knows that it is on the Sunday of the new moon that
spirits have special power to play pranks upon mortals. So the rajah
forbade them all, on pain of death, to say a word to anyone; and
declared that, on the next Sunday of the new moon, they four--Kahre,
Musli, Lena and Dena--would go and sit in the peepul tree and see what
happened.

The days dragged on to the appointed Sunday, and that evening the four
met secretly, and entered the forest. They had not far to go before
they reached the peepul tree, into which they climbed as the rajah had
planned. At midnight the tree began to sway, and presently it moved
through the air.

'See, sire,' whispered Dena, 'the tree is flying!'

'Yes, yes,' said the rajah, 'you have told the truth. Now sit quiet,
and we shall see what happens.'

Away and away flew the tree with the four men clinging tightly to its
branches, until at last it was set down by the waste sea-shore where a
great wide sea came tumbling in on a desert beach. Presently, as
before, they began to see little points of light that glistened like
fires all around them. Then Dena thought to himself:

'Think! last time I only took four that came close to me, and I got
rid of all my debt in return. This time I will take all I can get and
be rich!'

'If I got ten thousand rupees for four stones,' thought Lena, 'I will
gather forty now for myself, and become so wealthy that they will
probably make me a wazir at least!'

'For four stones I received ten villages,' Musli was silently
thinking; 'now I will get stones enough to purchase a kingdom, become
a rajah, and employ wazirs of my own!'

[Illustration: SUDDENLY THE TREE ROSE UP AGAIN AND FLEW AWAY]

And Kahre thought: 'What is the good of only getting eight stones?
Why, here are enough to make twenty necklaces; and wealth means
power!'

Full of avarice and desire, each scrambled down from the tree, spread
his cloth, and darted hither and thither picking up the precious
jewels, looking the while over his shoulder to see whether his
neighbour fared better than he. So engrossed were they in the business
of gathering wealth that the dawn came upon them unawares; and
suddenly the tree rose up again and flew away, leaving them upon the
sea-shore staring after it, each with his cloth heavy with priceless
jewels.

* * * * *

Morning broke in the city, and great was the consternation in the
palace when the chamberlains declared that t