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from the merchant. The king summoned the merchant, and said to him : Why do you not give this man the money you ought to give him ?' The merchant said: 'My lord, for three days I remained absorbed in mourning according to the custom of the world, therefore I did not give him the money I ought to have given him; so I will give it now. Having said this, the merchant went home. The king then said to Mitrananda : "How did you guard the corpse ? Mitránanda answered: ‘King, I girded up my loins firmly and drew my dagger, and remained on the alert, looking about me in every direction. Accordingly, in the first watch the tribe of jackals arrived. In the second watch terrible vampires* came. In the third watch the congregation of witches arrived. In the fourth watch a charmingly-dressed fair one came near the corpse. I knew that she was a Lamia,+ 80 I seized her by the left hand. Then she slipped from my grasp, but as she went I marked her on the right thigh with my dagger, I and when she slipped away, her bracelet remained in my hand. The king said: "Then show me the bracelet.' Mitrananda drew the bracelet from his zone and put it in the hand of the king. The king saw that it was the bracelet of Ratnamanjarí, marked with her own name. His face became black. He said to himself: 'Poison has been produced in nectar, since this Ratnamanjarí has acquired the reputation of a Lamia.' Then the king went into the pavilion of Ratnamanjari. There the king beheld Ratnamanjarí, clothed in transparent garments, sleeping heavily, with no bracelet on her left wrist, and with a bandage wrapped round her right thigh. Then the king said to himself: 'I will myself arrest that girl, who disgraces my family like a witch.' Having thus deliberated, he returned to his own dwelling. The king said to Mitránanda : 'As you displayed courage in guarding the corpse, do you know any other charms and . spells that will avail in other similar cases ?' Mitránanda said: 'I am a master of spells.' The king said . That fair
* The word translated vampire' is Vetála. + Mári.
Compare the Katha Sarit Ságara,' vol. ii., p. 239.
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