ht and
executed? How that the tigers at the entering in of the villages will
not now eat oxen but wait till one of my men is tied up for them? I
tell thee they have not long to wait either. Art thou not afraid?"

"Ah, our lord," replied the king, "thy disciples suffered because they
did not take heed and follow in the footsteps of our lord, therefore
have they arrived at destruction; but thy servant will study thee, O
payah, and thus will I learn how to become a great _boh_ and also to
escape their fate."

Now when the king talked in this fashion the _boh_ was very pleased with
him, and gave him permission to follow. He also promised to teach his
new disciple all his arts; that he would not let him ever be caught and
would make him as famous a _boh_ even as he was. "And so," said he, "as
thou hast a sword with thee, follow me. I will give thee thy first
lesson."

Now it happened that as they walked along toward the city the thief
began to think within himself, "Who can this new disciple be? He surely
comes from a high family, for he speaks not like the common people, but
as kings have a custom of speaking. He wears the clothes of a common
man, and carries the sword of a coolie, but yet his words are the words
of one used to command. Can he be a spy sent by the _amat_ whom I
tricked so nicely the other day, I wonder?" and thus he turned it over
and over in his mind.

The _hpeas_ have ever aided the kings of Burma, and now those whom the
king had been in the habit of feeding daily were watching over him, and
when they heard the _boh_ thus talk with himself, for the spirits can
hear us think even when we make no sounds of words, they put it into
the head of the robber to go to the house of the king's own astrologer.
It was not very far and they soon arrived there. Then Maung Lek Byah
said to the king:

"Stay thou here and watch; if thou dost see or hear aught come and call
me," but he himself went under the house of the astrologer to discover
whether he slept or not. When he knew that the man was sound asleep he
would draw a sharp knife which he carried in his girdle, cut a hole in
the mat side of the house, creep in through this hole and take what he
wished; then he would escape before the lord of the house awoke.

As he was watching, however, he heard the astrologer come out upon the
veranda so that he could study the stars, for that was his custom; then
he heard him say to himself:

"Truly this is a good thing