his spear in his hand, and then he stopped and
gazed below him.

'This MUST be the real Nunda,' thought he. 'My mother told me its ears
were small, and this one's are small. She told me it was broad and not
long, and this is broad and not long. She told me it had spots like a
civet-cat, and this has spots like a civet-cat.'

Then he left the Nunda lying asleep at the foot of the mountain, and
went back to his slaves.

'We will feast to-day,' he said; 'make cakes of batter, and bring
water,' and they ate and drank. And when they had finished he bade them
hide the rest of the food in the thicket, that if they slew the Nunda
they might return and eat and sleep before going back to the town. And
the slaves did as he bade them.

It was now afternoon, and the lad said: 'It is time we went after the
Nunda.' And they went till they reached the bottom and came to a great
forest which lay between them and the Nunda.

Here the lad stopped, and ordered every slave that wore two cloths to
cast one away and tuck up the other between his legs. 'For,' said he,
'the wood is not a little one. Perhaps we may be caught by the thorns,
or perhaps we may have to run before the Nunda, and the cloth might bind
our legs, and cause us to fall before it.'

And they answered, 'Good, master,' and did as he bade them. Then they
crawled on their hands and knees to where the Nunda lay asleep.

Noiselessly they crept along till they were quite close to it; then, at
a sign from the boy, they threw their spears. The Nunda did not stir:
the spears had done their work, but a great fear seized them all, and
they ran away and climbed the mountain.

The sun was setting when they reached the top, and glad they were to
take out the fruit and the cakes and the water which they had hidden
away, and sit down and rest themselves. And after they had eaten and
were filled, they lay down and slept till morning.

When the dawn broke they rose up and cooked more rice, and drank more
water. After that they walked all round the back of the mountain to the
place where they had left the Nunda, and they saw it stretched out where
they had found it, stiff and dead. And they took it up and carried it
back to the town, singing as they went, 'He has killed the Nunda, the
eater of people.'

And when his father heard the news, and that his son was come, and was
bringing the Nunda with him, he felt that the man did not dwell on the
earth whose joy was greater than his.