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dear girl, I am much pleased by the benefit that you have conferred on me, so choose a boon.' She said: Make a shade over my head that I may pasture my cattle in comfort.' The god said to himself: 'This girl is foolish to ask for shade.' So he made a great garden to shelter her, and it was of the following nature:
It was full of flowers and fruits that continued in every season; thick with leaves;
Haunted by scent-loving bees; ever proof against the rays of the sun. Then the god said: 'My dear child, wherever you remain, or wherever you go, this garden will always accompany you. When you are in trouble think on me.' Having said this, the god disappeared. So the garden remained sheltering her. At nightfall she went home with her cattle. Her mother said: 'Dear child, take food.' She answered: 'I am not hungry.' Then in the last watch of the night she went out with her cows. In this way she kept going backwards and forwards between her house and the field, and the garden always went with her. Once, when she was sleeping under the trees of the garden, the King of Pataliputra, having made the circuit of the regions, came to that forest. The king, seeing that that garden was in all respects charming, sat down under a fragrant mango-tree; then by the king's order the elephants and camels and other animals were fastened to various trees; the elephants' armour and things of that kind were hung on the branches of the trees. Then the girl was awakened by the cries of the soldiers, so she went to look after her cows, which were terrified by the elephants and other strange things. While she ran after her cows that were running away, the garden also ran with her, carrying the horses and other animals along with it. The king was bewildered to think what this could mean, and he said to his minister: Minister, what is this strange sight that I see? The minister said: Un
* In Kaden's Unter den Olivenbäumen there is a grateful snake whom Lichtmess, in the story of that name, delivers from some boys. The snake was an enchanted princess, and he at length marries her. See also my translation of the Katha Sarit Ságara,' vol. i., pp. 55 and 564, and vol. ii., pp. 107 and 633.
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