{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_52309/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_52309","id":"gutenberg_52309","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52309","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Fairy tales -- India","Tales -- India"],"text":"[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-TWO GOBLINS\n\n\n\n\n_All rights reserved_\n\n[Illustration: Love-cluster ... stood at her lattice window.]\n\n\n\n\n_TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS_\n\n  TRANSLATED FROM THE SANSKRIT\n\n  BY\n\n  ARTHUR W. RYDER\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  WITH TWENTY\n  ILLUSTRATIONS IN\n  COLOUR BY\n\n  PERHAM W. NAHL\n\n\n  LONDON & TORONTO\n  J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.\n  NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.\n  MCMXVII\n\n\n\n\n  _Printed in Great Britain\n  by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n        _Page_\n\n       _Introduction_                                                  1\n\n  _Goblin-\n   story_\n\n  1.   _The Prince's Elopement. Whose fault was the\n  resulting death of his parents-in-law?_                              5\n\n  2.   _The Three Lovers who brought the Dead Girl to\n  Life. Whose wife should she be?_                                    19\n\n  3.   _The Parrot and the Thrush. Which are worse,\n  men or women?_                                                      25\n\n  4.   _King Shudraka and Hero's Family. Which of\n  the five deserves the most honour?_                                 37\n\n  5.   _The Brave Man, the Wise Man, and the Clever\n  Man. To which should the girl be given?_                            51\n\n  6.   _The Girl who transposed the Heads of her Husband\n  and Brother.  Which combination of\n  head and body is her husband?_                                      57\n\n  7.   _The Mutual Services of King Fierce-lion and\n  Prince Good. Which is the more deserving?_                          63\n\n  8.   _The Specialist in Food, the Specialist in Women, and\n  the Specialist in Cotton. Which is the cleverest?_                  75\n\n  9.   _The Four Scientific Suitors. To which should\n  the girl be given?_                                                 81\n\n  10.   _The Three Delicate Wives of King Virtue-banner.\n  Which is the most delicate?_                                        87\n\n  11.   _The King who won a Fairy as his Wife. Why\n  did his counsellor's heart break?_                                  91\n\n  12.   _The Brahman who died because Poison from a\n  Snake in the Claws of a Hawk fell into a Dish\n  of Food given him by a Charitable Woman.\n  Who is to blame for his death?_                                    109\n\n  13.   _The Girl who showed Great Devotion to the Thief.\n  Did he weep or laugh?_                                             117\n\n  14.   _The Man who changed into a Woman at Will.\n  Was his wife his or the other man's?_                              125\n\n  15.   _The Fairy Prince Cloud-chariot and the Serpent\n  Shell-crest. Which is the more self-sacrificing?_                  135\n\n  16.   _The King who died for Love of his General's\n  Wife; the General follows him in Death.\n  Which is the more worthy?_                                         157\n\n  17.   _The Youth who went through the Proper Ceremonies.\n  Why did he fail to win the magic spell?_                           163\n\n  18.   _The Boy whom his Parents, the King, and the\n  Giant conspired to Kill. Why did he laugh\n  at the moment of death?_                                           173\n\n  19.   _The Man, his Wife, and her Lover, who all\n  died for Love. Which was the most foolish?_                        187\n\n  20.   _The Four Brothers who brought a Dead Lion to\n  Life. Which is to blame when he kills them\n  all?_                                                              197\n\n  21.   _The Old Hermit who exchanged his Body for\n  that of the Dead Boy. Why did he weep and\n  dance?_                                                            203\n\n  22.   _The Father and Son who married Daughter and\n  Mother. What relation were their children?_                        209\n\n        _Conclusion_                                                 217\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  _Love-cluster ... stood at her lattice window_          _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                           _facing page_\n\n  _They took her body to the cemetery and burned it_                  17\n\n  _The thrush suddenly became a goddess_                              32\n\n  _Trusty worshipped the goddess and bravely saluted her_             42\n\n  _The giant came out in anger and the brave man fought\n  with him_                                                           55\n\n  _\"Do nothing rash, my daughter, leave the rope alone\"_              61\n\n  _Good sank into the ocean, and when he looked about he\n  saw a wonderful city_                                               67\n\n  _The brothers went to the ocean, and there they found\n  a turtle_                                                           78\n\n  _\"I understand the cries of all beasts and birds\"_                  83\n\n  _She gradually recovered consciousness_                             88\n\n  _When he saw that she was saved, the king cried,\n  \"Come, come to me!\"_                                                97\n\n  _The summer came on him like a lion_                               112\n\n  _With a turn of the wrist he sent the dagger flying from\n  the chief's hand_                                                  121\n\n  _An elephant came by, crushing the people in his path_             126\n\n  _He climbed the rock of sacrifice, eager to give his life for\n  another_                                                           148\n\n  _\"Shall I go into the fire or go home?\"_                           163\n\n  _The giant laughed aloud, spit fire in his wrath, and\n  showed his dreadful fangs_                                         174\n\n  _A merchant named Fortune richer than the god of\n  wealth_                                                            188\n\n  _The lion arose and killed his four creators_                      200\n\n  _He comforted her and soothed her with tender words_               214\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS]\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nOn the bank of the Godavari River is a kingdom called the Abiding\nKingdom. There lived the son of King Victory, the famous King\nTriple-victory, mighty as the king of the gods. As this king sat in\njudgment, a monk called Patience brought him every day one piece of\nfruit as an expression of homage. And the king took it and gave it each\nday to the treasurer who stood near. Thus twelve years passed.\n\nNow one day the monk came to court, gave the king a piece of fruit as\nusual, and went away. But on this day the king gave the fruit to a pet\nbaby monkey that had escaped from his keepers, and happened to wander\nin. And as the monkey ate the fruit, he split it open, and a priceless,\nmagnificent gem came out.\n\nWhen the king saw this, he took it and asked the treasurer: \"Where\nhave you been keeping the fruits which the monk brought? I gave them to\nyou.\" When the treasurer heard this, he was frightened and said: \"Your\nMajesty, I have thrown them all through the window. If your Majesty\ndesires, I will look for them now.\" And when the king had dismissed\nhim, he went, but returned in a moment, and said again: \"Your Majesty,\nthey were all smashed in the treasury, and in them I see heaps of\ndazzling gems.\"\n\nWhen he heard this, the king was delighted, and gave the jewels to the\ntreasurer. And when the monk came the next day, he asked him: \"Monk,\nwhy do you keep honouring me in such an expensive way? Unless I know\nthe reason, I will not take your fruit.\"\n\nThen the monk took the king aside and said: \"O hero, there is a\nbusiness in which I need help. So I ask for your help in it, because\nyou are a brave man.\" And the king promised his assistance.\n\nThen the monk was pleased, and said again: \"O King, on the last night\nof the waning moon, you must go to the great cemetery at nightfall, and\ncome to me under the fig-tree.\" Then the king said \"Certainly,\" and\nPatience, the monk, went home well pleased.\n\nSo when the night came, the mighty king remembered his promise to the\nmonk, and at dusk he wrapped his head in a black veil, took his sword\nin his hand, and went to the great cemetery without being seen. When\nhe got there, he looked about, and saw the monk standing under the\nfig-tree and making a magic circle. So he went up and said: \"Monk, here\nI am. Tell me what I am to do for you.\"\n\nAnd when the monk saw the king, he was delighted and said: \"O King, if\nyou wish to do me a favour, go south from here some distance all alone,\nand you will see a sissoo tree and a dead body hanging from it. Be so\nkind as to bring that here.\"\n\nWhen the brave king heard this, he agreed, and, true to his promise,\nturned south and started. And as he walked with difficulty along the\ncemetery road, he came upon the sissoo tree at some distance, and saw\na body hanging on it. So he climbed the tree, cut the rope, and let it\nfall to the ground. And as it fell, it unexpectedly cried aloud, as\nif alive. Then the king climbed down, and thinking it was alive, he\nmercifully rubbed its limbs. Then the body gave a loud laugh.\n\nSo the king knew that a goblin lived in it, and said without fear:\n\"What are you laughing about? Come, let us be off.\" But then he did\nnot see the goblin on the ground any longer. And when he looked up,\nthere he was, hanging in the tree as before. So the king climbed the\ntree again, and carefully carried the body down. A brave man's heart is\nharder than a diamond, and nothing makes it tremble.\n\nThen he put the body with the goblin in it on his shoulder, and started\noff in silence. And as he walked along, the goblin in the body said: \"O\nKing, to amuse the journey, I will tell you a story. Listen.\"\n\n\n\n\nFIRST GOBLIN\n\n_The Prince's Elopement. Whose fault was the resulting death of his\nparents-in-law?_\n\n\nThere is a city called Benares where Shiva lives. It is loved by pious\npeople like the soil of Mount Kailasa. The river of heaven shines there\nlike a pearl necklace. And in the city lived a king called Valour who\nburned up all his enemies by his valour, as a fire burns a forest. He\nhad a son named Thunderbolt who broke the pride of the love-god by his\nbeauty, and the pride of men by his bravery. This prince had a clever\nfriend, the son of a counsellor.\n\nOne day the prince was enjoying himself with his friend hunting, and\nwent a long distance. And so he came to a great forest. There he saw a\nbeautiful lake, and being tired, he drank from it with his friend the\ncounsellor's son, washed his hands and feet, and sat down under a tree\non the bank.\n\nAnd then he saw a beautiful maiden who had come there with her servants\nto bathe. She seemed to fill the lake with the stream of her beauty,\nand seemed to make lilies grow there with her eyes, and seemed to shame\nthe lotuses with a face more lovely than the moon. She captured the\nprince's heart the moment that he saw her. And the prince took her eyes\ncaptive.\n\nThe girl had a strange feeling when she saw him, but was too modest to\nsay a word. So she gave a hint of the feeling in her heart. She put a\nlotus on her ear, laid a lily on her head after she had made the edge\nlook like a row of teeth, and placed her hand on her heart. But the\nprince did not understand her signs, only the clever counsellor's son\nunderstood them all.\n\nA moment later the girl went away, led by her servants. She went home\nand sat on the sofa and stayed there. But her thoughts were with the\nprince.\n\nThe prince went slowly back to his city, and was terribly lonely\nwithout her, and grew thinner every day. Then his friend the son of\nthe counsellor took him aside and told him that she was not hard to\nfind. But he had lost all courage and said: \"My friend, I don't know\nher name, nor her home, nor her family. How can I find her? Why do you\nvainly try to comfort me?\"\n\nThen the counsellor's son said: \"Did you not see all that she hinted\nwith her signs? When she put the lotus on her ear, she meant that she\nlived in the kingdom of a king named Ear-lotus. And when she made the\nrow of teeth, she meant that she was the daughter of a man named Bite\nthere. And when she laid the lily on her head, she meant that her name\nwas Lily. And when she placed her hand on her heart, she meant that she\nloved you. And there is a king named Ear-lotus in the Kalinga country.\nThere is a very rich man there whom the king likes. His real name is\nBattler, but they call him Bite. He has a pearl of a girl whom he\nloves more than his life, and her name is Lily. This is true, because\npeople told me. So I understood her signs about her country and the\nother things.\" When the counsellor's son had said this, the prince was\ndelighted to find him so clever, and pleased because he knew what to\ndo.\n\nThen he formed a plan with the counsellor's son, and started for the\nlake again, pretending that he was going to hunt, but really to find\nthe girl that he loved. On the way he rode like the wind away from his\nsoldiers, and started for the Kalinga country with the counsellor's son.\n\nWhen they reached the city of King Ear-lotus, they looked about and\nfound the house of the man called Bite, and they went to a house near\nby to live with an old woman. And the counsellor's son said to the old\nwoman: \"Old woman, do you know anybody named Bite in this city?\"\n\nThen the old woman answered him respectfully: \"My son, I know him well.\nI was his nurse. And I am a servant of his daughter Lily. But I do not\ngo there now because my dress is stolen. My naughty son is a gambler\nand steals my clothes.\"\n\nThen the counsellor's son was pleased and satisfied her with his own\ncloak and other presents. And he said: \"Mother, you must do very\nsecretly what we tell you. Go to Bite's daughter Lily, and tell her\nthat the prince whom she saw on the bank of the lake is here, and sent\nyou with a love-message to her.\"\n\nThe old woman was pleased with the gifts and went to Lily at once.\nAnd when she got a chance, she said: \"My child, the prince and the\ncounsellor's son have come to take you. Tell me what to do now.\" But\nthe girl scolded her and struck her cheeks with both hands smeared with\ncamphor.\n\nThe old woman was hurt by this treatment, and came home weeping, and\nsaid to the two men: \"My sons, see how she left the marks of her\nfingers on my face.\"\n\nAnd the prince was hopeless and sad, but the very clever counsellor's\nson took him aside and said: \"My friend, do not be sad. She was only\nkeeping the secret when she scolded the old woman, and put ten fingers\nwhite with camphor on her face. She meant that you must wait before\nseeing her, for the next ten nights are bright with moonlight.\"\n\nSo the counsellor's son comforted the prince, took a little gold\nornament and sold it in the market, and bought a great dinner for the\nold woman. So they two took dinner with the old woman. They did this\nfor ten days, and then the counsellor's son sent her to Lily again, to\nfind out something more.\n\nAnd the old woman was eager for dainty food and drink. So to please him\nshe went to Lily's house, and then came back and said: \"My children,\nI went there and stayed with her for some time without speaking. But\nshe spoke herself of my naughtiness in mentioning you, and struck me\nagain on the chest with three fingers stained red. So I came back in\ndisgrace.\"\n\nThen the counsellor's son whispered to the prince: \"Don't be alarmed,\nmy friend. When she left the marks of three red fingers on the old\nwoman's heart, she meant to say very cleverly that there were three\ndangerous days coming.\" So the counsellor's son comforted the prince.\n\nAnd when three days were gone, he sent the old woman to Lily again. And\nthis time she went and was very respectfully entertained, and treated\nto wine and other things the whole day. But when she was ready to go\nback in the evening, a terrible shouting was heard outside. They heard\npeople running and crying: \"Oh, oh! A mad elephant has escaped from\nhis stable and is running around and stamping on people.\"\n\nThen Lily said to the old woman: \"Mother, you must not go through the\nstreet now where the elephant is. I will put you in a swing and let you\ndown with ropes through this great window into the garden. Then you can\nclimb into a tree and jump on the wall, and go home by way of another\ntree.\" So she had her servants let the old woman down from the window\ninto the garden by a rope-swing. And the old woman went home and told\nthe prince and the counsellor's son all about it.\n\nThen the counsellor's son said to the prince: \"My friend, your wishes\nare fulfilled. She has been clever enough to show you the road. So\nyou must follow that same road this very evening to the room of your\ndarling.\"\n\nSo the prince went to the garden with the counsellor's son by the road\nthat the old woman had shown them. And there he saw the rope-swing\nhanging down, and servants above keeping an eye on the road. And when\nhe got into the swing, the servants at the window pulled at the rope\nand he came to his darling. And when he had gone in, the counsellor's\nson went back to the old woman's house.\n\nBut the prince saw Lily, and her face was beautiful like the full moon,\nand the moonlight of her beauty shone forth, like the night when the\nmoon shines in secret because of the dark. And when she saw him, she\nthrew her arms around his neck and kissed him. So he married her and\nstayed hidden with her for some days.\n\nOne day he said to his wife: \"My dear, my friend the counsellor's son\ncame with me, and he is staying all alone at the old woman's house. I\nmust go and see him, then I will come back.\"\n\nBut Lily was shrewd and said: \"My dear, I must ask you something. Did\nyou understand the signs I made, or was it the counsellor's son?\" And\nthe prince said to her: \"My dear, I did not understand them all, but\nmy friend has wonderful wisdom. He understood everything and told me.\"\nThen the sweet girl thought, and said: \"My dear, you did wrong not to\ntell me before. Your friend is a real brother to me. I ought to have\nsent him some nuts and other nice things at the very first.\"\n\nThen she let him go, and he went to his friend by night by the same\nroad, and told all that his wife had said. But the counsellor's son\nsaid: \"That is foolish,\" and did not think much of it. So they spent\nthe night talking.\n\nThen when the time for the twilight sacrifice came, a friend of Lily's\ncame there with cooked rice and nuts in her hand. She came and asked\nthe counsellor's son about his health and gave him the present. And she\ncleverly tried to keep the prince from eating. \"Your wife is expecting\nyou to dinner,\" she said, and a moment later she went away.\n\nThen the counsellor's son said to the prince: \"Look, your Majesty. I\nwill show you something curious.\" So he took a little of the cooked\nrice and gave it to a dog that was there. And the moment he ate it, the\ndog died. And the prince asked the counsellor's son what this strange\nthing could mean.\n\nAnd he replied: \"Your Majesty, she knew that I was clever because I\nunderstood her signs, and she wanted to kill me out of love for you.\nFor she thought the prince would not be all her own while I was alive,\nbut would leave her for my sake and go back to his own city. So she\nsent me poisoned food to eat. But you must not be angry with her. I\nwill think up some scheme.\"\n\nThen the prince praised the counsellor's son, and said: \"You are\ntruly the body of wisdom.\" And then suddenly a great wailing of\ngrief-stricken people was heard: \"Alas! Alas! The king's little son is\ndead.\"\n\nWhen he heard this, the counsellor's son was delighted, and said: \"Your\nMajesty, go to-night to Lily's house, and make her drink wine until she\nloses her senses and seems to be dead. Then as she lies there, make a\nmark on her hip with a red-hot fork, steal her jewels, and come back\nthe old way through the window. After that I will do the right thing.\"\n\nThen he made a three-pronged fork and gave it to the prince. And the\nprince took the crooked, cruel thing, hard as the weapon of Death, and\nwent by night as before to Lily's house. \"A king,\" he thought, \"ought\nnot to disregard the words of a high-minded counsellor.\" So when he had\nstupefied her with wine, he branded her hip with the fork, stole her\njewels, returned to his friend, and told him everything, showing him\nthe jewels.\n\nThen the counsellor's son felt sure that his scheme was successful. He\nwent to the cemetery in the morning, and disguised himself as a hermit,\nand the prince as his pupil. And he said: \"Take this pearl necklace\nfrom among the jewels. Go and sell it in the market-place. And if the\npolicemen arrest you, say this: 'It was given to me to sell by my\nteacher.'\"\n\nSo the prince went to the market-place and stood there offering the\npearl necklace for sale, and he was arrested while doing it by the\npolicemen. And as they were eager to find out about the theft of the\njewels from Bite's daughter, they took the prince at once to the chief\nof police. And when he saw that the culprit was dressed like a hermit,\nhe asked him very gently: \"Holy sir, where did you get this pearl\nnecklace? It belongs to Bite's daughter and was stolen.\" Then the\nprince said to them: \"Gentlemen, my teacher gave it to me to sell. You\nhad better go and ask him.\"\n\nThen the chief of police went and asked him: \"Holy sir, how did this\npearl necklace come into your pupil's hand?\"\n\nAnd the shrewd counsellor's son whispered to him: \"Sir, as I am a\nhermit, I wander about all the time in this region. And as I happened\nto be here in this cemetery, I saw a whole company of witches who came\nhere at night. And one of the witches split open the heart of a king's\nson, and offered it to her master. She was mad with wine, and screwed\nup her face most horribly. But when she impudently tried to snatch my\nrosary as I prayed, I became angry, and branded her on the hip with a\nthree-pronged fork which I had made red-hot with a magic spell. And I\ntook this pearl necklace from her neck. Then, as it was not a thing for\na hermit, I sent it to be sold.\"\n\nWhen he heard this, the chief of police went and told the whole story\nto the king. And when the king heard and saw the evidence, he sent the\nold woman, who was reliable, to identify the pearl necklace. And he\nheard from her that Lily was branded on the hip.\n\nThen he was convinced that she was really a witch and had devoured his\nson. So he went himself to the counsellor's son, who was disguised as\na hermit, and asked how Lily should be punished. And by his advice,\nshe was banished from the city, though her parents wept. So she was\nbanished naked to the forest and knew that the counsellor's son had\ndone it all, but she did not die.\n\n[Illustration: They took her body to the cemetery and burned it.]\n\nAnd at nightfall the prince and the counsellor's son put off their\nhermit disguise, mounted on horseback, and found her weeping. They put\nher on a horse and took her to their own country. And when they got\nthere, the prince lived most happily with her.\n\nBut Bite thought that his daughter was eaten by wild beasts in the\nwood, and he died of grief. And his wife died with him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen he had told this story, the goblin asked the king: \"O King,\nwho was to blame for the death of the parents: the prince, or the\ncounsellor's son, or Lily? You seem like a very wise man, so resolve my\ndoubts on this point. If you know and do not tell me the truth, then\nyour head will surely fly into a hundred pieces. And if you give a good\nanswer, then I will jump from your shoulder and go back to the sissoo\ntree.\"\n\nThen King Triple-victory said to the goblin: \"You are a master of\nmagic. You surely know yourself, but I will tell you. It was not the\nfault of any of the three you mentioned. It was entirely the fault of\nKing Ear-lotus.\"\n\nBut the goblin said: \"How could it be the king's fault? The other three\ndid it. Are the crows to blame when the geese eat up the rice?\"\n\nThen the king said: \"But those three are not to blame. It was right\nfor the counsellor's son to do his master's business. So he is not to\nblame. And Lily and the prince were madly in love and could not stop to\nthink. They only looked after their own affairs. They are not to blame.\n\n\"But the king knew the law-books very well, and he had spies to find\nout the facts among the people. And he knew about the doings of\nrascals. So he acted without thinking. He is to blame.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this, he wanted to test the king's constancy. So\nhe went back by magic in a moment to the sissoo tree. And the king went\nback fearlessly to get him.\n\n\n\n\nSECOND GOBLIN\n\n_The Three Lovers who brought the Dead Girl to Life. Whose wife should\nshe be?_\n\n\nThen King Triple-victory went back under the sissoo tree to fetch the\ngoblin. And when he got there and looked about, he saw the goblin\nfallen on the ground and moaning. Then, when the king put the body with\nthe goblin in it on his shoulder and started to carry him off quickly\nand silently, the goblin on his shoulder said to him: \"O King, you have\nfallen into a very disagreeable task which you do not deserve. So to\namuse you I will tell another story. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the bank of the Kalindi River is a farm where a very learned Brahman\nlived. And he had a very beautiful daughter named Coral. When the\nCreator fashioned her fresh and peerless loveliness, surely he must\nhave despised the cleverness he showed before in fashioning the nymphs\nof heaven.\n\nWhen she had grown out of childhood, there came from the city of Kanauj\nthree Brahman youths, endowed with all the virtues. And each of them\nasked her father for her, that she might be his own. And though her\nfather would rather have died than give her up to anyone, he made up\nhis mind to give her to one of them. But the girl would not marry\nany one of them for some time, because she was afraid of hurting the\nfeelings of the other two. So they stayed there all three of them day\nand night, feasting on the beauty of her face, like the birds that live\non moonbeams.\n\nThen all at once Coral fell sick of a burning fever and died. And when\nthe Brahman youths saw that she was dead, they were smitten with grief.\nBut they adorned her body, took it to the cemetery, and burned it.\n\nAnd one of them built a hut there, slept on a bed made of her ashes,\nand got his food by begging. The second took her bones and went to\ndip them in the sacred Ganges river. And the third became a monk and\nwandered in other countries.\n\nAnd as he wandered, the monk came to a village called Thunderbolt,\nand was entertained in the house of a Brahman. But when he had been\nhonoured by the master of the house and had begun to eat dinner there,\nthe little boy began to cry and would not stop even when they petted\nhim. So his mother took him on her arm, and angrily threw him into the\nblazing fire. And being tender, he was reduced to ashes in a moment.