sts in it, but
whenever they came the bulbul sent them away, saying, "This fruit is
not good. Don't come here." One day a cuckoo came and said, "Why do
you send us away? Why should we not come and sit here too? All the
trees here are not yours." "Never mind," said the bulbul, "I am going
to sit here, and when this fruit is ripe, I shall eat it." Now the
cuckoo knew that this tree was the cotton-tree, but the bulbul did
not. First comes the bud, which the bulbul thought a fruit, then the
flower, and the flower becomes a big pod, and the pod bursts and all
the cotton flies away. The bulbul was delighted when he saw the
beautiful red flower, which he still thought a fruit, and said, "When
it is ripe, it will be a delicious fruit." The flower became a pod,
and the pod burst. "What is all this that is flying about?" said the
bulbul. "The fruit must be ripe now." So he looked into the pod, and
it was empty; all the cotton had fallen out. Then the cuckoo came and
said to the angry bulbul, "You see if you had allowed us to come and
sit on the tree, you would have had something good to eat; but as you
were selfish, and would not let any one share with you, God is angry
and has punished you by giving you a hollow fruit." Then the cuckoo
called all the other birds, and they came and mocked the bulbul. "Ah!
you see God has punished you for your selfishness," they said. The
bulbul got very angry and all the birds went away. After they had
gone, the bulbul said to the tree, "You are a bad tree. You are of use
to no one. You give food to no one." The tree said, "You are mistaken.
God made me what I am. My flower is given to sheep to eat. My cotton
makes pillows and mattresses for man."

Since that day no bulbul goes near a cotton-tree.

Told by Dunkni.

[Decoration]

[Decoration]

X.

THE MONKEY PRINCE.

Once upon a time there was a Raja called Jabhu Raja, and he had a
great many wives; at least he had seven wives, but he had no children.
Although he had married seven wives, not one of them had given him a
child. At this he was greatly vexed and said, "I have married seven
wives, and not one of them has given me a child." And he got very
angry with God: he said, "Why does not God give me any children? I
will go into the jungle and die by myself." The Ranis coaxed him to
stay, but he wouldn't; he would go out into the jungle.

So he went out into the jungle very far, and God sent him an old fakir
leaning on a st