158 
[No. 2, 
Notices of new works. 
life gradually consumed by day and night. In the 8th we have the 
Persian story ol the company of blind men, each of whom feels one 
part of an elephant, and their different inferences of the whole 
animal when they all compare notes together. 
Some of these stories are only expansions of a proverb, thus the 
69th only embodies in a narrative the common enough idea which 
Catullus has made proverbial, 
In vento et rapida scribere oportet aqua. 
Surely none but a Chinese would ever have wanted a definite 
instance of such penmanship before he accepted the truth of the 
aphorism !* 
As a specimen of the stories, we subjoin the ninety-seventh,— 
though we cannot help fancying that we have seen it before in some 
other guise. We are informed that it is not unknown in Bengal to the 
present day. 
“ Once on a time in the kingdom of GAndhara, there was a com- 
pany of comedians, who, in an hour of distress, went to seek their 
fortune in another country and crossed the mountain of Balasena. 
Now that mountain had always been famed as the haunt of cruel 
demons who devoured travellers. Our poor comedians had to pass 
the night on its summit. As an icy wind swept across the mountain, 
they lit a fire and lay down to sleep. Among the players was one 
who suffered much from the cold, and to warm himself he put on 
the dress of his part, which was that of a Rakshasa. He approached 
the .fire and sat down. It happened at the moment that some of his 
companions awoke and seeing a Rakshasa near the fire, without a 
moment’s further examination, they at once took to their heels and 
lied. The movement soon spread to the others, and the whole com- 
pany was off in a moment ! The one in the Rakshasa costume, not 
liking to be left alone, followed them with the utmost rapidity. 
The others, seeing him so close behihd, imagined that he was coining 
to devour them, and in their terror they sealed a mountain and 
crossed a river and plunged into the bogs. Their bodies were flayed, 
their limbs were bruised, and they sank down at last exhausted with 
fatigue. At length morning came and lo ! it was no Rakshasa at all !” 
E. B. C. 
* The Chinese story literally carries out iEscbylus’ idea, hot’ tx vo * »AaTSv 
b.<t>a.vrov (Again. 696.) 
