Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/131

123 disaster. "No creature," said he, "can escape his fate. When I was a little fawn one day I fell into a snare, was caught by a hunter and taken to the king's palace. There I was reared as a pet and golden ornaments were hung on my neck. One day when wandering in the city I was chased by boys but the ladies of the royal seraglio found me and tied me up near the chamber of the king. That night a heavy storm of rain came on and I cried out in my joy:—'How delightful is this rain! How sweet the grass will grow for me to eat.' The king wondered to hear a beast talk in the tongue of men, and next day sent for the astrologers and told them what he had heard. They said:—'For a beast to know human speech is an event of ill omen. Your Majesty should perform rites of expiation and send the deer to a distant forest.' So they sent me from that abode of peace and safety and I came to the forest where, as you know, I fell into the snare of the hunter."

Meanwhile the tortoise was anxiously expecting his friends the crow and the rat, and