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ornaments given to him by the tiger and held them before the smith 'I want to sell them Can you give me a fair price for them ?
"Now the smith got interested He kept the ornaments with himself The brahmin went to the river to take his bath Meanwhile, the report of the prince's death in the forest spread all over the city, and there was a proclamation to the effect that the prince s ornaments had been stolen from his body, and that anyone giving a clue to their recovery would be rewarded by the king The smith heard it and had no doubt that the ornaments lodged with him were really the prince's, Maybe, out of greed, the brahmin had murdered him So the smith came to the court, surrendered the ornaments and disclosed the brahmin's name
"The brahmin was at once taken into custody on the river bank and produced before the king The king held consultation with his council of ministers Although a scholar by brahmin was involved, yet the law was to take its own course irrespective of caste and erudition The councıl was unanimous in awarding the brahmin death sentence The poor fellow was not even given a chance to defend himself According to rules, red sandal paste was placed on his person and he was seated on the back of a donkey and was taken round the city, before being conducted to the execution ground In this critical time, tbe monkey's words came up in his mind 'the fellow is ungrateful' But what could he do now except submitting to fate very silently ? Suddenly the following couplet came out of his mouth
'Listened not I to cautious words Uttered by a monkey, a tiger aad a snake, Hence for the smith's ingratitude,
My life is now at stake' "The snake who was crawling nearby heard these words and at once recognised the brahmin He took no
