zem ganze Bungkammen, Beistesten,

Chiro I 1584

isol

XIII.

мам 223

THE LOST CAMEL AND OTHER TALES.

FIRST PART.

There was a city called Alakapuri, famous for allthe riches that sea and land can yield, and inhabitedby people speaking different languages. In that cityreigned a king named Alakesa, who was a storehouseof all excellent qualities. He was so just a kingthat during his reign the cow and the tiger amicablyquenched their thirst side by side in the same pond,the cats and the rats sported in one and the samespot, and the kite and the parrot laid their eggs inthe same nest, as though they were" birds of afeather."* The women never deviated from thepath of virtue, and regarded their husbands as gods.

* This kind of statement often occurs in stories in proof ofthe just reign of a monarch. The Hindu idea is that so longas justice and equity characterise a king's rule, even beastsnaturally inimical are disposed to live in friendship. Whentimely rain fails or famine stalks through the land, turning hiseyes from the natural causes, the orthodox Hindu will saythat such a king is now reigning over them unjustly, andhence the calamity.- Translator.