there be
+in my assisting him? Why should I not release him also?" So thinking to
+himself, Gangazara let down the vessel again. The goldsmith caught hold
+of it, and demanded help. The Soothsayer's son had no time to lose; he
+was himself dying of thirst.
+
+Therefore he lifted the goldsmith up, who now began his story. "Stop
+for a while," said Gangazara, and after quenching his thirst by letting
+down his vessel for the fifth time, still fearing that some one might
+remain in the well and demand his assistance, he listened to the
+goldsmith, who began as follows: "My dear friend, my protector, what a
+deal of nonsense these brutes have been talking to you about me; I am
+glad you have not followed their advice. I am just now dying of hunger.
+Permit me to go away. My name is Manikkasari. I live in the East main
+street of Ujjaini, which is twenty kas to the south of this place, and
+so lies on your way when you return from Benares. Do not forget to come
+to me and receive my kind remembrances of your assistance, on your way
+back to your country." So saying, the goldsmith took his leave, and
+Gangazara also pursued his way north after the above adventures.
+
+He reached Benares, and lived there for more than ten years, and quite
+forgot the tiger, serpent, rat, and goldsmith. After ten years of
+religious life, thoughts of home and of his brother rushed into his
+mind. "I have secured enough merit now by my religious observances. Let
+me return home." Thus thought Gangazara within himself, and very soon
+he was on his way back to his country. Remembering the prophecy of his
+father he returned by the same way by which he went to Benares ten
+years before. While thus retracing his steps he reached the ruined well
+where he had released the three brute kings and the gold smith. At once
+the old recollections rushed into his mind, and he thought of the tiger
+to test his fidelity. Only a moment passed, and the tiger-king came
+running before him carrying a large crown in his mouth, the glitter of
+the diamonds of which for a time outshone even the bright rays of the
+sun. He dropped the crown at his life-giver's feet, and, putting aside
+all his pride, humbled himself like a pet cat to the strokes of his
+protector, and began in the following words: "My life-giver! How is it
+that you have forgotten me, your poor servant, for such a long time? I
+am glad to find that I still occupy a corner in your mind. I can never
+forget the day when I owed my life to your lotus hands. I have several
+jewels with me of little value. This crown, being the best of all, I
+have brought here as a single ornament of great value, which you can
+carry with you and dispose of in your own country." Gangazara looked at
+the crown, examined it over and over, counted and recounted the gems,
+and thought within himself that he would become the richest of men by
+separating the diamonds and gold, and selling them in his own country.
+He took leave of the tiger-king, and after his disappearance thought of
+the kings of serpents and rats, who came in their turn with their
+presents, and after the usual greetings and exchange of words took
+their leave. Gangazara was extremely delighted at the faithfulness with
+which the brute beasts behaved, and went on his way to the south. While
+going along he spoke to himself thus: "These beasts have been very
+faithful in their assistance. Much more, therefore, must Manikkasari be
+faithful. I do not want anything from him now. If I take this crown
+with me as it is, it occupies much space in my bundle. It may also
+excite the curiosity of some robbers on the way. I will go now to
+Ujjaini on my way. Manikkasari requested me to see him without failure
+on my return journey. I shall do so, and request him to have the crown
+melted, the diamonds and gold separated. He must do that kindness at
+least for me. I shall then roll up these diamonds and gold ball in my
+rags, and wend my way homewards." Thus thinking and thinking, he
+reached Ujjaini. At once he inquired for the house of his goldsmith
+friend, and found him without difficulty. Manikkasari was extremely
+delighted to find on his threshold him who ten years before,
+notwithstanding the advice repeatedly given him by the sage-looking
+tiger, serpent, and rat, had relieved him from the pit of death.
+Gangazara at once showed him the crown that he received from the tiger-
+king, told him how he got it, and requested his kind assistance to
+separate the gold and diamonds. Manikkasari agreed to do so, and
+meanwhile asked his friend to rest himself for a while to have his bath
+and meals; and Gangazara, who was very observant of his religious
+ceremonies, went direct to the river to bathe.
+
+How came the crown in the jaws of the tiger? The king of Ujjaini had a
+week before gone with all his hunters on a hunting expedition. All of a
+sudden the tiger-king started from the wood, seized the king, and
+vanished.
+
+When the king's attendants informed the prince about the death of his
+father he wept and wailed, and gave notice that he would give half of
+his kingdom to any one who should bring him news about the murderer of
+his father. The goldsmith knew full well that it was a tiger that
+killed the king, and not any hunter's hands, since he had heard from
+Gangazara how he obtained the crown. Still, he resolved to denounce
+Gangazara as the king's murderer, so, hiding the crown under his
+garments, he flew to the palace. He went before the prince and informed
+him that the assassin was caught, and placed the crown before him.
+
+The prince took it into his hands, examined it, and at once gave half
+the kingdom to Manikkasari, and then inquired about the murderer. "He
+is bathing in the river, and is of such and such appearance," was the
+reply. At once four armed soldiers flew to the river, and bound the
+poor Brahman hand and foot, while he, sitting in meditation, was
+without any knowledge of the fate that hung over him. They brought
+Gangazara to the presence of the prince, who turned his face away from
+the supposed murderer, and asked his soldiers to throw him into a
+dungeon. In a minute, without knowing the cause, the poor Brahman found
+himself in the dark dungeon.
+
+It was a dark cellar underground, built with strong stone walls, into
+which any criminal guilty of a capital offence was ushered to breathe
+his last there without food and drink. Such was the cellar into which
+Gangazara was thrust. What were his thoughts when he reached that
+place? "It is of no use to accuse either the goldsmith or the prince
+now. We are all the children of fate. We must obey her commands. This
+is but the first day of my father's prophecy. So far his statement is
+true. But how am I going to pass ten years here? Perhaps without
+anything to sustain life I may drag on my existence for a day or two.
+But how pass ten years? That cannot be, and I must die. Before death
+comes let me think of my faithful brute friends."
+
+So pondered Gangazara in the dark cell underground, and at that moment
+thought of his three friends. The tiger-king, serpent-king, and rat-
+king assembled at once with their armies at a garden near the dungeon,
+and for a while did not know what to do. They held their council, and
+decided to make an underground passage from the inside of a ruined well
+to the dungeon. The rat raja issued an order at once to that effect to
+his army. They, with their teeth, bored the ground a long way to the
+walls of the prison. After reaching it they found that their teeth
+could not work on the hard stones. The bandicoots were then specially
+ordered for the business; they, with their hard teeth, made a small
+slit in the wall for a rat to pass and re-pass without difficulty. Thus
+a passage was effected.
+
+The rat raja entered first to condole with his protector on his
+misfortune, and undertook to supply his protector with provisions.
+"Whatever sweetmeats or bread are prepared in any house, one and all of
+you must try to bring whatever you can to our benefactor. Whatever
+clothes you find hanging in a house, cut down, dip the pieces in water,
+and bring the wet bits to our benefactor. He will squeeze them and
+gather water for drink! and the bread and sweetmeats shall form his
+food." Having issued these orders, the king of the rats took leave of
+Gangazara. They, in obedience to their king's order, continued to
+supply him with provisions and water.
+
+The snake-king said: "I sincerely condole with you in your calamity;
+the tiger-king also fully sympathises with you, and wants me to tell
+you so, as he cannot drag his huge body here as we have done with our
+small ones. The king of the rats has promised to do his best to provide
+you with food. We would now do what we can for your release. From this
+day we shall issue orders to our armies to oppress all the subjects of
+this kingdom. The deaths by snake-bite and tigers shall increase a
+hundredfold from this day, and day by day it shall continue to increase
+till your release. Whenever you hear people near you, you had better
+bawl out so as to be heard by them: 'The wretched prince imprisoned me
+on the false charge of having killed his father, while it was a tiger
+that killed him. From that day these calamities have broken out in his
+dominions. If I were released I would save all by my powers of healing
+poisonous wounds and by incantations.' Some one may report this to the
+king, and if he knows it, you will obtain your liberty." Thus
+comforting his protector in trouble, he advised him to pluck up
+courage, and took leave of him. From that day tigers and serpents,
+acting under the orders of their kings, united in killing as many
+persons and cattle as possible. Every day people were carried away by
+tigers or bitten by serpents. Thus passed months and years. Gangazara
+sat in the dark cellar, without the sun's light falling upon him, and
+feasted upon the breadcrumbs and sweetmeats that the rats so kindly
+supplied him with. These delicacies had completely changed his body
+into a red, stout, huge, unwieldy mass of flesh. Thus passed full ten
+years, as prophesied in the horoscope.
+
+Ten complete years rolled away in close imprisonment. On the last
+evening of the tenth year one of the serpents got into the bed-chamber
+of the princess and sucked her life. She breathed her last. She was the
+only daughter of the king. The king at once sent for all the snake-bite
+curers. He promised half his kingdom and his daughter's hand to him who
+would restore her to life. Now a servant of the king who had several
+times overheard Gangazara's cries, reported the matter to him. The king
+at once ordered the cell to be examined. There was the man sitting in
+it. How had he managed to live so long in the cell? Some whispered that
+he must be a divine being. Thus they discussed, while they brought
+Gangazara to the king.
+
+The king no sooner saw Gangazara than he fell on the ground. He was
+struck by the majesty and grandeur of his person. His ten years'
+imprisonment in the deep cell underground had given a sort of lustre to
+his body. His hair had first to be cut before his face could be seen.
+The king begged forgiveness for his former fault, and requested him to
+revive his daughter.
+
+"Bring me within an hour all the corpses of men and cattle, dying and
+dead, that remain unburnt or unburied within the range of your
+dominions; I shall revive them all," were the only words that Gangazara
+spoke.
+
+Cartloads of corpses of men and cattle began to come in every minute.
+Even graves, it is said, were broken open, and corpses buried a day or
+two before were taken out and sent for their revival. As soon as all
+were ready, Gangazara took a vessel full of water and sprinkled it over
+them all, thinking only of his snake-king and tiger-king. All rose up
+as if from deep slumber, and went to their respective homes. The
+princess, too, was restored to life. The joy of the king knew no
+bounds. He cursed the day on which he imprisoned him, blamed himself
+for having believed the word of a goldsmith, and offered him the hand
+of his daughter and the whole kingdom, instead of half, as he promised.
+Gangazara would not accept anything, but asked the king to assemble all
+his subjects in a wood near the town. "I shall there call in all the
+tigers and serpents, and give them a general order."
+
+When the whole town was assembled, just at the dusk of evening,
+Gangazara sat dumb for a moment, and thought upon the Tiger King and
+the Serpent King, who came with all their armies. People began to take
+to their heels at the sight of tigers. Gangazara assured them of
+safety, and stopped them.
+
+The grey light of the evening, the pumpkin colour of Gangazara, the
+holy ashes scattered lavishly over his body, the tigers and snakes
+humbling themselves at his feet, gave him the true majesty of the god
+Gangazara. For who else by a single word could thus command vast armies
+of tigers and serpents, said some among the people. "Care not for it;
+it may be by magic. That is not a great thing. That he revived
+cartloads of corpses shows him to be surely Gangazara," said others.
+
+"Why should you, my children, thus trouble these poor subjects of
+Ujjaini? Reply to me, and henceforth desist from your ravages." Thus
+said the Soothsayer's son, and the following reply came from the king
+of the tigers: "Why should this base king imprison your honour,
+believing the mere word of a goldsmith that your honour killed his
+father? All the hunters told him that his father was carried away by a
+tiger. I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck.
+I did it, and gave the crown to your honour. The prince makes no
+inquiry, and at once imprisons your honour. How can we expect justice
+from such a stupid king as that? Unless he adopt a better standard of
+justice we will go on with our destruction."
+
+The king heard, cursed the day on which he believed in the word of a
+goldsmith, beat his head, tore his hair, wept and wailed for his crime,
+asked a thousand pardons, and swore to rule in a just way from that
+day. The serpent-king and tiger-king also promised to observe their
+oath as long as justice prevailed, and took their leave. The gold-smith
+fled for his life. He was caught by the soldiers of the king, and was
+pardoned by the generous Gangazara, whose voice now reigned supreme.
+All returned to their homes. The king again pressed Gangazara to accept
+the hand of his daughter. He agreed to do so, not then, but some time
+afterwards. He wished to go and see his elder brother first, and then
+to return and marry the princess. The king agreed; and Gangazara left
+the city that very day on his way home.
+
+It so happened that unwittingly he took a wrong road, and had to pass
+near a sea-coast. His elder brother was also on his way up to Benares
+by that very same route. They met and recognised each other, even at a
+distance. They flew into each other's arms. Both remained still for a
+time almost unconscious with joy. The pleasure of Gangazara was so
+great that he died of joy.
+
+The elder brother was a devout worshipper of Ganesa. That was a Friday,
+a day very sacred to that god. The elder brother took the corpse to the
+nearest Ganesa temple and called upon him. The god came, and asked him
+what he wanted. "My poor brother is dead and gone; and this is his
+corpse. Kindly keep it in your charge till I finish worshipping you. If
+I leave it anywhere else the devils may snatch it away when I am absent
+worshipping you; after finishing the rites I shall burn him." Thus said
+the elder brother, and, giving the corpse to the god Ganesa, he went to
+prepare himself for that deity's ceremonials. Ganesa made over the
+corpse to his Ganas, asking them to watch over it carefully. But
+instead of that they devoured it.
+
+The elder brother, after finishing the puja, demanded his brother's
+corpse of the god. The god called his Ganas, who came to the front
+blinking, and fearing the anger of their master. The god was greatly
+enraged. The elder brother was very angry. When the corpse was not
+forthcoming he cuttingly remarked, "Is this, after all, the return for
+my deep belief in you? You are unable even to return my brother's
+corpse." Ganesa was much ashamed at the remark. So he, by his divine
+power, gave him a living Gangazara instead of the dead corpse. Thus was
+the second son of the Soothsayer restored to life.
+
+The brothers had a long talk about each other's adventures. They both
+went to Ujjaini, where Gangazara married the princess, and succeeded to
+the throne of that kingdom. He reigned for a long time, conferring
+several benefits upon his brother. And so the horoscope was fully
+fulfilled.
+
+
+
+HARISAMAN
+
+There was a certain Brahman in a certain village, named Harisarman. He
+was poor and foolish and in evil case for want of employment, and he
+had very many children, that he might reap the fruit of his misdeeds in
+a former life. He wandered about begging with his family, and at last
+he reached a certain city, and entered the service of a rich
+householder called Sthuladatta. His sons became keepers of
+Sthuladatta's cows and other property, and his wife a servant to him,
+and he himself lived near his house, performing the duty of an
+attendant. One day there was a feast on account of the marriage of the
+daughter of Sthuladatta, largely attended by many friends of the bride-
+groom, and merry-makers. Harisarman hoped that he would be able to fill
+himself up to the throat with ghee and flesh and other dainties, and
+get the same for his family, in the house of his patron. While he was
+anxiously expecting to be fed, no one thought of him.
+
+Then he was distressed at getting nothing to eat, and he said to his
+wife at night, "It is owing to my poverty and stupidity that I am
+treated with such disrespect here; so I will pretend by means of an
+artifice to possess a knowledge of magic, so that I may become an
+object of respect to this Sthuladatta; so, when you get an opportunity,
+tell him that I possess magical knowledge." He said this to her, and
+after turning the matter over in his mind, while people were asleep he
+took away from the house of Sthuladatta a horse on which his master's
+son-in-law rode. He placed it in concealment at some distance, and in
+the morning the friends of the bridegroom could not find the horse,
+though they searched in every direction. Then, while Sthuladatta was
+distressed at the evil omen, and searching for the thieves who had
+carried off the horse, the wife of Harisarman came and said to him,
+"My husband is a wise man, skilled in astrology and magical sciences;
+he can get the horse back for you; why do you not ask him?"
+
+When Sthuladatta heard that, he called Harisarman, who said, "Yesterday
+I was forgotten, but to-day, now the horse is stolen, I am called to
+mind," and Sthuladatta then propitiated the Brahman with these words--
+"I forgot you, forgive me"--and asked him to tell him who had taken
+away their horse. Then Harisarman drew all kinds of pretended diagrams,
+and said: "The horse has been placed by thieves on the boundary line
+south from this place. It is concealed there, and before it is carried
+off to a distance, as it will be at close of day, go quickly and bring
+it." When they heard that, many men ran and brought the horse quickly,
+praising the discernment of Harisarman. Then Harisarman was honoured by
+all men as a sage, and dwelt there in happiness, honoured by
+Sthuladatta.
+
+Now, as days went on, much treasure, both of gold and jewels, had been
+stolen by a thief from the palace of the king. As the thief was not
+known, the king quickly summoned Harisarman on account of his
+reputation for knowledge of magic. And he, when summoned, tried to gain
+time, and said, "I will tell you to-morrow," and then he was placed in
+a chamber by the king, and carefully guarded. And he was sad because he
+had pretended to have knowledge. Now in that palace there was a maid
+named Jihva (which means Tongue), who, with the assistance of her
+brother, had stolen that treasure from the interior of the palace. She,
+being alarmed at Harisarman's knowledge, went at night and applied her
+ear to the door of that chamber in order to find out what he was about.
+And Harisarman, who was alone inside, was at that very moment blaming
+his own tongue, that had made a vain assumption of knowledge. He said:
+"O Tongue, what is this that you have done through your greediness?
+Wicked one, you will soon receive punishment in full." When Jihva heard
+this, she thought, in her terror, that she had been discovered by this
+wise man, and she managed to get in where he was, and falling at his
+feet, she said to the supposed wizard: "Brahman, here I am, that Jihva
+whom you have discovered to be the thief of the treasure, and after I
+took it I buried it in the earth in a garden behind the palace, under a
+pomegranate tree. So spare me, and receive the small quantity of gold
+which is in my possession."
+
+When Harisarman heard that, he said to her proudly: "Depart, I know all
+this; I know the past, present and future; but I will not denounce you,
+being a miserable creature that has implored my protection. But
+whatever gold is in your possession you must give back to me." When he
+said this to the maid, she consented, and departed quickly. But
+Harisarman reflected in his astonishment: "Fate brings about, as if in
+sport, things impossible, for when calamity was so near, who would have
+thought chance would have brought us success? While I was blaming my
+jihva, the thief Jihva suddenly flung herself at my feet. Secret crimes
+manifest themselves by means of fear." Thus thinking, he passed the
+night happily in the chamber. And in the morning he brought the king,
+by some skilful parade of pretended knowledge into the garden, and led
+him up to the treasure, which was buried under the pomegranate tree,
+and said that the thief had escaped with a part of it. Then the king
+was pleased, and gave him the revenue of many villages.
+
+But the minister, named Devajnanin, whispered in the king's ear: "How
+can a man possess such knowledge unattainable by men, without having
+studied the books of magic; you may be certain that this is a specimen
+of the way he makes a dishonest livelihood, by having a secret
+intelligence with thieves. It will be much better to test him by some
+new artifice." Then the king of his own accord brought a covered
+pitcher into which he had thrown a frog, and said to Harisarman,
+"Brahman, if you can guess what there is in this pitcher, I will do you
+great honour to-day." When the Brahman Harisarman heard that, he
+thought that his last hour had come, and he called to mind the pet name
+of "Froggie" which his father had given him in his childhood in sport,
+and, impelled by luck, he called to himself by his pet name, lamenting
+his hard fate, and suddenly called out: "This is a fine pitcher for
+you, Froggie; it will soon become the swift destroyer of your helpless
+self." The people there, when they heard him say that, raised a shout
+of applause, because his speech chimed in so well with the object
+presented to him, and murmured, "Ah! a great sage, he knows even about
+the frog!" Then the king, thinking that this was all due to knowledge
+of divination, was highly delighted, and gave Harisarman the revenue of
+more villages, with gold, an umbrella, and state carriages of all
+kinds. So Harisarman prospered in the world.
+
+
+
+THE CHARMED RING
+
+A merchant started his son in life with three hundred rupees, and bade
+him go to another country and try his luck in trade. The son took the
+money and departed. He had not gone far before he came across some
+herdsmen quarrelling over a dog, that some of them wished to kill.
+"Please do not kill the dog," pleaded the young and tender-hearted
+fellow; "I will give you one hundred rupees for it." Then and there, of
+course, the bargain was concluded, and the foolish fellow took the dog,
+and continued his journey. He next met with some people fighting about
+a cat. Some of them wanted to kill it, but others not. "Oh! please do
+not kill it," said he; "I will give you one hundred rupees for it." Of
+course they at once gave him the cat and took the money. He went on
+till he reached a village, where some folk were quarrelling over a
+snake that had just been caught. Some of them wished to kill it, but
+others did not. "Please do not kill the snake," said he; "I will give
+you one hundred rupees." Of course the people agreed, and were highly
+delighted.
+
+What a fool the fellow was! What would he do now that all his money was
+gone? What could he do except return to his father? Accordingly he went
+home.
+
+"You fool! You scamp!" exclaimed his father when he had heard how his
+son had wasted all the money that had been given to him. "Go and live
+in the stables and repent of your folly. You shall never again enter my
+house."
+
+So the young man went and lived in the stables. His bed was the grass
+spread for the cattle, and his companions were the dog, the cat, and
+the snake, which he had purchased so dearly. These creatures got very
+fond of him, and would follow him about during the day, and sleep by
+him at night; the cat used to sleep at his feet, the dog at his head,
+and the snake over his body, with its head hanging on one side and its
+tail on the other.
+
+One day the snake in course of conversation said to its master, "I am
+the son of Raja Indrasha. One day, when I had come out of the ground to
+drink the air, some people seized me, and would have slain me had you
+not most opportunely arrived to my rescue. I do not know how I shall
+ever be able to repay you for your great kindness to me. Would that you
+knew my father! How glad he would be to see his son's preserver!"
+
+"Where does he live? I should like to see him, if possible," said the
+young man.
+
+"Well said!" continued the snake. "Do you see yonder mountain? At the
+bottom of that mountain there is a sacred spring. If you will come with
+me and dive into that spring, we shall both reach my father's country.
+Oh! how glad he will be to see you! He will wish to reward you, too.
+But how can he do that? However, you may be pleased to accept something
+at his hand. If he asks you what you would like, you would, perhaps, do
+well to reply, 'The ring on your right hand, and the famous pot and
+spoon which you possess.' With these in your possession, you would
+never need anything, for the ring is such that a man has only to speak
+to it, and immediately a beautiful furnished mansion will be provided
+for him, while the pot and the spoon will supply him with all manner of
+the rarest and most delicious foods."
+
+Attended by his three companions the man walked to the well and
+prepared to jump in, according to the snake's directions. "O master!"
+exclaimed the cat and dog, when they saw what he was going to do. "What
+shall we do? Where shall we go?"
+
+"Wait for me here," he replied. "I am not going far. I shall not be
+long away." On saying this, he dived into the water and was lost to
+sight.
+
+"Now what shall we do?" said the dog to the cat. "We must remain here,"
+replied the cat, "as our master ordered. Do not be anxious about food.
+I will go to the people's houses and get plenty of food for both of
+us." And so the cat did, and they both lived very comfortably till
+their master came again and joined them.
+
+The young man and the snake reached their destination in safety; and
+information of their arrival was sent to the Raja. His highness
+commanded his son and the stranger to appear before him. But the snake
+refused, saying that it could not go to its father till it was released
+from this stranger, who had saved it from a most terrible death, and
+whose slave it therefore was. Then the Raja went and embraced his son,
+and saluting the stranger welcomed him to his dominions. The young man
+stayed there a few days, during which he received the Raja's right-hand
+ring, and the pot and spoon, in recognition of His Highness's gratitude
+to him for having delivered his son. He then returned. On reaching the
+top of the spring he found his friends, the dog and the cat, waiting
+for him. They told one another all they had experienced since they had
+last seen each other, and were all very glad. Afterwards they walked
+together to the river side, where it was decided to try the powers of
+the charmed ring and pot and spoon.
+
+The merchant's son spoke to the ring, and immediately a beautiful house
+and a lovely princess with golden hair appeared. He spoke to the pot
+and spoon, also, and the most delicious dishes of food were provided
+for them. So he married the princess, and they lived very happily for
+several years, until one morning the princess, while arranging her
+toilet, put the loose hairs into a hollow bit of reed and threw them
+into the river that flowed along under the window. The reed floated on
+the water for many miles, and was at last picked up by the prince of
+that country, who curiously opened it and saw the golden hair. On
+finding it the prince rushed off to the palace, locked himself up in
+his room, and would not leave it. He had fallen desperately in love
+with the woman whose hair he had picked up, and refused to eat, or
+drink, or sleep, or move, till she was brought to him. The king, his
+father, was in great distress about the matter, and did not know what
+to do. He feared lest his son should die and leave him without an heir.
+At last he determined to seek the counsel of his aunt, who was an
+ogress. The old woman consented to help him, and bade him not to be
+anxious, as she felt certain that she would succeed in getting the
+beautiful woman for his son's wife.
+
+She assumed the shape of a bee and went along buzzing, and buzzing, and
+buzzing. Her keen sense of smell soon brought her to the beautiful
+princess, to whom she appeared as an old hag, holding in one hand a
+stick by way of support. She introduced herself to the beautiful
+princess and said, "I am your aunt, whom you have never seen before,
+because I left the country just after your birth." She also embraced
+and kissed the princess by way of adding force to her words. The
+beautiful princess was thoroughly deceived. She returned the ogress's
+embrace, and invited her to come and stay in the house as long as she
+could, and treated her with such honour and attention, that the ogress
+thought to herself, "I shall soon accomplish my errand." When she had
+been in the house three days, she began to talk of the charmed ring,
+and advised her to keep it instead of her husband, because the latter
+was constantly out shooting and on other such-like expeditions, and
+might lose it. Accordingly the beautiful princess asked her husband for
+the ring, and he readily gave it to her.
+
+The ogress waited another day before she asked to see the precious
+thing. Doubting nothing, the beautiful princess complied, when the
+ogress seized the ring, and reassuming the form of a bee flew away with
+it to the palace, where the prince was lying nearly on the point of
+death. "Rise up. Be glad. Mourn no more," she said to him. "The woman
+for whom you yearn will appear at your summons. See, here is the charm,
+whereby you may bring her before you." The prince was almost mad with
+joy when he heard these words, and was so desirous of seeing the
+beautiful princess, that he immediately spoke to the ring, and the
+house with its fair occupant descended in the midst of the palace
+garden. He at once entered the building, and telling the beautiful
+princess of his intense love, entreated her to be his wife. Seeing no
+escape from the difficulty, she consented on the condition that he
+would wait one month for her.
+
+Meanwhile the merchant's son had returned from hunting and was terribly
+distressed not to find his house and wife. There was the place only,
+just as he knew it before he had tried the charmed ring which Raja
+Indrasha had given him. He sat down and determined to put an end to
+himself. Presently the cat and dog came up. They had gone away and
+hidden themselves, when they saw the house and everything disappear. "O
+master!" they said, "stay your hand. Your trial is great, but it can be
+remedied. Give us one month, and we will go and try to recover your
+wife and house."
+
+"Go," said he, "and may the great God aid your efforts. Bring back my
+wife, and I shall live."
+
+So the cat and dog started off at a run, and did not stop till they
+reached the place whither their mistress and the house had been taken.
+"We may have some difficulty here," said the cat. "Look, the king has
+taken our master's wife and house for himself. You stay here. I will go
+to the house and try to see her." So the dog sat down, and the cat
+climbed up to the window of the room, wherein the beautiful princess
+was sitting, and entered. The princess recognised the cat, and informed
+it of all that had happened to her since she had left them.
+
+"But is there no way of escape from the hands of these people?" she
+asked.
+
+"Yes," replied the cat, "if you can tell me where the charmed ring is."
+
+"The ring is in the stomach of the ogress," she said.
+
+"All right," said the cat, "I will recover it. If we once get it,
+everything is ours." Then the cat descended the wall of the house, and
+went and laid down by a rat's hole and pretended she was dead. Now at
+that time a great wedding chanced to be going on among the rat
+community of that place, and all the rats of the neighbourhood were
+assembled in that one particular mine by which the cat had lain down.
+The eldest son of the king of the rats was about to be married. The cat
+got to know of this, and at once conceived the idea of seizing the
+bridegroom and making him render the necessary help. Consequently, when
+the procession poured forth from the hole squealing and jumping in
+honour of the occasion, it immediately spotted the bridegroom and
+pounced down on him. "Oh! let me go, let me go," cried the terrified
+rat. "Oh! let him go," squealed all the company. "It is his wedding
+day."
