ry evening. "That must be
he," thought the crow; and very soon he was hovering above the deer,
who had been caught in a net and was struggling in vain to get free.

The poor deer was very glad indeed to see the crow, and cried to
him in a piteous voice: "Be quick, be quick, and help me, before the
terrible hunters find me and kill me."

"I can do nothing for you myself," said the crow, "but I know who
can. Remember who saved the pigeons!" And away he flew to fetch
little Hiranya, who with the tortoise was anxiously awaiting his
return. Very soon Laghupatin was back by the river-side with the
little mouse in his beak; and it did not take long for Hiranya, who
had been despised by the deer and the tortoise as a feeble little
thing, to nibble through the cords and save the life of the animal
a hundred times as big as himself.

How happy the deer was when the cruel cords were loosed and he could
stretch out his limbs again! He bounded up, but took great care not
to crush the mouse, who had done him such a service. "Never, never,
never," he said, "shall I forget what you have done for me. Ask
anything in my power, and I will do it."

"I want nothing," said Hixanya, "except the joyful thought of having
saved you."

By this time the tortoise had crept to the river-bank, and he too was
glad that the deer had been saved. He praised the mouse, and declared
that he would never again look down upon him. Then the four started
to go back to their usual haunt in the forest; the deer, the crow,
and the mouse soon arriving there quite safely, whilst the tortoise,
who could only get along very slowly, lagged behind. Now came the
time for him to find out that armour was not the only thing needed
to save him from danger. He had not got very far from the riverbank
before the cruel hunter who had set the net to catch the deer, came
to see if he had succeeded. Great was his rage when he found the net
lying on the ground, but not exactly where he had left it. He guessed
at once that some animal had been caught in it and escaped after a
long struggle. He looked carefully about and noticed that the cords
had been bitten through here and there. So he suspected just what
had happened, and began to search about for any creature who could
have done the mischief.

There was not a sign of the mouse, but the slow-moving tortoise was
soon discovered, and pouncing down upon him, the hunter rolled him up
in another net he had with him, and carried