\n\nWhen the monk saw this, his hair stood on end, and he said: \"Alas! I\nhave come into the house of a devil. I will not eat this food. It would\nbe like eating sin.\" But the master of the house said to him: \"Brahman,\nI have studied to good purpose. See my skill in bringing the dead\nto life.\" So he opened a book, took out a magic spell, read it, and\nsprinkled water on the ashes. And the moment the water was sprinkled,\nthe boy stood up alive just as before. Then the monk was highly\ndelighted and finished his dinner with pleasure.\n\nAnd the master of the house hung the book on an ivory peg, took dinner\nwith the monk, and went to bed. When he was asleep, the monk got up\nquietly, and tremblingly took the book, hoping to bring his darling\nCoral back to life. He went away and travelled night and day, until he\nfinally reached the cemetery. And he caught sight of the second youth,\nwho had come back after dipping the bones in the Ganges. And he also\nfound the third youth, who had made a hut and lived there, sleeping on\nthe girl's ashes.\n\nThen the monk cried: \"Brother, leave your hut. I will bring the dear\ngirl back to life.\" And while they eagerly questioned him, he opened\nthe book, and read the magic spell, and sprinkled holy water on the\nashes. And Coral immediately stood up, alive. And the girl was more\nbeautiful than ever. She looked as if she were made of gold.\n\nWhen the three youths saw her come back to life like that, they went\nmad with love, and fought with one another to possess her.\n\nOne said: \"I brought her to life by my magic spell. She is my wife.\"\n\nThe second said: \"She came to life because of my journey to the sacred\nriver. She is my wife.\"\n\nThe third said: \"I kept her ashes. That is why she came to life. She is\nmy dear wife.\"\n\nO King, you are able to decide their dispute. Tell me. Whose wife\nshould she be? If you know and say what is false, then your head will\nsplit.\n\nWhen the king heard this, he said to the goblin: \"The man who painfully\nfound the magic spell and brought her back to life, he did only what a\nfather ought to do. He is not her husband. And the man who went to dip\nher bones in the sacred river, he did only what a son ought to do. He\nis not her husband. But the man who slept with her ashes and lived a\nhard life in the cemetery, he did what a lover ought to do. He deserves\nto be her husband.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this answer of King Triple-victory, he suddenly\nescaped from his shoulder and went back. And the king wished to do\nas the monk had asked him; so he decided to go back and get him.\nGreat-minded people do not waver until they have kept their promises,\neven at the cost of life.\n\n\n\n\nTHIRD GOBLIN\n\n_The Parrot and the Thrush. Which are worse, men or women?_\n\n\nThen the king went back to the sissoo tree to fetch the goblin. When he\ngot there, he took the body with the goblin in it on his shoulder, and\nstarted off in silence. And as he walked along, the goblin said to him\nagain: \"O King, you must be very tired, coming and going in the night.\nSo to amuse you I will tell another story. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Patna, the gem of the earth. And long ago a\nking lived there whose name was Lion-of-Victory. Fate had made him\nthe owner of all virtues and all wealth. And he had a parrot called\nJewel-of-Wisdom, that had divine intelligence and knew all the\nsciences, but lived as a parrot because of a curse.\n\nThis king had a son called Moon, and by the advice of the parrot this\nprince married the daughter of the king of the Magadha country; and her\nname was Moonlight. Now this princess had a thrush named Moony, who was\nlike the parrot, because she had learning and intelligence. And the\nparrot and the thrush lived in one cage in the palace.\n\nOne day the parrot eagerly said to the thrush: \"My darling, love me,\nand share my bed and my chair and my food and my amusements.\"\n\nBut the thrush said: \"I will have nothing to do with men. Men are bad\nand ungrateful.\"\n\nThen the parrot said: \"Men are not bad. It is only women who are bad\nand cruel-hearted.\" And they quarrelled.\n\nThen the two birds wagered their freedom with each other and went\nto the prince to have their quarrel decided. And the prince mounted\nhis father's judgment throne, and when he had heard the cause of the\nquarrel, he asked the thrush: \"How are men ungrateful? Tell the truth.\"\nThen she said, \"Listen, O Prince,\" and to prove her point she started\nto tell this story illustrating the faults of men.\n\nThere is a famous city called Kamandaki, where a wealthy merchant lived\nnamed Fortune. And in time a son was born to him and named Treasure.\nThen when the father went to heaven, the young man became very unruly\nbecause of gambling and other vices. And the rascals came together, and\nruined him. Association with scoundrels is the root from which springs\nthe tree of calamity.\n\nSo in no long time he lost all he had through his vices, and being\nashamed of his poverty, he left his own country and went to wander in\nother places. And during his travels he came to a city called Sandal\nCity, and entered the house of a merchant, seeking something to eat.\nWhen the merchant saw the youth, he asked him about his family, and\nfinding that he was a gentleman, he entertained him. And thinking\nthat Fate had sent the young man, he gave him his own daughter Pearl,\ntogether with some money. And when Treasure was married, he lived in\nhis father-in-law's house.\n\nAs time passed, he forgot his former miseries in the comforts of\nhis life, and longed for the old vices, and wanted to go home. So\nthe rascal managed to persuade his father-in-law, who had no other\nchildren, took his wife Pearl with her beautiful ornaments, and an\nold woman, and started for his own country. Presently he came to a\nwood where he said he was afraid of thieves, so he took all his wife's\nornaments. Perceive, O Prince, how cruel and hard are the ungrateful\nhearts of those who indulge in gambling and other vices. And the\nscoundrel was ready, just for money, to kill his good wife. He threw\nher and the old woman into a pit. Then the rascal went away and the old\nwoman perished there.\n\nBut Pearl, with the little life she had left, managed to get out by\nclinging to the grass and bushes, and weeping bitterly, and bleeding,\nshe asked the way step by step, and painfully reached her father's\nhouse by the way she had come. And her mother and father were surprised\nand asked her: \"Why did you come back so soon, and in this condition?\"\n\nAnd that good wife said: \"On the road we were robbed, and my husband\nwas forcibly carried off. And the old woman fell into a pit and died,\nbut I escaped. And a kind-hearted traveller pulled me from the pit.\"\nThen her father and mother were saddened, but they comforted her, and\nPearl stayed there, true to her husband.\n\nThen in time Treasure lost all his money in gambling, and he reflected:\n\"I will get more money from the house of my father-in-law. I will go\nthere and tell my father-in-law that his daughter is well and is at my\nhouse.\"\n\nSo he went again to his father-in-law. And as he went, his\never-faithful wife saw him afar off. She ran and fell at the rascal's\nfeet and told him all the story that she had invented for her parents.\nFor the heart of a faithful wife does not change even when she learns\nthat her husband is a rogue.\n\nThen that rascal went without fear into the house of his father-in-law\nand bowed low before his feet. And his father-in-law rejoiced when he\nsaw him and made a great feast with his relatives, for he said: \"My son\nis delivered alive from the robbers. Heaven be praised!\" Then Treasure\nenjoyed the wealth of his father-in-law and lived with his wife Pearl.\n\nNow one night this worst of scoundrels did what I ought not to repeat,\nbut I will tell it, or my story would be spoiled. Listen, O Prince.\nWhile Pearl lay asleep trusting him, that wretch killed her in the\nnight, stole all her jewels, and escaped to his own country. This shows\nhow bad and ungrateful men are.\n\nWhen the thrush had told her story, the prince smiled and said to the\nparrot: \"It is your turn now.\"\n\nThen the parrot said: \"Your Majesty, women are cruel and reckless and\nbad. To prove it, I will tell a story. Listen.\"\n\nThere is a city called Joyful, where lived a prince of merchants named\nVirtue, who owned millions of money. He had a daughter named Fortune,\npeerless in beauty, dearer to him than life. And she was given in\nmarriage to a merchant's son from Copper City, whose name was Ocean. He\nwas her equal in wealth, beauty, and family; a delight to the eyes of\nmen.\n\nOne day when her husband was away from home, she saw from the window a\nhandsome young man. And the moment she saw him, the fickle girl went\nmad with love, and secretly sent a messenger to invite him in, and made\nlove to him in secret. Thus her heart was fixed on him alone, and she\nwas happy with him.\n\nBut at last her husband came home and delighted the hearts of his\nparents-in-law. And when the day had been spent in feasting, Fortune\nwas adorned by her mother, and sent to her husband's room. But she was\ncold toward him and pretended to sleep. And her husband went to sleep,\ntoo, for he was weary with his journey, and had been drinking wine.\n\nWhen everyone in the house had gone to sleep after their dinner, a\nthief made a hole in the wall and came into that very room. And just\nthen the merchant's daughter got up without seeing him, and went out\nsecretly to a meeting with her lover. And the thief was disappointed,\nand thought: \"She has gone out into the night wearing the very jewels\nthat I came to steal. I must see where she goes.\" So the thief went out\nand followed her.\n\nBut she met a woman friend who had flowers in her hand, and went to a\npark not very far away. And there she saw the man whom she came to meet\nhanging on a tree. For the policeman had thought he was a thief, had\nput a rope around his neck and hanged him.\n\nAnd at the sight she went distracted, and lamented pitifully: \"Oh, oh!\nI am undone,\" and fell on the ground and wept. Then she took her lover\ndown from the tree and made him sit up, though he was dead, and adorned\nhim with perfumes and jewels and flowers.\n\nBut when in her love-madness she lifted his face and kissed him, a\ngoblin who had come to live in her dead lover, bit off her nose. And\nshe was startled and ran in pain from the spot. But then she came back\nto see if perhaps he was alive after all. But the goblin had gone, and\nshe saw that he was motionless and dead. So she slowly went back home,\nfrightened and disgraced and weeping.\n\nAnd the concealed thief saw it all and thought: \"What has the wicked\nwoman done? Alas! Can women be so dreadful as this? What might she not\ndo next?\" So out of curiosity the thief still followed her from afar.\n\nAnd the wretched woman entered the house and cried aloud, and said:\n\"Save me from my cruel enemy, my own husband. He cut off my nose and\nI had done nothing.\" And her servants heard her cries and all arose in\nexcitement. Her husband too awoke. Then her father came and saw that\nher nose was cut off, and in his anger he had his son-in-law arrested.\n\n[Illustration: The thrush suddenly became a goddess.]\n\nAnd the poor man did not know what to do. Even when he was being\nbound, he remained silent and said nothing. Then they all woke up and\nheard the story, but the thief who knew the whole truth, ran away. And\nwhen day came, the merchant's son was haled before the king by his\nfather-in-law. And Fortune went there without her nose, and the king\nheard the whole story and condemned the merchant's son to death for\nmistreating his wife.\n\nSo the innocent, bewildered man was led to the place of execution and\nthe drums were beaten. Just then the thief came up and said to the\nking's men: \"Why do you kill this man without any good reason? I know\nhow the whole thing happened. Take me to the king, and I will tell all.\"\n\nSo all the king's men took him to the king. And the thief told the\nking all the adventures of the night, and said: \"Your Majesty, if you\ncannot trust my word, you may find the nose at this moment between the\nteeth of the dead body.\"\n\nThen the king sent men to investigate, and when he found it was true,\nhe released the merchant's son from the punishment of death. As for\nwretched Fortune, he cut off her ears, too, and banished her from the\ncountry. And he took from her father, the merchant, all his money, and\nmade the thief the chief of police. He was pleased with him.\n\nO Prince, this shows how cruel and false women are by nature.\n\nAs he spoke these words, the parrot changed into a god, for the curse\nwas fulfilled, and went to heaven like a god. And the thrush suddenly\nbecame a goddess, for her curse was at an end, and flew up likewise to\nheaven. So their dispute was never settled at that court.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he asked the king: \"O King, tell\nme. Are men bad, or women? If you know and do not tell, your head will\nfly to pieces.\" And when the king heard these words of the goblin on\nhis shoulder, he said to that magic goblin: \"O goblin! Here and there,\nnow and then, there is an occasional bad man like that. But women are\nusually bad. We hear about many of them.\"\n\nThen the goblin disappeared from the king's shoulder as before. And the\nking tried again to catch him.\n\n\n\n\nFOURTH GOBLIN\n\n_King Shudraka and Hero's Family. Which of the five deserves the most\nhonour?_\n\n\nThen King Triple-victory went back under the sissoo tree and caught the\ngoblin, who gave a horse-laugh. But the king without fear put him on\nhis shoulder as before and started toward the monk. And as he walked\nalong, the goblin on his shoulder said to him again: \"O King, why do\nyou take such pains for that wretched monk? Have you no sense about\nthis fruitless task? Well, after all, I like your devotion. So, to\namuse the weary journey, I will tell you another story. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Beautiful, and it deserves the name. There lived\na king named Shudraka, of tremendous power and mighty courage. He was\nso used to victory that the fire of his courage was kept blazing by\nthe wind from the fans in the hands of the wives of his vanquished\nfoes. Under his rule the earth was rich and always good, as in the days\nof old. And he was fond of brave men.\n\nNow one day a Brahman named Hero came from Malwa to pay his homage\nto this king. He had a wife named Virtue, a son named Trusty, and a\ndaughter named Heroic. And he had just three servants, a dagger at\nhis hip, a sword in his hand, and a shield in his other hand. These\nwere all the servants he had when he asked the king for five hundred\ngold-pieces a day as his wages.\n\nAnd the king thought from his appearance that he was a remarkably brave\nman, so he gave him the wages he asked. But out of curiosity he put\nspies on his track, to learn what he did with all the money.\n\nNow Hero called on the king in the morning, and at noon he took his\nsword and stood at the palace gate and divided his daily salary.\nOne hundred gold-pieces he gave to his wife for food and household\nexpenses. And with another hundred he bought clothes and perfumes and\nnuts and such things. And another hundred he devoted to the worship of\nVishnu and Shiva, after taking the ceremonial bath. And the two hundred\nwhich were left he gave to Brahmans and the unhappy and the poor. This\nwas the way he divided and spent the money every day. Then after he had\nsacrificed and eaten dinner, he stood every night alone at the palace\ngate with his sword and shield. All this King Shudraka learned from his\nspies and was greatly pleased and forbad the spies to follow him again.\nFor he thought him a wonderful man, worthy of especial honour.\n\nThen one day a veil of clouds covered the sky and poured down rain in\nstreams day and night, so that the highway was quite deserted. Only\nHero was at his post as usual by the palace gate. And when the sun set\nand dreadful darkness was spread abroad and the rain fell in sheets,\nthe king wished to test Hero's behaviour. So at night he climbed to the\npalace roof and cried: \"Who is there at the gate?\" And Hero answered:\n\"I am here.\" And the king thought: \"How steadfast this man Hero is,\nand how devoted to me! I must surely give him a greater post.\" And he\ndescended from the roof and entered the palace and went to bed.\n\nThe next night it rained again in sheets and the world was wrapped\nin the darkness of death. And again the king thought to test his\nbehaviour, and climbing to the roof he called out toward the palace\ngate: \"Who is there?\" And when Hero said: \"I am here, your Majesty,\"\nthe king was greatly astonished.\n\nJust then he heard at a distance a sweet-voiced woman crying. And he\nthought: \"Who is this who laments so piteously, as if in deep despair?\nIn my kingdom there is no violence, no poor man and none distressed.\nWho can she be?\" And being merciful, he called to Hero, who stood\nbelow: \"Listen, Hero. A woman is weeping at some distance. Go and learn\nwhy she weeps and who she is.\" And Hero said \"Certainly,\" arranged his\ndagger, took his sword in his hand, and started. He did not even think\nof the pelting hail, the flashing lightning, or the rain and darkness.\nAnd when the king saw him setting out alone in a night like that, he\nwas filled with pity and curiosity, and descending from the palace\nroof, took his sword and followed all alone, without being seen.\n\nAs Hero traced the sound of crying, he came to a beautiful lake outside\nthe city, and there he saw a woman in the midst of the water, lamenting\nin these words: \"Alas for you, brave and merciful and generous! How\nshall I live without you?\"\n\nAnd Hero was amazed, and timidly asked her: \"Who are you, and why do\nyou weep?\" And she replied: \"O Hero, I am the Goddess of the Earth,\nand now my lord, this virtuous King Shudraka, is going to die in three\ndays. How shall I find another such master? So I am distracted with\ngrief, and I lament.\"\n\nWhen Hero heard this, he was frightened and said: \"Goddess, is there\nany remedy for this, any way in which the king might be saved?\" And the\ngoddess answered: \"There is just one remedy, my son, and it is in your\nhands.\" And Hero said: \"Goddess, tell me quickly, that I may adopt it\nat once. What good would life be to us otherwise?\"\n\nThen the goddess said: \"My son, there is no other man devoted to his\nmaster as you are: so you may learn how to save him. There is a temple\nto the Dreadful Goddess built by that king near his palace. If you\nsacrifice your son to her at once, then the king will not die. He will\nlive another hundred years. If you do it this very night, then the\nblessing will come, not otherwise.\"\n\nAnd Hero, the hero, replied: \"Then I will go, Goddess, and do it this\nmoment.\" And the Goddess of the Earth said: \"Good fortune go with you,\"\nand she vanished. And the king, who had followed secretly, heard it\nall. So he still followed to find out how Hero would behave.\n\nBut Hero went straight home, woke his wife Virtue, and told her all\nthat the Goddess of the Earth had said. And his wife said: \"My dear, if\nso much depends on it, wake the boy and tell him.\" Then Hero woke the\nlittle boy, told him all, and said: \"My boy, if you are sacrificed to\nthe Dreadful Goddess, our king will live. If not, he will die in three\ndays.\"\n\nAnd the boy was true to his name. Without fear and without hesitation\nhe said: \"My dear father, I am a lucky boy if the king lives at the\ncost of my life. Besides, that would pay for the food we have eaten.\nWhy then delay? Take me quickly and sacrifice me to the goddess. May\nthe king's evil fate be averted by my death!\" And Hero was delighted\nand congratulated him, saying: \"Well said! You are indeed my son.\"\n\n[Illustration: Trusty worshipped the goddess and bravely saluted her.]\n\nSo Hero's wife Virtue and his daughter Heroic went through the night\nwith Hero and Trusty to the temple of the Dreadful Goddess. The king\ntoo followed them, disguised and unnoticed. Then the father took Trusty\nfrom his shoulder in the presence of the goddess. And Trusty worshipped\nthe goddess, and bravely saluted her, and said: \"O Goddess, by the\nsacrifice of my head may the king live another hundred years and rule a\nthornless kingdom.\"\n\nAnd as he prayed, Hero cut off his head and offered it to the Dreadful\nGoddess, saying: \"May the king live at the cost of my son's life!\" Then\na voice cried from heaven: \"O Hero, who else is devoted to his master\nas you are? You have given life and royal power to the king at the cost\nof your only son, and such a son.\" All this the king himself saw and\nheard.\n\nThen Hero's daughter Heroic kissed the lips of her dead brother, and\nwas blinded with sorrow, and her heart broke, and she died.\n\nThen Hero's wife Virtue said: \"My dear, we have done our duty by the\nking. And you see how my daughter died of grief. So now I say: What\ngood is life to me without my children? I was a fool before. I should\nhave given my own head to save the king. So now permit me to burn\nmyself at once.\"\n\nAnd when she insisted, Hero said: \"Do so. What happiness is there in\na life of constant mourning for your children? And as for your giving\nyour own life instead, do not grieve about that. If there had been any\nother way, I should of course have given my life. So wait a moment. I\nwill build you a funeral pile out of these logs.\" So he built the pile\nand lighted it.\n\nAnd Virtue fell at her husband's feet, then worshipped the Dreadful\nGoddess, and prayed: \"O Goddess, may I have the same husband in another\nlife, and may this same King Shudraka be saved at the cost of my son's\nlife.\" And she died in the blazing fire.\n\nThen Hero thought: \"I have done my duty by the king, as the heavenly\nvoice admitted. And I have paid for the king's food which I have eaten.\nSo now why should I want to live alone? It is not right for a man like\nme to go on living at the expense of all the family which I ought to\nsupport. Why should I not please the goddess by sacrificing myself?\"\n\nSo Hero first approached the goddess with a hymn of praise: \"O\nDemon-slayer! Saviour! Devil-killer! Trident-holder! Joy of the wise!\nProtectress of the universe! Victory to thee, O best of mothers, whose\nfeet the world adores! O fearless refuge of the pious! Kali of the\ndreadful ornaments! Honour and glory to thee, O kindly goddess! Be\npleased to accept the sacrifice of my head in behalf of King Shudraka.\"\nThen he suddenly cut off his own head with his dagger.\n\nKing Shudraka beheld this from his hiding-place, and was filled with\namazement and grief and admiration. And he thought: \"I have never seen\nor heard the like of this. That good man and his family have done a\nhard thing for me. In this strange world who else is so brave as that,\nto give his son, his family, and his life for his king? If I should not\nmake a full return for his kindness, my kingdom would mean nothing to\nme, and my life would be the life of a beast. If I lost my virtue, it\nwould all be a disgrace to me.\"\n\nSo the king drew his sword and approached the goddess and prayed: \"O\nGoddess, I have always been devoted to you. Now be pleased with the\nsacrifice of my body, and grant my prayer. Bring back to life this\nvirtuous man Hero and his family, who gave their lives for me.\"\n\nBut when he started to cut off his own head, there came a voice\nfrom heaven: \"My son, do nothing rash. I am well pleased with your\ncharacter. The Brahman Hero and his children and his wife shall come\nback to life.\" And when the voice ceased, Hero stood up alive and\nuninjured with his son and his daughter and his wife. Then the king hid\nhimself again and looked on with eyes filled with tears of joy, and\ncould not see enough of them.\n\nNow Hero, like a man awaking from a dream, gazed at his son and his\nwife and his daughter, and was greatly perplexed. He spoke to each by\nname, and asked them how they had come to life after being reduced to\nashes. \"Is this a fancy of mine? Or a dream? Or an illusion? Or the\nfavour of the goddess?\" And his wife and children said to him: \"By the\nfavour of the goddess we are alive.\"\n\nAt last Hero believed it, and having worshipped the goddess, he went\nhome happy with his children and his wife. And when he had seen his son\nand his wife and daughter safe at home, he went back that same night to\nthe palace gate.\n\nAnd King Shudraka saw all this and went back without being seen\nhimself, and climbed to the roof, and called: \"Who is there at the\ngate?\" And Hero replied: \"Your Majesty, I, Hero, am here. At your\ncommand I followed the woman who cried. She must have been a witch, for\nshe vanished the moment I saw her and spoke to her.\"\n\nWhen the king heard this, he was astonished beyond measure, for he had\nseen what really happened. And he thought: \"Ah, the hearts of brave men\nare deep as the sea, if they do not boast after doing an unparalleled\naction.\" So the king descended from the roof, entered the palace, and\npassed the rest of the night there.\n\nThen when the court was held in the morning, Hero came to see the king.\nAnd as he stood there, the delighted king told all his counsellors and\nthe others the story of the night. And all were amazed and confounded\nat hearing of Hero's virtues, and they praised him, crying: \"Well done!\nWell done!\"\n\nThen the king and Hero lived happily together, sharing the power\nequally.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he asked King Triple-victory: \"O\nKing, which of all these was the most worthy? If you know and will not\ntell, then the curse I told you of will be fulfilled.\"\n\nAnd the king said to the goblin: \"O magic creature, King Shudraka was\nthe most noble of them all.\"\n\nBut the goblin said: \"Why not Hero, the like of whom as a servant is\nnot to be found in the whole world? Or why should not his wife receive\nthe most praise, who did not waver when she saw her son killed like a\nbeast before her eyes? Or why is not the boy Trusty the most worthy,\nwho showed such wonderful manhood when only a little boy? Why do you\nsay that King Shudraka was the best among them?\"\n\nThen the king answered the goblin: \"Not Hero. He was a gentleman born,\nso it was his duty to save his king at the cost of life, wife and\nchildren. And his wife was a lady, a faithful wife who only did what\nwas right in following her husband. And Trusty was their son, and like\nthem. For the cloth is always like the threads. But the king has a\nright to use his subjects' lives to save his own. So when Shudraka gave\nhis life for them, he proved himself the best of all.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this, he jumped from the king's shoulder and went\nback to his home without being seen. And the king was not disturbed by\nthis magic, but started back through the night to catch him.\n\n\n\n\nFIFTH GOBLIN\n\n _The Brave Man, the Wise Man, and the Clever Man. To which should the\n girl be given?_\n\n\nThen King Triple-victory went back to the sissoo tree and saw the\nbody with the goblin in it hanging there just as before. He took it\ndown without being frightened by all its twistings and writhings, and\nquickly set out again. And as he walked along in silence as before, the\ngoblin said: \"O King, you are obstinate, and you are pleasing to look\nat. So to amuse you, I will tell another story. