tree where the prince was to be killed, he tried to turn his
wife back but though he used force she refused to leave him and said
that she would first see him killed and then go home; so at last he
let her accompany him.

When they reached the tree she asked to be allowed to go in front and
be the first to meet the snake; to this the prince assented. They
had not gone far when they saw the snake awaiting them in the path
with its crest raised, and when they drew near, the prince's bride
begged the snake to eat her first, as she had nowhere to live if she
survived her husband. The snake refused and bade her go home to her
parents; she said that that was impossible; they had sold her and the
prince had bought her, in life and in death, bones and ashes. But
the snake would not listen and made for the prince to eat him. His
wife however kept in front of the snake and would not let it pass;
she called the banyan tree to witness that the snake should not eat
her husband without first killing her; without her husband she would
have no one to support her.

Then the snake promised to teach her an incantation by means of which
she could support herself, so saying, the snake conferred some magic
power upon and taught her an incantation; and promised her that if she
took some dust in her hand and repeated the incantation and then blew
on the dust, any person on whom she sprinkled the dust would at once
be burnt to ashes. Then the prince's wife asked how she should restore
the people to life and the snake taught her that also, but she was not
satisfied and said that she must try at once to see whether the snake
was deceiving her or no; so the snake bade her experiment on a _tarop_
tree which grew near. Thereupon she gathered up some dust and repeated
the incantation and blew on it and suddenly threw it over the snake,
which at once turned to ashes, and that was the end of the snake.

Then the prince and his wife went on their way rejoicing, and he was
filled with wonder at the way in which his bride had saved him by
persisting in going with him.

XLV. The Tiger's Bride.

One day a woman went to cut thatching grass and she cut such a quantity
that when she tied it up, the bundle was too big for her to lift on
to her head; so she stood and called for some one to help her, but
no one was within hearing and no one came. She called and called and
at last began to promise that she would give her daughter in marriage
to any one