{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66443/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66443","id":"gutenberg_66443","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66443","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales","Fairy tales -- China -- Tibet Autonomous Region","Folklore -- China -- Tibet Autonomous Region","Tales -- China -- Tibet Autonomous Region"],"text":"WONDER TALES FROM TIBET\n\n                                   by\n                         ELEANORE MYERS JEWETT\n\n                            Illustrations by\n                              MAURICE DAY\n\n\n                                 BOSTON\n                        LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY\n                                  1922\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                         DEDICATED TO MY MOTHER\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe Siddhi-kur is a strange and mysterious creature! He is so old that\nwe cannot even guess at his age, and he has traveled so many leagues\nfrom the land that originally produced him that we really do not know\nhow much of him is as he was, and how much of him has been changed by\ntime and place. Dusky little boys and girls in faraway India, long,\nlong ago, were the first to listen to the stories that gathered around\nthe figure of the Siddhi-kur, tales of wonder and magic which always\nended with the hint of another, even better one to follow. Then from\nIndia, still in the unknown long ago, wandering tribes, or perhaps\noccasional single travelers, carried the stories into the highlands of\nTibet. There they grew and flourished, till the Siddhi-kur in his mango\ntree, with his clever wit and quaint sense of humor, and the ever\npersevering Khan\u2019s Son, became as familiar to Kalmuck and Mongolian\nchildren as St. George and his dragon are to us. Some European\ntravelers, hearing the tales from the people and realizing their\nunusual qualities, their picturesqueness, their fun and adventure,\ncollected them and brought them home. They were first published in 1866\nby a German scholar, Bernhardt J\u00fclg, and it is from his pamphlet,\n\u201cKalm\u00fckische M\u00e4rchen,\u201d and an English translation of the same (\u201cSagas\nfrom the Far East,\u201d by R. H. Busk, 1873), that I have drawn the\nfollowing stories, changing and adapting them freely to suit Occidental\nethics and taste.\n\nI was first moved to put them into book form because of the interest\nthey aroused in a certain small group of boys and girls to whom I told\nthem, one hot, happy summer not so very long ago. The element of\nrepetition, the distinctly human characters, the atmosphere of another\nland and strange people, and the romance of quest\u2014these things give to\nthe Wonder Tales from Tibet the appeal to the childhood of all times\nand all races, which is their reason for having lived so long and\ntraveled so far, and reason, too, for believing they will hold the\ninterest of our modern American girls and boys.\n\n\n    Eleanore Myers Jewett.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                   PAGE\n    Preface                                         vii\n    The Clever Prince and the Stupid Brother          1\n    The White Bird\u2019s Wife                            27\n    The Promise of Massang                           50\n    How Six Friends Sought Adventure                 76\n    The Secret of the Khan\u2019s Barber                  97\n    The Prince with the Golden Mouth                112\n    The Strange Adventure of Schalu\u2019s Wife          133\n    The Fortunes of Shrikantha                      146\n    Sunshine and Moonshine                          164\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n    The two friends felt themselves picked up and whizzed\n      through the air                                      Frontispiece\n\n                                                                   PAGE\n    In and out among the shallows and deep pools they flashed         6\n    She noticed a richly carved table in the corner, with a\n      gold cage upon it                                              33\n    Up the ladder and into the room climbed a little old woman       59\n    Quite unexpectedly they came at length to a little log hut       81\n    In a flash he had caught her up and had left the palace roof\n      far behind                                                     94\n    Together they dragged the chest ashore and set Shrikantha free  152\n    He found a great red door set deep into the face of the rock    169\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWONDER TALES FROM TIBET\n\nTHE CLEVER PRINCE AND THE STUPID BROTHER\n\n\nLong years ago there lived in the Far East a Prince and his Brother,\nsons of the Great Khan. The Prince was a wise and clever youth, but his\nBrother was stupid and ignorant beyond belief. The Khan tried in vain\nto have this lazy fellow educated and finally, when all else had\nfailed, sent him to school to seven learned magicians who lived in a\ncave on the outskirts of his realm. There was nothing in the way of\nmagic, either white or black, good or evil, which these seven wise men\ndid not know, but because they had wicked, cruel hearts, they left the\ngood alone and practised their art only for selfish and evil purposes.\nThey took the stupid Brother because the Khan bade them do so, and they\npromised to teach him all the art of magic, but inwardly they resolved\nthat he should learn none of it and merely be their tool and helper.\nAnd so it was. For seven years the stupid Brother worked with the\nmagicians, and in all that time he learned not one thing, so that at\nthe end he knew no more than at the beginning. His brother, the Prince,\nthinking that all might not be well, went one day to the cave and stood\nall day long at the door, watching his Brother and the seven wise men\nat work. And so very quick and clever he was that at the end of the day\nhe had mastered no small bit of the art of magic himself. Seeing,\nhowever, how things stood with his Brother, and that it was useless for\nhim to remain longer, he bade him come away, and the two straightway\nset off together toward their home.\n\nThe mind of the Prince was full of the wonderful secrets of magic which\nhe had just learned, and he was eager to try his power and skill at the\ngame; so at length, as they neared the palace,\u2014\u201cBrother,\u201d said he, \u201cgo\nyou to the old stable behind the hill, and there you will find a\nsplendid steed as white as milk. I pray you, lead him gently to market,\nsell him, and bring the money to me, but remember this: on no account\nlet him take you near the cave of the seven magicians!\u201d\n\n\u201cWillingly,\u201d said the stupid Brother, and off he set for the stable. He\nwas too slow and dull to be really surprised at seeing a fine white\nhorse standing unhitched in an open stall where there had been no\nhorses before; he only thought what a great pity it would be to sell\nthe animal as the Prince had bidden him. Far better would he like to\nkeep it for himself. At any rate, he would take a ride first and\nperhaps go to the cave and show his new possession to his friends, the\nwise men. Scarcely had he formed this thought in his mind and leaped\nupon the steed\u2019s back, when the animal dashed off, swift as the wind,\ndown the road which led to the cave of the wizards. Too late did the\nstupid Brother remember the Prince\u2019s warning to avoid that place of all\nothers; he could not turn the horse to right or left, or slacken his\nspeed until at length he stopped of his own accord right in front of\nthe door of the cave. The lad got down and tried to turn the horse\u2019s\nhead and lead him home; he coaxed and scolded and even beat and kicked\nthe poor beast, but all to no avail. Then, looking up, he spied the\nseven magicians standing in a row and smiling at him.\n\n\u201cIt is useless,\u201d said one, \u201cyou will never get that horse beyond our\ngate, so you might as well sell him to us.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the stupid Brother sulkily, giving a final kick. \u201cHow\nmuch will you give me for him?\u201d\n\nNow the magicians knew that this was no ordinary horse, but in reality\nthe Prince, who had changed himself thus in order to test his skill in\nmagic.\n\nBy their charms and spells they had drawn him straight to their cave,\nfor they were not at all pleased to find he had learned the secret of\ntheir magic, and now they were minded to destroy him if they could. So\nthey bargained with the stupid Brother for the horse, paid him a good\nprice and sent him away, never dreaming that he was in reality leaving\nthe Prince behind him.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d thought the poor Prince, \u201cnow is my last hour come! By all the\nhidden powers of magic, I wish that some living creature would come by\ninto which I could transform myself and so escape!\u201d\n\nBefore the cave of the magicians flowed a brook, and the Prince had no\nsooner formed this wish in his heart than a tiny fish came swimming by.\nQuick as a flash, the great white steed disappeared, for the Prince had\nchanged himself into the little minnow and was swimming rapidly away.\nThe magicians saw their prey disappearing and immediately transformed\nthemselves into seven larger fish and gave chase. In and out among the\nshallows and deep pools they flashed, the little fish and the seven\ngreat ones after it, on and on, and ever the great fish gained upon the\nlittle one, until the foremost of the seven could almost seize it in\nhis mouth.\n\n\u201cAlack-a-day!\u201d sighed the Prince, \u201cnow indeed is my last hour come! By\nall the power of magic spells, I wish that some living creature would\ncome by into which I could transform myself and so escape!\u201d\n\nHe had scarcely uttered this wish to himself when a white bird flew low\nover the brook, and in a flash the minnow was gone, and the Prince was\nflying swiftly over the fields in the form of a white dove. But he was\nnone too quick, for the seven magicians had become seven great hawks\nand were circling over him. The Prince sped on like the wind over hills\nand valleys, on and on until at length, quite out of breath and spent,\nhe came to a tall shining mountain. In the heart of this mountain was a\ncave wherein dwelt a hermit, a wise and good man, whose name was\nNagarguna. To this refuge the Prince now sped, and the hawks were\nalmost upon him when he flew against the rough wooden door of the cave\nand beat his wings wildly upon it. Nagarguna opened it, the dove flew\nin and fell exhausted upon the floor.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter, little creature?\u201d said the hermit, picking up the\nwhite bird and holding him gently in his hands.\n\n\u201cI am pursued!\u201d gasped the Prince, \u201cmy life is in great danger. I pray\nyou, good master, hear me, and do what I bid you, that my life may be\nsaved!\u201d He paused to take a breath, and in that moment there came a\nknocking at the door of the cave which had swung to after the Prince\nhad entered.\n\n\u201cEven now,\u201d continued the Prince, \u201cthere stand seven men without,\nclothed in white. Before you open the door to them, let me change\nmyself into the largest bead in that chaplet which you wear around your\nneck. When they come in, they will ask you for it. Give them the beads,\nbut before you do so, break the string on which they are strung so that\nthey will fall to the ground. If you do this, I can do the rest by my\npower of magic.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile the knocking upon the door grew louder and louder, and so,\nhastily promising to do as the Prince had said, Nagarguna opened it.\nWithout stood seven men with white hair and long white cotton robes.\nVery old and wise they looked, but their eyes were wicked.\n\n\u201cWhat would you, sirs?\u201d said Nagarguna. They stepped into the cave and,\nlooking sharply around, spied the chaplet of beads about the hermit\u2019s\nneck. The white dove, of course, had vanished by this time.\n\n\u201cI pray you,\u201d said the foremost of the seven men, \u201clet us have the\nchaplet that hangs about your neck. We have long heard the fame of you,\nhave come from afar to see you, and would greatly like to carry away a\ntoken from you.\u201d\n\n\u201cGladly will I give it to you,\u201d said the hermit, but in slipping the\nchaplet from his neck he managed to break the string, and the beads\nwent clattering to the floor, all but the largest one, which still\nclung to the string. And all the little beads became worms and wriggled\nupon the ground, and the seven magicians changed themselves into seven\nlarge fowls and began pecking at the worms until they were all eaten\nup. Then, at length, the largest bead fell, and scarcely had it touched\nthe earth before it became a youth, the Prince himself, who stood\nstraight, tall and fair, with a staff in his hands. With this he slew\nthe seven fowls quickly, one by one, and cast them out of the cave,\nwhere they became the dead bodies of the seven wicked magicians. Then\nhe turned back, weary and exhausted, into the cave, but Nagarguna\nlooked upon him coldly and with displeasure.\n\n\u201cYou have done evil, my son,\u201d said he, \u201cfor you have taken life, even\nthe lives of seven men; and it will not easily be forgiven you.\u201d\n\nThe Prince bowed his head humbly before Nagarguna. \u201cTruly,\u201d said he, \u201cI\ndid not wish the death of these men, but they wickedly sought my life.\nOnly to defend myself from a like fate did I lift my hand to slay\nanother.\u201d\n\n\u201cEven so,\u201d replied Nagarguna, \u201cand well I know your heart is not evil,\nand that only because you knew of no better way to defend yourself did\nyou resort to barbarous killing. But by knowledge, my son, are all good\nthings accomplished, all wrong ones avoided. Had your knowledge been\nperfect, you would not have found it necessary to take the life of any\nliving creature, even in self-defense.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, Father,\u201d said the Prince, \u201clet me stay with you and learn true\nwisdom. I am sorry for this wrong, done in ignorance, and any task, no\nmatter how hard, which you want me to perform, I will do faithfully to\nshow my true repentance.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell said!\u201d And Nagarguna smiled upon the Prince. \u201cIf you keep this\nspirit of humility within you, when the time has come for you to rule\nthis land, you will be a wise and good king, and your people will be\nhappy and prosperous beneath your sway. Come, now, I will tell you a\ntask worthy a brave man\u2019s strength and skill, and when you shall have\naccomplished it, you shall dwell with me and learn wisdom until it is\ntime for you to be king over your people.\u201d\n\nThe Prince and the hermit forthwith sat down side by side upon the\nrough floor of the cave (for it was quite bare of furnishings) and\nNagarguna told of the great work which the Prince was to do.\n\n\u201cThere is,\u201d said he, \u201cin a very far country a creature called the\nSiddhi-kur. Very strange he is, being gold from his waist up, emerald\nfrom his waist down, with a head that looks like mother-of-pearl and a\nshining crown upon it. The Siddhi-kur is a creature of magic\u2014good\nmagic\u2014and the land wherein he is shall be blessed with knowledge,\nwealth and long life. Now, if you can capture the Siddhi-kur and bring\nhim to me, we will place him in a cool grove here upon this shining\nmountain, and then our people in the valley, your people and my people,\nwill be mightily blessed above all others. They shall have gold in\nabundance, and what is far better, they shall have a great store of\nwisdom and knowledge, and long life in which to use it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is indeed a noble task,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cand with great joy\nwill I undertake it. Only tell me how I may reach the Siddhi-kur and\nhow he may be captured.\u201d\n\n\u201cMark well my words,\u201d replied the hermit, \u201cand I will tell you all.\u201d\n\nFor an hour or more they talked, and Nagarguna told the Prince how he\nshould go to find the Siddhi-kur, of all the dangers he would meet by\nthe way and how he should overcome them. And the Prince plied him with\nmany questions and put away carefully in his mind all the directions\nand warnings that were given him. At length the master arose and, going\ninto a dark recess of the cave, brought forth an axe, a sack, a cord\nand a basket. These he spread out before the Prince.\n\n\u201cIn this basket,\u201d said he, handing it to the lad, \u201care the magic barley\ncorns which you will use as I have directed you, and also a cake which\ngrows not less, no matter how much you eat of it. The cake will keep\nyou from hunger as the barley corns will keep you from fear.\u201d Then,\npicking up the axe, the sack and the cord, he continued, \u201cWhen at\nlength you have found the Siddhi-kur, do not fail to tell him that this\nis the magic axe \u2018White Moon,\u2019 that this sack is the marvellous sack of\nmany colors, in which, though it appears so small, there is space to\nstow away a hundred creatures, and that, finally, this is the cord of a\nhundred threads, each one different in hue, and each strong enough to\nbind and hold the mightiest ox. When you have shown him all these\nthings, he will yield himself quietly to you. Arise then, my son, and\nstart upon your way, and peace and good fortune attend you!\u201d\n\nThe Prince arose, his heart high with courage, and slinging the sack,\ncord and axe over his shoulder, the basket on his arm, he turned to bid\nNagarguna farewell.\n\n\u201cOne thing more,\u201d said the hermit, \u201cand this is more important than all\nelse that I have told you. When once you have got the Siddhi-kur upon\nyour back and are returning to me, remember, open not your lips nor say\none word for any cause whatever until you have reached the door of my\ncave and have given the Siddhi-kur into my keeping!\u201d\n\nPromising to remember this above all else, the Prince bade good-by to\nNagarguna, receiving his blessing again, and set forth with a quick\nstep and a light heart upon his great adventure.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRINCE AND THE SIDDHI-KUR\n\n\nNorthward went the Prince, northward in a straight line as the crow\nflies, though the way was hard and rough, and many times he could find\nno shelter from storm and night. At length, when he had traveled a\nhundred miles, he came to a valley, deep and dark and mysterious. This,\nhe knew, was the spot where Nagarguna had warned him he would meet with\nhis first adventure. Gripping his sack, axe, cord and basket with a\nfirm hand, he climbed down the rocky sides, though it grew ever darker\nand darker as he descended. The loose stones slipped from beneath his\nfeet, and a great roaring sound filled his ears as he neared the\nbottom, where a muddy river rushed along. At last he reached the bank\nof this stream and stood there, wondering at the noise and rush of it\nand at the strange half-darkness that surrounded him. Suddenly the\nnoise grew greater, and from the stream, the banks of the ravine, and\nseemingly from the air itself appeared great ghostly forms, very tall\nand fierce, and they rushed upon the Prince as though to kill him.\n\n\u201cThese are the ghosts of giants who lived long ages ago,\u201d thought the\nlad, remembering Nagarguna\u2019s words. \u201cI must not fear them!\u201d And\ncovering his eyes with his sleeve, he scattered a few grains of the\nmagic barley corn in the air and waited, listening. The strange,\nghostly sounds grew less, and even the roar and rush of the torrent\nseemed to become more distant. For some little time the Prince waited,\nwith his sleeve across his eyes, and when the noise had grown quite\nfaint and indistinct, he looked around him. No longer was he standing\nat the bottom of the dark valley with the muddy river rushing beside\nhim! To his astonishment, he found himself, instead, on the top of a\nhill on the opposite side of it; the sunlight was bright and warm upon\nhim, and an open meadow land sloped gently away before him. Casting one\nlook down into the depths, at the muddy, horrible stream far below, he\nturned his back upon it with a sigh of relief.\n\n\u201cThere is one adventure safely passed!\u201d said he to himself, and trudged\nonward.\n\nAgain there was a long journey, and sometimes the way was rough and\nhard, and sometimes it was pleasant and easy. But northward still it\nlay in a straight line, and the Prince was weary enough when he had\ngone another hundred miles and had come to the second stage of his\nadventure.\n\nHe had reached a broad meadow full of tall lank grass, with a little\nstream winding through the center of it. On the bank of this quiet\nmeadow brook he stood and gazed around, wondering, for the sunlight, so\nbright a moment ago, seemed to be fading. The soft babbling of the\nwater grew suddenly loud and harsh, the air dark and murky, and there\ndarted from the tall, rank grass on every side a throng of strange,\nghostly figures. Very small they were and dim and vague, but their\nfaces were ugly, and they swarmed around the Prince in countless\nnumbers, as if they would cover and overwhelm him. He bent his head and\ngasped for breath, muttering to himself, \u201cThese must be they of whom\nNagarguna told me, the ghosts of wicked dwarfs who lived and died long\nyears ago!\u201d He covered his eyes with his sleeve and cast the magic\nbarley corn in the air, then waited, listening. The noise of the stream\ndied down, and the sound of the rushing, ghostly forms ceased; and when\nthe Prince looked about him again, he found himself on the other side\nof the little winding stream, with the sunlight pouring down upon him\nand the tall grass waving at his feet.\n\n\u201cThere is my second adventure safely passed!\u201d thought he, and turning\nhis back upon the meadow and brook, he journeyed on.