the swift boatmen who have
been called by the princesses?"

The king gave seven days in which his daughters were to prepare for the
race, and during that time the shouting of the various crews as they
practised on the lake was heard from early morning till the sun dropped
behind the mountains, but only six boats were seen.

The race was to take place on a lake at the outskirts of the city, and
on the morning of the seventh day, when the six princesses took their
stations they were surprised to see that there was a seventh boat there,
but they did not know that it was a magic boat sent by the Lord Sa Kyah
from the _hpea_ country, and that the sixteen rowers were not men, but
_hpeas_.

The course was over a thousand cubits to a post, around it, and return,
and so fast did the magic boat glide through the water that it had
covered the entire distance and the captain had laid the flag at the
king's feet before any of the other boats had reached the first pole
that showed half the distance.

But something even more wonderful than that had taken place. During the
race, the time set apart during which the son of Myeh Khit was to have
the form of a frog had expired, and, lo! he was now the most handsome
man in all the hill and water country. He had a crown of gold upon his
head, and the magic white clothes such as only _hpeas_ wear were on his
person. His wife was clothed in as beautiful a manner, and the king, at
last seeing the mistake he had made in treating him so badly, knelt on
the shore and asked: "Which lord is the son of his slave?" by which he
meant, which of the lords was the one to whom he had given his daughter.

But the Lord Khit, as he was now called, did not take a mean revenge on
his unkind brothers and sisters, and when they came on their knees
begging for their lives, and asking the privilege of being his slaves,
he took compassion on them, and instead of ordering them to immediate
execution, made them his _amats_.

This is why the Shans who live in the hill and water country worship Sau
Maha Khit.

[1] "'A Laung,' one who is progressing toward a divine state; an
incipient deity."--_Cushing's "Shan Dictionary," p. 586._

HOW BOH HAN ME GOT HIS TITLE.

Boh Han Me was one of the greatest generals who ever lived in the hill
and water country. Just what his original name was nobody knows now, but
this story tells how he gained his title.

One day he went into the jungle with his wife and his t