n the
snake maiden fetched him back and restored him to his own form. But
again the Raja's son went out to the south-west and there he saw
golden monkeys dancing under a banyan tree, and when he saw them he
became a golden monkey; again the snake maiden brought him back and
restored him to human shape.

After this the Raja's son said that it was time for him to go back
home. The snake maiden asked why he had come there at all, and then
he told her all about the Raja's dream and said that as he had found
the animals he would now go home.

"Kill me first" said the snake maiden; "you have killed my parents
and I cannot live alone here." "No, I will not kill you, I will take
you with me" answered the Raja's son, and the snake maiden gladly
agreed. Then the Raja's son asked how he was to take the golden animals
with him, for so far he had only seen where they were. The snake
maiden said that if he faithfully promised never to desert her, nor
take another wife, she would produce the animals for him when the time
came. So he swore never to leave her and they set out for his home.

When they reached the place where the third Gosain lived, the Raja's
son said that he had promised to visit the Gosain on his homeward
journey and show him the golden animals; but he did not know what
to do, as he had not got the animals with him. Then the snake maiden
tied three knots in his cloth and bade him untie them when the Gosain
asked to see the animals. So the Raja's son went to see the Gosain,
and the Gosain asked whether he had brought the golden leopard and
snake and monkey.

"I am not sure" answered the other, "but I have something tied up in
my cloth," and he untied the three knots and found in them a clod of
earth, a potsherd and a piece of charcoal. He threw them away and went
back to the snake maiden, and asked why she had put worthless rubbish
in his cloth. "You had no faith" said she "if you had believed, the
animals would not have turned into the clod and the potsherd and the
charcoal." So they journeyed on, till they came to the second Gosain,
and he also asked to see the golden animals and this time the Raja's
son set his mind hard to believe and, when he untied the knots, there
were a golden leopard and a golden snake and a golden monkey. Then
they went on and showed the animals to the first Gosain, and then
went to the house where his mother lived.

When the appointed day came, the Raja's son sent word to his father
to