ar who
killed my husband"--"May I help?"--"It will be kind"--Meets a Snake, who
salutes her with, "Ram! Ram! Whither away?"--Replies as before, and same
thing happens--So with a Scorpion--They arrive at the house of the
Chamar--Wolf hides near the river--Snake under pile of cow-dung
fuel--Scorpion under the lamp--The Sparrow flies up to the eaves and
twitters--Out comes Chamar--Says she, "A friend awaits you near the
river." To the river he goes--Wolf seizes him--His wife goes to the heap
for fuel--Snake bites her--She calls to her son, "Bring the
lamp"--Scorpion stings him--They all die--Hen Sparrow gets another mate,
and lives happily ever after.

It is part of the Faithful Animal cycle (Temple, "Wide-awake Stories,"
412; Clouston, "Popular Tales and Fictions," i. 223 _seqq._). This form
of tale, in which the weaker animal gets the better of its more powerful
oppressor, is common in Indian folk-lore. Compare No. 1 of this
collection.

4.--The Judgment of the Jackal

Told by SHIUDAN CHAMAR, of Chaukiya, Mirzapur.
_N.I.N.Q._ iii. 101.

Merchant puts up at house of Oilman--Oilman ties the horse to his
mill--Next morning Merchant asks for it--He replies, "It has run
away!"--"But what is that horse?"--"My mill gave birth to it in the
night"--Appeal to Siyar Panre, the Jackal--"Go back and I will come"--He
bathes in a tank--Delay--They seek him, and find him sitting by the
tank--"Why did you delay?"--"Too busy; the tank caught fire, and I have
just put it out"--"You are mad; who ever heard of a tank on fire?"--"Who
ever heard of a mill bearing a foal?"--Oilman returns horse.

A parallel may be found in the Buddhist _J[=a]taka_, No. 219 (Cambridge
translation, ii. 129), another Version from the Frontier in Swynnerton's
"Indian Nights' Entertainment," p. 142. Compare Stumme, _Tunisische
Maerchen_, vol. ii., Story of an Oilman.

5.--How the Mouse got into his Hole

Told by BISRAM BANYA and recorded by MAHARAJ SINH,
teacher of the school at Akbarpur, Faizabad district.

6.--King Solomon and the Owl

Told by MUNSHI CHHOTE KHAN, teacher of the village school
at Ant, District Sitapur, Oudh.

[A new legend of the Fall.]

Solomon hunts alone--An Owl asks him to receive him--Solomon asks, "Why
do you hoot all night?"--"To wake men and women early for prayer:
travelling is difficult, for treasure is dearer than life"--"Why do you
shake your head