XXV.

Nasr n° 237

THE BEGGAR AND THE FIVE MUFFINS.Best Hart Stories, 1247/

In a certain village there lived a poor beggar andhis wife. The man used to go out every morningwith a clean vessel in his hand, return home withrice enough for the day's meal, and thus they livedon in extreme poverty.

One day a poor Mádhava Brahmin invited thepair to a feast, and among Mádhavas muffins( tôśai)are always a part of the good things on festiveoccasions. So during the feast the beggar and hiswife had their fill of muffins. They were so pleasedwith them, that the woman was extremely anxiousto prepare some muffins in her own house, and beganto save a little rice every day from what her husbandbrought her for the purpose. When enough hadbeen thus collected she begged a poor neighbour'swife to give her a little black pulse which the latter-praised be her charity- readily did. The faces ofthe beggar and his wife literally glowed with joy thatday, for were they not to taste the long- desiredmuffins for a second time?