mango-tree in the garden, she cut
off a fruit and ate it; and immediately she was more blooming than a
girl of sixteen. This wonder she published everywhere. The king became
acquainted with it, and having called her and seen her, caused the fruit
to be given to other old people. Having seen what was thus done by the
wonderful virtue of the mango, the king exclaimed: "Alas! is the
affectionate magpie killed which gave me this divine tree? How guilty am
I!" and he pierced himself with his sword and died. Therefore (moralises
the story-teller) those who do anything without thought are easily
ruined.[52]

[52] There is a very similar story in the Tamil _Alakesa
Katha_, a tale of a King and his Four Ministers, but the
conclusion is different: the raja permits all his
subjects to partake of the youth-bestowing fruit;--I
wonder whether they are yet alive! A translation of the
romance of the King and his Four Ministers--the first
that has been made into English--will be found in my
_Group of Eastern Romances and Stories_, 1889.

The incident of fruit or food being poisoned by a serpent is of frequent
occurrence in Eastern stories; thus, in the _Book of Sindibad_ a man
sends his slave-girl to fetch milk, with which to feast some guests. As
she was returning with it in an open vessel a stork flew over her,
carrying a snake in its beak; the snake dropped some of its poison into
the milk, and all the guests who partook of it immediately fell down and
died.--The Water of Life and the Tree of Life are the subjects of many
European as well as Asiatic folk-tales. Muslims have a tradition that
Alexander the Great despatched the prophet Al-Khizar (who is often
confounded with Moses and Elias in legends) to procure him some of the
Water of Life. The prophet, after a long and perilous journey, at length
reached this Spring of Everlasting Youth, and, having taken a hearty
draught of its waters, the stream suddenly disappeared--and has, we may
suppose, never been rediscovered. Al-Khizar, they say, still lives, and
occasionally appears to persons whom he desires especially to favour,
and always clothed in a green robe, the emblem of perennial youth. In
Arabic, Khizar signifies _green_.

* * * * *

The faithful and sagacious Parrot having entertained the lady during
fifty-two successive nights, and thereby prevented her from prosecuting
her intended