one half of the first watch of the day is gone."
Then the bad pupil became angry and said: "Decrepit old man! I am not
your pupil. And you are not my teacher. I am going away. Do your
begging yourself." And he angrily threw down his staff and bowl before
the old man, and got up, and went away.
Then the hermit laughed. He left his hut and went to the place where
the dead Brahman boy had been brought to be burned. He saw how the
people mourned over such youthful freshness dead, and felt his own age
and weakness. So he made up his mind to exchange his body for the other
by magic.
He went aside and wept at the top of his voice. Then he danced with all
the proper gestures.
After that, full of the longing to enjoy the happiness of youth, he
left his own withered body by magic and entered the body of the Brahman
youth. So the Brahman youth came to life on the funeral pyre and stood
up. And a cry of joy arose from all the relatives: "See! The boy is
alive! He is alive!"
Then the magician in the body of the Brahman boy said to the relatives:
"I went to the other world, and Shiva gave me life and directed me to
perform a great vow. So now I am going off to perform the vow. If I do
not, my life will not last. Do you then go home, and I will come later."
So he spoke to those gathered there, having made up his mind what to
do, and sent them home full of joy and grief. He went himself and threw
his old body into a pit, and then went off, a young man.
When the goblin had told this story, he said to King Triple-victory,
who was walking through the night: "O King, when the magician entered
another person's body, why did he weep before doing it, or why did he
dance? I have a great curiosity about this point."
And the king was afraid of the curse, so he broke silence and said:
"Listen, goblin. He thought: I am leaving to-day this body with which
I won magic powers, the body which my parents petted when I was a
child.' So first he wept from grief, and from love of his body which he
found it hard to leave. Then he thought: With a new body I can learn
more magic.' So he danced from joy at getting youth."
When the goblin heard this answer, he returned quickly to the sissoo
tree. And the king pursued him, undismayed.
TWENTY-SECOND GOBLIN
_The Father and Son who married Daughter and Mother. What relation were
their children?_
The king paid no attention to the terrible witch of night, clad in
black darkness, wi
|