\n\nNorthward he traveled still, and if the way had been hard before, it\nwas ten times harder now. Over rugged crags the Prince scrambled,\nacross bare deserts where there was no water and no rest for his\nburning feet,\u2014only sand, sand, sand and a tiresome wind. On and on he\nwent until at last another hundred miles had been left behind him, and\nhe saw lying just ahead a beautiful garden. As the Prince entered it,\nhe thought that never before had he seen anything half so lovely.\nStrange, brilliant flowers grew in rich profusion on all sides, filling\nthe air with a soft, sweet fragrance. Birds with bright plumage flashed\nby, and the sound of their incessant sweet singing mingled with the\nsplash of water in an unseen fountain. The Prince loitered along the\npath delighted, drinking in eagerly all the beauty of sight and sound\nand scent. At length, turning a corner, he came upon the fountain\nsparkling in the sun. Crystal clear it was and very beautiful, and\nbeside it was a marble bench looking cool and restful. The Prince sank\ndown upon it, for he felt suddenly very weary, but scarcely had he\nseated himself before the sunlight disappeared and a strange half\ndarkness covered him. The sound of the splashing water grew louder, but\nit was very pleasant to hear, and mingled with it was a whispering and\npattering as of small voices and tiny feet, and a brushing as of\ngarments against the bushes. He looked around him and then stood up the\nbetter to see. From behind every flower and bush danced forth a little\nform, shimmery and indistinct but beautiful beyond belief.\n\n\u201cOh, you lovely, lovely creatures!\u201d exclaimed the Prince aloud. \u201cBut I\nmust not look at you, for truly you must be they of whom the master\ntold me,\u2014the ghosts of little children who lived and died long years\nago and were forgotten!\u201d\n\nSlowly and reluctantly the Prince, covering his eyes with his sleeve,\ncast the magic barley corns in the air and waited. The little silken\nsounds ceased, the splash of the water grew softer, and when he looked\nabout him again he found himself standing on the other side of the\nfountain, with the garden behind him and a cool shady grove in front of\nhim. And by a tree at the entrance to the grove, looking at him, stood\nthe Siddhi-kur!\n\nThe Prince knew him at once by the shining gold and the emerald green\nof his body, by his head which looked like mother-of-pearl, and by the\nfair gold crown upon it. As he was looking at him, the Siddhi-kur\nturned and fled, and the Prince ran after him. Deep into the grove they\nsped, this way and that, and a long chase they had of it, until at last\nthe Siddhi-kur reached the middle of the grove where stood his favorite\nmango tree, and before the Prince could touch him, he had climbed up to\nthe very top of it, and there he sat, looking down and laughing.\n\nThe Prince waited only to catch his breath, and then, seizing his axe,\nhe raised it high above his shoulder, exclaiming, \u201cOh, Siddhi-kur, come\ndown! Nagarguna, the hermit, has need of you! Come down, I pray you, or\nwith my magic axe, \u2018White Moon,\u2019 I will fell your mango tree!\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, do not so!\u201d cried the Siddhi-kur, gazing in terror at the\nuplifted axe. \u201cDo not cut down my mango tree with the terrible \u2018White\nMoon\u2019; much rather would I descend to you!\u201d\n\n\u201cCome, then, quickly!\u201d said the Prince, laying aside his axe and\npicking up the sack and cord. On seeing these, the Siddhi-kur hastily\nclimbed down from the tree and stood beside the Prince, trembling.\n\n\u201cSee, now,\u201d continued the lad, holding the sack wide open. \u201cResistance\nis useless, for here I have the magic sack of many colors, in which,\nthough it looks so small, is space to stow away a hundred creatures.\nYou shall ride in it upon my back, and the neck of it shall be tied\naround your neck with this magic cord of a hundred threads, each of a\ndifferent kind, and each strong enough to bind an ox. Be content, then,\ncome with me, and you shall dwell happily in a cool grove on the\nshining mountain, beside the good Nagarguna.\u201d\n\nThe Siddhi-kur sighed deeply. \u201cResistance is indeed vain!\u201d said he,\n\u201csince you have the axe, the sack and the cord. So take me on your back\nand let us be about our way, for he who cannot mend his fortunes should\nmake the best of them.\u201d\n\nThe Prince was overjoyed that his adventure should be thus accomplished\nso easily, and without more ado he settled the Siddhi-kur comfortably\nin the sack, tied the mouth of it with the cord of a hundred threads,\nbalanced it upon his back, and picking up the axe, \u201cWhite Moon,\u201d\nstarted on his homeward journey. Very proud he felt, and very well\nsatisfied. He ate of the magic cake which grew not less, and being much\nrefreshed, he walked bravely along, though the way was twice as hard as\nit had been before, owing to the heavy burden on his back.\n\nAfter they had proceeded a long way in silence, the Siddhi-kur spoke:\n\n\u201cOf a truth,\u201d said he, \u201cthe way is long and I grow weary. I pray you,\nPrince, tell me now a tale, that the hours may seem the shorter to us\nboth.\u201d\n\nBut the Prince, remembering how Nagarguna had bade him above all else\nnot to open his lips on the homeward way, merely shook his head and\nsaid nothing.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, \u201cthe Prince is wise beyond his years! He has\nlearned the lesson of silence! Keep, then, your thoughts to yourself,\nbut if you are minded to listen, I will tell you a story, a wonder\ntale, which will make the time pass quickly and pleasantly. Only nod\nyour head, if you are willing, and I will begin.\u201d\n\nNow the Prince was very weary, and the hours seemed long indeed.\n\u201cSurely,\u201d he thought, \u201cthere can be no harm in merely listening, and\nperhaps the Siddhi-kur can tell a wonderful tale which it will be\npleasant and profitable to hear.\u201d So he nodded assent, and the\nSiddhi-kur straightway began.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALE ONE\n\nTHE WHITE BIRD\u2019S WIFE\n\n\nMany, many years ago, when the world was young, there lived in a\ncountry very fair and full of flowers an old man who had three\ndaughters. They were simple, humble folk and owned little save a herd\nof goats, and these were dearer to the old man than anything else in\nthe world, dearer even than his three fine daughters. Every day one of\nthe girls went forth with the flock and tended them upon the hillside,\nand woe be to her if, when she returned at night, one of the little\nbeasts was hurt or missing! The father stood by the gate of their yard\nand counted them all as they ran in at evening, and often he felt of\neach and caressed it, murmuring terms of endearment which might better\nhave been spent on his daughters, to whom he never showed any affection\nat all.\n\nOne day, when it was the turn of the eldest to tend the flock, she\nreturned at night, very late, and with eyes red and swollen with\nweeping. The cause of her grief soon appeared; one of the goats was\nmissing, and the angry father lost no time in venting his wrath in\nshrill words of abuse and cruel blows. The poor girl crept away to bed,\ncrying and complaining, but to all her sisters\u2019 questions she answered\nno word save to bid them crossly to be quiet. Yet there was something\nin her manner which led the other two to believe that she had met with\nsome strange adventure, and they talked long together, wondering and\nguessing as to what it might have been.\n\nThe next morning the second daughter set forth to watch the goats, and\nreturned late at night as the first had done, weary and crying\nbitterly, for another goat had been lost. And if the father had been\nangry and cruel before, he was twice as much so now. He beat the poor\ngirl\u2019s shoulders with his heavy stick and cursed her till she fled in\nterror to her bed and lay there, trembling and weeping in the dark. But\nwhen the youngest daughter asked her gently what had happened, and how\nshe had lost the goat, she was bidden to hold her peace, and could\nlearn nothing. She noticed, however, that her two sisters now exchanged\nlooks of understanding, and whispered much together, stopping at once\nwhen she came by. She was filled with curiosity and could scarcely\nsleep that night for eagerness to try her luck with the flock next day,\nand see if any strange adventure would befall her.\n\nEarly in the morning Ananda (for that was the youngest daughter\u2019s name)\nset forth with the goats to the hillside, resolved to be very alert and\navoid all the trouble her sisters had fallen into. The weather was\nunusually warm and sultry, and about noon a great sense of heaviness\nand sleep came upon her, so that, in spite of all her efforts, her eyes\nwould no longer stay open. She lay down under a tree, thinking she\nwould let herself sleep for just a few moments, but when she awoke she\nfound, to her dismay, that the moments had lengthened into hours, the\nsun was nigh setting, and while she had slept one of the goats had gone\nastray.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d she thought. \u201cMy father will kill me if another goat is lost! I\nmust find it, though I hunt all night!\u201d She began looking hurriedly\neverywhere, in all the pastures where the flock were wont to stray, on\nthe neighboring hillsides and in the valleys, calling the goat by name\nand watching in the soft ground for the mark of his hoofs. At last, a\nlong distance from where the others had grazed, she found the\nimpression of the hoofs of a single goat leading away along the muddy\nbanks of a stream. These she followed eagerly, hoping with every step\nto see her missing charge in the distance. The marks led steadily on,\nand she followed farther and farther until at length she found herself\nin a strange country full of great rocks and dark-mouthed caves. The\nhoof marks left the bank of the stream at this point, led directly to a\ncave in the side of a hill, and there stopped short. The mouth of the\ncave was closed by a big red door, and Ananda, pushing against it,\nfound that it opened easily, leading into a passageway dim and damp. At\nthe end of this passage was another door which shone in the dark,\nmaking the way almost bright before it. This, she found, was of solid\ngold and, wondering much, she tried it and found that it, too, opened\nreadily. Beyond was another passage, shorter than the first and lighted\nby the radiance of the gold door behind her. Ananda hastened to the end\nof it, where she found, to her astonishment, two doors, side by side,\none of mother-of-pearl and the other of emerald. By this time she had\nquite forgotten the goat, so filled was she with wonder and curiosity.\nShe lost no time in pushing against the mother-of-pearl door, but,\nthough she threw all her weight upon it, she could not make it yield an\ninch. So, turning with a sigh, she tried the emerald door, which opened\nat once; stepping across the threshold, she found herself in a large\nvaulted room, brilliantly lighted by lamps which swung from the\nceiling. On every side were signs of luxury and wealth, soft divans,\ncurious rich furnishings, and on the floor, in careless piles, gold\ncoins and precious stones,\u2014diamonds, rubies, emeralds and many others,\nbeyond all power to count. Ananda rubbed her eyes, thinking she must\nstill be sleeping. There appeared to be no living being in the room, so\nshe began peering around in this corner and that, wondering more and\nmore as she came upon one rich object after another. Suddenly she was\nstartled by a voice quite close behind her.\n\n\u201cGood day, fair damsel!\u201d it said. \u201cMay I ask what it is you are looking\nfor?\u201d\n\nAnanda wheeled around in terror, but there was no person visible behind\nher. Only she noticed a richly carved table in the corner with a gold\ncage upon it, and in the cage a beautiful snow-white bird.\n\n\u201cWho could have been speaking?\u201d said she to herself, still looking in\nevery direction, and, as if in answer to her thought, the white bird\nmoved on his golden perch and spoke again.\n\n\u201cDamsel, I bid you good day, and welcome to my dwelling. But pray tell\nme what it is you are seeking?\u201d\n\nAnanda stared in astonishment. \u201cSo it was you who spoke!\u201d said she. \u201cIn\ntruth, I hadn\u2019t noticed you before!\u201d And then, bethinking her of the\nquestion twice asked, and not yet answered, she continued, \u201cI beg your\npardon\u2014I have come to seek my father\u2019s goat which is lost. I followed\nhis hoof marks to the door of this cave and had hoped to find him\nwithin.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can restore your goats to you,\u201d said the bird, \u201cthat which you lost\nto-day, and those which your sisters lost before you.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, you are most kind!\u201d cried the girl. \u201cGive them to me, I beg, and I\nwill hasten home and trouble you no longer!\u201d\n\n\u201cNot so fast! Not so fast!\u201d replied the bird. \u201cWait and hear my\nconditions. Your sisters refused them with scorn and preferred to\nendure all the ill-treatment and abuse at home rather than to consider\nfor a moment what I proposed.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey must be hard conditions indeed,\u201d said Ananda, \u201cto make me refuse\nthem and go home goatless to my angry father! Tell me, good bird\u2014what\nare they?\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is the bargain I propose,\u201d said the white bird slowly. \u201cIf you\nwill marry me and live in luxury here, in my palace cave, I will send\nall the goats straightway back to your father. Moreover, you shall have\nall that your heart can desire, in so far as wealth can give it. Come,\nnow! I will let you have fifteen minutes in which to consider. Sit down\nupon that divan yonder, and when your mind is made up, speak and I will\nlisten.\u201d Then the white bird began busily pecking grains of food from\nthe cup in his cage, as if he had nothing further to say on the\nsubject.\n\nSlowly Ananda walked over to the divan and sat down. \u201cIf I go home\nwithout the goat,\u201d she reasoned with herself, \u201cmy father will nigh kill\nme in his anger\u2014and yet, to marry a white bird, truly that would be a\nvery sorry adventure. But (looking around the brightly lighted room)\nlife at home is poor and dull, and here would be much to amuse and\ninterest me. And even a white bird might prove a good companion, if I\nhad no other.\u201d She arose and walked back to the cage with a decided\nstep.\n\n\u201cI will marry you!\u201d said she to the white bird.\n\n\u201cGood!\u201d said he, and rising on his perch, fluttered his wings.\nImmediately there appeared before Ananda a table spread with a fine\ncloth and having upon it the best supper her eyes had ever looked on.\n\n\u201cSit down and eat,\u201d continued the white bird, \u201cfor you must be hungry.\nThe goats are even now on their way homeward and will find your\nfather\u2019s pen unguided, with the rest of the flock, to-night.\u201d\n\nSo Ananda married the white bird and lived in the palace cave, and for\na long time her days were full of wonder and delight. There seemed no\nend to the treasures around her, and she had but to form a wish in her\nmind to have it straightway granted. But after awhile she began to grow\nlonely. Every morning the white bird disappeared (whither, she never\nknew), and all day long she must remain by herself in the great vaulted\nroom. In the evening the white bird would return, but after all, he was\npoor company compared with her two sisters, and she began to regret\nwhat she had done and long to be at home again. The white bird brought\nher news of the outside world and tried to cheer her by talk and\ngossip, and one time he told her of a fair which was to be held next\nday in a near-by village. Ananda sighed deeply as he told of it.\n\n\u201cHow I should love to go to that fair!\u201d said she. \u201cIt is so long since\nI have seen any of my kind.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear,\u201d said the white bird, \u201cI think it unwise for you to go; my\nheart tells me that ill will come of it. Nevertheless, if you greatly\ndesire it, if nothing else will make you happy, you shall have your\nwish. Go to the fair and stay all day. Indeed, if you go at all, you\nmust promise me faithfully not to return until six o\u2019clock in the\nevening.\u201d\n\nAnanda was delighted, readily gave the desired promise and bustled\neagerly about, preparing for the morrow. The next day she started forth\nbright and early and in good time reached the fair grounds. Such a\nmerry time she had from the very start! She made friends with everybody\naround her, and having plenty of money to spend on herself and others,\nshe soon found herself extremely popular. She saw all there was to be\nseen and did all there was to be done, and the morning was gone before\nshe knew it.\n\nEarly in the afternoon there rode into the fair grounds a stranger on a\nsnow-white horse. Very tall and strong he was, and good to look upon,\nand he was dressed in silk and cloth-of-gold, like a prince. Everybody\nbegan at once to ask everybody else who he was and whence he came, and\nit soon appeared that nobody at the fair had ever seen or heard of him\nbefore. All talked and marvelled at his handsome face, fine carriage\nand princely clothes, and wherever he went, a little crowd followed\nafter him, watching curiously everything he did. Ananda saw him too,\nand when she looked into his face, all the happiness suddenly died\nwithin her, and she wished mightily that she had never come to the fair\nat all, for she knew that she loved him with all her heart. She\nwandered away from her gay young companions and stood watching the\nstranger from a distance and feeling very sorrowful.\n\n\u201cWhat ails you, my girl?\u201d a thin, cracked voice suddenly said in her\near, and looking around she saw a little old woman, very bent and aged,\nand with a shrewd, wrinkled face. \u201cWhat ails you?\u201d she repeated,\ntapping the ground with her staff. And because Ananda did not seem to\nbe able to do otherwise, she told her frankly the whole thing.\n\n\u201cAlas, good mother,\u201d she said, \u201cI have fallen in love with yonder\nprincely stranger!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd why should that make you unhappy?\u201d said the old woman. \u201cWhy should\nyou not hope to marry him as well as any other; you are a pretty wench,\nto be sure!\u201d\n\n\u201cI am already married to the white bird,\u201d said Ananda, with a sigh.\n\n\u201cThat is as it should be, my dear! That is as it should be!\u201d And the\nold woman broke into a cackling laugh.\n\n\u201cHow can that be?\u201d cried Ananda crossly, for she was quite bewildered.\n\n\u201cBecause, my dear, yonder princely stranger is the white bird himself\nin his right and proper form.\u201d\n\nAnanda could only gasp with amazement, and the crone continued, \u201cHe is\nbewitched, that is all!\u201d And then she moved off as if she had done with\nthe subject, but Ananda ran after her and, catching her by the sleeve,\nmade her stop.\n\n\u201cTell me! Tell me!\u201d she cried. \u201cCan I not break the spell? Is there no\nway in which I can keep him in his right form?\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me go!\u201d snapped the old woman. \u201cYes, of course there is a way! Go\nhome at once, before he can reach there, and you will find his gold\ncage and perch and bird feathers in a corner of the vaulted room. Take\nthese and burn them; then when he comes back, he will keep his man form\nforever.\u201d\n\nScarcely waiting to murmur her thanks, Ananda started for home, running\nall the way and arriving at the red door of the cave quite out of\nbreath and exhausted. She soon found the gold cage and perch and the\nwhite bird feathers in a corner of the vaulted room, as the old woman\nhad said, and these she quickly took outside and burned, until nothing\nremained but a little pile of ashes. Then she sat down happily beside\nthe red door to await the return of the White Bird Prince.\n\nBefore long she caught sight of him riding towards her, and she jumped\nup and ran to meet him. But he, when he saw her, stopped short and\nlooked down upon her very sorrowfully.\n\n\u201cAnanda,\u201d said he, \u201cyou have broken your word; you have come home\nbefore me. Alas, nothing but ill can come of it!\u201d They moved on slowly\nuntil they came to the little pile of ashes which was all that was left\nof the golden cage and perch, and the white feathers. The White Bird\nPrince got down from his horse and stood looking at it for a long time\nin silence. Then he turned to Ananda and said, \u201cYou have burnt my bird\nform, my perch and my cage, have you not?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d replied Ananda, beginning to cry, \u201cbut I did it that you might\nkeep your man form forever, my dear husband.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn burning my feathers,\u201d he continued, \u201cyou have burnt my soul, and\nnow I shall be taken from you, and we can never see each other again.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! no! don\u2019t say that!\u201d cried Ananda wildly. \u201cIf through my fault you\nhave lost your soul, surely I can win it back for you! I cannot, cannot\nlose you now that I have got you in your own true form!\u201d\n\nThe White Bird Prince looked upon her kindly, but there was little hope\nin his face as he spoke.\n\n\u201cBecause you have burnt my soul, to-night there will come a throng of\ngood and evil spirits who will fight for me, and at the end of seven\ndays and seven nights the victorious ones will carry me away. And then\nI shall never be able to see my dear wife again. Nevertheless, there is\none way in which you can save me, though I fear it is far too hard a\ntask for any woman. If, for seven days and seven nights, while the good\nand evil spirits are fighting for me, you can beat with a staff upon\nthe mother-of-pearl door outside our palace, without rest or pause for\na single moment, then at the end of that time you will be able to break\nthrough the door and win back my soul for me. If you can do that, the\ngood and evil spirits will be forced to flee, and you and I may dwell\nin peace together.