t them in
running on the road; then they said that they would make him run in
the fields and, if he beat them there, they meant to eat him.

Somai found out their plan and he decided to try and run away; if he
stayed he would be eaten, so if they caught him when he tried to run
away he would be no worse off. So the first day they raced in the
fields Somai was winning but he remembered and stopped himself and
let himself be beaten that day. But he resolved to try and escape the
next day and the Ghorarahas had decided to eat him that day whatever
happened. So when the race began, Somai set off towards the lower lands
where the rice fields were embanked and he jumped the embankments, but
the Ghormuhas who pursued him could not jump well and tumbled and fell;
and thus he ran away to his own country and made good his escape. And
it was he who told men what Ghormuhas are like and how they live.

XXXVI. The Boy Who Learnt Magic.

Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven wives and they were
all childless, and he was very unhappy at having no heir. One day a
Jogi came to the palace begging, and the Raja and his Ranis asked him
whether he could say what should be done in order that they might
have children; the Jogi asked what they would give him if he told
them and they said that they would give him anything that he asked
for and gave him a written bond to this effect. Then the Jogi said
"I will not take elephants or horses or money, but you shall give me
the child which is born first and any born afterwards shall be yours,
do you agree?" And the Ranis consulted together and agreed. "Then,"
said the Jogi, "this is what you must do: you must all go and bathe,
and after bathing you must go to a mango orchard and the Raja must
choose a bunch of seven mangoes and knock it down with his left
hand and catch it in a cloth, without letting it touch the ground;
then you must go home and the Ranis must sit in a row according to
their seniority and the Raja must give them each one of the mangoes
to eat, and he must himself eat the rinds which the Ranis throw away;
and then you will have children." And so saying the Jogi went away
promising to return the next year.

A few days later the Raja decided to give a trial to the Jogi's
prescription and he and the Ranis did as they had been told; but the
Raja did not eat the rind of the youngest Rani's mango; he did not love
her very much. However five or six months after it was se