wn to
the garden, but they flew high up into the sky, and then they came
down again. So this went on, day after day, until she got so cross she
ordered the tree to be cut down. But it was of no use. The tree was
cut down, but the fruits flew high up into the sky, and in the night
the tree grew up again and the fruits came back again to it. And so
this went on for many days. Every day she cut down the tree, and every
night it grew up again, but she could never get the fruits. At last
she became very angry, and had the tree hewn into tiny bits and all
the bits thrown away, but still the tree grew again in the night, and
in the morning the fruits were hanging on it. So she went to the Raja
and told him that in the garden was a tree with two fruits, and every
time she tried to get them, the fruits went up into the air. She had
had the tree cut down ever so many times, and it always grew up again
in the night and the fruits returned to it. "Why cannot you leave the
tree alone?" said the Raja. "But I should like to see if what you say
is true." So the Raja and the Rani went down to the garden, and the
Rani tried to get the fruits, but she could not, for they went right
up into the air.

That evening the Raja went alone to the garden to gather the fruits,
and the fruits of themselves fell into his hand. He took them into his
room, and putting them on a little table close to his bed, he lay down
to sleep. As soon as he was in bed a little voice inside one of the
fruits said, "Brother;" and a little voice in the other fruit said,
"Sister, speak more gently. To-morrow the Raja will break open the
fruits, and if the Rani finds us she will kill us. Three times has God
made us alive again, but if we die a fourth time he will bring us to
life no more." The Raja listened and said, "I will break them open in
a little while." Then he went to sleep, and after a little he woke and
said, "A little while longer," and went to sleep again. Several times
he woke up and said, "I will break the fruits open in a little while,"
and went to sleep. At last he took a knife and began cutting the
fruits open very fast, and the little boy cried, "Gently, gently,
father; you hurt us!" So then the Raja cut more gently, and he stopped
to ask, "Are you hurt?" and they said, "No." And then he cut again and
asked, "Are you hurt?" and they said, "No." And a third time he asked,
"Are you hurt?" and they answered, "No." Then the fruits broke open
and his two ch