g's son is restored to the
bloom of youth. The king, adorned with celestial clothing and
garments, and the queen, embrace their son. Haricchandra, however,
declares that he cannot go to heaven till he has received his master
the Cha[n.][d.]ala's permission, and paid him a ransom. Dharma, the
god of righteousness, then says that he had miraculously assumed the
form of a Cha[n.][d.]ala. The king requests that his subjects may
accompany him to heaven, at least for one day. This request is granted
by Indra; and after Vicvamitra has inaugurated the king's son,
Rohitacva, as his successor, Haricchandra, his friends and followers,
all ascend to heaven."

XIV.--LOVING LAILI.

1. Majnun is a celebrated lover, whose love for Laili or Laila is the
subject of many Eastern poems. In this story he does not play a
brilliant part.

2. Laili's knife is like the sun-hero's weapon (the sun's ray), which
lengthens at its owner's pleasure (Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_,
vol. II. p. 147).

3. She cuts her little finger. See "the Bel Princess," p. 141, and
paragraph 2 of the note to "Shekh Farid." "The little finger, though
the smallest, is the most privileged of the five. It is the one that
knows everything." A Piedmontese mother says, "My little finger tells
me everything" (Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 166).
We have a somewhat similar saying in England. In a Russian story
quoted by the same author in the same work (vol. II. p. 151), an old
woman while baking a cake, cuts off her little finger and throws it
into the fire. From the little finger in the fire is born a strong
dwarf who afterwards does many wonderful things. In the tale of the
five fingers ("Die Maehr von den fuenf Fingern," Haltrich's
_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 325), where each finger decides what
it will do, the little one says, "I will help with wise counsel." In
consequence of this assistance, to this day, "when any one has a wise
idea (Einfall), he says 'that his little finger told him that'" (p.
327). In Finnish mythology we again find the little finger. "The Para,
also originated in the Swedish Bjaeren or Bare, a magical three-legged
being, manufactured in various ways, and which, says Castren, attained
life and motion when its possessor, cutting the little finger of his
left hand, let three drops of blood fall on it, at the same time
pronouncing the proper spell." ("The Mythology of Finnland," _Fraser's
Magazine_ for May 1857, p. 532.)