unfinished. It was on account of this that I thought of you." Then the rats went, and having dug it out that night, finished it and handed it over, and went away.

The Prince having been in the travellers' shed until it became light, took the mat and went to the widow-mother. He gave her one masurama and said, "Here, mother, this is given for the articles I obtained. Bring things for you and me, and in order that I may go and get something today also, quickly cook and give me a little rice." The old woman speedily cooked and gave it. The Prince having eaten it, during the whole day walked round about the city.

At night he went along the tunnel to the upper story where the Princess was. Having gone there, when he thought of looking in the direction of the Princess he could not through diffidence, it is said. The Princess was asleep on the glass bed; a lamp shone brightly.

After that, the Prince having rubbed soap in the water which was ready for the Glass Princess, and washed in it, and eaten half the rice that was set on the table, and having eaten a mouthful of betel that was in the betel box, left the room without speaking, and went away after closing the opening through which he had come.

The Princess arose at about eight, and having gone to bathe in the water, when she looked at it saw that soap had been rubbed in the water, and some one had washed in it. Then she went to the table on which was the rice, and when she looked half the rice had been eaten. So the Princess having returned without eating the rice, lay down and thought, "A much cleverer person than I, indeed, has done this work. Except a deity, no man can come to the place where I am staying. I shall seize that thief to-morrow." Having thought that, she went to sleep.

The Prince having come away, and having been asleep in the travellers' shed, in the day-time went to the old woman and ate. Then having returned to the tunnel and slept there, he went that night also, and washed in the water and ate, and came away. That night, also, the Princess being asleep was unable to seize him.

The Prince came back, and having slept that night, also,

at the travellers' shed, in the day time asked the old woman for rice and ate it. Then he returned to the tunnel, and after sleeping in it, at about twelve went and washed in the water, and ate the rice. After eating betel he came away. The Princess being asleep on that night also, was unable to seize him.

After that, what does the Princess do? At night, pricking her finger with a needle, and rubbing lime-juice in the place, she remained awake blowing it [on account of the smarting]. That night, also, the Prince went. The Princess having seen the Prince enter, took a sword in her hand, after awaking as though she had been asleep. Having seen that the figure of the Prince was beautiful, and being pleased with it, she closed her eyelids, pretending to be asleep.

The Prince knew very well that the Princess was awake. Now, as on other nights, he went looking on the ground, and having soaped himself, washed himself in the water. Then having come to the table, he ate the rice. While he was eating it, the Princess, taking the sword, arose, and having come towards him, asked, "Who are you?"

The Prince asked, "Who are you?"

The Princess said, "I am she whom they call the Glass Princess."

Then the Prince also said, "I am he whom they call the youngest Prince of the King of such and such a city."

After that, the Prince and Princess ate the food, and having talked much, the Princess asked, "For what purpose have you come ?

The Prince replied, "I have not come for anything else but to take you away."

The Princess said, “Our hiding and going off would not be proper. Here, put away this jewelled ring and lock of hair. To-morrow morning, having gone to our father the King, say, 'I have come to marry your Princess.' "Then saying, 'It is good,' he will boil a cauldron of water and give you it, and tell you to bathe in it. And he will show you an iron tree, and tell you to saw it. When he has given you the water, put this jewelled ring in the water and bathe; it will be like cold water. When he has shown you

the iron tree, pull this lock of hair across it; then it will saw it in two. After that, we two having been married, let us go to your city."

Then taking the ring and the lock of hair, the Prince went back to the travellers' shed.

Next day, the Prince in the very manner the Princess told him, came and spoke to the King. The King said, "It is good," and gave him those two tasks. The Prince performed both the tasks.

After that, the King, being pleased, publicly notified the celebration of their marriage, and said, "If you wish to live here, stay here; if you wish to go, summon the Princess [to accompany you] and go." Afterwards, having performed the marriage ceremony, he called the Princess, and went to the place where that Cobra was staying.

There she applied the medicine to the Cobra's ulcer, and it healed. The Cobra, being pleased, gave the two persons a hidden treasure consisting of gold, silver, pearls, and gems. After that, they went to the Prince's city.

Thus, by bringing this Princess the Prince had two Princesses. The King, the Prince's father, was pleased because the Prince who went as the offering and the Princess had got married, and had returned. Having eaten the marriage feast they remained there.