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Ujjain, famous throughout the world. There lived\na king named Merit, who had as counsellor a Brahman named Hariswami,\nadorned with all noble virtues. The counsellor had a worthy wife, and a\nson named Devaswami was born to her, and was as good as she. And they\nhad one daughter named Moonlight, who was worthy of her name, for she\nwas famous for her matchless beauty and charm.\n\nWhen the girl had grown out of childhood, she was proud of her\nwonderful beauty, and she told her mother, her father, and her brother:\n\"I will marry a brave man or a wise man or a clever man. I should die\nif I were married to anyone else.\"\n\nNow while her father was busy looking for such a husband for her, he\nwas sent by King Merit to another king in the southern country to\nmake a treaty for war and peace. When he had finished his business, a\nBrahman youth, who had heard of his daughter's beauty, came and asked\nhim for her.\n\nAnd he said: \"My daughter will not marry anyone unless he is a clever\nman or a wise man or a brave man. Which of these are you? Tell me.\"\nAnd the Brahman said: \"I am a clever man.\" \"Show me,\" said the father,\nand the clever man made a flying chariot by his skill. Then he took\nHariswami in this magic chariot, and carried him to the sky. And he\ntook the delighted father to the camp of the king of the southern\ncountry where he had been on business. Then Hariswami appointed the\nmarriage for the seventh day.\n\nAt this time another Brahman youth in Ujjain came to the girl's brother\nand asked him for her. And when he was told that she would marry only\na wise man or a clever man or a brave man, he said he was a brave man.\nThen when he had shown his skill with weapons, the brother promised his\nsister to the brave man. And without telling his mother, he consulted\nthe star-gazers and appointed the marriage for the seventh day.\n\nAt the same time a third Brahman youth came to the girl's mother and\nasked for the girl. And the mother said: \"My son, a wise man or a\nclever man or a brave man shall marry my daughter, but no one else.\nWhich of these are you? Tell me.\" And he said: \"I am a wise man.\" So\nshe asked him about the past and the future, and found that he was a\nwise man. Then she promised to give him her daughter on the seventh day.\n\nThe next day Hariswami came home and told his wife and his son all that\nhe had done. And she and he each told him all that she or he had done.\nSo Hariswami was greatly perplexed, because three bridegrooms had been\ninvited. Then the seventh day came and the three bridegrooms came to\nHariswami's house.\n\nStrange to say, at that moment Moonlight disappeared. Then the wise\nman said: \"A giant named Smoke-tail has carried her to his den in the\nVindhya forest.\"\n\nWhen Hariswami heard this from the wise man, he was frightened and\nasked the clever man to find a remedy for the trouble. And the clever\nman made a chariot as before, full of all kinds of weapons, and brought\nHariswami with the wise man and the brave man in a moment to the\nVindhya forest. And the wise man showed them the giant's den.\n\nWhen the giant saw what had happened, he came out in anger, and the\nbrave man fought with him. Then came a famous duel with strange weapons\nbetween a man and a giant for the sake of a woman, like the ancient\nfight between Rama and Ravana. Though the giant was a terrible fighter,\nthe brave man presently cut off his head with an arrow shaped like a\nhalf-moon. When the giant was killed, they found Moonlight in the\nden and all went back to Ujjain in the clever man's chariot.\n\n[Illustration: The giant came out in anger and the brave man fought\nwith him.]\n\nThen when the proper time for the wedding came, there arose a great\ndispute among the three in Hariswami's house.\n\nThe wise man said: \"If I had not discovered her by my wisdom, how could\nyou have found her hiding-place? She should be given to me.\"\n\nThe clever man said: \"If I had not made a flying chariot, how could you\nhave gone there in a moment and come back like the gods, or how could\nyou have had a chariot-fight with him? She should be given to me.\"\n\nThe brave man said: \"If I had not killed the giant in the fight, who\nwould have saved her in spite of all your pains? The girl should be\ngiven to me.\"\n\nAnd as they quarrelled, Hariswami stood silent, confused, and perplexed.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he said to the king: \"O King, do\nyou say to which of them she should be given. If you know and will not\ntell, then your head will split into a hundred pieces.\"\n\nThen the king broke silence and said: \"She should be given to the brave\nman, who risked his life and killed the giant and saved the girl. The\nwise man and the clever man were only helpers whom Fate gave him. A\nstar-gazer and a chariot-maker work for other people, do they not?\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this answer, he suddenly escaped from the king's\nshoulder and went back. And the king determined to get him, and went\nagain to the sissoo tree.\n\n\n\n\nSIXTH GOBLIN\n\n _The Girl who transposed the Heads of her Husband and Brother. Which\n combination of head and body is her husband?_\n\n\nThen the king went back to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder as before, and started in silence toward the monk. And the\ngoblin said to him: \"O King, you are wise and good, so I am pleased\nwith you. To amuse you, therefore, I will tell you another story with a\npuzzle in it. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLong ago there was a king named Glory-banner in the world. His city was\nnamed Beautiful. And in this city was a splendid temple to the goddess\nGauri. And to the right of the temple was a lake called Bath of Gauri.\nAnd on a certain day in each year a great crowd of people came there on\na pilgrimage from all directions to bathe.\n\nOne day a laundryman named White came there from another village to\nbathe. And the youth saw a maiden who had also come there to bathe. Her\nname was Lovely, and her father's name was Clean-cloth. She robbed the\nmoon of its beauty and White of his heart. So he inquired about her\nname and family and went home lovesick.\n\nWhen he got there, he was ill and could not eat without her. And when\nhis mother asked him, he told her what was in his heart, but did not\nchange his habits. But she went and told her husband, whose name was\nSpotless.\n\nSo Spotless went and saw how his son was acting, and said: \"My son, why\nshould you be downcast? Your desire is not hard to obtain. For if I ask\nClean-cloth, he will surely give you his daughter. We are not inferior\nto him in birth, wealth, or social position. I know him and he knows\nme. So there is no difficulty about it.\" Thus Spotless comforted his\nson, made him eat and take care of himself, went with him the next day\nto Clean-cloth's house, and asked that the girl might be given to his\nson White. And Clean-cloth graciously promised to give her to him.\n\nThen when the time came, Clean-cloth gave White his charming daughter,\na wife worthy of him. And when he was married, White went happily to\nhis father's house with his sweet bride.\n\nNow as he lived there happily, Lovely's brother came to visit. And when\nthey had all asked him about his health and his sister had greeted\nhim with a kiss, and after he had rested, he said: \"My father sent me\nto invite Lovely and White to a festival in our house.\" And all the\nrelatives said it was a good plan and entertained him that day with\nappropriate things to drink and eat.\n\nThe next morning White set out for his father-in-law's house, together\nwith his brother-in-law and Lovely. And when he came to the city\nBeautiful, he saw the great temple of Gauri. And he said to Lovely\nand her brother: \"We will see this goddess. I will go first and you\ntwo stay here.\" So White went in to see the goddess. He entered the\ntemple and bowed before the goddess whose eighteen arms had killed the\nhorrible demons, whose lotus-feet were set upon a giant that she had\ncrushed.\n\nAnd when he had worshipped her, an idea suddenly came to him. \"People\nhonour this goddess with all kinds of living sacrifices. Why should I\nnot win her favour by sacrificing myself?\" And he fetched a sword from\na deserted inner room, cut off his own head, and let it fall on the\nfloor.\n\nPresently his brother-in-law entered the temple to see why he delayed\nso long. And when he saw his brother-in-law with his head cut off, he\nwent mad with grief, and cut off his own head in the same way with the\nsame sword.\n\nThen when he failed to come out, Lovely was alarmed and entered the\ntemple. And when she saw her husband and her brother in that condition,\nshe cried: \"Alas! This is the end of me!\" and fell weeping to the\nfloor. But presently she rose, lamenting for the pair so unexpectedly\ndead, and thought: \"What is my life good for now?\"\n\nBefore killing herself, she prayed to the goddess: \"O Goddess! One only\ndeity of happiness and character! Partaker of the life of Shiva!\nRefuge of all women-folk! Destroyer of grief! Why have you killed my\nhusband and my brother at one fell swoop? It was not right, for I was\nalways devoted to you. Then be my refuge when I pray to you, and hear\nmy one pitiful prayer. I shall leave this wretched body of mine on this\nspot, but in every future life of mine, O Goddess, may I have the same\nhusband and brother.\" Thus she prayed, praised, and worshipped the\ngoddess, then tied a rope to an ashoka tree which grew there.\n\n[Illustration: \"Do nothing rash, my daughter, leave the rope alone.\"]\n\nBut while she was arranging the rope about her neck, a voice from\nheaven cried: \"Do nothing rash, my daughter. Leave the rope alone.\nThough you are young, I am pleased with your unusual goodness. Place\nthe two heads on the two bodies and they shall rise up again and live\nthrough my favour.\"\n\nSo Lovely left the rope alone and joyfully went to the bodies. But\nin her great hurry and confusion she made a mistake. She put her\nhusband's head on her brother's body and her brother's head on her\nhusband's body. Then they arose, sound and well, like men awaking from\na dream. And they were all delighted to hear one another's adventures,\nworshipped the goddess, and went on their way.\n\nNow as she walked along, Lovely noticed that she had made a mistake in\ntheir heads. And she was troubled and did not know what to do.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he asked the king: \"O King, when\nthey were mingled in this way, which should be her husband? If you know\nand do not tell, then the curse I spoke of will be fulfilled.\"\n\nAnd the king said to the goblin: \"The body with the husband's head on\nit is her husband. For the head is the most important member. It is by\nthe head that we recognize people.\"\n\nThen the goblin slipped from the king's shoulder as before, and quickly\ndisappeared. And the king went back, determined to catch him.\n\n\n\n\nSEVENTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Mutual Services of King Fierce-lion and Prince Good. Which is the\nmore deserving?_\n\n\nThen the king went back to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder as before, and started. And as he walked along, the goblin\nsaid: \"O King, I will tell you a story to amuse your weariness. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the shore of the Eastern Ocean is Copper City. There a king named\nFierce-lion lived. He turned his back to other men's wives, but not to\nfighting men. He destroyed his enemies, but not other men's wealth.\n\nOne day a popular prince named Good came from the south to the king's\ngate. He introduced himself, but did not get what he wanted from the\nking. And he thought: \"If I am born a prince, why am I so poor? And if\nI am to be poor, why did God give me so many desires? For this king\npays no attention to me, though I wait upon him and grow weary and\nfaint with hunger.\"\n\nWhile he was thinking, the king went hunting. He went with many\nhorsemen and footmen, and the prince ran along in the dress of a\npilgrim with a club in his hand. And during the hunt the king chased\na great boar a long distance, and so came into another forest. There\nhe lost sight of the boar, for the trail was covered with leaves and\ngrass. And the king was tired and lost his way in the forest. Only the\npilgrim-prince thought nothing of his life, and hungry and thirsty as\nhe was, he followed on foot the king who rode a swift horse.\n\nAnd when the king saw him following, he spoke lovingly: \"My good man,\ndo you perhaps know the way we came?\"\n\nAnd the pilgrim bowed low and said: \"I know, your Majesty. But first\nrest yourself a moment. The blazing sun, the middle jewel in the girdle\nof heaven's bride, is terribly hot.\" Then the king said eagerly: \"See\nif there is water anywhere.\"\n\nAnd the pilgrim agreed and climbed a high tree and looked around. And\nhe saw a river and climbed down and took the king to it. He unsaddled\nthe horse, gave him water and grass, and let him rest. And when the\nking had bathed, the pilgrim took two fine mangoes from his skirt,\nwashed them and gave them to the king.\n\n\"Where did you get these?\" asked the king, and the pilgrim bowed and\nsaid: \"Your Majesty, I have lived on such food for ten years. While\nI was serving your Majesty, I had to live like a monk.\" And the king\nsaid: \"What can I say? You deserve your name of Good.\" And he was\nfilled with pity and shame, and thought: \"A curse on kings, who do not\nknow whether their servants are happy or not! And a curse on their\nattendants, who do not tell them this and that!\" And when the pilgrim\ninsisted, the king was prevailed on to take the two mangoes. He rested\nthere with the pilgrim and ate the mangoes and drank water with the\npilgrim, who was accustomed to eat mangoes and drink water.\n\nThen the pilgrim saddled the horse and went ahead to show the way, and\nat last, at the king's command, mounted behind on the horse; so the\nking found his soldiers and went safely home. And when he got there, he\nproclaimed the devotion of the pilgrim, and made him a rich man, but\ncould not feel that he had paid his debt. So Good stayed there happily\nwith King Fierce-lion and stopped living as a pilgrim.\n\nOne day the king sent Good to Ceylon to ask for the hand of the\ndaughter of the King of Ceylon. So he set out after sacrificing to the\nproper god, and entered a ship with some Brahmans chosen by the king.\nAnd when the ship had safely reached the middle of the ocean, there\nsuddenly arose from the waves a very large flag-pole made of gold,\nwith a top that touched the sky. It was adorned with waving banners of\nvarious colours and was quite astonishing.\n\nAt the same moment the clouds gathered, it began to rain violently,\nand a mighty wind blew. And the ship was driven by the storm winds and\ncaught on the flag-pole. Then the pole began to sink, dragging the ship\nwith it into the raging waves. And the Brahmans who were there were\novercome with fear and cursed the name of their king Fierce-lion.\n\n[Illustration: Good sank into the ocean, and when he looked about he\nsaw a wonderful city.]\n\nBut Good could not endure that because of his devotion to his king.\nHe took his sword in his hand, girt up his garment, and threw himself\nafter the flag-pole into the sea. He had no fear of the pole which\nseemed a refuge from the ocean. Then as he sank, the ship was battered\nby the winds and waves and broke up. And all in it fell into the mouths\nof sharks.\n\nBut Good sank into the ocean, and when he looked about he saw a\nwonderful city. There he entered a shrine to Gauri, tall as the\nheavenly mountain, with great gem-sprinkled banners on walls made of\ndifferent kinds of jewels, in a golden temple blazing with jewelled\npillars, with a garden that had a pool, the stairs to which were made\nof splendid gems. After he had bowed low and praised and worshipped the\ngoddess there, he sat down before her in amazement, wondering if it was\nall a conjuror's trick.\n\nJust then the door was suddenly opened by a heavenly maiden. Her eyes\nwere like lotuses, her face like the moon. She had a smile like a\nflower and a body soft as lotus-stems. And a thousand women waited\nupon her. She entered the shrine of the goddess and the heart of Good\nat the same moment. And when she had worshipped the goddess there, she\nwent out from the shrine, but not from the heart of Good.\n\nShe entered a circle of light, and Good followed her. And he saw\nanother splendid house, that seemed like a place of meeting for all\nriches and all enjoyments. And he saw the girl sitting on a jewelled\ncouch, and he approached and sat beside her. He was like a man painted\nin a picture, for his eyes were fastened on her face.\n\nNow a servant of the maiden saw that his body was thrilled, that\nhe was intent upon the maiden, that he was in love. She understood\nhis feelings and said to him: \"Sir, you are our guest. Enjoy the\nhospitality of my mistress. Arise. Bathe. Eat.\" And he felt a little\nhope at her words and went to a pool in the garden which she showed him.\n\nHe plunged into the pool, and when he rose to the surface, he found\nhimself in the pool of King Fierce-lion in Copper City. And when he\nsaw that he had come there so suddenly, he thought: \"Oh, what does it\nmean? Where is that heavenly garden? What a difference between the\nsight of that girl which was like nectar to me, and this immediate\nseparation from her which is like terrible poison! It was no dream. I\nwas awake when the serving-maid deceived me and made a fool of me.\"\n\nHe was like a madman without the girl. He wandered in the garden\nand mourned in a lovelorn way. He was surrounded by wind-blown\nflower-pollen which seemed to him the yellow flames of separation. And\nwhen the gardener saw him in this state, he went and told the king.\n\nAnd the king was troubled. He went himself to see Good, and asked him\nsoothingly: \"What does this mean? Tell me, my friend. Where did you go?\nAnd where did you come? And where did you stay? And what did you fall\ninto?\"\n\nThen Good told him the whole adventure. And the king thought: \"Ah, it\nis fortunate for me that this brave man is lovelorn. For now I have a\nchance to pay my debt to him.\" So the king said to him: \"My friend,\ngive over this vain grief. I will go with you by the same road, and\nbring you to the heavenly maiden.\" So he comforted Good, and made him\ntake a bath.\n\nThe next day he transferred his royal duties to his counsellors and\nentered a ship with Good. Good showed the way through the sea and they\nsaw the flag-pole with its banners rising as before in the middle of\nthe ocean. Then Good said to the king: \"Your Majesty, here is the magic\nflag-pole standing up. When I sink down there, you must sink too along\nthe flag-pole.\" So when they came near the sinking pole, Good jumped\nfirst, and the king followed him.\n\nThey sank down and came to the heavenly city. And the king was\nastonished, and after he had worshipped the goddess, he sat down with\nGood. Then the girl, like Beauty personified, came out of the circle of\nlight with her friends. \"There she is, the lovely creature,\" said Good,\nand the king thought: \"He is quite right to love her.\" But when she saw\nthe king looking like a god, she wondered who the strange and wonderful\nman might be, and entered the shrine to worship the goddess.\n\nBut the king took Good and went into the garden to show how little he\ncared about her. A moment later the girl came from the shrine; she had\nbeen praying for a good husband. And she said to a girl friend: \"My\nfriend, I wonder where I could see the man who was here. Where is the\ngreat man? You girls must hunt for him and ask him to be good enough to\ncome and accept our hospitality. For he is a wonderful man, and we must\nbe polite to him.\"\n\nSo the girl found him in the garden and gave him her mistress' message\nvery respectfully. But the brave king spoke loftily to her: \"Your words\nare hospitality enough. Nothing else is necessary.\"\n\nNow when her mistress had heard what he said, she thought he was a\nnoble character, better than anybody else. She was attracted by the\ncourage of the king in refusing a sort of hospitality which was almost\ntoo much to offer a mere man, and thought about the fulfilment of her\nprayer for a husband. So she went into the garden herself. She drew\nnear to the king and lovingly begged him to accept her hospitality.\n\nBut the king pointed to Good and said: \"My dear girl, he told me of the\ngoddess here, and I came to see her. And by following the flag-pole I\nsaw the goddess and her very marvellous temple. It was only afterwards\nthat I happened to see you.\"\n\nThen the girl said: \"O King, you may be interested in seeing a city\nwhich is the wonder of the three worlds.\" And the king laughed and\nsaid: \"He told me about that, too. I believe there is a pool for\nbathing there.\" And the girl said: \"O King, do not say that. I am not\na deceitful girl. Why should I deceive an honourable man, especially\nas your noble character has made me feel like a servant? Pray do not\nrefuse me.\"\n\nSo the king agreed and went with Good and the girl to the edge of the\ncircle of light. There a door opened and he entered and saw another\nheavenly city like a second hill of heaven; for it was built of gems\nand gold, and the flowers and fruits of every season grew there at the\nsame time.\n\nAnd the princess seated the king on a splendid throne and brought him\ngifts and said: \"Your Majesty, I am the daughter of the great god\nBlack-wheel. But Vishnu sent my father to heaven. And I inherited these\ntwo magic cities where one has everything he wants. There is no old age\nor death to trouble us here. And now you are in the place of my father\nto rule over the cities and over me.\" So she offered him herself and\nall she had. But the king said: \"In that case you are my daughter and I\ngive you in marriage to my brave friend Good.\"\n\nIn the king's words she saw the fulfilment of her prayer, and being\nsensible and modest, she agreed. So the king married them and gave all\nthe magic wealth to happy Good, and said: \"My friend, I have paid you\nnow for one of the two mangoes which I ate. But I remain in your debt\nfor the second.\"\n\nThen he asked the princess how he could get back to his city. And she\ngave the king a sword called Invincible, and the magic fruit which\nwards off birth, old age, and death. And the king took the sword and\nthe fruit, plunged into the pool which she showed him, and came up in\nhis own country, feeling completely successful. But Good ruled happily\nover the kingdom of the princess.\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he asked the king: \"O King, which\nof these two deserves more credit for plunging into the sea?\"\n\nAnd the king was afraid of the curse, so he gave a true answer:\n\"Good seems to me the more deserving, for he did not know the truth\nbeforehand, but plunged without hope into the sea, while the king knew\nthe truth when he jumped.\"\n\nAnd as soon as the king broke silence, the goblin slipped from his\nshoulder as before without being seen and went to the sissoo tree. And\nthe king tried as before to catch him. Brave men do not waver until\nthey have finished what they have begun.\n\n\n\n\nEIGHTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Specialist in Food, the Specialist in Women, and the Specialist in\nCotton. Which is the cleverest?_\n\n\nSo the king went back under the sissoo tree, caught the goblin just as\nbefore, put him on his shoulder, and started toward the monk. And as\nhe walked along, the goblin on his shoulder spoke and said: \"O King,\nlisten once more to the following story to beguile your weariness.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the Anga country there is a great region called Forest. There lived\na great Brahman, pious and wealthy, whose name was Vishnuswami. To his\nworthy wife three sons were born, one after another. When they had\ngrown to be young men, specialists in matters of luxury, they were sent\none day by their father to find a turtle for a sacrifice which he had\nbegun.\n\nSo the brothers went to the ocean and there they found a turtle. Then\nthe eldest said to the two younger: \"One of you take this turtle for\nFather's sacrifice. I cannot carry a slimy thing that smells raw.\"\n\nBut when the eldest said this, the two younger said: \"Sir, if you feel\ndisgust, why shouldn't we?\"\n\nWhen the eldest heard this, he said: \"You take the turtle, otherwise\nFather's sacrifice will be ruined on your account. Then you and Father\ntoo will surely go to hell.\"\n\nWhen they heard him, the two younger brothers laughed and said: \"Sir,\nyou seem to know our common duty, but not your own.\"\n\nThen the eldest said: \"What! Are you not aware that I am a connoisseur\nin food? For I am a specialist in foods. How can I touch this loathsome\nthing?\"\n\nWhen he heard these words, the second brother said: \"But I am even more\nof a connoisseur. I am a specialist in women. So how can I touch it?\"\n\nAfter this speech, the eldest said to the youngest: \"Do you then, being\nyounger than we, carry the turtle.\"\n\nThen the youngest frowned and said to them: \"Fools! I am a great\nspecialist in cotton.\"\n\nSo the three brothers quarrelled, and arrogantly leaving the turtle\nbehind them, they went to have the matter decided at Pinnacle, the\ncapital of a king called Conqueror. When they came there, and had been\nannounced and introduced by the door-keeper, they told their story to\nthe king. And when the king had heard all, he said: \"Stay here. I will\nexamine you one after another.\" So they agreed and all stayed there.\n\nThen the king invited them in at his own dinner hour, seated them on\nmagnificent seats, and set before them sweet dishes of six flavours,\nfit for a king. While all the rest ate, one of the Brahmans, the\nspecialist in food, disgustedly shook his head and refused to eat. And\nwhen the king himself asked him why he would not eat food that was\nsweet and savoury, he respectfully replied: \"Your Majesty, in this food\nthere is the odour of smoke from a burning corpse. Therefore, I do not\nwish to eat it, however sweet it may be.\"\n\nThen at the king's command all the rest smelt of it and declared it the\nbest of winter rice, and perfectly sweet. But the food-critic held his\nnose and would not touch it. Now when the king reflected and made a\ncareful investigation, he learned from the commissioners that the dish\nwas made of rice grown near a village crematory. Then he was greatly\nastonished and pleased, and said: \"Brahman, you are certainly a judge\nof food. Pray take something else.\"\n\nAfter dinner the king dismissed them to their rooms, and sent for the\nmost beautiful woman of his court. And at night he sent this lovely\ncreature, all adorned, to the second brother, the specialist in women.\nShe came with a servant of the king to his chamber, and when she\nentered, she seemed to illuminate the room. But the judge of women\nalmost fainted, and stopping his nose with his left hand, he said to\nhis servants: \"Take her away! If not, I shall die. A goaty smell issues\nfrom her.\"\n\nSo the servants, in distress and astonishment, conducted her to the\nking and told him what had happened. Then the king sent for the\nspecialist in women, and said: \"Brahman, she has anointed herself with\nsandal, camphor, and aloes, so that a delightful perfume pervades her\nneighbourhood. How could this woman have a goaty smell?