and had thrown herself into the flames, and with
her arms about her brother's neck she turned and faced the myriad eyes
that glared upon them--the queen, in all the glory of her beauty,
glittering with gems, and the man with great shackled bare limbs,
dressed in a few rags, his muscles already twisted with the agony of the
fire. A great cry of horror came from the people, and there was the
movement of guards and officers rushing to stop the fire; but it was all
of no use. A flash of red flames came out of the logs, folding these
twain like an imperial cloak, a whirl of sparks towered into the air,
and when one could see again the woman and her brother were no longer
there. They were dead and burnt, and the bodies mingled with the ashes
of the fire. She had cost her brother his life, and she went with him
into death.

Some days after this a strange report was brought to the palace. By the
landing-place near the spot where the fire had been was a great
fig-tree. It was so near to the landing-place, and was such a
magnificent tree, that travellers coming from the boats, or waiting for
a boat to arrive, would rest in numbers under its shade. But the report
said that something had happened there. To travellers sleeping beneath
the tree at night it was stated that two Nats had appeared, very large
and very beautiful, a man Nat and a woman Nat, and had frightened them
very much indeed. Noises were heard in the tree, voices and cries, and a
strange terror came upon those who approached it. Nay, it was even said
that men had been struck by unseen hands and severely hurt, and others,
it was said, had disappeared. Children who went to play under the tree
were never seen again: the Nats took them, and their parents sought for
them in vain. So the landing-place was deserted, and a petition was
brought to the king, and the king gave orders that the tree should be
hewn down. So the tree was cut down, and its trunk was thrown into the
river; it floated away out of sight, and nothing happened to the men
who cut the tree, though they were deadly afraid.

The tree floated down for days, until at last it stranded near a
landing-place that led to a large town, where the governor of these
parts lived; and at this landing-place the portents that had frightened
the people at the great city reappeared and terrified the travellers
here too, and they petitioned the governor.

The governor sought out a great monk, a very holy man learned in t