30 THE STORY OF KHERUDIN. 



About two days after this his brothers again went on 

 shore to look for all sorts of things to trade and left him again 

 in the ship. Then another man came along dragging a snake 

 by a noose which he had fastened round its neck. He also 

 wanted to kill it by throwing it into the sea. 



When Kherudin saw the man dragging the snake he said, 

 " What are you going to do with that snake ?" 



The man said, "I am going to kill it and throw it into 

 the sea." 



Kherudin said, " Will you sell it ?" 



The man said, " If you want it take it." 



Kherudin said, " If you give it to me, I do not want it : 

 but if you will sell it for thirty dollars I will buy it." 



The man said all right. After that Kherudin paid the thirty 

 dollars. When he had bought the snake Kherudin looked 

 after it so well that his brothers never knew about it. 



Now it seemed that this snake was the king of all snakes, 

 so in the middle of that night, all his ministers and all his sub- 

 jects came before him. The ministers made obeisance saying, 

 "Your majesty, why do you live here? Why have you 

 abandoned your throne ? What is the fault of your servants ? 

 Have we not all obeyed your august commands ? As far as 

 we can remember never have your servants even on one occa- 

 sion rebelled against your august commands." 



Kherudin heard all that they said. The king snake 

 replied, ' It was no fault of yours. Only it happened that one 

 day as I went along by myself intending to look at the sports of 

 mankind, while on the way I became thirsty so- 1 went to look 

 for water. While doing this I met with one of these folk, 

 who struck me and intended to kill me and cast me into the 

 sea. But then we met this man who redeemed me for 

 thirty dollars, and that is how it happened that I did not die." 



Then all the ministers proceeded to present themselves 

 before Kherudin and made obeisance saying, " Your majesty, 

 this snake which you have redeemed is the king of all the 



Jour. Straits Branch 