\u201d\n\n\u201cSurely,\u201d cried Ananda joyfully, \u201cthat is not such a hard task, and for\nlove of you, I can easily perform it! Give me a stout staff that I may\nbe ready!\u201d\n\nThat evening, when the sun had set, there came a great company of good\nand evil spirits as the prince had foretold, and they strove together\noutside the cave, and the din of their fighting was terrible to hear.\nBut Ananda heeded them not. With a mighty staff she beat upon the\nmother-of-pearl door, all that night and the next day and the next,\nnever pausing a moment, though she grew so weary she could scarcely\nstand or see. For seven days and seven nights she hammered on the door,\nand in the very last hour it began to give way beneath her blows. But\nin that hour her strength failed her, and she dropped exhausted and\nsenseless to the ground and slept, unknowing, while the spirits carried\naway her beloved husband. When she came to herself again and found that\nhe was gone, her grief knew no bounds.\n\n\u201cBut weeping will do no good!\u201d she said to herself at last. \u201cI will\nrise up and search for my prince, though I have to go to the ends of\nthe world to find him!\u201d\n\nSo, drying her eyes, she took a stout staff in her hand and set forth\nat once, though she still ached with weariness and knew not which way\nto turn first.\n\nIt would be long to tell of her journey and of the adventures she met\nwith by the way. Far and wide she traveled over the face of the earth,\nneither pausing nor resting, but ever seeking the White Bird Prince. At\nlast, one day, when she was walking through a deep and lovely valley,\nto her unbounded joy she heard the prince\u2019s voice calling her from the\ntop of a mountain. Quickly and happily she climbed to the top, though\nthe way was rough and hard beyond anything she had yet experienced. But\nwhen she had reached the summit, her husband was nowhere to be seen,\nand she was about to give up in despair when she heard his voice again\nfrom the depths of the valley. So she hurried breathlessly down again,\nand there, seated beside a stream and waiting for her, was the White\nBird Prince himself. With a cry of joy she ran toward him, and they\nkissed and caressed and were happy beyond measure, but their joy was\nshort.\n\n\u201cMy dear wife,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cmost grateful am I for this meeting,\nbut now we must part again. The evil spirits have me in their power and\nhave made me their water-bearer, and all day long I travel from the\ndepths of the valley to the top of the mountain and back again,\ncarrying water for them in a huge jug. And now I must return again to\nmy labor.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me stay with you!\u201d cried Ananda eagerly. \u201cHave I not gone to the\nends of the earth to find you?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat may not be,\u201d replied the Prince; \u201cnevertheless, since your love\nfor me is so great, perhaps you can even yet win back my soul for me.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow? Oh, tell me how!\u201d said Ananda. \u201cNothing can be too hard for my\nlove!\u201d\n\n\u201cGo back, then,\u201d replied her husband, \u201cgo back to our palace cave and\nthere build for me another golden cage and perch like those you burned.\nWhen they are finished, sit down before the cage and sing, and put into\nyour song all your love for me. If your love is strong enough, it will\nwoo my soul back in the form of a bird, and I shall return and take my\nsoul again, the magic spell under which I used to live will be broken,\nand you and I can dwell together in our true forms happily and lovingly\nfor the rest of our lives.\u201d\n\n\n\nAt this point in the story the Siddhi-kur stopped short and said no\nmore.\n\n\u201cWell, did she do it? Did Ananda sing the song and woo back the soul of\nthe White Bird Prince?\u201d asked the Khan\u2019s son, forgetting in his\ninterest all about Nagarguna and his command to keep silent.\n\n\u201cOf course she did!\u201d replied the Siddhi-kur, \u201cand her song was so full\nof love and beauty that its like has never been heard, even to this\nvery day. But see now, you have broken silence, my son, and so I am\nfree once more to go back to my mango tree in the cool grove beside the\ngarden of ghost children. Farewell! And be you wiser in future!\u201d\n\nAnd with that, the Siddhi-kur jumped lightly from the sack on the\nPrince\u2019s back and in a flash had vanished in the distance.\n\nIt profited nothing for the Prince to rage at himself and his folly.\nThere was nothing left to do but to go back all the way he had come and\nfetch the Siddhi-kur again, for never would he dare to face Nagarguna\nwith his task unaccomplished. So, taking a bite from his magic cake,\nwhich grew not less, he turned about and set forth once more to the\nnorthward. Over the same rough road he traveled, meeting the same\nadventures and passing them safely by, until at last he came again to\nthe beautiful garden of ghost children and found the Siddhi-kur sitting\nin his mango tree and smiling down upon him. Now, after he had captured\nthe Siddhi-kur as before and set him on his back, and after they had\ngone far on the homeward way in silence, that creature of magic spoke\nagain, saying,\n\n\u201cTruly, O Khan\u2019s son, this is a long and wearisome journey. Tell me, I\nbeg you, some tale of marvel that the way may seem shorter and\npleasanter to us both.\u201d But, as his suggestion received no reply, he\ncontinued:\n\n\u201cSince you are minded to keep silence at any cost, at least you can\nhave no objection to my telling you a story. I have a goodly one in my\nmind even now, and if you say nothing to prevent me, I shall begin at\nonce.\u201d After waiting for a moment in silence, the Siddhi-kur began his\nsecond tale.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALE TWO\n\nTHE PROMISE OF MASSANG\n\n\nLong ago, there dwelt by the bank of a river a very poor man who had\nnothing in the world but a cow. \u201cIf only I had a calf too,\u201d he would\nsay to himself, \u201cI would be so much better off, for then I could sell\nthe calf and with the money buy goods and trade with them, and in time\nmight even become rich.\u201d So he wished and wished for a calf, and prayed\nto his gods and recited many magic forms; and every morning he went\nhopefully into the shed where his cow was kept, thinking he might find\nthe longed-for calf beside her. At last, one morning he heard a strange\nnoise in the shed and rushed out, feeling sure that his wishes and\nprayers were at length to be rewarded. What was his surprise when he\nreached the shed to see, standing by the cow, not a calf at all, but a\nboy, tall and thin and very ragged, with bushy hair and clear brown\neyes. His disappointment and anger rose at the sight.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing here, you young beggar?\u201d he shouted. \u201cTrying to\nsteal my cow, I suppose\u2014the only thing I have in the world!\u201d Seizing a\ngreat staff, he went at the boy as if to kill him, and the lad shrank\nback against the wall.\n\n\u201cKill me not, master!\u201d he cried. \u201cI had no thought of evil towards you.\nI am alone and friendless and have come begging you to take me as your\nson.\u201d\n\nThe man put down his staff and laughed loudly and disagreeably. \u201cMy\nson!\u201d said he; \u201cas if I did not have enough to do in keeping this poor\nbody and soul together without taking upon me the care of another! Son,\nindeed, when I wanted a calf! Nay, I\u2019ve a mind to kill you for your\nfolly!\u201d And he advanced angrily toward the boy again.\n\n\u201cBut I will not be a care to you,\u201d said the lad, drawing farther away.\n\u201cI will bring you riches and happiness, far more than a calf could do!\u201d\n\nThe man laughed again. \u201cThat is a likely tale!\u201d said he. \u201cGet away from\nhere! When you show me that wealth and prosperity, then I\u2019ll adopt you\nand make you my son, but not before.\u201d\n\nThe boy crept to the door and there paused. \u201cMaster,\u201d said he, \u201cyou\nhave grown bitter through poverty; but your heart is not so hard and\nscornful as are your words. My name is Massang, and I will come again\nand bring wealth with me. Such is my promise\u2014farewell!\u201d\n\nThe man went back to his hut, pondering deeply and in his heart\nregretting the harsh words he had spoken to the boy, while Massang fled\naway into the fields.\n\nFor a long distance the lad traveled, seeing no one and meeting with no\nadventures. At last, however, as he was passing through a fair green\nmeadow, he came upon a man sitting under a tree, and the color of this\nman\u2019s clothing and of his face and hands was as green as the grass\nbeneath his feet.\n\n\u201cWhat manner of man are you?\u201d asked Massang, greatly wondering. The man\nput his head on one side and looked at him slyly out of small green\neyes.\n\n\u201cI am a youth,\u201d he said, \u201cof good understanding as this world goes, and\nI was born as green as the green meadows.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome with me,\u201d said Massang, \u201cand let us live together, for I have\nneed of you.\u201d So the Green Man arose and followed the boy without a\nword.\n\nAfter awhile they came to a forest so deep and dark that they had great\ntrouble in making their way through it. And in the very center of it\nthey found a man sitting upon a log under a tree, and the clothing and\nskin of this man were as black as midnight.\n\n\u201cWhat manner of man are you?\u201d said Massang to him. The man flashed his\ndark eyes upon him and said:\n\n\u201cI am a youth of good understanding as this world goes, and I was born\nas black as the black forests.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen come with us,\u201d said the boy, \u201cand we will live together. I have\nwork for you to do.\u201d So the three traveled silently on, through the\nwoods and out again into the open country.\n\nWhen they had gone a great distance, they reached a region of rocks and\nsand, very bare and white in the sunshine. As they were traversing this\nland, they came upon a huge rock, at the foot of which was seated a man\nclad in linen, very white, and the color of his face and hands was as\nwhite as the sand about him.\n\n\u201cWhat manner of man are you?\u201d asked Massang. The man turned and looked\nat him, and his eyes were as pale and colorless as his face.\n\n\u201cI am a youth,\u201d said he, \u201cof good understanding as this world goes, and\nI was born white\u2014as white as the sand and crystal rocks about me.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said Massang, \u201cwe have need of you; come with us, and we four\nwill live together.\u201d\n\nNot far from this place the four companions spied a little hill whereon\nstood a hut, strong and in good condition, but apparently quite\ndeserted. Here they took up their abode and lived quietly for many days\nwithout any adventures. Every day three would go out to hunt and one\nwould stay at home and prepare the midday meal, each taking this task\nin turn.\n\nNow one morning, Massang, the Black Man and the White Man set forth to\nhunt, leaving the Green Man behind them, and at midday they returned,\ntired and hungry. To their dismay they found the ground in front of the\nhut much cut up by horses\u2019 hoofs and the Green Man standing at the\ndoor, looking thoroughly puzzled and frightened.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d he cried. \u201cMy comrades, we shall all have to go dinnerless\nto-day, for, while I was cooking the stew in the big pot over the fire,\na band of horsemen came upon me and took all that we had in the house,\neven the pot itself. Come in and see for yourselves.\u201d\n\nThe three entered and, finding no sign of food, were forced to prepare\nfor themselves a meal from the result of the morning\u2019s hunt, which was\ndifficult enough with no pot to cook it in. There seemed no reason to\ndoubt the Green Man\u2019s story, for the marks of the horses\u2019 hoofs were\nclear and plain in the soft ground before the door of the hut. But\nMassang examined these marks very carefully and then came back and\nspoke sternly to the Green Man:\n\n\u201cComrade, you have dealt falsely with us. However it came about that\nyou lost our dinner, I know not, but of this I am sure, no horsemen\ncame to our door this day. You made those hoof marks yourself with a\nhorseshoe. Tell us now the truth of the matter!\u201d The Green Man gave\nMassang a sly, cunning look, but he said nothing.\n\nThe next day, having got another pot, Massang, the Green Man and the\nWhite Man set out to hunt, leaving the Black Man to watch the stew and\nget everything ready for the noon meal. When they returned, they found\nall as it had been the day before; dinner and everything to cook it in\nhad vanished, the ground in front of the hut was cut up as with horses\u2019\nhoofs, and the Black Man was standing at the door empty-handed.\n\n\u201cThey came again,\u201d said he, \u201ca band of many horsemen, and they took the\npot of stew from the fire, and all else that I had prepared for you to\neat. I was powerless to fight against them, they were so many.\u201d\n\nBut Massang doubted his word, and after he had looked closely at the\nmarks before the door, he said:\n\n\u201cMy friend, these are marks you have made yourself with a horseshoe.\nWhat adventure has befallen you? Why should you hide it from us? I pray\nyou, tell us the truth.\u201d\n\nThe Black Man looked darkly and evilly upon Massang and answered never\na word.\n\nThe third day the same thing happened. It was the White Man\u2019s turn this\ntime to stay at home and prepare the dinner, but he had no better\nsuccess than his companions, and had only the same story to tell them\nwhen they returned.\n\n\u201cI am glad,\u201d said Massang, when he had tried in vain to learn the truth\nfrom him, \u201cthat to-morrow it will be my turn to play at cook. Mayhap\nthe same adventure will befall me, and then I shall learn why and how\nyou three have deceived me.\u201d The three said nothing, but they looked at\neach other understandingly.\n\nThe next morning, having secured a new pot from a near-by village,\nMassang sat down to prepare dinner while the others went forth to hunt.\n\u201cThere!\u201d said he to himself as he set the pot of stew over the fire,\n\u201cnow may the adventure that befell my companions come also to me, and\nthen I shall see whether or no I have more wit than they to meet it!\u201d\n\nFor some time there was no sound within or without save the snapping of\nthe fire, but scarcely had the stew begun to boil before Massang\u2019s\nsharp ears caught a little sound of rustling outside the window. He sat\nquite still, looking and listening. In a few moments there appeared\nover the edge of the window sill the top of a small ladder, and a thin,\nsharp voice exclaimed from without:\n\n\u201cAlack-a-day! Alack-a-day! What a steep climb! But methinks I smell a\nsavory stew cooking within!\u201d Up the ladder, over the window sill and\ninto the room climbed a little old woman not more than two feet high,\nall shriveled and bent, and carrying on her back a bundle no bigger\nthan an apple.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said she, looking from Massang to the stew and back to Massang\nagain. \u201cI pray you, son, give a poor old woman a taste of your\nstew\u2014just a taste, and then I will be gone and trouble you no more.\u201d\n\nMassang moved as if to give her what she asked, but catching sight of a\nvery evil smile on her face, he paused.\n\n\u201cIt may well be,\u201d thought he to himself, \u201cthat this is a wicked witch,\nand if I give her a taste of my stew, she will carry off stew, pot and\nall, as she very likely did when each of my three companions was here\nbefore. I had best be careful.\u201d Then, turning to the old woman, he\nsaid, \u201cGood mother, right gladly will I give you a taste of my stew,\nbut it is now much too thick, and I dare not leave it lest it burn. I\npray you fetch me a small pail of water, that I may make it the more\nsavory, and then you shall have as much as you desire.\u201d\n\nThe old woman grunted, being ill pleased, but she took the pail which\nMassang handed her and immediately disappeared out of the window. But\nshe left her little bundle behind her.\n\nNow Massang had purposely given her a pail with a hole in it so that\nshe would be a long time trying to fill it, and as soon as she had gone\nhe went to her bundle and opened it. In it were a ball of catgut, an\niron hammer and a pair of iron scissors. As he took these out they grew\nlarger, and by this he knew for a certainty that she was a witch and\ndetermined to deal very carefully with her. He stowed away the three\ntreasures in his pocket and put in their place a ball of ordinary cord,\na wooden hammer, and a pair of wooden scissors. As soon as he had\nplaced these in the bundle, they became as small as the others had\nbeen. Then he went back to his place beside the stew and sat watching\nit as if he had never moved. Before long the little witch woman flew in\nat the window, tossed down the useless, empty pail and stamped her foot\nin a terrible rage.\n\n\u201cHave a care!\u201d she shouted, and her high cracked voice trembled with\nanger. \u201cHave a care how you meddle with me! My body is small, but my\npower is great! Give me a taste of your stew at once, or it will be the\nworse for you!\u201d\n\nMassang looked at her quietly and did not move. \u201cI am not afraid of\nyour power,\u201d said he. \u201cSo long as you taste not my food, you are no\nstronger than I.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed!\u201d said the old woman, stamping her foot again. \u201cDo you think in\nyour pride you can match your strength with mine? Well, so be it; let\nus see which has the greater power. I will put you to three tests,\nafter which, if you do not cry aloud for mercy, you may put me to the\nsame. Come now, do you agree, or does your courage already begin to\nfail you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot in the least!\u201d said Massang, getting up. \u201cLet us have the tests at\nonce.\u201d\n\nThe witch picked up her bundle, opened it and took out the ball of cord\nwhich she thought to be her magic catgut. \u201cFirst I will bind you with\nthis,\u201d said she, \u201cand if you succeed in freeing yourself, you can do\nthe same to me; if not\u201d (and here she laughed scornfully), \u201cyou shall\nbe bound to me, soul and body, to be my slave forever.\u201d Then she flew\nat Massang and tied his legs and arms securely with the cord; but as it\nwas only ordinary cord, and Massang\u2019s strength was great, he very soon\nbroke loose from it. The old woman howled with rage, but he quickly\nseized her and tied her fast with her own magic catgut, and though she\nstruggled long and hard, she could not work herself free.\n\n\u201cEnough!\u201d cried she at length, panting and weary. \u201cLoose me! You have\nwon in this test, but it is only the first and the least; there are two\nmore, and in these you will find yourself easily overcome.\u201d Massang\nunwound the catgut from her, and she sprang up, trembling and gnashing\nher teeth in anger, while Massang was calm and quiet as if he were\nmerely playing a little game.\n\n\u201cTell me, Mother Witch,\u201d said he, \u201care you the one who has visited our\nhut for three days past, and each time spirited away our dinner and the\npot to cook it in?\u201d\n\nThe little old woman broke into a cackling laugh. \u201cIndeed, yes,\u201d said\nshe, \u201cand your three fine companions had not wit enough to save their\ndinner! One taste of their food gave me power to carry away all that\nthey had, and I tell you, it was very pity for their stupid heads which\nkept me from bearing them away also, to be my slaves and water\ncarriers! A likely tale they made up when they were ashamed to own that\na little old woman had got the better of them! Band of horsemen! Ha!\nHa! And it was only little me! But come, the second test, and if you\nfail in that, young man, as you surely will, you will die; there will\nbe no mercy for you!\u201d With that, she snatched from her bundle the\nwooden mallet, not stopping to notice that it was not her own iron one.\nShe flew savagely at Massang and began to beat upon his head with it,\nshouting:\n\n\u201cThere, now! There, now! Cry for mercy before I hammer out your\nbrains!\u201d But the blows fell upon Massang\u2019s head as lightly as the blows\nof a tiny stick, and he laughed aloud, bidding her hammer away,\u2014it\nquite amused him!\n\nAt length, weary and breathless, she paused. \u201cAnd now,\u201d said Massang,\n\u201cyou must let me do the same to you!\u201d Taking the witch\u2019s iron hammer\nfrom his pocket, he brought it down upon her head with great force.\n\nThe old woman clapped her hands to her head, uttered a shriek, leaped\ninto the air and flew out through the window. Just at that minute the\nBlack Man, the Green Man and the White Man, having returned from the\nhunt, appeared in the doorway.\n\n\u201cQuick! Quick!\u201d cried Massang, pushing past them. \u201cLet us follow the\nlittle witch woman! She is wounded and will fly right to her lair. Come\nwith me, quick, and follow her!\u201d So the four dashed out of the hut and\nafter the old witch as fast as they could go. She flew low in the sky\nlike a great bird, and every now and then a drop of black blood fell to\nthe ground from the wound in her head. At first she flew so fast that\nMassang, with the other three behind him, had great difficulty in\nkeeping up with her, but after awhile she began to waver and fly\nunevenly. By this time the four found themselves running over a barren\nstretch of land, very rough and uneven, and they stumbled and fell more\nthan once, but as the flight of the witch became ever slower, they\nmanaged to keep her in sight. At last they saw her fall to the ground\nand lie quite still, and running up to her, they found she was dead.