. Tales of the Punjab : told by the people . n, she bounded so, that had itnot been for the strong chains, she would havebounded out of the garden, oven and all ! But asit was, all she could do was to bound up and down,whilst the King and the Jogi piled fuel on to thefire, and the oven grew hotter and hotter. So itwent on from four oclock one afternoon to fouroclock the next, when the Snake-woman ceased tobound, and all was quiet. 184 TALES OF THE PUNJAB They waited until the oven grew cold, and thenopened it, when not a trace of the Snake-woman wasto be seen, only a tiny heap of ashes, out of
. Tales of the Punjab : told by the people . n, she bounded so, that had itnot been for the strong chains, she would havebounded out of the garden, oven and all ! But asit was, all she could do was to bound up and down,whilst the King and the Jogi piled fuel on to thefire, and the oven grew hotter and hotter. So itwent on from four oclock one afternoon to fouroclock the next, when the Snake-woman ceased tobound, and all was quiet. 184 TALES OF THE PUNJAB They waited until the oven grew cold, and thenopened it, when not a trace of the Snake-woman wasto be seen, only a tiny heap of ashes, out of whichthe Jogi took a small round stone, and gave it tothe King, saying, This is the real essence of theSnake-woman, and whatever you touch with it willturn to gold. But King Ali Mardan said such a treasure wasmore than any mans life was worth, since it mustbring envy and battle and murder to its possessor ;so when he went to Attock he threw the magicalSnake-stone into the river, lest it should bring strifeinto the world. THE WONDERFUL RING. NCE upon a time there lived aKing who had two sons, andwhen he died he left themall his treasures ; but theyounger brother began tosquander it all so lavishlythat the elder said, Let usdivide what there is, and doyou take your own share, anddo what you please with it. So the younger took his portion, and spent everyfarthing of it in no time. When he had literally nothing left, he asked hiswife to give him what she had. Then she wept,saying, I have nothing left but one small piece ofjewellery ; however, take that also if you want it. So he took the jewel, sold it for four pounds, andtaking the money with him, set off to make hisfortune in the world. As he went on his way he met a man with a cat. How much for your cat ? asked the spendthriftPrince. Nothing less than a golden pound, replied theman. 186 TALES OF THE PUNJAB A bargain indeed ! cried the spendthrift, andimmediately bought the cat for a golden sovereign. By and by he met a man with
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