ther his brother would be swept ashore in some
shallow place; but although he ran till he was exhausted and then
traveled for many days by the side of the river through the jungle, he
could discover no trace of his lost brother.
Swiftly down the stream his brother was carried. He tried to swim first
to one bank and then to the other as the current swept him along, but in
vain. At last he gave up trying. Nobody knows just how long he was in
the water, but for many days he floated, and when he was on the point of
dying from exhaustion, cold, and hunger, his feet touched bottom, and,
more dead than alive, he crawled up the bank to dry land.
He found that he had landed near a garden, and, on climbing over the
wall, he discovered that it belonged to the king. He was too tired to
climb back again, however, so sank on the ground and the next instant
fell asleep from sheer weariness.
Now it happened that the king of that country had just died, and his
_amats_ had taken out the royal chariot and were drawing it around the
city looking for the proper person to become king. As they went along
they saw this young man sleeping in the royal garden with his magic bow
beside him. He had come from nobody knew where. He was so strong that
the river even could not kill him. Above all, he had a wonderful magic
bow which none of the _amats_ or nobles could bend, so they came to the
conclusion that he indeed was the man who should be king of the country,
and he was crowned with great pomp and magnificence.
The other brother had been left standing on the bridge when the elder
fell into the water, as we have said, and for many days he followed the
river bank till he too arrived in a far country. It was a very strange
country. There were no men there, only monkeys, but they were the very
cleverest monkeys that ever lived, and were ruled over by a _nang me
prah_, that is, a queen, just as men are ruled. This queen of the
monkeys fell in love with the Chinaman and married him, so that he
became king of Monkey Land. They built a palace for him on the top of
the highest tree in the jungle. Every seventh day they brought him food.
Some brought plantains, some mangoes, some rice, and some fish fresh
caught in the river.
The elder brother had now been king of the country where he had landed
for some years, and one day he remembered his younger brother, whom he
had left standing on the broken bridge with the sword in his hand. He
therefore ca
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