\n\n\u201cAn evil old witch,\u201d said Massang, \u201cyet I meant not to kill her\u2014only to\nwound and drive her away.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe would have killed you quickly enough,\u201d said the three, \u201cand us\ntoo, if we had let her!\u201d\n\nLooking around them, they saw near by the mouth of a deep, dark cave.\n\n\u201cThis must be her lair,\u201d said Massang, \u201cand no doubt it is filled with\ntreasure; let us go down and see.\u201d But apparently there was no way of\ngetting down. The cave was so deep they could scarcely see the bottom\nof it, and the sides were steep and smooth as polished marble.\n\nMassang, however, found that he still had in his pocket the ball of\nmagic catgut. This he unwound and, finding it would reach to the bottom\nof the cave, bade his companions hold one end of it firmly while he\nclimbed down upon it. Inside the cave the light was very dim, but as\nsoon as his eyes became accustomed to it, he saw, lying in great heaps\nupon the floor, gold and silver, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and all\nmanner of precious stones. He shouted joyfully up to his companions,\nwho were leaning over the mouth of the cave. \u201cFetch bags,\u201d said he,\n\u201cbig bags, and I will fill them with treasure; then you shall pull them\nup with the catgut, and afterwards we will divide the spoil and be all\nfour rich and prosperous for the rest of our lives!\u201d\n\nThe three men hurried back to the hut to get bags, and while they were\ngone, Massang roamed around the cave, which was large and full of dark\ncorners heaped high with treasure. He had scarcely finished looking\nabout when he heard the Green Man shouting to him from above. Then bags\nwere thrown down, and he filled them to the brim with gleaming gold and\nprecious stones. All the rest of the day until darkness covered them,\nthey were busy, Massang filling bags and the three men hauling them up,\nemptying them and sending them down again to be refilled. At last\nMassang called up, saying it was too dark for him to see further, and\nthe cave was pretty well cleared out, anyway. He fastened the catgut\naround his waist and bade his companions draw him up. But to his dismay\nhe saw the Green Man leaning over the mouth of the cave, with an evil\nsmile on his face and a knife in his hand.\n\n\u201cNow, Master Massang,\u201d said the Green Man, and his voice sounded harsh\nand cruel, \u201cif you think we are going to drag you up to share the\nspoil, you are much mistaken! There will be just so much more for us if\nyou are not here! So farewell, and peace be to your bones. You will\nnever be able to get out of this cave to tell tales on us!\u201d\n\nWith that he cut the catgut and disappeared, and Massang could hear the\nthree talking together and then moving away. All night long he could\nhear them coming and going. Evidently they were bearing away the\ntreasure. When morning came, there was not a sound, and Massang knew\nthat he was quite deserted. He sat down on the floor of the cave and\nburied his face in his hands, and his heart was very heavy. But after a\nwhile he got up and looked around, thinking that he would not despair\nuntil he had made sure there was no possible way of getting out of the\ncave. A careful search showed him there was nothing left to make use of\nbut a handful of neglected gold and three cherry pits. These he picked\nup. \u201cIt is my last and only hope,\u201d he thought, and aloud he said, \u201cBy\nall the power of good magic, I wish that I may find a way out of this\ncave to light and freedom.\u201d Then he buried the cherry pits directly\nbeneath the mouth of the cave. Scarcely had he done so when a great\nwave of drowsiness came over him and, lying down on the ground, in a\nfew moments he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.\n\nWhen he awoke he found to his astonishment three young cherry trees\nstanding tall and straight beside him, and the top of the tallest of\nthese reached up to the mouth of the cave. He jumped up joyfully and\nstretched himself. In reality he had been asleep for several years, yet\nit seemed no more to him than so many hours. It was easy enough now to\nclimb up the cherry tree and out of the cave, and glad indeed he was to\nbe free again and out in the sunshine. He tramped eagerly along until\nhe came to a hut where he bought food, paying for it with some of the\ngold which he had brought up in his pockets from the witch\u2019s cave.\n\nIt were long to tell of all Massang\u2019s wanderings after that. He\ntraveled far and wide, ever searching for his false companions, until\nat last, after many weeks, he came upon three very elegant houses\nsurrounded by beautiful grounds, and with every sign of prosperity and\nwealth about them. These houses, he soon learned, belonged to his\nwicked friends,\u2014the Green Man, the Black Man and the White Man. At the\ntime all three were away upon a hunting trip, so Massang procured a\nstout staff and took up his stand by a gateway through which they must\npass on their way home.\n\nHe had not waited very long before he spied them in the distance,\ncoming toward him. They walked gaily enough, never thinking of trouble,\nand did not even see him until they had got quite close to him. Massang\nstood directly in their path, his staff in his hands. The Green Man saw\nhim first and, giving a cry of fear, fell at his feet. Then the other\ntwo saw him, and they also fell trembling before him. \u201cIt is Massang,\u201d\nthey cried, \u201cor his ghost come for vengeance! Surely now we are\ndoomed!\u201d\n\n\u201cGet up!\u201d said Massang sternly, touching them with his staff. \u201cGet up!\nI am no ghost but Massang indeed, whom you left to die miserably in the\nwitch\u2019s cave. I had intended to slay you with this staff, for your\nfalseness and cruelty\u2014but you are too base and cowardly to touch!\u201d\n\nThe three still lay trembling and grovelling upon the ground. \u201cAlas!\ngood Master,\u201d cried the Black Man, \u201cwe have suffered enough already\nbecause of our evil deed. With all our wealth we have been wretchedly\nunhappy and have found neither peace by day nor sleep by night!\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is indeed true!\u201d groaned the White Man. \u201cWe will give you all our\nwealth and become beggars, if you will but forgive us and let us go\naway unharmed.\u201d And even the Green Man nodded his head in token of\nagreement. At this the heart of Massang was softened.\n\n\u201cCome!\u201d said he. \u201cGet up and we will talk it over.\u201d And when they had\nrisen to their feet, he said, \u201cThis much I will require of you; let\neach of you take half of his wealth and go with it to the bank of a\ncertain river. There you will find a poor man who has nothing in all\nthe world save only one cow. Give him the treasure that you have\nbrought, and say to him, \u2018Your son, Massang, sends you wealth and\nprosperity with his love.\u2019 Do this faithfully, and I will freely\nforgive you.\u201d\n\nThe men readily promised to do all that Massang had bidden them, and in\na few days he saw for himself the three starting forth at the head of a\ngreat train of mules laden with wealth and treasure of every sort.\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd did they find the poor man with the one cow?\u201d asked the Khan\u2019s\nson. \u201cGo on! You haven\u2019t finished!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, they found him,\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, with a laugh. \u201cAnd they\npoured out their wealth before him, and when Massang came shortly\nafterwards, you may be sure the old man received him and kept him as a\nwell loved son.\n\n\u201cBut you, O Prince, you have forgotten the words of the wise Nagarguna!\nYou have broken silence on the homeward way, and so now you have no\nfurther power over me.\u201d With a shout of joy, the Siddhi-kur leaped from\nthe bag on the Prince\u2019s back and sped away into the distance. Nor did\nthe Khan\u2019s son set eyes on him again until he had retraced his steps\nthrough all the dangers and hardships he had met before and stood once\nmore under the mango tree in the cool grove beside the garden of ghost\nchildren.\n\nSeeing him so persistent in his mission, the Siddhi-kur made no\nobjections to being taken again, and allowed himself to be tied into\nthe magic bag with the cord of a hundred threads and tossed once more\non to the Prince\u2019s back. After they had traveled a long time in silence\nand were both grown weary, he suggested again that some wonder tale be\ntold, and receiving no answer from the Prince but a nod of agreement,\nhe began at once.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALE THREE\n\nHOW SIX FRIENDS SOUGHT ADVENTURE\n\n\nIn a far country, many years ago, there lived six young men who were\nfast friends. One was a Magician\u2019s son, one a Blacksmith\u2019s son, the\nthird a Doctor\u2019s son, the fourth the son of a Woodcarver, the fifth the\nson of a Painter, and the sixth the son of a Prince. Now all these six\nlads intended to follow the lives and the work of their fathers, but\nbefore settling down, they all desired to seek some great adventure.\n\n\u201cLet us go forth together,\u201d said they, \u201cand travel into some strange\ncountry, and then perhaps something wonderful may befall us which will\nmake us rich to the end of our days, or at least give us a goodly tale\nto tell our neighbors when we shall have returned and taken up our\nfathers\u2019 work.\u201d\n\nSo it was agreed among them, and on a certain day, very early in the\nmorning, all six started out together. For several days they traveled,\nchoosing always the least known road and going farther and farther from\nthe country they knew into the unfamiliar lands beyond. Yet no\nadventure whatever befell them.\n\nAt last they came to a small, round pond into which six streams\nemptied, each coming from a different direction. Then said the\nBlacksmith\u2019s son:\n\n\u201cFriends, here are six rivers, one for each of us. Suppose we separate,\neach choosing one stream and following it alone to its source. It may\nbe that Dame Adventure is shy and will not meet us all together,\nwhereas to each of us apart she will bring some rare happening.\u201d\n\nThis saying pleased the other five, and they agreed at once.\n\u201cMoreover,\u201d said the Magician\u2019s son, \u201clet us each plant a small tree at\nthe mouth of his chosen river, and I will weave a spell upon them all\nso that if aught evil befalls its planter, that tree will wither away.\u201d\n\n\u201cSplendid!\u201d said the Doctor\u2019s son, \u201cand let us agree to return to this\nspot at the end of a year and a day. And when we are met, if any one of\nus is absent and his tree withered, we will straightway follow his\nstream and try to rescue him from his danger.\u201d\n\nThe other friends were greatly pleased at these suggestions, and each\nof the six set about at once choosing a tree and planting it at the\nmouth of one of the streams. When the trees were all planted, the young\nmen took their stand beside their respective streams while the\nMagician\u2019s son went around from one tree to another, weaving a magic\nspell about it so that it would wither and die if any ill came to the\none who had planted it. Then, with many handshakes and words of\nfaithfulness and affection, the six friends parted, each one\ndisappearing up the bank of the river he had selected.\n\nNow we shall follow the fortunes of the Prince\u2019s son. The underbrush\nalong the bank of his stream was thick and heavy, so that he must needs\nwalk slowly and with difficulty. All day long he wandered on, finding\nno open space, and hearing nothing but the sound of the water babbling\nbeside him. At length, however, the banks of the little river began to\nwiden out, and toward sunset he found himself in an open meadow, with\nan old broken well in the middle of it and a dark forest beyond. He was\ntired and warm with the long hard walk through the underbrush, so when\nhe had reached the well, he sat down beside it to rest and cool\nhimself. He had not been there long before he saw approaching him a\ntall and exceedingly beautiful girl with a water pitcher on her\nshoulder. Her hair was very long and black, she was clothed in flowing\nwhite linen garments, and she moved across the field bare-footed, with\na light, lithe step. And marvellous to behold, wherever her foot\npressed the soft earth, a white flower sprang into bloom, marking her\ncourse across the meadow in a trail of beauty. While the Prince\u2019s son\nwas wondering at this and at the unusual loveliness of the girl, she\ndrew up to the well and lowered her pitcher from her shoulder. He\njumped up at once and, taking it from her hand, offered to draw the\nwater for her. She said not a word, but when the pitcher was full, she\nset forth again across the meadow, leaving him to follow her and carry\nit. Over the field and into the woods they went, in the deepening\ntwilight. The maiden moved with a sure step, quickly and easily among\nthe trees, but the Prince\u2019s son had great trouble in following her,\noften stumbling in the darkness and finding the pitcher of water ever\nheavier and harder to carry. At last it grew so dark in the woods that\nhe could see nothing at all except the gleam of the girl\u2019s white dress\nbefore him, and the water pitcher became so heavy that his shoulder\nwell-nigh broke with the weight of it, but he struggled on, determined\nnot to lose sight of his strange and beautiful guide.\n\nQuite unexpectedly they came at length to a little log hut with a\ncandle shining in the window. As they approached it, the door was\nopened by an old man, white-haired, shriveled and bent, with an old,\nwrinkled woman beside him.\n\n\u201cCome in, daughter,\u201d said the aged man, motioning to the girl. \u201cHave\nyou brought the Prince\u2019s son?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I have, Father,\u201d she replied, and her voice was as lovely as her\nbeautiful face. The Prince\u2019s son entered the little hut, wondering\ngreatly, and the door was closed behind him.\n\nWithout a word of explanation, the aged couple made haste to set before\nhim a simple, hearty supper, the girl having disappeared meanwhile into\nan inner room. When he had finished, as if in answer to his unspoken\nthought, the old man said:\n\n\u201cYou are doubtless wondering, my son, about the lovely damsel who\nabides here with us, and whom you have followed this day to our humble\ndoor. But in truth, sir, it is little enough we can tell you ourselves.\nWhence she comes, we know not, though we have cherished and reared her\nas our own child. Several years ago we found her on our doorstep, a\nlittle laughing maid as fair as ever the sun looked on, and clothed in\nthe softest, richest raiment. Right joyfully we took her in, and she\ndwelt with us happily day by day, yet never did she say a word by which\nwe might know whose child she was. A king\u2019s daughter she must be, or\nthe child of some good spirit. Of late she has spoken much of a change\nto come in her life, of a Prince\u2019s son, and of many other things which\nwe have not understood, but our hearts have been sad within us, fearing\nlest the girl prophesied her marriage and separation from us who love\nher more than all else in the whole world.\u201d\n\nAt this point the Prince\u2019s son eagerly interrupted the old man, saying,\n\u201cI pray you, Father, be no longer sad, but hear the great desire of my\nheart. I am indeed the son of a Prince, and the maiden is in my eyes\nthe loveliest and most beautiful creature in the universe. Having once\nseen her, I have no further wish in life than to marry her and live\npeacefully with her here in this forest, in a house that I shall build\nfor her with my own hands, near by this hut. Surely the fates have\ndecreed that this shall be, for have I not traveled far this day in\nsearch of whatsoever Dame Fortune might have in store for me?\u201d\n\n\u201cSo be it,\u201d said the other; \u201cneeds must you be the destined bridegroom,\nthe son of a Prince, for had it been otherwise our daughter never would\nhave led you through the dark forest to our lonely home. Let the\nblessing of an old man rest upon you.\u201d\n\nAnd so it came about that the Prince\u2019s son married the beautiful maiden\nof the woods and lived with her in peace and happiness in a little log\nhouse hard by her foster-father\u2019s hut. Days passed by, and weeks, and\never the two grew more loving and contented, and it seemed as if\nnothing could mar the even joy of their lives. But, alas, one day a\ngreat misfortune befell them!\n\nIt was warm and sultry, and the two had strolled hand in hand down to\nthe bank of a rushing stream that ran through the forest. Now the water\nlooked so very cool and refreshing that the maiden must needs sit on\nthe mossy bank and dabble her feet and her hands in it. While she was\ndoing so, a ring slipped from her finger and before she could rescue\nit, was borne down the current and out of sight. The poor girl cried\nout in dismay, then fell to weeping so bitterly that her husband was\nastonished.\n\n\u201cNay, now,\u201d said he soothingly, \u201ctruly a paltry ring is not worth so\nmany tears. My dearest, when I go again to my father\u2019s kingdom I will\nbuy you a dozen rings more beautiful than that which you have lost! So\ndry your eyes and think no more about it.\u201d\n\nBut the girl refused to be comforted. \u201cThat ring,\u201d said she between her\nsobs, \u201cis a magic one, and its loss will bring all manner of woe to us\nboth.\u201d\n\nNor was she mistaken in this. The ring was borne along by the swift\nstream for a long distance and was finally washed ashore near the\npleasure gardens of a great Khan. There some one found it and, seeing\nthat it was a strange ring, curiously wrought, took it at once to the\nKhan himself. The monarch looked long upon it, and then, calling his\nministers about him, he said:\n\n\u201cThis trinket has magic power about it. I believe that it belongs to a\nvery beautiful woman, perhaps the daughter of some king. Take it,\ntherefore, and wheresoever it leads you, follow. And if its owner\nindeed proves to be a lovely damsel, take her prisoner and bring her at\nonce to me, that she may be head over my household.\u201d\n\nThe chief minister bowed low, took the ring and called a goodly number\nof soldiers and servants to accompany him on his quest. As soon as he\nheld the magic ring in his hand, he felt a strange power drawing him;\nand as he yielded to that power, it led him out of the pleasure gardens\nto the bank of the stream, and then up along the bank straight toward\nthe log hut in the woods. And so, in a very short time, the Khan\u2019s\nminister and all his soldiers and servants were standing before the\ndoor of the little house where the Prince\u2019s son and his wife had been\nliving so happily together, and were calling them to come out at once.\nThey dared not disobey, and so the unhappy husband led forth the\nbeautiful damsel, weeping as if her heart would break, and delivered\nher to the Khan\u2019s minister. She was taken away at once, and the poor\nPrince\u2019s son was left alone to grieve in his lonely little cabin. The\nold foster-father and mother were so stricken with sorrow that it\nseemed they would die, yet neither did they nor the Prince\u2019s son dare\nto do anything against the commands of the great Khan.\n\nMeanwhile the girl was led by the chief minister to the monarch\u2019s\npalace. He was delighted with her beauty and charm and paid not the\nslightest heed to her tears or prayers to be allowed to return to her\nhusband. She was made chief of the royal servants, must needs live in\nthe palace within constant call of the Khan, and there seemed to be no\npossible hope of escape. Days passed by, and her sorrow and longing for\nher husband became ever greater instead of less, until she began to\ngrow pale and thin, and those about her feared she would sicken and\ndie. The Khan, too, noticed the change in her and tried every means in\nhis power to cheer her, but all in vain. At last he grew angry.\n\n\u201cThis husband of hers,\u201d he cried, \u201cis making the fairest of my servants\nsickly and plain. But if it is, indeed, longing for him that is eating\nthe bloom off her cheeks, I will quickly remedy the matter!\u201d And\ncalling the court executioner, he whispered a few words in his ear.\n\u201cThere now!\u201d said he later to the damsel, \u201cwhen you know that your\nhusband is dead and there is no use in wishing for him any longer, then\nperhaps you will forget him and learn to smile again.\u201d\n\nIn vain did the poor girl plead with the monarch for her husband\u2019s\nlife! The more she wept and besought him, the more angry and determined\nhe became.\n\nSo the executioner set out with a number of soldiers and, finding the\nlog hut in the woods, dragged forth the Prince\u2019s son with little\ngentleness and took him afar off to a meadow in which was a dry,\ndeserted well. Down in this the poor lad was thrust, and a great rock\nwas rolled over it. There in the darkness he laid him down to die, with\nno hope of rescue and no desire for life, anyway, if he could not live\nit with his dear and beautiful wife.\n\nNow it happened that the very next day was that on which the six\nfriends had agreed to meet by the little round pond with the six\nstreams running into it. And true to their promise, the other five\ngathered together and there awaited the coming of the Prince\u2019s son. The\nday passed slowly by and he did not appear, and then they noticed that\nthe tree which he had planted was drooping and withering.\n\n\u201cOur friend is in danger or trouble,\u201d said the Doctor\u2019s son. \u201cLet us\nlose no time in searching for him; even now we may be too late to save\nhim.