nished than the Rajah himself at the miracle which had taken
place. Then the Carpenter's wife turned to her son-in-law, and said,
"It is all very well that you should have made these wooden parrots;
but I don't know where we are to find food for them! Great, strong
parrots like these will eat not less than a pound of rice apiece every
day. Your father-in-law and I cannot afford to procure as much as that
for them in this poor house. If you wish to keep them, you must live
elsewhere, for we cannot provide for you all."

"Very well," said the Rajah; "you shall not have cause to accuse me of
ruining you, for from henceforth I will have a house of my own." So he
and his wife went to live in a house of their own, and he took the
thousand parrots with him, and his mother-in-law gave her daughter
some corn and rice and money to begin housekeeping with. Moreover, he
found that the parrots, instead of being an expense, were the means of
increasing his fortune; for they flew away every morning early to get
food, and spent the whole day out in the fields; and every evening,
when they returned home, each parrot brought in his beak a stalk of
corn or rice, or whatever it had found good to eat. Their master
therefore was regularly supplied with more food than enough; and what
with selling what he did not require, and working at his trade, he
soon became quite a rich carpenter.

After he had been living in this way very happily for some time, one
night, when he fell asleep, the Rajah dreamed a wonderful dream, and
this was the dream:

He thought that very, very far away beyond the Red Sea was a beautiful
kingdom surrounded by seven other seas; and that it belonged to a
Rajah and Ranee who had one lovely daughter, named Panch-Phul Ranee
(the Five Flower Queen), after whom the whole kingdom was called
Panch-Phul Ranee's country; and that this Princess lived in the centre
of her father's kingdom, in a little house round which were seven wide
ditches, and seven great hedges made of spears; and that she was
called Panch-Phul Ranee because she was so light and delicate that she
weighed no more than five white lotus flowers! Moreover, he dreamed
that this Princess had vowed to marry no one who would not cross the
seven seas, and jump the seven ditches and seven hedges made of
spears.

After dreaming this the young Rajah awoke, and feeling much puzzled,
got up, and sitting with his head in his hands, tried to think the
matter over and di