+
+"No, no," replied the cat. "Not unless you do some thing for me.
+Listen. The ogress, who lives in that house with the prince and his
+wife, has swallowed a ring, which I very much want. If you will procure
+it for me, I will allow the rat to depart unharmed. If you do not, then
+your prince dies under my feet."
+
+"Very well, we agree," said they all. "Nay, if we do not get the ring
+for you, devour us all."
+
+This was rather a bold offer. However, they accomplished the thing. At
+midnight, when the ogress was sound asleep, one of the rats went to her
+bedside, climbed up on her face, and inserted its tail into her throat;
+whereupon the ogress coughed violently, and the ring came out and
+rolled on to the floor. The rat immediately seized the precious thing
+and ran off with it to its king, who was very glad, and went at once to
+the cat and released its son.
+
+As soon as the cat received the ring, she started back with the dog to
+go and tell their master the good tidings. All seemed safe now. They
+had only to give the ring to him, and he would speak to it, and the
+house and beautiful princess would again be with them, and everything
+would go on as happily as before. "How glad master will be!" they
+thought, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Now, on the
+way they had to cross a stream. The dog swam, and the cat sat on its
+back. Now the dog was jealous of the cat, so he asked for the ring, and
+threatened to throw the cat into the water if it did not give it up;
+whereupon the cat gave up the ring. Sorry moment, for the dog at once
+dropped it, and a fish swallowed it.
+
+"Oh! what shall I do? what shall I do?" said the dog.
+
+"What is done is done," replied the cat. "We must try to recover it,
+and if we do not succeed we had better drown ourselves in this stream.
+I have a plan. You go and kill a small lamb, and bring it here to me."
+
+"All right," said the dog, and at once ran off. He soon came back with
+a dead lamb, and gave it to the cat. The cat got inside the lamb and
+lay down, telling the dog to go away a little distance and keep quiet.
+Not long after this a nadhar, a bird whose look can break the bones of
+a fish, came and hovered over the lamb, and eventually pounced down on
+it to carry it away. On this the cat came out and jumped on to the
+bird, and threatened to kill it if it did not recover the lost ring.
+This was most readily promised by the nadhar, who immediately flew off
+to the king of the fishes, and ordered it to make inquiries and to
+restore the ring. The king of the fishes did so, and the ring was found
+and carried back to the cat.
+
+"Come along now; I have got the ring," said the cat to the dog.
+
+"No, I will not," said the dog, "unless you let me have the ring. I can
+carry it as well as you. Let me have it or I will kill you." So the cat
+was obliged to give up the ring. The careless dog very soon dropped it
+again. This time it was picked up and carried off by a kite.
+
+"See, see, there it goes--away to that big tree," the cat exclaimed.
+
+"Oh! oh! what have I done?" cried the dog.
+
+"You foolish thing, I knew it would be so," said the cat. "But stop
+your barking, or you will frighten away the bird to some place where we
+shall not be able to trace it."
+
+The cat waited till it was quite dark, and then climbed the tree,
+killed the kite, and recovered the ring. "Come along," it said to the
+dog when it reached the ground. "We must make haste now. We have been
+delayed. Our master will die from grief and suspense. Come on."
+
+The dog, now thoroughly ashamed of itself, begged the cat's pardon for
+all the trouble it had given. It was afraid to ask for the ring the
+third time, so they both reached their sorrowing master in safety and
+gave him the precious charm. In a moment his sorrow was turned into
+joy. He spoke to the ring, and his beautiful wife and house reappeared,
+and he and everybody were as happy as ever they could be.
+
+
+
+THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE
+
+The future Buddha was once born in a minister's family, when Brahma-
+datta was reigning in Benares; and when he grew up, he became the
+king's adviser in things temporal and spiritual.
+
+Now this king was very talkative; while he was speaking, others had no
+opportunity for a word. And the future Buddha, wanting to cure this
+talkativeness of his, was constantly seeking for some means of doing
+so.
+
+At that time there was living, in a pond in the Himalaya mountains, a
+tortoise. Two young hamsas, or wild ducks, who came to feed there, made
+friends with him. And one day, when they had become very intimate with
+him, they said to the tortoise:
+
+"Friend tortoise! the place where we live, at the Golden Cave on Mount
+Beautiful in the Himalaya country, is a delightful spot. Will you come
+there with us?"
+
+"But how can I get there?"
+
+"We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, and will say
+nothing to anybody."
+
+"Oh! that I can do. Take me with you."
+
+"That's right," said they. And making the tortoise bite hold of a
+stick, they themselves took the two ends in their teeth, and flew up
+into the air.
+
+Seeing him thus carried by the hamsas, some villagers called out, "Two
+wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along on a stick!" Whereupon the
+tortoise wanted to say, "If my friends choose to carry me, what is that
+to you, you wretched slaves!" So just as the swift flight of the wild
+ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the city of Benares, he
+let go of the stick he was biting, and falling in the open courtyard,
+split in two! And there arose a universal cry, "A tortoise has fallen
+in the open courtyard, and has split in two!"
+
+The king, taking the future Buddha, went to the place, surrounded by
+his courtiers; and looking at the tortoise, he asked the Bodisat,
+"Teacher! how comes he to be fallen here?"
+
+The future Buddha thought to himself, "Long expecting, wishing to
+admonish the king, have I sought for some means of doing so. This
+tortoise must have made friends with the wild ducks; and they must have
+made him bite hold of the stick, and have flown up into the air to take
+him to the hills. But he, being unable to hold his tongue when he hears
+any one else talk, must have wanted to say something, and let go the
+stick; and so must have fallen down from the sky, and thus lost his
+life." And saying, "Truly, O king! those who are called chatter-boxes--
+people whose words have no end--come to grief like this," he uttered
+these Verses:
+
+  "Verily the tortoise killed himself
+  Whilst uttering his voice;
+  Though he was holding tight the stick,
+  By a word himself he slew.
+
+  "Behold him then, O excellent by strength!
+  And speak wise words, not out of season.
+  You see how, by his talking overmuch,
+  The tortoise fell into this wretched plight!"
+
+The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said, "O Teacher! are
+you speaking of us?"
+
+And the Bodisat spake openly, and said, "O great king! be it thou, or
+be it any other, whoever talks beyond measure meets with some mishap
+like this."
+
+And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became a man of few
+words.
+
+
+
+A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A BIT OF ADVICE
+
+A poor blind Brahman and his wife were dependent on their son for
+their subsistence. Every day the young fellow used to go out and get
+what he could by begging. This continued for some time, till at last he
+became quite tired of such a wretched life, and determined to go and
+try his luck in another country. He informed his wife of his intention,
+and ordered her to manage somehow or other for the old people during
+the few months that he would be absent. He begged her to be
+industrious, lest his parents should be angry and curse him.
+
+One morning he started with some food in a bundle, and walked on day
+after day, till he reached the chief city of the neighbouring country.
+Here he went and sat down by a merchant's shop and asked alms. The
+merchant inquired whence he had come, why he had come, and what was his
+caste; to which he replied that he was a Brahman, and was wandering
+hither and thither begging a livelihood for himself and wife and
+parents. Moved with pity for the man, the merchant advised him to visit
+the kind and generous king of that country, and offered to accompany
+him to the court. Now at that time it happened that the king was
+seeking for a Brahman to look after a golden temple which he had just
+had built. His Majesty was very glad, therefore, when he saw the
+Brahman and heard that he was good and honest. He at once deputed him
+to the charge of this temple, and ordered fifty kharwars of rice and
+one hundred rupees to be paid to him every year as wages.
+
+Two months after this, the Brahman's wife, not having heard any news of
+her husband, left the house and went in quest of him. By a happy fate
+she arrived at the very place that he had reached, where she heard that
+every morning at the golden temple a golden rupee was given in the
+king's name to any beggar who chose to go for it. Accordingly, on the
+following morning she went to the place and met her husband.
+
+"Why have you come here?" he asked. "Why have you left my parents? Care
+you not whether they curse me and I die? Go back immediately, and await
+my return."
+
+"No, no," said the woman. "I cannot go back to starve and see your old
+father and mother die. There is not a grain of rice left in the house."
+
+"O Bhagawant!" exclaimed the Brahman. "Here, take this," he continued,
+scribbling a few lines on some paper, and then handing it to her, "and
+give it to the king. You will see that he will give you a lac of rupees
+for it." Thus saying he dismissed her, and the woman left.
+
+On this scrap of paper were written three pieces of advice--First, If a
+person is travelling and reaches any strange place at night, let him be
+careful where he puts up, and not close his eyes in sleep, lest he
+close them in death. Secondly, If a man has a married sister, and
+visits her in great pomp, she will receive him for the sake of what she
+can obtain from him; but if he comes to her in poverty, she will frown
+on him and disown him. Thirdly, If a man has to do any work, he must do
+it himself, and do it with might and without fear.
+
+On reaching her home the Brahmani told her parents of her meeting with
+her husband, and what a valuable piece of paper he had given her; but
+not liking to go before the king herself, she sent one of her
+relations. The king read the paper, and ordering the man to be flogged,
+dismissed him. The next morning the Brahmani took the paper, and while
+she was going along the road to the darbar reading it, the king's son
+met her, and asked what she was reading, whereupon she replied that she
+held in her hands a paper containing certain bits of advice, for which
+she wanted a lac of rupees. The prince asked her to show it to him, and
+when he had read it gave her a parwana for the amount, and rode on. The
+poor Brahmani was very thankful. That day she laid in a great store of
+provisions, sufficient to last them all for a long time.
+
+In the evening the prince related to his father the meeting with the
+woman, and the purchase of the piece of paper. He thought his father
+would applaud the act. But it was not so. The king was more angry than
+before, and banished his son from the country.
+
+So the prince bade adieu to his mother and relations and friends, and
+rode off on his horse, whither he did not know. At nightfall he arrived
+at some place, where a man met him, and invited him to lodge at his
+house. The prince accepted the invitation, and was treated like a
+prince. Matting was spread for him to squat on, and the best provisions
+set before him.
+
+"Ah!" thought he, as he lay down to rest, "here is a case for the first
+piece of advice that the Brahmani gave me. I will not sleep to-night."
+
+It was well that he thus resolved, for in the middle of the night the
+man rose up, and taking a sword in his hand, rushed to the prince with
+the intention of killing him. But he rose up and spoke.
+
+"Do not slay me," he said. "What profit would you get from my death? If
+you killed me you would be sorry afterwards, like that man who killed
+his dog."
+
+"What man? What dog?" he asked.
+
+"I will tell you," said the prince, "if you will give me that sword."
+
+So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:
+
+"Once upon a time there lived a wealthy merchant who had a pet dog. He
+was suddenly reduced to poverty, and had to part with his dog. He got a
+loan of five thousand rupees from a brother merchant, leaving the dog
+as a pledge, and with the money began business again. Not long after
+this the other merchant's shop was broken into by thieves and
+completely sacked. There was hardly ten rupees' worth left in the
+place. The faithful dog, however, knew what was going on, and went and
+followed the thieves, and saw where they deposited the things, and then
+returned.
+
+"In the morning there was great weeping and lamentation in the
+merchant's house when it was known what had happened. The merchant
+himself nearly went mad. Meanwhile the dog kept on running to the door,
+and pulling at his master's shirt and paijamas, as though wishing him
+to go outside. At last a friend suggested that, perhaps, the dog knew
+something of the whereabouts of the things, and advised the merchant to
+follow its leadings. The merchant consented, and went after the dog
+right up to the very place where the thieves had hidden the goods. Here
+the animal scraped and barked, and showed in various ways that the
+things were underneath. So the merchant and his friends dug about the
+place, and soon came upon all the stolen property. Nothing was missing.
+There was everything just as the thieves had taken them.
+
+"The merchant was very glad. On returning to his house, he at once sent
+the dog back to its old master with a letter rolled under the collar,
+wherein he had written about the sagacity of the beast, and begged his
+friend to forget the loan and to accept another five thousand rupees as
+a present. When this merchant saw his dog coming back again, he
+thought, 'Alas! my friend is wanting the money. How can I pay him? I
+have not had sufficient time to recover myself from my recent losses. I
+will slay the dog ere he reaches the threshold, and say that another
+must have slain it. Thus there will be an end of my debt.'
+
+"No dog, no loan. Accordingly he ran out and killed the poor dog, when
+the letter fell out of its collar. The merchant picked it up and read
+it. How great was his grief and disappointment when he knew the facts
+of the case!
+
+"Beware," continued the prince, "lest you do that which afterwards you
+would give your life not to have done."
+
+By the time the prince had concluded this story it was nearly morning,
+and he went away, after rewarding the man.
+
+The prince then visited the country belonging to his brother-in-law. He
+disguised himself as a jogi, and sitting down by a tree near the
+palace, pretended to be absorbed in worship. News of the man and of his
+wonderful piety reached the ears of the king. He felt interested in
+him, as his wife was very ill; and he had sought for hakims to cure
+her, but in vain. He thought that, perhaps, this holy man could do
+something for her. So he sent to him. But the jogi refused to tread the
+halls of a king, saying that his dwelling was the open air, and that if
+his Majesty wished to see him he must come himself and bring his wife
+to the place. Then the king took his wife and brought her to the jogi.
+The holy man bade her prostrate herself before him, and when she had
+remained in this position for about three hours, he told her to rise
+and go, for she was cured.
+
+In the evening there was great consternation in the palace, because the
+queen had lost her pearl rosary, and nobody knew anything about it. At
+length some one went to the jogi, and found it on the ground by the
+place where the queen had prostrated herself. When the king heard this
+he was very angry, and ordered the jogi to be executed. This stern
+order, however, was not carried out, as the prince bribed the men and
+escaped from the country. But he knew that the second bit of advice was
+true.
+
+Clad in his own clothes, the prince was walking along one day when he
+saw a potter crying and laughing alternately with his wife and
+children. "O fool," said he, "what is the matter? If you laugh, why do
+you weep? If you weep, why do you laugh?"
+
+"Do not bother me," said the potter. "What does it matter to you?"
+
+"Pardon me," said the prince, "but I should like to know the reason."
+
+"The reason is this, then," said the potter. "The king of this country
+has a daughter whom he is obliged to marry every day, because all her
+husbands die the first night of their stay with her. Nearly all the
+young men of the place have thus perished, and our son will be called
+on soon. We laugh at the absurdity of the thing--a potter's son
+marrying a princess, and we cry at the terrible consequence of the
+marriage. What can we do?"
+
+"Truly a matter for laughing and weeping. But weep no more," said the
+prince. "I will exchange places with your son, and will be married to
+the princess instead of him. Only give me suitable garments, and
+prepare me for the occasion."
+
+So the potter gave him beautiful raiment and ornaments, and the prince
+went to the palace. At night he was conducted to the apartment of the
+princess. "Dread hour!" thought he; "am I to die like the scores of
+young men before me?" He clenched his sword with firm grip, and lay
+down on his bed, intending to keep awake all the night and see what
+would happen. In the middle of the night he saw two Shahmars come out
+from the nostrils of the princess. They stole over towards him,
+intending to kill him, like the others who had been before him: but he
+was ready for them. He laid hold of his sword, and when the snakes
+reached his bed he struck at them and killed them. In the morning the
+king came as usual to inquire, and was surprised to hear his daughter
+and the prince talking gaily together. "Surely," said he, "this man
+must be her husband, as he only can live with her."
+
+"Where do you come from? Who are you?" asked the king, entering the
+room.
+
+"O king!" replied the prince, "I am the son of a king who rules over
+such-and-such a country."
+
+When he heard this the king was very glad, and bade the prince to abide
+in his palace, and appointed him his successor to the throne. The
+prince remained at the palace for more than a year, and then asked
+permission to visit his own country, which was granted. The king gave
+him elephants, horses, jewels, and abundance of money for the expenses
+of the way and as presents for his father, and the prince started.
+
+On the way he had to pass through the country belonging to his brother-
+in-law, whom we have already mentioned. Report of his arrival reached
+the ears of the king, who came with rope-tied hands and haltered neck
+to do him homage. He most humbly begged him to stay at his palace, and
+to accept what little hospitality could be provided. While the prince
+was staying at the palace he saw his sister, who greeted him with
+smiles and kisses. On leaving he told her how she and her husband had
+treated him at his first visit, and how he had escaped; and then gave
+them two elephants, two beautiful horses, fifteen soldiers, and ten
+lacs rupees' worth of jewels.
+
+Afterwards he went to his own home, and informed his mother and father
+of his arrival. Alas! his parents had both become blind from weeping
+about the loss of their son. "Let him come in," said the king, "and put
+his hands upon our eyes, and we shall see again." So the prince
+entered, and was most affectionately greeted by his old parents; and he
+laid his hands on their eyes, and they saw again.
+
+Then the prince told his father all that had happened to him, and how
+he had been saved several times by attending to the advice that he had
+purchased from the Brahmani. Whereupon the king expressed his sorrow
+for having sent him away, and all was joy and peace again.
+
+
+
+THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT
+
+Now in a certain place there lived a Brahman named Haridatta. He was a
+farmer, but poor was the return his labour brought him. One day, at the
+end of the hot hours, the Brahman, overcome by the heat, lay down under
+the shadow of a tree to have a doze. Suddenly he saw a great hooded
+snake creeping out of an ant-hill near at hand. So he thought to
+himself, "Sure this is the guardian deity of the field, and I have not
+ever worshipped it. That's why my farming is in vain. I will at once go
+and pay my respects to it."
+
+When he had made up his mind, he got some milk, poured it into a bowl,
+and went to the ant-hill, and said aloud: "O Guardian of this Field!
+all this while I did not know that you dwelt here. That is why I have
+not yet paid my respects to you; pray forgive me." And he laid the milk
+down and went to his house. Next morning he came and looked, and he saw
+a gold denar in the bowl, and from that time onward every day the same
+thing occurred he gave milk to the serpent and found a gold denar.
+
+One day the Brahman had to go to the village, and so he ordered his son
+to take the milk to the ant-hill. The son brought the milk, put it
+down, and went back home. Next day he went again and found a denar, so
+he thought to himself: "This ant-hill is surely full of golden denars;
+I'll kill the serpent, and take them all for myself." So next day,
+while he was giving the milk to the serpent, the Brahman's son struck
+it on the head with a cudgel. But the serpent escaped death by the will
+of fate, and in a rage bit the Brahman's son with its sharp fangs, and
+he fell down dead at once. His people raised him a funeral pyre not far
+from the field and burnt him to ashes.
+
+Two days afterwards his father came back, and when he learnt his son's
+fate he grieved and mourned. But after a time, he took the bowl of
+milk, went to the ant-hill, and praised the serpent with a loud voice.
+After a long, long time the serpent appeared, but only with its head
+out of the opening of the ant-hill, and spoke to the Brahman: "'Tis
+greed that brings you here, and makes you even forget the loss of your
+son. From this time forward friendship between us is impossible. Your
+son struck me in youthful ignorance, and I have bitten him to death.
+How can I forget the blow with the cudgel? And how can you forget the
+pain and grief at the loss of your son?" So speaking, it gave the
+Brahman a costly pearl and disappeared. But before it went away it
+said: "Come back no more." The Brahman took the pearl, and went back
+home, cursing the folly of his son.
+
+
+
+THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS
+
+Once upon a time there lived a King who had seven Queens, but no
+children. This was a great grief to him, especially when he remembered
+that on his death there would be no heir to inherit the kingdom.
+
+Now it happened one day that a poor old fakir came to the King, and
+said, "Your prayers are heard, your desire shall be accomplished, and
+one of your seven Queens shall bear a son."
+
+The King's delight at this promise knew no bounds, and he gave orders
+for appropriate festivities to be prepared against the coming event
+throughout the length and breadth of the land.
+
+Meanwhile the seven Queens lived luxuriously in a splendid palace,
+attended by hundreds of female slaves, and fed to their hearts' content
+on sweetmeats and confectionery.
+
+Now the King was very fond of hunting, and one day, before he started,
+the seven Queens sent him a message saying, "May it please our dearest
+lord not to hunt towards the north to-day, for we have dreamt bad
+dreams, and fear lest evil should befall you."
+
+The king, to allay their anxiety, promised regard for their wishes, and
+set out towards the south; but as luck would have it, although he
+hunted diligently, he found no game. Nor had he more success to the
+east or west, so that, being a keen sportsman, and determined not to go
+home empty-handed, he forgot all about his promise, and turned to the
+north. Here also he was at first unsuccessful, but just as he had made
+up his mind to give up for that day, a white hind with golden horns and
+silver hoofs flashed past him into a thicket. So quickly did it pass
+that he scarcely saw it; nevertheless a burning desire to capture and
+possess the beautiful strange creature filled his breast. He instantly
+ordered his attendants to form a ring round the thicket, and so
+encircle the hind; then, gradually narrowing the circle, he pressed
+forward till he could distinctly see the white hind panting in the
+midst. Nearer and nearer he advanced, till, just as he thought to lay
+hold of the beautiful strange creature, it gave one mighty bound, leapt
+clean over the King's head, and fled towards the mountains. Forgetful
+of all else, the King, setting spurs to his horse, followed at full
+speed. On, on he galloped, leaving his retinue far behind, keeping the
+white hind in view, never drawing bridle, until, finding himself in a
+narrow ravine with no outlet, he reined in his steed. Before him stood
+a miserable hovel, into which, being tired after his long, unsuccessful
+chase, he entered to ask for a drink of water. An old woman, seated in
+the hut at a spinning-wheel, answered his request by calling to her
+daughter, and immediately from an inner room came a maiden so lovely
+and charming, so white-skinned and golden-haired, that the King was
+transfixed by astonishment at seeing so beautiful a sight in the
+wretched hovel.
+
+She held the vessel of water to the King's lips, and as he drank he
+looked into her eyes, and then it became clear to him that the girl was
+no other than the white hind with the golden horns and silver feet he
+had chased so far.
+
+Her beauty bewitched him, so he fell on his knees, begging her to
+return with him as his bride; but she only laughed, saying seven Queens
+were quite enough even for a King to manage. However, when he would
+take no refusal, but implored her to have pity on him, promising her
+everything she could desire, she replied, "Give me the eyes of your
+seven Queens, and then perhaps I may believe you mean what you say."
+
+The King was so carried away by the glamour of the white hind's magical
+beauty, that he went home at once, had the eyes of his seven Queens
+taken out, and, after throwing the poor blind creatures into a noisome
+dungeon whence they could not escape, set off once more for the hovel
+in the ravine, bearing with him his horrible offering. But the white
+hind only laughed cruelly when she saw the fourteen eyes, and threading
+them as a necklace, flung it round her mother's neck, saying, "Wear
+that, little mother, as a keepsake, whilst I am away in the King's
+palace."
+
+Then she went back with the bewitched monarch, as his bride, and he
+gave her the seven Queens' rich clothes and jewels to wear, the seven
+Queens' palace to live in, and the seven Queens' slaves to wait upon
+her; so that she really had everything even a witch could desire.
+
+Now, very soon after the seven wretched hapless Queens had their eyes
+torn out, and were cast into prison, a baby was born to the youngest of
+the Queens. It was a handsome boy, but the other Queens were very
+jealous that the youngest amongst them should be so fortunate. But
+though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved
+so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son.
+Almost as soon as he could walk about he began scraping at the mud wall
+of their dungeon, and in an incredibly short space of time had made a
+hole big enough for him to crawl through. Through this he disappeared,
+returning in an hour or so laden with sweet-meats, which he divided
+equally amongst the seven blind Queens.
+
+As he grew older he enlarged the hole, and slipped out two or three
+times every day to play with the little nobles in the town. No one knew
+who the tiny boy was, but everybody liked him, and he was so full of
+funny tricks and antics, so merry and bright, that he was sure to be
+rewarded by some girdle-cakes, a handful of parched grain, or some
+sweetmeats. All these things he brought home to his seven mothers, as
+he loved to call the seven blind Queens, who by his help lived on in
+their dungeon when all the world thought they had starved to death ages
+before.
+
+At last, when he was quite a big lad, he one day took his bow and
+arrow, and went out to seek for game. Coming by chance past the palace
+where the white hind lived in wicked splendour and magnificence, he saw
+some pigeons fluttering round the white marble turrets, and, taking
+good aim, shot one dead. It came tumbling past the very window where
+the white Queen was sitting; she rose to see what was the matter, and
+looked out. At the first glance of the handsome young lad standing
+there bow in hand, she knew by witchcraft that it was the King's son.
+
+She nearly died of envy and spite, determining to destroy the lad
+without delay; therefore, sending a servant to bring him to her
+presence, she asked him if he would sell her the pigeon he had just
+shot.
+
+"No," replied the sturdy lad, "the pigeon is for my seven blind
+mothers, who live in the noisome dungeon, and who would die if I did
+not bring them food."
+
+"Poor souls!" cried the cunning white witch; "would you not like to
+bring them their eyes again? Give me the pigeon, my dear, and I
+faithfully promise to show you where to find them."
+
+Hearing this, the lad was delighted beyond measure, and gave up the
+pigeon at once. Whereupon the white Queen told him to seek her mother
+without delay, and ask for the eyes which she wore as a necklace.
+
+"She will not fail to give them," said the cruel Queen, "if you show
+her this token on which I have written what I want done."
+
+So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these
+words inscribed on it--"Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his blood
+like water!"
+
+Now, as the son of seven Queens could not read, he took the fatal
+message cheerfully, and set off to find the white Queen's mother.
+
+Whilst he was journeying be passed through a town, where every one of
+the inhabitants looked so sad, that he could not help asking what was
+the matter. They told him it was because the King's only daughter
+refused to marry; so when her father died there would be no heir to the
+throne. They greatly feared she must be out of her mind, for though
+every good-looking young man in the kingdom had been shown to her, she
+declared she would only marry one who was the son of seven mothers, and
+who ever heard of such a thing? The King, in despair, had ordered every
+man who entered the city gates to be led before the Princess; so, much
+to the lad's impatience, for he was in an immense hurry to find his
+mothers' eyes, he was dragged into the presence-chamber.
+
+No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she blushed, and,
+turning to the King, said, "Dear father, this is my choice!"
+
+Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.
+
+The inhabitants nearly went wild with joy, but the son of seven Queens
+said he would not marry the Princess unless they first let him recover
+his mothers' eyes. When the beautiful bride heard his story, she asked
+to see the potsherd, for she was very learned and clever. Seeing the
+treacherous words, she said nothing, but taking another similar-shaped
+bit of potsherd, she wrote on it these words--"Take care of this lad,
+giving him all he desires," and returned it to the son of seven Queens,
+who, none the wiser, set off on his quest.
+
+Ere long he arrived at the hovel in the ravine where the white witch's
+mother, a hideous old creature, grumbled dreadfully on reading the
+message, especially when the lad asked for the necklace of eyes.
+Nevertheless she took it off, and gave it him, saying, "There are only
+thirteen of 'em now, for I lost one last week."
+
+The lad, however, was only too glad to get any at all, so he hurried
+home as fast as he could to his seven mothers, and gave two eyes apiece
+to the six elder Queens; but to the youngest he gave one, saying,
+"Dearest little mother!--I will be your other eye always!"
+
+After this he set off to marry the Princess, as he had promised, but
+when passing by the white Queen's palace he saw some pigeons on the
+roof. Drawing his bow, he shot one, and it came fluttering past the
+window. The white hind looked out, and lo! there was the King's son
+alive and well.
+
+She cried with hatred and disgust, but sending for the lad, asked him
+how he had returned so soon, and when she heard how he had brought home
+the thirteen eyes, and given them to the seven blind Queens, she could
+hardly restrain her rage. Nevertheless she pretended to be charmed with
+his success, and told him that if he would give her this pigeon also,
+she would reward him with the Jogi's wonderful cow, whose milk flows
+all day long, and makes a pond as big as a kingdom. The lad, nothing
+loth, gave her the pigeon; whereupon, as before, she bade him go ask
+her mother for the cow, and gave him a potsherd whereon was written--
+"Kill this lad without fail, and sprinkle his blood like water!"
+
+But on the way the son of seven Queens looked in on the Princess, just
+to tell her how he came to be delayed, and she, after reading the
+message on the potsherd, gave him another in its stead; so that when
+the lad reached the old hag's hut and asked her for the Jogi's cow, she
+could not refuse, but told the boy how to find it; and bidding him of
+all things not to be afraid of the eighteen thousand demons who kept
+watch and ward over the treasure, told him to be off before she became
+too angry at her daughter's foolishness in thus giving away so many
+good things.
