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45. A LIZARD IN THE STOMACH
Once a man was answering a call of nature in an open field when a lizard whisked away into a hole just under the squatting man. In the process it happened to touch the man's anus with its tail. The man felt frightened that it entered his stomach. When he went home he took ill with this fear. The doctor was quickly summoned. He knew that the man was ill only with fear. The lizard could not have gone in at all. So he offered to cure the man only if he agreed to pay him a big fee. The man agreed and the physician gave him a purgative and instructed him to empty his bowels in a pot that he would send. In this pot the doctor had carefully concealed a lizard made of lac. When the man had purged himself, the doctor showed him the lizard that had come out and the man was satisfied. He quickly recovered his health and strength.
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