mighty king remembered his promise to the
monk, and at dusk he wrapped his head in a black veil, took his sword
in his hand, and went to the great cemetery without being seen. When he
got there, he looked about, and saw the monk standing under the
fig-tree and making a magic circle. So he went up and said: "Monk, here
I am. Tell me what I am to do for you."

And when the monk saw the king, he was delighted and said: "O King, if
you wish to do me a favour, go south from here some distance all alone,
and you will see a sissoo tree and a dead body hanging from it. Be so
kind as to bring that here."

When the brave king heard this, he agreed, and, true to his promise,
turned south and started. And as he walked with difficulty along the
cemetery road, he came upon the sissoo tree at some distance, and saw a
body hanging on it. So he climbed the tree, cut the rope, and let it
fall to the ground. And as it fell, it unexpectedly cried aloud, as if
alive. Then the king climbed down, and thinking it was alive, he
mercifully rubbed its limbs. Then the body gave a loud laugh.

So the king knew that a goblin lived in it, and said without fear:
"What are you laughing about? Come, let us be off." But then he did not
see the goblin on the ground any longer. And when he looked up, there
he was, hanging in the tree as before. So the king climbed the tree
again, and carefully carried the body down. A brave man's heart is
harder than a diamond, and nothing makes it tremble.

Then he put the body with the goblin in it on his shoulder, and started
off in silence. And as he walked along, the goblin in the body said: "O
King, to amuse the journey, I will tell you a story. Listen."

FIRST GOBLIN

_The Prince's Elopement. Whose fault was the resulting death of his
parents-in-law?_

There is a city called Benares where Shiva lives. It is loved by pious
people like the soil of Mount Kailasa. The river of heaven shines there
like a pearl necklace. And in the city lived a king called Valour who
burned up all his enemies by his valour, as a fire burns a forest. He
had a son named Thunderbolt who broke the pride of the love-god by his
beauty, and the pride of men by his bravery. This prince had a clever
friend, the son of a counsellor.

One day the prince was enjoying himself with his friend hunting, and
went a long distance. And so he came to a great forest. There he saw a
beautiful lake, and being tired, he drank from it with his frien