In the evening, the Prince, having eaten food, went onto the platform. Near midnight, while he was there the light fell there. When the Prince looked, the Nāga King of the world of the Nagas, having come there, had ejected from his mouth the Cobra Stone, and having gone far away was eating food [as a cobra].

Then this Prince put the cow-dung winnowing basket on the stone, whereupon the Nāga King came crying out to the water-pot, taking it for the person [who had done it]. The Prince then chopped at him with his sword, and the Nāga King died. After that, taking the Cobra Stone, the Prince washed it with water from the pot, and put it away in the waist pocket of his cloth.

While he was there it became light. Then the King came to see if he had stopped the light. When he looked he saw that the cobra was lying in a heap. The King asked at the hand of the Prince, "Did you stop the light? The Prince said, "Look there! The very one that made the light has been killed there." Afterwards the King gave the Prince an elephant's load of goods, and a district of that kingdom.

Afterwards, the Prince having given to the widow woman all the things that had been given to him, went along the path on which the Naga King had come, to the world of the Nāgas. When he got there, all the three Princesses of the Nāga King whom he had killed were there, sitting in one spot.

The Princesses said to this Prince, "What have you come for? Should our father the King return now he will eat

you."

The Prince saying, "Your father the King cannot come. I have come here after killing your father the King," showed them the Cobra Stone.

Then the Princesses asked, "What have you come here for?"

The Prince said, "I have come on account of a soothsaying, in order to get it explained."

The Princesses asked, "What is the sooth?"

The Prince said, "At the time when our father the King was sleeping, a Golden Tree having sprung up, and a Silver

Flower having blossomed on it, a Silver Cock which was sitting upon the flower crowed."

The three Princesses said, "We cannot explain it here. Let us go to your father the King."

The Prince said "Ha," and the three Princesses and the Prince set off to come to him.

They came to the junction of the three roads at which at first the three Princes separated. Having arrived there they went along the road on which the eldest brother of the Prince had gone, and having met with him the Prince said, "Let us go back, elder brother, these three Princesses will explain the dream"; so they returned. Then they all went along the road on which the next brother had gone, and having found him the Prince said, "Let us go back."

Having summoned him to go with them, those three Princes and the three Princesses, six persons, having met together in this manner, came to the Princes' city. Having arrived there, this youngest Prince caused their father the King to be called. So the King came to them.

Then these three Princesses who had come from the world of the Nāgas said to this youngest Prince, "Cause us three persons to stand at the thread" (that is, to toe the line). So this Prince caused them to stand at the thread.

Then the three Princesses said, " Cut off our three heads at one stroke." So this youngest Prince cut off their three heads at one stroke. Thereupon the Golden Tree was created, and the Silver Flower having blossomed on it, the Silver Cock that was sitting on the top of the flower crowed.

Then this youngest Prince chopped down the Golden Tree with his sword, and the three Princesses came to life again. Having come to life, the three Princesses asked at the hand of the King, the father of the Princes, "Was it thus in the dream that appeared to you?" The King said "Yes." Then the three Princesses told him that they were the Golden Tree, and the Silver Flower, and the Silver Cock.

After that, the three Princesses, having been married to the three Princes, remained there.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

The Cobra King with the gem, a diamond, which he laid down while feeding, and swallowed afterwards, occurs in Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 36. A girl, disguised as a Prince, hung in a tree a large iron trap fitted with knives underneath. Below it she scattered flowers and sweet scents "such as cobras love," and when the Cobra came at night she dropped the trap on him, and killed him. When she went to wash the diamond in the lake, the water on being touched by it rolled aside, and revealed a path which led to the garden at the Cobra's palace. In the garden she found a tree with a silver stem, golden leaves, and clusters of pearls as fruits. In the end, the Cobra's daughter came away with her.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 18, a Cobra rose out of a tank, with a brilliant gem on its hood, which shone like a thousand diamonds," and lit up everything around. The snake put it down and went in search of food, and swallowed the two horses of a Prince and his friend, the son of the Minister, who were belated, and sitting in a tree. While the snake was at some distance, the Minister's son descended, covered the gem with horse dung, and climbed back. The snake rushed to the spot, but could not find the gem, and eventually died. Next morning they descended, washed the gem in water, and saw by its light a palace under the water, in which they found a Princess whom the Prince married.

