128 



CEYLON BRANCH 



gong pass, stood by the demon and said ; We, Sir, nave come 

 from Benares; but where have you come from, adorned with 

 lotus flowers, and your clothes wet: have you had rain on the 

 road, and are there ponds in the neighbourhood covered with 

 lilies? The demon replied, What do you say, my friend : the 

 range of yonder green forest appears. The whole of that forest 

 abounds with water 5 there is constant rain there, the streams 

 are full, #nd at short intervals there are lakes covered with 

 lilies. But where are you going with this train of waggons ? 

 He replied, to such a country. What have you in this wag- 

 gon p sueh and such goods. The last waggons came on very 

 heavily laden, and he enquired, What goods have you in these? 

 He replied, Water. You have acted with great propriety, he 

 observed, in bringing water thus far, but there is no necessity 

 for your taking it further, there being abundance before you. 

 Break your vessels and throw away your water, that you may 

 go lightly. But we are loitering, and must proceed on our 

 journey. So saying, he and his attendant demons, went a short 

 distance, and becoming invisible, returned to the demon city. 

 The unwise trader, in his folly, attended to the words of the 

 demon, brake his water vessels, and threw away all the water* 

 not reserving a drop, and then proceeded. Before them, how-, 

 ever, there was no water, and the men parched with thirst, be-^ 

 came exhausted. They travelled till sun set, when unyoking 

 the oxen, they formed a circle with the waggons, and secured 

 the cattle to the waggon wheels, There was no water for the 

 oxen ; and the men had neither boiled rice nor gruel : exhaust-* 

 ed and dispirited, they threw themselves on the ground. In 

 the middle of the night the devils sallied forth from their city* 

 slew the men and oxen, ate the flesh, and left the bones scat-, 

 tered about. Thus on account of one unwise man, the whole 

 of the caravan was destroyed, and the 500 waggons full of 

 goods left standing in the desert. 