+
+Then the lad did as he had been told bravely. He journeyed on and on
+till he came to a milk-white pond, guarded by the eighteen thousand
+demons. They were really frightful to behold, but, plucking up courage,
+he whistled a tune as he walked through them, looking neither to the
+right nor the left. By-and-by he came upon the Jogi's cow, tall, white,
+and beautiful, while the Jogi himself, who was king of all the demons,
+sat milking her day and night, and the milk streamed from her udder,
+filling the milk-white tank.
+
+The Jogi, seeing the lad, called out fiercely, "What do you want here?"
+
+Then the lad answered, according to the old hag's bidding, "I want your
+skin, for King Indra is making a new kettle-drum, and says your skin is
+nice and tough."
+
+Upon this the Jogi began to shiver and shake (for no Jinn or Jogi dares
+disobey King Indra's command), and, falling at the lad's feet, cried,
+"If you will spare me I will give you anything I possess, even my
+beautiful white cow!"
+
+To this the son of seven Queens, after a little pretended hesitation,
+agreed, saying that after all it would not be difficult to find a nice
+tough skin like the Jogi's elsewhere; so, driving the wonderful cow
+before him, he set off homewards. The seven Queens were delighted to
+possess so marvellous an animal, and though they toiled from morning
+till night making curds and whey, besides selling milk to the
+confectioners, they could not use half the cow gave, and became richer
+and richer day by day.
+
+Seeing them so comfortably off, the son of seven Queens started with a
+light heart to marry the Princess; but when passing the white hind's
+palace he could not resist sending a bolt at some pigeons which were
+cooing on the parapet. One fell dead just beneath the window where the
+white Queen was sitting. Looking out, she saw the lad hale and hearty
+standing before her, and grew whiter than ever with rage and spite.
+
+She sent for him to ask how he had returned so soon, and when she heard
+how kindly her mother had received him, she very nearly had a fit;
+however, she dissembled her feelings as well as she could, and, smiling
+sweetly, said she was glad to have been able to fulfil her promise, and
+that if he would give her this third pigeon, she would do yet more for
+him than she had done before, by giving him the million-fold rice,
+which ripens in one night.
+
+The lad was of course delighted at the very idea, and, giving up the
+pigeon, set off on his quest, armed as before with a potsherd, on which
+was written, "Do not fail this time. Kill the lad, and sprinkle his
+blood like water!"
+
+But when he looked in on his Princess, just to prevent her becoming
+anxious about him, she asked to see the potsherd as usual, and
+substituted another, on which was written, "Yet again give this lad all
+he requires, for his blood shall be as your blood!"
+
+Now when the old hag saw this, and heard how the lad wanted the
+million-fold rice which ripens in a single night, she fell into the
+most furious rage, but being terribly afraid of her daughter, she
+controlled herself, and bade the boy go and find the field guarded by
+eighteen millions of demons, warning him on no account to look back
+after having plucked the tallest spike of rice, which grew in the
+centre.
+
+So the son of seven Queens set off, and soon came to the field where,
+guarded by eighteen millions of demons, the million-fold rice grew. He
+walked on bravely, looking neither to the right or left, till he
+reached the centre and plucked the tallest ear, but as he turned
+homewards a thousand sweet voices rose behind him, crying in tenderest
+accents, "Pluck me too! oh, please pluck me too!" He looked back, and
+lo! there was nothing left of him but a little heap of ashes!
+
+Now as time passed by and the lad did not return, the old hag grew
+uneasy, remembering the message "his blood shall be as your blood"; so
+she set off to see what had happened.
+
+Soon she came to the heap of ashes, and knowing by her arts what it
+was, she took a little water, and kneading the ashes into a paste,
+formed it into the likeness of a man; then, putting a drop of blood
+from her little finger into its mouth, she blew on it, and instantly
+the son of seven Queens started up as well as ever.
+
+"Don't you disobey orders again!" grumbled the old hag, "or next time
+I'll leave you alone. Now be off, before I repent of my kindness!"
+
+So the son of seven Queens returned joyfully to his seven mothers, who,
+by the aid of the million-fold rice, soon became the richest people in
+the kingdom. Then they celebrated their son's marriage to the clever
+Princess with all imaginable pomp; but the bride was so clever, she
+would not rest until she had made known her husband to his father, and
+punished the wicked white witch. So she made her husband build a palace
+exactly like the one in which the seven Queens had lived, and in which
+the white witch now dwelt in splendour. Then, when all was prepared,
+she bade her husband give a grand feast to the King. Now the King had
+heard much of the mysterious son of seven Queens, and his marvellous
+wealth, so he gladly accepted the invitation; but what was his
+astonishment when on entering the palace he found it was a facsimile of
+his own in every particular! And when his host, richly attired, led him
+straight to the private hall, where on royal thrones sat the seven
+Queens, dressed as he had last seen them, he was speechless with
+surprise, until the Princess, coming forward, threw herself at his
+feet, and told him the whole story. Then the King awoke from his
+enchantment, and his anger rose against the wicked white hind who had
+bewitched him so long, until he could not contain himself. So she was
+put to death, and her grave ploughed over, and after that the seven
+Queens returned to their own splendid palace, and everybody lived
+happily.
+
+
+
+A LESSON FOR KINGS
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future
+Buddha returned to life as his son and heir. And when the day came for
+choosing a name, they called him Prince Brahma-datta. He grew up in due
+course; and when he was sixteen years old, went to Takkasila, and
+became accomplished in all arts. And after his father died he ascended
+the throne, and ruled the kingdom with righteousness and equity. He
+gave judgments without partiality, hatred, ignorance, or fear. Since he
+thus reigned with justice, with justice also his ministers administered
+the law. Lawsuits being thus decided with justice, there were none who
+brought false cases. And as these ceased, the noise and tumult of
+litigation ceased in the king's court. Though the judges sat all day in
+the court, they had to leave without any one coming for justice. It
+came to this, that the Hall of Justice would have to be closed!
+
+Then the future Buddha thought, "It cannot be from my reigning with
+righteousness that none come for judgment; the bustle has ceased, and
+the Hall of Justice will have to be closed. I must, therefore, now
+examine into my own faults; and if I find that anything is wrong in me,
+put that away, and practise only virtue."
+
+Thenceforth he sought for some one to tell him his faults, but among
+those around him he found no one who would tell him of any fault, but
+heard only his own praise.
+
+Then he thought, "It is from fear of me that these men speak only good
+things, and not evil things," and he sought among those people who
+lived outside the palace. And finding no fault-finder there, he sought
+among those who lived outside the city, in the suburbs, at the four
+gates. And there too finding no one to find fault, and hearing only his
+own praise, he determined to search the country places.
+
+So he made over the kingdom to his ministers, and mounted his chariot;
+and taking only his charioteer, left the city in disguise. And
+searching the country through, up to the very boundary, he found no
+fault-finder, and heard only of his own virtue; and so he turned back
+from the outer-most boundary, and returned by the high road towards the
+city.
+
+Now at that time the king of Kosala, Mallika by name, was also ruling
+his kingdom with righteousness; and when seeking for some fault in
+himself, he also found no fault-finder in the palace, but only heard of
+his own virtue! So seeking in country places, he too came to that very
+spot. And these two came face to face in a low cart-track with
+precipitous sides, where there was no space for a chariot to get out of
+the way!
+
+Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the charioteer of the
+king of Benares, "Take thy chariot out of the way!"
+
+But he said, "Take thy chariot out of the way, O charioteer! In this
+chariot sitteth the lord over the kingdom of Benares, the great king
+Brahma-datta."
+
+Yet the other replied, "In this chariot, O charioteer, sitteth the lord
+over the kingdom of Kosala, the great king Mallika. Take thy carriage
+out of the way, and make room for the chariot of our king!"
+
+Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, "They say then that
+he too is a king! What _is_ now to be done?" After some consideration,
+he said to himself, "I know a way. I'll find out how old he is, and then
+I'll let the chariot of the younger be got out of the way, and so make
+room for the elder."
+
+And when he had arrived at that conclusion, he asked that charioteer
+what the age of the king of Kosala was. But on inquiry he found that
+the ages of both were equal. Then he inquired about the extent of his
+kingdom, and about his army, and his wealth, and his renown, and about
+the country he lived in, and his caste and tribe and family. And he
+found that both were lords of a kingdom three hundred leagues in
+extent; and that in respect of army and wealth and renown, and the
+countries in which they lived, and their caste and their tribe and
+their family, they were just on a par!
+
+Then he thought, "I will make way for the most righteous." And he
+asked, "What kind of righteousness has this king of yours?"
+
+Then the chorister of the king of Kosala, proclaiming his king's
+wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza:
+
+  "The strong he overthrows by strength,
+  The mild by mildness, does Mallika;
+  The good he conquers by goodness,
+  And the wicked by wickedness too.
+    Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+    Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, "Well, have you
+told all the virtues of your king?"
+
+"Yes," said the other.
+
+"If these are his _virtues_, where are then his faults?" replied
+he.
+
+The other said, "Well, for the nonce, they shall be faults, if you
+like! But pray, then, what is the kind of goodness your king has?"
+
+And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called unto him to
+hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza
+
+  "Anger he conquers by calmness,
+  And by goodness the wicked;
+  The stingy he conquers by gifts,
+  And by truth the speaker of lies.
+    Such is the nature of _this_ king!
+    Move out of the way, O charioteer!"
+
+And when he had thus spoken, both Mallika the king and his charioteer
+alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed
+their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares!
+
+
+
+PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL
+
+In a certain village there lived ten cloth merchants, who always went
+about together. Once upon a time they had travelled far afield, and
+were returning home with a great deal of money which they had obtained
+by selling their wares. Now there happened to be a dense forest near
+their village, and this they reached early one morning. In it there
+lived three notorious robbers, of whose existence the traders had never
+heard, and while they were still in the middle of it the robbers stood
+before them, with swords and cudgels in their hands, and ordered them
+to lay down all they had. The traders had no weapons with them, and so,
+though they were many more in number, they had to submit themselves to
+the robbers, who took away everything from them, even the very clothes
+they wore, and gave to each only a small loin-cloth a span in breadth
+and a cubit in length.
+
+The idea that they had conquered ten men and plundered all their
+property, now took possession of the robbers' minds. They seated
+themselves like three monarchs before the men they had plundered, and
+ordered them to dance to them before returning home. The merchants now
+mourned their fate. They had lost all they had, except their loin-
+cloth, and still the robbers were not satisfied, but ordered them to
+dance.
+
+There was, among the ten merchants, one who was very clever. He
+pondered over the calamity that had come upon him and his friends, the
+dance they would have to perform, and the magnificent manner in which
+the three robbers had seated themselves on the grass. At the same time
+he observed that these last had placed their weapons on the ground, in
+the assurance of having thoroughly cowed the traders, who were now
+commencing to dance. So he took the lead in the dance, and, as a song
+is always sung by the leader on such occasions, to which the rest keep
+time with hands and feet, he thus began to sing:
+
+  "We are enty men,
+  They are erith men:
+  If each erith man,   Surround eno men
+  Eno man remains.
+  _T�, tai, t�m, tadingana._"
+
+The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader was merely
+singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for the leader
+commenced from a distance, and had sung the song over twice before he
+and his companions commenced to approach the robbers. They had
+understood his meaning, because they had been trained in trade.
+
+When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a
+purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.
+
+"What is the price of this cloth?" one trader will ask another.
+
+"Enty rupees," another will reply, meaning "ten rupees."
+
+Thus, there is no possibility of the purchaser knowing what is meant
+unless he be acquainted with trade language. By the rules of this
+secret language erith means "three," enty means "ten," and eno means
+"one." So the leader by his song meant to hint to his fellow-traders
+that they were ten men, the robbers only three, that if three pounced
+upon each of the robbers, nine of them could hold them down, while the
+remaining one bound the robbers' hands and feet.
+
+The three thieves, glorying in their victory, and little understanding
+the meaning of the song and the intentions of the dancers, were proudly
+seated chewing betel and tobacco. Meanwhile the song was sung a third
+time. _T� tai t�m_ had left the lips of the singer; and, before
+_tadingana_ was out of them, the traders separated into parties of
+three, and each party pounced upon a thief. The remaining one--the
+leader himself--tore up into long narrow strips a large piece of cloth,
+six cubits long, and tied the hands and feet of the robbers. These were
+entirely humbled now, and rolled on the ground like three bags of rice!
+
+The ten traders now took back all their property, and armed themselves
+with the swords and cudgels of their enemies; and when they reached
+their village, they often amused their friends and relatives by
+relating their adventure.
+
+
+
+RAJA RASALU
+
+Once there lived a great Raja, whose name was Salabhan, and he had a
+Queen, by name Lona, who, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine,
+had never a child to gladden her eyes. After a long time, however, a
+son was promised to her.
+
+Queen Lona returned to the palace, and when the time for the birth of
+the promised son drew nigh, she inquired of three Jogis who came
+begging to her gate, what the child's fate would be, and the youngest
+of them answered and said, "Oh, Queen! the child will be a boy, and he
+will live to be a great man. But for twelve years you must not look
+upon his face, for if either you or his father see it before the twelve
+years are past, you will surely die! This is what you must do; as soon
+as the child is born you must send him away to a cellar underneath the
+ground, and never let him see the light of day for twelve years. After
+they are over, he may come forth, bathe in the river, put on new
+clothes, and visit you. His name shall be Raja Rasalu, and he shall be
+known far and wide."
+
+So, when a fair young Prince was in due time born into the world, his
+parents hid him away in an underground palace, with nurses, and
+servants, and everything else a King's son might desire. And with him
+they sent a young colt, born the same day, and sword, spear, and
+shield, against the day when Raja Rasalu should go forth into the
+world.
+
+So there the child lived, playing with his colt, and talking to his
+parrot, while the nurses taught him all things needful for a King's son
+to know.
+
+Young Rasalu lived on, far from the light of day, for eleven long
+years, growing tall and strong, yet contented to remain playing with
+his colt, and talking to his parrot; but when the twelfth year began,
+the lad's heart leapt up with desire for change, and he loved to listen
+to the sounds of life which came to him in his palace-prison from the
+outside world.
+
+"I must go and see where the voices come from!" he said; and when his
+nurses told him he must not go for one year more, he only laughed
+aloud, saying, "Nay! I stay no longer here for any man!"
+
+Then he saddled his Arab horse Bhaunr, put on his shining armour, and
+rode forth into the world; but mindful of what his nurses had oft told
+him, when he came to the river, he dismounted, and, going into the
+water, washed himself and his clothes.
+
+Then, clean of raiment, fair of face, and brave of heart, he rode on
+his way until he reached his father's city. There he sat down to rest
+awhile by a well, where the women were drawing water in earthen
+pitchers. Now, as they passed him, their full pitchers poised upon
+their heads, the gay young Prince flung stones at the earthen vessels,
+and broke them all. Then the women, drenched with water, went weeping
+and wailing to the palace, complaining to the King that a mighty young
+Prince in shining armour, with a parrot on his wrist and a gallant
+steed beside him, sat by the well, and broke their pitchers.
+
+Now, as soon as Rajah Salabhan heard this, he guessed at once that it
+was Prince Rasalu come forth before the time, and, mindful of the
+Jogis' words that he would die if he looked on his son's face before
+twelve years were past, he did not dare to send his guards to seize the
+offender and bring him to be judged. So he bade the women be comforted,
+and take pitchers of iron and brass, giving new ones from his treasury
+to those who did not possess any of their own.
+
+But when Prince Rasalu saw the women returning to the well with
+pitchers of iron and brass, he laughed to himself, and drew his mighty
+bow till the sharp-pointed arrows pierced the metal vessels as though
+they had been clay.
+
+Yet still the King did not send for him, so he mounted his steed and
+set off in the pride of his youth and strength to the palace. He strode
+into the audience hall, where his father sat trembling, and saluted him
+will all reverence; but Raja Salabhan, in fear of his life, turned his
+back hastily and said never a word in reply.
+
+Then Prince Rasalu called scornfully to him across the hall:
+
+  "I came to greet thee, King, and not to harm thee!
+     What have I done that thou shouldst turn away?
+   Sceptre and empire have no power to charm me--
+     I go to seek a worthier prize than they!"
+
+Then he strode away, full of bitterness and anger; but, as he passed
+under the palace windows, he heard his mother weeping, and the sound
+softened his heart, so that his wrath died down, and a great loneliness
+fell upon him, because he was spurned by both father and mother. So he
+cried sorrowfully,
+
+  "Oh heart crown'd with grief, hast thou nought
+    But tears for thy son?
+  Art mother of mine? Give one thought
+    To my life just begun!"
+
+And Queen Lona answered through her tears:
+
+  "Yea! mother am I, though I weep,
+    So hold this word sure,--
+  Go, reign king of all men, but keep
+    Thy heart good and pure!"
+
+So Raja Rasalu was comforted, and began to make ready for fortune. He
+took with him his horse Bhaunr and his parrot, both of whom had lived
+with him since he was born.
+
+So they made a goodly company, and Queen Lona, when she saw them going,
+watched them from her window till she saw nothing but a cloud of dust
+on the horizon; then she bowed her head on her hands and wept, saying:
+
+  "Oh! son who ne'er gladdened mine eyes,
+  Let the cloud of thy going arise,
+  Dim the sunlight and darken the day;
+  For the mother whose son is away
+      Is as dust!"
+
+Rasalu had started off to play chaupur with King Sarkap. And as he
+journeyed there came a fierce storm of thunder and lightning, so that
+he sought shelter, and found none save an old graveyard, where a
+headless corpse lay upon the ground. So lonesome was it that even the
+corpse seemed company, and Rasalu, sitting down beside it, said:
+
+  "There is no one here, nor far nor near,
+    Save this breathless corpse so cold and grim;
+  Would God he might come to life again,
+    'Twould be less lonely to talk to him."
+
+And immediately the headless corpse arose and sat beside Raja Rasalu.
+And he, nothing astonished, said to it:
+
+  "The storm beats fierce and loud,
+    The clouds rise thick in the west;
+  What ails thy grave and shroud,
+    Oh corpse! that thou canst not rest?"
+
+Then the headless corpse replied:
+
+  "On earth I was even as thou,
+    My turban awry like a king,
+  My head with the highest, I trow,
+    Having my fun and my fling,
+  Fighting my foes like a brave,
+    Living my life with a swing.
+        And, now I am dead,
+        Sins, heavy as lead,
+  Will give me no rest in my grave!"
+
+So the night passed on, dark and dreary, while Rasalu sat in the
+graveyard and talked to the headless corpse. Now when morning broke and
+Rasalu said he must continue his journey, the headless corpse asked him
+whither he was going, and when he said "to play chaupur with King
+Sarkap," the corpse begged him to give up the idea saying, "I am King
+Sarkap's brother, and I know his ways. Every day, before breakfast, he
+cuts off the heads of two or three men, just to amuse himself. One day
+no one else was at hand, so he cut off mine, and he will surely cut off
+yours on some pretence or another. However, if you are determined to go
+and play chaupur with him, take some of the bones from this graveyard,
+and make your dice out of them, and then the enchanted dice with which
+my brother plays will lose their virtue. Otherwise he will always win."
+
+So Rasalu took some of the bones lying about, and fashioned them into
+dice, and these he put into his pocket. Then, bidding adieu to the
+headless corpse, he went on his way to play chaupur with the King.
+
+Now, as Raja Rasalu, tender-hearted and strong, journeyed along to play
+chaupur with the King, he came to a burning forest, and a voice rose
+from the fire saying, "Oh, traveller! for God's sake save me from the
+fire!"
+
+Then the Prince turned towards the burning forest, and, lo! the voice
+was the voice of a tiny cricket. Nevertheless, Rasalu, tender-hearted
+and strong, snatched it from the fire and set it at liberty. Then the
+little creature, full of gratitude, pulled out one of its feelers, and
+giving it to its preserver, said, "Keep this, and should you ever be in
+trouble, put it into the fire, and instantly I will come to your aid."
+
+The Prince smiled, saying, "What help could _you_ give _me_?"
+Nevertheless, he kept the hair and went on his way.
+
+Now, when he reached the city of King Sarkap, seventy maidens,
+daughters of the King, came out to meet him,--seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter; but one, the youngest
+of them all, when she saw the gallant young Prince riding on Bhaunr
+Iraqi, going gaily to his doom, was filled with pity, and called to him
+saying:
+
+  "Fair Prince, on the charger so gray,
+      Turn thee back! turn thee back!
+  Or lower thy lance for the fray;
+  Thy head will be forfeit to-day!
+  Dost love life? then, stranger, I pray,
+      Turn thee back! turn thee back!"
+
+But he, smiling at the maiden, answered lightly:
+
+  "Fair maiden, I come from afar,
+  Sworn conqueror in love and in war!
+  King Sarkap my coming will rue,
+  His head in four pieces I'll hew;
+  Then forth as a bridegroom I'll ride,
+  With you, little maid, as my bride!"
+
+Now when Rasalu replied so gallantly, the maiden looked in his face,
+and seeing how fair he was, and how brave and strong, she straightway
+fell in love with him, and would gladly have followed him through the
+world.
+
+But the other sixty-nine maidens, being jealous, laughed scornfully at
+her, saying, "Not so fast, oh gallant warrior! If you would marry our
+sister you must first do our bidding, for you will be our younger
+brother."
+
+"Fair sisters!" quoth Rasalu gaily, "give me my task and I will perform
+it."
+
+So the sixty-nine maidens mixed a hundred-weight of millet seed with a
+hundredweight of sand, and giving it to Rasalu, bade him separate the
+seed from the sand.
+
+Then he bethought him of the cricket, and drawing the feeler from his
+pocket, thrust it into the fire. And immediately there was a whirring
+noise in the air, and a great flight of crickets alighted beside him,
+and amongst them the cricket whose life he had saved.
+
+Then Rasalu said, "Separate the millet seed from the sand."
+
+"Is that all?" quoth the cricket; "had I known how small a job you
+wanted me to do, I would not have assembled so many of my brethren."
+
+With that the flight of crickets set to work, and in one night they
+separated the seed from the sand.
+
+Now when the sixty-nine fair maidens, daughters of the king saw that
+Rasalu had performed his task, they set him another, bidding him swing
+them all, one by one, in their swings, until they were tired.
+
+Whereupon he laughed, saying, "There are seventy of you, counting my
+little bride yonder, and I am not going to spend my life swinging
+girls! Why, by the time I have given each of you a swing, the first
+will be wanting another! No! if you want a swing, get in, all seventy
+of you, into one swing, and then I'll see what can be done."
+
+So the seventy maidens climbed into one swing, and Raja Rasalu,
+standing in his shining armour, fastened the ropes to his mighty bow,
+and drew it up to its fullest bent. Then he let go, and like an arrow
+the swing shot into the air, with its burden of seventy fair maidens,
+merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter.
+
+But as it swung back again, Kasalu, standing there in his shining
+armour, drew his sharp sword and severed the ropes. Then the seventy
+fair maidens fell to the ground headlong; and some were bruised and
+some broken, but the only one who escaped unhurt was the maiden who
+loved Rasalu, for she fell out last, on the top of the others, and so
+came to no harm.
+
+After this, Rasalu strode on fifteen paces, till he came to the seventy
+drums, that every one who came to play chaupur with the King had to
+beat in turn; and he beat them so loudly that he broke them all. Then
+he came to the seventy gongs, all in a row, and he hammered them so
+hard that they cracked to pieces.
+
+Seeing this, the youngest Princess, who was the only one who could run,
+fled to her father the King in a great fright, saying:
+
+  "A mighty Prince, Sarkap! making havoc, rides along,
+  He swung us, seventy maidens fair, and threw us out
+  headlong;
+  He broke the drums you placed there and the gongs too
+  in his pride,
+  Sure, he will kill thee, father mine, and take me for his
+  bride!"
+
+But King Sarkap replied scornfully:
+
+  "Silly maiden, thy words make a lot
+  Of a very small matter;
+  For fear of my valour, I wot,
+  His armour will clatter.
+  As soon as I've eaten my bread
+  I'll go forth and cut off his head!"
+
+Notwithstanding these brave and boastful words, he was in reality very
+much afraid, having heard of Rasalu's renown. And learning that he was
+stopping at the house of an old woman in the city, till the hour for
+playing chaupur arrived, Sarkap sent slaves to him with trays of
+sweetmeats and fruit, as to an honoured guest. But the food was
+poisoned.
+
+Now when the slaves brought the trays to Raja Rasalu, he rose up
+haughtily, saying, "Go, tell your master I have nought to do with him
+in friendship. I am his sworn enemy, and I eat not of his salt!"
+
+So saying, he threw the sweetmeats to Raja Sarkap's dog, which had
+followed the slave, and lo! the dog died.
+
+Then Rasalu was very wroth, and said bitterly, "Go back to Sarkap,
+slaves! and tell him that Rasalu deems it no act of bravery to kill
+even an enemy by treachery."
+
+Now, when evening came, Raja Rasalu went forth to play chaupur with
+King Sarkap, and as he passed some potters' kilns he saw a cat
+wandering about restlessly; so he asked what ailed her, that she never
+stood still, and she replied, "My kittens are in an unbaked pot in the
+kiln yonder. It has just been set alight, and my children will be baked
+alive; therefore I cannot rest!"
+
+Her words moved the heart of Raja Rasalu, and, going to the potter, he
+asked him to sell the kiln as it was; but the potter replied that he
+could not settle a fair price till the pots were burnt, as he could not
+tell how many would come out whole. Nevertheless, after some
+bargaining, he consented at last to sell the kiln, and Rasalu, having
+searched all the pots, restored the kittens to their mother, and she,
+in gratitude for his mercy, gave him one of them, saying, "Put it in
+your pocket, for it will help you when you are in difficulties." So
+Raja Rasalu put the kitten in his pocket, and went to play chaupur with
+the King.
+
+Now, before they sat down to play, Raja Sarkap fixed his stakes,--on
+the first game, his kingdom; on the second, the wealth of the whole
+world; and, on the third, his own head. So, likewise, Raja Rasalu fixed
+his stakes,--on the first game, his arms; on the second, his horse;
+and, on the third, his own head.
+
+Then they began to play, and it fell to Rasalu's lot to make the first
+move. Now he, forgetful of the dead man's warning, played with the dice
+given him by Raja Sarkap, besides which, Sarkap let loose his famous
+rat, Dhol Raja, and it ran about the board, upsetting the chaupur
+pieces on the sly, so that Rasalu lost the first game, and gave up his
+shining armour.
+
+Then the second game began, and once more Dhol Raja, the rat, upset the
+pieces; and Rasalu, losing the game, gave up his faithful steed. Then
+Bhaunr, the Arab steed, who stood by, found voice, and cried to his
+master,
+
+  "Sea-born am I, bought with much gold;
+  Dear Prince! trust me now as of old.
+  I'll carry you far from these wiles--
+  My flight, all unspurr'd, will be swift as a bird,
+  For thousands and thousands of miles!
+  Or if needs you must stay; ere the next game you play,
+  Place hand in your pocket, I pray!"
+
+Hearing this, Raja Sarkap frowned, and bade his slaves remove Bhaunr,
+the Arab steed, since he gave his master advice in the game. Now, when
+the slaves came to lead the faithful steed away, Rasalu could not
+refrain from tears, thinking over the long years during which Bhaunr,
+the Arab steed, had been his companion. But the horse cried out again,
+
+  "Weep not, dear Prince! I shall not eat my bread
+  Of stranger hands, nor to strange stall be led.
+  Take thy right hand, and place it as I said."
+
+These words roused some recollection in Rasalu's mind, and when, just
+at this moment, the kitten in his pocket began to struggle, he
+remembered all about the warning, and the dice made from dead men's
+bones. Then his heart rose up once more, and he called boldly to Raja
+Sarkap, "Leave my horse and arms here for the present. Time enough to
+take them away when you have won my head!"
+
+Now, Raja Sarkap, seeing Rasalu's confident bearing, began to be
+afraid, and ordered all the women of his palace to come forth in their
+gayest attire and stand before Rasalu, so as to distract his attention
+from the game. But he never even looked at them, and drawing the dice
+from his pocket, said to Sarkap, "We have played with your dice all
+this time; now we will play with mine."
+
+Then the kitten went and sat at the window through which the rat Dhol
+Raja used to come, and the game began.
+
+After a while, Sarkap, seeing Raja Rasalu was winning, called to his
+rat, but when Dhol Raja saw the kitten he was afraid, and would not go
+further. So Rasalu won, and took back his arms. Next he played for his
+horse, and once more Raja Sarkap called for his rat; but Dhol Raja,
+seeing the kitten keeping watch, was afraid. So Rasalu won the second
+stake, and took back Bhaunr, the Arab steed.