\u201d The others were alarmed at the ill omen and were eager to start\nat once, but the Magician\u2019s son detained them.\n\n\u201cOne moment!\u201d said he. \u201cBy my magic art I can learn exactly where our\nfriend is, and then we can go straight to him.\u201d Bidding the others sit\ndown and wait, he drew a circle on the ground and, placing himself in\nthe center of it, began to recite all manner of incantations and to\ndraw figures and signs in the air. After a while he erased the circle\nand announced to his friends that he knew the exact whereabouts of the\nPrince\u2019s son at that moment. \u201cBut we must hurry,\u201d he said, \u201cfor he is\nin great danger and will surely die unless we rescue him.\u201d\n\nSo the five set out at a smart pace and traveled all that night without\npause or rest. By early morning they had reached the well wherein the\nPrince\u2019s son was imprisoned.\n\n\u201cHow shall we move away the rock?\u201d said they in despair, seeing the\nhuge boulder completely covering the mouth of the well.\n\n\u201cI will move it!\u201d said the Blacksmith\u2019s son, and taking the heavy iron\nhammer which he always carried in his belt, he fell to work upon the\nrock, knocking great chunks out of it until it was all broken to\npieces.\n\nWhen the mouth of the well had thus been opened, they hastily lowered\nthe Doctor\u2019s son, who found the son of the Prince lying there quite\nwhite and still and nigh unto death.\n\n\u201cIt is well they chose me to fetch him up!\u201d he muttered as he drew\nforth his bag of medicines. Taking a small flask of red fluid, he\npoured the contents of it down the throat of his unconscious friend,\nwho soon began to stir and then to sit up.\n\nWith great difficulty the two were hauled up to the mouth of the well,\nand when they were once safely out of it, the friends all embraced with\nheartfelt joy and affection. Then the Prince\u2019s son told the tale of his\nadventure and its sorry ending, and the other five were full of\ncompassion for him and indignation against the wicked Khan.\n\n\u201cI have a plan!\u201d suddenly spoke up the Wood-carver\u2019s son. \u201cBy my art I\ncan fashion a great wooden bird, large enough to carry a man, and I\nwill fit it with wings, hinges and springs so that it will fly through\nthe air.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I,\u201d cried the Painter\u2019s son, catching the idea at once, \u201cwill\npaint and adorn it with marvellously beautiful colors, so that it will\nlook like a Bird of Paradise.\u201d\n\nThey were all much excited by this time and prayed the Wood-carver\u2019s\nson to tell them more.\n\n\u201cWhy, then,\u201d said he, \u201cthe Prince\u2019s son shall fly in my wonder bird to\nthe palace of the Khan\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd when that wicked ruler sees the beauty and the color of it,\u201d\ninterrupted the Painter\u2019s son, \u201che will go up to the roof to receive\nit, with all his royal household, and then\u2014and then\u2014\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cYou can snatch up your wife and bear her away!\u201d they all shouted at\nonce to the Prince\u2019s son, who was fairly trembling with joy and hope.\n\nThe Wood-carver\u2019s son fell to work at once, and in no time at all had\nbuilt a marvellous wooden bird, big and strong and powerful, with great\nbroad wings that would carry it through the air at the touch of a\nspring. Then the Painter\u2019s son got out his paints and adorned it with\ncolors rich and fair, so that it shone with beauty like a true Bird of\nParadise. The Prince\u2019s son got into it as soon as it was ready, and,\namid the shouts of his friends, pressed a spring and flew high up into\nthe air. Then off he steered, straight for the Khan\u2019s royal dwelling.\n\nGreat was the excitement at the palace when the big colored bird was\nseen flying overhead. Everybody rushed about, asking what it might\nmean, and the Khan was the most excited of them all.\n\n\u201cIt is a Bird of Paradise!\u201d he cried, \u201cfor see you not the gold upon\nits wings? It is, doubtless, bearing a messenger to me from the gods!\nIn truth, we must meet him fittingly!\u201d So he called together all his\nroyal servants; choosing the wife of the Prince\u2019s son because she was\nthe fairest of all, he bade her go quickly to the roof and welcome the\nstrange messenger as he alighted.\n\nThe damsel hastened to obey and stood waiting and marvelling as the\ngreat wooden monster drew near. Imagine her joy when it came whirring\nto a standstill, disclosing her own dear husband seated within it! In a\nflash he had caught her up and before the astonished Khan and his court\ncould realize what was happening, the \u201cBird of Paradise\u201d had left the\npalace roof far behind and was only a vanishing speck in the distance.\n\n\n\n\u201cAnd did they escape out of the country? And were the five faithful\nfriends rewarded?\u201d asked the Prince eagerly, as the Siddhi-kur ceased\nspeaking.\n\n\u201cIndeed, yes!\u201d said he, and he laughed merrily. \u201cThe Prince\u2019s son and\nhis lovely wife, and old foster-father and mother, and the five\ncompanions all left that country and went to live in a fair land, where\nthey were all happy and prosperous to the end of their days!\n\n\u201cBut see now, Prince, you have neglected again the command of\nNagarguna, the wise master. You have opened your lips and broken\nsilence on the homeward way, and so I am free again\u2014as free as the wind\nin my mango tree beside the garden of ghost children!\u201d\n\nAnd with a shout the Siddhi-kur leaped from his bag and ran off,\nleaving the Khan\u2019s son looking disconsolately after him.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe name of the tale which I shall tell you now,\u201d said the Siddhi-kur,\n\u201cis \u2018The Secret of the Khan\u2019s Barber.\u2019\u201d\n\nHe was again upon the Prince\u2019s back, being borne along toward the\ndwelling of the great master, Nagarguna. The Prince nodded his head in\nsign of agreement, but he determined this time that no word should pass\nhis lips, no matter how interested he might become in the story. So,\nsettling down comfortably in his sack, the Siddhi-kur began.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALE FOUR\n\nTHE SECRET OF THE KHAN\u2019S BARBER\n\n\nOnce upon a time, long, long ago, there lived in the East a mighty\nKhan. He had broad, fertile lands to rule over and many thousands of\nfaithful subjects, but though he governed wisely and well, the country\nwas filled with discontent, and for a very good reason. Never did the\nKhan permit himself to be seen by his people, and he even obliged his\ncourtiers and advisers to address him from behind tapestries and never\nallowed any of them to look upon his face. And this was not the worst,\nby any means. Every once in so often a youth was chosen from among the\npeople, and was taken to the palace, where he was dressed in gorgeous\nattire, and then led into the presence of the Khan. There he was bidden\nto act as barber and cut the monarch\u2019s hair, and after he had done so\nhe invariably disappeared and was never seen or heard of again. Of\ncourse, it was easy to guess that he had been put to death. Needless to\nsay, the fathers and mothers of young men lived in constant dread and\nhated the Khan with their whole hearts, yet they had no power to\nwithstand his orders.\n\nNow it happened one day that the Khan\u2019s messenger stopped at the house\nof a widow who had only one child,\u2014a fine, handsome lad whom she loved\nbetter than life itself. It had fallen to the lot of this youth,\nDaibang by name, to be the Khan\u2019s barber on the following day; but when\nthe widow heard the news, instead of vainly weeping and complaining as\nothers had done, she went at once to her kitchen, for she had devised a\nplan whereby her son might yet be saved. With great care she baked some\nlittle cakes of rice flour and milk, very light and fine and tempting\nto look upon, and into them she kneaded the great love that filled her\nheart for her son. Then calling him to her, she said:\n\n\u201cDaibang, on the morrow you must go to the palace to cut the Khan\u2019s\nhair, and after that, what fate may befall you we may not know, but we\ncan very well guess. Then do exactly as I bid you, and my heart tells\nme you will escape the hard lot that has come to so many others. Take\nwith you these cakes which I have baked for you with loving care, and\nwhile you are performing your duty to the Khan, manage to eat one of\nthem so that he will see you do it. He will then ask to taste one\nhimself, and when he has eaten of it he will wish to know what it is\nmade of. Tell him that your mother made these cakes, of rice flour and\nmilk, and that she kneaded into them her love and prayers for you.\nAfter that I think he will not find it in his heart to take your life.\u201d\n\nDaibang accepted the cakes gratefully and kissed his mother, and when\nthe time came for him to go to the palace, he set forth with a light\nheart and high courage. Having arrived there, he was taken at once by\nservants and clad in rich clothing, then led into the presence of the\nKhan. With comb and scissors of pure gold, he dressed and cut the\nmonarch\u2019s hair, and as he looked at him, he learned the Khan\u2019s secret\nand why it was that he allowed no one to look upon him and live; and\nDaibang\u2019s mind was filled with wonder. Nevertheless, he did not forget\nhis mother\u2019s commands and managed to eat one of her cakes while he was\ncombing the royal hair.\n\n\u201cWhat are you eating?\u201d asked the Khan, and Daibang spread out his\nmother\u2019s cakes before him. They looked extremely good, and the monarch\nat once demanded one to eat. They tasted even better than they looked,\nand all the rest of the time Daibang was working over him the great\nKhan sat munching the cakes with evident enjoyment.\n\n\u201cGood youth,\u201d said he, at length, \u201ctell me what these are made of, for\nI must have my royal cook learn the art and bake me such goodly cakes\ndaily. Never have I tasted anything better.\u201d\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d replied Daibang, \u201cthese are very simple cakes; they are made of\nrice flour and milk\u2014my mother baked them and kneaded into them her love\nand prayers for me, her only child.\u201d\n\nAfter that the Khan remained silent for a long time. When at last\nDaibang had finished his work and begged leave to retire, the Khan\nturned and, looking steadfastly at him, said:\n\n\u201cYoung man, the love that your mother kneaded into those cakes has\nentered my very soul, and I cannot bring myself to give the order for\nyour execution, as I have done these many times with lads like you.\nNevertheless, you have learned my secret, and for that reason you\nshould die, for I trust no man on earth, nor any woman either, to keep\na secret entirely locked up in his own mind.\u201d\n\nDaibang bowed low, but said nothing. After a moment the Khan continued:\n\n\u201cIn truth, lad, my love for you grows, and I am minded even to trust\nyour word and let you live. Will you promise, by your mother\u2019s love and\nby all else in this world that you consider holy, not to breathe to any\nman or any woman the secret concerning me that you have learned this\nday? And will you promise also to tell no one in what manner your life\nwas spared?\u201d\n\nSolemnly and in all true faith Daibang knelt down and promised to keep\nsteadfastly these two things, as long as he lived. With that he was\ndismissed, and servants were ordered to load him with presents and\nconduct him home.\n\nGreat was the wonder of the people in the village when they learned\nthat Daibang had returned unharmed from the palace, after having acted\nas the Khan\u2019s barber. They came in crowds to the widow\u2019s cottage and\ndemanded eagerly how it was that he had escaped, and what the Khan\u2019s\ngreat secret was, anyway, that he should refuse at any time to be seen\nby his people, or to let those live who had once set eyes upon him. But\nto all their questions and wonderings Daibang said never a word. That\nnight his mother, too, besought him to tell her just how he had fared\nand about the Khan\u2019s secret, but he only said to her:\n\n\u201cMother mine, ask me no more. Your cakes worked the loving magic you\nforetold, and I have escaped death, but I have given my word of honor\nthat I will tell no human being\u2014not even my dear and faithful\nmother\u2014the secret I learned while I was cutting the Khan\u2019s hair.\u201d\n\nSo the days and weeks and months passed by, and still every once in so\noften a fine young man would be chosen from among the people and taken\nto the palace to trim the Khan\u2019s hair, after which he would be put to\ndeath. Not one escaped as Daibang had done. And still the people came\nto the widow\u2019s cottage and entreated Daibang to tell them the monarch\u2019s\nsecret. Now he was a tender-hearted and a willing youth, and he yearned\nmost earnestly to break his promise, more especially when mothers and\nfathers besought him with tears and prayers to tell them how he had\nbeen spared, so that their sons might live also.\n\nAt length, so great was the strain of the secret on his mind and heart,\nthat Daibang grew very ill. Doctors came to him from all parts of the\ncountry, and his mother nursed him with tender care, day and night, yet\nsteadily he grew worse and worse.\n\n\u201cThe lad will die,\u201d the doctors said to his mother; \u201che will surely die\nunless he breathes forth the secret that is resting so heavily upon his\nmind.\u201d\n\nBut Daibang remained faithful. \u201cI have promised,\u201d said he, \u201cby my\nmother\u2019s love and by all else that I call holy, to tell my secret to no\nliving being, and I will die rather than break my word.\u201d So the doctors\nall departed, saying there was nothing further they could do.\n\nThat night the widow devised a plan. Sitting beside her son as he lay,\nrestless and tossing on his bed, she said:\n\n\u201cDaibang, my child, hearken to me that you may live and not die. I have\na plan whereby you may keep your promise to the Khan and yet rid your\nsoul of its heavy secret. Take courage! hasten and get strong, then go\nforth alone into a far desert place. There find a hole in the ground,\nor a crevice in a rock, and when you have put your lips down close,\nspeak out the whole matter that is weighing upon your heart. So shall\nyou keep your promise and yet find relief for your soul and live.\u201d\n\nThis advice seemed good to Daibang, and so encouraged was he by the\nhope of ridding himself of his secret that he straightway began to\nmend. In a short time he had recovered strength enough to start forth\nand carry out the suggestion of his mother. He traveled many miles from\nhome and came at length to a desert place full of rocks and sand, far\nfrom every sign of human dwelling. And in the middle of this waste land\nhe found a deep, dark hole. Kneeling upon the ground, Daibang put his\nlips close to this hole and whispered all his secret. Three times he\ntold it, and then he arose, feeling light-hearted again and well in\nbody and mind.\n\nNow it happened that in this hole lived a marmot, very old and clever,\nand he heard and understood Daibang\u2019s words, and knew it was the great\nKhan\u2019s secret he was telling. Being an idle, gossipy fellow, he\nrepeated it all to his friend Echo, and as Echo always repeated\neverything he heard, whether secret or otherwise, he soon told the wind\nand the wind bore the Khan\u2019s secret far and wide over the land, and\nback at last into the palace garden, where the Khan himself was\nsitting. When the monarch heard the wind whispering about his secret,\nhe was filled with rage.\n\n\u201cTruly,\u201d he said to himself, \u201cthe whole world must be talking about my\nsecret if even the wind bandies it about! I did wrong to spare the life\nof that fellow Daibang, and to-morrow before sunrise he shall die!\u201d\n\nSo it came about that Daibang was arrested that very day and dragged to\nthe palace by rough soldiers. He was thrust at once into the private\ncouncil room and there found himself alone with the angry Khan.\n\n\u201cDid I not say that no man on earth could keep a secret faithfully?\u201d he\ncried sternly to the lad. \u201cAnd you, though I loved and believed in you,\nhave betrayed your trust, for the very wind that plays in my garden is\nwhispering of that which none but you could tell! Speak, now, if you\nhave aught to say in self-defense, for to-morrow, at daybreak, you\nshall die!\u201d\n\nDaibang had been frightened and confused by the rough handling of the\nsoldiers, but now, hearing of what he was accused and knowing that he\nhad done no wrong, he took courage and told the Khan honestly and\nwithout restraint all that he had done.\n\n\u201cIndeed, Sire,\u201d said he at the end, \u201cno human being knows your secret\neven now, and it was only to save my life and because of the prayers of\nmy mother that I spoke it into a hole in a desert place.\u201d\n\nThe Khan was touched by this story, his anger vanished, and he felt\nagain the love in his heart for this faithful lad which he had felt\nfirst when he had eaten of his mother\u2019s cakes. They talked a long time\ntogether, and the end of it all was that Daibang was made the Khan\u2019s\nChief Councilor, and he and his mother lived thereafter in high state\nand luxury at the royal palace.\n\nYou may be sure Daibang and his clever mother were not long in devising\na way of hiding the Khan\u2019s secret so that he could go abroad among his\npeople like other kings. And never again was a young man chosen to cut\nthe Khan\u2019s hair and afterwards be put to death! That service Daibang\nkept for himself and remained the Lord High Royal Barber to the end of\nhis days.\n\n\n\n\u201cBut what was the Khan\u2019s secret?\u201d demanded the Prince, when the\nSiddhi-kur had finished his tale.\n\n\u201cOh, that,\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, \u201cwas very simple; haven\u2019t you guessed\nit yet? The Khan had ears that were large and pointed like the ears of\nan ass, and he was frightfully ashamed of them. But the widow made him\na tall velvet cap with lappets that came down over them, and after that\nhe felt perfectly comfortable about himself. Of course such caps became\nthe style in the kingdom, and I believe they are worn in the East, in\ncourt circles, this very day!\n\n\u201cBut I have tarried long enough! My heart yearns again for my mango\ntree in the cool grove beside the garden of ghost children. Farewell, O\nPrince! Since you have again broken silence on the homeward way, you\nhave no longer any power to hold me!\u201d\n\nThe shame and remorse of the Prince at having failed again were pitiful\nto see, but knowing that tears and self-accusation were of no avail, he\nturned around and set off at a smart pace after the disappearing form\nof the Siddhi-kur.\n\n\n\n\u201cI have a story in mind,\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, as he journeyed once\nmore in the magic sack on the back of the Prince toward the cave of the\nmaster, Nagarguna, \u201ca very ancient story of a king\u2019s son as faithful\nand wise as yourself, my friend. Come now, would you like me to tell\nit?\u201d\n\nThe Prince nodded his head, resolving within himself that on no account\nwhatever would he open his lips this time to comment on the story. So\nthe Siddhi-kur began at once.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALE FIVE\n\nTHE PRINCE WITH THE GOLDEN MOUTH\n\n\nMany, many years ago, there dwelt in a far country a Khan who was great\nand good and dearly loved by his people. Yet no one in all his kingdom\nloved or admired him so much as did his faithful wife and young son.\nTruly there never was a happier, more affectionate family. The three\nshared their joys and sorrows, their cares, their pleasures and their\nsecrets, and indeed one was scarcely ever seen without the other two.\nNow the Khan and his family and the whole kingdom had in common one\ngreat sorrow; the country was watered by a clear, broad stream, and\nunless this flowed, full and strong, all the year, the land dried up,\nthere was a great famine, and the people died of hunger and thirst. At\nthe source of this river lived two serpent-gods, hideous monsters, and\nas evil as they were ugly, and every year these frightful creatures\ndemanded a young man or maiden whom they might devour. Unless this\ndesire was speedily fulfilled, they stopped the water at the head of\nthe stream, it dried up and the people began to suffer and then die.\n\nMany and many a time had the Khan and his counselors talked of the\nmatter the whole night through, scheming, planning, wondering how they\nmight save the young people of the land from this dreadful fate, but\nall to no avail. If the serpents did not get their yearly gift of\nprecious human blood, the death of hundreds of men, women and children\nwas the result. And so it seemed better for one young man or maid to\ndie each year than that so many should perish.\n\nThe time had now come for this terrible sacrifice, and throughout the\nlength and breadth of the land there was sorrow and anxiety. Fathers\nand mothers could scarce sleep for thinking that it might be the turn\nof their son or daughter to go to the head of the river and be cast\ninto the cave of the monster serpents. Nowhere was there more\nunhappiness than in the family of the Khan, for he grieved for each lad\nor lass as if each were his own child. Seeing the care and sorrow in\nhis father\u2019s face, the Khan\u2019s son, whose name, by the way, was Schalu,\nthought long and earnestly.\n\n\u201cSurely,\u201d he kept repeating to himself, \u201cthere must be some way in\nwhich I can help my father and free my country from this great curse!\u201d\nBut no matter how hard he thought, no way presented itself to his mind.\nThe fateful time drew ever nearer, and finally the very next day was\nthe dreaded one on which the serpent-gods would send a messenger,\ndemanding by name some girl or boy in the kingdom.