Indian Fairy Tales

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]Harisarman[/color][/font][/b][/size]

[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]There was a certain Brahman in a [/font][/color][i]certain [/i][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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.[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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:[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]When Harisarman heard that, he said to her proudly:[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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 free, 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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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, be 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.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]The Charmed Ring[/color][/font][/b][/size]


[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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.[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Where does he live? I should like to see him, if possible," said the young man.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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 be 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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Now what shall we do?" said the dog to the cat.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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 be 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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Go," said he, "and may the great God aid your efforts. Bring back my wife, and I shall live."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"But is there no way of escape from the hands of these people?" she asked.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Yes," replied the cat, "if you can tell me where the charmed ring is."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"The ring is in the stomach of the ogress," she said.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Very well, we agree," said they all. "Nay, if we do not get the ring for you, devour us all."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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. moment, for the dog at once dropped it, and a fish swallowed it.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Come along now; I have got the ring," said the cat to the dog.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"See, see, there it goes--away to that big tree," the cat exclaimed.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Oh! oh! what have I done?" cried the dog.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]The Talkative Tortoise[/color][/font][/b][/size]


[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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.[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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:[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"But how can I get there?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"We can take you, if you can only hold your tongue, and will say nothing to anybody."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Oh! that I can do. Take me with you."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Verily the tortoise killed himself
Whilst uttering his voice;
Though he was holding tight the stick,
By a word himself he slew.[/font][/size]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]The king saw that he was himself referred to, and said "O Teacher! are you speaking of us?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]And the king henceforth refrained himself, and became a man of few words.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]A Lac of Rupees for a bit of Advice[/color][/font][/b][/size]

[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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.[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Do not slay me," he said. "What profit would you get from my death? If you killed me you would be afterwards, like that man who killed his dog."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"What man? What dog?" he asked.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"I will tell you," said the prince, "if you will give me that sword."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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 be 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![/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Beware," continued the prince, 'lest you do that which afterwards you would give your life not to have done."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]By the time the prince had concluded this story it was nearly morning, and he went away, after rewarding the man.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Do not bother me," said the potter. "What does it matter to you?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Pardon me," said the prince, "but I should like to know the reason."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Where do you come from? Who are you?" asked the king, entering the room.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"O king! "replied the prince, "I am the son of a king who rules over such-and-such a country."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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 be 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 escaped; and then gave them two elephants; two beautiful horses, fifteen soldiers, and ten lacs rupees' worth of jewels.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Afterwards he went to his own home, and informed his mother and father of his arrival. Alas! his parents bad 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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]A Lac of Rupees for a bit of Advice[/color][/font][/b][/size]

[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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.[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Do not slay me," he said. "What profit would you get from my death? If you killed me you would be afterwards, like that man who killed his dog."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"What man? What dog?" he asked.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"I will tell you," said the prince, "if you will give me that sword."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]So he gave him the sword, and the prince began his story:[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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 be 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![/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Beware," continued the prince, 'lest you do that which afterwards you would give your life not to have done."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]By the time the prince had concluded this story it was nearly morning, and he went away, after rewarding the man.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Do not bother me," said the potter. "What does it matter to you?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Pardon me," said the prince, "but I should like to know the reason."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Where do you come from? Who are you?" asked the king, entering the room.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"O king! "replied the prince, "I am the son of a king who rules over such-and-such a country."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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 be 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 escaped; and then gave them two elephants; two beautiful horses, fifteen soldiers, and ten lacs rupees' worth of jewels.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Afterwards he went to his own home, and informed his mother and father of his arrival. Alas! his parents bad 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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]A Gold giving Serpent[/color][/font][/b][/size]

[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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."[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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:[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]One day the Brahman had to go to the village, and so be 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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Two days afterwards his father came back, and when he learnt his son's fate he grieved and mourned. But after a time, be 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.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]The Son of Seven Queens[/color][/font][/b][/size]

[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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.[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she blushed, and, turning to the King, said, "Dear father, this is my choice!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]After this be 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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]The Jogi, seeing the lad, called out fiercely, "What do you want here?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then the lad answered, according to the old hag's bidding,[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"I want your skin, for King Indra is making a new kettledrum, and says your skin is nice and tough."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]She sent for him to ask how he had returned so soon, and when she heard how kindly her mother had received him, the 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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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![/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]A Lession for Kings[/color][/font][/b][/size]