\" But in spite\nof this the specialist in women would not yield. And when the king\nendeavoured to learn the truth, he heard from her own lips that in her\ninfancy she had been separated from her mother and had been brought up\non goat's milk. Then the king was greatly astonished and loudly praised\nthe critical judgment of the specialist in women.\n\n[Illustration: The brothers went to the ocean, and there they found a\nturtle.]\n\nQuickly he had a couch prepared for the third brother, the specialist\nin cotton. So the critic of cotton went to sleep on a bed with seven\nquilts over the frame and covered with a pure, soft coverlet. When only\na half of the first watch of the night was gone, he suddenly started\nfrom the bed, shouting and writhing with pain, his hand pressed to his\nside. And the king's men who were stationed there saw the curly red\noutline of a hair deeply imprinted on his side.\n\nThey went at once and informed the king, who said to them: \"See whether\nthere is anything under the quilts or not.\" So they went and searched\nunder each quilt, and under the last they found one hair, which they\nimmediately took and showed to the king. And the king summoned the\nspecialist in cotton, and finding the mark exactly corresponding to\nthe hair, was filled with extreme astonishment. And he spent that night\nwondering how the hair could sink into his body through seven quilts.\n\nNow when the king arose in the morning, he was delighted with their\nmarvellous critical judgment and sensitiveness, so that he gave each\nof the three specialists a hundred thousand gold-pieces. And they were\ncontented and stayed there, forgetting all about the turtle, and thus\nincurring a crime through the failure of their father's sacrifice.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen he had told this remarkable story, the goblin on the king's\nshoulder said: \"O King, remember the curse I spoke of and declare which\nof these three was the cleverest.\"\n\nWhen he heard this, the wise king answered the goblin: \"Without doubt\nI regard the specialist in cotton as the cleverest, on whose body the\nimprint of the hair was seen to appear visibly. The other two might\npossibly have found out beforehand.\"\n\nWhen the king had said this, the goblin slipped from his shoulder as\nbefore. And the king went back under the sissoo tree again to fetch\nhim.\n\n\n\n\nNINTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Four Scientific Suitors. To which should the girl be given?_\n\n\nThen the king went back to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder, and started. And the goblin spoke to him again: \"O King, why\ndo you go to such pains in this cemetery at night? Do you not see the\nhome of the ghosts, full of dreadful creatures, terrible in the night,\nwrapped in darkness as in smoke? Why do you work so hard and grow weary\nfor the sake of that monk? Well, to amuse the journey, listen to a\npuzzle which I will tell you.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the Avanti country is a city built by the gods at the beginning of\ntime, adorned with wonderful wealth and opportunities for enjoyment.\nIn the earliest age it was called Lotus City, then Pleasure City, then\nGolden City, and now it is called Ujjain. There lived a king named\nHeroic. And his queen was named Lotus.\n\nOne day the king went with her to the sacred Ganges river and prayed\nto Shiva that he might have children. And after long prayer he heard a\nvoice from heaven, for Shiva was at last pleased with his devotion: \"O\nKing, there shall be born to you a brave son to continue your dynasty,\nand a daughter more beautiful than the nymphs of heaven.\"\n\nWhen he heard the heavenly voice, the king was delighted at the\nfulfilment of his wishes, and went back to his city with the queen. And\nfirst Queen Lotus bore a son called Brave, and then a daughter named\nGrace who put the god of love to shame.\n\nWhen the girl grew up, the king sought for a suitable husband for her,\nand invited all the neighbouring princes by letter, but not one of them\nseemed good enough for her. So the king tenderly said to his daughter:\n\"My dear, I do not see a husband worthy of you, so I will summon all\nthe kings hither, and you shall choose.\" But the princess said: \"My\ndear father, such a choice would be very embarrassing. I would rather\nnot. Just marry me to any good-looking young man, who understands a\nsingle science from beginning to end. I wish nothing more nor less than\nthat.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"I understand the cries of all beasts and birds.\"]\n\nNow while the king was looking for such a husband, four brave,\ngood-looking, scientific men from the south heard of the matter and\ncame to him. And when they had been hospitably received, each explained\nhis own science to the king.\n\nThe first said: \"I am a working-man, and my name is Five-cloth. I make\nfive splendid suits of clothes a day. One I give to some god and one to\na Brahman. One I wear myself, and one I shall give to my wife when I\nhave one. The fifth I sell, to buy food and things. This is my science.\nPray give me Grace.\"\n\nThe second said: \"I am a farmer, and my name is Linguist. I understand\nthe cries of all beasts and birds. Pray give me the princess.\"\n\nThe third said: \"I am a strong-armed soldier, and my name is Swordsman.\nI have no rival on earth in the science of swordsmanship. O King, pray\ngive me your daughter.\"\n\nThe fourth said: \"O King, I am a Brahman, and my name is Life. I\npossess a wonderful science. For if dead creatures are brought to me, I\ncan quickly restore them to life. Let your daughter find a husband in a\nman who has such heroic skill.\"\n\nWhen they had spoken, and the king had seen that they all had wonderful\ngarments and personal beauty, he and his daughter swung in doubt.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he said to the king: \"Remember\nthe curse I mentioned, and tell me to which of them the girl should be\ngiven.\"\n\nAnd the king said to the goblin: \"Sir, you are merely trying to gain\ntime by making me break silence. There is no puzzle about that. How\ncould a warrior's daughter be given to a working-man, a weaver? Or to\na farmer, either? And as to his knowledge of the speech of beasts and\nbirds, of what practical use is it? And what good is a Brahman who\nneglects his own affairs and turns magician, despising real courage?\nOf course she should be given to the warrior Swordsman who had some\nmanhood with his science.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this, he escaped by magic from the king's\nshoulder, and disappeared. And the king followed him as before.\nDiscouragement never enters the brave heart of a resolute man.\n\n\n\n\nTENTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Three Delicate Wives of King Virtue-banner. Which is the most\ndelicate?_\n\n\nThen the king went to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his shoulder\nonce more, and started toward the monk. And as he walked along, the\ngoblin on his shoulder said: \"O King, I will tell you a strange story\nto relieve your weariness. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere once was a king in Ujjain, whose name was Virtue-banner. He had\nthree princesses as wives, and loved them dearly. One of them was named\nCrescent, the second Star, and the third Moon. While the king lived\nhappily with his wives, he conquered all his enemies, and was content.\n\nOne day at the time of the spring festival, the king went to the garden\nto play with his three wives. There he looked at the flower-laden\nvines with black rows of bees on them; they seemed like the bow of the\ngod of love, all ready for service. He heard the songs of nightingales\nin the trees; they sounded like commands of Love. And with his wives he\ndrank wine which seemed like Love's very life-blood.\n\nThen the king playfully pulled the hair of Queen Crescent, and a\nlotus-petal fell from her hair into her lap. And the queen was so\ndelicate that it wounded her, and she screamed and fainted. And the\nking was distracted, but when servants sprinkled her with cool water\nand fanned her, she gradually recovered consciousness. And the king\ntook her to the palace and waited upon his dear wife with a hundred\nremedies which the physicians brought.\n\nAnd when the king saw that she was made comfortable for the night, he\nwent to the palace balcony with his second wife Star. Now while she\nslept on the king's breast, the moonbeams found their way through the\nwindow and fell upon her. And she awoke in a moment, and started up,\ncrying \"I am burned!\" Then the king awoke and anxiously asked what the\nmatter was, and he saw great blisters on her body. When he asked her\nabout it, Queen Star said: \"The moonbeams that fell on me did it.\"\nAnd the king was distracted when he saw how she wept and suffered. He\ncalled the servants and they made a couch of moist lotus-leaves, and\ndressed her wounds with damp sandal-paste.\n\n[Illustration: She gradually recovered consciousness.]\n\nAt that moment the third queen, Moon, left her room to go to the king.\nAnd as she moved through the noiseless night, she clearly heard in a\ndistant part of the palace the sound of pestles grinding grain. And she\ncried: \"Oh, oh! It will kill me!\" She wrung her hands and sat down in\nagony in the hall. But her servants returned and led her to her room,\nwhere she took to her bed and wept. And when the servants asked what\nthe matter was, she tearfully showed her hands with bruises on them,\nlike two lilies with black bees clinging to them. So they went and told\nthe king. And he came in great distress, and asked his dear wife about\nit. She showed her hands and spoke, though she suffered: \"My dear, when\nI heard the sound of the pestles, these bruises came.\" Then the king\nmade them give her a cooling plaster of sandal-paste and other things.\n\nAnd the king thought: \"One of them was wounded by a falling\nlotus-petal. The second was burned by the moonbeams. The third had her\nhands terribly bruised by the sound of pestles. I love them dearly,\nbut alas! The very delicacy which is so great a virtue, is positively\ninconvenient.\"\n\nAnd he wandered about in the palace, and it seemed as if the night\nhad three hundred hours. But in the morning the king and his skilful\nphysicians took such measures that before long his wives were well and\nhe was happy.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen he had told this story, the goblin asked: \"O King, which of them\nwas the most delicate?\" And the king said: \"The one who was bruised by\nthe mere sound of the pestles, when nothing touched her. The other two\nwho were wounded or blistered by actual contact with lotus-petals or\nmoonbeams, are not equal to her.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this, he went back, and the king resolutely\nhastened to catch him again.\n\n\n\n\nELEVENTH GOBLIN\n\n_The King who won a Fairy as his Wife. Why did his counsellor's heart\nbreak?_\n\n\nThen the king went as before to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder, and started back. And the goblin said once more: \"O King, I\nlike you wonderfully well because you are not discouraged. So I will\ntell you a delightful little story to relieve your weariness. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the Anga country was a young king named Glory-banner, so beautiful\nthat he seemed an incarnation of the god of love. He had conquered\nall his enemies by his strength of arm, and he had a counsellor named\nFarsight.\n\nAt last the king, proud of his youth and beauty, entrusted all the\npower in his quiet kingdom to his counsellor, and gradually devoted\nhimself entirely to pleasure. He spent all his time with the ladies of\nthe court, and listened more attentively to their love-songs than to\nthe advice of statesmen. He took greater pleasure in peeping into their\nwindows than into the holes in his administration. But Farsight bore\nthe whole burden of public business, and never wearied day or night.\n\nThen the people began to murmur: \"The counsellor Farsight has seduced\nthe king, and now he alone has all the kingly glory.\" And the\ncounsellor said to his wife, whose name was Prudence: \"My dear, the\nking is devoted to his pleasures, and great infamy is heaped upon me\nby the people. They say I have devoured the kingdom, though in fact I\nsupport the burden of it. Now popular gossip damages the greatest man.\nWas not Rama forced to abandon his good wife by popular clamour? So\nwhat shall I do now?\"\n\nThen his clever wife Prudence showed that she deserved her name. She\nsaid: \"My dear, leave the king and go on a pilgrimage. Tell him that\nyou are an old man now, and should be permitted to travel in foreign\ncountries for a time. Then the gossip will cease, when they see that\nyou are unselfish. And when you are gone, the king will bear his own\nburdens. And thus his levity will gradually disappear. And when you\ncome back, you can assume your office without reproach.\"\n\nTo this advice the counsellor assented, and said to the king in the\ncourse of conversation: \"Your Majesty, permit me to go on a pilgrimage\nfor a few days. Virtue seems of supreme importance to me.\"\n\nBut the king said: \"No, no, counsellor. Is there no other kind of\nvirtue except in pilgrimages? How about generosity and that kind of\nthing? Isn't it possible to prepare for heaven in your own house?\"\n\nThen the counsellor said: \"Your Majesty, one gets worldly prosperity\nfrom generosity and that kind of thing. But a pilgrimage gives eternal\nlife. A prudent man should attend to it while he has strength. The\nchance may be lost, for no one can be sure of his health.\"\n\nBut the king was still arguing against it when the door-keeper came in\nand said: \"Your Majesty, the glorious sun is diving beneath the pool of\nheaven. Arise. The hour for your bath is slipping away.\" And the king\nwent immediately to bathe.\n\nThe counsellor went home, still determined on his pilgrimage. He would\nnot let his wife go with him, but started secretly. Not even his\nservants knew.\n\nHe wandered alone through many countries to many holy places, and\nfinally came to the Odra country. There he saw a city near the ocean,\nwhere he entered a temple to Shiva and sat down in the court. There he\nsat, hot and dusty from long travel, when he was seen by a merchant\nnamed Treasure who had come to worship the god. The merchant gathered\nfrom his dress and appearance that he was a high-born Brahman, and\ninvited him home, and entertained him with food, bathing, and the like.\n\nWhen the counsellor was rested, the merchant asked him: \"Who are you?\nWhence do you come? And where are you going?\" And the other replied: \"I\nam a Brahman named Farsight. I came here on a pilgrimage from the Anga\ncountry.\"\n\nThen the merchant Treasure said to him: \"I am preparing for a trading\nvoyage to Golden Island. Do you stay in my house. And when I come\nback, and you are wearied from your pilgrimage, rest here for a time\nbefore going home.\" But Farsight said: \"I do not want to stay here.\nI would rather go with you.\" And the good merchant agreed. And the\ncounsellor slept in the first bed he had lain in for many nights.\n\nThe next day he went to the seashore with the merchant, and entered the\nship loaded with the merchant's goods. He sailed along, admiring the\nwonders and terrors of the sea, till at last he reached Golden Island.\nThere he stayed for a time until the merchant had finished his buying\nand selling. Now on the way back, he saw a magic tree suddenly rising\nfrom the ocean. It had beautiful branches, boughs of gold, fruits of\njewels, and splendid blossoms. And sitting on a jewelled couch in\nthe branches was a lovely maiden of heavenly beauty. And while the\ncounsellor wondered what it all meant, the maiden took her lute in her\nhand, and began to sing:\n\n    Whatever seed of fate is sown,\n      The fruit appears--'tis strange!\n    Whatever deed a man has done,\n      Not God himself can change.\n\nAnd when she had made her meaning clear, the heavenly maiden\nstraightway sank with the magic tree and the couch. And Farsight\nthought: \"What a wonderful thing I have seen to-day! What a strange\nplace the ocean is for the appearance of a tree with a fairy in it! And\nif this is a usual occurrence at sea, why do not other goddesses arise?\"\n\nThe pilot and other sailors saw that he was astonished, and they said:\n\"Sir, this wonderful maiden appears here regularly, and sinks a moment\nafter, but the sight is new to you.\" Then the counsellor, filled with\namazement, came to the shore with Treasure, and disembarked. And when\nthe merchant had unloaded his goods and caused his servants to rejoice,\nthe counsellor went home with him and spent many happy days there.\n\nAt last he said to Treasure: \"Merchant, I have rested happily for a\nlong time in your house. Now I wish to go to my own country. Peace be\nwith you!\" And in spite of urging from the merchant, Farsight took his\nleave, and started with no companion except his own courage. He went\nthrough many countries and at last reached the Anga country. And\nscouts who had been sent by King Glory-banner saw him before he reached\nthe city. When the king learned of it, he went himself out of the city\nto meet him, for he had been terribly grieved by the separation. He\ndrew near, embraced and greeted the counsellor and took him, all worn\nand dusty with the weary journey, into an inner room.\n\n[Illustration: When he saw that she was saved, the king cried \"Come,\ncome to me!\"]\n\nAnd as soon as the counsellor was refreshed, the king said:\n\"Counsellor, why did you leave us? How could you bring yourself to do\nso harsh and loveless a thing? But after all, who can understand the\nstrange workings of stern necessity? To think that you should decide\nall at once to wander off on a pilgrimage! Well, tell me what countries\nyou visited, and what new things you saw.\"\n\nThen the counsellor told him the whole story truthfully and in order,\nthe journey to Golden Island and the fairy who rose singing from the\nsea, her wonderful beauty and the magic tree.\n\nBut the king immediately fell in love so hopelessly that his kingdom\nand his life seemed worthless to him without her. He took the\ncounsellor aside and said: \"Counsellor, I simply must see her. Remember\nthat I shall die if I do not. I bow to my fate. I will take the journey\nwhich you took. You must not refuse me nor accompany me. I shall go\nalone and in disguise. You must rule the kingdom, and not dispute my\nwords. Swear to do it on your life.\"\n\nSo he spoke, and would not listen to advice, but dismissed the\ncounsellor. Then Farsight was unhappy though a great festival was made\nfor him. How can a good counsellor be happy when his master devotes\nhimself to a vice?\n\nThe next night King Glory-banner threw the burden of government on that\nexcellent counsellor, assumed the dress of a hermit, and left his city.\nAnd as he travelled, he saw a monk named Grass, who said when the king\nbowed before him as a holy man: \"My son, if you sail with a merchant\nnamed Fortune, you will obtain the maiden you desire. Go on fearlessly.\"\n\nSo the king bowed again and went on rejoicing. After crossing rivers\nand mountains he came to the ocean. And on the shore he met at once\nthe merchant Fortune whom the monk had mentioned, bound for Golden\nIsland. And when the merchant saw the king's appearance and his signet\nring, he bowed low, took him on the ship, and set sail.\n\nWhen the ship reached the middle of the sea, the maiden suddenly arose,\nsitting in the branches of the magic tree. And as the king gazed\neagerly at her, she sang as before to her lute:\n\n    Whatever seed of fate is sown,\n      The fruit appears--'tis strange!\n    Whatever deed a man has done,\n      Not God himself can change.\n\n    Whatever, how, for whom, and where\n      'Tis fated so to be,\n    That thing, just so, for him, and there\n      Must happen fatally.\n\nThis song she sang, hinting at what was to happen. And the king gazed\nat her smitten by love, and could not move. Then he cried: \"O Sea,\nin hiding her, you deceive those who think they have your treasures.\nHonour and glory to you! I seek your protection. Grant me my desire!\"\nAnd as the king prayed, the maiden sank with the tree. Then the king\njumped after her into the sea.\n\nThe good merchant Fortune thought he was lost and was ready to die of\ngrief. But he was comforted by a voice from heaven which said: \"Do\nnothing rash. There is no danger when he sinks in the sea. For he is\nthe king Glory-banner, disguised as a hermit. He came here for the sake\nof the maiden; she was his wife in a former life. And he will win her\nand return to his kingdom in the Anga country.\" So the merchant sailed\non to complete his business.\n\nBut King Glory-banner sank in the sea, and all at once he saw a\nheavenly city. He looked in amazement at the balconies with their\nsplendid jewelled pillars, their walls bright with gold, and the\nnetwork of pearls in their windows. And he saw gardens with pools\nthat had stairways of various gems, and magic trees that yielded all\ndesires. But rich as it was, the city was deserted.\n\nHe entered house after house, but did not find the maiden anywhere.\nThen he climbed a high balcony built of gems, opened a door, and\nentered. And there he saw her all alone, lying on a jewelled couch, and\nclad in splendid garments. He eagerly raised her face to see if it was\nreally she, and saw that it was indeed the maiden he sought. At the\nsight of her he had the strange feeling of the traveller in a desert in\nsummer at the sight of a river.\n\nAnd she opened her eyes, saw that he was handsome and loveable, and\nleft her couch in confusion. But she welcomed him and with downcast\neyes that seemed like full-blown lotuses she did honour to his feet.\nThen she slowly spoke: \"Who are you, sir? How did you come to this\ninaccessible under-world? And what is this hermit garb? For I see that\nyou are a king. Oh, sir, if you would do me a kindness, tell me this.\"\n\nAnd the king answered her: \"Beautiful maiden, I am King Glory-banner of\nthe Anga country, and I heard from a reliable person that you were to\nbe seen on the sea. To see you I assumed this garb, left my kingdom,\nand followed you hither. Oh, tell me who you are.\"\n\nThen she said to him with bashful love: \"Sir, there is a king of the\nfairies named Moonshine. I am his daughter, and my name is Moonlight.\nNow my father has left me alone in this city. I do not know where he\nwent with the rest of the people, or why. Therefore, as my home is\nlonely, I rise through the ocean, sit on a magic tree, and sing about\nfate.\"\n\nThen the king remembered the words of the monk, and urged her with such\ngentle, tender words that she confessed her love and agreed to marry\nhim. But she made a condition: \"My dear, on four set days in each month\nyou must let me go somewhere unhindered and unseen. There is a reason.\"\nAnd the king agreed, married her, and lived in heavenly happiness with\nher.\n\nWhile he was living in heavenly bliss, Moonlight said to him one day:\n\"My dear, you must wait here. I am going somewhere on an errand. For\nthis is one of the set days. While you stay here, sweetheart, you must\nnot go into that crystal room, nor plunge into this pool. If you do,\nyou will find yourself at that very moment in the world again.\" So she\nsaid good-bye and left the city.\n\nBut the king took his sword and followed, to learn her secret. And\nhe saw a giant approaching with a great black cave of a mouth that\nyawned like the pit. The giant fell down and howled horribly, then took\nMoonlight into his mouth and swallowed her.\n\nAnd the king's anger blazed forth. He took his great sword, black as a\nsnake that has sloughed its skin, ran up wrathfully, and cut off the\ngiant's head. He was blinded by his madness, he did not know what to\ndo, he was afflicted by the loss of his darling. But Moonlight split\nopen the stomach of the giant, and came out alive and unhurt, like the\nbrilliant, spotless moon coming out from a black cloud.\n\nWhen he saw that she was saved, the king cried: \"Come, come to me!\" and\nran forward and embraced her. And he asked her: \"What does it mean,\ndearest? Is this a dream, or an illusion?\" And the fairy answered: \"My\ndear, listen to me. It is not a dream, not an illusion. My father, the\nking of the fairies, laid this curse upon me. My father had many sons,\nbut he loved me so that he could not eat without me. And I used to come\nto this deserted spot twice a month to worship Shiva.\n\n\"One day I came here and it happened that I spent the whole day in\nworship. That day my father waited for me and would not eat or drink\nanything, though he was hungry and angry with me. At night I stood\nbefore him with downcast eyes, for I had done wrong. And he forgot\nhis love and cursed me--so strong is fate. 'Because you have despised\nme and left me hungry a whole day, a giant named Terror-of-Fate will\nswallow you four times a month when you leave the city. And each time\nyou will split him open and come out. And you shall not remember the\ncurse afterwards, nor the pain of being swallowed alive. And you must\nlive here alone.'\n\n\"But when I begged him, he thought awhile and softened the curse. 'When\nGlory-banner, King of the Angas, shall become your husband, and shall\nsee you swallowed by the giant, and shall kill the giant, then the\ncurse shall end, and you shall remember all your magic arts.' Then he\nleft me here, and went with his people to the Nishadha mountain. But\nI stayed here because of the curse. And now the curse is ended, and I\nremember everything. So now I shall go to the Nishadha mountain to see\nmy father. Of course now I remember how to fly. And you are at liberty\nto stay here, or to go back to your own kingdom.\"\n\nThen the king was sad, and he begged her thus: \"My beautiful wife, do\nnot go for seven days. Be as kind as you are beautiful. Let me be happy\nwith you in the garden, and forget my longings. Then you may go to your\nfather, and I will go home.\" So he persuaded her, and was happy with\nher for six days in the garden. And the lilies in the ponds looked like\nlonging eyes, and the ripples like hands raised to detain them, and the\ncries of swans and cranes seemed to say: \"Do not leave us and go away.\"\n\nOn the seventh day the king cleverly led his wife to the pool from\nwhich one could get back to the world. There he threw his arms about\nher and plunged into the pool, and came up with her in the pool in the\ngarden of his own palace.\n\nThe gardeners saw that the king had come back with a wife, and they\njoyfully ran and told the counsellor Farsight. He came and fell at the\nking's feet, and then led the king and the fairy into the palace. And\nthe counsellor and the people thought: \"Wonderful! The king has won the\nfairy whom others could see only for a moment like the lightning in\nthe sky. Whatever is written in one's fate, that comes true, however\nimpossible it may be.\"\n\nBut when Moonlight saw that the king was in his own country, and\nthe seven days were over, she thought she would fly away like other\nfairies. But she could not remember how. Then she became very sad, like\na woman who has been robbed.\n\nAnd the king said: \"Why are you so sad, my dear? Tell me.