said he would for one thousand rupees. That night the
fisherman, the Maharaja, and the doorkeeper, all waited under the
tree. Soon the bird came, and asked after the Maharaja, after his
children, and all his servants and elephants, and camels and horses,
and then after the doorkeeper, and then it called the Maharaja a fool.
Then it cried, and then it laughed, and just as it laughed the
fisherman threw the net over the bird and caught it. Then they shut it
up in an iron cage, and the next morning the Maharaja took it out and
stroked it, and said, "What a sweet little bird! what a lovely little
bird!" And the Maharaja felt something like a pin in its head, and he
gave a pull, and out came the pin, and then his own dear wife, the
Pomegranate-flower Rani, stood before him. The Raja was exceedingly
glad, and so were his two children. And there were great rejoicings,
and they lived happily ever after.

Told by Dunkni at Simla, 26th July, 1876.

[Decoration]

III.

THE CAT AND THE DOG.

_Introduction._

Now all cats are aunts to the tigers, and the cat in this story was
the aunt of the tiger in this story. She was his mother's sister. When
the tiger's mother was dying, she called the cat to her, and taking
her paw she said, "When I am dead you must take care of my child." The
cat answered, "Very well," and then the tiger's mother died. The tiger
said to the cat, "Aunt, I am very hungry. Go and fetch some fire. When
I go to ask men for fire they are afraid of me, and run away from me,
and won't give me any. But you are such a little creature that men are
not afraid of you, and so they will give you fire, and then you must
bring it to me." So the cat said, "Very good," and off she started,
and went into a house where some men were eating their dinner: they
had thrown away the bones, and the cat began to eat them. This house
was very near the place where the tiger lived, and on peeping round
the corner he saw his aunt eating the bones. "Oh," said he, "I sent my
aunt to fetch fire that I might cook my dinner as I am very hungry,
and there she sits eating the bones, and never thinks of me." So the
tiger called out, "Aunt, I sent you to fetch fire, and there you sit
eating bones and leave me hungry! If ever you come near me again, I
will kill you at once." So the cat ran away screaming, "I will never
go near the tiger again, for he will kill me!" This is why all cats
are so afraid of tigers, or of anything like a