so
found the third youth, who had made a hut and lived there, sleeping on
the girl's ashes.

Then the monk cried: "Brother, leave your hut. I will bring the dear
girl back to life." And while they eagerly questioned him, he opened
the book, and read the magic spell, and sprinkled holy water on the
ashes. And Coral immediately stood up, alive. And the girl was more
beautiful than ever. She looked as if she were made of gold.

When the three youths saw her come back to life like that, they went
mad with love, and fought with one another to possess her.

One said: "I brought her to life by my magic spell. She is my wife."

The second said: "She came to life because of my journey to the sacred
river. She is my wife."

The third said: "I kept her ashes. That is why she came to life. She is
my dear wife."

O King, you are able to decide their dispute. Tell me. Whose wife
should she be? If you know and say what is false, then your head will
split.

When the king heard this, he said to the goblin: "The man who painfully
found the magic spell and brought her back to life, he did only what a
father ought to do. He is not her husband. And the man who went to dip
her bones in the sacred river, he did only what a son ought to do. He
is not her husband. But the man who slept with her ashes and lived a
hard life in the cemetery, he did what a lover ought to do. He deserves
to be her husband."

When the goblin heard this answer of King Triple-victory, he suddenly
escaped from his shoulder and went back. And the king wished to do as
the monk had asked him; so he decided to go back and get him.
Great-minded people do not waver until they have kept their promises,
even at the cost of life.

THIRD GOBLIN

_The Parrot and the Thrush. Which are worse, men or women?_

Then the king went back to the sissoo tree to fetch the goblin. When he
got there, he took the body with the goblin in it on his shoulder, and
started off in silence. And as he walked along, the goblin said to him
again: "O King, you must be very tired, coming and going in the night.
So to amuse you I will tell another story. Listen."

There is a city called Patna, the gem of the earth. And long ago a king
lived there whose name was Lion-of-Victory. Fate had made him the owner
of all virtues and all wealth. And he had a parrot called
Jewel-of-Wisdom, that had divine intelligence and knew all the
sciences, but lived as a parrot because of a curse.

This ki