+
+Then Sarkap brought all his skill to bear on the third and last game,
+saying,
+
+  "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+  For sooth this is a man with whom I play.
+  No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+  As Sarkap does, so do, for Sarkap's sake!"
+
+But Rasalu answered back,
+
+  "Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
+  For sooth it is a man with whom I play.
+  No paltry risk--but life and death at stake;
+  As Heaven does, so do, for Heaven's sake!"
+
+So they began to play, whilst the women stood round in a circle, and
+the kitten watched Dhol Raja from the window. Then Sarkap lost, first
+his kingdom, then the wealth of the whole world, and lastly his head.
+
+Just then, a servant came in to announce the birth of a daughter to
+Raja Sarkap, and he, overcome by misfortunes, said, "Kill her at once!
+for she has been born in an evil moment, and has brought her father ill
+luck!"
+
+But Rasalu rose up in his shining armour, tender-hearted and strong,
+saying, "Not so, oh king! She has done no evil. Give me this child to
+wife; and if you will vow, by all you hold sacred, never again to play
+chaupur for another's head, I will spare yours now!"
+
+Then Sarkap vowed a solemn vow never to play for another's head; and
+after that he took a fresh mango branch, and the new-born babe, and
+placing them on a golden dish gave them to Rasalu.
+
+Now, as he left the palace, carrying with him the new-born babe and the
+mango branch, he met a band of prisoners, and they called out to him,
+
+  "A royal hawk art thou, oh King! the rest
+   But timid wild-fowl. Grant us our request,--
+   Unloose these chains, and live for ever blest!"
+
+And Raja Rasalu hearkened to them, and bade King Sarkap set them at
+liberty.
+
+Then he went to the Murti Hills, and placed the new-born babe, Kokilan,
+in an underground palace, and planted the mango branch at the door,
+saying, "In twelve years the mango tree will blossom; then will I
+return and marry Kokilan."
+
+And after twelve years, the mango tree began to flower, and Raja Rasalu
+married the Princess Kokilan, whom he won from Sarkap when he played
+chaupur with the King.
+
+
+
+THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN
+
+At the same time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future
+Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up, he gained
+his living by tilling the ground.
+
+At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
+goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took the
+pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's skin,
+and turn him loose in the rice and barley fields. And when the watchmen
+in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking him for a
+lion.
+
+So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and whilst he was getting
+his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion's skin, and
+turned him loose in a barley-field. The watchmen in the field dared not
+go up to him; but going home, they published the news. Then all the
+villagers came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing chanks, and
+beating drums, they went near the field and shouted. Terrified with the
+fear of death, the ass uttered a cry--the bray of an ass!
+
+And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced
+the First Verse:
+
+  "This is not a lion's roaring,
+  Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's;
+  Dressed in a lion's skin,
+  'Tis a wretched ass that roars!"
+
+But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
+till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away.
+Then the hawker came; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight,
+pronounced the Second Verse:
+
+  "Long might the ass,
+  Clad in a lion's skin,
+  Have fed on the barley green.
+  But he brayed!
+  And that moment he came to ruin."
+
+And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot!
+
+
+
+THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER
+
+There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a money-
+lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the money-
+lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, farmer went
+to the money-lender's house, and said, "You can't squeeze water from a
+stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell me the
+secret of becoming rich."
+
+"My friend," returned the money-lender, piously, "riches come from Ram
+--ask _him_."
+
+"Thank you, I will!" replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three
+girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.
+
+First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point
+out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on his
+way without a word, Next the farmer met a Jogi or devotee, and to him
+he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. At last, he came
+upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was hungry,
+the kindly farmer gave him his last cake, and sitting down to rest
+beside him, entered into conversation.
+
+"And where are you going?" asked the poor man, at length.
+
+"Oh, I have a long journey before me, for I am going to find Ram!"
+replied the farmer. "I don't suppose you could tell me which way to
+go?"
+
+"Perhaps I can," said the poor man, smiling, "for _I_ am Ram! What
+do you want of me?"
+
+Then the farmer told the whole story, and Ram, taking pity on him, gave
+him a conch shell, and showed him how to blow it in a particular way,
+saying, "Remember! whatever you wish for, you have only to blow the
+conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care of
+that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their wiles!"
+
+The farmer went back to his village rejoicing. In fact the money-lender
+noticed his high spirits at once, and said to himself, "Some good
+fortune must have befallen the stupid fellow, to make him hold his head
+so jauntily." Therefore he went over to the simple farmer's house, and
+congratulated him on his good fortune, in such cunning words,
+pretending to have heard all about it, that before long the farmer
+found himself telling the whole story--all except the secret of blowing
+the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer was not quite such
+a fool as to tell that.
+
+Nevertheless, the money-lender determined to have the conch by hook or
+by crook, and as he was villain enough not to stick at trifles, he
+waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.
+
+But, after nearly bursting himself with blowing the conch in every
+conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the secret as a bad job.
+However, being determined to succeed he went back to the farmer, and
+said, coolly, "Look here; I've got your conch, but I can't use it; you
+haven't got it, so it's clear you can't use it either. Business is at a
+stand-still unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you back
+your conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one
+condition, which is this,--whatever you get from it, I am to get
+double."
+
+"Never!" cried the farmer; "that would be the old business all over
+again!"
+
+"Not at all!" replied the wily money-lender; "you will have your share!
+Now, don't be a dog in the manger, for if _you_ get all you want,
+what can it matter to you if _I_ am rich or poor?"
+
+At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit
+to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and from that time,
+no matter what he gained by the power of the conch, the money-lender
+gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon the
+farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of
+anything.
+
+At last, there came a very dry season,--so dry that the farmer's crops
+withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a
+well to water them, and lo! there was the well, _but the money-lender
+had two!_--two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any farmer
+to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at
+last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it
+loudly, and cried out, "Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And so
+he, was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course was blind of
+both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he fell
+into one, and was drowned.
+
+Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a money-
+lender--but only by losing one of his eyes.
+
+
+
+THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN
+
+In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come
+daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the
+gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, "When I am
+married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has
+never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead and a star on his
+chin." Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her.
+
+But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy she
+would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should like
+very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had already
+four Queens he had no child. He went, therefore, to the gardener and
+told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted the gardener
+and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for their daughter
+to become a princess. So they said "Yes" to the King, and invited all
+their friends to the wedding. The King invited all his, and he gave the
+gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the wedding was held with
+great feasting and rejoicing.
+
+A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to
+have her son; and the King's four other Queens came constantly to see
+her. One day they said to her, "The King hunts every day; and the time
+is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill
+whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your
+illness, what would you do then?"
+
+When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to
+him, "Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or sick
+while you are away, how could I send for you?" The King gave her a
+kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to her,
+"Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far away I
+may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you."
+
+Next morning when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other Queens
+came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her
+kettle-drum. "Oh," they said, "do drum on it just to see if the King
+really will come to you."
+
+"No, I will not," she said; "for why should I call him from his hunting
+when I do not want him?"
+
+"Don't mind interrupting his hunting," they answered. "Do try if he
+really will come to you when you beat your kettle-drum." So at last,
+just to please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her.
+
+"Why have you called me?" he said. "See, I have left my hunting to come
+to you."
+
+"I want nothing," she answered; "I only wished to know if you really
+would come to me when I beat my drum."
+
+"Very well," answered the King; "but do not call me again unless you
+really need me." Then he returned to his hunting.
+
+The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four
+Queens again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and
+begged her to beat her drum once more, "just to see if the King will
+really come to see you this time." At first she refused, but at last
+she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But when
+he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and said to
+her, "Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come to you when
+you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you like, but I
+will not come to you," and then he went away in a rage.
+
+The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat
+her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum, but
+he thought, "She does not really want me; she is only trying to see if
+I will go to her."
+
+Meanwhile the four other Queens came to her, and they said, "Here it is
+the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a
+handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind your
+eyes." She answered, "Very well, bind my eyes." The four wives then
+tied a handkerchief over them.
+
+Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a
+moon on his forehead and a star on his chin, and before the poor mother
+had seen him, the four wicked Queens took the boy to the nurse and said
+to her, "Now you must not let this child make the least sound for fear
+his mother should hear him; and in the night you must either kill him,
+or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him. If you
+obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees." All this they
+did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put him into a
+box, and the four Queens went back to the gardener's daughter.
+
+First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took
+the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, "Look! this is
+your son!" The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, "What will the
+King say when he finds no child?" But she could do nothing.
+
+When the King came home; he was furious at hearing his youngest wife,
+the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the beautiful
+little son she had promised him. He made her one of the palace
+servants, and never spoke to her.
+
+In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the
+beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle.
+There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the
+box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The King's
+dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she did with
+the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four Queens (who gave her
+a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she had put the
+box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the beautiful little
+boy, he was very much delighted and said, "If it pleases Khuda that
+this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will not eat him, but I
+will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach." This he did.
+
+After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and
+thought, "I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead." Then he brought
+the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was
+now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he
+swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he
+went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up
+the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and
+caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his
+great beauty.
+
+But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and he
+saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran to
+the four Queens and said to them, "Inside the King's dog there is a
+child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on
+his chin. Such a child has never been seen!" At this the four wives
+were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from
+hunting they said to him, "While you were away your dog came to our
+rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are
+afraid he will kill us." "Do not be afraid," said the King. "Eat your
+dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning."
+
+Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog
+heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to
+kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if
+I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him."
+
+So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called
+Suri, and said to her, "Suri, I want to give you something, for the
+King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of
+whatever I give you?"
+
+"Let me see what it is," said Suri, "I will take care of it if I can."
+Then they both went together to the wide plain, and there the dog
+brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him. "I never saw such a
+beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he has a moon on his
+forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the greatest care of him."
+So saying she swallowed the little prince. The dog made her a great
+many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;" and the cow then went
+back to her stable.
+
+Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot.
+
+The child now lived in Suri's stomach; and when one whole year had
+passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and
+said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead. But
+I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy; and
+he played about, and Suri was delighted; she loved him and caressed
+him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned to her
+stable.
+
+At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up
+the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight,
+and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very
+happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable. The
+child was now three years old.
+
+But this time the cowherd had followed Suri, and had seen the wonderful
+child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four Queens, "The
+King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon on his
+forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been seen
+before!"
+
+At this the Queens were terrified. They tore their clothes and their
+hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why
+they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to
+kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never
+mind," said the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be
+killed to-morrow morning."
+
+Now Suri heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said to
+herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight, she
+went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and quite
+untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one could
+go near him with safety, he was so savage. Suri said to this horse,
+"Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give you,
+because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?"
+
+"Good," said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Suri brought up the
+child, and the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will
+take the greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride
+me, but this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when
+he had done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this
+boy's sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the
+jungle and there killed.
+
+The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in it
+for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I will
+see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and then he
+loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all about the
+stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go. Katar was very
+glad to see the child, who was now four years old. After he had played
+for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At the end of another
+year, when the boy was five years old, Katar brought him up again,
+caressed him, loved him, and let him play about the stable as he had
+done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him again.
+
+But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was
+morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the four
+wicked Queens, and told them all he had seen, and all about the
+wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar. On
+hearing the groom's story the four Queens cried, and tore their hair
+and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at evening and
+asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your horse Katar
+came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and we ran away
+for fear he should kill us."
+
+"Never mind," said the King. "Only eat your dinner and be happy. I will
+have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he thought that two men unaided could
+not kill such a wicked horse, so he ordered his servants to bid his
+troop of sepoys shoot him.
+
+So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and he
+took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any one
+who let his horse escape.
+
+Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up
+the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of
+the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must
+put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such
+as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the
+sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my back."
+Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies' country, so he
+could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor any of his
+people knew this.
+
+When all was ready, Katar burst out of his stable, with the prince on
+his back, rushed past the King himself before the King had time to
+shoot him, galloped away to the great jungle-plain, and galloped about
+all over it. The King saw his horse had a boy on his back, though he
+could not see the boy distinctly. The sepoys tried in vain to shoot the
+horse; he galloped much too fast; and at last they were all scattered
+over the plain. Then the King had to give it up and go home; and the
+sepoys went to their homes. The King could not shoot any of his sepoys
+for letting his horse escape, for he himself had let him do so.
+
+Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they
+stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and
+the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they
+started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in
+another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father,
+but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my back."
+Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle; take off
+your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with your sword
+and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some poor, common
+clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was dressed in them
+the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I will take care
+of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain, so that when
+you want me you will always find me. You must now go away and find
+service with some one in this country."
+
+This made the boy very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said.
+"What shall I do all alone in this country?"
+
+"Do not be afraid," answered Katar. "You will find service, and I will
+always stay here to help you when you want me. So go, only before you
+go, twist my right ear." The boy did so, and his horse instantly became
+a donkey. "Now twist your right ear," said Katar. And when the boy had
+twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, but a poor, common-
+looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were hidden.
+
+Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain
+merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. "I am a poor man,"
+answered the boy, "and I want service." "Good," said the grain
+merchant, "you shall be my servant."
+
+Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and one night at
+twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's
+cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest
+daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could
+sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair,
+and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying singing.
+"Who are you? where do you come from?" she asked.
+
+But he answered nothing.
+
+"Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to him?" thought the
+little princess, and she went away. On the second night the same thing
+happened, and on the third night too. But on the third night, when she
+found she could not make him answer her, she said to him, "What a
+strange man you are not to answer me when I speak to you." But still he
+remained silent, so she went away.
+
+The next day, when he had finished his work, the young prince went to
+the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, "Are you quite well and
+happy?" "Yes, I am," answered the boy. "I am servant to a grain
+merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and
+sung a song, and each night the youngest princess has come to me and
+asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing. What
+shall I do now?" The horse said, "Next time she asks you who you are,
+tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country to
+find service here."
+
+The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when every
+one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his sweet
+song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, and came
+to him. "Who are you? Whence do you come?" she asked.
+
+"I am a very poor man," he answered. "I came from my own country to
+seek service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants."
+Then she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's
+garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same
+questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers.
+
+Then she went to her father, and said to him, "Father, I wish to be
+married; but I must choose my husband myself." Her father consented to
+this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rajas in the land,
+saying, "My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on
+choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to
+marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you and
+make her choice."
+
+A great many Kings, Rajas, and their sons accepted this invitation and
+came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to
+them, "To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden" (the
+King's garden was very large), "for then my youngest daughter will come
+and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she will
+choose."
+
+The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the
+next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she dressed
+herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful jewels;
+then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her hand she
+took a gold necklace.
+
+Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rajas, and their sons
+were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the
+garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants.
+
+The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings and
+Rajas and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the neck
+of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody laughed,
+and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the Rajas
+said, "What fooling is this?" and they pushed the pretended poor man
+away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, "Get out of
+the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty for you to
+come near us!" The boy went far away from them, and stood a long way
+off to see what would happen.
+
+Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garagain, holding
+her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round the
+boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, "How can the King's
+daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!" and the Kings and
+the Rajas, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the
+garden. But the princess said, "Take care! take care! You must not turn
+him out. Leave him alone." Then she put him on her elephant, and took
+him to the palace.
+
+The Kings and Rajas and their sons were very much astonished, and said,
+"What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of us,
+but chooses that very poor man!" Her father then stood up, and said to
+them all, "I promised my daughter she should marry any one she pleased,
+and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall marry
+him." And so the princess and the boy were married with great pomp and
+splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her choice;
+and the Kings, the Rajas and their sons, all returned to their homes.
+
+Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes, and they
+laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed to
+be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See! our sister has married
+this poor, common man!" Their six husbands used to go out hunting every
+day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds of
+game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and for
+the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed at
+home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made her
+very sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt every
+day, but my husband never hunts at all."
+
+At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as my
+sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home
+quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home,
+instead of doing as they do?"
+
+One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air."
+
+"Very good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses."
+
+"No," said the young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he
+went to the jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time had
+seemed to be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he said;
+"I have married the youngest princess; and when we were married
+everybody laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor,
+common man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife
+is very sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and
+bring home quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very proud
+of them. But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I should
+like to hunt very much."
+
+"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy
+had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer.
+"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a
+beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own
+left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a
+grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, got on
+his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt.
+
+He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer.
+That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful
+young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six princes
+wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they grew hungry
+and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food with them.
+Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a tree, to dine
+and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him. By his side was
+some delicious water, and also some roast meat.
+
+When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that
+handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.
+We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come
+from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many
+salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are
+you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder
+daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have
+hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not
+recognise their brother-in-law in the least.
+
+"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and
+drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to do,"
+they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall die."
+"Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a red-hot
+pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food and
+water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they
+thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be
+covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to drink."
+Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in the fire;
+he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave them good
+food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had finished they
+made him many salaams and went home.
+
+The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he
+mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people
+looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young
+prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin."
+But no one recognised him. When he came near the King's palace, all the
+King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew him, the
+gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who he could
+be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had ever been
+seen.
+
+At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest
+princess," he answered.
+
+"No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for he is a poor, common-
+looking, and ugly man."
+
+"But I am he," answered the prince; only no one would believe him.
+
+"Tell us the truth," said the servants; "who are you?"
+
+"Perhaps you cannot recognise me," said the young prince, "but call the
+youngest princess here. I wish to speak to her." The servants called
+her, and she came. "That man is not my husband," she said at once. "My
+husband is not nearly as handsome as that man. This must be a prince
+from another country."
+
+Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my husband?"
+
+"Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," answered the
+young prince.
+
+"No you are not, you are not telling me the truth," said the little
+princess. "My husband is not a handsome man like you. I married a very
+poor, common-looking man."
+
+"That is true," he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I was
+the grain merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your
+father's garden and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who I
+was and where I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same
+thing happened the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told
+you I was a very poor man, and had come from my country to seek service
+in yours, and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then you told
+your father you wished to marry, but must choose your own husband; and
+when all the Kings and Rajas were seated in your father's garden, you
+sat on an elephant and went round and looked at them all; and then
+twice hung your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me. See, here is
+your necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief you gave me
+on our wedding day."
+
+Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a
+beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to him.
+"Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now you are
+beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome man as
+you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then she
+worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a husband. "I
+have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one like him in this
+country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin." Then
+she took him into the palace, and showed him to her father and mother
+and to every one. They all said they had never seen any one like him,
+and were all very happy. And the young prince lived as before in the
+King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the King's stables.
+
+One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his court-
+house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him, "There
+are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said the
+King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said the
+young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and every
+one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would not
+believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and then
+you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a thief
+on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and the
+King and everybody in the court-house saw the mark of the red-hot pice.
+The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was very
+glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at him
+and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man.
+
+Now, when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was married,
+he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all that had
+happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he said to him,
+"I will take you back to your father's country." So two months after
+the young prince had revenged himself on his brothers-in-law, Katar
+said to him, "It is time for you to return to your father. Get the King
+to let you go to your own country, and I will tell you what to do when
+we get there."
+
+The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his
+wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see
+my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my
+father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them,
+and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave
+them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many
+horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great many
+sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the
+prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they
+reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the
+prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Suri
+had swallowed him so often.
+
+When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the
+prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had
+come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to ask
+whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in which
+he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to make
+war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has come to
+see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a grand
+feast, to which every one in your country must come--men and women, old
+and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children, fakirs, and
+sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and I will feast
+them all."
+
+The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men,
+women, and children of all castes, fakirs, and sepoys, in his country
+to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give them.
+So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All came, at
+least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to go to the
+feast, for no one had thought of her.
+
+When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not
+there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to my
+feast?"
+
+"Yes, every one," said the King.
+
+"Are you sure of that?" asked the prince.
+
+"Quite sure," answered the King.
+
+"I am sure one woman has not come," said the prince. "She is your
+gardener's daughter, who was once your wife and is now a servant in
+your palace."
+
+"True," said the King, "I had forgotten her." Then the prince told his
+servants to take his finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's
+daughter. They were to bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and
+handsome jewels, and then bring her to him in the palanquin.
+
+While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King
+thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed particularly
+the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he wondered in
+what country the young prince was born.
+
+And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and the
+young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her into
+the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives
+looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered
+that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and since
+then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could not do
+enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see her.
+
+When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's
+daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest
+dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this
+handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I
+never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?"
+
+Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the
+King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and
+wondering who he was.
+
+One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he
+answered.
+
+"Do you know who I am?" asked the prince.
+
+"No," said the King. "Tell me who you are."
+
+"I am your son," answered the prince, "and the gardener's daughter is
+my mother."
+
+The King shook his head sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when
+I have never had any children?"
+
+"But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked Queens told
+you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a son; but it
+was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they tried to
+kill me."
+
+The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my son," he said; "but as
+I never had a child, you cannot be my son." "Do you remember your dog
+Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do you remember your cow Suri,
+and how you had her killed too? Your wives made you kill them because
+of me. And," he said, taking the King to Katar, "do you know whose
+horse that is?"
+
+The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse, Katar."
+"Yes," said the prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you out
+of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the prince
+was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth, and of his
+life up to that moment; and when the King found the beautiful prince
+was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put his arms round him
+and kissed him and cried for joy.
+
+"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live
+with me always."
+
+"No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go to your palace. I
+only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I have found her, I
+will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. I have married a
+King's daughter, and we live with her father."
+
+"But now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father.
+You and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my
+palace."
+
+"That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will kill your
+four wicked Queens with your own hand. If you will do that, we will
+come and live with you."
+
+So the King killed his Queens, and then he and his wife, the gardener's
+daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in the King's
+palace, and lived there happily together for ever after; and the King
+thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for ridding him of
+his four wicked wives.
+
+Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with
+the young prince, and never left him.
+
+
+
+THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR
+
+There was once upon a time a King who had no children. Now this King
+went and laid him down to rest at a place where four roads met, so that
+every one who passed had to step over him.
+
+At last a Fakir came along, and he said to the King, "Man, why are you
+lying here?"
+
+He replied, "Fakir, a thousand men have come and passed by; you pass on
+too."
+
+But the Fakir said, "Who are you, man?"
+
+The King replied, "I am a King, Fakir. Of goods and gold I have no
+lack, but I have lived long and have no children. So I have come here,
+and have laid me down at the cross-roads. My sins and offences have
+been very many, so I have come and am lying here that men may pass over
+me, and perchance my sins may be forgiven me, and God may be merciful,
+and I may have a son."
+
+The Fakir answered him, "Oh King! If you have children, what will you
+give me?"
+
+"Whatever you ask, Fakir," answered the King. The Fakir said, "Of goods
+and gold I have no lack, but I will say a prayer for you, and you will
+have two sons; one of those sons will be mine."
+
+Then he took out two sweetmeats and handed them to the King, and said,
+"King! take these two sweetmeats and give them to your wives; give them
+to the wives you love best."
+
+The King took the sweetmeats and put them in his bosom.
+
+Then the Fakir said, "King! in a year I will return, and of the two
+sons who will be born to you one is mine and one yours."
+
+The King said, "Well, I agree."
+
+Then the Fakir went on his way, and the King came home and gave one
+sweetmeat to each of his two wives. After some time two sons were born
+to the King. Then what did the King do but place those two sons in an
+underground room, which he had built in the earth.
+
+Some time passed, and one day the Fakir appeared, and said, "King!
+bring me that son of yours!"
+
+What did the King do but bring two slave-girls' sons and present them
+to the Fakir. While the Fakir was sitting there the King's sons were
+sitting down below in their cellar eating their food. Just then a
+hungry ant had carried away a grain of rice from their food, and was
+going along with it to her children. Another stronger ant came up and
+attacked her in order to get this grain of rice. The first ant said, "O
+ant, why do you drag this away from me? I have long been lame in my
+feet, and I have got just one grain, and am carrying it to my children.
+The King's sons are sitting in the cellar eating their food; you go and
+fetch a grain from there; why should you take mine from me?" On this
+the second ant let go and did not rob the first, but went off to where
+the King's sons were eating their food.
+
+On hearing this the Fakir said, "King! these are not your sons; go and
+bring those children who are eating their food in the cellar."
+
+Then the King went and brought his own sons. The Fakir chose the eldest
+son and took him away, and set off with him on his journey, When he got
+home he told the King's son to go out to gather fuel.
+
+So the King's son went out to gather cow-dung, and when he had
+collected some he brought it in.
+
+Then the Fakir looked at the King's son and put on a great pot, and
+said, "Come round here, my pupil."
+
+But the King's son said, "Master first, and pupil after."
+
+The Fakir told him to come once, he told him twice, he told him three
+times, and each time the King's son answered, "Master first, and pupil
+after."
+
+Then the Fakir made a dash at the King's son, thinking to catch him and
+throw him into the caldron. There were about a hundred gallons of oil
+in this caldron, and the fire was burning beneath it. Then the King's
+son, lifting the Fakir, gave him a jerk and threw him into the caldron,
+and he was burnt, and became roast meat. He then saw a key of the
+Fakir's lying there; he took this key and opened the door of the
+Fakir's house. Now many men were locked up in this house; two horses
+were standing there in a hut of the Fakir's; two greyhounds were tied
+up there; two simurgs were imprisoned, and two tigers also stood there.
+So the King's son let all the creatures go, and took them out of the
+house, and they all returned thanks to God. Next he let out all the men
+who were in prison. He took away with him the two horses, and he took
+away the two tigers, and he took away the two hounds, and he took away
+the two simurgs, and with them he set out for another country.
+
+As he went along the road he saw above him a bald man, grazing a herd
+of calves, and this bald man called out to him, "Fellow! can you fight
+at all?"
+
+The King's son replied, "When I was little I could fight a bit, and
+now, if any one wants to fight, I am not so unmanly as to turn my back.
+Come, I will fight you."
+
+The bald man said, "If I throw you, you shall be my slave; and if you
+throw me, I will be your slave." So they got ready and began to fight,
+and the King's son threw him.
+
+On this the King's son said, "I will leave my beasts here, my simurgs,
+tigers, and dogs, and horses; they will all stay here while I go to the
+city to see the sights. I appoint the tiger as guard over my property.
+And you are my slave, you, too, must stay here with my belongings." So
+the King's son started off to the city to see the sights, and arrived
+at a pool.
+
+He saw that it was a pleasant pool, and thought he would stop and bathe
+there, and therewith he began to strip off his clothes.
+
+Now the King's daughter, who was sitting on the roof of the palace, saw
+his royal marks, and she said, "This man is a king; when I marry, I
+will marry him and no other." So she said to her father, "My father; I
+wish to marry."
+
+"Good," said her father.
+
+Then the King made a proclamation: "Let all men, great and small,
+attend to-day in the hall of audience, for the King's daughter will to-
+day take a husband."
+
+All the men of the land assembled, and the traveller Prince also came,
+dressed in the Fakir's clothes, saying to himself, "I must see this
+ceremony to-day." He went in and sat down.
+
+The King's daughter came out and sat in the balcony, and cast her
+glance round all the assembly. She noticed that the traveller Prince
+was sitting in the assembly in Fakir's attire.
+
+The Princess said to her handmaiden, "Take this dish of henna, go to
+that traveller dressed like a Fakir, and sprinkle scent on him from the
+dish."
+
+The handmaiden obeyed the Princess's order, went to him, and sprinkled
+the scent over him.
+
+Then the people said, "The slave-girl has made a mistake."
+
+But she replied, "The slave-girl has made no mistake, 'tis her mistress
+has made the mistake."
+
+On this the King married his daughter to the Fakir, who was really no
+Fakir, but a Prince.
+
+What fate had decreed came to pass in that country, and they were
+married. But the King of that city became very sad in his heart,
+because when so many chiefs and nobles were sitting there his daughter
+had chosen none of them, but had chosen that Fakir; but he kept these
+thoughts concealed in his heart.
+
+One day the traveller Prince said, "Let all the King's sons-in-law come
+out with me to-day to hunt."
+
+People said, "What is this Fakir that he should go a-hunting?"
+
+However, they all set out for the hunt, and fixed their meeting-place
+at a certain pool.
+
+The newly married Prince went to his tigers, and told his tigers and
+hounds to kill and bring in a great number of gazelles and hog-deer and
+markhor. Instantly they killed and brought in a great number. Then
+taking with him these spoils of the chase, the Prince came to the pool
+settled on as a meeting-place. The other Princes, sons-in-law of the
+King of that city, also assembled there; but they had brought in no
+game, and the new Prince had brought a great deal. Thence they returned
+home to the town, and went to the King their father-in-law, to present
+their game.
