ried to the King,
to whom he repeated the news that his son had just brought.

"Never!" said the King.

"But it must be so, your Majesty," replied the vizier; "and in order
to prove the truth of what I have heard, I pray you to call together
all the maids in your palace and order them to jump over a pit, which
must be dug. We'll soon find out whether there is any man there."

The King had the pit dug, and commanded all the maids belonging to
the palace to try to jump over it. All of them tried, but only one
succeeded. That one was found to be a man!

Thus was the Queen satisfied, and the faithful old vizier saved.

Afterward, as soon as could be, the vizier's son married the old
farmer's daughter; and a most happy marriage it was.

MUCHIE LAL

ADAPTED BY M. FRERE

Once upon a time there were a Rajah and Ranee who had no children.
Long had they wished and prayed that the gods would send them a son,
but it was all in vain--their prayers were not granted. One day a
number of fish were brought into the royal kitchen to be cooked for
the Rajah's dinner, and amongst them was one little fish that was not
dead, but all the rest were dead. One of the palace maid-servants,
seeing this, took the little fish and put him in a basin of water.
Shortly afterward the Ranee saw him, and thinking him very pretty,
kept him as a pet; and because she had no children she lavished all
her affection on the fish and loved him as a son; and the people
called him Muchie Rajah (the Fish Prince).

In a little while Muchie Rajah had grown too long to live in the small
basin, so they put him into a larger one, and then (when he grew too
long for that) into a big tub. In time, however, Muchie Rajah became
too large for even the big tub to hold him; so the Ranee had a tank
made for him, in which he lived very happily, and twice a day she fed
him with boiled rice. Now, though the people fancied Muchie Rajah was
only a fish, this was not the case. He was, in truth, a young Rajah
who had angered the gods, and been by them turned into a fish and
thrown into the river as a punishment.

One morning, when the Ranee brought him his daily meal of boiled rice,
Muchie Rajah called out to her and said, "Queen Mother, Queen Mother,
I am so lonely here all by myself! Cannot you get me a wife?" The
Ranee promised to try, and sent messengers to all the people she knew,
to ask if they would allow one of their children to marry her son, the
Fish Prin