he
poor man; it made no difference to him, till at last the palace where
the great king lived was the only place whence he had not gotten booty.
Several of his followers were caught and crucified, but that did not
stop his bad actions or frighten him. In the old days, when a robber was
caught he was taken to the jungle where the tigers are. All the tigers
knew the place of execution as well as a dog knows worship days when
the women offer rice and curry at the pagodas. They used to tie the
thieves fast to the cross by their feet, hands, and hair, and when they
had jeered at them and the women and children had pelted them with
stones and beaten them with bamboos, everybody went home and left them
for the tigers to eat, and thus they did to the followers of Maung Lek
Byah, but they could never catch the robber chief himself.

At last the people of Pagan city came to the Amat Loeng, who was next in
rank to the king himself, and said:

"Our lord, for long thy slaves have been in great and sore trouble, and
unless our lord takes pity upon his servants we shall all arrive at
destruction."

"What can I do?" cried the _amat_, in a loud, angry voice, "has he not
stolen from me? Did I not pay him two whole _ticcals_ of pure silver as
protection money no later than the last Water Feast, and yet did he not
rob me as I was coming home in my boat yesternight, and when I told him
that I was the Amat Loeng, did he not laugh in my face and yet rob me
just the same. What can I do?"

"Our lord can go to the Ruler of the Golden Palace and plead for his
slaves," suggested one of the suppliants.

Now, the Amat Loeng was a very cunning man, and he knew that if the king
heard that Boh Lek Byah had stolen so much from his subjects he would be
very angry, and might perhaps even deprive him of his rank as chief
amat, for it was his duty to see that all robbers were caught and
punished, therefore after thinking for a while, he said:

"My friends, listen to me; let us each give silver, as much as we can
afford; it is better to give part of our possessions than to have
everything taken from us. Dost hear? This silver we will give to the
_boh_, and he will then not trouble us any more, but will go to towns
where the people are poorer and cannot afford to give as much as we, the
citizens of this royal city of Pagan; then shall we have peace."

This advice was very good and would have been acted upon, but
unfortunately, one of the little prince