When those six elder brothers looked they saw that their Princesses were not so beautiful as the Glass Princess. Because of it, the six persons spoke together about killing the youngest Prince and taking the Glass Princess; and they tried to kill the Prince. The Glass Princess, knowing of it, told that Prince, and the two Princesses and the Prince set off to go to another King.

While they were going in the midst of a forest, the Vaedda King who dwelt in that forest saw this Glass Princess. In order to take possession of the Princess, he seized the three persons, and having put them in a house, prepared to kill the Prince.

So the Glass Princess, knowing this, became a mare, and placing the Prince on her back, and telling the other Princess to hang by her tail, went through the sky, and descended

near another city. Having gone to the city and taken labourers, they engaged in rice cultivation. When they had been there a little while the King of the city died.

After his death they decorated the royal tusk elephant, and set off with it in search of a new King. While they were going along taking it through the streets, the elephant went and knelt near this Prince. Then all the men having made obeisance, and caused the Prince to bathe, placing the Prince and the two Queens on the back of the elephant, went and stopped at the palace, and he became King.

When he had been ruling a little time, there was no rain at the city of the King the Prince's father, and that country became abandoned. Those six Princes and their six Queens, and his father the King, and his mother, all these persons, being reduced to poverty, came to an almshouse which this King had established, bringing firewood to sell.

There this King having seen them, recognising them, came back after summoning his father the King, and his mother, to the palace. He told them, "Because those six elder brothers and their six Queens tried to kill me in order that my elder brothers might seize and carry off the Glass Princess, I came away from the city, and was seized by a Vaedda King, but I escaped and came here." Then saying, "There is the place where I was cultivating rice. Go there, and cultivate rice and eat," he sent the brothers to that place. Having sent them, he gave them this advice: "For the crime that you tried to commit by killing me, that has befallen you. Therefore behave well now."

After that, his father the King, his mother the Queen, the King and the two Queens, those five persons, remained at the palace.

North-central Province.

Although the whole story apparently has not been found in India, several of the incidents in it occur in Indian folk-tales.

I have not met with the marriage to the sword in them, but in The Indian Antiquary, vol. xx, p. 423, it is stated by Mr. Prendergast that in southern India, among two Telugu castes, "the custom of sending a sword to represent an unavoidably absent bridegroom at

F

a wedding is not uncommon. It is considered allowable among

other Hindus also."

In The Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (called by the translator, Pandita Naţēša Sastri, The Dravidian Nights), p. 43, the Kings of Mathurāpuri and Vijayanagaram caused the portraits of their respective son and daughter to be painted, and sent envoys with them in search of royal persons resembling them. The envoys met at a river, exchanged pictures there, and returned to their masters, who were satisfied with the portraits, and caused the wedding of the Prince and Princess to be celebrated at the latter's home, Vijayanagaram.

In the same work, p. 12, a Prince in the form of a parrot, which was confined in a cage in the sleeping apartment of a Princess, on two successive nights resumed his human form, and smeared sandal and scent over the Princess while she slept, and then became a parrot once more. On the third night she was awake, and he told her his history.

At page 103, also, the King of Udayagiri, father of a Prince who had run off when about to be beheaded, having been deprived of his kingdom by the King of the Oṭṭa country, was reduced to selling firewood for a living, together with his wife and six sons. They came for this purpose to the city over which the Prince had become sovereign, and were discovered by him and provided for.

In the Katha Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 93, a thief gained access to the bedroom of a Princess by means of a tunnel.

In Indian Fairy Tales (Thornhill), p. 122 ff., a Prince, riding a magical wooden horse, visited a Princess nightly while she was asleep, and pricking his arm each night, wrote "I love you," in blood on her handkerchief. Although she tried to keep awake, for six nights after the first one she was asleep when he came. On the next night she scratched her finger with a needle and rubbed salt into the wound, so that the pain might keep her awake. When he entered the room she started up and inquired who he was, and how and why he had come.

In Indian Fairy Tales, Ganges Valley (Stokes), p. 163, the cutting of the tree trunk with the hair of the Princess occurs.

In the Panchatantra (Dubois), an elephant released rats when caught and imprisoned in earthen pots, and the rats in their turn served him by filling up with earth the pit in which he had fallen. In the Katha Sarit Sāgara, p. 360 ff., a Rākshasa King gave three tasks to the Prince who wished to marry his daughter. She assisted him by means of her magical powers, and he accomplished them successfully.