mes true, however
impossible it may be."

But when Moonlight saw that the king was in his own country, and the
seven days were over, she thought she would fly away like other
fairies. But she could not remember how. Then she became very sad, like
a woman who has been robbed.

And the king said: "Why are you so sad, my dear? Tell me." And the
fairy said: "The curse is over. Yet because I have been bound so long
in the fetters of your love, I have lost my magic arts. I cannot fly."
Then the king thought: "The fairy is really mine," and he was happy and
made a great feast.

When the counsellor Farsight saw this, he went home, and lay down on
his bed, and his heart broke, and he died. Then the king governed the
kingdom himself, and lived for a long time in heavenly happiness with
Moonlight.

When he had told this story, the goblin said: "O King, when the king
was so happy, why should the counsellor's heart break? Was it from
grief because he did not win the fairy himself? Or from sorrow because
the king came back, and he could no longer act as king? If you know and
will not tell me, then you will lose your virtue, and your head will go
flying into a hundred pieces."

And the king said to the goblin: "O magic creature, neither of these
reasons would be possible for a high-minded counsellor. But he thought:
The king used to neglect his duties for the sake of ordinary women.
What will happen now, when he loves a fairy? In spite of all my
efforts, a terrible misfortune has happened.' I think that was why his
heart broke."

Then the magic goblin went back to his tree in a moment. And the king
was still determined to catch him, and went once more to the sissoo
tree.

TWELFTH GOBLIN

_The Brahman who died because Poison from a Snake in the Claws of a Hawk
fell into a Dish of Food given him by a Charitable Woman. Who is to
blame for his death?_

Then the King went back under the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his
shoulder, and started as before. And as he walked along, the goblin
said to him again: "O King, listen to a very condensed story."

There is a city called Benares. In it lived a Brahman named Devaswami,
whom the king honoured. He was very rich, and he had a son named
Hariswami. This son had a wonderful wife, and her name was Beautiful.
No doubt the Creator put together in her the priceless elements of
charm and loveliness after his practice in making the nymphs of heaven.

One night Hariswami was sl