"Eat your
dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning."

Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog
heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to
kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if
I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him."

So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called
Suri, and said to her, "Suri, I want to give you something, for the
King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of
whatever I give you?" "Let me see what it is," said Suri; "I will take
care of it if I can." Then they both went together to the wide plain,
and there the dog brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him. "I
never saw such a beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he
has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the
greatest care of him." So saying she swallowed the little prince. The
dog made her a great many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;"
and the cow then went back to her stable.

Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot.

The child now lived in Suri's stomach; and when one whole year had
passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and
said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead.
But I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy;
and he played about, and Suri was delighted; she loved him and
caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned
to her stable.

At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up
the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight,
and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very
happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable.
The child was now three years old.

But this time the cowherd had followed Suri, and had seen the
wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four
wives, "The King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon
on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been
seen before!"

At this the wives were terrified. They tore their clothes and their
hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why
they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to
kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never
mind," s