sk anything
about us in return;'? it is right now for me to ask how you are
getting on" and so saying he proceeded in his turn to put the same
questions and to receive the same answers.

Then they went out and bathed and came back and had some curds and rice
and sat for a while smoking their hookahs. Then a goat was killed and
cooked and they had a grand feast. But the Raja did not forget about
the _bati_, and he took his daughter aside and told her to sound her
mother-in-law about it. She brought back a message that if he wanted
anything he should ask for it himself. So he went very shamefacedly
to his host and told him that be must he leaving: "Well, good-bye, are
you sure you only came to pay us a visit and had no other object?" The
Raja seized the opening that this reply gave him and said "Yes, I had
something in my mind; we are so poor now that we have not even a brass
cup to drink out of, and I hoped that you would give me one of yours."

"My dear Sir, you say that you have gourds to drink but of: we have
not even that; we have to go down to the stream and drink out of our
hands; I certainly cannot give you a _bati._" At this rebuff the poor
Raja got up and went away feeling very angry at the manner in which
he had been treated.

When he reached home the Raja vowed that he would not even live in the
neighbourhood of such faithless friends so he went with all his family
to a far country. In their new home his luck changed and he prospered
so much that in a few years he became the Raja of the country.

Meanwhile the other Raja--the father-in-law,--fell into such poverty
that he and his family had to beg for their living.

The first Raja heard about this and made a plan to attract them to the
place where he lived. He ordered a great tank to be dug and promised
the workers one pice for each basket of earth they removed. This
liberal wage attracted labourers from all sides; they came in such
numbers that they looked like ants working and among them came the
father-in-law and his family and asked the Raja for work. The Raja
recognised them at once though they did not know him; at first the
sight of their distress pleased him but then he reflected that if he
cherished anger Chando would be angry with him, so he decided to treat
them well and invited them to his palace. The poor creatures thought
that they were probably doomed for sacrifice but could only do as
they were bid. Great was their amazement when they were