had long ago died, and
what the buffalo thought were flowers were really ten white jackets and
ten red skirts. But when he had finished his meal he continued his
journey to the wallow, and then with a grunt expressive of great
satisfaction, sinking into the soft mud till only the tips of his horns
and the top of his head were visible, he closed his eyes and enjoyed
himself.

By and by there was a great commotion in the water--shouts, laughter,
and jokes, together with a great splashing. The lazy buffalo opened one
eye and saw ten young girls who were having great fun in the cool water,
throwing it over one another and chasing each other here and there. When
they came to the place where they had left their clothes, however, their
mirth received a sudden check. They had all disappeared! They stood up
to their armpits in the water looking at each other with very long faces
till, spying the buffalo in his mud bath, they approached him, and in
the most courteous language asked him whether he had seen their dresses.

The great beast closed the eye he had opened, and slowly uncovered the
other one, but beyond this took no notice of the maids forlorn. Then,
calling him "Kind Brother Buffalo," they begged him to answer them,
saying that all the people who left the village to go to the bazaar
before the sun had risen would soon be passing on their way home. The
buffalo blew a big cloud of mud and water from his nostrils, but said
never a word.

Now it happened that the youngest of the sparrow's brood, the man, was
in the jungle all the time. He had seen his brother eat up all the
clothes and had heard all the conversation. He had noticed too, that
although all the maidens were beautiful, the youngest was the most
beautiful girl he had ever seen. He saw how straight was her form, how
black was her hair, and that her eyes were the color of the sky when
there are many stars but no moon, and he determined to get her for his
wife. He therefore now approached the party and told them that he could
help them, and that no one besides could tell them where their clothes
were, but that they must promise that the one whom he should pick out
should be his wife.

To this they agreed, and thus it happened that he became possessed of
the most beautiful woman in all the Shan country. So beautiful in fact
was she, that it is said the birds stopped in the middle of a song when
they saw her. The squirrels stopped half-way up the tree in their se