Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 14, 1903.djvu/436

 394 Collectanea.

when they approached they saw that some one had been before- hand with them, so they each one proceeded to take a slice of some part of the body for himself; some took a bit of the scalp, one a finger, one a foot, and so on, each one taking some part of the grifiin as a token. And when they came into the presence of the king they leaped and shouted, each one bragging that it was he who had killed the griffin. But the king said, " Softly, my sons, you need not quarrel about it, for he who has really killed the grifiin must produce the tokens." Then they produced their tokens, upon which the king scorned them and exposed their deceit and cowardice.

Then Indra Bangsawan, having returned to the magician to resume his magic dress again in the likeness of a wild boy, appeared before the king bringing the snouts and eyes of the grifiin. On being questioned he said that he did not know what they were, but that he had found them on the road, and brought them to the king. And the king was lost in surprise, and turning to the rajas' sons he said that it was ordained that the princess should marry, not one of them, but the jungle boy. And the rajas' sons were much offended, and having warned the king that he had better put his defences in order they departed in great dudgeon without so much as taking leave of the king.

Then the king summoned his daughter and told her that she must marry the wild boy as he had promised on two occasions. And the princess, although in her heart she loved the beautiful young man who had rescued her, bowed and said that whatever the king ordered she would do. But Indra Bangsawan evaded the subject, and while he continued to dwell in the princess's palace he herded the goats as before.

Now the rajas' sons gathered their forces together and marched towards the city of Anta Permana, and having reached within half a day's journey they encamped, and having held a council of war sent an ambassador to the king, saying that unless he delivered up the princess they would besiege the city. The king replied that he would rather fight, upon which they grew as angry as coiled-up snakes and prepared to fight. In the meantime the king repaired his walls and filled his ditches with water.

When Indra Bangsawan saw that the rajas' sons meant to fight, and that the king could not possibly get the best of it, he con- veyed himself to the magician, told him all that had occurred,