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the king, and bring it here : and as he said it, there was a beautiful expression in his eyes, which made the
thief more sorry for what he had done than he would have been if Prasnajit had said, Off with his head! or
had ordered him to be beaten.
19. What do you think is the best way to make wicked people good?
CHAPTER IX. 19
Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit
20. What is the most powerful reason a man or woman or a child can have for trying to be good?
CHAPTER XI.
As soon as the king said, Go at once, the servant started to his feet and hastened away, as eager now to
restore what he had stolen as he had been to hide it. He had put it in another hole in the very depths of the
forest; and it was a long time before he got back to the palace with it, for it was very heavy. He had thought
the king would send some guards with him, to see that he did not run away, and that they would have helped
him to carry the sack full of gold and jewels; but nobody followed him. It was hard work to drag the heavy
load all the way alone; but at last, quite late in the evening, he was back at the palace gates. The soldiers
standing there let him pass without a word, and soon he was once more in the room in which the king had
received him. Prasnajit still sat on his throne, and the attendants still waited behind him, when the thief, so
tired he could hardly stand, once more lay prostrate at the bottom of the steps leading up to the throne, with
the sack beside him. How his heart did beat as he waited for what the king would say! It seemed a very long
time before Prasnajit spoke, though it was only two or three minutes; and when he did, this is what he said,
Go back to your home now, and be a thief no more.
Very, very thankfully the man obeyed, scarcely able to believe that he was free to go and that he was not to be
terribly punished. Never again in the rest of his life did he take what did not belong to him, and he was never
tired of telling his children and his friends of the goodness of the king who had forgiven him.
21. Do you think it would have been better for the thief to have been punished?
22. What lesson did the thief learn from what had happened to him?
CHAPTER XII.
The Brahman, who had spent the time of waiting in prayers that his treasure should be given back to him, and
was still determined that, if it were not, he would starve himself to death, was full of delight when he heard
that it had been found. He hastened to the palace and was taken before the king, who said to him: There is
your treasure. Take it away, and make a better use of it than before. If you lose it again, I shall not try to
recover it for you.
The Brahman, glad as he was to have his money and jewels restored, did not like to be told by the king to
make a better use of them. Besides this he wanted to have the thief punished; and he began talking about that,
instead of thanking Prasnajit and promising to follow his advice. The king looked at him much as he had
looked at the thief and said: The matter is ended so far as I have anything to do with it: go in peace.
The Brahman, who was accustomed to be honoured by every one from the king on his throne to the beggars in
the street, was astonished at the way in which Prasnajit spoke to him. He would have said more, but the king
made a sign to his attendants, two of whom dragged the sack to the entrance of the palace and left it there, so
that there was nothing for the Brahman to do but to take it away with him. Every one who has read this
wonderful story would, of courses like to know what became of him after that, but nothing more is told about
him.
23. Do you think that the Brahman learnt anything from his loss and recovery of his treasure?
24. Was the Brahman more wicked than, the thief or the thief than the Brahman?
25. Do you think the Brahman continued to be a miser for the rest of his life?
CHAPTER XI. 20
Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit
26. What were the chief characteristics of the king that is to say, what sort of man do you think he was?
27. Which of the people who are spoken of in this story do you like and admire most, and which do you
dislike most?
STORY IV. The Magic Shoes and Staff.
CHAPTER I.
Far, far away in a town of India called Chinchini, where in days long gone by the ancient gods in whom the
people believed are said sometimes to have appeared to those who called upon them for help, there lived three
brothers of noble birth, who had never known what it was to want for food, or clothes, or a house to live in.
Each was married to a wife he loved, and for many years they were all as happy as the day was long. Presently
however a great misfortune in which they all shared befell their native country. There was no rain for many,
many weeks; and this is a very serious thing in a hot country like India, because, when it does not rain for a
long time, the ground becomes so parched and hard that nothing can grow in it. The sun is very much stronger
in India than it is in England; and it sent forth its burning rays, drying up all the water in the tanks and
changing what had been, a beautiful country, covered with green crops good for food, into a dreary desert,
where neither men nor animals could get anything to eat. The result of this was that there was a terrible
famine, in which hundreds of people and animals died, little children being the first to suffer.
Now the three brothers, who had none of them any children, got frightened at the state of things, and thought
to themselves, If we do not escape from this dreadful land, we shall die. They said to each other: Let us
flee away from here, and go somewhere where we are sure of being able to get plenty to eat and drink. We
will not take our wives with us; they would only make things worse for us; let us leave them to look after
themselves.
1. What do you think of the behaviour of the three brothers? Was there any excuse for their leaving their
wives behind them?
2. Do you think the wives themselves can have been to blame in any way in the matter?
CHAPTER II.
So the three wives were deserted, and had to manage as best they could without their husbands, who did not
even trouble to wish them goodbye. The wives were at first very sad and lonely, but presently a great joy
came to one of them which made the other two very happy as well. This joy was the birth of a little boy,
whose two aunts loved him almost as much as his mother did. The story does not tell how they all got food
whilst the famine was going on, though it is very evident that they were not starved, for the baby boy grew
fast and was a strong healthy little fellow.
One night all the three wives had the same dream, a very wonderful one, in which the god Siva, who is very
much honoured in India, appeared to them. He told them that, looking down from Heaven, he had noticed how
tenderly they cared for the new-born baby, and that he wished them to call him Putraka. Besides this he
astonished them by adding that, as a reward for the unselfish way in which they had behaved, they would find
one hundred thousand gold pieces under the little child's pillow every morning, and that one day that little
child would be a king.
3. Do you think the three women wanted to be rewarded for loving the baby?
STORY IV. The Magic Shoes and Staff. 21
Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit
4. Is it a good thing to have a great deal of money?
CHAPTER III.
The wonderful dream was fulfilled, and the mother and aunts called the boy Putraka. Every morning they
found the gold pieces under his pillow, and they took care of the money for him, so that when he grew up he
was the very richest man in the whole country. He had a happy childhood and boyhood, his only trouble being
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