The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hindu Tales ... - Mandhata Global

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?
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,