at the Bandh when the princess found her younger sisters at their bath. One of the young ladies went and informed her father about the arrival of the long-lost princess with her husband. The young couple were provided with clothes and a barber was sent to help them in their toilet. The princess went home aheal with her sisters. While cropping the young potter's hair the barber cut his throat and threw him into the Bandh and put on the clothes which had been sent for him. The barber was thus mistaken for the potter and was taken into the palace as the royal son-in-law, and had a rattling good time. One day the royal prince expressed a desire to go ahunting and his sister (the potter's wife) told him to take with him her brother-in-law whose skill in archery was marvellous. The young prince accordingly took his brother-in-law with him and placing the latter at a favourable coign of vantage ordered all the beaters to drive all the game in that direction. As the wild animals came up the barber made no attempt to shoot them but he besmeared the arrow-heads with dung and said:"Look here; the arrow entered the animal's head between the eyes and came out at the other end as the dung on the arrow-head proves. These animals bear a charmed life. We must therefore be content with an empty bag." Thus did the barber deceive the king's son. The fact was that he could not bend the bow, let alone, shoot with accuracy. After some time the King ordered that all the fish in his Bandh should be caught up. The order was duly carried out. A poor shepherd went to the Bandh and found a large-sized fish which he brought home to his old mother. He asked his mother to cook the fish while he took the King's cattle back to the cattle-pen. When the old woman proceeded to cut up the fish she heard a voice which said "Use the knife gently so that you may not hurt me". She fancied that there was some one at the back of her house who had spoken to her, so she got up and went round to the back-yard but found no one there. She took up the fish again and was about to use the knife when she heard the same voice again, and she gave up the task in despair. When her son came home he asked her if cooked and he was informed that it had not

the fish had been

even been cut up for the cooking-pot. He then took up the fish in order to slice it up and he too heard the same strange message. After holding a consultation with his mother the shepherd used his knife cautiously and as a result a male child was found in the belly of the fish. The strange child was carefully preserved and was brought up on goat's milk. The boy grew up and one day the shephered approached the King and said :-" Sire, the herds have become too large for me and I must have some one to assist me in tending them. With your royal permission I will get my maternal uncle's son to help me in tending the palace cattle". So saying he went and fetched, not his maternal uncle's son, but the boy who had been so strangely recovered from the fish's belly. While looking after the cattle the shepherd's assistant killed many birds every day and brought them home. The King's men noticed this and said to the shepherd: "How is it that you have become such a crack shot?" The shepherd replied "The credit is due to my young cousin and not to me. His aim is indeed unerring."

There stood, as has been already said, a tall kadam tree in the court-yard of the royal palace, and a single fruit hung from one of its topmost branches. The King issued a proclamation to say that anyone who could knock off the fruit with an ironshafted arrow at the first shot would become his son-in-law and receive half the kingdom as dower. Princes and men of high degree flocked in from far and near and made the attempt, but all failed signally. At last the shepherd's assistant stepped forward to make the attempt and he dropped the fruit with his first shot. The King proceeded to fulfil his promise. The princess who had been fraudulently taken possession of by the crafty barber beheld the young archer and said "This indeed is my real husband; and not this fellow who is a barber and who cannot even bend my husband's bow." The fraud having been detected the King ordered the barber to measure the depth of the well which stood in the royal court-yard, and as the man was stooping forward, craning his neck into the well he was pushed into it and killed. The young man who was the potter's son, was

united once more to the royal princess and obtained half the kingdom as a wedding gift.

27-A STORY OF CANNIBALISM.

