aid the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be
killed to-morrow morning."

Now Suri heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said
to herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight,
she went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and
quite untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one
could go near him with safety, he was so savage. Suri said to this
horse, "Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give
you, because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?" "Good,"
said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Suri brought up the child, and
the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will take the
greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride me, but
this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when he had
done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this boy's
sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the jungle
and there killed.

The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in
it for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I
will see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and
then he loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all
about the stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go.
Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years old.
After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At
the end of another year, when the boy was five years old, Katar
brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play about
the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him
again.

But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was
morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the
four wicked wives, and told them all he had seen, and all about the
wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar.
On hearing the groom's story the four wives cried, and tore their hair
and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at evening and
asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your horse Katar
came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and we ran away
for fear he should kill us." "Never mind," said the King. "Only eat
your dinner and be happy. I will have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he
thought that two men unaided could not kill such a wicked horse, so he
ordered