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VI.

LITTLE SURYA BAI.

POOR Milkwoman was once going into the town with cans full of milk to sell. She took with her her little daughter (a baby of about a year old), having no one in whose charge to leave her at home. Being tired, she sat down by the roadside, placing the child and the cans full of milk beside her; when, on a sudden, two large Eagles flew overhead, and one, swooping down, seized the child, and flew away with her out of the mother's sight.

Very far, far away the Eagles carried the little baby; even beyond the borders of her native land, until they reached their home in a lofty tree. There the old Eagles had built a great nest; it was made of iron and wood, and was as big as a little house; there was iron all round, and to get in and out you had to go through seven iron doors.

In this stronghold they placed the little baby, and because she was like a young Eaglet they called her Surya Bai (The Sun Lady). The Eagles both loved the child; and daily they flew into distant countries to bring her rich and precious things. Clothes that had been made for princesses, precious jewels, wonderful playthings, all that was most costly and rare.

One day, when Surya Bai was twelve years old, the old husband Eagle said to his wife, 'Wife, our daughter has no diamond ring on her little finger, such as princesses wear; let us go and fetch her one.' 'Yes,' said the other old Eagle; 'but to fetch it we must go very far.' 'True,' rejoined he, 'such a ring is not to be got nearer than the Red Sea, and that is a

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