\" And the\nfairy said: \"The curse is over. Yet because I have been bound so long\nin the fetters of your love, I have lost my magic arts. I cannot fly.\"\nThen the king thought: \"The fairy is really mine,\" and he was happy and\nmade a great feast.\n\nWhen the counsellor Farsight saw this, he went home, and lay down on\nhis bed, and his heart broke, and he died. Then the king governed the\nkingdom himself, and lived for a long time in heavenly happiness with\nMoonlight.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen he had told this story, the goblin said: \"O King, when the king\nwas so happy, why should the counsellor's heart break? Was it from\ngrief because he did not win the fairy himself? Or from sorrow because\nthe king came back, and he could no longer act as king? If you know and\nwill not tell me, then you will lose your virtue, and your head will go\nflying into a hundred pieces.\"\n\nAnd the king said to the goblin: \"O magic creature, neither of these\nreasons would be possible for a high-minded counsellor. But he thought:\n'The king used to neglect his duties for the sake of ordinary women.\nWhat will happen now, when he loves a fairy? In spite of all my\nefforts, a terrible misfortune has happened.' I think that was why his\nheart broke.\"\n\nThen the magic goblin went back to his tree in a moment. And the king\nwas still determined to catch him, and went once more to the sissoo\ntree.\n\n\n\n\nTWELFTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Brahman who died because Poison from a Snake in the Claws of a\nHawk fell into a Dish of Food given him by a Charitable Woman. Who is\nto blame for his death?_\n\n\nThen the king went back under the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder, and started as before. And as he walked along, the goblin\nsaid to him again: \"O King, listen to a very condensed story.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Benares. In it lived a Brahman named Devaswami,\nwhom the king honoured. He was very rich, and he had a son named\nHariswami. This son had a wonderful wife, and her name was Beautiful.\nNo doubt the Creator put together in her the priceless elements of\ncharm and loveliness after his practice in making the nymphs of heaven.\n\nOne night Hariswami was sleeping on a balcony cooled by the rays of the\nmoon. And a fairy prince named Love-speed was flying through the air,\nand as he passed he saw Beautiful asleep beside her husband. He took\nher, still asleep, and carried her off through the air.\n\nPresently Hariswami awoke, and not seeing the mistress of his life, he\nrose in anxiety. And he wondered: \"Oh, where has my wife gone? Is she\nangry with me? Or is she playing hide-and-seek with me, to see how I\nwill take it?\" So he roamed anxiously all over the balcony during the\nrest of the night. But he did not find her, though he searched as far\nas the garden.\n\nThen he was overcome by his sorrow and sobbed convulsively. \"Oh,\nBeautiful, my darling! Fair as the moon! White as the moonlight!\nWas the night jealous of your beauty; did she carry you away? Your\nloveliness shamed the moon who refreshed me with beams cool as sandal;\nbut now that you are gone, the same beams torment me like blazing\ncoals, like poisoned arrows!\"\n\nAnd as Hariswami lamented thus, the night came to an end, but his\nanguish did not end. The pleasant sun scattered the darkness, but could\nnot scatter the blind darkness of Hariswami's madness. His pitiful\nlamentations increased a hundredfold, when the nightly cries of the\nbirds ended. His relatives tried to comfort him, but he could not\npluck up courage while his loved one was lost. He went here and there,\nsobbing out: \"Here she stood. And here she bathed. And here she adorned\nherself. And here she played.\"\n\nHis relatives and friends gave him good advice. \"She is not dead,\" they\nsaid. \"Why should you make way with yourself? You will surely find her.\nPluck up courage and hunt for her. Nothing is impossible to the brave\nand determined man.\" And when they urged him, Hariswami after some days\nplucked up heart.\n\nHe thought: \"I will give all my fortune to the Brahmans, and then\nwander to holy places. Thus I will wear away my sins, and when my sins\nare gone, perhaps I shall find my darling in my wanderings.\" So he\narose and bathed.\n\nOn the next day he provided food and drink, and made a great feast\nfor the Brahmans, and gave them all he had except his piety. Then he\nstarted to wander to holy places, hoping to find his wife.\n\nAs he wandered, the summer came on him like a lion, the blazing sun its\nmouth, and the sunbeams its mane. And the hot wind blew, made hotter\nyet by the sighs of travellers separated from their wives. And the\nyellow mud dried and cracked, as if the lakes were broken-hearted at\nthe loss of their lotuses. And the trees, filled with chirping birds,\nseemed to lament the absence of the spring, and their withering leaves\nseemed like lips that grow dry in the heat.\n\nAt this time Hariswami was distressed by the heat and the loss of his\nwife, by hunger, thirst, and weariness. And as he sought for food,\nhe came to a village. There he saw many Brahmans eating in the house\nof a Brahman named Lotus-belly, and he leaned against the doorpost,\nspeechless and motionless.\n\nThen the good wife of that pious Brahman pitied him, and she thought:\n\"Hunger is a heavy burden. It makes anyone light. Look at this hungry\nman standing with bowed head at the door. He looks like a pious man\nwho has come from a far country, and he is tired. Therefore he is a\nproper person for me to feed.\"\n\n[Illustration: The summer came on him like a lion.]\n\nSo the good woman took in her hands a dish filled with excellent rice,\nmelted butter, and candied sugar, and courteously gave it to him. And\nshe said: \"Go to the edge of our pond, and eat it.\"\n\nHe thanked her, took the dish, went a little way, and set it down under\na fig-tree on the edge of the pond. Then he washed his hands and feet\nin the pond, rinsed his mouth, and joyfully drew near to eat the good\nfood.\n\nAt that moment a hawk settled on the tree, carrying a black snake in\nhis beak and claws. And the snake died in the grasp of the hawk, and\nhis mouth opened, and a stream of poison came out. This poison fell\ninto the dish of food.\n\nBut Hariswami did not see it. He came up hungry, and ate it all. And\nimmediately he felt the terrible effects of the poison. He stammered\nout: \"Oh, when fate goes wrong, everything goes wrong. Even this rice\nand the milk and the melted butter and the candied sugar is poison\nto me.\" And he staggered up to the Brahman's wife and said: \"Oh,\nBrahman's wife, I have been poisoned by the food you gave me. Bring a\npoison-doctor at once. Otherwise you will be the murderer of a Brahman.\"\n\nAnd the good woman was terribly agitated. But while she was running\nabout to find a poison-doctor, Hariswami turned up his eyes and died.\nThus, though she was not to blame, though she was really charitable,\nthe poor wife was reproached by the angry Brahman who thought she had\nmurdered her guest. She was falsely accused for a really good action.\nSo she was dejected and went on a pilgrimage.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen he had told this story, the goblin said: \"O King, who murdered the\nBrahman? the snake, or the hawk, or the woman who gave him the food, or\nher husband? This was discussed in the presence of the god of death,\nbut they could not decide. Therefore, O King, do you say. Who killed\nthe Brahman? Remember the curse, if you know and do not tell the truth.\"\n\nThen the king broke silence and said: \"Who did the murder? The snake\ncannot be blamed, because he was being eaten by his enemy and could not\nhelp himself. The hawk was hungry and saw nothing. He was not to blame.\nAnd how can you blame either or both of the charitable people who gave\nfood to a guest who arrived unexpectedly? They were quite virtuous, and\ncannot be blamed. I should say that the dead man himself was to blame,\nfor he dared to accuse one of the others.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this, he jumped from the king's shoulder\nand escaped to the sissoo tree. And the king ran after him again,\ndetermined to catch him.\n\n\n\n\nTHIRTEENTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Girl who showed Great Devotion to the Thief. Did he weep or laugh?_\n\n\nThen the king went back to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder, and started. And as he walked along, the goblin said to him:\n\"O King, I will tell you another story. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Ayodhya, which was once the capital of Rama the\nexterminator of giants. In this city lived a strong-armed king named\nHero-banner who protected the world as a wall protects a city. During\nhis reign a great merchant named Jewel lived in the city. His wife was\nnamed Pleasing, and a daughter named Pearl was given to her prayers.\n\nAs the girl grew up in her father's house, her natural virtues grew\ntoo: beauty, charm, and modesty. And thus she became a young woman.\nNow in her young womanhood she was asked in marriage not only by great\nmerchants, but even by kings. But she was prudent and did not like men.\nShe would not have loved a god if he had been her husband. She was\nready to die at merely hearing talk of her marriage. So her father was\nsilent on the subject, though his tender love for her made him sad. And\nthe story was known everywhere in Ayodhya.\n\nAt this time all the citizens were being plundered by thieves, and they\npetitioned King Hero-banner in these words: \"O King, we are plundered\nevery night by thieves, and cannot catch them. Your Majesty must decide\nwhat to do.\" So the king stationed night-watchmen in hiding about the\ncity, to search out the thieves.\n\nWhen the watchmen failed to catch the thieves for all their searching,\nthe king himself took his sword, and wandered about alone at night. And\nhe saw a man creeping along a wall with noiseless steps, often casting\na fearful glance behind him. The king concluded that this was the thief\nwho all alone robbed the city, and went up to him. And the thief asked\nhim who he was. The king replied: \"I am a thief.\"\n\nThen the thief said joyfully: \"Good! You are my friend. Come to my\nhouse. I will treat you like a friend.\" So the king agreed and went\nwith the thief to a house hidden in a grove and guarded by a wall, full\nof delightful and beautiful things, and bright with shining gems. There\nthe thief offered the king a seat, and went into an inner room.\n\nAt that moment a serving-maid came into the room and said to the king:\n\"Your Majesty, why have you come into the jaws of death? This wonderful\nthief has gone out, intending to do you a mischief. He is certainly\ntreacherous. Go away quickly.\"\n\nSo the king quickly went away, returned to the city, and drew up a\ncompany of soldiers. With these soldiers he went and surrounded the\nhouse where the serving-maid had been.\n\nWhen the thief saw that the house was surrounded, he knew that he was\nbetrayed, and came out to fight and die like a man. He showed more than\nhuman valour. He cut off the trunks of elephants, the legs of horses,\nand the heads of men; and he was all alone, with only his sword and\nshield. When the king saw that his army was destroyed, he ran forward\nhimself.\n\nThe king was a scientific swordsman, so with a turn of his wrist he\nsent the sword and the dagger flying from the thief's hand. Then he\nthrew away his own sword, wrestled with the thief, threw him, and took\nhim alive.\n\nThe next morning the thief was led to the place of execution to be\nimpaled, and the drums were beaten. And Pearl, the merchant's daughter,\nsaw him from her balcony. All bloody and dusty as he was, she went mad\nwith love, found her father, and said to him: \"Father, I am going to\nmarry that thief who is being led to execution. You must save him from\nthe king. Otherwise I shall die with him.\"\n\nBut her father said: \"What do you mean, my daughter? That thief stole\neverything the citizens had, and the king's men are going to kill\nhim. How can I save him from the king? Besides, what nonsense are you\ntalking?\" But the more he scolded, the more determined she became. And\nas he loved his daughter, he went to the king and offered all he had\nfor the release of the thief.\n\n[Illustration: With a turn of the wrist he sent the dagger flying from\nthe chief's hand.]\n\nBut the king would not be tempted by millions. He would not release the\nthief who stole everything, whom he had captured at the risk of his\nlife. So the father returned home sadly. And the girl, not heeding the\narguments of her relatives, took a bath, entered a litter, and went\nto the death-scene of the rogue, to die with him. Her parents and her\nrelatives followed her, weeping.\n\nAt that moment the executioners impaled the thief. As his life ebbed\naway, he saw the girl and the people with her, and learned her story.\nThen the tears rolled down his cheeks, but he died with a smile on his\nlips.\n\nThe faithful girl took the thief's body from the stake, and mounted the\npyre to burn herself. But the blessed god Shiva was staying invisibly\nin the cemetery, and at that moment he spoke from the sky: \"O faithful\nwife, I am pleased with your constancy to the husband of your choice.\nChoose whatever boon you will from me.\"\n\nThe girl worshipped the gracious god and chose her boon: \"O blessed\none, my father has no son. May he have a hundred. Otherwise his\nchildless life would end when I am gone.\"\n\nAnd the god spoke again from the sky: \"O faithful wife, your father\nshall have a hundred sons. But choose another boon. A woman faithful as\nyou are deserves more than the little thing you asked.\"\n\nThen she said: \"O god, if I have won your favour, may this my husband\nlive and always be a good man.\"\n\nThe invisible Shiva spoke from the sky: \"So be it. Your husband shall\nbe made alive and well. He shall be a good man, and King Hero-banner\nshall be pleased with him.\"\n\nThen the thief arose at once, alive and well. And the merchant Jewel\nwas overjoyed and astonished. He took Pearl and the thief, his\nson-in-law, went home with his rejoicing relatives, and made a feast\ngreat as his own delight, in honour of the sons he was to have.\n\nAnd the king was pleased when he learned the story, and in recognition\nof the stupendous courage of the thief, he appointed him general at\nonce. The thief reformed, married the merchant's daughter, and lived\nhappily with her, devoted to virtue.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he reminded the king of the\ncurse, and said: \"O king, when the thief on the stake saw the\nmerchant's daughter approaching with her father, did he weep or laugh?\nTell me.\"\n\nAnd the king answered: \"He thought: 'I can make no return to this\nmerchant for his unselfish friendship.' Therefore he wept from grief.\nAnd he also thought: 'Why does this girl reject kings and fall in love\nwith a thief like me? How strange women are!' Therefore he laughed from\nastonishment.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this, he immediately slipped from the king's\nshoulder and escaped to his home. But the king was not discouraged. He\nfollowed him to the sissoo tree.\n\n\n\n\nFOURTEENTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Man who changed into a Woman at Will. Was his wife his or the\nother man's?_\n\n\nSo the king went back as before under the sissoo tree, put the goblin\non his shoulder, and started toward the monk. And as he walked along,\nthe goblin told the king a story.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere was a city called Shivapur in Nepal. Long ago a king named\nGlory-banner lived there, and he deserved the name. He laid the burden\nof government on his counsellor named Ocean-of-Wisdom, and devoted\nhimself to a life of pleasure with his wife Moonbright.\n\nIn course of time a daughter named Moonlight was born to them, pleasing\nas the moonlight to the eyes of men. When she grew up, she went one day\nin spring with her servants to a festival in the garden.\n\nThere she was seen by a Brahman youth named Master-mind, the son of\nRich, who had come there to the festival. When he saw her plucking\nflowers with one arm uplifted, he went mad with love. His heart was\ntaken captive by the gay maiden, and he was no longer master of his\nmind.\n\nHe thought: \"Is she the goddess of love, plucking the spring flowers\nin person? Or is she a forest goddess, come here to worship the\nspring-time?\"\n\nThen the princess saw him, like a new god of love incarnate. The moment\nher eyes fell on him, she fell in love, forgetting her flowers and\neven her own limbs. While they looked at each other, lost in love like\npeople in a picture, a great wail of anguish arose. They lifted their\nheads to learn what the matter was, and just then an elephant that had\nbroken his chain, maddened by the scent of another mad elephant, came\nby, crushing the people in his path. He had thrown off his driver and\nthe ankus hung from him as he ran. And everyone fled in terror.\n\nBut the youth Master-mind ran up in a hurry and took the princess in\nhis arms. And with a mixture of fear and love and modesty she half\nembraced him as he carried her far out of the elephant's path. Then her\npeople gradually gathered, and she went to the palace, looking at the\nyouth, and burning over the flame of love.\n\n[Illustration: An elephant came by, crushing the people in his path.]\n\nAnd the youth went home from the garden, and thought: \"I cannot live,\nI cannot exist a moment without her. I must seek help from my teacher\nRoot, who is a thorough rogue.\" And so the day slowly passed.\n\nThe next morning he went to his teacher Root, and found him with his\nconstant friend Moon. He drew near, bowed, and told his desire. And the\nteacher laughed and promised to help him.\n\nSo that wonderful rogue put a magic pill in his mouth, and thus changed\nhimself into an old Brahman. He put a second pill into Master-mind's\nmouth, which changed him into a lovely girl. Then that prince of rogues\ntook him to the king and said: \"O King, this maiden has come a long\ndistance to marry my only son. But my son has gone away, and I am going\nto look for him. Please keep the girl. For you are a protector to be\ntrusted while I am looking for my son.\"\n\nThe king was afraid of a curse, so he promised to do it. And summoning\nhis daughter, he said: \"Daughter, keep this maiden in your chamber, and\nlet her live with you.\" So the girl took the Brahman youth Master-mind\nin his girl form to her own apartments.\n\nWhen Root had gone away, Master-mind in his girl form lived with his\nbelov\u00e8d, and in a few days came to know her in an intimate and loving\nway, as girl friends do. Then when he saw that she was pining away and\ntossing on her couch, he asked the princess one evening: \"My dear girl,\nwhy do you grow pale and thin day by day, grieving as if separated from\nyour love? Tell me. Why not trust a loving, innocent girl like me? If\nyou will not tell me, I shall starve myself.\"\n\nAnd the princess trusted him and said after a little hesitation: \"My\ndear girl, why should I not trust you? Listen. I will tell you. One day\nI went to the spring festival in the garden. There I saw a handsome\nBrahman youth, fair as the moon but not so cold, the sight of whom\nkindled my love. For he adorned the garden as the spring-time does.\nWhile my eager eyes were feasting on his face, a great mad elephant\nthat had broken his chain came charging and thundering past like a\nblack cloud in the dry season. My servants scattered in terror, and I\nwas helpless. But the Brahman youth took me in his arms and carried me\nfar away. I seemed to be in a sandal bath, in a stream of nectar. I\ncannot tell how I felt as I touched him. Presently my servants gathered\naround, and I was brought here helpless. I felt as if I had fallen from\nheaven to earth. From that day I see in my thoughts my dear preserver\nbeside me. I embrace him in my dreams. What need of more words? I wear\naway the time, thinking constantly of him and only him. The fire of\nseparation from the lord of my life devours me day and night.\"\n\nWhen Master-mind heard these welcome words, he rejoiced and counted\nhimself happy. And thinking the time to reveal himself had come, he\ntook the pill from his mouth, and disclosed his natural form. And he\nsaid: \"Beautiful maiden, I am he whom you bought and enslaved with a\nkindly glance in the garden. I was sick at the separation from you;\nso I took the form of a girl, and came here. So now bring heaven in a\nloving glance to my love-tortured heart.\"\n\nWhen the princess saw that the lord of her life was beside her, she was\ntorn between love and wonder and modesty, and did not know what she\nought to do. So they were secretly married and lived there in supreme\nhappiness. Master-mind lived in a double form. By day he was a girl\nwith the pill in his mouth, by night a man without the pill.\n\nAfter a time the brother-in-law of King Glory-banner gave his\ndaughter with great pomp to a Brahman, the son of the counsellor\nOcean-of-Wisdom. And the princess Moonlight was invited to her cousin's\nwedding and went to her uncle's house. And Master-mind went with her in\nhis girl form.\n\nWhen the counsellor's son saw Master-mind in his lovely girl form, he\nwas terribly smitten with the arrows of love. His heart was stolen by\nthe sham girl, and he went home feeling lonely even with his wife. It\nmade him crazy to think of that lovely face. When his father tried to\nsoothe him, he woke from his madness and stammered out his insane\ndesire. And his father was terribly distressed, knowing that all this\ndepended on another.\n\nThen the king learned the story and came there. When the king saw his\ncondition and perceived that he was seven parts gone in love, he said:\n\"How can I give him the girl who was intrusted to me by the Brahman?\nYet without her he will be ten parts gone in love, and will die. And\nif he dies, then his father, the counsellor, will die too. And if the\ncounsellor perishes, my kingdom will perish. What shall I do?\"\n\nHe consulted his counsellors, and they said: \"Your Majesty, the first\nduty of a king is the preservation of the virtue of his people.\nThis is the fundamental principle, and is established as such among\ncounsellors. If the counsellor is lost, the fundamental principle is\nlost; how then can virtue be preserved? So in this case it would be\nsinful to destroy the counsellor through his son. You must by all means\navoid the loss of virtue which would ensue. Give the Brahman's girl to\nthe counsellor's son. And when the Brahman returns, further measures\nwill suggest themselves.\"\n\nTo this the king agreed, and promised to give the sham girl to the\ncounsellor's son. So Master-mind in his girl form was brought from\nthe chamber of the princess, and he said to the king: \"Your Majesty,\nI was brought here by somebody for a given purpose. If you give me to\nsomebody else, well and good. You are the king. Right and wrong depend\non you. I will marry him to-day, but only on one condition. My husband\nshall go away immediately after the marriage and not return until he\nhas been on a pilgrimage for six months. Otherwise I shall bite out my\ntongue.\"\n\nSo the counsellor's son was summoned, and he joyfully assented. He\nmade the man his wife at once, put the sham wife in a guarded room and\nstarted on a pilgrimage. So Master-mind lived there in his woman form.\n\nWhen he realized that the counsellor's son would soon return,\nMaster-mind fled by night. And Root heard the story, and again\nassumed the form of an old Brahman. He took his friend Moon, went to\nGlory-banner, and said respectfully: \"Your Majesty, I have brought my\nson. Pray give me my daughter-in-law.\"\n\nThe king was afraid of a curse, so he said: \"Brahman, I do not know\nwhere your daughter-in-law has gone. Be merciful. To atone for my\ncarelessness, I will give your son my own daughter.\"\n\nThe prince of rogues in the form of an old Brahman angrily refused.\nBut the king finally persuaded him, and with all due form married his\ndaughter Moonlight to Moon, who pretended to be the old Brahman's son.\nThen Root went home with the bride and bridegroom.\n\nBut then Master-mind came, and in the presence of Root a great dispute\narose between him and Moon.\n\nMaster-mind said: \"Moonlight should be given to me. I married the girl\nfirst with my teacher's permission.\"\n\nMoon said: \"Fool! What rights have you in my wife? Her father gave her\nto me in regular marriage.\"\n\nSo they disputed about the princess whom one had won by fraud and the\nother by force. But they could reach no decision.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nO King, tell me. Whose wife is she? Resolve my doubts, and remember\nthe agreement about your head.\n\nThen the king said: \"I think she is the rightful wife of Moon. For she\nwas married to him in the regular way by her father in the presence of\nher relatives. Master-mind married her secretly, like a thief. And when\na thief takes things from other people, it is never right.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this, he went back home as before. And the\nking stuck to his purpose. He went back again, put the goblin on his\nshoulder, and started from the sissoo tree.\n\n\n\n\nFIFTEENTH GOBLIN\n\n _The Fairy Prince Cloud-chariot and the Serpent Shell-crest. Which is\n the more self-sacrificing?_\n\n\nSo the king walked along with the goblin. And the goblin said: \"O king,\nlisten to a story the like of which was never heard.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a mountain called Himalaya where all gems are found. It is the\nking of mountains. Its proud loftiness is everywhere the theme of song.\nThe sun himself has not seen its top.\n\nOn its summit is a city called Golden City, brilliant like a heap of\nsunbeams left in trust by the sun. There lived a glorious fairy-king\nnamed Cloud-banner. In the garden of his palace was a wishing-tree\nwhich had come down to him from his ancestors.\n\nKing Cloud-banner had worshipped the tree which was really a god,\nand by its grace had obtained a son named Cloud-chariot. This son\nremembered his former lives. He was destined to be a Buddha in a future\nlife. He was generous, noble, merciful to all creatures, and obedient\nto his parents.\n\nWhen he grew up, the king anointed him crown prince, persuaded thereto\nby his counsellors as well as by the remarkable virtues of the youth.\nWhile Cloud-chariot was crown prince, his father's counsellors came to\nhim one day and kindly said: \"Crown prince, you must always honour this\nwishing-tree in your garden; for it yields all desires, and cannot be\ntaken away by anybody. As long as it is favourably disposed to us, the\nking of the gods could not conquer us, and of course nobody else could.\"\n\nThen Cloud-chariot thought: \"Alas! The men of old had this heavenly\ntree, yet they did not pluck from it any worthy fruit. They were\nmean-spirited. They simply begged it for some kind of wealth. And so\nthey degraded themselves and the great tree too. But I will get from it\nthe wish which is in my heart.