\n\nThat night Schalu could not sleep for thinking of the tragedy of the\nmorrow. \u201cSuppose I were the one,\u201d he thought. \u201cOf course they would not\nreally dare to ask for the Khan\u2019s son\u2014but just suppose\u2014\u201d and then he\npictured to himself the sorrow of his father and mother and his own\nhorror at such a death. \u201cAnd we are no different, really, from the\nothers,\u201d he said to himself. \u201cThe fathers and mothers among our\nsubjects must suffer as keenly as their king and queen would, and as\nfor the boys and girls\u2014they are really just like me.\u201d All at once\nSchalu sat up in bed and stared into the darkness; a great idea had\nentered his mind.\n\n\u201cI will go to these terrible serpent monsters myself!\u201d he breathed\nexcitedly. \u201cI will offer myself to them\u2014I, a Khan\u2019s son\u2014if they will\ngive up their frightful practice hereafter!\u201d There was little sleep for\nSchalu after he had made up his mind to this deed; all night long he\nlay wide awake, planning how he would plead and argue with the serpents\nfor the lives of his people, and getting up his courage to meet his\nfate and die bravely, as befitted a prince.\n\nVery early in the morning, before the sun was up, he arose, dressed\nhimself and slipped quietly from the palace. He had not gone far before\nhe was startled by hearing a step behind him, and turning around he saw\nSaran, a faithful friend, following him. Now Saran was a boy of his own\nage who had been brought up at the palace with him, as his servant and\ncompanion, and he and the Prince loved each other as brothers.\n\n\u201cO my master and friend!\u201d said Saran, running up to Schalu. \u201cForgive me\nfor having followed you! I have seen your trouble and anxiety these\nmany days, and when you started forth alone this morning, my heart\nmisgave me that some ill might befall you.\u201d\n\nAt first the Prince was much annoyed that he should have been\ndiscovered, but as he looked at Saran, he suddenly felt relieved to\nhave a friend near, and he opened his heart and told all his plan of\nself-sacrifice. He feared Saran would entreat him to give it up and go\nhome, but his friend listened in silence to the end and then said:\n\n\u201cSchalu, your heart is noble, as a prince\u2019s should be! I cannot urge\nyou to give up a deed so truly glorious. Only I beg you\u2014and I will not\nbe denied\u2014let me go with you and sacrifice myself also, for life\nwithout you would be worse than death, and mayhap if two of us give our\nlives, the serpents will be the more willing to leave our people in\npeace hereafter.\u201d\n\nThe Prince tried to dissuade his friend but, seeing it was of no use,\nhe soon stopped, and the two lads continued on their way together\ntoward the head of the stream.\n\nAs they approached the cave where the serpents dwelt, they went slowly\nand softly, for they were minded, if possible, to get a good look at\nthe monsters before they allowed themselves to be seen. Creeping up\namong the bushes by the side of the river they soon came to an opening\nthrough which they could peer, and there, seated on the bank, they saw\nthe two horrible creatures. One was a long, thick, dragon-like being\ncovered with scales of tarnished gold; the other was smaller and\napparently younger, and the scales on its back were as green as\nemeralds. They had neither seen nor heard the two lads, and in a moment\nthe golden one began to speak.\n\n\u201cIt is strange, Brother,\u201d said he, \u201cthat these people are so ignorant\nand so faithful.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey cannot very well help themselves, can they?\u201d said the smaller,\ngreen one. \u201cThey know that if they fail in this sacrifice, we will dry\nup their stream, and then they will all perish.\u201d\n\n\u201cTrue,\u201d replied the other, \u201cbut after all, it would be so easy to kill\nus, you know, if they only knew how.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut have they not sent armed soldiers against us in times past?\u201d said\nthe green serpent, drawing himself up proudly; \u201cand have we not routed\nthem all and slain them?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course swords could not hurt us,\u201d said the golden one\ncontemptuously, \u201cbut if they only knew enough to come out against us\nwith thick, oak staves! One well-aimed blow on the head from such a\nweapon would finish us. But, luckily, they don\u2019t know that!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd are far too stupid ever to guess it, so we are perfectly safe,\u201d\nadded the green one.\n\n\u201cAnd then,\u201d chuckled the big golden monster, writhing the folds of his\nlong body comfortably about him. \u201cTo think what a man would gain by\nkilling us! My head, cooked and eaten, would not only make a delicious\nmeal, but it would give the eater power to pour forth gold from his\nmouth whenever he wanted to!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd if any one ate my head,\u201d said the green one, also chuckling,\n\u201cemeralds would come from his mouth whenever he so desired. Lucky the\nstupid mortals will never know!\u201d\n\nSchalu and his friend had heard enough. Trembling with excitement, they\ncrept away from their hiding place, out of sound and sight of the\nserpents, and then fell to hugging each other for very joy of their\ndiscovery. They lost no time in making for themselves huge oak staves,\nand armed with these, they walked back to where the serpents still sat\nlazily talking together on the bank of the stream. With a shout, they\nleaped from the bushes upon the unsuspecting monsters and attacked\nthem. The fight was short and sharp. The great creatures turned upon\nthe two boys viciously and lunged at them with their hard, metallic\nheads, but the lads dodged skilfully and brought down blow after blow\nupon their enemies until at last they lay motionless and quite dead.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said Prince Schalu, leaning on his staff and breathing hard, \u201cwe\nmust build a fire and cook ourselves a meal, and if the serpent-gods\nspoke the truth, we shall then be rich for the rest of our lives.\u201d\n\nWith their knives they cut off the heads of their dreaded enemies and,\nhaving built a fire of twigs, they cooked them well and then ate them.\nSchalu ate the golden head and declared it delicious, while Saran said\nthat he had never tasted anything quite so good as the emerald-green\nhead.\n\n\u201cLet us see,\u201d said the Prince, when they had finished, \u201chow well the\ncharm works. I wish that my mouth would pour forth gold!\u201d Scarcely had\nhe finished speaking before a rain of bright gold coins fell from his\nlips, and the boys gathered them up in big handfuls and stowed them\naway in their pockets.\n\n\u201cNow let me try!\u201d said Saran. \u201cI wish that my mouth would pour forth\nemeralds!\u201d Immediately emeralds pattered to the ground in great\nprofusion.\n\n\u201cWhat fun!\u201d said Saran, gathering them up. \u201cNow let us hasten back to\nthe palace and show your royal father all that we have accomplished!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, don\u2019t let us go home yet,\u201d said the Prince. \u201cOne adventure is but\na stepping-stone to another, and I am minded to travel a bit and see\nwhat fortune we may meet by the way. With this marvellous gift of gold\nand emeralds, we should surely come by some strange and interesting\nexperiences.\u201d\n\nTo this plan Saran readily agreed; the two set forth with merry hearts\nand, finding an unfamiliar road, followed it, they knew not whither.\nAll day long they traveled, meeting many wayfarers, but finding nothing\nin the shape of an adventure. In the late afternoon they reached a palm\ngrove whence came shouts and cries and signs of great commotion.\nHurrying toward the scene of disturbance, they beheld half a dozen\nlusty boys fighting most brutally.\n\n\u201cHere, young fellows!\u201d cried the Prince, \u201cstop that at once and tell us\nwhat you are fighting about!\u201d But the boys paid no heed to him at all.\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d cried Schalu again, shouting to make himself heard above the\ndin. \u201cStop, and I will show you a marvel the like of which you have\nnever seen!\u201d\n\nHearing this, the boys ceased fighting on the instant, and all turned\nand stared at Schalu and Saran.\n\n\u201cMarvel, did you say?\u201d exclaimed the leader scornfully. \u201cYou can\u2019t show\nus a marvel greater than the one we have got right here!\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you something wonderful, too?\u201d asked the Prince. \u201cWell, then, let\nus make a bargain; if my marvel is greater than yours, you shall give\nme yours, and if yours is greater than mine, I will give you each as\nmuch gold as two hands can carry.\u201d\n\n\u201cHurrah!\u201d cried the boys, delighted. \u201cLet us do it!\u201d They all gathered\naround in a circle, while their leader picked up from the ground a torn\nand battered cap. \u201cThis,\u201d said he, \u201cis what we were fighting about, for\neach of us wants it for himself. This is a magic cap, and whoever puts\nit on remains invisible until he takes it off again. Show us a marvel\nequal to that, if you can!\u201d\n\nSoftly uttering a wish for gold, the Prince opened his mouth and\nimmediately a great rain of coins tumbled to the ground. The boys fell\nupon them greedily, shouting, snatching and fighting.\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said Schalu to his friend, \u201cthese boys are not worthy of owning\nsuch a treasure as the cap, and besides, my marvel is greater than\ntheirs, so I am entitled to it.\u201d\n\nHe caught up the ragged cap, put it on his head and grasped Saran\u2019s\nhand. Straightway they both became invisible, and so passed through the\nmidst of the fighting boys unnoticed and continued on their way.\n\n\u201cThis is a prize well worth having!\u201d said the Prince, after they had\nwalked awhile and, taking the cap off, he hid it carefully in his\nbosom. \u201cNow I wonder what our next adventure will be.\u201d\n\nThey had not gone far before they came to a cross-roads where there was\na great cloud of dust and, hearing shouts and angry words, they\nhastened to see what it all meant. In the midst of the dust were half a\ndozen ugly dwarfs, fighting furiously, screaming and cursing each\nother.\n\n\u201cYou try your hand at this!\u201d said Schalu to his friend. \u201cThis shall be\nyour adventure.\u201d So Saran stamped upon the ground and called out\n\u201cStop!\u201d in a loud voice, but the dwarfs paid no attention to him at\nall. \u201cStop, I say!\u201d he repeated louder than before. \u201cI have a great\nmarvel to show you!\u201d At the word \u201cmarvel\u201d the fighters ceased at once\nand stood staring at the two friends.\n\n\u201cMarvel, did you say?\u201d exclaimed the leader. \u201cPooh! I don\u2019t care how\nwonderful it is, it can\u2019t be as great as ours!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is yours?\u201d said Saran. \u201cIf it is as interesting as mine, you\nshall each have as many emeralds as your two hands can carry.\u201d At that\nall the dwarfs began to laugh scornfully.\n\n\u201cShow him! Show him!\u201d they cried to their leader, \u201cand then we will rob\nhim of all his emeralds if, in truth, he has any.\u201d\n\nThe leader turned and picked up a pair of old, shabby-looking boots.\n\u201cThese,\u201d he said, \u201care magic, and if anybody puts even one of them on\nand makes a wish to be in any place under the sun, he will find himself\nthere in the twinkling of an eye.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is indeed wonderful!\u201d said Saran, \u201cand here is your pay, but, in\nsooth, you deserve neither boots nor emeralds!\u201d Then, to the great\nastonishment of the little men, Saran, uttering a wish for emeralds,\nopened his mouth and poured them forth, a great stream of glorious\ngreen gems. With a shout the dwarfs snatched them up, pushing and\ntearing them from each other.\n\n\u201cQuick!\u201d said Saran to the Prince. \u201cPut on your cap and take my hand,\nso that they will not see us! We can make better use of the magic boots\nthan these wicked dwarfs can.\u201d So they each hastily slipped on a boot\nand, being invisible because of the magic cap, passed out from among\nthe dwarfs before they had stopped fighting over the jewels.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said Saran, \u201cwhile we have on the boots, let us test their\npower by wishing to be somewhere.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said Schalu, \u201cI wish that we may be taken at once to a\ncountry that needs a king!\u201d\n\nImmediately the two friends felt themselves picked up and whizzed\nthrough the air with such speed that they could see nothing and feel\nnothing but the wind rushing by their ears. Then they were put down\ngently upon the ground and found themselves in a strange country.\n\nSoon they saw a great procession of men, women and children advancing\ntoward them, and at their head walked an old man with snowy beard and\nhair and clad in long white garments. The people came straight up to\nthe Prince and Saran, and there halted, while the old man addressed\nthem in eager, trembling tones.\n\n\u201cYou are strangers,\u201d said he, \u201cand we are seeking strangers; I pray\nyou, can you show us some magic sign whereby we may know that you are\nnot as other mortals are?\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed,\u201d said Prince Schalu, \u201cwe are no different from other men, but\nby great good fortune we have this day become possessed of several\nwonders.\u201d\n\n\u201cShow us! Show us!\u201d cried the crowd in great excitement.\n\n\u201cThis,\u201d continued Schalu, drawing the battered magic cap from his\npocket, \u201chas the power of making its wearer invisible.\u201d He put it on,\nand the people cried out in wonder and anxiety, \u201cWhere are they? Where\nare they? They are gone! Find them! They are truly the ones!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, we are still here,\u201d said the Prince, removing the cap. \u201cBut why\ndoes it matter so much to you? And why are you so anxious to see our\nmarvels?\u201d\n\n\u201cShow us more! Show us more!\u201d the crowd shouted, and the old man in\nwhite tried vainly to quiet them, for he was as much excited as they.\n\n\u201cThese boots,\u201d Schalu went on, pointing to the magic ones, \u201care also\nvery wonderful, for they will bear us wheresoever we wish to be in the\ntwinkling of an eye. It was by their means that we came here.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t try them! We\u2019ll believe you!\u201d cried somebody, as if fearful of\nlosing them, and the crowd surged eagerly forward again.\n\n\u201cAnd finally,\u201d said Schalu, smiling at them and thoroughly enjoying\ntheir wonder, \u201cmy friend and I have a little trick which may interest\nyou.\u201d Opening their mouths, the two began to pour forth gold and\nemeralds and toss them in great handfuls among the crowd.\n\nIf they were excited before, the people now went mad with surprise and\njoy, and while they were grasping at the precious things, the old,\nwhite-haired man approached Schalu and said:\n\n\u201cO marvellous stranger, know that I am a magician, and by my art I\nlearned that this land which has been without a king for many a long\nday would find a just, wise and righteous ruler in a wonder-working\nstranger whom we should meet traveling along this road to-day. Accept,\nthen, our kingdom; come and rule over our people, and we will honor you\nas our Khan and your companion as Grand Vizier to the end of our days!\u201d\n\nThe crowd had by this time grown silent, listening, and at the end of\nthe speech they set up a shout that echoed to the very clouds. Seizing\nSchalu and Saran in their arms, they bore them with laughter and\nsinging to the palace, where Schalu was crowned with all pomp and\nceremony, and Saran was made his chief adviser. And so the two friends\nlived worthily and happily till the end of their days.\n\n\n\nThe tale being finished, the Siddhi-kur was silent.\n\n\u201cBut what of the poor father and mother?\u201d exclaimed the Prince\nimpatiently. \u201cSurely Schalu was a faithless son if he left his parents\nto die of grief for him!\u201d\n\n\u201cDear me, no! He didn\u2019t do that!\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, smiling. \u201cHe was\nno sooner made king than he journeyed back to visit his royal father\nand mother, and I leave you to imagine their joy and the happiness of\nthe whole land when it became known that the prince and his faithful\nfriend had not only returned in safety, but had delivered them from the\ncurse of the serpent-gods and had won, besides, such glory and riches.\n\n\u201cBut I fear me!\u201d continued the Siddhi-kur, playfully poking the Khan\u2019s\nson in the ribs, \u201cthat you will never attain glory and riches, unless\nyou remember the words of Nagarguna and keep silent on your homeward\nway! Farewell\u2014I am off to my mango tree, and it is good indeed to be\nfree again!\u201d\n\nThe Prince could scarcely keep back his tears of anger and vexation as\nhe watched the Siddhi-kur skipping gayly off to the north.\n\n\u201cI will fetch you yet!\u201d he cried, but the magic creature only turned\nand smiled at him indulgently.\n\n\u201cI would give it up, if I were you,\u201d said he; \u201cbut if you really are\ndetermined to get me again, I\u2019ve a nice story to tell you on the way\nback,\u2014\u2018The Strange Adventure of Schalu\u2019s Wife.\u2019\u201d With that he ran on\nand disappeared in the distance.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALE SIX\n\nTHE STRANGE ADVENTURE OF SCHALU\u2019S WIFE\n\n\nFor several years Schalu reigned over his new-found kingdom, quietly,\nwisely and well, ably advised and assisted by his faithful friend,\nSaran. His people loved him, and there was happiness and prosperity\nthroughout the land. One day a group of men stood without the council\nchamber and begged an audience with the Khan. Schalu graciously\nadmitted them and asked what it was they desired.\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d said they, \u201cwe are come from the people to ask you a boon, not\nso much for ourselves as for your Majesty. These many years you have\nbeen with us, and yet you have not taken unto yourself a wife, and we\nwish mightily that you would wed some princess and so fill your home\nwith happiness, and perchance give us a son to love and look to as our\nfuture ruler.\u201d\n\nThis saying pleased the Khan, and he inquired about all the princesses\nin near-by kingdoms, declaring that he would set about at once choosing\na royal wife. After that he spent many days visiting other countries\nand meeting princesses and great ladies from far and near; but not one\nof these lovely maidens entirely pleased him or made him feel that she\nalone out of all the world was the one for him. This damsel had a voice\ntoo sharp; that one\u2019s temper was too quick; the other seemed cold and\nindifferent,\u2014and so it was. Day after day the people expected tidings\nof a royal marriage, and day after day, with keen disappointment, they\nwatched the Khan ride back to his palace alone and dejected.\n\nAt last, when Schalu was returning after another fruitless journey into\na far land to visit a lady of great renown, he happened to pass a small\nhouse on the outskirts of his kingdom. And standing in the doorway was\nthe most beautiful damsel his eyes had ever looked on. She was tall and\nslim, with long, black hair reaching almost to her ankles. Her eyes\nwere big and black as midnight, and her lips were red. Moreover, there\nwas a soft magic in her face, a something so lovely that the Khan stood\nspellbound, gazing at her in silence for a long time. Then, all at\nonce, he realized that this cottage girl, in her simple work-a-day\nfrock, was the one woman in all the world that he wanted for his wife.\nNo more looking about for princesses and grand ladies! He had found\nwhat he longed for, and he would make this damsel his queen.\n\nThe matter was soon settled, for was not the Khan\u2019s word law in the\nland? A great marriage feast was held in the palace, holidays were\nproclaimed throughout the land and there were revelry and mad rejoicing\namong all the people. If there were any to murmur against the lowliness\nof the new queen, their voices were quickly drowned by shouts of\napproval from those who had been fortunate enough to look at the\nbeautiful face of the bride, and when the days of festivity were over,\neverybody settled down in peace and contentment, feeling that their\nKhan was at last to have a happy home life.\n\nBut it was far otherwise. Though Schalu loved his queen with all his\nheart, though he showered riches and treasures upon her, and though he\nracked his brain to find amusements and pleasures to make her happy,\nshe only looked upon him coldly and strangely and grew ever paler,\nquieter and apparently more sorrowful every day. In vain the Khan\nbesought her to tell him what he could do to please her and to win her\nlove; in vain he tried to find out whether she had any secret cause of\nwoe,\u2014he could do nothing. And day by day he became more disappointed\nand unhappy. It grieved the courtiers and the people to see this, but\nabove all it grieved Saran, his faithful friend, until at last he could\nstand it no longer and, going to Schalu, he said:\n\n\u201cMy dear Master, my heart is nigh dead within me to see you, the best\nof men and of monarchs, so sorrowful. I pray you, let me advise you! It\nseems to me, Sire, that the queen must bear some hidden grief in her\nheart, else she would surely give you her love. Perhaps, if we could\ndiscover what her trouble is, we could cure it and make her the loving\nwife you so desire.\u201d\n\n\u201cSaran, my friend,\u201d said the Khan wearily, \u201chave I not tried every\nmeans in my power to win the queen\u2019s love and confidence\u2014and all to no\navail?