+
+Now that King had no son. Then the new Prince told him that in fact he,
+too, was a Prince. At this the King, his father-in-law, was greatly
+delighted and took him by the hand and embraced him. He seated him by
+himself, saying, "O Prince, I return thanks that you have come here and
+become my son-in-law; I am very happy at this, and I make over my
+kingdom to you."
+
+
+
+WHY THE FISH LAUGHED
+
+As a certain fisherwoman passed by a palace crying her fish, the queen
+appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show
+what she had. At that moment a very big fish jumped about in the bottom
+of the basket.
+
+"Is it a he or a she?" inquired the queen. "I wish to purchase a she
+fish."
+
+On hearing this the fish laughed aloud.
+
+"It's a he," replied the fisherwoman, and proceeded on her rounds.
+
+The queen returned to her room in a great rage; and on coming to see
+her in the evening, the king noticed that something had disturbed her.
+
+"Are you indisposed?" he said.
+
+"No; but I am very much annoyed at the strange behaviour of a fish. A
+woman brought me one to-day, and on my inquiring whether it was a male
+or female, the fish laughed most rudely."
+
+"A fish laugh! Impossible! You must be dreaming."
+
+"I am not a fool. I speak of what I have seen with my own eyes and have
+heard with my own ears."
+
+"Passing strange! Be it so. I will inquire concerning it."
+
+On the morrow the king repeated to his vizier what his wife had told
+him, and bade him investigate the matter, and be ready with a
+satisfactory answer within six months, on pain of death. The vizier
+promised to do his best, though he felt almost certain of failure. For
+five months he laboured indefatigably to find a reason for the laughter
+of the fish. He sought everywhere and from every one. The wise and
+learned, and they who were skilled in magic and in all manner of
+trickery, were consulted. Nobody, however, could explain the matter;
+and so he returned broken-hearted to his house, and began to arrange
+his affairs in prospect of certain death, for he had had sufficient
+experience of the king to know that His Majesty would not go back from
+his threat. Amongst other things, he advised his son to travel for a
+time, until the king's anger should have somewhat cooled.
+
+The young fellow, who was both clever and handsome, started off
+whithersoever Kismat might lead him. He had been gone some days, when
+he fell in with an old farmer, who also was on a journey to a certain
+village. Finding the old man very pleasant, he asked him if he might
+accompany him, professing to be on a visit to the same place. The old
+farmer agreed, and they walked along together. The day was hot, and the
+way was long and weary.
+
+"Don't you think it would be pleasanter if you and I sometimes gave one
+another a lift?" said the youth.
+
+"What a fool the man is!" thought the old farmer.
+
+Presently they passed through a field of corn ready for the sickle, and
+looking like a sea of gold as it waved to and fro in the breeze.
+
+"Is this eaten or not?" said the young man.
+
+Not understanding his meaning, the old man replied, "I don't know."
+
+After a little while the two travellers arrived at a big village, where
+the young man gave his companion a clasp-knife, and said, "Take this,
+friend, and get two horses with it; but mind and bring it back, for it
+is very precious."
+
+The old man, looking half amused and half angry, pushed back the knife,
+muttering something to the effect that his friend was either a fool
+himself or else trying to play the fool with him. The young man
+pretended not to notice his reply, and remained almost silent till they
+reached the city, a short distance outside which was the old farmer's
+house. They walked about the bazar and went to the mosque, but nobody
+saluted them or invited them to come in and rest.
+
+"What a large cemetery!" exclaimed the young man.
+
+"What does the man mean," thought the old farmer, "calling this largely
+populated city a cemetery?"
+
+On leaving the city their way led through a cemetery where a few people
+were praying beside a grave and distributing chapatis and kulchas to
+passers-by, in the name of their beloved dead. They beckoned to the two
+travellers and gave them as much as they would.
+
+"What a splendid city this is!" said the young man.
+
+"Now, the man must surely be demented!" thought the old farmer. "I
+wonder what he will do next? He will be calling the land water, and the
+water land; and be speaking of light where there is darkness, and of
+darkness when it is light." However, he kept his thoughts to himself.
+
+Presently they had to wade through a stream that ran along the edge of
+the cemetery. The water was rather deep, so the old farmer took of his
+shoes and paijamas and crossed over; but the young man waded through it
+with his shoes and paijamas on.
+
+"Well! I never did see such a perfect fool, both in word and in deed,"
+said the old man to himself.
+
+However, he liked the fellow; and thinking that he would amuse his wife
+and daughter, he invited him to come and stay at his house as long as
+he had occasion to remain in the village.
+
+"Thank you very much," the young man replied; "but let me first
+inquire, if you please, whether the beam of your house is strong."
+
+The old farmer left him in despair, and entered his house laughing.
+
+"There is a man in yonder field," he said, after returning their
+greetings. "He has come the greater part of the way with me, and I
+wanted him to put up here as long as he had to stay in this village.
+But the fellow is such a fool that I cannot make anything out of him.
+He wants to know if the beam of this house is all right. The man must
+be mad!" and saying this, he burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+"Father," said the farmer's daughter, who was a very sharp and wise
+girl, "this man, whosoever he is, is no fool, as you deem him. He only
+wishes to know if you can afford to entertain him."
+
+"Oh! of course," replied the farmer. "I see. Well perhaps you can help
+me to solve some of his other mysteries. While we were walking together
+he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as he
+thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding."
+
+"Most assuredly," said the girl. "He meant that one of you should tell
+a story to beguile the time."
+
+"Oh yes. Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me
+whether it was eaten or not."
+
+"And didn't you know the meaning of this, father? He simply wished to
+know if the man was in debt or not; because, if the owner of the field
+was in debt, then the produce of the field was as good as eaten to him;
+that is, it would have to go to his creditors."
+
+"Yes, yes, yes; of course! Then, on entering a certain village, he bade
+me take his clasp knife and get two horses with it, and bring back the
+knife again to him."
+
+"Are not two stout sticks as good as two horses for helping one along
+on the road? He only asked you to cut a couple of sticks and be careful
+not to lose his knife."
+
+"I see," said the farmer. "While we were walking over the city we did
+not see anybody that we knew, and not a soul gave us a scrap of
+anything to eat, till we were passing the cemetery; but there some
+people called to us and put into our hands some chapatis and kulchas;
+so my companion called the city a cemetery, and the cemetery a city."
+
+"This also is to be understood, father, if one thinks of the city as
+the place where everything is to be obtained, and of inhospitable
+people as worse than the dead. The city, though crowded with people,
+was as if dead, as far as you were concerned; while, in the cemetery,
+which is crowded with the dead, you were saluted by kind friends and
+provided with bread."
+
+"True, true!" said the astonished farmer. "Then, just now, when we were
+crossing the stream, he waded through it without taking off his shoes
+and paijamas."
+
+"I admire his wisdom," replied the girl. "I have often thought how
+stupid people were to venture into that swiftly flowing stream and over
+those sharp stones with bare feet. The slightest stumble and they would
+fall, and be wetted from head to foot. This friend of yours is a most
+wise man. I should like to see him and speak to him."
+
+"Very well," said the farmer; "I will go and find him, and bring him
+in."
+
+"Tell him, father, that our beams are strong enough, and then he will
+come in. I'll send on ahead a present to the man, to show him that we
+can afford to have him for our guest."
+
+Accordingly she called a servant and sent him to the young man with a
+present of a basin of ghee, twelve chapatis, and a jar of milk, and the
+following message:--"O friend, the moon is full; twelve months make a
+year, and the sea is overflowing with water."
+
+Half-way the bearer of this present and message met his little son,
+who, seeing what was in the basket, begged his father to give him some
+of the food. His father foolishly complied. Presently he saw the young
+man, and gave him the rest of the present and the message.
+
+"Give your mistress my salam," he replied, "and tell her that the moon
+is new, and that I can only find eleven months in the year, and the sea
+is by no means full."
+
+Not understanding the meaning of these words, the servant repeated them
+word for word, as he had heard them, to his mistress; and thus his
+theft was discovered, and he was severely punished. After a little
+while the young man appeared with the old farmer. Great attention was
+shown to him, and he was treated in every way as if he were the son of
+a great man, although his humble host knew nothing of his origin. At
+length he told them everything--about the laughing of the fish, his
+father's threatened execution, and his own banishment--and asked their
+advice as to what he should do.
+
+"The laughing of the fish," said the girl, "which seems to have been
+the cause of all this trouble, indicates that there is a man in the
+palace who is plotting against the king's life."
+
+"Joy, joy!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "There is yet time for me to
+return and save my father from an ignominious and unjust death, and the
+king from danger."
+
+The following day he hastened back to his own country, taking with him
+the farmer's daughter. Immediately on arrival he ran to the palace and
+informed his father of what he had heard. The poor vizier, now almost
+dead from the expectation of death, was at once carried to the king, to
+whom he repeated the news that his son had just brought.
+
+"Never!" said the king.
+
+"But it must be so, Your Majesty," replied the vizier; "and in order to
+prove the truth of what I have heard, I pray you to call together all
+the maids in your palace, and order them to jump over a pit, which must
+be dug. We'll soon find out whether there is any man there."
+
+The king had the pit dug, and commanded all the maids belonging to the
+palace to try to jump it. All of them tried, but only one succeeded.
+That one was found to be a man!!
+
+Thus was the queen satisfied, and the faithful old vizier saved.
+
+Afterwards, as soon as could be, the vizier's son married the old
+farmer's daughter; and a most happy marriage it was.
+
+
+
+THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR
+
+_This story the Teacher told in Jetavana about a Brother who had
+ceased striving after righteousness. Said the Teacher to him: "Is it
+really true that you have ceased all striving?"--"Yes, Blessed One," he
+replied. Then the Teacher said: "O Brother, in former days wise men
+made effort in the place where effort should be made, and so attained
+unto royal power." And he told a story of long ago._
+
+Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was King of Benares, the Bodhisatta
+was born as son of his chief queen. On his name-day they asked 800
+Brahmans, having satisfied them with all their desires, about his lucky
+marks. The Brahmans who had skill in divining from such marks beheld
+the excellence of his, and made answer:
+
+"Full of goodness, great King, is your son, and when you die he will
+become king; he shall be famous and renowned for his skill with the
+five weapons, and shall be the chief man in all India." On hearing what
+the Brahmans had to say, they gave him the name of the Prince of the
+Five Weapons, sword, spear, bow, battle-axe, and shield.
+
+When he came to years of discretion, and had attained the measure of
+sixteen years, the King said to him:
+
+"My son, go and complete your education."
+
+"Who shall be my teacher?" the lad asked.
+
+"Go, my son; in the kingdom of Candahar, in the city of Takkasila, is a
+far-famed teacher from whom I wish you to learn. Take this, and give it
+him for a fee." With that he gave him a thousand pieces of money, and
+dismissed him.
+
+The lad departed, and was educated by this teacher; he received the
+Five Weapons from him as a gift, bade him farewell, and leaving
+Takkasila, he began his journey to Benares, armed with the Five
+Weapons.
+
+On his way he came to a forest inhabited by the Demon with the Matted
+Hair. At the entering in of the forest some men saw him, and cried out:
+
+"Hullo, young sir, keep clear of that wood! There's a Demon in it
+called he of the Matted Hair: he kills every man he sees!" And they
+tried to stop him. But the Bodhisatta, having confidence in himself,
+went straight on, fearless as a maned lion.
+
+When he reached mid-forest the Demon showed himself. He made himself as
+tall as a palm tree; his head was the size of a pagoda, his eyes as big
+as saucers, and he had two tusks all over knobs and bulbs; he had the
+face of a hawk, a variegated belly, and blue hands and feet.
+
+"Where are you going?" he shouted. "Stop! You'll make a meal for me!"
+
+Said the Bodhisatta: "Demon, I came here trusting in myself. I advise
+you to be careful how you come near me. Here's a poisoned arrow, which
+I'll shoot at you and knock you down!" With this menace, he fitted to
+his bow an arrow dipped in deadly poison, and let fly. The arrow stuck
+fast in the Demon's hair. Then he shot and shot, till he had shot away
+fifty arrows; and they all stuck in the Demon's hair. The Demon snapped
+them all off short, and threw them down at his feet; then came up to
+the Bodhisatta, who drew his sword and struck the Demon, threatening
+him the while. His sword--it was three-and-thirty inches long--stuck in
+the Demon's hair! The Bodhisatta struck him with his spear--that stuck
+too! He struck him with his club--and that stuck too!
+
+When the Bodhisatta saw that this had stuck fast, he addressed the
+Demon. "You, Demon!" said he, "did you never hear of me before--the
+Prince of the Five Weapons? When I came into the forest which you live
+in I did not trust to my bow and other weapons. This day will I pound
+you and grind you to powder!" Thus did he declare his resolve, and with
+a shout he hit at the Demon with his right hand. It stuck fast in his
+hair! He hit him with his left hand--that stuck too! With his right
+foot he kicked him--that stuck too; then with his left--and that stuck
+too! Then he butted at him with his head, crying, "I'll pound you to
+powder!" and his head stuck fast like the rest.
+
+Thus the Bodhisatta was five times snared, caught fast in five places,
+hanging suspended: yet he felt no fear--was not even nervous.
+
+Thought the Demon to himself: "Here's a lion of a man! A noble man!
+More than man is he! Here he is, caught by a Demon like me; yet he will
+not fear a bit. Since I have ravaged this road, I never saw such a man.
+Now, why is it that he does not fear?" He was powerless to eat the man,
+but asked him: "Why is it, young sir, that you are not frightened to
+death?"
+
+"Why should I fear, Demon?" replied he. "In one life a man can die but
+once. Besides, in my belly is a thunderbolt; if you eat me, you will
+never be able to digest it; this will tear your inwards into little
+bits, and kill you: so we shall both perish. That is why I fear
+nothing." (By this, the Bodhisatta meant the weapon of knowledge which
+he had within him.)
+
+When he heard this, the Demon thought: "This young man speaks the
+truth. A piece of the flesh of such a lion-man as he would be too much
+for me to digest, if it were no bigger than a kidney-bean. I'll let him
+go!" So, being frightened to death, he let go the Bodhisatta, saying
+"Young sir, you are a lion of a man! I will not eat you up. I set you
+free from my hands, as the moon is disgorged from the jaws of Rahu
+after the eclipse. Go back to the company of your friends and
+relations!"
+
+And the Bodhisatta said: "Demon, I will go, as you say. You were born a
+Demon, cruel, blood-bibbing, devourer of the flesh and gore of others,
+because you did wickedly in former lives. If you still go on doing
+wickedly, you will go from darkness to darkness. But now that you have
+seen me you will find it impossible to do wickedly. Taking the life of
+living creatures causes birth, as an animal, in the world of Petas, or
+in the body of an Asura, or, if one is reborn as a man, it makes his
+life short." With this and the like monition he told him the
+disadvantage of the five kinds of wickedness, and the profit of the
+five kinds of virtue, and frightened the Demon in various ways,
+discoursing to him until he subdued him and made him self-denying, and
+established him in the five kinds of virtue; he made him worship the
+deity to whom offerings were made in that wood; and having carefully
+admonished him, departed out of it.
+
+At the entrance of the forest he told all to the people thereabout; and
+went on to Benares, armed with his five weapons. Afterwards he became
+king, and ruled righteously; and after giving alms and doing good he
+passed away according to his deeds.
+
+_And the Teacher, when this tale was ended, became perfectly
+enlightened, and repeated this verse:
+
+  Whose mind and heart from all desire is free,
+  Who seeks for peace by living virtuously,
+    He in due time will sever all the bonds
+  That bind him fast to life, and cease to be.
+
+Thus the Teacher reached the summit, through sainthood and the teaching
+of the law, and thereupon he declared the Four Truths. At the end of
+the declaring of the Truths, this Brother also attained to sainthood.
+Then the Teacher made the connexion, and gave the key to the birth-
+tale, saying: "At that time Angulimala was the Demon, but the Prance of
+the Five Weapons was I myself."_
+
+
+
+THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS
+
+One day a young prince was out practising archery with the son of his
+father's chief vizier, when one of the arrows accidentally struck the
+wife of a merchant, who was walking about in an upper room of a house
+close by. The prince aimed at a bird that was perched on the window-
+sill of that room, and had not the slightest idea that anybody was at
+hand, or he would not have shot in that direction. Consequently, not
+knowing what had happened, he and the vizier's son walked away, the
+vizier's son chaffing him because he had missed the bird.
+
+Presently the merchant went to ask his wife about something, and found
+her lying, to all appearance, dead in the middle of the room, and an
+arrow fixed in the ground within half a yard of her head. Supposing
+that she was dead, he rushed to the window and shrieked, "Thieves
+thieves! They have killed my wife." The neighbours quickly gathered,
+and the servants came running upstairs to see what was the matter. It
+happened that the woman had fainted, and that there was only a very
+slight wound in her breast where the arrow had grazed.
+
+As soon as the woman recovered her senses she told them that two young
+men had passed by the place with their bows and arrows, and that one of
+them had most deliberately aimed at her as she stood by the window.
+
+On hearing this the merchant went to the king, and told him what had
+taken place. His Majesty was much enraged at such audacious wickedness,
+and swore that most terrible punishment should be visited on the
+offender if he could be discovered. He ordered the merchant to go back
+and ascertain whether his wife could recognise the young men if she saw
+them again.
+
+"Oh yes," replied the woman, "I should know them again among all the
+people in the city."
+
+"Then," said the king, when the merchant brought back this reply, "to-
+morrow I will cause all the male inhabitants of this city to pass
+before your house, and your wife will stand at the window and watch for
+the man who did this wanton deed."
+
+A royal proclamation was issued to this effect. So the next day all the
+men and boys of the city, from the age of ten years upwards, assembled
+and marched by the house of the merchant. By chance (for they both had
+been excused from obeying this order) the king's son and the vizier's
+son were also in the company, and passed by in the crowd. They came to
+see the tamasha.
+
+As soon as these two appeared in front of the merchant's window they
+were recognised by the merchant's wife, and at once reported to the
+king.
+
+"My own son and the son of my chief vizier!" exclaimed the king, who
+had been present from the commencement. "What examples for the people!
+Let them both be executed."
+
+"Not so, your Majesty," said the vizier, "I beseech you Let the facts
+of the case be thoroughly investigated. How is it?" he continued,
+turning to the two young men. "Why have you done this cruel thing?"
+
+"I shot an arrow at a bird that was sitting on the sill of an open
+window in yonder house, and missed," answered the prince. "I suppose
+the arrow struck the merchant's wife. Had I known that she or anybody
+had been near I should not have shot in that direction."
+
+"We will speak of this later on," said the king, on hearing this
+answer. "Dismiss the people. Their presence is no longer needed."
+
+In the evening his Majesty and the vizier had a long and earnest talk
+about their two sons. The king wished both of them to be executed; but
+the vizier suggested that the prince should be banished from the
+country. This was finally agreed to.
+
+Accordingly, on the following morning, a little company of soldiers
+escorted the prince out of the city. When they reached the last custom-
+house the vizier's son overtook them. He had come with all haste,
+bringing with him four bags of muhrs on four horses. "I am come," he
+said, throwing his arms round the prince's neck, "because I cannot let
+you go alone. We have lived together, we will be exiled together, and
+we will die together. Turn me not back, if you love me."
+
+"Consider," the prince answered, "what you are doing. All kinds of
+trial may be before me. Why should you leave your home and country to
+be with me?"
+
+"Because I love you," he said, "and shall never be happy without you."
+
+So the two friends walked along hand in hand as fast as they could to
+get out of the country, and behind them marched the soldiers and the
+horses with their valuable burdens. On reaching a place on the borders
+of the king's dominions the prince gave the soldiers some gold, and
+ordered them to return. The soldiers took the money and left; they did
+not, however, go very far, but hid themselves behind rocks and stones,
+and waited till they were quite sure that the prince did not intend to
+come back.
+
+On and on the exiles walked, till they arrived at a certain village,
+where they determined to spend the night under one of the big trees of
+the place. The prince made preparations for a fire, and arranged the
+few articles of bedding that they had with them, while the vizier's son
+went to the baniya and the baker and the butcher to get something for
+their dinner. For some reason he was delayed; perhaps the tsut was not
+quite ready, or the baniya had not got all the spices prepared. After
+waiting half an hour the prince became impatient, and rose up and
+walked about.
+
+He saw a pretty, clear little brook running along not far from their
+resting-place, and hearing that its source was not far distant, he
+started off to find it. The source was a beautiful lake, which at that
+time was covered with the magnificent lotus flower and other water
+plants. The prince sat down on the bank, and being thirsty took up some
+of the water in his hand. Fortunately he looked into his hand before
+drinking, and there, to his great astonishment, he saw reflected whole
+and clear the image of a beautiful fairy. He looked round, hoping to
+see the reality; but seeing no person, he drank the water, and put out
+his hand to take some more. Again he saw the reflection in the water
+which was in his palm. He looked around as before, and this time
+discovered a fairy sitting by the bank on the opposite side of the
+lake. On seeing her he fell so madly in love with her that he dropped
+down in a swoon.
+
+When the vizier's son returned, and found the fire lighted, the horses
+securely fastened, and the bags of muhrs lying altogether in a heap,
+but no prince, he did not know what to think. He waited a little while,
+and then shouted; but not getting any reply, he got up and went to the
+brook. There he came across the footmarks of his friend. Seeing these,
+he went back at once for the money and the horses, and bringing them
+with him, he tracked the prince to the lake, where he found him lying
+to all appearance dead.
+
+"Alas! alas!" he cried, and lifting up the prince, he poured some water
+over his head and face. "Alas! my brother, what is this? Oh! do not die
+and leave me thus. Speak, speak! I cannot bear this!"
+
+In a few minutes the prince, revived by the water, opened his eyes, and
+looked about wildly.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed the vizier's son. "But what is the matter,
+brother?"
+
+"Go away," replied the prince. "I don't want to say anything to you, or
+to see you. Go away."
+
+"Come, come; let us leave this place. Look, I have brought some food
+for you, and horses, and everything. Let us eat and depart."
+
+"Go alone," replied the prince.
+
+"Never," said the vizier's son. "What has happened to suddenly estrange
+you from me? A little while ago we were brethren, but now you detest
+the sight of me."
+
+"I have looked upon a fairy," the prince said. "But a moment I saw her
+face; for when she noticed that I was looking at her she covered her
+face with lotus petals. Oh, how beautiful she was! And while I gazed
+she took out of her bosom an ivory box, and held it up to me. Then I
+fainted. Oh! if you can get me that fairy for my wife, I will go
+anywhere with you."
+
+"Oh, brother," said the vizier's son, "you have indeed seen a fairy.
+She is a fairy of the fairies. This is none other than Gulizar of the
+Ivory City. I know this from the signs that she gave you. From her
+covering her face with lotus petals I learn her name, and from her
+showing you the ivory box I learn where she lives. Be patient, and rest
+assured that I will arrange your marriage with her."
+
+When the prince heard these encouraging words he felt much comforted,
+rose up, and ate, and then went away gladly with his friend.
+
+On the way they met two men. These two men belonged to a family of
+robbers. There were eleven of them altogether. One, an elder sister,
+stayed at home and cooked the food, and the other ten--all brothers--
+went out, two and two, and walked about the four different ways that
+ran through that part of the country, robbing those travellers who
+could not resist them, and inviting others, who were too powerful for
+two of them to manage, to come and rest at their house, where the whole
+family attacked them and stole their goods. These thieves lived in a
+kind of tower, which had several strong-rooms in it, and under it was a
+great pit, wherein they threw the corpses of the poor unfortunates who
+chanced to fall into their power.
+
+The two men came forward, and, politely accosting them, begged them to
+come and stay at their house for the night. "It is late," they said,
+"and there is not another village within several miles."
+
+"Shall we accept this good man's invitation, brother?" asked the
+prince.
+
+The vizier's son frowned slightly in token of disapproval; but the
+prince was tired, and thinking that it was only a whim of his friend's,
+he said to the men, "Very well. It is very kind of you to ask us."
+
+So they all four went to the robbers' tower.
+
+Seated in a room, with the door fastened on the outside, the two
+travellers bemoaned their fate.
+
+"It is no good groaning," said the vizier's son. "I will climb to the
+window, and see whether there are any means of escape. Yes! yes!" he
+whispered, when he had reached the window-hole. "Below there is a ditch
+surrounded by a high wall. I will jump down and reconnoitre. You stay
+here, and wait till I return."
+
+Presently he came back and told the prince that he had seen a most ugly
+woman, whom he supposed was the robbers' housekeeper. She had agreed to
+release them on the promise of her marriage with the prince.
+
+So the woman led the way out of the enclosure by a secret door.
+
+"But where are the horses and the goods?" the vizier's son inquired.
+
+"You cannot bring them," the woman said. "To go out by any other way
+would be to thrust oneself into the grave."
+
+"All right, then; they also shall go out by this door. I have a charm,
+whereby I can make them thin or fat." So the vizier's son fetched the
+horses without any person knowing it, and repeating the charm, he made
+them pass through the narrow doorway like pieces of cloth, and when
+they were all outside restored them to their former condition. He at
+once mounted his horse and laid hold of the halter of one of the other
+horses, and then beckoning to the prince to do likewise, he rode off.
+The prince saw his opportunity, and in a moment was riding after him,
+having the woman behind him.
+
+Now the robbers heard the galloping of the horses, and ran out and shot
+their arrows at the prince and his companions. And one of the arrows
+killed the woman, so they had to leave her behind.
+
+On, on they rode, until they reached a village where they stayed the
+night. The following morning they were off again, and asked for Ivory
+City from every passer-by. At length they came to this famous city, and
+put up at a little hut that belonged to an old woman, from whom they
+feared no harm, and with whom, therefore, they could abide in peace and
+comfort. At first the old woman did not like the idea of these
+travellers staying in her house, but the sight of a muhr, which the
+prince dropped in the bottom of a cup in which she had given him water,
+and a present of another muhr from the vizier's son, quickly made her
+change her mind. She agreed to let them stay there for a few days.
+
+As soon as her work was over the old woman came and sat down with her
+lodgers. The vizier's son pretended to be utterly ignorant of the place
+and people. "Has this city a name?" he asked the old woman.
+
+"Of course it has, you stupid. Every little village, much more a city,
+and such a city as this, has a name."
+
+"What is the name of this city?"
+
+"Ivory City. Don't you know that? I thought the name was known all over
+the world."
+
+On the mention of the name Ivory City the prince gave a deep sigh. The
+vizier's son looked as much as to say "Keep quiet, or you'll discover
+the secret."
+
+"Is there a king of this country?" continued the vizier's son.
+
+"Of course there is, and a queen, and a princess."
+
+"What are their names?"
+
+"The name of the princess is Gulizar, and the name of the queen----"
+
+The vizier's son interrupted the old woman by turning to look at the
+prince, who was staring like a madman. "Yes," he said to him
+afterwards, "we are in the right country. We shall see the beautiful
+princess."
+
+One morning the two travellers noticed the old woman's most careful
+toilette: how careful she was in the arrangement of her hair and the
+set of her kasabah and puts.
+
+"Who is coming?" said the vizier's son.
+
+"Nobody," the old woman replied.
+
+"Then where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to see my daughter, who is a servant of the Princess
+Gulizar. I see her and the princess every day. I should have gone
+yesterday, if you had not been here and taken up all my time."
+
+"Ah-h-h! Be careful not to say anything about us in the hearing of the
+princess." The vizier's son asked her not to speak about them at the
+palace, hoping that, because she had been told not to do so, she would
+mention their arrival, and thus the princess would be informed of their
+coming.
+
+On seeing her mother the girl pretended to be very angry. "Why have you
+not been for two days?" she asked.
+
+"Because, my dear," the old woman answered, "two young travellers, a
+prince and the son of some great vizier, have taken up their abode in
+my hut, and demand so much of my attention. It is nothing but cooking
+and cleaning, and cleaning and cooking, all day long. I can't
+understand the men," she added; "one of them especially appears very
+stupid. He asked me the name of this country and the name of the
+king. Now where can these men have come from, that they do not know
+these things? However, they are very great and very rich. They each
+give me a muhr every morning and every evening."
+
+After this the old woman went and repeated almost the same words to the
+princess, on the hearing of which the princess beat her severely; and
+threatened her with a severer punishment if she ever again spoke of the
+strangers before her.
+
+In the evening, when the old woman had returned to her hut, she told
+the vizier's son how sorry she was that she could not help breaking her
+promise, and how the princess had struck her because she mentioned
+their coming and all about them.
+
+"Alas! alas!" said the prince, who had eagerly listened to every word.
+"What, then, will be her anger at the sight of a man?"