\"\n\nWith this thought the noble creature went to his father. He showed\nsuch complete deference as to delight his father, then when his father\nwas comfortably seated, he whispered: \"Father, you know yourself that\nin this sea of life all possessions, including our own bodies, are\nuncertain as a rippling wave. Especially is money fleeting, uncertain,\nfickle as the twilight lightning. The only thing in life which does\nnot perish is service. This gives birth to virtue and glory, twin\nwitnesses through all the ages to come. Father! Why do we keep such a\nwishing-tree for the sake of transient blessings? Our ancestors clung\nto it, saying: 'It is mine, it is mine.' And where are they now? What\nis it to them, or they to it? Then, if you bid me, I will beg this\ngenerous wishing-tree for the one fruit that counts, the fruit of\nservice to others.\"\n\nHis father graciously assented, and Cloud-chariot went to the\nwishing-tree, and said: \"O god, you have fulfilled the wishes of our\nfathers. Fulfil now my one single wish. Remove poverty from the world.\nA blessing be with you. Go. I give you to the needy world.\" And as\nCloud-chariot bowed reverently, there came a voice from the tree: \"I\ngo, since you give me up.\" And the wishing-tree immediately flew from\nheaven and rained so much money on the earth that nobody was poor. And\nCloud-chariot's reputation for universal benevolence was spread abroad.\n\nBut all the relatives were jealous and envious. They thought that\nthey could easily conquer Cloud-chariot and his father without the\nwishing-tree, and they prepared to fight to take away his kingdom.\nBut Cloud-chariot said to his father: \"Father, how can you take your\nweapons and fight? What high-minded man would want a kingdom after\nkilling his relatives just for the sake of this wretched, perishable\nbody? Let us abandon the kingdom, and go away somewhere to devote\nourselves entirely to virtue. Then we shall be blessed in both worlds.\nAnd let these wretched relatives enjoy the kingdom which they hanker\nafter.\"\n\nAnd Cloud-banner said: \"My son, I only want the kingdom for you, and if\nyou give it up from benevolent motives, what good is it to me? I am an\nold man.\"\n\nSo Cloud-chariot left the kingdom and went with his father and mother\nto the Malabar hills. There he built a hermit's retreat, and waited on\nhis parents.\n\nOne day, as he wandered about, he met Friend-wealth, the son of\nAll-wealth, who lived there as king of the Siddhas. And Cloud-chariot\nspoke to him and made friends with him.\n\nThen one day Cloud-chariot saw a shrine to the goddess Gauri in\nthe grove, and entered there. And he saw a slender, lovely maiden\nsurrounded by her girl friends and playing on a lute, in honour\nof Gauri. The deer listened to her music and her song, motionless\nas if ashamed because her eyes were lovelier than their own. When\nCloud-chariot saw the slender maiden, his heart was ravished.\n\nAnd he seemed to her to make the garden beautiful like the spring-time.\nA strange longing came over her. She became so helpless that her\nfriends were alarmed.\n\nThen Cloud-chariot asked one of her friends: \"My good girl, what is\nyour friend's sweet name? What family does she adorn?\"\n\nAnd the friend said: \"This is Sandal, sister of Friend-wealth, and\ndaughter of the king of the Siddhas.\" Then she earnestly asked for the\nname and family of Cloud-chariot from a hermit's son who had come with\nhim. And then she spoke to Sandal with words punctuated by smiles: \"My\ndear, why do you not show hospitality to the fairy prince? He is a\nguest whom all the world would be glad to honour.\"\n\nBut the bashful princess remained silent with downcast eyes. Then the\nfriend said: \"She is bashful. Accept a hospitable greeting from me.\"\nAnd she gave him a garland.\n\nCloud-chariot, far gone in love, took the garland and put it around\nSandal's neck. And the loving, sidelong glance which she gave him\nseemed like another garland of blue lotuses. So they pledged themselves\nwithout speaking a word.\n\nThen a serving-maid came and said to the princess: \"Princess, your\nmother remembers you. Come at once.\" And she went slowly, after drawing\nfrom her lover's face a passionate glance, for which Love's arrow had\nwedged a path. And Cloud-chariot went to the hermitage, thinking of\nher; while she, sick with the separation from the lord of her life,\nsaw her mother, then tottered to her bed and fell upon it. Her eyes\nwere blinded as if by smoke from the fire of love within her, her limbs\ntossed in fever, she shed tears. And though her friends anointed her\nwith sandal and fanned her with lotus-leaves, she found no rest on her\nbed or in the lap of a friend or on the ground.\n\nThen when the day fled away with the passionate red twilight, and the\nmoon drew near to kiss the face of the laughing East, she despaired of\nlife, and her modesty would not let her send a message in spite of all\nher love. But somehow she lived through the night. And Cloud-chariot\ntoo was in anguish at the separation. Even in his bed he was fallen\ninto the hand of Love. Though his passion was so recent, he had already\ngrown pale. Though shame kept him silent, his looks told of the pangs\nof love. And so he passed the night.\n\nIn the morning he arose and went to the shrine of Gauri. And his\nfriend, the hermit's son, followed him and tried to comfort him. At\nthat moment the lovelorn Sandal came out of her house alone, for she\ncould not endure the separation, and crept to that lonely spot to end\nher life there.\n\nShe did not see her lover behind a tree, and with eyes brimming with\ntears she prayed to the goddess Gauri: \"O goddess, since I could not in\nthis life have Cloud-chariot as my husband, grant that in another life\nat last he may be my husband.\"\n\nThen she tied her garment to the limb of an ashoka tree before the\ngoddess and cried: \"Alas, my lord! Alas, Cloud-chariot! They say your\nbenevolence is universal. Why did you not save me?\"\n\nBut as she fastened the garment about her neck, a voice from the sky\nwas heard in the air: \"My daughter, do nothing rash. Cloud-chariot, the\nfuture king of the fairies, shall be your husband.\"\n\nAnd Cloud-chariot heard the heavenly voice, and with his friend\napproached his rejoicing sweetheart. The friend said to the girl: \"Here\nis the gift which the goddess grants you.\" And Cloud-chariot spoke more\nthan one tender word and loosed the garment from her neck with his own\nhand.\n\nThen a girl friend who had been gathering flowers there and had\nseen what was happening, came up joyfully and said, while Sandal's\nmodest eyes seemed to be tracing a figure on the ground: \"My dear,\nI congratulate you. Your wish is granted. This very day Prince\nFriend-wealth said in my presence to King All-wealth, your father:\n'Father, the fairy prince Cloud-chariot, who deserves honour from all\nthe world, who gave away the wishing-tree, is here, and we should treat\nhim as an honoured guest. We could not find another bridegroom like\nhim. So let us welcome him with the gift of Sandal who is a pearl of\na girl.' And the king agreed, and your brother Friend-wealth has this\nmoment gone to the hermitage of the noble prince. I think your marriage\nwill soon take place. So go to your chamber, and let the noble prince\ngo to his hermitage.\"\n\nSo she went slowly and happily and lovingly. And Cloud-chariot hastened\nto the hermitage. There he greeted Friend-wealth and heard his message,\nand told him about his own birth and former life. Then Friend-wealth\nwas delighted and told Cloud-chariot's parents who were also delighted.\nThen he went home and made his own parents happy with the news.\n\nThat very day he invited Cloud-chariot to his home. And they made a\ngreat feast as was proper, and married the fairy prince and Sandal on\nthe spot. Then Cloud-chariot was completely happy and spent some time\nthere with his bride Sandal.\n\nOne day he took a walk for pleasure about the hills with Friend-wealth,\nand came to the seashore. There he saw great heaps of bones, and he\nasked Friend-wealth: \"What creatures did these heaps of bones belong\nto?\" His brother-in-law Friend-wealth said to the merciful prince:\n\"Listen, my friend. I will tell you the story briefly.\"\n\nLong ago Kadru, the mother of the serpents, made a wager with her\nrival Vinata, the mother of the great bird Garuda. She won the wager\nand enslaved her rival. Now Garuda's anger continued even after he had\nfreed his mother from slavery. He kept going into the underworld where\nKadru's offspring, the serpents, live, to eat them. Some he killed,\nothers he crushed.\n\nThen Vasuki, king of the serpents, feared that in time all would be\nlost if the serpents were all to be slain thus. So he made an agreement\nwith Garuda. He said: \"O king of birds, I will send one serpent every\nday to the shore of the southern sea for you to eat. But you are never\nto enter the underworld again. What advantage would it be to you if all\nthe serpents were slain at once?\" And Garuda agreed, with an eye to his\nown advantage.\n\nSince that time Garuda every day eats the snake sent by Vasuki here on\nthe seashore. And these heaps of bones from the serpents that have been\neaten, have in time formed a regular mountain.\n\nWhen Cloud-chariot heard this story from the lips of Friend-wealth, he\nwas deeply grieved and said: \"My friend, wretched indeed is that king\nVasuki who deliberately sacrifices his own subjects to their enemy. He\nis a coward. He has a thousand heads, yet could not find a single mouth\nto say: 'O Garuda, eat me first.' How could he be so mean as to beg\nGaruda to destroy his own race? Or how can Garuda, the heavenly bird,\ndo such a crime? Oh, insolent madness!\"\n\nSo the noble Cloud-chariot made up his mind that he would use his poor\nbody that day to save the life of one serpent at least. At that moment\na door-keeper, sent by Friend-wealth's father, came to summon them\nhome. And Cloud-chariot said: \"Do you go first. I will follow.\" So he\ndismissed Friend-wealth, and remained there himself.\n\nAs he walked about waiting for the thing he hoped for, he heard a\npitiful sound of weeping at a distance. He went a little way and saw\nnear a lofty rock a sorrowful, handsome youth. He was at that moment\nabandoned by a creature that seemed to be a policeman, and was gently\npersuading his old, weeping mother to return. And Cloud-chariot wished\nto know who it might be. So he hid himself and listened, his heart\nmelting with pity.\n\nThe old mother was bowed down by anguish, and started to lament over\nthe youth. \"Oh, Shell-crest! Oh, my virtuous son, whom I fondled, not\ncounting the labour and the pain! Oh, my son, my only son! Where shall\nI see you again? Oh, my darling! When your bright face is gone, your\nold father will fall into black despair. How can he live then? Your\ntender form is hurt by the rays of the sun. How can it bear the pangs\nof being eaten by Garuda? Oh, my unhappy fate! Why did the Creator and\nthe serpent-king choose my only son from the broad serpent-world, and\nseize upon him?\"\n\nAnd as she lamented, the youth, her son, said: \"Mother, I am unhappy\nenough. Why torture me yet more? Return home. For the last time I bow\nbefore you. It is time for Garuda to come.\"\n\nAnd the mother cried: \"Alas, alas for me! Who will save my son?\" And\nshe gazed about wildly and wept aloud.\n\nAll this Cloud-chariot, the future Buddha, saw and heard. And with deep\npity he thought: \"Alas! This is a serpent named Shell-crest, sent here\nby Vasuki for Garuda to eat. And this is his mother, following him out\nof her great love. He is her only son, and she is mourning in pain and\nbitter anguish. I should forever curse my useless life if I did not\nsave one in such agony at the cost of a body which must perish anyway\nsome day.\"\n\nSo Cloud-chariot joyfully approached and said to the old mother:\n\"Serpent-mother, I will save your son. Do not weep.\"\n\nBut the old mother thought that this was Garuda, and she screamed: \"O\nGaruda, eat me! Eat me!\"\n\nThen Shell-crest said: \"Mother, this is not Garuda. Do not be alarmed.\nWhat a difference between one who soothes our feelings like the moon,\nand the fearful Garuda!\"\n\nAnd Cloud-chariot said: \"Mother, I am a fairy, come to save your son.\nI will put on his garment and offer my own body to the hungry bird. Do\nyou take your son and go home.\"\n\nBut the old mother said: \"No, no. You are more than a son to me. To\nthink that such as you should feel pity for such as we!\"\n\nAnd Cloud-chariot answered: \"Mother, I beg you not to disappoint\nme.\" But when he insisted, Shell-crest said: \"Noble being, you have\ncertainly shown compassion, but I do not wish to save my body at the\nexpense of yours. Who would save a common stone at the cost of a pearl?\nThe world is full of creatures like me, who are merciful only to\nthemselves. But creatures like you, who are merciful to all the world,\nare very rare. Oh, pious being, I could not stain the pure family of\nShell-guard, as the dark spot stains the disk of the moon.\"\n\n[Illustration: He climbed the rock of sacrifice, eager to give his life\nfor another.]\n\nThen Shell-crest said to his mother: \"Mother, return from this desolate\nplace. Do you not see the rock of sacrifice wet with the blood of\nserpents, the terrible plaything of Death? I will go for a moment to\nthe shore and worship the god Shiva there. And I will return quickly\nbefore Garuda comes.\"\n\nSo Shell-crest took leave of his mother and went to worship Shiva.\nAnd Cloud-chariot thought: \"If Garuda should come in this interval, I\nshould be happy.\"\n\nThen he saw the trees stiffening themselves against the wind made\nby the sweeping wings of the king of birds. \"Garuda is coming,\" he\nthought, and climbed the rock of sacrifice, eager to give his life for\nanother.\n\nAnd Garuda straightway pounced upon the noble creature and lifted\nhim from the rock in his beak. While Cloud-chariot's blood flowed in\nstreams and the gem fell from his forehead, Garuda carried him off and\nbegan to eat him on the summit of the Malabar hills. And while he\nwas being eaten, Cloud-chariot thought: \"In every future life of mine\nmay my body do some good to somebody. I would not attain heaven and\nsalvation without doing some good first.\" Then a shower of flowers fell\nfrom heaven on the fairy prince.\n\nAt that moment the blood-stained gem from his forehead fell in front\nof his wife Sandal. She was in anguish at the sight, and as her\nparents-in-law were near, she tearfully showed it to them. And they\nwere alarmed at the sight of their son's gem and wondered what it\nmeant. Then King Cloud-banner discovered the truth by his magic arts,\nand he and his queen started to run with Cloud-chariot's wife Sandal.\n\nAt that moment Shell-crest returned from his worship of Shiva. He saw\nthe rock stained with blood, and cried: \"Alas for me, poor sinner!\nSurely that noble, merciful creature has given his body to Garuda in\nplace of mine. I must find him. Where has the great being been carried\nby my enemy? If I find him alive, then I shall not sink into the\nslough of infamy.\" So he followed weeping the broad trail of blood.\n\nNow Garuda noticed that Cloud-chariot was happy while being eaten, and\nhe thought: \"This must be some strange, great being, for he is happy\nwhile I am eating him. He does not die, and what remains of him is\nthrilled with delight. And he turns a gracious, benevolent look upon\nme. Surely, he is no serpent, but some great spirit. I will stop eating\nhim and ask him.\"\n\nBut while he reflected, Cloud-chariot said: \"O king of birds, why do\nyou stop? There is still some flesh and blood on me, and I see that you\nare not satisfied. Pray continue to eat.\"\n\nWhen the king of birds heard these remarkable words, he said: \"You are\nno serpent. Tell me who you are.\"\n\nBut Cloud-chariot continued to urge him: \"Certainly I am a serpent.\nWhat does the question mean? Continue your meal. What fool would begin\na thing and then stop?\"\n\nAt that moment Shell-crest shouted from afar: \"O Garuda, do not commit\na great and reckless crime. What madness is this? He is not a serpent.\nI am the serpent.\"\n\nAnd he ran between them and spoke again to the agitated bird: \"O\nGaruda, what madness is this? Do you not see that I have the hood and\nthe forked tongue? Do you not see how gentle his appearance is?\"\n\nWhile he was speaking, Cloud-chariot's wife Sandal and his parents\nhurried up. And when his parents saw how he was lacerated, they wept\naloud and lamented: \"Alas, my son! Alas, Cloud-chariot! Alas for my\nmerciful darling, who gave his life for others!\"\n\nBut when they cried: \"Alas, Garuda! How could you do this thoughtless\nthing?\" then Garuda was filled with remorse and thought: \"Alas!\nHow could I be mad enough to eat a future Buddha? This must be\nCloud-chariot, who gives his life for others, whose fame is trumpeted\nabroad through all the world. If he is dead, I am a sinner, and ought\nto burn myself alive. Why does the fruit of the poison-tree of sin\ntaste sweet?\"\n\nWhile Garuda was thus deep in anxious thought, Cloud-chariot saw his\nrelatives gathered, fell down, and died from the pain of his wounds.\nThen, while his grief-stricken parents were loudly lamenting, while\nShell-crest was accusing himself, Sandal looked up to heaven and, in\na voice stammering with tears, reproached the goddess Gauri who had\ngraciously given her this husband: \"Oh, Mother! You told me that the\nfairy prince should be my husband, but it is my fate that you spoke\nfalsely.\"\n\nThen Gauri appeared in a visible form, and said: \"Daughter, my words\nare not false.\" And she sprinkled Cloud-chariot with nectar from a\njar. And straightway he stood up alive, unhurt and more beautiful than\nbefore.\n\nAs they all bent low in worship, and Cloud-chariot rose only to bend\nagain, the goddess said: \"My son, I am pleased with your gift of your\nown body. With my own hand I anoint you king of the fairies.\" And she\nanointed Cloud-chariot with liquor from the jar, and then disappeared,\nfollowed by the worship of the company. And showers of heavenly\nblossoms fell from the sky, and the drums of the gods were joyfully\nbeaten in heaven.\n\nThen Garuda reverently said to Cloud-chariot: \"O King, I am pleased\nwith your more than human character. For you have done a strange thing\nof unparalleled nobility, to be marvelled at throughout the universe,\nto be written upon the walls of heaven. Therefore I am at your service.\nChoose from me what boon you will.\"\n\nThe noble creature said to Garuda: \"O Garuda, you must repent and eat\nno more serpents. And you must restore to life those that you ate\nbefore, who now are nothing but bones.\"\n\nAnd Garuda said: \"So be it. I will eat no serpents hereafter. And those\nthat I have eaten shall come to life.\"\n\nThen all the serpents who had been eaten down to the bones, suddenly\nstood up. And through the grace of Gauri all the leading fairies\nlearned immediately the wonderful deed of Cloud-chariot. So they all\ncame and bowed at his feet and took him, freshly anointed by the\nvery hand of Gauri, with his rejoicing relatives and friends to the\nHimalaya mountain. There Cloud-chariot lived happily with his father\nand his mother and his wife Sandal and Friend-wealth and the generous\nShell-crest. And he ruled the fairy world radiant with gems.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this long, strange story, he said to the king:\n\"O King, tell me. Which was the more self-sacrificing, Cloud-chariot or\nShell-crest? If you know and do not tell, then the curse I mentioned\nbefore will be fulfilled.\"\n\nAnd the king said: \"There was nothing remarkable in what Cloud-chariot\ndid. He was prepared for it by the experiences of many past lives. But\nShell-crest deserves praise. He was saved from death. His enemy had\nanother victim, and was far away. Yet he ran after and offered his body\nto Garuda.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this, he went back to the sissoo tree. And the\nking returned to catch him again.\n\n\n\n\nSIXTEENTH GOBLIN\n\n_The King who died for Love of his General's Wife; the General follows\nhim in Death. Which is the more worthy?_\n\n\nThen the king went back under the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder as before, and started. And the goblin said to him: \"O King, I\nwill tell you another little story to relieve your weariness. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLong ago there was a city named Golden City on the bank of the Ganges,\nwhere a quarter of the old perfect virtue still lingers in these evil\ndays. There was a king named Glorious, and he deserved the name. His\nbravery kept the world from being overflowed, like the shore of the sea.\n\nIn this king's city lived a great merchant, who had a daughter named\nPassion. Everyone who saw her fell in love and went mad with passion.\n\nWhen she grew to be a young woman, the virtuous merchant went to King\nGlorious and said: \"Your Majesty, I have a daughter, the gem of the\nthree worlds, and she is old enough to marry. I could not give her to\nanyone without consulting your Majesty. For you are the master of all\ngems in the world. Pray marry her and thus lay me under obligations.\"\n\nSo the king sent his own Brahmans to examine her qualities. But when\nthe Brahmans saw her supreme loveliness, they were troubled and\nthought: \"If the king should marry her, his kingdom would be ruined.\nHe would think only of her, and would doubtless neglect the kingdom.\nTherefore we must not report her good qualities to the king.\"\n\nSo they returned to the king and said: \"Your Majesty, she has bad\nqualities.\" So the king did not marry the merchant's daughter. But he\nbade the merchant give his daughter to a general named Force. And she\nlived happily with her husband in his house.\n\nAfter a time the lion of spring came dancing through the forest and\nslew the elephant of winter. And King Glorious went forth on the back\nof an elephant to see the spring festival. And the drum was beaten to\nwarn virtuous women to stay within doors. Otherwise they would have\nfallen in love with his beauty, and lovesickness might be expected.\n\nBut when Passion heard the drum, she did not like to be left alone.\nShe went out on the balcony, that the king might see her. She seemed\nlike the flame of love which the spring-time was fanning with southern\nbreezes. And the king saw her, and his whole being was shaken. He felt\nher beauty sinking deep in his heart like a victorious arrow of Love,\nand he fainted.\n\nHis servants brought him back to consciousness, and he returned to the\ncity. There he made inquiries and learned that this was Passion whom he\nhad rejected before. So he banished from the country the Brahmans who\nhad said that she had bad qualities, and he thought longingly of her\nevery day.\n\nAnd as he thought of her, he burned over the flame of love, and wasted\naway day and night. And though from shame he tried to conceal it, he\nfinally told the reason of his anguish to responsible people who asked\nhim.\n\nThey said: \"Do not suffer. Why do you not seize her?\" But the virtuous\nking would not do it.\n\nThen General Force heard the story. He came and bowed at the feet\nof the king and said: \"Your Majesty, she is the wife of your slave,\ntherefore she is your slave. I give her to you of my own accord. Pray\ntake my wife. Or better yet, I will leave her here in the palace. Then\nyou cannot be blamed if you marry her.\" And the general begged and\ninsisted.\n\nBut the king became angry and said: \"I am a king. How can I do such a\nwicked thing? If I should transgress, who would be virtuous? You are\ndevoted to me. Why do you urge me to a sin which is pleasant for the\nmoment, but causes great sorrow in the next world? If you abandon your\nwedded wife, I shall not pardon you. How could a man in my position\noverlook such a transgression? It is better to die.\" Thus the king\nargued against it. For the truly great throw away life rather than\nvirtue. And when all the citizens came together and urged him, he was\nsteadfast and refused.\n\nSo he slowly shrivelled away over the fever-flame of love and died.\nThere was nothing left of King Glorious except his glory. And the\ngeneral could not endure the death of his king. He burned himself\nalive. The actions of devoted men are blameless.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin on the king's shoulder had told this story, he asked\nthe king: \"O King, which of these two, the king and the general, was\nthe more deserving? Remember the curse before you answer.\"\n\nThe king said: \"I think the king was the more deserving.\"\n\nThen the goblin said reproachfully: \"O King, why was not the general\nbetter? He offered the king a wife like that, whose charms he knew from\na long married life. And when his king died, he burned himself like\na faithful man. But the king gave her up without really knowing her\nattractions.\"\n\nThen the king laughed and said: \"True enough, but not surprising. The\ngeneral was a gentleman born, and acted as he did from devotion to his\nsuperior. For servants must protect their masters even at the cost\nof their own lives. But kings are like mad elephants who cannot be\ngoaded into obedience, who break the binding-chain of virtue. They are\ninsolent, and their judgment trickles from them with the holy water of\nconsecration. Their eyes are blinded by the hurricane of power, and\nthey do not see the road. From the most ancient times, even the kings\nwho conquered the world have been maddened by love and have fallen into\nmisfortune. But this king, though he ruled the whole world, though he\nwas maddened by the girl Passion, preferred to die rather than set his\nfoot on the path of iniquity. He was a hero. He was the better of the\ntwo.\"\n\nThen the goblin escaped by magic from the king's shoulder and went\nback. And the king pursued him, undiscouraged. No great man stops in\nthe middle of the hardest undertaking.\n\n[Illustration: \"Shall I go into the fire or go home?\"]\n\n\n\n\nSEVENTEENTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Youth who went through the Proper Ceremonies. Why did he fail to\nwin the magic spell?_\n\n\nThen the king went back through the night to the cemetery filled with\nghouls, terrible with funeral piles that seemed like ghosts with\nwagging tongues of flame. But when he came to the sissoo tree, he was\nsurprised to see a great many bodies hanging on the tree. They were all\nalike, and in each was a goblin twitching its limbs.\n\nAnd the king thought: \"Ah, what does this mean? Why does that magic\ngoblin keep wasting my time? For I do not know which of all these I\nought to take. If I should not succeed in this night's endeavour, then\nI would burn myself alive rather than become a laughing-stock.\"\n\nBut the goblin understood the king's purpose, and was pleased with\nhis character. So he gave up his magic arts. Then the king saw only\none goblin in one body. He took him down as before, put him on his\nshoulder, and started once more.\n\nAnd as he walked along, the goblin said: \"O King, if you have no\nobjections, I will tell you a story. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Ujjain, whose people delight in noble happiness,\nand feel no longing for heaven. In that city there is real darkness at\nnight, real intelligence in poetry, real madness in elephants, real\ncoolness in pearls, sandal, and moonlight.\n\nThere lived a king named Moonshine. He had as counsellor a famous\nBrahman named Heaven-lord, rich in money, rich in piety, rich in\nlearning. And the counsellor had a son named Moon-lord.\n\nThis son went one day to a great resort of gamblers to play. There the\ndice, beautiful as the eyes of gazelles, were being thrown constantly.\nAnd Calamity seemed to be looking on, thinking: \"Whom shall I embrace?