\u201d\n\n\u201cThen let me try,\u201d said Saran eagerly, \u201cfor my heart tells me I shall\nsucceed even where my royal master has failed.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said Schalu, but he spoke without hope or interest.\n\nFrom that moment, wearing the \u201cinvisible\u201d cap, Saran watched the queen\nday and night, unknown to her. He neglected food and sleep that he\nmight follow her continually, but she gave no hint at any time, by\nword, look or deed, of any hidden cause of sorrow. Saran was about to\ngive up in despair when, one evening, he noticed a peculiar\nrestlessness in the lady. She looked often at the sky, moved uneasily\nabout the palace and seemed in an absent, dreamy state of mind. At last\nshe retired to her own rooms, soon to emerge dressed in a long black\nmantle and hood which hid her face almost completely. Silently, and\nwith many an uneasy look behind her, she made her way to a small,\nseldom used, back gate in the palace garden and thence out into the\nhighroad. Once there, she vanished in the twinkling of an eye, and\nSaran, looking frantically in all directions, could find no trace of\nher. He dashed back into the palace, seized the magic boots from their\nhiding-place, tugged them on and muttered his wish:\n\n\u201cTake me wherever the queen is!\u201d\n\nFor a moment the wind sang in his ears and the stars sped by him; then\nhe found himself on earth again and walking in a beautiful, strange\ngarden. Never had he smelled such fragrance or seen such profusion of\nflowers as these that were dimly visible in the moonlight! Paths led in\nmany directions between rows of gorgeous bloom, and down one of them he\ncould make out the faint outline of the queen in her long, black robe.\nHe went on quickly and silently. She approached a palace which stood at\nthe end of the garden, entered through a small gate, and hurried along\na short, narrow passageway into an open court. Saran followed, still\nwearing the magic cap, and soon found himself in a brilliantly lighted\nroom, rich beyond words and filled with a soft, smoky incense which\nrose in clouds from a brazier standing in a corner. So interested was\nhe in looking about him that he quite forgot the queen for a moment and\nwas astonished to see her step forth into the light, clad, not in her\nlong, dark robe, but in flame-colored silk, embroidered with gold and\nprecious stones. She approached the brazier and waved her arms slowly\nover it, muttering strange words in a hard, monotonous voice. Scarcely\nhad she ceased speaking and dropped her hands to her side when in\nthrough the window flew a bird of gorgeous plumage. It darted three\ntimes through the smoke of the incense and then disappeared in a flash\nof light, and in its place appeared a tall, handsome man, dressed in\nrich garments like a prince. He looked angrily at the queen, who still\nstood gazing at the brazier, nor did she even glance at him as he said:\n\n\u201cHave you done as I bade you?\u201d\n\nShe shook her head.\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d said he, stamping his foot. \u201cAfter all my careful teaching,\ndoes the Khan still keep his natural form and the power of pouring gold\nfrom his mouth? Have I not given you fame and wealth and taught you\nmagic only upon condition that you would destroy your husband?\u201d\n\nThe unhappy queen covered her face with her hands. \u201cI cannot do it!\u201d\nshe whispered. \u201cTransform the Khan into a dog and take from him all his\nmagic powers! I cannot, cannot do it!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd why not, pray?\u201d asked the strange man with a mocking laugh. \u201cYou\ndo not love the Khan! I have, by my magic, made that impossible.\u201d\n\nSaran, watching and listening from a near corner, let slip an\nexclamation of wonder. \u201cSo that is it!\u201d he thought. \u201cShe is kept from\nloving her husband by wicked magic!\u201d\n\nBoth the queen and the stranger started at the sound, but on looking\naround, could see nothing, for Saran, of course, still wore his\n\u201cinvisible\u201d cap.\n\n\u201cEnough of this!\u201d cried the man at length, after he had waited in vain\nfor the queen to answer his question. \u201cTo-morrow I will take matters\ninto my own hands. In the form of a snake I will seek the Khan and cast\na spell upon him. Thereafter he will be completely in my power.\u201d\n\nThe queen turned toward him imploringly, but like a flash he had\nchanged himself into a bird again and was gone through the open window.\n\nSlowly and sorrowfully the queen turned away from the glowing brazier,\ncaught up her black robe and put it over her shoulders. As Saran\nfollowed her out to the beautiful garden, he could hear her softly\ncrying, and his heart grew big with pity for her and anger at the\nstrange man whom he now knew to be a wicked demon.\n\nThe next day Saran ordered a great fire to be built in the council\nhall, and he bade Schalu and his queen sit before it. While they were\nso doing, into the hall crept a great ugly serpent, green and slimy and\nloathsome to look on. He raised his head high and fastened his evil\neyes upon Schalu, and the Khan became white and motionless and looked\nlike one dead. The snake swayed to and fro, muttering strange words,\nbut before his spell was ended, Saran had fallen upon him and was\nbeating his head with a huge staff. Then the serpent turned and\nattacked Saran, and mightily they fought together at the edge of the\ngreat fire. Sometimes Saran would nigh fall into the flames, and\nsometimes the wicked demon, and great was the noise of their cries and\nshouting. At last the great serpent made a sudden, unexpected turn,\nglided under Saran\u2019s arm and plunged at Schalu. In one breathless\nmoment he would have reached him, but with a cry the queen jumped\nforward, cast her arms around the snake\u2019s hideous green neck and flung\nhim from her into the fire. A great smoke arose, and with a scream an\nugly demon leaped from the midst of the flames and flew out through the\nwindow, leaving his snake form behind him, smoldering in the ashes!\n\n\u201cMy!\u201d exclaimed the Prince, standing still in excitement. \u201cHow\nthrilling! And did Schalu recover from his spell, and did the brave\nqueen love him after that?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, indeed!\u201d said the Siddhi-kur with a little laugh. \u201cThe wicked\ndemon lost all his power over the queen after that and never troubled\nher or her husband again. And she proved to be a most loving and\ndutiful wife, and they all lived happily together for the rest of their\ndays.\u201d\n\n\u201cSaran should have had a lovely wife, too,\u201d said the Prince\nthoughtfully, beginning to move on again.\n\n\u201cWait a bit, my friend,\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, \u201cyou may add to the story\nas you wish, by yourself, as you journey onward! As for me, I am off\nfor the cool grove beside the garden of ghost children, for you have\nbroken silence again on your way home, and I am free once more!\u201d\n\nWith a shout of joy he leaped from the magic sack and dashed off toward\nthe north, where his mango tree stood awaiting him.\n\nThe Prince sighed wearily. \u201cOh, how stupid I am!\u201d said he. \u201cBut I will\nget the Siddhi-kur even yet, and carry him to my master, Nagarguna, if\nI have to spend the rest of my life in doing it!\u201d\n\nAnd so it came about that in a few days the Khan\u2019s son was again\njourneying back toward the cave of Nagarguna bearing upon his back the\nSiddhi-kur.\n\n\u201cFriend,\u201d said that creature of magic, at length. \u201cI have just\nbethought me of a marvellous tale which I am minded to tell you. You\nmay listen or not, as you wish; for me, at least, it will make the way\nand the hours seem shorter. The name of this story is \u2018The Fortunes of\nShrikantha.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALE SEVEN\n\nTHE FORTUNES OF SHRIKANTHA\n\n\nThere was once a lad, the son of a Brahman, who was neither very poor\nnor very rich, very good nor very bad, very wise nor very foolish, but\nwho had the kindest heart in all the world. His name was Shrikantha,\nand he lived long ago in India. When he was old enough to do as he\nliked, he sold all that he had and bought three pieces of cloth goods,\nvery fine and handsome, and with these he was minded to trade and make\nhis fortune. He bade his parents good-by and started forth to journey\nto a near-by city where he thought he might trade to the best\nadvantage.\n\nHe had not gone far before he came upon a band of cruel boys who were\ntormenting a little mouse.\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d said Shrikantha, in anger. \u201cThe mouse is suffering and will\ndie! Have you no pity in your hearts?\u201d But the boys only laughed at him\nand continued their wicked play. So, seeing that words were useless,\nShrikantha bargained with them, and they finally agreed to set the\nmouse free in return for one of his three handsome pieces of cloth.\nAfter he had seen the little creature scamper safely away, Shrikantha\nsighed and continued his journey, the poorer by one third of his\npossessions, but with a satisfied heart.\n\nA little farther on, what should he see but another group of boys ill\ntreating an ape and laughing to see the poor thing suffer. Shrikantha\ntried to hurry by without noticing it, but he could not endure to see\npain and do nothing to relieve it, so in a moment he stopped and tried\nby reasoning with the boys to make them cease their cruelty. As in the\nfirst case, he found his words were all in vain, and only by giving up\nhis second piece of goods could he buy relief and freedom for the ape.\nAnd now he felt poor indeed, having nothing left in the world save one\nhandsome bit of cloth.\n\n\u201cNever mind,\u201d said he to himself reassuringly, \u201ceven with this, if I\nbargain shrewdly, I may trade and make my fortune. At any rate, the\nlook of gratitude that poor ape gave me was worth much more than a\npaltry piece of merchandise.\u201d So he went on with a light step and a\nmerry heart, but, to his dismay, he soon heard again a cry of pain and\nsaw yet another group of boys gathered around a young bear and cruelly\nabusing it.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d thought Shrikantha. \u201cThis time I must harden my heart and pass\nby, for well I know words will do no good, and I cannot give away my\nlast possession!\u201d He quickened his step and tried to think of something\nelse as he hurried by, but at that moment the poor little bear cried\nout so piteously that he could not endure it. Turning about, he\nhastened to where the unkind lads were standing and spoke long and\nearnestly with them. But, as it had been in the two other cases, so it\nwas now; Shrikantha argued in vain and finally had to offer his last\ntreasure that the bear might go free. Then he started forth again\nempty-handed.\n\n\u201cI might as well go back to my father,\u201d he thought, \u201cyet not so\u2014he will\nbut chide me for foolish kindness of heart! I will continue on my way,\nfor surely Dame Fortune will repay me for what I have lost in so good a\ncause!\u201d Fortune, however, was minded to do otherwise.\n\nNow the road to the city led Shrikantha directly by the palace of the\nKhan, and just as he was passing the great gate, he heard shouts and\nconfusion within and immediately a man dashed out.\n\n\u201cRun! Run for your life!\u201d he cried, as he rushed past, and Shrikantha,\nwithout stopping to think, did as he was told.\n\nHe heard the roar of many voices and the running steps of many feet\nbehind him, and so he ran faster than ever. On and on he sped, but his\npursuers slowly gained on him until he could hear their cries and\ncurses, and even feel the panting breath of the foremost ones.\n\n\u201cStop, thief!\u201d they cried. \u201cStop the wicked thief! He has stolen the\nKhan\u2019s jewels!\u201d\n\nHearing this, Shrikantha grew more alarmed and, instead of stopping at\nonce to reason with the men that it was not he who had stolen the\njewels, but doubtless the man ahead of him, he foolishly ran on faster\nthan ever. At last his breath gave out completely, his knees seemed to\nbreak beneath him and he fell, panting and sobbing, to the ground. In a\nmoment his pursuers were upon him and were binding him with a tight\ncord, kicking and abusing him between their gasping breaths. In vain\ndid he try now to explain himself; he was too breathless to complete a\nsingle sentence, and they were too angry and too sure of their prey to\nlisten. He was taken at once to the Khan\u2019s court, and though of course\nno jewels were found on him, and though he pleaded his innocence with\ntears and prayers, he was condemned to die a horrible death. On the\nmorrow, two strong, cruel men threw him into a great wooden chest,\nsealed the lid of it tight and cast it into the river.\n\nPoor Shrikantha felt the lapping of the water against his air-tight box\nand gave himself up as one already killed by cruel fate. But Fate\nthought otherwise!\n\nIn a short time the great chest, bumping along with the current of the\nriver, caught against some rocks on an island and there stuck fast. And\nwho should be on that very spot but the little mouse whom Shrikantha\nhad saved from the abuse of the cruel boys. Seeing the big, ungainly\nbox come a-shore on her island, the mouse investigated the matter and\nsoon discovered that her friend and rescuer was shut up within.\n\n\u201cHave courage!\u201d she squeaked to him, through the cracks of the chest,\nand immediately she began to gnaw at a corner of it. When she had eaten\nout a hole in the wood large enough to admit some air to Shrikantha,\nwho was already almost suffocated, she hurried off to find the ape and\nthe bear. They soon returned with her, declaring they were only too\nglad to help. Together they dragged the chest a-shore, broke it open\nand set Shrikantha free. Then, for many days the three faithful\ncreatures supplied the lad with nuts and fruits so that he suffered not\nat all for lack of food and drink.\n\nOne day the mouse came to Shrikantha, bearing in her mouth a small,\nblue stone.\n\n\u201cTake this, Master,\u201d said she, laying it in his hand. \u201cIt is a\ntalisman, my dearest possession, and I give it to you in gratitude for\nwhat you did once upon a time for me. Take it and breathe a wish upon\nit, and you shall have your heart\u2019s desire.\u201d\n\nShrikantha looked at the little blue stone in wonder and, thinking that\nhe would merely test its power, wished himself away from the island. No\nsooner thought than the island vanished beneath him, and he found\nhimself in a meadow on the mainland. He was surprised and delighted\nbeyond words, and he looked at the blue stone again and wished eagerly\nfor a palace set in the midst of a beautiful park, with rare trees,\nbirds and flowers about it and every luxury and comfort within. He\nclosed his eyes and, opening them again in a moment, beheld a lovely\ngarden where the meadow had been, a gorgeous palace in the distance,\nand all exactly as he had wished to have it, only more beautiful and\nwonderful than he had dared to think. With the greatest joy he walked\nabout his park and into his palace, finding there room after room\nrichly furnished, servants bowing before him at every turn and costly\npossessions strewn about in profusion. Truly, he thought to himself, a\nKhan might now envy him his wealth!\n\n\u201cBut I must have my faithful friends here to enjoy all this good\nfortune with me!\u201d said he to himself at length. So he wished for the\nmouse, the ape and the bear, and instantly they stood before him.\n\nAnd now Shrikantha lived in luxury and happiness for some time, and it\nseemed as if he might continue to live so until the end of his days.\nBut Fate planned otherwise. There came to the palace one day a caravan\nof wicked, thieving merchants, and the chief among them made friends\nwith Shrikantha and in an evil moment persuaded him to tell the secret\nof his good fortune.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said the merchant, when Shrikantha had told him all and shown\nhim the precious blue talisman. \u201cHow lucky some men are, how unlucky\nothers! Here are you, scarcely more than a lad; you have never worked\nor traded or done anything whereby a man earns wealth, and yet you are\nloaded with every blessing, while I, who have toiled hard and honestly\nmy whole life through, have nothing\u2014nothing in all the world but a\nhandful of cheap goods which I must bargain hard to trade off for the\nbare necessities of my miserable existence!\u201d And with that he sighed so\nwretchedly that Shrikantha\u2019s tender heart melted within him.\n\n\u201cIf only\u2014\u201d said the wicked merchant, \u201cbut I must not suggest such a\nthing!\u201d\n\n\u201cSuggest what?\u201d asked Shrikantha, full of sympathy.\n\n\u201cIf only,\u201d continued the other, \u201cif only in the kindness of your heart,\nyou would lend me your talisman for one moment, I could wish myself a\ncomfortable little home, and peace and quiet for the rest of my days!\nYou would be none the poorer; indeed, you would be richer for the\nprayers and blessings of a happy man!\u201d\n\nIt was such a simple way in which to help the poor fellow that\nShrikantha did not hesitate an instant, but put the magic blue stone\ntrustingly into his hands. With a scornful laugh, the wicked merchant\nshouted his wish aloud:\n\n\u201cI want all the possessions Shrikantha has, and I desire him to return\nto the place and state in which he was when this talisman was given to\nhim!\u201d\n\nIn a flash, Shrikantha found himself again on the island in the river,\nwith not a sign of all his former wealth and glory about him. He sat\ndown on the ground and beat his forehead with his hands.\n\n\u201cWhat a miserable fool I have been!\u201d said he to himself, over and over\nagain.\n\n\u201cYes, you have been foolish, Master!\u201d said a squeaky little voice in\nhis ear, \u201cbut truly in kindness have you been so.\u201d Looking around,\nShrikantha saw his friend, the little mouse.\n\n\u201cOf what avail is it that my heart is kind, if by that very kindness I\nlose everything I have in the world?\u201d said he with a sigh, refusing to\nbe comforted.\n\n\u201cYou have not lost everything,\u201d corrected the mouse, \u201cyou still have\nthree faithful friends who were won to you forever by that same kind\nheart of yours.\u201d\n\nAnd without another word the little creature disappeared, leaving\nShrikantha still lamenting on the ground.\n\nIt were too long a tale to tell how the three animal friends met and\nplanned together, how they went at night to the palace of the wicked\nmerchant, crept to his room, and how the ape and the bear waited\nbreathlessly outside while the mouse climbed through the keyhole and\nstole the talisman from the breast of the sleeping man. They had little\ntrouble in passing the many guards, who were on the lookout for men,\nnot animals, to steal their master\u2019s treasure. When they reached the\nriver, however, in sight of Shrikantha himself, a sorry adventure\nbefell them. The bear was the only one of the three who could swim, and\nso, in order to cross the water, the ape got upon the bear\u2019s back, put\nthe mouse upon his shoulder and the talisman in his mouth. Thus, with\nthis precious, heavy load on his back, the bear started bravely on his\nlong swim across to the island. In the very middle of the stream, a\nfish passed within a few feet of his nose, and he, foolish creature,\nmade a dive for it. The ape lost his balance and cried out in fright,\nletting the blue talisman slip from his mouth into the water. Down it\nsank into the muddy depths, and the three friends, in dismay, watched\nit disappear.\n\n\u201cAlack-a-day!\u201d wailed the little mouse. \u201cWe have spent all our time and\nlabor for nothing, and our poor friend on the island will surely die of\nhunger and despair! What shall we do? Whatever shall we do?\u201d\n\nThe bear turned and swam back to the mainland, and there the three sat\ndown disconsolately on the shore.\n\n\u201cWhat a fool you were to jump at that fish!\u201d said the ape to the bear\ncrossly.\n\n\u201cWhat a fool you were not to keep your mouth shut, when you had such a\ntreasure inside it!\u201d growled the bear.\n\n\u201cNow don\u2019t waste time blaming each other!\u201d counselled the mouse. \u201cIt\ndoesn\u2019t matter whose fault it was; the talisman is gone, and we must\nget it again; that is the thing to think about.\u201d\n\n\u201cGet it again!\u201d the bear was crosser than ever. \u201cI\u2019d like to know how\nthat can be done! It has gone to the bottom of the river, thanks to the\ncarelessness of the ape, and we can never recover it. Let us go to our\nhomes; we have done enough for the man already to more than pay for his\nkindness to us.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, let us go home,\u201d agreed the ape. \u201cThere is no use trying to do\nanything if the bear has to chase every fish he meets, regardless of\nthe importance of his mission. And we have done enough for the man as\nit is.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t, don\u2019t talk like that!\u201d cried the little mouse. \u201cYou both know\nas well as I that we can never repay the man\u2019s kindness to us! Come,\nlet us plan! There must be a way!\u201d She walked up and down the shore,\nthinking. \u201cI have it!\u201d she cried at last.\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d said both the others, interested in spite of themselves.\n\n\u201cYou watch me and do just as I tell you,\u201d said she, and began crying in\na loud voice and running to and fro upon the river bank.\n\nAt the sound of her outcry, the frogs that live at the bottom of the\nriver came to the surface to learn what the matter was. When a great\ncrowd of them had collected, the little mouse called out:\n\n\u201cQuick, friends, quick! Before it is too late! The pebbles on your\nriver bed have been cursed, and the curse is about to fall upon you! We\nhave come to your aid. Hand us all the pebbles at the bottom of the\nriver, and we will throw them all away. Hurry and do as we bid you!