When the King saw them coming in together, he asked his Servant what he wanted, and why he was bringing in a strange Boy with him. The Servant replied that he had entrusted the Boy with a jar of oil intended for the King, and as they were walking along the road quite quietly together, the Boy all of a sudden began to stamp his feet like a maniac, and the jar of oil slipped off his back and got broken. The King asked the Boy what he meant by his conduct, and the Boy replied:
“Well, Your Majesty, your Servant said that if I would carry this jar of oil, he would give me a hen, and it seemed to me quite natural to consider within myself what I should do with my hen when I got it. So I soon saw that by selling the chickens I could buy a cow, and [[33]]that later on by selling the cow and her calf, I could get a wife and set up a house of my own, and that presently we should have a child; and I was thinking to myself how I should keep my child in order, and if it was naughty I should be obliged to stamp my foot very firmly, in order to show it that I was not to be trifled with.”
On hearing this ridiculous story the King was much amused, and laughed very heartily; and he gave the foolish Boy a piece of gold, and told him to go home to his Mother.
So the Boy went off towards his own home, and as he got near to the house he saw a strange dog sneaking out of the door, carrying in his mouth a purse full of money, which he had just picked up inside. On seeing this the Boy became very much excited, and began calling aloud to his Mother that a dog was making off with her purse. The Mother, when she found what was up, was afraid that he would attract the attention of the neighbours to the loss of the purse, and that in the excitement some one else would chase the dog and get the money; so hastily running up on to the flat roof of the house she sprinkled some sugar over the roof, and then called to the Boy to come up as quickly as he could.
“Look!” she said, as soon as he arrived; “what a curious thing! It has been raining sugar all over the roof of the house.”
Her son, who was very fond of sugar, at once set to work to pick up all that he saw; and while he was so [[34]]engaged, the good woman slipped away and soon found the dog and recovered her purse.
Some time afterwards the Boy’s Mother arranged with a rich family, who lived some miles away, and who were not acquainted with her son’s failings, that the Boy should marry the daughter of the house; and that, in accordance with Tibetan custom, he should become a member of the Bride’s family. When all the preliminaries had been satisfactorily arranged, a party of horsemen arrived from the Bride’s house to greet the Bridegroom and to bring him home. The Boy dressed himself up in his best clothes, and, after feasting the wedding party in the usual manner, he begged them all to go on ahead of him, saying that he would follow as soon as he had said good-bye to his Mother.
Towards evening he set out by himself on horseback. It was a moonlight night, and as he rode down the road he could see his own shadow travelling along beside him. He could not make out what the shadow was, but thought it must be some ghost or demon, which wanted to do him an injury, so he urged his horse into a gallop, in order to try and get away from it. But the faster he galloped the faster went the shadow, and he soon saw that it was no good trying to escape. So in order to frighten the strange object he took off his puggaree and flung it at it. As this produced no effect, he followed up the puggaree with his cloak, and, finally, with all the clothes he had on, but without in any way frightening the shadow, which still continued to follow him closely. So thinking to give it the slip, he jumped [[35]]off his horse and ran along the road on foot, until he got into the shade of a big poplar-tree growing near the road-side.
THE YOUNG MUSSULMAN PURSUED BY HIS OWN SHADOW.