________________
OCTOBER, 1893.]
FOLKLORE IN SALSETTE, No. 16.
279
"At the appointed time, the king and the queen, with all their guests, embarked on board the ship, and soon set sail. On the way, the guests vied with each other for the honour of carrying the child, though it was only for a moment. Scarcely one had lifted the child, when & second person asked and took it from him. In another moment a third person came and took up the child, and then a fourth, and a fifth, and so on. When they had sailed for several hours they came to the middle of the sea. The child happened to be in the arms of a woman, who, by accident, let fall the child, and in a moment more the prince was drowned. Hundreds of people dived into the sea after the child, and made a long search, but in vain, and with tears in their eyes and broken hearts the king and the queen returned home with their guests. When they reached their home, the king sentenced the woman, who had so carelessly let fall the child, to a rigorous imprisonment for twelve years.
Thus far, o king, I know the story, and can't tell what happened afterwards. I am now getting late for my meal, do let me go."
The king, who was now almost certain that the story was about himself and his child, for whom he had not yet left off mourning, was now more anxious to hear further. He made himself sure that an old man of the story-teller's age knew everything.
So he said :-"O ájjá, come, finish your story. You are only pretending not to know further."
But the supposed old man said :-“No, no ; I know no further. I have told you all I knew."
Nothing, however, could convince tbe king of the ignorance of the old ájjá, as he called him, and he begged hard of him to continue the story. So at last the old man said :
"Listen, Oking; as it was written in the fate of the king's son, so it came to pass. As soon as the child fell into the sea, he was swallowed by a large magalmásk, which was carried by the tide and thrown on dry land in a certain village of the king's dominions. In the morning a fisherman, who lived with his wife, and possessed great wealth, was walking along in pursuit of his vocation, and he happened to see the magalmásá. He dragged it to shore, and cut it open, when to his great surprise and confusion he saw a child come out of the belly of the magalmásá alive. The fisherman, too, with all his wealth had no children. He, therefore, gladly took up the child in his arms, and, going home, handed him to his wife, who was also very glad, saying:-Dear wife, God has, at last, given us a child in this miraculous manner.'
"Thus they constituted themselves the prince's foster-parents, and, possessing great wealth, took every possible care, and brought him up with great tenderness. With such care the prince grew up rapidly. When he was only a month old he looked a child of two months; when two months only he appeared as four months old, and so on. He grew strong and beautiful, and was the pride of his foster-parents. He was known in the neighbourhood as the fisherman's son, and the prince, too, always addressed the fisherman and his wife as father and mother.
“When he was about six or seven years old he used to run about and play with the children from the neighbourhood. One day they ran to the shore, and the prince, too, wishing to go with them, asked the foster-parents permission to go, but the fisherman said :-No, my dear child. Do not go to play near the seabeach. You know how mischievous the children are. Who knows but that some accident or other may befall you? Then, what shall I do? Tell me what you require, and I will get you any toys you may wish for, with which you can play about the house in safety. The prince, however, in spite of the kind advice of the old man, ran at full speed, and joined his playmates at the sea beach.
"Now it happened that, as the children were playing and ranning about on the sand, they spied a beautiful kambal floating on the waves. Every one of the children attempted to get it,