In the Jātaka story No. 253 (vol. ii, p. 197) we learn that the Nāga King called Mani-Kantha, "Jewel-throat," appears to have kept the gem in his throat. He said—

Rich food and drink in plenty I can have

By means of this fine jewel which you crave.

In the story No. 543 (vol. vi, p. 94), the Nāga gem is mentioned as "the jewel which grants all desires." Nāga youths are described as placing it on a hillock of sand, and "playing all night in the water by its radiance." One on the head of the Nāga King is referred to on p. 97 as being one which, "bright-red like a lady-bird, glows on his head a diadem."

In the Panchatantra (Dubois), three jõgis when killed while eating became three large copper pots filled with gold and valuable jewels. In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 176-Tales of the Punjab (Steel), p. 166-a Princess was brought to life by cutting off, at one blow of the sword, the heads of a pair of ducks.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i., p. 115, in a Bengal story by Mr. G. H. Damant, a King dreamt of a silver tree, with golden branches, diamond leaves, and pearl fruits; peacocks were playing in the branches and eating the fruits. The tree was a girl, imprisoned by Rakshasas. When a Prince cut her in two she became the tree; when he dropped the knife she took her own shape again.

IN

No. 48

The Seven Princesses

N a certain country there are a King and a Queen, it is said; there are seven Princesses [the daughters] of the King. A Prince younger than those seven is born.

The King went to a war, and having gone there the King was defeated in the war. When he returned, the royal food was not made ready for the King. Having arrived, he asked the Queen, “Why did you not prepare the royal food for me?"

Then the Queen said, "I cannot bring up your children, and prepare the royal food for you also."

The King asked, Why? What have the Princesses

done?"

The Queen replied, "They go to the river, and after bathing there come back and rub oil on their heads, and comb their hair, [instead of assisting me to prepare the food]."

On account of that the King settled to behead the seven royal Princesses next day.

The Queen having cooked a bundle of rice and given it to those seven said, "Go to any place you like, or the King will behead you to-morrow."

After that, they went off to the river, and after sitting there and eating the bundle of rice, the seven went away.

Having gone on and on, they went to the house of a Rakshasa. When they got there the Rākshasa was not at home. The seven persons asked for and obtained a resting place from the Rakshasi (female Rakshasa). Then the youngest Princess said, "We have no food; give us something to cook." So the Rakshasi gave them a little paddy. The youngest Princess, taking the paddy, said to the other

six Princesses, "Elder sisters, come and pound this small quantity of paddy." The six persons refused.

After that, the Princess having pounded it, when she went out to winnow it saw that there was a heap of human bones behind the house. The Princess bearing that in mind winnowed it, and returned without speaking about them. Then she called the Princesses to come and cook it; they did not

come.

Afterwards the Princess having cooked, summoned those six persons to eat the rice. The six persons refused. Thereupon the Princess fed the six Princesses [by dividing the rice and giving each one her share of it].

Now, in the evening the seven Princesses went to sleep. There were seven girls at the house, the daughters of the Rakshasa, and the seven wore white clothes. The seven Princesses wore blue clothes. Then the youngest Princess having awoke in the night, took the seven white cloths of the seven Rakshasa girls, and put them on the Princesses, placing the dark cloths of the Princesses on the girls.

The Rakshasa having returned during the night, and having learnt from his wife of the arrival of the Princesses, put one of the girls out of those who wore the dark cloths, in a large cooking-pot, and having boiled her the Rakshasa ate his own daughter.

After seeing this, when the Rakshasa had gone to sleep, the little Princess, awaking those six Princesses, told them about it, and all the Princesses escaped together during the night. Having come to a river they remained there lying on a sandbank.

A King having come that way while they were there, asked, “Are you Yakās or human beings?"

The Princesses asked, " Is it a Yakā or a human being who asks?"

The King replied, “It is indeed a human being who asks, not a Yakā."

Then the Princesses said, "We indeed are human beings, not Yakās," [and they told him how they had escaped from the house of the Rakshasa and had come there].

On hearing this the King said, "Can you go with me?"