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KAMAGHATA
159
to recover at once from disease, poison and wound caused by some weapon You take these two from me and giye me the magic pitcher. That will help me to feed these people And besides, you strike a good bargain, since you get two magic things in exchange for one."
Minister~"Sir, divine things stay with one to whom they have been given They do not stay with others ”
The leader--"Don't you worry, sir I have so much virtue to my credit that the pitcher cannot get away from
me”
So the exchange was done and the two departed in their respective directions
It was noon next day when the minister was hungry -and the wand was commissioned again to recover the pitcher The wand recovered the pitcher from the pilgrims and returned with it
With all his priceless acquisitions, the minister was now back home He had a very effective trip and he had wonderful things in his possession with which he could acheive anything All this was the outcome of virtue
The king heard all this and now he started thinking about some other plan to test the minister's luck He got two shaddocks and inside one of them he placed valuable gems worth about 1,25,000 gold coins Then he gave them • to one of his trusted valets instructing him to keep them for sale in some fruit stall, and then to keep his eye on the buyer
This was done It was an accident that the minister's wife had just come to the market She liked the shaddock containing gems very much and took it home She placed it before the minister As the minister peeled out the skin, the glittering gems came out to his great surprise He deemed it to be a matter of fresh good luck.
The matter was reported to the king and he was very much surprised at the coincidence