Page:The Enchanted Parrot.djvu/105

Rh "The house of the wise, the well-born, those endowed with constancy and good fortune, is as the king's palace. "Good men always help the good, even as an elephant in the mire is drawn out by an elephant."

So with these maxims in mind, after having fasted, and offered the due number of sacrifices, they approached the ocean with their entreaties, and the ocean was so pleased with them that he gave them each a magic jewel. They seemed to have made a good start, so they each handed their jewel over to the keeping of the merchant, who promised to take care of it for them. The merchant, however, was a rogue, and he took the jewels and sewed them upon the band of his trousers with the idea of keeping them himself. Soon after this they were travelling along the road, when the merchant, who was a little behind the rest, suddenly cried out loudly: "Help! stop thief! I have been robbed." The others came running up to see what was the matter and he said, "I just turned aside off the road for a moment, and I was set on by some thieves, and I have lost everything, your jewels included." His companions heard what he said, and commented upon it among themselves. Their opinion was that the man was a scoundrel,