60 FIVE MEN WHO STOLE THE KING'S DAUGHTER 



Number One said, " Never mind about giving me a share of 

 the booty. Give me the king's daughter and that will be 

 plenty." But Number Two said the same, and Number Three 

 said the same, and Number Four said the same, and Number 

 Five said the sa,me. 



Then Number One said, " If that is so, we had better find 

 a just king." 



All of them were delighted by this plan and so the six of 

 them travelled on together. But all the booty and the king's 

 daughter were carried by Number Two. At last they reached 

 a certain country where the king was very wise. There they 

 lodged in a small house. Then the five of them went before 

 the king to state their difficulty and to prefer their requests 

 And Number One said, " Pardon your majesty, a thousand 

 thousand be the pardons accorded to your five slaves prostrate 

 here. Now your five slaves went to rob a king's house and 

 they took away all the goldware and all the silver and also 

 his child at the same time. Now when your servant wished 

 to divide up the property, your servant said, ' Never mind me, 

 let me have the king's daughter only.' Then Number Two, 

 who is the bearer, said the same thing, and Number Three, 

 who is the diver, said the same thing, and Number Four, 

 who is the bow man, said the same thing, and Number Five, who 

 is the life given said the same thing. So we could not settle 

 the matter. Thus it is that your five slaves have come before 

 your most illustrious majesty, peradventure your majesty will 

 give us a just decision." 



The king said, " This is a very easy matter to decide." 



When the king said that the five men made obeisance and 

 became silent to hear the king's judgment.* - 



The king said, "The man who first wanted to commit the 

 robbery cannot get the king's daughter, for he is as it were 

 her father, for the child first of all comes from her father. 



* At this point the narrator insists they all his bearers shall 

 give their opinion as to who ought to marry the princess. H^e then 

 gives the kind's verdict, after which he tells them how their choice 

 has revealed their own character. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



