The Crawfish then bit off the neck of the Crane, and quietly returned to the Pool.
"Oh, Crawfish! Why have you come back?" asked all the Water-people on seeing her. "Has anything happened? And where is the Crane? Why has not she returned? We are disappointed at not seeing her!"
When they had spoken thus the Crawfish laughed, and said:
"Fools that you are! The deceitful Crane has betrayed all the Fish, and has thrown them all onto a Rock not far from here, and eaten them. Fate decreed that my life was to be spared, and I discovered her treachery, and cut her throat. You need have no further anxiety; we Water-people will now be able to live happily hereafter...."
Now, I think that was a very nice Fable.
[CHAPTER XVI]
FINE CLOTHES
Alas! Parvati was growing up. She was as beautiful as the Sun, and as pretty as the Moon; but she was no longer the playful child who cared for nothing so much as to be with me.
She was now a real Princess, and her mother instructed her in all the rules of etiquette and the ceremonies of the Court.