[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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![/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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 outermost boundary, and returned by the high road towards the city.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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 faultfinder 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![/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then the charioteer of Mallika the king said to the charioteer of the king of Benares, "Take thy chariot out of the way!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then the charioteer of the king of Benares thought, "They say then that he too is a king! What [i]is [/i]now to be done?" After some consideration, be 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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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![/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then he thought, "I will make way for the most righteous." And he asked, "What kind of righteousness has this king of yours."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then the charioteer of the king of Kosala, proclaiming his king's wickedness as goodness, uttered the First Stanza:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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 [i]this [/i]king!
Move out of the way, O charioteer "[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]But the charioteer of the king of Benares asked him, "Well, have you told all the virtues of your king?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Yes," said the other.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"If these are his [i]virtues, [/i]where are then his faults?" replied he.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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?"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]And then the charioteer of the king of Benares called unto him to hearken, and uttered the Second Stanza:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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 [i]this [/i]king!
'Move out of the way, O charioteer!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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![/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[color=#000000][left][size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]Pride goeth before a Fall[/color][/font][/b][/size][/color][/left]
[color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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 them-selves 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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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 monarches 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 loincloth, and still the robbers were not satisfied, but ordered them to dance.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]There was, among the ten merchants, one who was very clever. He pondered over . 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:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]'We are enty men,
They are erith men:
If each erith man,
Surround eno men
Eno man remains.
[i]Ta, tai, tom, tadingana."[/i][/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"What is the price of this cloth?" one trader will ask another.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Enty rupees," another will reply, meaning "ten rupees."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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]Ta tai tom [/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--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![/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]Raja Rasalu[/color][/font][/b][/size]

[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]Once there lived a great Raja, whose flame was Salabhan, and be 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.[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Now, as soon as Raja 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 the treasury to those who did not possess any of their own.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then Prince Rasalu called scornfully to him across the hall:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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,[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]And Queen Lona answered through her tears:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]And immediately the headless corpse arose and sat beside Raja Rasalu. And he, nothing astonished, said to it:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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?"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then the headless corpse replied:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]The Prince smiled, saying, "What help could [i]you [/i]give [i]me?" [/i]Nevertheless, he kept the hair and went on his way.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]But he, smiling at the maiden, answered lightly:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"Fair sisters!" quoth Rasalu gaily, "give me my task and I will perform it."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]So the sixty-nine maidens mixed a hundredweight of millet seed with a hundredweight of sand, and giving it to Rasalu, bade him separate the seed from the sand.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then Rasalu said, "Separate the millet seed from the sand."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]With that the flight of crickets set to work, and in one night they separated the seed from the sand.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Seeing this, the youngest Princess, who was the only one who could run, fled to her father the King in a great fright, saying:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]But King Sarkap replied scornfully:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]So saying, he threw the sweetmeats to Raja Sarkap's dog, which had followed the slave, and lo! the dog died.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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,[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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,[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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 throwing the dice from his pocket, said to Sarkap, "We have played with your dice all this time; now we will play with mine."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then the kitten went and sat at the window through which the rat Dhol Raja used to come, and the game began.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Then Sarkap brought all his skill to bear on the third and last game, saying,[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]But Rasalu answered back,[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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!"[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]Now, as be 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,[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!"[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]And Raja Rasalu hearkened to them, and bade King Sarkap set them at liberty.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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."[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color]

[Anta Assamey]

[size=4][b][font="Verdana"][color="#990000"]The Ass in the Lion's Skin[/color][/font][/b][/size]

[size=4][color=#000000][font=Verdana]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.[/font][/color][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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.[/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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![/font][/size][/color][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced the First Verse:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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!".[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]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:[/font][/size][/color]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]"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."[/font][/size][color=#000000]
[size=4][font="Verdana"]And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot![/font][/size][/color]

[innovative]

[size=4] [/size][size=4] [/size]

[Anta Assamey]

[quote name='innovative' timestamp='1368655548' post='1303755993']
[size=4] [/size]
[/quote]


Nuvvu enti ivi chaduvutu vunnava Inno...[img]http://www.brahmanandamgifs.com/Images/GIFs/Bhayam/23.gif[/img]

[Idly Vishwanatham]

[img]http://i48.tinypic.com/zvas8y.gif[/img] fairy tales aa..psyco mayya valla pillala ki cheppukovataniki paniki vasthay

[Idly Vishwanatham]

[quote name='Brahmanandam_AFDB' timestamp='1368655615' post='1303755999']


Nuvvu enti ivi chaduvutu vunnava Inno...[img]http://www.brahmanandamgifs.com/Images/GIFs/Bhayam/23.gif[/img]
[/quote]


[img]http://gifsoup.com/view2/3815383/brahmi-look-o.gif[/img] ante janalu chadavataniki kaada ee post vesindi nuvvu