Page:Indian Fairy Tales (Stokes, 1879).djvu/185



XXIV.

THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON.

IN a country there were seven men, no two of whom belonged to the same family, nor were of the same trade. One was a grain merchant's son, one a baker's, and so on; each had a different trade.

These seven men determined they would go to seek for service in another country. They said good-bye to their fathers and mothers, and set off.

They travelled every day, and walked through many jungles. At last, a long way from their homes, they came to a wide plain in the midst of a jungle, and on it they saw a goat which seemed to be a very good milch-goat. The seven men said to each other, "If this goat belonged to any one, it would not be left all alone in the jungle. Let us take it with us." They did so, and no one they met asked them any questions about the goat.

In the evening they arrived at a village where they stayed for the night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave the goat grass and grain. At midnight, when they were all asleep, the goat became a great she-demon, with a great mouth, and swallowed one of the seven men. Then she became a goat again and went back to the place where she had been stabled.

The men got up in the morning, and were very much surprised to find they were only six, not seven. "Where is