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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(June, 1891.
mer
away almost the whole town, and of course quenched the fire. The minister and other high officials of the State, guided by the instinct of self-preservation, had located themselves, with many others who were destined to live, on the embankment, and were thus saved.
When the body of the queen had been thus cremated, and the fire quenched, the minister thought it his duty to send a full report of his administration to the absent king. He filled several pages with a florid account of his good government, in terms which may be left to the imagination. He dwelt at length on his administration of the Paüganur kingdom since his master bad left it, on the queen's death from the poisonous bite, on the remedies he adopted, on the supremacy of fate, on his own ideas of cremating her body, on its successful accomplish. ment, on the iron band of fate that had set the town in flames, on the course he followed to quench the conflagration, and on the procedure he adopted to relieve the sufferers.
He had two very trustworthy peons under him: one a Nayak, named Kondal Nayakan, and another a Muhammadan damed Miran Ba. These two were jealous of each other, and each wanted to have the honour of carrying the report in person to His Majesty. The minister ohose Miran SA, and giving the document to him, ordered him to proceed to the king.
Great was the joy of Miran SA, not that he himself was chosen, but that Kondal N&yak was not chosen. He took the huge document, tied it in a kerchief round his loins, and marched off in haste. In his joy at the special honour conferred upon him, he walked fast the whole day and almost the whole night, till at last nature began to exert ber influence and overpower his zea). Just at the third ghafilca before the dawn of the second day of his journey, he lay down under a tree to rest a while, and fell into a profound sleep. The spot where he slept was near the kingdom of Kårvêtnagar, and in a neighbouring village there lived a barber, who used every morning to go to the palace of Kårvêtnagar to shave the king; but, however fine and sharp his razor might be, the king always found fault with him for being a bad hand at his work. Now the barber happened to pass by the spot where Mirån SA was asleep, and thought he to himself:
"The king always ACCUACS me of being bad hand at shaving, I shall just test the truth of his marks. Here is person asleep, and if I successfully shave him without rousing him, what doubt will there be then that I am a first-rate barber P"
Thos resolving, he placed his cup with water in it before the sleeping peon and set to work. Firat he shaved Miran SA's board clean off, and twisted up the Muhammadan's moustoobe into the form and out of a Nayak's. He then applied the Nayak casto mark to Miran SA's forehead, and setting a glass in front of the sleeper, replaced bis razor and cnp in his bag, and, glad at heart that he had shaved & sleeping person without disturbing him and that he was a very clever hand at his work, he proceeded to Kårvêțnagar.
A ghalikd or two after the barber bad left, Miran SA awoke from his sleep. He saw his face reflected in the glass in front of him. The Nayak cut of his moustaches, and the mark on his forehead, were prominently noticed by him.
Said he in amazement to himself: "What, after all, the minister has deceived me! I prided myself yesterday that the minister bad sent Miråd Så to the king. Now I see that the person that goes to the king is not Mirån Så, but Kondal Nayakan! Ah! vile minister You have deceived me. You have not sent Mirån Så, but Kondal Nayakan, to the king. However I shall noon have an opportunity of carrying tales to the king. I shall report to His Majesty how you dooolved me, by sending Miran sa first and Kondal Nayakan afterwards. • Thu' argued the transformed Miran Sa, and rose up and proceeded to the king and handed him the administration repert, The king read over the whole document with the greatest imaginable planeere, and was apparently satisfied with every act of his minister! What
The is an extremely fine specimen of Paoganor windom, where a person, forgetting his own identity, imagines to Nimelt that he is different person, and argues to himself as if he were sometimes himself and sometime other.