\"\nAnd the loud shouts of angry gamblers seemed to suggest the question:\n\"Who is there that would not be fleeced here, were he the god of wealth\nhimself?\"\n\nThis hall the youth entered, and played with dice. He staked his\nclothes and everything else, and the gamblers won it all. Then he\nwagered money he did not have, and lost that. And when they asked him\nto pay, he could not. So the gambling-master caught him and beat him\nwith clubs.\n\nWhen he was bruised all over by the clubs, the Brahman youth became\nmotionless like a stone, and pretended to be dead, and waited. After he\nhad lain thus for two or three days, the heartless gambling-master said\nto the gamblers: \"He lies like a stone. Take him somewhere and throw\nhim into a blind well. I will pay you the money he owes.\"\n\nSo the gamblers picked Moon-lord up and went far into the forest,\nlooking for a well. Then one old gambler said to the others: \"He is as\ngood as dead. What is the use of throwing him into a well now? We will\nleave him here and go back and say we have left him in a well.\" And all\nthe rest agreed, and left him there, and went back.\n\nWhen they were gone, Moon-lord rose and entered a deserted temple to\nShiva. When he had rested a little there, he thought in great anguish:\n\"Ah, I trusted the rascally gamblers, and they cheated me. Where shall\nI go now, naked and dusty as I am? What would my father say if he\nsaw me now, or any relative, or any friend? I will stay here for the\npresent, and at night I will go out and try to find food somehow to\nappease my hunger.\"\n\nWhile he reflected in weariness and nakedness, the sun grew less hot\nand disappeared. Then a terrible hermit named Stake came there, and he\nhad smeared his body with ashes. When he had seen Moon-lord and asked\nwho he was and heard his story, he said, as the youth bent low before\nhim: \"Sir, you have come to my hermitage, a guest fainting with hunger.\nRise, bathe, and partake of the meal I have gained by begging.\"\n\nThen Moon-lord said to him: \"Holy sir, I am a Brahman. How can I\npartake of such a meal?\"\n\nThen the hermit-magician went into his hut and out of tenderness to his\nguest he thought of a magic spell which grants all desires. And the\nspell appeared in bodily form, and said: \"What shall I do?\" And the\nhermit said: \"Treat that man as an honoured guest.\"\n\nThen Moon-lord was astonished to see a golden palace rise before him\nand a grove with women in it. They came to him from the palace and\nsaid: \"Sir, rise, come, bathe, eat, and meet our mistress.\" So they led\nhim in and gave him a chance to bathe and anoint himself and dress.\nThen they led him to another room.\n\nThere the youth saw a woman of wonderful beauty, whom the Creator must\nhave made to see what he could do. She rose and offered him half of\nher seat. And he ate heavenly food and various fruits and chewed betel\nleaves and sat happily with her on the couch.\n\nIn the morning he awoke and saw the temple to Shiva, but the heavenly\ncreature was gone, and the palace, and the women in it. So he went out\nin distress, and the hermit in his hut smiled and asked him how he had\nspent the night. And he said: \"Holy sir, through your kindness I spent\na happy night, but I shall die without that heavenly creature.\"\n\nThen the hermit laughed and said: \"Stay here. You shall have the same\nhappiness again to-night.\" So Moon-lord enjoyed those delights every\nnight through the favour of the hermit.\n\nFinally Moon-lord came to see what a mighty spell that was. So, driven\non by his fate, he respectfully begged the hermit: \"Holy sir, if you\nreally feel pity for a poor suppliant like me, teach me that spell\nwhich has such power.\"\n\nAnd when he insisted, the hermit said: \"You could never win the spell.\nOne has to stand in the water to win it. And it weaves a net of magic\nto bewilder the man who is repeating the words, so that he cannot win\nit. For as he mumbles it, he seems to lead another life, first a baby,\nthen a boy, then a youth, then a husband, then a father. And he falsely\nimagines that such and such people are his friends, such and such his\nenemies. He forgets his real life and his desire to win the spell. But\nif a man mumbles it constantly for twenty-four years, and remembers\nhis own life, and is not deceived by the network of magic, and then at\nthe end burns himself alive, he comes out of the water, and has real\nmagic power. It comes only to a good pupil, and if a teacher tries to\nteach it to a bad pupil, the teacher loses it too. Now you have the\nreal benefit through my magic power. Why insist on more? If I lost my\npowers, then your happiness would go too.\"\n\nBut Moon-lord said: \"I can do anything. Do not fear, holy sir.\" And the\nhermit promised to teach him the spell. What will holy men not do out\nof regard to those who seek aid?\n\nSo the hermit went to the river bank, and said: \"My son, mumble the\nwords of the spell. And while you are leading an imaginary life, you\nwill at last be awakened by my magic. Then plunge into the magic fire\nwhich you will see. I will stand here on the bank while you mumble it.\"\n\nSo he purified himself and purified Moon-lord and made him sip water,\nand then he taught him the magic spell. And Moon-lord bowed to his\nteacher on the bank, and plunged into the river.\n\nAnd as he mumbled the words of the spell in the water, he was\nbewildered by its magic. He forgot all about his past life, and went\nthrough another life. He was born in another city as the son of a\nBrahman. Then he grew up, was consecrated, and went to school. Then he\ntook a wife, and after many experiences half pleasant, half painful,\nhe found himself the father of a family. Then he lived for some years\nwith his parents and his relatives, devoted to wife and children, and\ninterested in many things.\n\nWhile he was experiencing all these labours of another life, the\nhermit took pity on him and repeated magic words to enlighten him. And\nMoon-lord was enlightened in the midst of his new life. He remembered\nhimself and his teacher, and saw that the other life was a network of\nmagic. So he prepared to enter the fire in order to win magic power.\n\nBut older people and reliable people and his parents and his relatives\ntried to prevent him. In spite of them he hankered after heavenly\npleasures, and went to the bank of a river where a funeral pile had\nbeen made ready. And his relatives went with him. But when he got there\nhe saw that his old parents and his wife and his little children were\nweeping.\n\nAnd he was perplexed, and thought: \"Alas! If I enter the fire, all\nthese my own people will die. And I do not know whether my teacher's\npromise will come true or not. Shall I go into the fire, or go home?\nNo, no. How could a teacher with such powers promise falsely? Indeed, I\nmust enter the fire.\" And he did.\n\nAnd he was astonished to feel the fire as cool as snow, and lost his\nfear of it. Then he came out of the water of the river, and found\nhimself on the bank. He saw his teacher standing there, and fell at his\nfeet, and told him the whole story, ending with the blazing funeral\npile.\n\nThen his teacher said: \"My son, I think you must have made some\nmistake. Otherwise, why did the fire seem cool to you? That never\nhappens in the winning of this magic spell.\"\n\nAnd Moon-lord said: \"Holy sir, I do not remember making any mistake.\"\nThen his teacher was eager to know about it, so he tried to remember\nthe spell himself. But it would not come to him or to his pupil. So\nthey went away sad, having lost their magic.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he asked the king: \"O King,\nexplain the matter to me. Why did they lose their magic, when\neverything had been done according to precept?\"\n\nThen the king said: \"O magic creature, I see that you are only trying\nto waste my time. Still, I will tell you. Magic powers do not come to\na man because he does things that are hard, but because he does things\nwith a pure heart. The Brahman youth was defective at that point. He\nhesitated even when his mind was enlightened. Therefore he failed to\nwin the magic. And the teacher lost his magic because he taught it to\nan unworthy pupil.\"\n\nThen the goblin went back to his home. And the king ran to find him,\nnever hesitating.\n\n\n\n\nEIGHTEENTH GOBLIN\n\n _The Boy whom his Parents, the King, and the Giant conspired to Kill.\n Why did he laugh at the moment of death?_\n\n\nThen the king went to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his shoulder\nas before, and started in silence. And the goblin on his shoulder\nsaw that he was silent and said: \"O King, why are you so obstinate?\nGo home. Spend the night in rest. You ought not to take me to that\nrascally monk. But if you insist, then I will tell you another story.\nListen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Brilliant-peak. There lived a glorious king\nnamed Moon, who delighted the eyes of his subjects. Wise men said that\nhe was brave, generous, and the very home of beauty. But in spite of\nall his wealth, he was very sad at heart. For he found no wife worthy\nof him.\n\nOne day this king went with soldiers on horseback into a great wood, to\nhunt there and forget his sorrow. There he split open many boars with\nhis arrows as the sun splits the black darkness, and made fierce lions\ninto cushions for his arrows, and slew mountainous monsters with his\nterrible darts.\n\nAs he hunted, he spurred his horse and beat him terribly. And the horse\nwas so hurt by the spur and the whip that he could not tell rough from\nsmooth. He dashed off quicker than the wind, and in a moment carried\nthe king into another forest a hundred miles away.\n\nThere the king lost his way, and as he wandered about wearily, he saw\na great lake. He stopped there, unsaddled his horse, let him bathe and\ndrink, and found him some grass in the shade of the trees. Then he\nbathed and drank himself, and when he had rested, he looked all about\nhim.\n\nAnd he saw a hermit's daughter of marvellous beauty under an ashoka\ntree with another girl. She had no ornaments but flowers. She was\ncharming even in a dress made of bark. She was particularly attractive\nbecause of her thick masses of hair arranged in a girlish way.\n\n[Illustration: The giant laughed aloud, spit fire in his wrath, and\nshowed his dreadful fangs.]\n\nAnd the king fell in love with her and thought: \"Who is she? Is she a\ngoddess come to bathe in these waters? Or Gauri, separated from her\nhusband Shiva, leading a hard life to win him again? Or the lovely\nmoon, taking a human form, and trying to be attractive in the daytime?\nI will go to her and find out.\"\n\nSo he drew near to her. And when she saw him coming, she was astonished\nat his beauty and dropped her hands, which had been weaving a garland\nof flowers. And she thought: \"Who can he be in this forest? Some fairy\nperhaps. Bless\u00e8d are my eyes this day.\"\n\nSo she rose, modestly looking another way, and started to go away,\nthough her limbs failed her. Then the king approached and said:\n\"Beautiful maiden, I have come a long distance, and you never saw me\nbefore. I ask only to look at you, and you should welcome me. Is this\nhermit manners, to run away?\"\n\nThen her clever friend made the king sit down and treated him as an\nhonoured guest. And the king respectfully asked her: \"My good girl,\nwhat happy family does your friend adorn? What are the syllables of her\nname, which must be a delight to the ear? Or why at her age does she\ntorture a body as delicate as a flower with a hermit's life in a lonely\nwood?\"\n\nAnd the friend answered: \"Your Majesty, she is the daughter of the\nhermit Kanva and the heavenly nymph Menaka. She grew up here in the\nhermitage, and her name is Lotus-bloom. With her father's permission\nshe came here to the lake to bathe. And her father's hermitage is not\nfar from here.\"\n\nThen the king was delighted. He mounted his horse and rode to the\nhermitage of holy Kanva, to ask for the girl. And he entered the\nhermitage in modest garb, leaving his horse outside. Then he was\nsurrounded by hermits with hoary crowns and bark garments like the\ntrees, and saw the sage Kanva radiant and cool like the moon. And he\ndrew near and fell at his feet.\n\nAnd the wise hermit greeted him and let him rest, then said: \"My son\nMoon, I will tell you something to your advantage. Listen. I know what\nfear of death there is in mortal creatures. Why then do you uselessly\nkill the wild beasts? Warriors were made by the Creator to protect the\ntimid. Therefore protect your subjects in righteousness, and root out\nevil. As Happiness flees before you, strive to overtake her with all\nyour means, elephants and horses and things. Enjoy your kingship. Be\ngenerous. Become glorious. Abandon this vice of hunting, this sport of\nDeath. For slayer and slain are equally deceived. Why spend your time\nin such an evil pursuit?\"\n\nThe sensible king was pleased and said: \"Holy sir, I am instructed. And\ngreat is my gratitude for this instruction. From now on I hunt no more.\nLet the wild animals live without fear.\"\n\nThen the hermit said: \"I am pleased with your protection of the\nanimals. Choose any boon you will.\"\n\nThen the quick-witted king said: \"Holy sir, if you are kindly disposed,\ngive me your daughter Lotus-bloom.\"\n\nSo the hermit gave him his daughter, the child of the nymph, who\nthen came up after her bath. So they were married, and the king wore\ncheerful garments, and Lotus-bloom was adorned by the hermits' wives.\nAnd the weeping hermits accompanied them in procession to the edge of\nthe hermitage. Then the king took his wife Lotus-bloom, mounted his\nhorse, and started for his city.\n\nAt last the sun, seeing the king tired with his long journeying, sank\nwearily behind the western mountain. And fawn-eyed night appeared, clad\nin the garment of darkness, like a woman going to meet her lover. And\nthe king saw an ashvattha tree on the shore of a pond in a spot covered\nwith grass and twigs, and he decided to spend the night there.\n\nSo he dismounted, fed and watered his horse, brought water from the\npond, and rested with his belov\u00e8d. And they passed the night there.\n\nIn the morning he arose, performed his devotions, and prepared to set\nout with his wife to rejoin his soldiers. Then, like a cloud black as\nsoot with tawny lightning-hair, there appeared a great giant. He wore\na chaplet of human entrails, a cord of human hair, he was chewing the\nhead of a man, and drinking blood from a skull.\n\nThe giant laughed aloud, spit fire in his wrath, and showed his\ndreadful fangs. And he scolded the king and said: \"Scoundrel! I am\na giant named Flame-face. This tree is my home; even the gods do\nnot dare to trespass here. But you and your wife have trespassed and\nenjoyed yourselves. Now swallow your own impudence, you rascal! You are\nlovesick, so I will split open your heart and eat it, and I will drink\nyour blood.\"\n\nThe king was frightened when he saw that the giant was invincible,\nand his wife was trembling, so he said respectfully: \"I trespassed\nignorantly. Forgive me. I am your guest, seeking protection in your\nhermitage. And I will give you a human sacrifice, so that you will be\nsatisfied. Be merciful then and forget your anger.\"\n\nThen the giant forgot his anger, and thought: \"Very well. Why not?\"\nAnd he said: \"O King, I want a noble, intelligent Brahman boy seven\nyears old, who shall give himself up of his own accord for your sake.\nAnd when he is killed, his mother must hold his hands tightly to the\nground, and his father must hold his feet, and you must cut off his\nhead with your own sword. If you do this within seven days, then I will\nforgive the insult you have offered me. If not, I will kill you and all\nyour people.\"\n\nAnd the king was so frightened that he consented. Then the giant\ndisappeared.\n\nThen King Moon mounted his horse with his wife Lotus-bloom and rode\naway sad at heart, seeking for his soldiers. And he thought: \"Alas! I\nwas bewildered by hunting and by love, and I find myself ruined. Where\ncan I find such a sacrifice for the giant? Well, I will go to my own\ncity now, and see what happens.\"\n\nSo he continued his search, and found his soldiers and his city\nBrilliant-peak. There his subjects were delighted because he had found\na wife worthy of him, and they made a great feast. But it was a day of\ndespondency and dreadful agony for the king.\n\nOn the next day he told his counsellors the whole story. And one\ncounsellor named Wise said: \"Your Majesty, do not despair. I will find\na victim for the sacrifice. The world is a strange place.\"\n\nThus the counsellor comforted the king, and made a statue of a boy out\nof gold. And he sent the statue about the land, with constant beating\nof drums and this proclamation: \"We want a noble Brahman boy seven\nyears old who will offer himself as a sacrifice to a giant with the\npermission of his parents. And when he is killed, his mother must hold\nhis hands, and his father must hold his feet. And as a reward, the king\nwill give his parents a hundred villages and this statue of gold and\ngems.\"\n\nNow there was a Brahman boy on a farm, who was only seven years old,\nbut wonderfully brave. He was of great beauty, and even in childhood he\nwas always thinking about others. He said to the heralds: \"Gentlemen, I\nwill give you my body. Wait a moment. I will hurry back after telling\nmy parents.\"\n\nSo they told the boy to go. And he went into the house, bowed before\nhis parents, and said: \"Mother! Father! I am going to give this\nwretched body of mine in order to win lasting happiness. Pray permit\nme. And I will take the king's gift, this statue of myself made of gold\nand gems, and give it to you together with the hundred villages. Thus I\nwill pay my debt to you, and do some real good. And you will never be\npoor again, and will have plenty more sons.\"\n\nBut his parents immediately said: \"Son, what are you saying? Have you\nthe rheumatism? Or are you possessed by a devil? If not, why do you\ntalk nonsense? Who would sacrifice his child for money? And what child\nwould give his body?\"\n\nBut the boy said: \"I am not mad. Listen. My words are full of sense.\nThe body is the seat of unnameable impurities, it is loathsome and\nfull of pain. It perishes in no long time at best. If some good can be\ndone with the worthless thing, that is a great advantage in this weary\nlife, so wise men say. And what good is there except helping others?\nIf anyone can serve his parents so easily, then how lightly should the\nbody be esteemed!\"\n\nThus the boy, with his bold words and his firm purpose, persuaded his\ngrieving parents. And he went and got from the king's men the golden\nstatue and the hundred villages, and gave them to his parents.\n\nSo the boy with his parents followed the king's men to the city\nBrilliant-peak. And the king looked upon the brave boy as a magic jewel\nfor his own preservation, and rejoiced greatly. He adorned the boy with\ngarlands and perfumes, put him on an elephant, and took him with his\nparents to the home of the giant.\n\nThere the priest traced a magic circle beside the tree, and reverently\nlit the holy fire. Then the horrible giant Flame-face appeared,\nmumbling words of his own. He staggered, for he was drunk with blood,\nand snorted and yawned. His eyes flashed fire and his shadow made the\nwhole world dark.\n\nAnd the king said respectfully: \"Great being, here is the human\nsacrifice you asked for, and this is the seventh day since I promised\nit. Be merciful. Accept this sacrifice.\"\n\nAnd the giant licked his chops, and looked the boy over, who was to be\nthe sacrifice. Then the noble boy thought: \"I have done some good with\nthis body of mine. May I never rest in heaven or in eternal salvation,\nbut may I have many lives in which to do some good with my body.\" And\nthe air was filled with the chariots of gods who rained down flowers.\n\nThen the boy was laid before the giant. His mother held his hands, and\nhis father held his feet. When the king drew his sword and was ready\nto strike, the boy laughed so heartily that all of them, even the\ngiant, forgot what they were doing, looked at the boy's face, and bowed\nlow before him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this strange story, he asked the king: \"O\nKing, why did the boy laugh at the moment of death? I have a great\ncuriosity about this point. If you know and will not tell, then your\nhead will fly into a hundred pieces.\"\n\nAnd the king said: \"Listen. I will tell you why the boy laughed. When\ndanger comes to any weak creature, he cries for life to his mother\nand father. If they are not there, he begs protection from the king,\nwhom heaven made his protector. Failing the king, he cries to a god.\nSome one of these should be his protector. But in the case of this boy\neverything was contrary. His parents held his hands and feet because\nthey wanted money. And the king was ready to kill him with his own\nhand, to save his own life. And the giant, who is a kind of a god,\nhad come there especially to eat him. So the boy thought: 'They are\nridiculously fooled about their bodies, which are fragile, worthless,\nthe seat of pain and suffering. The bodies of the greatest gods perish.\nAnd such creatures as these imagine that their bodies will endure!' So\nwhen he saw their strange madness, and felt that his own wishes were\nfulfilled, the Brahman boy laughed in astonishment and delight.\"\n\nThen the goblin slipped from the king's shoulder and went back to his\nhome. And the king followed with determination. The heart of a good man\nis like the heart of the ocean. It cannot be shaken.\n\n\n\n\nNINETEENTH GOBLIN\n\n_The Man, his Wife, and her Lover, who all died for Love. Which was the\nmost foolish?_\n\n\nThen the king went back under the sissoo tree, took the goblin on his\nshoulder, and set out in haste. And as he walked along, the goblin on\nhis shoulder said: \"O King, I will tell you a story about a great love.\nListen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Ujjain, which seems like a divine city made by\nthe Creator for the pious who have fallen from heaven. In this city\nthere was a famous king named Lotus-belly. He delighted the good, and\ndefeated the king of the demons.\n\nWhile he was king, a merchant named Fortune, richer than the god of\nwealth, lived in the city. He had one daughter named Love-cluster, who\nseemed the model from whom the Creator had made the nymphs of heaven.\nThis merchant gave his daughter to a merchant named Jewel-guard from\nCopper City.\n\nAs he was a tender father and had no other children, the merchant\nstayed with his daughter Love-cluster and her husband. Now Love-cluster\ncame to hate Jewel-guard as a sick man hates a pungent, biting\nmedicine. But the beautiful woman was dearer than life to her husband,\ndear as long-gathered wealth to a miser.\n\nOne day Jewel-guard started for Copper City to pay a loving visit to\nhis parents. Then the hot summer came, and the roads were blocked for\ntravellers by the sharp arrows of the sun. The winds blew soft with the\nfragrance of jasmine and trumpet-flower, like sighs from the mouths of\nmountains separated from the spring-time. And wind-swept dust-clouds\nflew to the sky like messengers from the burning earth begging for\nclouds. And the feverish days moved slowly like wayfarers who cling to\nthe shade of trees. And the nights clad in pale yellow moonlight became\nvery feeble without the invigorating embrace of winter.\n\n[Illustration: A merchant named Fortune, richer than the God of\nWealth.]\n\nAt this time Love-cluster, anointed with cooling sandal, and clad in\nthin garments, stood at her lattice-window. And she saw a handsome\nyouth with a friend whom he trusted. He seemed the god of love born\nanew and seeking his bride. He was the son of the king's priest, and\nhis name was Lotus-lake.\n\nAnd when Lotus-lake saw the lovely girl, he expanded with delight as\nlotuses in a lake expand at the sight of the moon. When the two young\npeople saw each other, their hearts embraced each other at the bidding\nof Love, their teacher.\n\nSo Lotus-lake was smitten with love, and was led home with difficulty\nby his friend. And Love-cluster was equally maddened by love. First she\nlearned from her friend his name and home, then slowly withdrew to her\nroom. There she thought of him and became feverish with love, simply\ntossing on her couch, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.\n\nAfter two or three days spent in this way, she felt bashful and\nfearful, pale and thin from the separation, and hopeless of union with\nher lover. So, as if drawn on by the moonbeam which shone through her\nwindow, she went out at night when her people were asleep, determined\nto die. And she came to a pool under a tree in her garden.\n\nThere stood a family image of the goddess Gauri, set up by her father.\nShe drew near to this image, bowed before the goddess, praised her,\nand said: \"O Goddess, since I could not have Lotus-lake as my husband\nin this life, may he be my husband in some other life!\" And she made a\nnoose of her garment, and tied it to the ashoka tree before the goddess.\n\nAt that moment her trusty friend awoke, and not finding her in the\nroom, hunted about and came luckily into the garden. There she saw the\ngirl fastening the noose about her neck, and she cried, \"No, no!\" And\nrunning up, she cut the noose.\n\nWhen Love-cluster saw that it was her own friend who had run up and\ntaken the noose away, she fell to the ground in great agony. But her\nfriend comforted her and asked the reason of her sorrow. Then she arose\nand said: \"Jasmine, my friend, I cannot be united with him I love. I am\ndependent on my father and other people. Death is the happiest thing\nfor me.\"\n\nAnd as she spoke, she was terribly scorched by the fiery darts of\nlove, and determined to feel no more hope, and fainted. And her friend\nJasmine lamented: \"Alas! Love is a hard master. It has reduced her to\nthis condition.\" But she gradually brought her back to life with cool\nwater and fans and things. She made an easy bed of lotus-leaves. She\nput pearls cool as snow on her heart.\n\nThen Love-cluster came to herself and slowly said to her weeping\nfriend: \"My dear, the fire within me cannot be quenched by such things\nas pearls. If you want to save my life, be clever enough to bring my\nlover to me.\"\n\nAnd the loving Jasmine said: \"My dear, the night is almost over. In the\nmorning I will bring your lover here to meet you. Be brave and go now\nto your room.\"\n\nLove-cluster was contented. She took the pearls from her neck and gave\nthem to her friend as a present. And she said: \"Let us go now. Then in\nthe morning you must keep your promise.\" So she went to her room.\n\nIn the morning Jasmine crept out without being seen to hunt for the\nhouse of Lotus-lake. When she got there, she found Lotus-lake under a\ntree in the garden. He was lying on a couch of lotus-leaves moistened\nwith sandal, and the friend who knew his secret was fanning him with\nplantain-leaf fans, for he was tortured by the flames of love. And\nJasmine hid, to find out whether this was lovesickness for her friend\nor not.\n\nThen the friend said to Lotus-lake: \"My friend, comfort your heart by\nglancing a moment at this charming garden. Do not be so troubled.\"\n\nBut he said to his friend: \"My heart has been stolen by Love-cluster.\nIt is no longer in my body. How can I comfort it? Love has made an\nempty quiver of me. So invent some plan by which I may meet the thief\nof my heart.