Page:Folk Tales from Tibet (1906).djvu/190

148 ensued, in which neither convinced the other. At length, the King said that he could not stand this argument any longer, but would submit the question for decision to his council on the following day. If the council agreed that he was in the wrong, he should be sent adrift on a log of wood on the great river that flowed past the palace; but if the Queen should be found to be in the wrong, she should suffer this fate.

So next day the King summoned a council, composed of all his wisest ministers and men of science. When they were all seated in the council chamber, he addressed them as follows:

"Last night," said he, "some beast began to bark outside the palace. I maintained that it was a tiger; the Queen affirmed that it was a fox. I desire to submit the question to you for decision. If you decide that it was a fox, I agree to be sent adrift upon a log of wood on the great river which flows past my palace; but if you think that the animal was a tiger, then the Queen is to suffer this penalty."

So saying, the King withdrew, leaving his ministers to decide the question. The counsellors, after weighing the matter for some time, summoned to their presence several peasants living in the neighbourhood, and these being all agreed that no tiger ever came within many miles of the palace, whereas foxes prowled there nightly, it was clear to the council that the King was in the wrong. Before any decision was given, however, the oldest counsellor rose and addressed the meeting as follows: