Page:Folk Tales from Tibet (1906).djvu/61

Rh off his horse and ran along the road on foot, until he got into the shade of a big poplar-tree growing near the road-side.

Here he stopped to take breath, and he noticed to his great joy that the shadow had disappeared; but on peeping out from the shadow of the tree he was annoyed to find that on whichever side he looked the shadow immediately showed itself also. So thinking that the shade of the tree was the safest place to stay in, he climbed into the upper branches and very soon fell fast asleep.

A short while after a party of travellers happened to be passing by this road from the same direction, and as they came along they were surprised to find a number of garments scattered about the roadway. So they picked them up as they came along, and presently they found a horse grazing beside the road. Him, too, they brought along with them, and when they arrived in the shade of the poplar-tree, they all stopped and sat down on the ground to divide the spoil amongst them. Just then the Boy woke up, and looking down he saw what was going on below, so he called out in a loud voice:

"I say, I want my share too, you know." On hearing this voice emerging from the upper branches of the tree, the travellers were greatly alarmed. They thought it must certainly be a demon, who lived in the tree, and who wanted his share of the spoils, so they took to their heels and made off as fast as they could, leaving the horse and all the clothes behind