+
+"Anger?" said the vizier's son, with an astonished air. "She would be
+exceedingly glad to see one man. I know this. In this treatment of the
+old woman I see her request that you will go and see her during the
+coming dark fortnight."
+
+"Heaven be praised!" the prince exclaimed.
+
+The next time the old woman went to the palace Gulizar called one of
+her servants and ordered her to rush into the room while she was
+conversing with the old woman; and if the old woman asked what was the
+matter, she was to say that the king's elephants had gone mad, and were
+rushing about the city and bazaar in every direction, and destroying
+everything in their way.
+
+The servant obeyed, and the old woman, fearing lest the elephants
+should go and push down her hut and kill the prince and his friend,
+begged the princess to let her depart. Now Gulizar had obtained a
+charmed swing, that landed whoever sat on it at the place wherever they
+wished to be. "Get the swing," she said to one of the servants standing
+by. When it was brought she bade the old woman step into it and desire
+to be at home.
+
+The old woman did so, and was at once carried through the air quickly
+and safely to her hut, where she found her two lodgers safe and sound.
+"Oh!" she cried, "I thought that both of you would be killed by this
+time. The royal elephants have got loose and are running about wildly.
+When I heard this I was anxious about you. So the princess gave me this
+charmed swing to return in. But come, let us get outside before the
+elephants arrive and batter down the place."
+
+"Don't believe this," said the vizier's son. "It is a mere hoax. They
+have been playing tricks with you."
+
+"You will soon have your heart's desire," he whispered aside to the
+prince. "These things are signs."
+
+Two days of the dark fortnight had elapsed, when the prince and the
+vizier's son seated themselves in the swing, and wished themselves
+within the grounds of the palace. In a moment they were there, and
+there too was the object of their search standing by one of the palace
+gates, and longing to see the prince quite as much as he was longing to
+see her.
+
+Oh, what a happy meeting it was!
+
+"At last," said Gulizar, "I have seen my beloved, my husband."
+
+"A thousand thanks to Heaven for bringing me to you," said the prince.
+
+Then the prince and Gulizar betrothed themselves to one another and
+parted, the one for the hut and the other for the palace, both of them
+feeling happier than they had ever been before.
+
+Henceforth the prince visited Gulizar every day and returned to the hut
+every night. One morning Gulizar begged him to stay with her always.
+She was constantly afraid of some evil happening to him--perhaps
+robbers would slay him, or sickness attack him, and then she would be
+deprived of him. She could not live without seeing him. The prince
+showed her that there was no real cause for fear, and said that he felt
+he ought to return to his friend at night, because he had left his home
+and country and risked his life for him; and, moreover, if it had not
+been for his friend's help he would never have met with her.
+
+Gulizar for the time assented, but she determined in her heart to get
+rid of the vizier's son as soon as possible. A few days after this
+conversation she ordered one of her maids to make a pilaw. She gave
+special directions that a certain poison was to be mixed into it while
+cooking, and as soon as it was ready the cover was to be placed on the
+saucepan, so that the poisonous steam might not escape. When the pilaw
+was ready she sent it at once by the hand of a servant to the vizier's
+son with this message "Gulizar, the princess, sends you an offering in
+the name of her dead uncle."
+
+On receiving the present the vizier's son thought that the prince had
+spoken gratefully of him to the princess, and therefore she had thus
+remembered him. Accordingly he sent back his salam and expressions of
+thankfulness.
+
+When it was dinner-time he took the saucepan of pilaw and went out to
+eat it by the stream. Taking off the lid, he threw it aside on the
+grass and then washed his hands. During the minute or so that he was
+performing these ablutions, the green grass under the cover of the
+saucepan turned quite yellow. He was astonished, and suspecting that
+there was poison in the pilaw, he took a little and threw it to some
+crows that were hopping about. The moment the crows ate what was thrown
+to them they fell down dead.
+
+"Heaven be praised," exclaimed the vizier's son, "who has preserved me
+from death at this time!"
+
+On the return of the prince that evening the vizier's son was very
+reticent and depressed. The prince noticed this change in him, and
+asked what was the reason. "Is it because I am away so much at the
+palace?" The vizier's son saw that the prince had nothing to do with
+the sending of the pilaw, and therefore told him everything.
+
+"Look here," he said, "in this handkerchief is some pilaw that the
+princess sent me this morning in the name of her deceased uncle. It is
+saturated with poison. Thank Heaven, I discovered it in time!"
+
+"Oh, brother! who could have done this thing? Who is there that
+entertains enmity against you?"
+
+"The Princess Gulizar. Listen. The next time you go to see her, I
+entreat you to take some snow with you; and just before seeing the
+princess put a little of it into both your eyes. It will provoke tears,
+and Gulizar will ask you why you are crying. Tell her that you weep for
+the loss of your friend, who died suddenly this morning. Look! take,
+too, this wine and this shovel, and when you have feigned intense grief
+at the death of your friend, bid the princess to drink a little of the
+wine. It is strong, and will immediately send her into a deep sleep.
+Then, while she is asleep, heat the shovel and mark her back with it.
+Remember to bring back the shovel again, and also to take her pearl
+necklace. This done, return. Now fear not to execute these
+instructions, because on the fulfilment of them depends your fortune
+and happiness. I will arrange that your marriage with the princess
+shall be accepted by the king, her father, and all the court."
+
+The prince promised that he would do everything as the vizier's son had
+advised him; and he kept his promise.
+
+The following night, on the return of the prince from his visit to
+Gulizar, he and the vizier's son, taking the horses and bags of muhrs,
+went to a graveyard about a mile or so distant. It was arranged that
+the vizier's son should act the part of a fakir and the prince the part
+of the fakir's disciple and servant.
+
+In the morning, when Gulizar had returned to her senses, she felt a
+smarting pain in her back, and noticed that her pearl necklace was
+gone. She went at once and informed the king of the loss of her
+necklace, but said nothing to him about the pain in her back.
+
+The king was very angry when he heard of the theft, and caused
+proclamation concerning it to be made throughout all the city and
+surrounding country.
+
+"It is well," said the vizier's son, when he heard of this
+proclamation. "Fear not, my brother, but go and take this necklace, and
+try to sell it in the bazaar."
+
+The prince took it to a goldsmith and asked him to buy it.
+
+"How much do you want for it?" asked the man.
+
+"Fifty thousand rupees," the prince replied.
+
+"All right," said the man; "wait here while I go and fetch the money."
+
+The prince waited and waited, till at last the goldsmith returned, and
+with him the kotwal, who at once took the prince into custody on the
+charge of stealing the princess's necklace.
+
+"How did you get the necklace?" the kotwal asked.
+
+"A fakir, whose servant I am, gave it to me to sell in the bazaar," the
+prince replied. "Permit me, and I will show you where he is."
+
+The prince directed the kotwal and the policeman to the place where he
+had left the vizier's son, and there they found the fakir with his eyes
+shut and engaged in prayer. Presently, when he had finished his
+devotions, the kotwal asked him to explain how he had obtained
+possession of the princess's necklace.
+
+"Call the king hither," he replied, "and then I will tell his Majesty
+face to face."
+
+On this some men went to the king and told him what the fakir had said.
+His Majesty came, and seeing the fakir so solemn and earnest in his
+devotions, he was afraid to rouse his anger, lest peradventure the
+displeasure of Heaven should descend on him, and so he placed his hands
+together in the attitude of a supplicant, and asked, "How did you get
+my daughter's necklace?"
+
+"Last night," replied the fakir, "we were sitting here by this tomb
+worshipping Khuda, when a ghoul, dressed as a princess, came and
+exhumed a body that had been buried a few days ago, and began to eat
+it. On seeing this I was filled with anger, and beat her back with a
+shovel, which lay on the fire at the time. While running away from me
+her necklace got loose and dropped. You wonder at these words, but they
+are not difficult to prove. Examine your daughter, and you will find
+the marks of the burn on her back. Go, and if it is as I say, send the
+princess to me, and I will punish her."
+
+The king went back to the palace, and at once ordered the princess's
+back to be examined.
+
+"It is so," said the maid-servant; "the burn is there."
+
+"Then let the girl be slain immediately," the king shouted.
+
+"No, no, your Majesty," they replied. "Let us send her to the fakir who
+discovered this thing, that he may do whatever he wishes with her."
+
+The king agreed, and so the princess was taken to the graveyard.
+
+"Let her be shut up in a cage, and be kept near the grave whence she
+took out the corpse," said the fakir.
+
+This was done, and in a little while the fakir and his disciple and the
+princess were left alone in the graveyard. Night had not long cast its
+dark mantle over the scene when the fakir and his disciple threw off
+their disguise, and taking their horses and luggage, appeared before
+the cage. They released the princess, rubbed some ointment over the
+scars on her back, and then sat her upon one of their horses behind the
+prince. Away they rode fast and far, and by the morning were able to
+rest and talk over their plans in safety. The vizier's son showed the
+princess some of the poisoned pilaw that she had sent him, and asked
+whether she had repented of her ingratitude. The princess wept, and
+acknowledged that he was her greatest helper and friend.
+
+A letter was sent to the chief vizier telling him of all that had
+happened to the prince and the vizier's son since they had left their
+country. When the vizier read the letter he went and informed the king.
+The king caused a reply to be sent to the two exiles, in which he
+ordered them not to return, but to send a letter to Gulizar's father,
+and inform him of everything. Accordingly they did this; the prince
+wrote the letter at the vizier's son's dictation.
+
+On reading the letter Gulizar's father was much enraged with his
+viziers and other officials for not discovering the presence in his
+country of these illustrious visitors, as he was especially anxious to
+ingratiate himself in the favour of the prince and the vizier's son. He
+ordered the execution of some of the viziers on a certain date.
+
+"Come," he wrote back to the vizier's son, "and stay at the palace. And
+if the prince desires it, I will arrange for his marriage with Gulizar
+as soon as possible."
+
+The prince and the vizier's son most gladly accepted the invitation,
+and received a right noble welcome from the king. The marriage soon
+took place, and then after a few weeks the king gave them presents of
+horses and elephants, and jewels and rich cloths, and bade them start
+for their own land; for he was sure that the king would now receive
+them. The night before they left the viziers and others, whom the king
+intended to have executed as soon as his visitors had left, came and
+besought the vizier's son to plead for them, and promised that they
+each would give him a daughter in marriage. He agreed to do so, and
+succeeded in obtaining their pardon.
+
+Then the prince, with his beautiful bride Gulizar, and the vizier's
+son, attended by a troop of soldiers, and a large number of camels and
+horses bearing very much treasure, left for their own land. In the
+midst of the way they passed the tower of the robbers, and with the
+help of the soldiers they razed it to the ground, slew all its inmates,
+and seized the treasure which they had been amassing there for several
+years.
+
+At length they reached their own country, and when the king saw his
+son's beautiful wife and his magnificent retinue he was at once
+reconciled, and ordered him to enter the city and take up his abode
+there.
+
+Henceforth all was sunshine on the path of the prince. He became a
+great favourite, and in due time succeeded to the throne, and ruled the
+country for many, many years in peace and happiness.
+
+
+
+HOW SUN, MOON, AND WIND WENT OUT TO DINNER
+
+One day Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and aunts
+Thunder and Lightning. Their mother (one of the most distant Stars you
+see far up in the sky) waited alone for her children's return.
+
+Now both Sun and Wind were greedy and selfish. They enjoyed the great
+feast that had been prepared for them, without a thought of saving any
+of it to take home to their mother--but the gentle Moon did not forget
+her. Of every dainty dish that was brought round, she placed a small
+portion under one of her beautiful long finger-nails, that Star might
+also have a share in the treat.
+
+On their return, their mother, who had kept watch for them all night
+long with her little bright eye, said, "Well, children, what have you
+brought home for me?" Then Sun (who was eldest) said, "I have brought
+nothing home for you. I went out to enjoy myself with my friends--not
+to fetch a dinner for my mother!" And Wind said, "Neither have I
+brought anything home for you, mother. You could hardly expect me to
+bring a collection of good things for you, when I merely went out for
+my own pleasure." But Moon said, "Mother, fetch a plate, see what I
+have brought you." And shaking her hands she showered down such a
+choice dinner as never was seen before.
+
+Then Star turned to Sun and spoke thus, "Because you went out to amuse
+yourself with your friends, and feasted and enjoyed yourself, without
+any thought of your mother at home--you shall be cursed. Henceforth,
+your rays shall ever be hot and scorching, and shall burn all that they
+touch. And men shall hate you, and cover their heads when you appear."
+
+(And that is why the Sun is so hot to this day.)
+
+Then she turned to Wind and said, "You also who forgot your mother in
+the midst of your selfish pleasures--hear your doom. You shall always
+blow in the hot dry weather, and shall parch and shrivel all living
+things. And men shall detest and avoid you from this very time."
+
+(And that is why the Wind in the hot weather is still so disagreeable.)
+
+But to Moon she said, "Daughter, because you remembered your mother,
+and kept for her a share in your own enjoyment, from henceforth you
+shall be ever cool, and calm, and bright. No noxious glare shall
+accompany your pure rays, and men shall always call you 'blessed."'
+
+(And that is why the moon's light is so soft, and cool, and beautiful
+even to this day.)
+
+
+
+HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED
+
+A very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death,
+sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did
+not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them
+were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old fellow had to bear with
+much abuse and cruelty from his sons. Wretched, selfish ingrates!
+Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their father,
+hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received their
+patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them--nay, the sooner the
+better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And they
+let the poor old man know what they felt.
+
+One day he met a friend and related to him all his troubles. The friend
+sympathised very much with him, and promised to think over the matter,
+and call in a little while and tell him what to do. He did so; in a
+few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of stones
+and gravel before him.
+
+"Look here, friend," said he. "Your sons will get to know of my coming
+here to-day, and will inquire about it. You must pretend that I came to
+discharge a long-standing debt with you, and that you are several
+thousands of rupees richer than you thought you were. Keep these bags
+in your own hands, and on no account let your sons get to them as long
+as you are alive. You will soon find them change their conduct towards
+you. Salaam. I will come again soon to see how you are getting on."
+
+When the young men got to hear of this further increase of wealth they
+began to be more attentive and pleasing to their father than ever
+before. And thus they continued to the day of the old man's demise,
+when the bags were greedily opened, and found to contain only stones
+and gravel!
+
+
+
+THE PIGEON AND THE CROW
+
+Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was a Pigeon, and lived in a nest-
+basket which a rich man's cook had hung up in the kitchen, in order to
+earn merit by it. A greedy Crow, flying near, saw all sorts of delicate
+food lying about in the kitchen, and fell a-hungering after it. "How in
+the world can I get some?" thought he? At last he hit upon a plan.
+
+When the Pigeon went to search for food, behind him, following,
+following, came the Crow.
+
+"What do you want, Mr. Crow? You and I don't feed alike."
+
+"Ah, but I like you and your ways! Let me be your chum, and let us feed
+together."
+
+The Pigeon agreed, and they went on in company. The Crow pretended to
+feed along with the Pigeon, but ever and anon he would turn back, peck
+to bits some heap of cow-dung, and eat a fat worm. When he had got a
+bellyful of them, up he flies, as pert as you like:
+
+"Hullo, Mr. Pigeon, what a time you take over your meal! One ought to
+draw the line somewhere. Let's be going home before it is too late."
+And so they did.
+
+The cook saw that his Pigeon had brought a friend, and hung up another
+basket for him.
+
+A few days afterwards there was a great purchase of fish which came to
+the rich man's kitchen. How the Crow longed for some! So there he lay,
+from early morn, groaning and making a great noise. Says the Pigeon to
+the Crow:
+
+"Come, Sir Crow, and get your breakfast!"'
+
+"Oh dear! oh dear! I have such a fit of indigestion!" says he.
+
+"Nonsense! Crows never have indigestion," said the Pigeon. "If you eat
+a lamp-wick, that stays in your stomach a little while; but anything
+else is digested in a trice, as soon as you eat it. Now do what I tell
+you; don't behave in this way just for seeing a little fish."
+
+"Why do you say that, master? I have indigestion."
+
+"Well, be careful," said the Pigeon, and flew away.
+
+The cook prepared all the dishes, and then stood at the kitchen door,
+wiping the sweat off his body. "Now's my time!" thought Mr. Crow, and
+alighted on a dish containing some dainty food. Click! The cook heard
+it, and looked round. Ah! he caught the Crow, and plucked all the
+feathers out of his head, all but one tuft; he powdered ginger and
+cummin, mixed it up with butter-milk, and rubbed it well all over the
+bird's body.
+
+"That's for spoiling my master's dinner and making me throw it away!"
+said he, and threw him into his basket. Oh, how it hurt!
+
+By-and-by the Pigeon came in, and saw the Crow lying there, making a
+great noise. He made great game of him, and repeated a verse of poetry:
+
+  "Who is this tufted crane I see
+  Lying where he's no right to be?
+  Come out! my friend, the crow is near,
+  And he may do you harm, I fear!"
+
+To this the Crow answered with another:
+
+  "No tufted crane am I--no, no!
+  I'm nothing but a greedy crow.
+  I would not do as I was told,
+  So now I'm plucked, as you behold."
+
+And the Pigeon rejoined with a third verse:
+
+  "You'll come to grief again, I know--
+  It is your nature to do so;
+  If people make a dish of meat,
+  'Tis not for little birds to eat."
+
+Then the Pigeon flew away, saying: "I can't live with this creature any
+longer." And the Crow lay there groaning till he died.
+
+
+
+NOTES AND REFERENCES
+
+The story literature of India is in a large measure the outcome of the
+moral revolution of the peninsula connected with the name of Gautama
+Buddha. As the influence of his life and doctrines grew, a tendency
+arose to connect all the popular stories of India round the great
+teacher. This could be easily effected owing to the wide spread of the
+belief in metempsychosis. All that was told of the sages of the past
+could be interpreted of the Buddha by representing them as pre-
+incarnations of him. Even with Fables, or beast-tales, this could be
+done, for the Hindoos were Darwinists long before Darwin, and regarded
+beasts as cousins of men and stages of development in the progress of
+the soul through the ages. Thus, by identifying the Buddha with the
+heroes of all folk-tales and the chief characters in the beast-drolls,
+the Buddhists were enabled to incorporate the whole of the story-store
+of Hindostan in their sacred books, and enlist on their side the tale-
+telling instincts of men.
+
+In making Buddha the centre figure of the popular literature of India,
+his followers also invented the Frame as a method of literary art. The
+idea of connecting a number of disconnected stories familiar to us from
+_The Arabian Nights_, Boccaccio's _Decamerone_, Chaucer's _Canterbury
+Tales_, or even _Pickwick_, is directly traceable to the plan of
+making Buddha the central figure of India folk-literature. Curiously
+enough, the earliest instance of this in Buddhist literature was intended
+to be a Decameron, ten tales of Buddha's previous births, told of each
+of the ten Perfections. Asvagosha, the earlier Boccaccio, died when he
+had completed thirty-four of the Birth-Tales. But other collections were
+made, and at last a corpus of the JATAKAS, or Birth-Tales of the Buddha,
+was carried over to Ceylon, possibly as early as the first introduction of
+Buddhism, 241 B.C. There they have remained till the present day, and
+have at last been made accessible in a complete edition in the original
+Pali by Prof. Fausb�ll.
+
+These JATAKAS, as we now have them, are enshrined in a commentary on
+the _gathas_, or moral verses, written in Ceylon by one of
+Buddhaghosa's school in the fifth century A.D. They invariably begin
+with a "Story of the Present," an incident in Buddha's life which
+calls up to him a "Story of the Past," a folk-tale in which he had
+played a part during one of his former incarnations. Thus the fable of
+the Lion and the Crane, which opens the present collection, is
+introduced by a "Story of the Present" in the following words:--
+
+"A service have we done thee" [the opening words of the _gatha_ or
+moral verse]. "This the Master told while living at Jetavana concerning
+Devadatta's treachery. Not only now, O Bhickkus, but in a former
+existence was Devadatta ungrateful. And having said this he told a
+tale" Then follows the tale as given above, and the commentary
+concludes: "The Master, having given the lesson, summed up the Jataka
+thus: 'At that time, the Lion was Devadatta, and the Crane was I
+myself.'" Similarly, with each story of the past the Buddha identifies
+himself, or is mentioned as identical with, the virtuous hero of the
+folk-tale. These Jatakas are 550 in number, and have been reckoned to
+include some 2000 tales. Some of these had been translated by Mr.
+Rhys-Davids (_Buddhist Birth Stories, I._, Tr�bner's Oriental
+Library, 1880), Prof. Fausb�ll (_Five Jatakas_, Copenhagen), and Dr.
+R. Morris (_Folk-Lore Journal_, vols. ii.-v.). A few exist sculptured
+on the earliest Buddhist Stupas. Thus several of the circular figure
+designs on the reliefs from Amaravati, now on the grand staircase of the
+British Museum, represent Jatakas, or previous births of the Buddha.
+
+Some of the Jatakas bear a remarkable resemblance to some of the most
+familiar FABLES OF AESOP. So close is the resemblance, indeed, that it
+is impossible not to surmise an historical relation between the two.
+What this relation is I have discussed at considerable length in the
+"History of the Aesopic Fable," which forms the introductory volume to
+my edition of Caxton's _Esope_ (London, D. Nutt, "Biblioth�que de
+Carabas," 1889). In this place I can only roughly summarise my results.
+I conjecture that a collection of fables existed in India before Buddha
+and independently of the Jatakas, and connected with the name of
+Kasyapa, who was afterwards made by the Buddhists into the latest of
+the twenty-seven pre-incarnations of the Buddha. This collection of the
+Fables of Kasyapa was brought to Europe with a deputation from the
+Cingalese King Chandra Muka Siwa (obiit 52 A.D.) to the Emperor
+Claudius about 50 A.D., and was done into Greek as the [Greek: Logoi
+Lubikoi] of "Kybises." These were utilised by Babrius (from whom the
+Greek Aesop is derived) and Avian, and so came into the European Aesop.
+I have discussed all those that are to be found in the Jatakas in the
+"History" before mentioned, i. pp. 54-72 (see Notes i. xv. xx.). In
+these Notes henceforth I refer to this "History" as my _Aesop_.
+
+There were probably other Buddhist collections of a similar nature to
+the Jatakas with a framework. When the Hindu reaction against Buddhism
+came, the Brahmins adapted these, with the omission of Buddha as the
+central figure. There is scarcely any doubt that the so-called FABLES
+OF BIDPAI were thus derived from Buddhistic sources. In its Indian form
+this is now extant as a _Panchatantra_ or Pentateuch, five books
+of tales connected by a Frame. This collection is of special interest
+to us in the present connection, as it has come to Europe in various
+forms and shapes. I have edited Sir Thomas North's English version of
+an Italian adaptation of a Spanish translation of a Latin version of a
+Hebrew translation of an Arabic adaptation of the Pehlevi version of
+the Indian original (_Fables of Bidpai_, London, D. Nutt,
+"Biblioth�que de Carabas," 1888). In this I give a genealogical table
+of the various versions, from which I calculate that the tales have
+been translated into thirty-eight languages in 112 different versions,
+twenty different ones in English alone. Their influence on European
+folk-tales has been very great: it is probable that nearly one-tenth of
+these can be traced to the Bidpai literature. (See Notes v. ix. x.
+xiii. xv.)
+
+Other collections of a similar character, arranged in a frame, and
+derived ultimately from Buddhistic sources, also reached Europe and
+formed popular reading in the Middle Ages. Among these may be mentioned
+THE TALES OF SINDIBAD, known to Europe as _The Seven Sages of
+Rome:_ from this we get the Gellert story (_cf. Celtic Fairy
+Tales_), though it also occurs in the Bidpai. Another popular
+collection was that associated with the life of St. Buddha, who has
+been canonised as St. Josaphat: BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT tells of his
+conversion and much else besides, including the tale of the Three
+Caskets, used by Shakespeare in the _Merchant of Venice_.
+
+Some of the Indian tales reached Europe at the time of the Crusades,
+either orally or in collections no longer extant. The earliest
+selection of these was the _Disciplina Clericalis_ of Petrus
+Alphonsi, a Spanish Jew converted about 1106: his tales were to be used
+as seasoning for sermons, and strong seasoning they must have proved.
+Another Spanish collection of considerably later date was entitled
+_El Conde Lucanor_ (Eng. trans. by W. York): this contains the
+fable of _The Man, his Son, and their Ass_, which they ride or
+carry as the popular voice decides. But the most famous collection of
+this kind was that known as GESTA ROMANORUM, much of which was
+certainly derived from Oriental and ultimately Indian sources, and so
+might more appropriately be termed _Gesta Indorum_.
+
+All these collections, which reached Europe in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, became very popular, and were used by monks and
+friars to enliven their sermons as EXEMPLA. Prof. Crane has given a
+full account of this very curious phenomenon in his erudite edition of
+the _Exempla of Jacques de Vitry_ (Folk Lore Society, 1890). The
+Indian stories were also used by the Italian _Novellieri_, much of
+Boccaccio and his school being derived from this source. As these again
+gave material for the Elizabethan Drama, chiefly in W. Painter's
+_Palace of Pleasure_, a collection of translated _Novelle_ which
+I have edited (Lond., 3 vols. 1890), it is not surprising that we can at
+times trace portions of Shakespeare back to India. It should also be
+mentioned that one-half of La Fontaine's Fables (Bks. vii.-xii.) are
+derived from Indian sources. (_See_ Note on No. v.)
+
+In India itself the collection of stories in frames went on and still
+goes on. Besides those already mentioned there are the stories of
+_Vikram and the Vampire_ (Vetala), translated among others by the
+late Sir Richard Burton, and the seventy stories of a parrot (_Suka
+Saptati_.) The whole of this literature was summed up by Somnadeva,
+c. 1200 A.D. in a huge compilation entitled _Katha Sarit Sagara_
+("Ocean of the Stream of Stories"). Of this work, written in very
+florid style, Mr. Tawney has produced a translation in two volumes in
+the _Bibliotheca Indica_. Unfortunately, there is a Divorce Court
+atmosphere about the whole book, and my selections from it have been
+accordingly restricted. (Notes, No. xi.)
+
+So much for a short sketch of Indian folk-tales so far as they have
+been reduced to writing in the native literature. [Footnote: An
+admirable and full account of this literature was given by M. A. Barth
+in _M�lusine_, t. iv. No. 12, and t. v. No. 1. See also Table i.
+of Prof. Rhys-Davids' _Birth Stories_.] The Jatakas are probably
+the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the greater part
+of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years old. It is
+certain that much (perhaps one-fifth) of the popular literature of
+modern Europe is derived from those portions of this large bulk which
+came west with the Crusades through the medium of Arabs and Jews. In
+his elaborate _Einleitung_ to the _Pantschatantra_, the Indian
+version of the Fables of Bidpai, Prof. Benfey contended with enormous
+erudition that the majority of folk-tale incidents were to be found in the
+Bidpai literature. His introduction consisted of over 200 monographs on
+the spread of Indian tales to Europe. He wrote in 1859, before the great
+outburst of folk-tale collection in Europe, and he had not thus adequate
+materials to go about in determining the extent of Indian influence on
+the popular mind of Europe. But he made it clear that for beast-tales and
+for drolls, the majority of those current in the mouths of occidental
+people were derived from Eastern and mainly Indian sources. He was
+not successful, in my opinion, in tracing the serious fairy tale to India.
+Few of the tales in the Indian literary collections could be dignified by
+the name of fairy tales, and it was clear that if these were to be traced
+to India, an examination of the contemporary folk-tales of the peninsula
+would have to be attempted.
+
+The collection of current Indian folk-tales has been the work of the
+last quarter of a century, a work, even after what has been achieved,
+still in its initial stages. The credit of having begun the process is
+due to Miss Frere, who, while her father was Governor of the Bombay
+Presidency, took down from the lips of her _ayah_, Anna de Souza,
+one of a Lingaet family from Goa who had been Christian for three
+generations, the tales she afterwards published with Mr. Murray in
+1868, under the title, "_Old Deccan Days, or, Indian Fairy Legends
+current in Southern India, collected from oral tradition by M. Frere,
+with an introduction and notes by Sir Bartle Frere_." Her example
+was followed by Miss Stokes in her _Indian Fairy Tales_ (London,
+Ellis & White, 1880), who took down her tales from two _ayahs_ and
+a _Khitmatgar_, all of them Bengalese--the _ayahs_ Hindus, and
+the man a Mohammedan. Mr. Ralston introduced the volume with some
+remarks which dealt too much with sun-myths for present-day taste.
+Another collection from Bengal was that of Lal Behari Day, a Hindu
+gentleman, in his _Folk-Tales of Bengal_ (London, Macmillan,
+1883). The Panjab and the Kashmir then had their turn: Mrs. Steel
+collected, and Captain (now Major) Temple edited and annotated, their
+_Wideawake Stories_ (London, Tr�bner, 1884), stories capitally
+told and admirably annotated. Captain Temple increased the value of
+this collection by a remarkable analysis of all the incidents contained
+in the two hundred Indian folk-tales collected up to this date. It is
+not too much to say that this analysis marks an onward step in the
+scientific study of the folk-tale: there is such a thing, derided as it
+may be. I have throughout the Notes been able to draw attention to
+Indian parallels by a simple reference to Major Temple's Analysis.
+
+Major Temple has not alone himself collected: he has been the cause
+that many others have collected. In the pages of the _Indian
+Antiquary_, edited by him, there have appeared from time to time
+folk-tales collected from all parts of India. Some of these have been
+issued separately. Sets of tales from Southern India, collected by the
+Pandit Natesa Sastri, have been issued under the title _Folk-Lore of
+Southern India_, three fascicules of which have been recently re-
+issued by Mrs. Kingscote under the title, _Tales of the Sun_ (W.
+H. Allen, 1891): it would have been well if the identity of the two
+works had been clearly explained. The largest addition to our knowledge
+of the Indian folk-tale that has been made since _Wideawake
+Stories_ is that contained in Mr. Knowles' _Folk-Tales of
+Kashmir_ (Tr�bner's Oriental Library, 1887), sixty-three stories,
+some of great length. These, with Mr. Campbell's _Santal Tales_
+(1892); Ramaswami Raju's _Indian Fables_ (London, Sonnenschein,
+n. d.); M. Thornhill, _Indian Fairy Tales_ (London, 1889); and E.
+J. Robinson, _Tales of S. India_ (1885), together with those
+contained in books of travel like Thornton's _Bannu_ or Smeaton's
+_Karens of Burmah_ bring up the list of printed Indian folk-tales
+to over 350--a respectable total indeed, but a mere drop in the
+ocean of the stream of stories that must exist in such a huge
+population as that of India: the Central Provinces in particular are
+practically unexplored. There are doubtless many collections still
+unpublished. Col. Lewin has large numbers, besides the few published in
+his _Lushai Grammar_; and Mr. M. L. Dames has a number of Baluchi
+tales which I have been privileged to use. Altogether, India now ranks
+among the best represented countries for printed folk-tales, coming
+only after Russia (1500), Germany (1200), Italy and France (1000 each.)
+[Footnote: Finland boasts of 12,000 but most of these lie unprinted
+among the archives of the Helsingfors Literary Society.] Counting the
+ancient with the modern, India has probably some 600 to 700 folk-tales
+printed and translated in accessible form. There should be enough
+material to determine the vexed question of the relations between the
+European and the Indian collections.
+
+This question has taken a new departure with the researches of M.
+Emanuel Cosquin in his _Contes populaires de Lorraine_ (Paris,
+1886, 2� tirage, 1890), undoubtedly the most important contribution
+to the scientific study of the folk-tale since the Grimms. M. Cosquin
+gives in the annotations to the eighty-four tales which he has
+collected in Lorraine a mass of information as to the various forms
+which the tales take in other countries of Europe and in the East. In
+my opinion, the work he has done for the European folk-tale is even
+more valuable than the conclusions he draws from it as to the relations
+with India. He has taken up the work which Wilhelm Grimm dropped in
+1859, and shown from the huge accumulations of folk-tales that have
+appeared during the last thirty years that there is a common fund of
+folk-tales which every country of Europe without exception possesses,
+though this does not of course preclude them from possessing others
+that are not shared by the rest. M. Cosquin further contends that the
+whole of these have come from the East, ultimately from India, not by
+literary transmission, as Benfey contended, but by oral transmission.
+He has certainly shown that very many of the most striking incidents
+common to European folk-tales are also to be found in Eastern
+_m�hrchen_. What, however, he has failed to show is that some of
+these may not have been carried out to the Eastern world by Europeans.
+Borrowing tales is a mutual process, and when Indian meets European,
+European meets Indian; which borrowed from which, is a question which
+we have very few criteria to decide. It should be added that Mr W. A.
+Clouston has in England collected with exemplary industry a large
+number of parallels between Indian and European folk-tale incidents in
+his _Popular Tales and Fictions_ (Edinburgh, 2 vols., 1887) and
+_Book of Noodles_ (London, 1888). Mr Clouston has not openly
+expressed his conviction that all folk-tales are Indian in origin: he
+prefers to convince us _non vi sed saepe cadendo_. He has certainly
+made out a good case for tracing all European drolls, or comic folk-
+tales, from the East.
+
+With the fairy tale strictly so called--_i.e._, the serious folk-
+tale of romantic adventure--I am more doubtful. It is mainly a modern
+product in India as in Europe, so far as literary evidence goes. The
+vast bulk of the Jatakas does not contain a single example worthy the
+name, nor does the Bidpai literature. Some of Somadeva's tales,
+however, approach the nature of fairy tales, but there are several
+Celtic tales which can be traced to an earlier date than his (1200
+A.D.) and are equally near to fairy tales. Yet it is dangerous to trust
+to mere non-appearance in literature as proof of non-existence among
+the folk. To take our own tales here in England, there is not a single
+instance of a reference to _Jack and the Beanstalk_ for the last
+three hundred years, yet it is undoubtedly a true folk-tale. And it is
+indeed remarkable how many of the _formulae_ of fairy tales have
+been found of recent years in India. Thus, the _Magic Fiddle_,
+found among the Santals by Mr. Campbell in two variants (see Notes on
+vi.), contains the germ idea of the wide-spread story represented in
+Great Britain by the ballad of _Binnorie_ (see _English Fairy
+Tales_, No. ix.). Similarly, Mr. Knowles' collection has added
+considerably to the number of Indian variants of European "formulae"
+beyond those noted by M. Cosquin.
+
+It is still more striking as regards _incidents_. In a paper read
+before the Folk-Lore Congress of 1891, and reprinted in the
+_Transactions_, pp. 76 _seq._, I have drawn up a list of some
+630 incidents found in common among European folk-tales (including
+drolls). Of these, I reckon that about 250 have been already found
+among Indian folk-tales, and the number is increased by each new
+collection that is made or printed. The moral of this is, that India
+belongs to a group of peoples who have a common store of stories; India
+belongs to Europe for purposes of comparative folk-tales.
+
+Can we go further and say that India is the source of all the incidents
+that are held in common by European children? I think we may answer
+"Yes" as regards droll incidents, the travels of many of which we can
+trace, and we have the curious result that European children owe their
+earliest laughter to Hindu wags. As regards the serious incidents
+further inquiry is needed. Thus, we find the incident of an "external
+soul" (Life Index, Captain Temple very appropriately named it) in
+Asbj�rnsen's _Norse Tales_ and in Miss Frere's _Old Deccan
+Days_ (see Notes on _Punchkin_). Yet the latter is a very
+suspicious source, since Miss Frere derived her tales from a Christian
+_ayah_ whose family had been in Portuguese Goa for a hundred
+years. May they not have got the story of the giant with his soul
+outside his body from some European sailor touching at Goa? This is to
+a certain extent negatived by the fact of the frequent occurrence of
+the incident in Indian folk-tales (Captain Temple gave a large number
+of instances in _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 404-5). On the other
+hand, Mr. Frazer in his _Golden Bough_ has shown the wide spread
+of the idea among all savage or semi-savage tribes. (See Note on No.
+iv.)
+
+In this particular case we may be doubtful; but in others, again--as
+the incident of the rat's tail up nose (see Notes on _The Charmed
+Ring_)--there can be little doubt of the Indian origin. And
+generally, so far as the incidents are marvellous and of true fairy-
+tale character, the presumption is in favour of India, because of the
+vitality of animism or metempsychosis in India throughout all historic
+time. No Hindu would doubt the fact of animals speaking or of men
+transformed into plants and animals. The European may once have had
+these beliefs, and may still hold them implicitly as "survivals"; but
+in the "survival" stage they cannot afford material for artistic
+creation, and the fact that the higher minds of Europe for the last
+thousand years have discountenanced these beliefs has not been entirely
+without influence. Of one thing there is practical certainty: the fairy
+tales that are common to the Indo-European world were invented once for
+all in a certain locality; and thence spread to all the countries in
+culture contact with the original source. The mere fact that contiguous
+countries have more similarities in their story store than distant ones
+is sufficient to prove this: indeed, the fact that any single country
+has spread throughout it a definite set of folk-tales as distinctive as
+its flora and fauna, is sufficient to prove it. It is equally certain
+that not all folk-tales have come from one source, for each country has
+tales peculiar to itself. The question is as to the source of the tales
+that are common to all European children, and increasing evidence seems
+to show that this common nucleus is derived from India and India alone.
+The Hindus have been more successful than others, because of two facts:
+they have had the appropriate "atmosphere" of metempsychosis, and they
+have also had spread among the people sufficient literary training and
+mental grip to invent plots. The Hindu tales have ousted the native
+European, which undoubtedly existed independently; indeed, many still
+survive, especially in Celtic lands. Exactly in the same way,
+Perrault's tales have ousted the older English folk-tales, and it is
+with the utmost difficulty that one can get true English fairy tales
+because _Red Riding Hood_, _Cinderella_, _Blue Beard_, _Puss in
+Boots_ and the rest, have survived in the struggle for existence
+among English folk-tales. So far as Europe has a common store of fairy
+tales, it owes this to India.
+
+I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not hold with Benfey that all
+European folk-tales are derived from the Bidpai literature and similar
+literary products, nor with M. Cosquin that they are all derived from
+India. The latter scholar has proved that there is a nucleus of stories
+in every European land which is common to all. I calculate that this
+includes from 30 to 50 per cent. of the whole, and it is this common
+stock of Europe that I regard as coming from India mainly at the time
+of the Crusades, and chiefly by oral transmission. It includes all the
+beast tales and most of the drolls, but evidence is still lacking about
+the more serious fairy tales, though it is increasing with every fresh
+collection of folk-tales in India, the great importance of which is
+obvious from the above considerations.
+
+In the following Notes I give, as on the two previous occasions, the
+_source_ whence I derived the tale, then _parallels_, and finally
+_remarks_. For Indian _parallels_ I have been able to refer to
+Major Temple's remarkable Analysis of Indian Folk-tale incidents at the
+end of _Wide-awake Stories_ (pp. 386-436), for European ones to
+my alphabetical List of Incidents, with bibliographical references, in
+_Transactions of Folk-Lore Congress_, 1892, pp. 87-98. My _remarks_
+have been mainly devoted to tracing the relation between the Indian
+and the European tales, with the object of showing that the latter
+have been derived from the former. I have, however, to some extent
+handicapped myself, as I have avoided giving again the Indian versions
+of stories already given in _English Fairy Tales_ or _Celtic Fairy Tales_.
+
+
+
+I. THE LION AND THE CRANE.
+
+_Source_.--V. Fausb�ll, _Five Jatakas_; Copenhagen, 1861, pp.
+35-8, text and translation of the _Javasakuna Jataka_. I have
+ventured to English Prof. Fausb�ll's version, which was only intended as
+a "crib" to the Pali. For the omitted Introduction, see _supra_.
+
+_Parallels_.--I have given a rather full collection of parallels,
+running to about a hundred numbers, in my _Aesop_, pp. 232-4. The
+chief of these are: (i) for the East, the Midrashic version ("Lion and
+Egyptian Partridge"), in the great Rabbinic commentary on Genesis
+(_Bereshith-rabba_, c. 64); (2) in classical antiquity, Phaedrus,
+i. 8 ("Wolf and Crane"), and Babrius, 94 ("Wolf and Heron"), and the
+Greek proverb Suidas, ii. 248 ("Out of the Wolf's Mouth"); (3) in the
+Middle Ages, the so-called Greek Aesop, ed. Halm, 276 _b_, really
+prose versions of Babrius and "Romulus," or prose of Phaedrus, i. 8,
+also the Romulus of Ademar (fl. 1030), 64; it occurs also on the Bayeux
+Tapestry, in Marie de France, 7, and in Benedict of Oxford's _Mishle
+Shualim_ (Heb.), 8; (4) Stainh�wel took it from the "Romulus" into
+his German Aesop (1480), whence all the modern European Aesops are
+derived.
+
+_Remarks_.--I have selected _The Wolf and the Crane_ as my
+typical example in my "History of the Aesopic Fable," and can only give
+here a rough summary of the results I there arrived at concerning the
+fable, merely premising that these results are at present no more than
+hypotheses. The similarity of the Jataka form with that familiar to us,
+and derived by us in the last resort from Phaedrus, is so striking that
+few will deny some historical relation between them. I conjecture that
+the Fable originated in India, and came West by two different routes.
+First, it came by oral tradition to Egypt, as one of the Libyan Fables
+which the ancients themselves distinguished from the Aesopic Fables. It
+was, however, included by Demetrius Phalereus, tyrant of Athens, and
+founder of the Alexandrian library c. 300 B.C., in his _Assemblies of
+Aesopic Fables_, which I have shown to be the source of Phaedrus'
+Fables c. 30 A.D. Besides this, it came from Ceylon in the Fables of
+Kybises--i.e., Kasyapa the Buddha--c. 50 A.D., was adapted into Hebrew,
+and used for political purposes, by Rabbi Joshua ben Chananyah in a
+harangue to the Jews c. 120 A.D., begging them to be patient while
+within the jaws of Rome. The Hebrew form uses the lion, not the wolf,
+as the ingrate, which enables us to decide on the Indian _provenance_
+of the Midrashic version. It may be remarked that the use of the lion
+in this and other Jatakas is indirectly a testimony to their great age,
+as the lion has become rarer and rarer in India during historic times,
+and is now confined to the Gir forest of Kathi�war, where only a dozen
+specimens exist, and are strictly preserved.
+
+The verses at the end are the earliest parts of the Jataka, being in
+more archaic Pali than the rest: the story is told by the commentator
+(c. 400 A.D.) to illustrate them. It is probable that they were brought
+over on the first introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon, c. 241 B.C.
+This would give them an age of over two thousand years, nearly three
+hundred years earlier than Phaedrus, from whom comes our _Wolf and
+Crane_.
+
+
+
+II. PRINCESS LABAM.
+
+_Source_.--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. xxii. pp.
+153-63, told by M�niy�, one of the ayahs. I have left it unaltered,
+except that I have replaced "God" by "Khuda," the word originally used
+(see Notes _l. c._, p 237).
+
+_Parallels_.--The tabu, as to a particular direction, occurs in
+other Indian stories as well as in European folk-tales (see notes on
+Stokes, p. 286). The _grateful animals_ theme occurs in "The
+Soothsayer's Son" (_infra_, No. x.), and frequently in Indian
+folk-tales (see Temple's Analysis, III. i. 5-7; _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 412-3). The thorn in the tiger's foot is especially
+common (Temple, _l. c._, 6, 9), and recalls the story of Androclus,
+which occurs in the derivates of Phaedrus, and may thus be
+Indian in origin (see Benfey, _Panschatantra_, i. 211, and the
+parallels given in my _Aesop_, Ro. iii. 1. p. 243). The theme is,
+however, equally frequent in European folk-tales: see my List of
+Incidents, _Proc. Folk-Lore Congress_, p. 91, s.v. "Grateful
+Animals" and "Gifts by Grateful Animals." Similarly, the "Bride Wager"
+incident at the end is common to a large number of Indian and European
+folk-tales (Temple, Analysis, p. 430; my List, _l. c. sub voce_).
+The tasks are also equally common (_cf._ "Battle of the Birds" in
+_Celtic Fairy Tales_), though the exact forms as given in
+"Princess Labam" are not known in Europe.
+
+_Remarks_.--We have here a concrete instance of the relation of
+Indian and European fairy-tales. The human mind may be the same
+everywhere, but it is not likely to hit upon the sequence of incidents,
+_Direction tabu_--_Grateful Animals_--_Bride-wager_--_Tasks_, by
+accident, or independently: Europe must have borrowed from India, or
+India from Europe. As this must have occurred within historic times,
+indeed within the last thousand years, when even European peasants
+are not likely to have _invented_, even if they believed, in the incident
+of the grateful animals, the probability is in favour of borrowing from
+India, possibly through the intermediation of Arabs at the time of the
+Crusades. It is only a probability, but we cannot in any case reach more
+than probability in this matter, just at present.
+
+
+
+III. LAMBIKIN.
+
+_Source_.--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 69-72,
+originally published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. 175. The droll is
+common throughout the Panjab.
+
+_Parallels_.--The similarity of the concluding episode with the
+finish of the "Three Little Pigs" (Eng. Fairy Tales, No. xiv.) In my
+notes on that droll I have pointed out that the pigs were once goats or
+kids with "hair on their chinny chin chin." This brings the tale a
+stage nearer to the Lambikin.
+
+_Remarks_.--The similarity of Pig No. 3 rolling down hill in the
+churn and the Lambikin in the Drumikin can scarcely be accidental,
+though, it must be confessed, the tale has undergone considerable
+modification before it reached England.
+
+
+
+IV. PUNCHKIN.
+
+_Source_.--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, pp. 1-16, from her
+ayah, Anna de Souza, of a Lingaet family settled and Christianised at
+Goa for three generations. I should perhaps add that a Prudhan is a
+Prime Minister, or Vizier; Punts are the same, and Sirdars, nobles.
+
+_Parallels_.--The son of seven mothers is a characteristic Indian
+conception, for which see Notes on "The Son of Seven Queens" in this
+collection, No. xvi. The mother transformed, envious stepmother, ring
+recognition, are all incidents common to East and West; bibliographical
+references for parallels may be found under these titles in my List of
+Incidents. The external soul of the ogre has been studied by Mr. E.
+Clodd in _Folk-Lore Journal_, vol. ii., "The Philosophy of
+Punchkin," and still more elaborately in the section, "The External
+Soul in Folk-tales," in Mr. Frazer's _Golden Bough_, ii. pp. 296-
+326. See also Major Temple's Analysis, II. iii., _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 404-5, who there gives the Indian parallels.
+
+_Remarks_.--Both Mr. Clodd and Mr. Frazer regard the essence of
+the tale to consist in the conception of an external soul or "life-
+index," and they both trace in this a "survival" of savage philosophy,
+which they consider occurs among all men at a certain stage of culture.
+But the most cursory examination of the sets of tales containing these
+incidents in Mr. Frazer's analyses shows that many, indeed the
+majority, of these tales cannot be independent of one another; for they
+contain not alone the incident of an external materialised soul, but
+the further point that this is contained in something else, which is
+enclosed in another thing, which is again surrounded by a wrapper. This
+Chinese ball arrangement is found in the Deccan ("Punchkin"); in Bengal
+(Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_); in Russia (Ralston, p. 103
+_seq._, "Koschkei the Deathless," also in Mr. Lang's _Red Fairy
+Book_); in Servia (Mijatovics, _Servian Folk-Lore,_ p. 172); in
+South Slavonia (Wratislaw, p. 225); in Rome (Miss Busk, p. 164); in
+Albania (Dozon, p. 132 _seq._); in Transylvania (Haltrich, No.
+34); in Schleswig-Holstein (M�llenhoff, p. 404); in Norway
+(Asbj�rnsen, No. 36, _ap._ Dasent, _Pop. Tales_, p. 55, "The
+Giant who had no Heart in his Body"); and finally, in the Hebrides
+(Campbell, _Pop. Tales_, p. 10, _cf. Celtic Fairy Tales_, No.
+xvii., "Sea Maiden"). Here we have the track of this remarkable idea of
+an external soul enclosed in a succession of wrappings, which we can
+trace from Hindostan to the Hebrides.
+
+It is difficult to imagine that we have not here the actual migration
+of the tale from East to West. In Bengal we have the soul "in a
+necklace, in a box, in the heart of a _boal_ fish, in a tank"; in
+Albania "it is in a pigeon, in a hare, in the silver tusk of a wild
+boar"; in Rome it is "in a stone, in the head of a bird, in the head of
+a leveret, in the middle head of a seven-headed hydra"; in Russia "it
+is in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in a casket, in an oak"; in Servia
+it is "in a board, in the heart of a fox, in a mountain"; in
+Transylvania "it is in a light, in an egg, in a duck, in a pond, in a
+mountain;" in Norway it is "in an egg, in a duck, in a well, in a
+church, on an island, in a lake"; in the Hebrides it is "in an egg, in
+the belly of a duck, in the belly of a wether, under a flagstone on the
+threshold." It is impossible to imagine the human mind independently
+imagining such bizarre convolutions. They were borrowed from one nation
+to the other, and till we have reason shown to the contrary, the
+original lender was a Hindu. I should add that the mere conception of
+an external soul occurs in the oldest Egyptian tale of "The Two
+Brothers," but the wrappings are absent.
+
+
+
+V. THE BROKEN POT.
+
+_Source.--Pantschatantra_, V. ix., tr. Benfey, ii. 345-6.
+
+_Parallels._--Benfey, in � 209 of his _Einleitung_, gives
+bibliographical references to most of those which are given at length in
+Prof. M. M�ller's brilliant essay on "The Migration of Fables"
+(_Selected Essays_, i. 500-76), which is entirely devoted to the
+travels of the fable from India to La Fontaine. See also Mr. Clouston,
+_Pop. Tales_, ii. 432 _seq._ I have translated the Hebrew version
+in my essay, "Jewish Influence on the Diffusion of Folk-Tales," pp. 6-7.
+Our proverb, "Do not count your chickens before they are hatched," is
+ultimately to be derived from India.
+
+_Remarks--The stories of Alnaschar, the Barber's fifth brother in the
+_Arabian Nights_, and of La Perette, who counted her chickens
+before they were hatched, in La Fontaine, are demonstrably derived from
+the same Indian original from which our story was obtained. The travels
+of the "Fables of Bidpai" from India to Europe are well known and
+distinctly traceable. I have given a rough summary of the chief
+critical results in the introduction to my edition of the earliest
+English version of the _Fables of Bidpai_, by Sir Thomas North, of
+Plutarch fame (London, D. Nutt, "Biblioth�que de Carabas," 1888), where
+I have given an elaborate genealogical table of the multitudinous
+versions. La Fontaine's version, which has rendered the fable so
+familiar to us all, comes from Bonaventure des Periers, _Contes et
+Nouvelles_, who got it from the _Dialogus Creaturarum_ of Nicholaus
+Pergamenus, who derived it from the _Sermones_ of Jacques de Vitry
+(see Prof. Crane's edition, No. li.), who probably derived it from the
+_Directorium Humanae Vitae_ of John of Capua, a converted Jew,
+who translated it from the Hebrew version of the Arabic _Kalilah wa
+Dimnah,_ which was itself derived from the old Syriac version of a
+Pehlevi translation of the original Indian work, probably called after
+Karataka and Damanaka, the names of two jackals who figure in the
+earlier stories of the book. Prof. Rhys-Davids informs me that these names
+are more akin to Pali than to Sanskrit, which makes it still more probable
+that the whole literature is ultimately to be derived from a Buddhist
+source.
+
+The theme of La Perette is of interest as showing the _literary_
+transmission of tales from Orient to Occident. It also shows the
+possibility of an influence of literary on oral tradition, as is shown
+by our proverb, and by the fact, which Benfey mentions, that La
+Fontaine's story has had influence on two of Grimm's tales, Nos. 164,
+168.
+
+
+
+VI. THE MAGIC FIDDLE.
+
+_Source_.--A. Campbell, _Santal Folk-Tales_, 1892, pp. 52-6,
+with some verbal alterations. A Bonga is the presiding spirit of a
+certain kind of rice land; Doms and Hadis are low-caste aborigines,
+whose touch is considered polluting. The Santals are a forest tribe,
+who live in the Santal Parganas, 140 miles N. W. of Calcutta (Sir W. W.
+Hunter, _The Indian Empire_, 57-60).
+
+_Parallels_.--Another version occurs in Campbell, p. 106
+_seq._, which shows that the story is popular among the Santals.
+It is obvious, however, that neither version contains the real finish
+of the story, which must have contained the denunciation of the magic
+fiddle of the murderous sisters. This would bring it under the formula
+of _The Singing Bone_, which M. Monseur has recently been studying
+with a remarkable collection of European variants in the Bulletin of
+the Wallon Folk-Lore Society of Li�ge (_cf. Eng. Fairy Tales_, No.
+ix.). There is a singing bone in Steel-Temple's _Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 127 _seq._ ("Little Anklebone").
+
+_Remarks_.--Here we have another theme of the common store of
+European folk-tales found in India. Unfortunately, the form in which it
+occurs is mutilated, and we cannot draw any definite conclusion from
+it.
+
+
+
+VII. THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED.
+
+_Source_.--The Baka-Jataka, Fausb�ll, No. 38, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp.
+315-21. The Buddha this time is the Genius of the Tree.
+
+_Parallels_.--This Jataka got into the Bidpai literature, and
+occurs in all its multitudinous offshoots (_see_ Benfey, _Einleitung_,
+� 60) among others in the earliest English translation by North (my
+edition, pp. 118-22), where the crane becomes "a great Paragone of
+India (of those that live a hundredth yeares and never mue their
+feathers)." The crab, on hearing the ill news "called to Parliament all the
+Fishes of the Lake," and before all are devoured destroys the Paragon,
+as in the Jataka, and returned to the remaining fishes, who "all with one
+consent gave hir many a thanke."
+
+_Remarks_.--An interesting point, to which I have drawn attention
+in my Introduction to North's Bidpai, is the probability that the
+illustrations of the tales as well as the tales themselves, were
+translated, so to speak, from one country to another. We can trace them
+in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic MSS., and a few are extant on Buddhist
+Stupas. Under these circumstances, it may be of interest to compare
+with Mr. Batten's conception of the Crane and the Crab (_supra_,
+p. 50) that of the German artist who illustrated the first edition of
+the Latin Bidpai, probably following the traditional representations of
+the MS., which itself could probably trace back to India.
+
+
+
+VIII. LOVING LAILI
+
+_Source_.--Miss Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, pp. 73-84.
+Majnun and Laili are conventional names for lovers, the Romeo and
+Juliet of Hindostan.
+
+_Parallels_.--Living in animals' bellies occurs elsewhere in Miss
+Stokes' book, pp. 66, 124; also in Miss Frere's, 188. The restoration
+of beauty by fire occurs as a frequent theme (Temple, Analysis, III.
+vi. f. p. 418). Readers will be reminded of the _d�nouement_ of
+Mr. Rider Haggard's _She_. Resuscitation from ashes has been used
+very effectively by Mr. Lang in his delightful _Prince Prigio_.
+
+_Remarks_.--The white skin and blue eyes of Prince Majnun deserve
+attention. They are possibly a relic of the days of Aryan conquest,
+when the fair-skinned, fair-haired Aryan conquered the swarthier
+aboriginals. The name for caste in Sanskrit is _varna_, "colour";
+and one Hindu cannot insult another more effectually than by calling
+him a black man. _Cf._ Stokes, pp. 238-9, who suggests that the
+red hair is something solar, and derived from myths of the solar hero.
+
+
+
+IX. THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN, AND THE JACKAL.
+
+_Source_.--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 116-20;
+first published in _Indian Antiquary_, xii. p. 170 _seq._
+
+_Parallels_.--No less than 94 parallels are given by Prof. K.
+Krohn in his elaborate discussion of this fable in his dissertation,
+_Mann und Fuchs_, (Helsingfors, 1891), pp. 38-60; to which may be
+added three Indian variants, omitted by him, but mentioned by Capt.
+Temple, _l. c._, p. 324, in the _Bh�gavata Pur�na_, the _Gul
+Bak�oli_ and _Ind. Ant._ xii. 177; and a couple more in my _Aesop_,
+p. 253: add Smeaton, _Karens_, p. 126.
+
+_Remarks_.--Prof. Krohn comes to the conclusion that the majority
+of the oral forms of the tale come from literary versions (p. 47),
+whereas the _Reynard_ form has only had influence on a single
+variant. He reduces the century of variants to three type forms. The
+first occurs in two Egyptian versions collected in the present day, as
+well as in Petrus Alphonsi in the twelfth century, and the _Fabulae
+Extravagantes_ of the thirteenth or fourteenth: here the ingrate
+animal is a crocodile, which asks to be carried away from a river about
+to dry up, and there is only one judge. The second is that current in
+India and represented by the story in the present collection: here the
+judges are three. The third is that current among Western Europeans,
+which has spread to S. Africa and N. and S. America: also three judges.
