in the
lake.

And now at last the mother of Nang E was chief wife, but do you think
she was satisfied? Not a bit of it. She heard that her rival was now a
tortoise in the lake, and she determined to kill her again.

Some time after this, as Nang Hsen Gaw was in the jungle watching the
cows that belonged to her father, she walked along the edge of the lake
and was very much surprised to hear her own name called in familiar
tones. She looked around, but could see no one, and she was getting very
frightened, thinking that it was perhaps a _hpea_ who wanted to entice
her into the thick jungle so that he could devour her, but at last she
looked on the ground at her feet and saw it was a tortoise that was
speaking to her.

"Nang Hsen Gaw," it called. "My daughter, _oie!_ I am your mother who
was killed through the wicked acts of my rival, the mother of Nang E. I
have arrived at great trouble, and now, instead of being the chief wife
of a rich man, I am nothing but a tortoise swimming in the lake. Take
pity on me, my daughter, and out of compassion every day bring me cotton
thread and raw cotton, so that I can weave and spin."

[Illustration: "'I am nothing but a tortoise swimming in the lake.'"
Page 68.]

Nang Hsen Gaw was a dutiful daughter, and every day when she went to the
jungle she took cotton for her mother to spin, and thread for her to
weave, and daily talked with her, telling her all the gossip of the
village and anything else that she thought her mother would like to
hear.

But the mother of Nang E was on the watch, and thinking it strange that
the girl should take cotton and thread to the jungle every day, and
bring none back with her when she drove the cattle back at night, she
followed her, heard her talking with her mother, and thus found out in
what part of the lake her enemy was, and laid her plan accordingly.

That evening, unknown to her family, while her husband was busy working
in his garden, she went to the house where lived the doctor of the
village, unfolded her plans to him and asked for his help. Being an
unscrupulous man he agreed, took the silver the woman had pilfered from
her husband, and promised to help her. The next day she was taken very
sick and her husband called in the doctor, who told him that the woman
must have a tortoise from the lake near-by. If she boiled and ate it
according to his directions she would get well, if not, she would die.
Having performed his part of the bargai