Page:Tales of the Punjab.pdf/142

120 'Now,' said Little Anklebone to himself, 'I shall lead a fine life!'

So he gathered the treasure together, and sat under the tree that drooped over the pond, and played so sweetly on a new shepherd's pipe, that all the beasts of the pond came to listen to him.Then Little Anklebone put marble bains round the pond for the animals to drink out of, and in the evening the does, and the tigresses, and the she-wolves gathered round him to be milked, and when he had drunk his fill he milked the rest into the pond, till at last it became a pond of milk.And Little Anklebone sat by the milken pond and piped away on his shepherd's pipe.

Now, one day, an old woman, passing by with her jar for water, heard the sweet strain of Little Anklebone's pipe, and following the sound, came upon the pond of milk, and saw the animals, and the birds, and the fishes, listening to the music.She was wonderstruck, especially when Little Anklebone, from his seat under the tree, called out,'Fill your jar, mother!All drink who come hither!'

Then the old woman filled her jar with milk, and went on her way rejoicing at her good fortune.But as she journeyed she met with the King of that country, who, having been a-hunting, had lost his way in the pathless plain.

'Give me a drink of water, good mother,'he cried seeing the jar; 'I am half dead with thirst!'

'It is milk, my son,'replied the old woman; 'I got it yonder from a milken pond.'Then she told the King of the wonders she had seen, so that he