\"\n\nThen Jasmine came out joyfully and without fear and showed herself. And\nshe said: \"Sir, Love-cluster has sent me to you, and I am the bearer of\na message to you. Is it good manners to enter the heart of an innocent\ngirl by force, steal her thoughts, and run away? It is strange, but\nthe sweet girl is ready to give her person and her life to you, her\ncharmer. For day and night she heaves sighs hot as the smoke from the\nfire of love that burns in her heart. And teardrops carry her rouge\naway and fall, like bees longing for the honey of her lotus-face. So,\nif you wish it, I will tell you what is good for both of you.\"\n\nAnd Lotus-lake said: \"My good girl, the words which tell me that my\nlove is lonely and longing, frighten me and comfort me. You are our\nonly refuge. Devise a plan.\"\n\nAnd Jasmine answered: \"This very night I will bring Love-cluster\nsecretly to the garden. You must be outside. Then I will cleverly let\nyou in, and so you two will be united.\" Thus Jasmine delighted the\nBrahman's son, and went away successful to please Love-cluster with the\nnews.\n\nThen the sun and the daylight fled away, pursuing the twilight. And\nthe East adorned her face with the moon. And the white night-blooming\nlotuses laughed, their faces expanding at the thought of the glory that\nwas coming to them. At that hour the lover Lotus-lake came secretly,\nadorned and filled with longing, to the garden-gate of his belov\u00e8d.\nAnd Jasmine led Love-cluster secretly into the garden, for she had\nlived through the day somehow.\n\nThen Jasmine made her sit down under the mango trees, while she went\nand let Lotus-lake in. So he entered and looked upon Love-cluster as\nthe traveller looks upon the shade of trees with thick foliage. And\nas he drew near, she saw him and ran to him, for love took away her\nmodesty, and she fell on his neck. \"Where would you go? I have caught\nyou, thief of my heart!\" she cried. Then excessive joy stopped her\nbreathing, and she died. She fell on the ground like a vine broken by\nthe wind. Strange are the mysterious ways of Love.\n\nWhen Lotus-lake saw that terrible fall, he cried: \"Oh, what does it\nmean?\" And he fainted and fell down. Presently he came to himself, and\ntook his darling on his lap. He embraced her and kissed her and wept\nterribly. He was so borne down by the terrible burden of grief that his\nown heart broke. And when they were both dead, the night seemed to die\naway in shame and fear.\n\nIn the morning the relatives heard the story from the gardeners, and\ncame there filled with timidity and wonder and grief and madness. They\ndid not know what to do, but stood a long time with downcast eyes.\nUnfaithful women disgrace a family.\n\nPresently the husband Jewel-guard came back from his father's house in\nCopper City, filled with love for Love-cluster. When he came to his\nfather-in-law's house and saw the business, he was blinded by tears\nand went thoughtfully into the garden. There he saw his wife dead in\nanother man's arms, and his body was scorched by the flames of grief,\nand he died immediately.\n\nThen the whole household shouted and screamed so that all the citizens\nheard the story and came there. The demi-gods themselves were filled\nwith pity and prayed to the goddess Gauri whose image had been set up\nthere before by Love-cluster's father: \"Oh, Mother, the merchant who\nset up this statue was always devoted to you. Show mercy to him in his\naffliction.\"\n\nAnd the gracious goddess heard their prayer. She said: \"All three\nshall live again, and shall forget their love.\" Then through her\ngrace they all arose like people waking from sleep. They were alive,\nand their love was gone. While all the people there rejoiced at what\nhad happened, Lotus-lake went home, bending his head in shame. And the\nmerchant took his shamefaced daughter and her husband and went into the\nhouse and made a feast.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story on the road in the night, he said:\n\"O King, which was the most foolish among those who died for love?\nIf you know and do not tell, you must remember the curse I spoke of\nbefore.\"\n\nThen the king answered: \"O magic creature, Jewel-guard was the most\nfoolish of them. When he saw that his wife had died for love of another\nman, he should have been angry. Instead, he was loving, and died of\ngrief.\"\n\nThen the goblin slipped from the king's shoulder and quickly set out\nfor his home. And the king ran after him again, eager as before.\n\n\n\n\nTWENTIETH GOBLIN\n\n _The Four Brothers who brought a Dead Lion to Life. Which is to blame\n when he kills them all?_\n\n\nThen the king went back to the sissoo tree, took the goblin, put him on\nhis shoulder, and started for the place he wished to reach. And as he\nwalked along the road, the goblin began to talk again: \"Bravo, King!\nYou are a remarkable character. So I will tell you another story, and a\nstrange one. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is a city called Flower-city. There lived a king named\nEarth-boar. In his kingdom was a farm where a Brahman lived whose name\nwas Vishnuswami. His wife was named Swaha. And four sons were born to\nthem.\n\nAfter a time the father died, and the relatives took all the money. So\nthe four brothers consulted together: \"There is nothing for us to do\nhere. Suppose we go somewhere.\" And after a long journey they came to\nthe house of their maternal grandfather in a village called Sacrifice.\nThe grandfather was dead, but their uncles sheltered them, and they\ncontinued their studies.\n\nBut they did not amount to much, so in time their uncles became\nscornful in such matters as food and clothing. And they were troubled.\n\nThen the eldest took the others aside and said: \"Brothers, no man can\ndo anything anywhere on earth. Now I was wandering about discouraged,\nand I came to a wood. There I saw to-day a dead man whose limbs\nlay relaxed on the ground. And I wished for the same fate, and I\nthought: 'He is happy. He is free from the burden of woe.' So I made\nup my mind to die, and hanged myself with a rope from a tree. I lost\nconsciousness, but before the breath of life was gone, the cord was\ncut and I fell to the ground. And when I came to myself, I saw a\ncompassionate man who had happened by at that moment, and he was\nfanning me with his garment. And he said to me: 'My friend, you are\nan educated man. Tell me why you are so despondent. The righteous man\nfinds happiness, the unrighteous man finds unhappiness because of his\nunrighteousness, and for no other reason. If you made up your mind to\nthis because of unhappiness, practise righteousness instead. Why seek\nthe pains of hell by suicide?' Thus the man comforted me and went away.\nAnd I gave up the idea of suicide and came here. You see I could not\neven die when fate was unwilling. Now I shall burn my body at some holy\nplace, that I may not again feel the woes of poverty.\"\n\nThen the younger brothers said to him: \"Sir, why is an intelligent man\nsad for lack of money? Do you not know that money is uncertain as an\nautumn cloud? No matter how carefully won and guarded, three things are\nfickle and bring sorrow at the last: evil friendships, a flirt, and\nmoney. The resolute and sensible man should by all means acquire that\nvirtue which brings him Happiness a captive in bonds.\"\n\nSo the eldest brother straightway plucked up heart, and said: \"What\nvirtue is it which we should acquire?\"\n\nThen they all reflected, and took counsel together: \"We will wander\nover the earth, and each of us will learn some one science.\" So they\nappointed a place for meeting, and the four brothers started in four\ndifferent directions.\n\nAfter a time they all gathered at the meeting-place, and asked one\nanother what they had learned. The first said: \"I have learned a\nscience by which I can take the skeleton of any animal whatever and put\nthe proper kind of flesh on it.\"\n\nThe second said: \"I have learned a science by which I can put on the\nflesh-covered skeleton the proper hair and skin.\"\n\nThe third said: \"My science is this. When the skin and the flesh and\nthe hair are there, I can put in the eyes and the other organs of\nsense.\"\n\nThe fourth said: \"When the organs are there, I can give the creature\nthe breath of life.\"\n\nSo all four went into the forest to find a skeleton and test their\nvarious sciences. As fate would have it, they found the skeleton of\na lion there. And they took that, not knowing the difference.\n\n[Illustration: The lion arose and killed his four creators.]\n\nThe first fitted out the skeleton with appropriate flesh. The second\nadded the skin and hair. The third provided all the organs. The fourth\ngave life to the thing, and it was a lion. The lion arose with terrible\nmassive mane, dreadful teeth in his mouth, and curving claws in his\npaws. He arose and killed his four creators, then ran into the forest.\n\nThus the Brahman youths all perished because they did wrong to make\na lion. Who could expect a good result from creating a bad-tempered\ncreature? Thus, if fate opposes, even a virtue that has been painfully\nacquired does not profit, but rather injures. But the tree of manhood,\nwith the water of intelligence poured into its watering-trench of\nconduct about the vigorous root of fate, generally bears good fruit.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he asked the king who was walking\nthrough the night: \"O King, remember the curse I mentioned, and tell me\nwhich of them was most to blame for creating the lion?\"\n\nAnd the king reflected in silence: \"He wants to escape again. Very\nwell. I will catch him again.\" So he said: \"The one who gave life to\nthe lion, is the sinner. The others did not know what kind of an animal\nit was, and just showed their skill in creating flesh and skin and hair\nand organs. They were not to blame because they were ignorant. But the\none who saw that it was a lion and gave it life just to exhibit his\nskill, he was guilty of the murder of Brahmans.\"\n\nThen the goblin went home. And the king followed him again, and came to\nthe sissoo tree.\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-FIRST GOBLIN\n\n _The Old Hermit who exchanged his Body for that of the Dead Boy. Why\n did he weep and dance?_\n\n\nThen the king went back to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder in spite of all its writhings, and set out in silence. And\nthe goblin on his shoulder said: \"O king of kings, you are terribly\nobstinate about this impossible task. So to amuse the weary journey I\nwill tell a story. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the Kalinga country was a city called Beautiful, where people lived\nas happily as in heaven. There ruled a famous king named Pradyumna. And\nin a part of this city was a region set apart by the king, where many\nBrahmans lived. Among them was a learned, wealthy, pious, hospitable\nBrahman named Sacrifice.\n\nIn his old age a single son was born to him and his worthy wife. The\nboy grew under the fostering care of his father, and showed signs of\nexcellence. He was called Devasoma by his father, and his parents were\nentirely devoted to him.\n\nIn his sixteenth year the boy attracted everyone by his learning and\nmodesty. Then he suddenly fell ill of a fever and died. When his father\nand mother saw that he was really dead, they embraced the body and wept\naloud. But their love for him would not permit them to burn the body.\n\nSo the old relatives gathered, and said to the father: \"Brahman, life\nis imaginary like a city in the sky. Do you not know this, you who know\nthings above and things below? The kings who enjoyed themselves like\ngods upon the earth, they have gone one by one to cemeteries filled\nwith processions of weeping ghosts. Their bodies were burned by the\nflesh-devouring fire and eaten by jackals. No one could prevent it in\ntheir case. How much less in the case of others? Therefore, as you are\na wise man, tell us what you mean by embracing this dead body?\"\n\nSo at last the relatives persuaded him to let his son go, and they put\nthe body in a litter and brought it to the cemetery with weeping and\nwailing.\n\nAt that time a hermit was fulfilling a hard vow, and was living in a\nhut in the cemetery. He was very thin because of his age and his hard\nlife. His veins stuck out like cords to bind him, as if afraid that he\nwould break in pieces. His hair was tawny like the lightning.\n\nThis hermit heard the wailing of the people, and turned to his pupil\nwho begged food for him. Now this pupil was proud and arrogant. And the\nhermit said: \"My boy, what is this wailing we hear? Go outside and find\nout, then return and tell me why this unheard-of commotion is taking\nplace.\"\n\nBut the pupil said: \"I will not go. Go yourself. My hour for begging is\npassing by.\"\n\nThen the teacher said: \"Fool! Glutton! What do you mean by your hour\nfor begging? Only one half of the first watch of the day is gone.\"\n\nThen the bad pupil became angry and said: \"Decrepit old man! I am\nnot your pupil. And you are not my teacher. I am going away. Do your\nbegging yourself.\" And he angrily threw down his staff and bowl before\nthe old man, and got up, and went away.\n\nThen the hermit laughed. He left his hut and went to the place where\nthe dead Brahman boy had been brought to be burned. He saw how the\npeople mourned over such youthful freshness dead, and felt his own age\nand weakness. So he made up his mind to exchange his body for the other\nby magic.\n\nHe went aside and wept at the top of his voice. Then he danced with all\nthe proper gestures.\n\nAfter that, full of the longing to enjoy the happiness of youth, he\nleft his own withered body by magic and entered the body of the Brahman\nyouth. So the Brahman youth came to life on the funeral pyre and stood\nup. And a cry of joy arose from all the relatives: \"See! The boy is\nalive! He is alive!\"\n\nThen the magician in the body of the Brahman boy said to the relatives:\n\"I went to the other world, and Shiva gave me life and directed me to\nperform a great vow. So now I am going off to perform the vow. If I do\nnot, my life will not last. Do you then go home, and I will come later.\"\n\nSo he spoke to those gathered there, having made up his mind what to\ndo, and sent them home full of joy and grief. He went himself and threw\nhis old body into a pit, and then went off, a young man.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he said to King Triple-victory,\nwho was walking through the night: \"O King, when the magician entered\nanother person's body, why did he weep before doing it, or why did he\ndance? I have a great curiosity about this point.\"\n\nAnd the king was afraid of the curse, so he broke silence and said:\n\"Listen, goblin. He thought: 'I am leaving to-day this body with which\nI won magic powers, the body which my parents petted when I was a\nchild.' So first he wept from grief, and from love of his body which he\nfound it hard to leave. Then he thought: 'With a new body I can learn\nmore magic.' So he danced from joy at getting youth.\"\n\nWhen the goblin heard this answer, he returned quickly to the sissoo\ntree. And the king pursued him, undismayed.\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-SECOND GOBLIN\n\n _The Father and Son who married Daughter and Mother. What relation\n were their children?_\n\n\nThe king paid no attention to the terrible witch of night, clad in\nblack darkness, with the funeral piles as flaming eyes. He bravely went\nthrough the dreadful cemetery to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his\nshoulder, and started as before. And as he walked along, the goblin\nsaid to him: \"O King, I am very tired with these comings and goings,\nbut you do not seem to be. So I will tell you my Great Puzzle. Listen.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLong ago there was a king named Virtue in the southern country. He was\nthe best of righteous men, and was born in a great family. His wife\ncame from the Malwa country, and her name was Moonlight. And they had\none daughter, whom they named Beauty.\n\nWhen this daughter was grown up, the relatives conspired to wreck the\nkingdom and drive King Virtue out. But he escaped by night, took a\ngreat many jewels, and fled from his kingdom with his beautiful wife\nand his daughter. He started for his father-in-law's house in Malwa,\nand came with his wife and daughter to the Vindhya forest. There they\nspent a weary night.\n\nIn the morning the bless\u00e8d sun arose in the east, stretching out his\nrays like hands to warn the king not to go into the forest where\nrobbers lived. The king went on foot with his trembling daughter and\nhis wife, and their feet were wounded by the thorny grass. So they came\nto a fortified village. It was like the city of Death; for there were\nno righteous people there, and it was filled with robber-men who killed\nand robbed other people.\n\nAs the king drew near with his fine garments and his gems, many robbers\nsaw him from a distance, and ran out armed to rob him. When the king\nsaw them coming, he said to his wife and daughter: \"These are wild\nmen. They must not touch you. Go into the thick woods.\" So the queen\nwith her daughter Beauty fled in fear into the middle of the forest.\n\nBut the brave king took his sword and shield and killed many of the\nwild men as they charged down, raining arrows on him. Then their leader\ngave an order, and all the robbers fell on the king at once, wounded\nevery limb in his body, and killed him; for he was all alone. So the\nrobbers took the jewels and went away.\n\nNow the queen had hidden in a thicket, and had seen her husband killed.\nThen she fled a long distance in fear and came with her daughter into\nanother thick wood. The rays of the midday sun were so fierce that\ntravellers had to sit in the shade. So Queen Moonlight and Princess\nBeauty sat down under an ashoka tree near a lotus-pond in terrible\nweariness and fear and grief.\n\nNow a gentleman named Fierce-lion who lived near came on horseback with\nhis son into that wood to hunt. The son's name was Strong-lion. And the\nfather saw the footprints of the queen and the princess, and he said\nto his son: \"My son, these footprints are clean-cut and ladylike. Let\nus follow them. And if we find two women, you shall marry one of them,\nwhichever you choose.\"\n\nAnd the son Strong-lion said: \"Father, the one who has the little feet\nin this line of footprints, seems to be the wife for me. The one with\nthe bigger feet must be older. She is the wife for you.\"\n\nBut Fierce-lion said: \"My son, what do you mean? Your mother went to\nheaven before your eyes. When so good a wife is gone, how could I think\nof another?\"\n\nBut his son said: \"Not so, Father. A householder's house is an empty\nplace without a wife. Besides, you have surely heard what the poet says:\n\n    'What fool would go into a house?\n        'Tis a prisoner's abode,\n    Unless a buxom wife is there,\n        Looking down the road.'\n\nSo, Father, I beg you on my life to marry the second one, whom I have\nchosen for you.\"\n\nThen Fierce-lion said \"Very well,\" and went on slowly with his son,\nfollowing the footprints. And when he came to the pond, he saw Queen\nMoonlight, radiant with beauty and charm. And with his son he eagerly\napproached her. But when she saw him, she rose in terror, fearing that\nhe was a robber.\n\nBut her sensible daughter said: \"There is no reason to fear. These two\nmen are not robbers. They are two well-dressed gentlemen, who probably\ncame here to hunt.\" Still the queen swung in doubt.\n\nThen Fierce-lion dismounted and stood before her. And he said:\n\"Beautiful lady, do not be frightened. We came here to hunt. Pluck up\nheart and tell me without fear who you are. Why have you come into\nthis lonely wood? For your appearance is that of ladies who wear gems\nand sit on pleasant balconies. And why should feet fit to saunter in\na court, press this thorny ground? It is a strange sight. For the\nwind-blown dust settles on your faces and robs them of beauty. It hurts\nus to see the fierce rays of the sun fall upon such figures. Tell us\nyour story. For our hearts are sadly grieved to see you in such a\nplight. And we cannot see how you could live in a forest filled with\nwild beasts.\"\n\nThen the queen sighed, and between shame and grief she stammered out\nher story. And Fierce-lion saw that she had no husband to care for her.\nSo he comforted her and soothed her with tender words, and took care of\nher and her daughter. His son helped the two ladies on horseback and\nled them to his own city, rich as the city of the god of wealth. And\nthe queen seemed to be in another life. She was helpless and widowed\nand miserable. So she consented. What could she do, poor woman?\n\nThen, because the queen had smaller feet, the son Strong-lion married\nQueen Moonlight. And Fierce-lion, the father, married her daughter, the\nprincess Beauty, because of the bigness of her feet. Who would break a\npromise that had been made solemnly?\n\nThus, because of their inconsistent feet, the daughter became the wife\nof the father and the mother-in-law of her own mother. And the mother\nbecame the wife of the son and the daughter-in-law of her own daughter.\nAnd as time passed, sons and daughters were born to each pair.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the goblin had told this story, he asked the king: \"O King,\nwhen children were born to the father and daughter, and other children\nto the son and mother, what relation were those children to one\nanother? If you know and do not tell, then remember the curse I spoke\nof before.\"\n\n[Illustration: He comforted her and soothed her with tender words.]\n\nWhen the king heard the goblin's question, he turned the thing this way\nand that, but could not say a word. So he went on in silence. And when\nthe goblin saw that he could not answer the question, he laughed in his\nheart and thought: \"This king cannot give an answer to my Great Puzzle.\nSo he just walks on in silence. And he cannot deceive me because of the\npower of the curse. Well, I am pleased with his wonderful character.\nSo I will cheat that rogue of a monk, and give the magic power he is\nstriving after to this king.\"\n\nSo the goblin said aloud: \"O King, you are weary with your comings\nand goings in this dreadful cemetery in the black night, yet you seem\nhappy, and never hesitate at all. I am astonished and pleased at your\nperseverance. So now you may take the dead body and go ahead. I will\nleave the body. And I will tell you something that will do you good,\nand you must do it. The monk for whom you are carrying this body, is a\nrogue. He will call upon me and worship me, and he will try to kill you\nas a sacrifice. He will say: 'Lie flat on the ground in an attitude of\nreverence.' O King, you must say to that rascal: 'I do not know this\nattitude of reverence. Show me first, and then I will do likewise.'\nThen when he lies on the ground to show you the attitude of reverence,\ncut off his head with your sword. Then you will get the kingship over\nthe fairies which he is trying to get. Otherwise, the monk will kill\nyou and get the magic power. That is why I have delayed you so long.\nNow go ahead, and win magic power.\"\n\nSo the goblin left the body on the king's shoulder and went away. And\nthe king reflected how the monk Patience was planning to hurt him. He\ntook the body and joyfully went to the fig-tree.\n\n\n\n\nCONCLUSION\n\n\nSo King Triple-victory came to the monk Patience with the body on his\nshoulder. And he saw the monk alone in the dark night, sitting under\nthe cemetery tree and looking down the road. He had made a magic circle\nwith yellow powdered bones in a spot smeared with blood. In it he had\nput a jug filled with blood and lamps with magic oil. He had kindled a\nfire and brought together the things he needed for worship.\n\nThe monk rose to greet the king who came carrying the body, and he\nsaid: \"O King, you have done me a great favour, and a hard one. This is\na strange business and a strange time and place for such as you. They\nsay truly that you are the best of kings, for you serve others without\nthinking of yourself. This is the very thing that makes the greatness\nof a great man, when he does not give a thing up, though it costs his\nvery life.\"\n\nSo the monk felt sure that he was quite successful, and he took the\nbody from the king's shoulder. He bathed it and put garlands on it,\nand set it in the middle of the circle. Then he smeared his own body\nwith ashes, put on a cord made of human hair, wrapped himself in dead\nmen's clothes, and stood a moment, deep in thought. And the goblin was\nattracted by his thought into the body, and the monk worshipped him.\n\nFirst he offered liquor in a skull, then he gave him human teeth\ncarefully cleaned, and human eyes and flesh. So he completed his\nworship, then he said to the king: \"O King, fall flat on the ground\nbefore this master magician in an attitude of reverence, so that he may\ngive you what you want.\"\n\nAnd the king remembered the words of the goblin. He said to the monk:\n\"Holy sir, I do not know that attitude of reverence. Do you show me\nfirst, and afterwards I will do it in the same way.\"\n\nAnd when the monk fell on the ground to show the attitude of reverence,\nthe king cut off his head with a sword, and cut out his heart and split\nit open. And he gave the head and the heart to the goblin.\n\nThen all the little gods were delighted and cried: \"Well done!\" And the\ngoblin was pleased and spoke to the king from the body he was living\nin: \"O King, this monk was trying to become king of the fairies. But\nyou shall be that when you have been king of the whole world.\"\n\nAnd the king answered the goblin: \"O magic creature, if you are pleased\nwith me, I have nothing more to wish for. Yet I ask you to make me one\npromise, that these twenty-two different, charming puzzle-stories shall\nbe known all over the world and be received with honour.\"\n\nAnd the goblin answered: \"O King, so be it. And I will tell you\nsomething more. Listen. When anyone tells or hears with proper respect\neven a part of these puzzle-stories, he shall be immediately free from\nsin. And wherever these stories are told, elves and giants and witches\nand goblins and imps shall have no power.\"\n\nThen the goblin left the dead body by magic, and went where he wanted\nto. Then Shiva appeared there with all the little gods, and he was\nwell pleased. When the king bowed before him, he said: \"My son, you\ndid well to kill this sham monk who tried by force to become king of\nthe fairies. Therefore you shall establish the whole earth, and then\nbecome king of the fairies yourself. And when you have long enjoyed\nthe delights of heaven and at last give them up of your own accord,\nthen you shall be united with me. So receive from me this sword called\nInvincible. While you have it, everything you say will come true.\"\n\nSo Shiva gave him the magic sword, received his flowery words of\nworship, and vanished with the gods.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nItalic text is denoted by _underscores_.\n\nMinor punctuation and printer errors repaired.\n\nEvery effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully\nas possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other\ninconsistencies.","title":"Twenty-Two Goblins. Translated from the Sanskrit","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":40132}