+Prof. K. Krohn counts the first the original form, owing to the single
+judge and the naturalness of the opening, by which the critical
+situation is brought about. The further question arises, whether this
+form, though found in Egypt now, is indigenous there, and if so, how it
+got to the East. Prof. Krohn grants the possibility of the Egyptian
+form having been invented in India and carried to Egypt, and he allows
+that the European forms have been influenced by the Indian. The
+"Egyptian" form is found in Burmah (Smeaton, _l. c._, p. 128), as
+well as the Indian, a fact of which Prof. K. Krohn was unaware though
+it turns his whole argument. The evidence we have of other folk-tales
+of the beast-epic emanating from India improves the chances of this
+also coming from that source. One thing at least is certain: all these
+hundred variants come ultimately from one source. The incident "Inside
+again" of the _Arabian Nights_ (the Djinn and the bottle) and
+European tales is also a secondary derivate.
+
+
+
+X. THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON.
+
+_Source_.--Mrs. Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_ (p. 11
+_seq._), from Pandit Natesa Sastri's _Folk-Lore of Southern
+India_, pt. ii., originally from _Ind. Antiquary_. I have considerably
+condensed and modified the somewhat Babu English of the original.
+
+_Parallels_.--See Benfey, _Pantschatantra_, � 71, i. pp. 193-
+222, who quotes the _Karma Jataka_ as the ultimate source: it
+also occurs in the _Saccankira Jataka_ (Fausb�ll, No. 73), trans.
+Rev. R. Morris, _Folk-Lore Jour._ iii. 348 _seq._ The story
+of the ingratitude of man compared with the gratitude of beasts came
+early to the West, where it occurs in the _Gesta Romanorum_, c.
+119. It was possibly from an early form of this collection that Richard
+Coeur de Lion got the story, and used it to rebuke the ingratitude of
+the English nobles on his return in 1195. Matthew Paris tells the
+story, _sub anno_ (it is an addition of his to Ralph Disset),
+_Hist. Major_, ed. Luard, ii. 413-6, how a lion and a serpent and
+a Venetian named Vitalis were saved from a pit by a woodman, Vitalis
+promising him half his fortune, fifty talents. The lion brings his
+benefactor a leveret, the serpent "gemmam pretiosam," probably "the
+precious jewel in his head" to which Shakespeare alludes (_As You
+Like It_, ii. 1., cf. Benfey, _l.c._, p. 214, _n._), but Vitalis
+refuses to have anything to do with him, and altogether repudiates the
+fifty talents. "Haec referebat Rex Richardus munificus, ingratos
+redarguendo."
+
+_Remarks_.--Apart from the interest of its wide travels, and its
+appearance in the standard mediaeval History of England by Matthew
+Paris, the modern story shows the remarkable persistence of folk-tales
+in the popular mind. Here we have collected from the Hindu peasant of
+to-day a tale which was probably told before Buddha, over two thousand
+years ago, and certainly included among the Jatakas before the
+Christian era. The same thing has occurred with _The Tiger, Brahman,
+and Jackal_ (No. ix. _supra_).
+
+
+
+XI. HARISARMAN.
+
+_Source_.--Somadeva, _Katha-Sarit-Sagara_, trans. Tawney
+(Calcutta, 1880), i. pp. 272-4. I have slightly toned down the inflated
+style of the original.
+
+_Parallels_.--Benfey has collected and discussed a number in
+_Orient and Occident_, i. 371 _seq._; see also Tawney, _ad loc._
+The most remarkable of the parallels is that afforded by the Grimms'
+"Doctor Allwissend" (No. 98), which extends even to such a minute point
+as his exclamation, "Ach, ich armer Krebs," whereupon a crab is
+discovered under a dish. The usual form of discovery of the thieves is for
+the Dr. Knowall to have so many days given him to discover the thieves,
+and at the end of the first day he calls out, "There's one of them,"
+meaning the days, just as one of the thieves peeps through at him.
+Hence the title and the plot of C. Lever's _One of Them_.
+
+
+
+XII. THE CHARMED RING.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 20-8.
+
+_Parallels_.--The incident of the Aiding Animals is frequent in
+folk-tales: see bibliographical references, _sub voce_, in my List
+of Incidents, _Trans. Folk-Lore Congress_, p. 88; also Knowles,
+21, _n._; and Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 401, 412. The
+Magic Ring is also "common form" in folk-tales; _cf._ K�hler
+_ap._ Marie de France, _Lais_, ed. Warncke, p. lxxxiv. And the
+whole story is to be found very widely spread from India (_Wideawake
+Stories_, pp. 196-206) to England (_Eng. Fairy Tales_, No. xvii, "Jack
+and his Golden Snuff-box," _cf._ Notes, _ibid._), the most familiar
+form of it being "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp."
+
+_Remarks_.--M. Cosquin has pointed out (_Contes de Lorraine_,
+p. xi. _seq._) that the incident of the rat's-tail-up-nose to recover
+the ring from the stomach of an ogress, is found among Arabs,
+Albanians, Bretons, and Russians. It is impossible to imagine that
+incident--occurring in the same series of incidents--to have been
+invented more than once, and if that part of the story has been
+borrowed from India, there is no reason why the whole of it should not
+have arisen in India, and have been spread to the West. The English
+variant was derived from an English Gipsy, and suggests the possibility
+that for this particular story the medium of transmission has been the
+Gipsies. This contains the incident of the loss of the ring by the
+faithful animal, which again could not have been independently
+invented.
+
+
+
+XIII. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE.
+
+_Source_.---The _Kacchapa Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 215; also in
+his _Five Jatakas_, pp. 16, 41, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp. viii-x.
+
+_Parallels_.--It occurs also in the Bidpai literature, in nearly
+all its multitudinous offshoots. See Benfey, _Einleitung_, � 84;
+also my _Bidpai_, E, 4 _a_; and North's text, pp. 170-5, where it
+is the taunts of the other birds that cause the catastrophe: "O here is a
+brave sight, looke, here is a goodly ieast, what bugge haue we here,"
+said some. "See, see, she hangeth by the throte, and therefor she
+speaketh not," saide others; "and the beast flieth not like a beast;" so
+she opened her mouth and "pashte hir all to pieces."
+
+_Remarks_.-I have reproduced in my edition the original
+illustration of the first English Bidpai, itself derived from the
+Italian block. A replica of it here may serve to show that it could be
+used equally well to illustrate the Pali original as its English great-
+great-great-great-great-great grand-child.
+
+
+
+XIV. LAC OF RUPEES.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 32-41. I
+have reduced the pieces of advice to three, and curtailed somewhat.
+
+_Parallels_.--See _Celtic Fairy Tales_, No. xxii., _"Tale
+of Ivan,"_ from the old Cornish, now extinct, and notes _ibid._
+Mr. Clouston points out (_Pop. Tales_, ii. 319) that it occurs in
+Buddhist literature, in "Buddaghoshas Parables," as "The Story of Kulla
+Pauthaka."
+
+_Remarks_.--It is indeed curious to find the story better told in
+Cornwall than in the land of its birth, but there can be little doubt
+that the Buddhist version is the earliest and original form of the
+story. The piece of advice was originally a charm, in which a youth was
+to say to himself, "Why are you busy? Why are you busy?" He does so
+when thieves are about, and so saves the king's treasures, of which he
+gets an appropriate share. It would perhaps be as well if many of us
+should say to ourselves "_Ghatesa, ghatesa, kim k�rana?_"
+
+
+
+XV. THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT.
+
+_Source_.--_Pantschatantra_, III. v., tr. Benfey, ii. 244-7.
+
+_Parallels_ given in my Aesop, Ro. ii. 10, p. 40. The chief points
+about them are--(1) though the tale does not exist in either Phaedrus or
+Babrius, it occurs in prose derivates from the Latin by Ademar, 65, and
+"Romulus," ii. 10, and from Greek, in Gabrias, 45, and the prose _Aesop_,
+ed. Halm, 96; Gitlbauer has restored the Babrian form in his edition of
+Babrius, No. 160. (2) The fable occurs among folk-tales, Grimm, 105;
+Woycicki, _Poln. M�hr._ 105; Gering, _Islensk. Aevent_ 59, possibly
+derived from La Fontaine, x. 12.
+
+_Remarks_.--Benfey has proved most ingeniously and conclusively
+(_Einl._) that the Indian fable is the source of both Latin and
+Greek fables. I may borrow from my _Aesop_, p. 93, parallel abstracts
+of the three versions, putting Benfey's results in a graphic form,
+series of bars indicating the passages where the classical fables have
+failed to preserve the original.
+
+
+BIDPAI.
+
+A Brahmin once observed a snake in his field, and thinking it the
+tutelary spirit of the field, he offered it a libation of milk in a
+bowl. Next day he finds a piece of gold in the bowl, and he receives
+this each day after offering the libation. One day he had to go
+elsewhere, and he sent his son with the libation. The son sees the
+gold, and thinking the serpent's hole full of treasure determines to
+slay the snake. He strikes at its head with a cudgel, and the enraged
+serpent stings him to death. The Brahmin mourns his son's death, but
+next morning as usual brings the libation of milk (in the hope of
+getting the gold as before). The serpent appears after a long delay at
+the mouth of its lair, and declares their friendship at an end, as it
+could not forget the blow of the Brahmin's son, nor the Brahmin his
+son's death from the bite of the snake.
+
+_Pants_. III. v. (Benf. 244-7).
+
+
+PHAEDRINE.
+
+----A good man had become friendly with the snake, who came into his
+house and brought luck with it, so that the man became rich through
+it.----One day he struck the serpent, which disappeared, and with it
+the man's riches. The good man tries to make it up, but the serpent
+declares their friendship at an end, as it could not forget the blow.----
+
+Phaed. Dressl. VII. 28 (Rom. II. xi.)
+
+
+BABRIAN.
+
+----------------A serpent stung a farmer's son to death. The father
+pursued the serpent with an axe, and struck off part of its tail.
+Afterwards fearing its vengeance he brought food and honey to its lair,
+and begged reconciliation. The serpent, however, declares friendship
+impossible, as it could not forget the blow--nor the farmer his son's
+death from the bite of the snake.
+
+Aesop; Halm 96b (Babrius-Gitlb. 160).
+
+In the Indian fable every step of the action is thoroughly justified,
+whereas the Latin form does not explain why the snake was friendly in
+the first instance, or why the good man was enraged afterwards; and the
+Greek form starts abruptly, without explaining why the serpent had
+killed the farmer's son. Make a composite of the Phaedrine and Babrian
+forms, and you get the Indian one, which is thus shown to be the
+original of both.
+
+
+
+XVI. THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS.
+
+_Source_.--Steel Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 98-110,
+originally published in _Ind. Antiq._ x. 147 _seq._
+
+_Parallels_.--A long variant follows in _Ind. Antiq._, _l.
+c._ M. Cosquin refers to several Oriental variants, _l. c._ p.
+xxx. _n._ For the direction tabu, see Note on Princess Labam,
+_supra_, No. ii. The "letter to kill bearer" and "letter substituted"
+are frequent in both European (see my List _s. v._) and Indian
+Folk-Tales (Temple, Analysis, II. iv. _b_, 6, p. 410). The idea of a
+son of seven mothers could only arise in a polygamous country. It occurs
+in "Punchkin," _supra_, No. iv.; Day, _Folk-Tales of Bengal_, 117
+_seq.; Ind. Antiq._ i. 170 (Temple, _l. c._, 398).
+
+_Remarks._--M. Cosquin (_Contes de Lorraine_, p. xxx.)
+points out how, in a Sicilian story, Gonzenbach (_Sizil. M�hr._
+No. 80), the seven co-queens are transformed into seven step-daughters
+of the envious witch who causes their eyes to be taken out. It is thus
+probable, though M. Cosquin does not point this out, that the "envious
+step-mother" of folk-tales (see my List, _s. v._) was originally
+an envious co-wife. But there can be little doubt of what M. Cosquin
+_does_ point out--viz., that the Sicilian story is derived from
+the Indian one.
+
+
+
+XVII. A LESSON FOR KINGS.
+
+_Source.--Rajovada Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 151, tr. Rhys-Davids,
+pp. xxii.-vi.
+
+_Remarks_.--This is one of the earliest of moral allegories in
+existence. The moralising tone of the Jatakas must be conspicuous to
+all reading them. Why, they can moralise even the Tar Baby (see
+_infra_, Note on "Demon with the Matted Hair," No. xxv.).
+
+
+
+XVIII. PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL.
+
+_Source_.--Kingscote, _Tales of the Sun_. I have changed the
+Indian mercantile numerals into those of English "back-slang," which
+make a very good parallel.
+
+
+
+XIX. RAJA RASALU.
+
+_Source_.--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 247-80,
+omitting "How Raja Rasalu was Born," "How Raja Rasalu's Friends Forsook
+Him," "How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants," and "How Raja Rasalu became
+a Jogi." A further version in Temple, _Legends of _Panjab_, vol.
+i. _Chaupur_, I should explain, is a game played by two players
+with eight men, each on a board in the shape of a cross, four men to
+each cross covered with squares. The moves of the men are decided by
+the throws of a long form of dice. The object of the game is to see
+which of the players can first move all his men into the black centre
+square of the cross (Temple, _l. c._, p. 344, and _Legends of
+Panjab_, i. 243-5) It is sometimes said to be the origin of chess.
+
+_Parallels_.--Rev. C. Swynnerton, "Four Legends about Raja Rasalu,"
+in _Folk-Lore Journal_, p. 158 _seq._, also in separate book
+much enlarged, _The Adventures of Raja Rasalu_, Calcutta, 1884.
+Curiously enough, the real interest of the story comes after the end of
+our part of it, for Kokilan, when she grows up, is married to Raja
+Rasalu, and behaves as sometimes youthful wives behave to elderly
+husbands. He gives her her lover's heart to eat, _� la_ Decameron,
+and she dashes herself over the rocks. For the parallels of this part
+of the legend see my edition of Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_,
+tom. i. Tale 39, or, better, the _Programm_ of H. Patzig, _Zur
+Geschichte der Herzm�re_ (Berlin, 1891). Gambling for life occurs in
+Celtic and other folk-tales; _cf._ my List of Incidents, _s.
+v._ "Gambling for Magic Objects."
+
+_Remarks_.--Raja Rasalu is possibly a historic personage,
+according to Capt. Temple, _Calcutta Review_, 1884, p. 397,
+flourishing in the eighth or ninth century. There is a place called
+Sirikap ka-kila in the neighbourhood of Sialkot, the traditional seat
+of Rasalu on the Indus, not far from Atlock.
+
+Herr Patzig is strongly for the Eastern origin of the romance, and
+finds its earliest appearance in the West in the Anglo-Norman
+troubadour, Thomas' _Lai Guirun_, where it becomes part of the
+Tristan cycle. There is, so far as I know, no proof of the earliest
+part of the Rasalu legend (_our_ part) coming to Europe, except
+the existence of the gambling incidents of the same kind in Celtic and
+other folk-tales.
+
+
+
+XX. THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN.
+
+_Source_.--The _Siha Camma Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 189,
+trans. Rhys-Davids, pp. v. vi.
+
+_Parallels_.--It also occurs in Somadeva, _Katha Sarit
+Sagara_, ed. Tawney, ii. 65, and _n._ For Aesopic parallels _cf._
+my _Aesop_, Av. iv. It is in Babrius, ed. Gitlbaur, 218 (from Greek prose
+Aesop, ed. Halm, No. 323), and Avian, ed. Ellis, 5, whence it came into
+the modern Aesop.
+
+_Remarks_.--Avian wrote towards the end of the third century, and
+put into Latin mainly those portions of Babrius which are unparalleled
+by Phaedrus. Consequently, as I have shown, he has a much larger
+proportion of Eastern elements than Phaedrus. There can be little doubt
+that the Ass in the Lion's Skin is from India. As Prof. Rhys-Davids
+remarks, the Indian form gives a plausible motive for the masquerade
+which is wanting in the ordinary Aesopic version.
+
+
+
+XXI. THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER.
+
+_Source_.--Steel-Temple, _Wideawake Stories_, pp. 215-8.
+
+_Parallels_ enumerated in my _Aesop_, Av. xvii. See also
+Jacques de Vitry, _Exempla_, ed. Crane, No. 196 (see notes, p.
+212), and Bozon, _Contes moralis�s_, No. 112. It occurs in Avian,
+ed. Ellis, No. 22. Mr. Kipling has a very similar tale in his _Life's
+Handicap_.
+
+_Remarks_.--Here we have collected in modern India what one cannot
+help thinking is the Indian original of a fable of Avian. The preceding
+number showed one of his fables existing among the Jatakas, probably
+before the Christian era. This makes it likely that we shall find an
+earlier Indian original of the fable of the Avaricious and Envious,
+perhaps among the Jatakas still untranslated.
+
+
+
+XXII. THE BOY WITH MOON ON FOREHEAD.
+
+_Source_.--Miss Stokes' _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 20, pp.
+119-137.
+
+_Parallels_ to heroes and heroines in European fairy tales, with
+stars on their foreheads, are given with some copiousness in Stokes,
+_l. c._, pp. 242-3. This is an essentially Indian trait; almost
+all Hindus have some tribal or caste mark on their bodies or faces. The
+choice of the hero disguised as a menial is also common property of
+Indian and European fairy tales: see Stokes, _l. c._, p. 231, and
+my List of Incidents (_s. v._ "Menial Disguise.")
+
+
+
+XXIII. THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR.
+
+_Source_.--Kindly communicated by Mr. M. L. Dames from his
+unpublished collection of Baluchi tales.
+
+_Remarks_.--Unholy fakirs are rather rare. See Temple, Analysis,
+I. ii. _a_, p. 394.
+
+
+
+XXIV. WHY THE FISH LAUGHED.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 484-90.
+
+_Parallels_.--The latter part is the formula of the Clever Lass
+who guesses riddles. She has been bibliographised by Prof. Child,
+_Eng. and Scotch Ballads_, i. 485; see also Benfey, _Kl. Schr._
+ii. 156 _seq._ The sex test at the end is different from any of those
+enumerated by Prof. K�hler on Gonzenbach, _Sezil. M�hr._ ii. 216.
+
+_Remarks_.--Here we have a further example of a whole formula, or
+series of incidents, common to most European collections, found in
+India, and in a quarter, too, where European influence is little likely
+to penetrate. Prof. Benfey, in an elaborate dissertation ("Die Kluge
+Dirne," in _Ausland_, 1859, Nos. 20-25, now reprinted in _Kl.
+Schr._ ii. 156 _seq._), has shown the wide spread of the theme
+both in early Indian literature (though probably there derived from the
+folk) and in modern European folk literature.
+
+
+
+XXV. THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR.
+
+_Source_.--_The Pancavudha Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 55,
+kindly translated for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, of Christ's
+College, Cambridge. There is a brief abstract of the Jataka in Prof.
+Estlin Carpenter's sermon, _Three Ways of Salvation_, 1884, p. 27,
+where my attention was first called to this Jataka.
+
+_Parallels_.--Most readers of these Notes will remember the
+central episode of Mr. J. C. Harris' _Uncle Remus_, in which Brer
+Fox, annoyed at Brer Rabbit's depredations, fits up "a contrapshun,
+what he calls a Tar Baby." Brer Rabbit, coming along that way, passes
+the time of day with Tar Baby, and, annoyed at its obstinate silence,
+hits it with right fist and with left, with left fist and with right,
+which successively stick to the "contrapshun," till at last he butts
+with his head, and that sticks too, whereupon Brer Fox, who all this
+time had "lain low," saunters out, and complains of Brer Rabbit that he
+is too stuck up. In the sequel Brer Rabbits begs Brer Fox that he may
+"drown me as deep ez you please, skin me, scratch out my eyeballs, t'ar
+out my years by the roots, en cut off my legs, but do don't fling me in
+dat brier patch;" which, of course, Brer Fox does, only to be informed
+by the cunning Brer Rabbit that he had been "bred en bawn in a brier
+patch." The story is a favourite one with the negroes: it occurs in
+Col. Jones' _Negro Myths of the Georgia Coast_ (Uncle Remus is
+from S. Carolina), also among those of Brazil (Romero, _Contos do
+Brazil_), and in the West Indian Islands (Mr. Lang, "At the Sign of
+the Ship," _Longman's Magazine_, Feb. 1889). We can trace it to
+Africa, where it occurs in Cape Colony (_South African Folk-Lore
+Journal_, vol. i.).
+
+_Remarks_.--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is
+so preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently
+invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally
+connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches
+the matter, and gives us a landing-stage between India and America.
+There can be little doubt that the Jataka of Prince Five-Weapons came
+to Africa, possibly by Buddhist missionaries, spread among the negroes,
+and then took ship in the holds of slavers for the New World, where it
+is to be found in fuller form than any yet discovered in the home of
+its birth. I say Buddhist missionaries, because there is a certain
+amount of evidence that the negroes have Buddhistic symbols among them,
+and we can only explain the identification of Brer Rabbit with Prince
+Five Weapons, and so with Buddha himself, by supposing the change to
+have originated among Buddhists, where it would be quite natural. For
+one of the most celebrated metempsychoses of Buddha is that detailed in
+the _Sasa Jataka_ (Fausb�ll, No. 316, tr. R. Morris, _Folk-Lore
+Journal_, ii. 336), in which the Buddha, as a hare, performs a
+sublime piece of self-sacrifice, and as a reward is translated to the
+moon, where he can be seen to this day as "the hare in the moon." Every
+Buddhist is reminded of the virtue of self-sacrifice whenever the moon
+is full, and it is easy to understand how the Buddha became identified
+as the Hare or Rabbit. A striking confirmation of this, in connection
+with our immediate subject, is offered by Mr. Harris' sequel volume,
+_Nights with Uncle Remus_. Here there is a whole chapter (xxx.) on
+"Brer Rabbit and his famous Foot," and it is well known how the worship
+of Buddha's foot developed in later Buddhism. No wonder Brer Rabbit is
+so 'cute: he is nothing less than an incarnation of Buddha. Among the
+Karens of Burmah, where Buddhist influence is still active, the Hare
+holds exactly the same place in their folk-lore as Brer Rabbit among
+the negroes. The sixth chapter of Mr. Smeaton's book on them is devoted
+to "Fireside Stories," and is entirely taken up with adventures of the
+Hare, all of which can be paralleled from _Uncle Remus_.
+
+Curiously enough, the negro form of the five-fold attack--"fighting
+with _five_ fists," Mr. Barr would call it--is probably nearer to
+the original legend than that preserved in the Jataka, though 2000
+years older. For we may be sure that the thunderbolt of Knowledge did
+not exist in the original, but was introduced by some Buddhist Mr.
+Barlow, who, like Alice's Duchess, ended all his tales with: "And the
+moral of that is----" For no well-bred demon would have been taken in
+by so simple a "sell" as that indulged in by Prince Five-Weapons in our
+Jataka, and it is probable, therefore, that _Uncle Remus_ preserves a
+reminiscence of the original Indian reading of the tale. On the other
+hand, it is probable that Carlyle's Indian god with the fire in his
+belly was derived from Prince Five-Weapons.
+
+The negro variant has also suggested to Mr. Batten an explanation of
+the whole story which is extremely plausible, though it introduces a
+method of folk-lore exegesis which has been overdriven to death. The
+_Sasa Jataka_ identifies the Brer Rabbit Buddha with the hare in
+the moon. It is well known that Easterns explain an eclipse of the moon
+as due to its being swallowed up by a Dragon or Demon. May not, asks
+Mr. Batten, the _Pancavudha Jataka_ be an idealised account of an
+eclipse of the moon? This suggestion receives strong confirmation from
+the Demon's reference to Rahu, who does, in Indian myth swallow the
+moon at times of eclipse. The Jataka accordingly contains the Buddhist
+explanation why the moon--_i.e._ the hare in the moon, _i.e._
+Buddha--is not altogether swallowed up by the Demon of Eclipse, the
+Demon with the Matted Hair. Mr. Batten adds that in imagining what kind
+of Demon the Eclipse Demon was, the Jataka writer was probably aided by
+recollections of some giant octopus, who has saucer eyes and a kind of
+hawk's beak, knobs on its "tusks," and a very variegated belly
+(gastropod). It is obviously unfair of Mr. Batten both to illustrate
+and also to explain so well the Tar Baby Jataka--taking the scientific
+bread, so to speak, out of a poor folklorist's mouth--but his
+explanations seem to me so convincing that I cannot avoid including
+them in these Notes.
+
+I am, however, not so much concerned with the original explanation of
+the Jataka as to trace its travels across the continents of Asia,
+Africa, and America. I think I have done this satisfactorily, and will
+have thereby largely strengthened the case for less extensive travels
+of other tales. I have sufficient confidence of the method employed to
+venture on that most hazardous of employments, scientific prophecy. I
+venture to predict that the Tar Baby story will be found in Madagascar
+in a form nearer the Indian than Uncle Remus, and I will go further,
+and say that it will _not_ be found in the grand Helsingfors
+collection of folk-tales, though this includes 12,000, of which 1000
+are beast-tales.
+
+
+
+XXVI. THE IVORY PALACE.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 211--25,
+with some slight omissions. Gulizar is Persian for rosy-cheeked.
+
+_Parallels_.--Stokes, _Indian Fairy Tales_, No. 27.
+"Panwpatti Rani," pp. 208-15, is the same story. Another version in the
+collection _Baital Pachisi_, No. 1.
+
+_Remarks_.--The themes of love by mirror, and the faithful friend,
+are common European, though the calm attempt at poisoning is perhaps
+characteristically Indian, and reads like a page from Mr. Kipling.
+
+
+
+XXVII. SUN, MOON, AND WIND.
+
+_Source_.--Miss Frere, _Old Deccan Days_, No. 10 pp. 153-5.
+
+_Remarks_.--Miss Frere observes that she has not altered the
+traditional mode of the Moon's conveyance of dinner to her mother the
+Star, though it must, she fears, impair the value of the story as a
+moral lesson in the eyes of all instructors of youth.
+
+
+
+XXVIII. HOW WICKED SONS WERE DUPED.
+
+_Source_.--Knowles, _Folk-Tales of Kashmir_, pp. 241-2.
+
+_Parallels_.--A Gaelic parallel was given by Campbell in _Trans.
+Ethnol. Soc._, ii. p. 336; an Anglo-Latin one from the Middle Ages
+by T. Wright in _Latin Stories_ (Percy Soc.), No. 26; and for
+these and points of anthropological interest in the Celtic variant see
+Mr. Gomme's article in _Folk-Lore_, i. pp. 197-206, "A Highland
+Folk-Tale and its Origin in Custom."
+
+_Remarks_.--Mr. Gomme is of opinion that the tale arose from
+certain rhyming formulae occurring in the Gaelic and Latin tales as
+written on a mallet left by the old man in the box opened after his
+death. The rhymes are to the effect that a father who gives up his
+wealth to his children in his own lifetime deserves to be put to death
+with the mallet. Mr. Gomme gives evidence that it was an archaic custom
+to put oldsters to death after they had become helpless. He also points
+out that it was customary for estates to be divided and surrendered
+during the owners' lifetime, and generally he connects a good deal of
+primitive custom with our story. I have already pointed out in _Folk-
+Lore_, p. 403, that the existence of the tale in Kashmir without any
+reference to the mallet makes it impossible for the rhymes on the
+mallet to be the source of the story. As a matter of fact, it is a very
+embarrassing addition to it, since the rhyme tells against the parent,
+and the story is intended to tell against the ungrateful children. The
+existence of the tale in India renders it likely enough that it is not
+indigenous to the British Isles, but an Oriental importation. It is
+obvious, therefore, that it cannot be used as anthropological evidence
+of the existence of the primitive customs to be found in it. The whole
+incident, indeed, is a striking example of the dangers of the
+anthropological method of dealing with folk-tales before some attempt
+is made to settle the questions of origin and diffusion.
+
+
+
+XXIX. THE PIGEON AND THE CROW.
+
+_Source_.--The _Lola Jataka_, Fausb�ll, No. 274, kindly
+translated and slightly abridged for this book by Mr. W. H. D. Rouse.
+
+_Remarks_.--We began with an animal Jataka, and may appropriately
+finish with one which shows how effectively the writers of the Jatakas
+could represent animal folk, and how terribly moral they invariably
+were in their tales. I should perhaps add that the Bodhisat is not
+precisely the Buddha himself but a character which is on its way to
+becoming perfectly enlightened, and so may be called a future Buddha.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Indian Fairy Tales, by Collected by Joseph Jacobs
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