of the garden, in which were
growing melons and pumpkins.

4. The king spoke to the maiden, and asked, "What plants are you
growing here?" The girl replied, "I am raising pumpkins and melons."

5. Now, the king happened to be thirsty, and asked her for but
a drink. "We were hunting in the heat of the day, and I felt this
thirst come on me."

6. The maiden replied, "O illustrious king! we have water in a mean
jar, but it is surely not fitting that your Majesty should drink from
a jar!

7. "If we had a jar of pure gold, in which we could put water from a
blest fountain, then it would be proper for your Majesty. It is not
right or worthy that you should drink from a base jar."

8. The king replied to the girl, "Never mind the jar, provided the
water is cool." The maiden went into the house, and presently the
king drank his fill.

9. After he had drunk, he handed her back the jar; but when the maiden
had received it (in her hands), she suddenly struck it against the
staircase. The jar was shattered to bits.

10. The king saw the act and wondered at it, and in his heart he
thought that the maiden had no manners. For the impudence of her
action, he decided to punish her.

11. (He said) "You see in me, the traveller, a noble king, and (you
know) that I hold the crown. Why did you shatter that jar of yours,
received from my hands?"

12. The maiden replied, "The reason I broke the jar, long kept for
many years by my mother, O king! is that I should not like to have
it used by another."

13. After hearing that, the king made no reply, but returned (back)
towards the city, believing in his heart that the woman to whom he
had spoken was virtuous.

14. After some time the king one day ordered a soldier to carry
to the maiden a new narrow-necked jar, into which she was to put a
pumpkin entire.

15. He also ordered the soldier to tell the girl that she should not
break the jar, but that the jar and pumpkin should remain entire.

16. Inasmuch as the maiden was clever, her perception good, and her
understanding bold, she answered with another problem: she sent him
back a jar that already had a pumpkin in it.

17. She delivered it to the soldier, and the upshot of her reply was
this: "The pumpkin and the jar are whole. The king must remove the
pumpkin without breaking the jar."

18. The soldier shouldered it and went back to the king, and told him
that her answer was that he should take the pumpkin out of the jar,
a