Page:Sagas from the Far East; or, Kalmouk and Mongolian traditionary tales.djvu/29

Rh cave, they showed themselves once more as men, clothed in cotton garments.

Then spoke the great Master and Teacher, Nâgârg'una, "Wherefore, O dove, flutterest thou so full of terror, and what are these seven hawks to thee?"

So the Khan's son told the Master all that had happened between himself, his brother, and the seven magicians; and he added these words, "Even now there stand before the entrance of this cave seven men clothed in cotton garments. These men will come in unto the Master and pray for the boon of the ârâmela he holds in his hand. Meantime, I will transform myself into the large bead of the ârâmela, and when the Master would reach the chaplet to the seven men, I pray him that, putting one end of it in his mouth, he bite in twain the string of the same, whereby all the beads shall be set free."

The Master benevolently did even as he had been prayed. Moreover, when all the beads fell showering on the ground, behold they were all turned into little worms, and the seven men clothed in cotton garments transformed themselves into seven fowls, who pecked up the worms. But when the Master dropped the large bead out of his mouth on to the ground it was transformed into the form of a man having a staff in his hand. With this staff the Khan's son killed the seven fowls, but the moment they were dead they bore the forms of men's corpses.