In ancient times there was a

lived as hunters and

married couple who

had a family of seven sons and one daughter. The young men were experts in the use of the bow and arrow. Their sister had been given in marriage to a farmer in a distant village where she lived with her husband. After a long time she expressed a desire to see her parents and obtained her husband's permission for the purpose. When she came to her father's house she was asked to prepare food for the family and she did this very willingly. It happened one day that while she was cutting up greens (māni a,) she accidentally cut her finger so that the blood from the wound got mixed up with the vegetables which she cooked. Her brothers came back from the hunting field with a good bag of game which she cooked also. When the brothers fell to they found that the māni ā surpassed in flavour all the dishes which had been served and they were all very eager to know what made the common vegetables taste so very sweet. They pressed their sister hard and at last'she told them the whole truth. The young men began to ponder how unspeakably sweet their sister's flesh must be if a small particle of her blood had sufficed to impart so rich a flavour to the pot-herbs she had cooked for them. They made up their mind to kill her and eat her up. One day they proposed to their parents that they would escort her to her husband's home, and the necessary permission having been obtained they took her into a great forest. When it was night they placed their sister on a tree and they slept under it. The brothers got ready in the morning to shoot her. She knew what was passing in their mind and she sang, a song which ran thus:

"Listen, O Karat fruit to a tale of woe,

There are seven brothers

Who want to kill their only sister

May all their arrows miss her. "

The first six arrows aimed in succession by her six brothers went astray and she repeated the song each time. It was now the youngest brother's turn to shoot. He alone amongst the brothers was unwilling to take his sister's life, but he was bullied into conformity by his elder brothers who threatened to kill him. So with tears in his eyes he took up his bow and arrow and just then his sister sang :

"Were he to miss me

He would lose his life.
O Karat fruit to you I pray

That his aim may unerring prove."

The young man took no aim and wanted to miss but the arrow found its mark and his sister dropped dead.

The six brothers took out their knives and other cutting instruments and dressed the meat and all of them with the exception of the youngest brother, who was weeping in silence got ready to eat the cooked meat. On being asked to eat the youngest brother replied that he wanted to have his bath before eating and he went down to a river and there he caught fish and crabs and roasted them and brought them with him. When he came back he was called upon by his brothers to eat in their company. But he earnestly requested his brothers to allow him to eat at a little distance as was his wont. They allowed him to do so and he took the cooked meat to a place near an ant-hill where he put it in a hole and proceeded to eat the crabs while his brothers were gnawing at the bones and to eat the fishes when they were munching the meat so as not to arouse suspicion. After this they all came back to their house and told their parents that they had seen their sister home. The deceased's husband now saw that it was a long time she had left his home and he set out to bring her back. On the way he saw a Karāt tree standing on top of a little ant-hill. Needless to say that the tree had sprung from the meat which the woman's youngest brother had dumped into a hole at that very spot. There was a fruit on the tree. The man felt tempted to pluck the fruit. He saw that it was so

near that he could easily pluck it. But as he drew nearer and nearer it rose higher and higher and eluded his grasp. He tried his utmost to get it but he did not succeed. At last he heard a voice which told him that he would only succeed in getting the fruit if the tree were cut down by his youngest brother-in-law whose name was Kundra. Then he went on to his father-in-law's house. His brother-in-law gave him water to wash his feet with but he did not take it. They offered him a seat but this he refused. They offered him food and drink but these also he rejected. At last on being pressed for an explanation he said that he would not accept anything unless and until he had secured the Karat fruit which could only be obtained if the tree were cut down by Kundra. Kundra was accordingly asked to comply with his request. He began to cut the tree and just then the strains of a song were heard :—

"With a tender hand, cut thou the tree, my brother dear; Gently let it fall that no harm to me may come."

Kundra used his axe gently and when the tree had been felled he found his sister hidden away snugly in its hollow trunk. She went first to her father's house and after disclosing the whole secret she returned with her husband to her own house.

28. A FLOWER NYMPH.

In olden days there were two brothers who had a house to live in but were without any lands to cultivate. They lived on roots and fruits for which they went every day into the jungles. One day the elder brother went in search of water and he found a tank on the bank of which there was a Guṛndai tree with a single very lovely flower. He was so pleased with it that he plucked it and bro ught it home and kept it safely. Next day both the brothers went away as usual in search of edible roots and fruits. When they came back they saw to their surprise that their rice, pulse and curry were lying ready cooked by some mysterious agency. They ate the food and went to bed. Next day they went again into the jungles for roots and fruits and when they came back they found their dinner ready as before. Their curiosity was piqued and they resolved to find