\u201d\n\nThe frogs, who were a silly, credulous people, hastened to do as the\nmouse told them. Diving down to the river bottom they fetched the\npebbles, one after another, and handed them to their supposed\npreserver, who gave them to the ape and the bear, bidding them fling\nthe cursed things away. More and more frogs gathered for the task and\nbrought up stones in countless numbers. At last one came, bringing the\nprecious, blue talisman, and when the little mouse had got hold of it,\nshe signalled to her friends to stop their work. With a gesture, she\nmade the frogs stand still and in a solemn voice she cried:\n\n\u201cIt is enough! The curse is lifted from the river and its people! You\nhave worked well and saved yourselves (and us) much sorrow. Go now and\nlive in peace!\u201d\n\nThe frogs murmured among themselves, being much puzzled by the whole\nperformance, but the bear, the ape and the little mouse paused not to\nlisten. Quickly they started across the river, the ape on the bear\u2019s\nback, the little mouse, still clutching the talisman, on the shoulder\nof the ape. In this manner they reached the island in safety and there\nthey found\u2014\u2014\n\nThe Siddhi-kur paused and bit into a mango which he had brought with\nhim, munching in silence for some time.\n\n\u201cFound what?\u201d cried the Khan\u2019s son, standing still to wonder. \u201cI know!\nHe found that Shrikantha was already dead with hunger, having waited so\nlong for his friends!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, not at all!\u201d said the Siddhi-kur. \u201cNothing of the sort! Shrikantha\nwas sitting on the shore, patiently awaiting the return of his friends.\nAs soon as the mouse had handed him the magic blue stone, he wished\nback all the good things he had had before and a wise and beautiful\nwife to enjoy it all with him. And you may be sure the lady took charge\nof the talisman as soon as they were married, so there was no danger of\ntheir losing their fortune again, as poor, foolish, kind-hearted\nShrikantha had lost it before.\n\n\u201cHowever, if the Prince wishes my story to end otherwise, he may finish\nit to suit himself. Meanwhile, since he has again broken silence on the\nhomeward way, I will leave him to meditate upon the story, his own lack\nof wisdom, or whatever he likes. As for me, I will hie me back to my\nmango tree in the cool grove beside the garden of ghost children!\u201d\n\nSo the Siddhi-kur, with a joyful shout, leaped from the Prince\u2019s back\nand sped away again to the northward.\n\nThe Khan\u2019s son neither sighed nor lamented, but, setting his teeth\ngrimly, he turned about and started forth once more after the magic\ncreature, eating his cake which grew not less as he trudged along.\n\n\n\nWhen the long journey to the north had been completed, and the\nSiddhi-kur had been called again from his mango tree and settled upon\nthe back of the Prince, he began at once:\n\n\u201cI have a story in mind which is perhaps more strange and interesting\nthan any I have yet told you. Listen, my friend, and I will begin it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTALE EIGHT\n\nSUNSHINE AND MOONSHINE\n\n\nLong years ago, there lived in a distant land a good and handsome\nprince named Sunshine. He dwelt in a splendid palace with his father,\nwho was a Khan, his stepmother and his stepbrother, whose name was\nMoonshine. His father and brother loved him dearly, but his stepmother\nhated him, being jealous for her own son, Moonshine. So, while the two\nboys lived happily together, never suspecting ill, this wicked woman\nplotted and schemed to destroy the life of Sunshine and so make her son\nheir to the throne.\n\nAt last, one day, she thought of a plan. Going to her room, she lay\ndown, groaning and crying out as if she were ill and in frightful pain.\nThe Khan was soon notified and was much alarmed when he found the queen\napparently in such a bad condition.\n\n\u201cMy dear wife,\u201d he cried, \u201cI will have the court physician summoned at\nonce, that he may give you a remedy.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said the queen feebly, \u201cit will do no good. Already I am nigh\nunto death, and none can help me. I am dying, my Khan\u2014I am dying fast,\nand the one and only remedy for my sickness I can never have.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne remedy?\u201d said the king. \u201cIf there is anything on earth which will\ncure you, my dear, you shall have it, though I give my kingdom to get\nit for you! Only tell me what it is, that I may procure it at once!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is more than your kingdom,\u201d she replied, with another groan. \u201cIt is\nof such a nature that I dare not speak of it!\u201d Then she writhed and\nshuddered as if in fearful agony, and the Khan was nigh distracted to\nsee her suffering so.\n\n\u201cTell me, my love, tell me!\u201d he begged. \u201cNo matter what it is, you\nshall have it! You have my sacred promise!\u201d\n\n\u201cYour son,\u201d whispered the wicked woman, \u201cSunshine has worked an evil\ncharm upon me, and I shall surely die this night if his heart\u2019s blood\nis not given me!\u201d\n\nThe Khan shrank from his wife in horror. He loved his eldest child more\nthan life itself, and to kill him would be impossible. Nevertheless,\nsomething must be done quickly. \u201cThe queen,\u201d he thought, \u201cis mad; she\nmust be humored, and there is my kingly word which must not be broken.\nI will have a goat killed, and its heart given her, and when she is\nwell again, she will be as glad as I that I thus deceived her!\u201d So he\ndrew near the queen and spoke reassuringly to her:\n\n\u201cMy love, your life is more precious to me than that of many sons! You\nshall have the heart\u2019s blood of Sunshine this very night without fail.\nMeanwhile, try to sleep.\u201d\n\nHe turned toward the door and met Moonshine coming in. One look at the\nlad\u2019s face told him that his last terrible words had been overheard. \u201cI\nmust explain my plan to him,\u201d he thought, but at that moment a\nmessenger came to him bearing important news, and he straightway forgot\nall about the boy.\n\nMoonshine, however, was as one struck dumb with surprise and fear. He\nhad indeed heard part of the conversation between the Khan and his\nqueen, for the two had been talking loudly as he approached their door,\nand he thought, of course, that his brother was in deadly peril. As\nsoon as he had recovered a little from the shock of his discovery, he\nran to find Sunshine and poured the whole story into his ears.\n\nSunshine was more grieved at the apparent lack of love shown by his\nfather than he was fearful for his own life, but there was no time to\nweep and lament, for he must leave the palace at once and be far away\nin some safe hiding-place by night-fall.\n\n\u201cI am going with you!\u201d declared Moonshine.\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said Sunshine, though he looked grateful. \u201cI know not what\ndangers and privations I may have to meet. You must not think of it!\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed, yes!\u201d cried the other. \u201cWhat will home be without you, dear\nbrother? Your life shall be my life, whatever and wherever it is!\u201d\n\nThere was no dissuading him, so in a very short time the two lads had\nslipped quietly and secretly forth from the palace and were out in the\nwide world.\n\nAll that day they walked, and the next, and the next, sleeping at night\nwherever they could find shelter. On the third day they came into a\nbarren, desolate country, with no sign of human life to be seen\nanywhere, and nothing which could yield them water or food. They\nstruggled manfully on, but at last Moonshine stumbled and fell to the\nearth.\n\n\u201cAlas, dear brother,\u201d he said, \u201cI can go no farther. Bid me farewell\nand go your way; there is no need for two of us to die! As for me, I am\nso weary that the thought of death seems pleasant to my mind.\u201d\n\nSunshine did not try to argue with his brother, but made him as\ncomfortable as the hot desert sand would allow and bade him be of good\ncheer and await his return, for he would surely find and bring him\nhelp. Then he began looking this way and that for some sign of a spring\nor a bit of an oasis. At last his eye was caught by a bright red\nsomething on the side of a rocky cliff not far away. He hastened to see\nwhat it might be and found that it was a great red door set deep into\nthe face of the rock. His courage rose at the sight, for a door might\nhave a kindly human being behind it. He approached and rapped sturdily\nupon it, whereupon it was slowly opened by an old man. Sunshine was so\nrelieved that he could have fallen upon the stooping shoulders and\nkissed the long, flowing beard. Quickly he told his story and entreated\nthe old man to give him aid for Moonshine. The hermit, for such he\ndeclared himself to be, lost no time in accompanying Sunshine back to\nwhere his brother lay, and then he used all his skill to bring the\nexhausted boy back to health and strength.\n\nAt last he was successful, and the long and the short of it all was\nthat the two lads took up their abode with the old hermit and lived\nwith him as his own sons. Indeed, he soon declared that he could have\nloved no true sons any better. So the weeks and months went on, and the\nthree dwelt happily together in their cave behind the red door in the\ndesert. But as the year drew to a close, a great tragedy befell them.\n\nIt happened that the Khan who ruled over this country was a wicked,\nill-tempered, suspicious monarch who hated and feared strangers above\nall men, because of a prophecy concerning them. It was foretold that he\nshould one day lose his throne and crown to some lad from a strange\nland. And so he had made a law that every youth who came into his\nkingdom from another country should be seized at once by his soldiers\nand cast into a cave where lived three fierce demon-bears.\n\nFor a long time no one had heard of the coming of Sunshine and\nMoonshine, for very rarely did any stray traveler or caravan pass the\nsolitary red door in the cliff. But at length, in some mysterious way,\nthe Khan learned of the two lads living with the hermit and sent his\nsoldiers in angry haste to fetch them.\n\nThe old man spied the men coming across the desert and at once guessed\ntheir purpose, so, while they were still far off, he ran quickly to the\ntwo boys and bade them hide themselves away. Sunshine climbed into a\nbarrel of mangos, crouching down until they covered him, and Moonshine\nhid in a sack of grain. When the soldiers reached the red door, the\nhermit opened it willingly.\n\n\u201cBoys?\u201d said he, in answer to their question. \u201cI have no boys! I am an\nold man and have lived in this desert place many a long year without\nwife or child to bear me company. You must be mistaken!\u201d\n\nThe soldiers pushed the hermit roughly aside and entered the cave.\n\n\u201cYou had better not lie to the Khan\u2019s soldiers!\u201d said the captain\nthreateningly.\n\n\u201cI have told you no lie,\u201d replied the hermit, \u201cbut if you doubt my\nword, come in, look and see.\u201d\n\nFor a moment the men hesitated, then, with an oath, the captain seized\nthe hermit by his long white beard and shook him.\n\n\u201cSo you thought you would give us the trouble of searching!\u201d said he.\n\u201cWe\u2019ll do no such thing! I know there is a boy here, and my orders are\nto fetch him, so bring him out at once\u2014and I\u2019ll teach you to hurry!\u201d\n\nHe raised his sword over the hermit\u2019s head, but before he could bring\nit down, Sunshine had leaped from his hiding-place, had caught hold of\nthe captain\u2019s arm and had stayed the blow.\n\n\u201cOho!\u201d said the captain, and he flashed around upon the lad. \u201cSo you\nare here, after all\u2014I was almost beginning to doubt!\u201d\n\nThere was no use in struggling. The soldiers gathered around Sunshine,\nbound his hands behind his back, flung him on a horse and, without\ngiving him a moment to bid farewell to the grief-stricken old hermit,\nrode away with him. Not until they had gone far over the desert on\ntheir way to the Khan\u2019s city did the captain remember that he had been\ntold there were two boys living with the hermit. He stopped abruptly,\nwheeled his horse and gave orders that the troop should return at once\nto the old man\u2019s cave. Sunshine guessed what was in the captain\u2019s mind,\nand his heart sank within him. \u201cThere will be no possible escape for my\nbrother,\u201d he thought, \u201cfor the soldiers will come upon Moonshine\nunexpectedly before he has time to hide again!\u201d Then he began planning\nand wondering if he could not, by craft, prevent the soldiers from\nreturning. At last he groaned aloud.\n\n\u201cWoe is me!\u201d he said. \u201cAlas! And woe is me! Would that I had died with\nmy brother before this evil fate befell me!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean by that?\u201d said the captain, who had heard his\nsorrowful words.\n\n\u201cWhat should I mean but what I say?\u201d said Sunshine, with another groan.\n\u201cWhen you stood at the door of our cave we had but just returned from\ndigging the grave of my brother. And now, surely, the poor old man, our\nfoster-father, will die of grief, for both his sons are lost to him\u2014all\nin the space of a day!\u201d\n\nThe captain drew rein, and the soldiers behind him halted respectfully.\nThe heat of the desert was great, and he had no desire to travel the\nlong distance back to the cave of the red door, to no purpose.\n\n\u201cYoung man,\u201d he said sternly to Sunshine. \u201cIs it indeed true that your\nbrother is dead, and that there is now no strange youth in the cave of\nthe hermit?\u201d\n\n\u201cHave I not said it?\u201d replied Sunshine impatiently. \u201cIndeed, I know not\nwhich I wish the more\u2014that I were dead beside my brother, or that he\nwere here beside me to share my woe!\u201d Then he wept aloud.\n\nThe captain hesitated, then he slowly turned his horse and bade his\nsoldiers gruffly to proceed to the palace of the Khan.\n\nSunshine\u2019s heart bounded with joy and relief for his brother, but he\nstill continued to groan and lament, that the soldiers might be\ndeceived.\n\nIt was a long distance to the Khan\u2019s city, and by the time Sunshine and\nhis cruel captors had reached the gates, the sun was setting. Now it\nhappened that a young and beautiful daughter of the Khan was at that\nmoment sitting on the low roof of the palace, enjoying the cool\ntwilight air. Looking down into the street below, she saw the line of\nsoldiers riding by, with Sunshine in their midst, his head bowed and\nhis hands bound behind him. He looked up, and his eyes met those of the\nprincess. The light of the setting sun rested on his black hair; his\nface was pale, and his eyes big and sorrowful. Never, thought the\nprincess, had she seen so beautiful a youth, and he, looking up at her\nas she leaned over the roof, thought she must be a daughter of the\ngods, so fair and lovely she was.\n\nThe princess made haste to inquire who the lad might be and soon\nlearned that he was a strange youth condemned, because of the prophecy,\nto be thrown to the demon-bears on the morrow. Then she sought her\nfather, the Khan, and kneeling before him, she entreated him to spare\nthe life of this fair young stranger.\n\nNow the Khan lived in daily dread that the prophecy concerning an\nunknown young man would come true, so when his daughter urged him to\nspare this fellow who might be the very one foretold, he fell into a\nterrible rage. She, not seeing that her cause was hopeless, continued\nto beg her father for the young man\u2019s life. At last the Khan\u2019s temper\nbroke all bounds. He summoned his soldiers and, pointing to the\nprincess, cried:\n\n\u201cTake her away! She has more thought for this upstart stranger than for\nthe safety and throne of her father! Take her away, I say, and cast her\ninto a dungeon. And on the morrow choose two strong sacks; tie this\nstrange youth into one of them, my daughter into the other; then cast\nboth into the cave of the demon-bears!\u201d\n\nThe princess, though she could have fainted from very terror, was too\nproud to show her fear, too noble to lament her life, so she silently\nallowed the rough soldiers to bind her hands and lead her away.\n\nAt sunrise the next day everything was prepared as the Khan had\nordered, and the two unfortunate young people were thrust into huge\nsacks which were tied about their necks. Then they were cast into an\nopen, rocky cave by a river, where the demon-bears came daily to drink.\n\nSunshine sighed deeply as he saw the princess beside him, her fair face\nand long hair emerging from the mouth of the sack.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said he. \u201cAnd ten times alas! That I should die is nothing, for\nwhat am I but a stranger and an outcast? But oh, the cruel pity of it,\nthat you, loveliest princess, should perish too!\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, fair youth,\u201d said the Khan\u2019s daughter, \u201cmourn not for me. I am\nonly an unthinking girl whose life or death can mean nothing to the\nworld\u2014and since it is my father\u2019s will that I die thus, willing am I to\nobey him. But that you, a man of noble birth, unless your looks belie\nyou, should meet such a cruel fate\u2014and only because you are a stranger!\nIndeed, that seems more than my sad heart can bear!\u201d\n\nWhile these two noble young creatures were thus lamenting each other\u2019s\nhard lot, forgetful of their own, the three demon-bears drew near and\noverheard their talk, and the heart of the chief of them was softened\nat their words. He turned to his companions, saying:\n\n\u201cOf a truth, the unselfishness of these two young mortals moves me to\npity! If there is such bravery in the heart of man, I am minded never\nto eat human flesh again!\u201d\n\nThe other two, being also touched by the beauty and nobleness of their\ncaptives, readily agreed with the chief; and they resolved to begin at\nonce to be the friends and not the fearful enemies of man. As they\nentered the cave, they saw that Sunshine and the princess grew white\nwith terror at the sight of them, so the chief called out reassuringly:\n\n\u201cBe not afraid! The heart of a demon-bear is not always as cruel as men\nsay! We have come, not to devour you but to set you free. A lad and a\nlass who, in such a dire strait, think only of each other, deserve to\nlive long in peace. By my magic power I declare your bonds broken! Go,\nand from henceforth think of the demon-bears as no longer enemies but\nfriends!\u201d\n\nThe wretched sacks dropped from the sides of Sunshine and the princess,\nand they stood up safe and sound and as free as the wind that blew\nabout them.\n\n\n\nThe Siddhi-kur ceased speaking, and a long pause followed, but the\nPrince said never a word. Only he stood still a moment and seemed to\ngurgle unintelligibly in his throat.\n\n\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, leaning forward.\n\nAnother gurgle, and the Prince turned his head, whereat the Siddhi-kur\nburst into a merry peal of laughter, for wedged between the lad\u2019s teeth\nwas a piece of wood, making speech impossible.\n\n\u201cYou are a wiser youth than I thought,\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, when he\nhad a little recovered from his mirth. \u201cDid you put that wedge in your\nmouth before I began my tale, so that you could not speak, no matter\nhow much you wanted to?\u201d\n\nThe Khan\u2019s son nodded.\n\nThe Siddhi-kur settled back in his sack with a sigh. \u201cYou have won,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201cand I might as well resign myself to my fate! Farewell, dear\nmango tree and lovely garden of ghost children! Farewell, for now I\nmust dwell far away in another cool grove beside the cave of Nagarguna,\non the Shining Mountain!\n\n\u201cBut I suppose you really deserve to know the ending of my story,\u201d he\ncontinued, in a more cheerful tone, \u201cthough you might guess the rest\nfor yourself.\n\n\u201cOf course, the princess went back to her father, who was nigh dead\nwith repentance now that his wrath had cooled, and Sunshine hastened to\nthe cave in the desert to relieve the minds of the good old hermit and\nMoonshine, his faithful brother. And then, of course, there was a great\nroyal wedding, a double one\u2014for not only did Sunshine marry the lovely\nprincess, but Moonshine found an almost equally beautiful bride in her\nyounger sister.\n\n\u201cThe prophecy which the Khan had dreaded so long came true, but in a\nvery different way than he had expected. He did indeed lose his throne\nand crown to a strange lad, but he gave them up of his own free will to\nSunshine, because he loved the boy so, and because he was old and weary\nand had no greater wish in life than to see his son and daughter ruling\nquietly and prosperously over his kingdom. So they all lived happily\never after. And\u2014oh, yes!\u2014they soon paid a visit to Sunshine\u2019s father\nand found him grown old and gray, sorrowing for his two dear sons. The\nwicked queen had meanwhile died, just because she was too wicked to\nlive. So everybody was happy and satisfied.\u201d\n\nA look of great contentment and relief settled upon the face of the\nPrince, and he moved briskly on again in the direction of the Shining\nMountain. At last they saw it gleaming in the distance.\n\n\u201cAnd now, O Prince,\u201d said the Siddhi-kur, \u201cwe are nearing the end of\nour journey. Keep well the lesson of silence you have learned with such\npain and labor, for a king who thinks much and speaks little will be a\nwise monarch, and his people will dwell in peace, happiness and\nprosperity under his sway.\u201d\n\n\n                                THE END.","title":"Wonder Tales from Tibet","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":30872}