too--Raja's sepoy
asks him why--"Tulsi Das is dead"--Shaves, too--Comrades ask why--Same
thing--Same with the chief of the sepoys--The minister, the raja, all
shave--Queen asks why--Raja tells her--"But who is Tulsi Das?" "A friend
of the minister's"--So the report is traced back to the Washerman, who
says, "He was my Ass."

_N.I.N.Q._, iii. Sec. 104, gives the same tale about an ass named Sobhan
(beautiful): told by Shyam Sundar, village accountant of Dudhi, Mirzapur
district, recorded by Ahmad Ullah. Compare Temple's "Wide-awake
Stories," 'The Death and Burial of poor Hen Sparrow;' Lady Burton's
"Arabian Nights," iii. 228, 'The Unwise Schoolmaster who fell in Love by
Report;' Jacob's "English Fairy Tales," 'Tetty Mouse and Tatty Mouse,'
and _note_, p. 234.

22.--The Parrot Judge

Told by MAKUND LAL, Mirzapur.

A Bird-catcher had a Parrot which knew only two words, Beshak
(undoubtedly) and Cheshak (what doubt)--Took it to market, and gave out
that it knew Persian, price 5 lakhs of rupees--Nobleman asks it, "Do you
know Persian?"--"Cheshak"--Buys it--Puts it in a gold cage, and gives it
good food--King one day began to talk to the Parrot in Persian--It could
say nothing but these two words--The owner threw it on the ground and
killed it.

23.--The Frog and the Snake

Told by AKBAR SHAH, Manjhi, one of the jungle-folk
of Manbasa, Dudhi, Mirzapur, and recorded by
Pandit Ramgharib Chaube. _N.I.N.Q._, iii. Sec. 101.

No change. The King of the Snakes is Vasuki Naga.

24.--Little Miss Mouse

Told by AKBAR SHAH, Manjhi, of Manbasa, Dudhi,
Mirzapur. _N.I.N.Q._, iv. Sec. 19.

No change in first part. The music-shop is in the original the house of
the Chamar (a caste of labourers and leather-workers), who gives a drum,
which is broken by a woman husking rice, who strikes it with a pestle.
The crop in the last scene is rice.

25.--The Jackal that Lost his Tail

Told by PARMANAND TIWARI, student, Anglo-Sanskrit School,
Mirzapur. _N.I.N.Q._, iv. Sec. 17.

A Kurmi (one of the agricultural tribes) used to go to his field--At
noon his wife brought the dinner--Meets Jackal, and all falls out as in
tale till the tail is cut off--Jackal returns and finds wife gathering
cow-dung--"Your son (_sic_) has cut off my tail, and I must bite you."
"He is dead, come to the funeral feast?"--He and his friends come--"To
prevent you squabbling,