Baki now pointed to the King, and in a moment the band of armed men fell upon him, cut him to pieces, and disappeared with shouts of triumph through the roof of the palace. When the courtiers saw what had happened, they hastened to prostrate themselves before the feet of so powerful a magician, and installed Baki as their new king.
As soon as he was seated upon his throne he sent for the young lady whom he had rescued from the Ogre’s cave, and, having married her, they lived happily for many years. And the Queen, his mother, soon after returned to King Bacha, and having agreed with him never more to argue on trivial matters, they had no more disputes or quarrels, and long reigned together over a contented and prosperous kingdom. [[158]]
STORY No. XXII.
THE STORY OF THE HOME-BRED BOY.
HOW HE FOUND THE LOST TURQUOISE.
There was once an old woman living in Tibet whose husband had died and left her alone with her only son.
As the Boy grew up, his Mother grew more and more fond of him, and disliked parting from him even for a moment. She was afraid that if he left her house and began wandering about by himself some accident might happen to him, and she would be left desolate in her old age. So the older he grew the more careful she became, until at last she saw that it was impossible to restrain the Boy any longer, and it would be necessary for him to go out into the world to seek his fortune, just as other young men of his age had to do. So when he had reached the age of fifteen she waited till the fifteenth day of the sixth month, which is a very auspicious date, and calling the Boy to her, she presented him with a new suit of clothes, a horse, a dog, a gun and a sword; and she told him that he was now at liberty to leave his home and to go out into the world to seek his fortune. [[159]]
The Boy was greatly delighted at receiving these gifts and with the prospect of meeting with some adventures, so after saying farewell to his Mother, he mounted his horse, and with the dog trotting at his heels he started away down the road. All day he rode quietly along by himself without meeting with any adventures, and towards evening he reached a high plateau near the top of a range of mountains. As he was crossing the plateau a fox jumped up in front of him and ran off towards the mountains. The dog, on seeing the fox, started to chase it; while the young Man, thinking he was to have some fun at last, galloped after the dog as fast as he could.
After running for some distance the fox suddenly disappeared into his earth, and the Boy, riding up, dismounted at the mouth of the hole, and began to scheme how he was to catch the fox when he came out. So he took off his cloak[1] and fastened it to the saddle with his sword and his gun, and then placed his horse a little to one side of the fox’s earth, whilst his dog stood ready at the other side; and he himself took off his hat and put it over the mouth of the hole, and taking a large stone in his hand, he crouched down ready to slay the fox when it came out.