finish my betel-nut undisturbed. I will marry you. But you
must go away until I have quite done."

Then Mr. Owl was filled with joy. "Thanks, thanks, O most gracious
lady!" he said. "I will go away and leave you to finish your betel-nut
undisturbed. But I shall come again to-morrow night, and by that time
you will have done with it, and then you will be mine!"

Mr. Owl flew back to his home in the hollow tree, for it was almost
morning, and already he was growing so blind that he could hardly find
the way. But the Princess Putri Balan went on chewing the betel-nut, and
to herself she said,--

[Illustration: _Putri Balan began to laugh_]

"How am I to rid myself of this bore? I cannot chew this little
betel-nut forever; there must be an end to it before long. Mr. Owl
will certainly come again to-morrow night, and then, according to my
promise, I must become his wife. I cannot marry old Goggle-Eyes. Oh
dear! What shall I do?"

As she chewed her betel-nut the Princess Putri Balan hit upon a plan.
She would manage to cheat old Mr. Owl after all. She would never finish
the betel-nut! She took the little bit that remained,--and it was a
dangerously little bit, for the Princess had been chewing all night
long, except when she was laughing,--and reaching out from the moon she
tossed it down, down, down upon the earth. At the same time she said a
magic moon-charm: and when the bit of betel-nut reached the earth, it
became a little bird,--the same which the Malay people call the Honey
Bird, with brilliant, beautiful plumage. And the Princess Putri Balan
cried out to it from her golden house,--

"Fly away, pretty little bright bird! Fly as far and as fast as ever you
can, and keep out of Mr. Owl's way. For it is you who must save me from
becoming his unhappy wife."

So the Honey Bird flew away, a brilliant streak, through the Malay
woods, and hid himself in a little nest.

When night came out stole Mr. Owl, with his spectacles in place, and up
he flew to his Princess, whom he now hoped to call his very own.

"Good evening, my beautiful Princess!" he cried. "Have you finished your
betel-nut at last, and are you ready to keep your promise?"

But the Princess Putri Balan looked down at him, pretending to be sad,
though there was a twinkle in her beautiful eye; and she said,--

"Alas! Mr. Owl, a dreadful thing has happened. I lost my betel-nut,
before it was quite finished. It fell down, down, down, until I think it
reach