“As I, O hunter, take pleasure in my dear spouse, so mayst thou, O hunter, enjoy thyself with all that belongs to thee.”
The hunter, whose astonishment became still greater, went away together with the gazelles, whom he left at liberty. [[348]]
[1] Kah-gyur, iv. ff. 244*–245*. [↑]
XLII.
THE MONKEYS SAVED FROM DEATH.[1]
In long-past times there lived in a hill-place a troop of five hundred monkeys, which, when the corn was ripe, devoured the crops. The men who lived in that place assembled and began to take counsel together, saying—
“Honoured sirs, what shall we do, seeing that the monkeys endanger the corn?”
Some of them held that the monkeys must be killed. But how were they to set about doing that? All the trees which stood around the place must be cut down, one Tinduka[2] tree only being allowed to stand. And a hedge of thorns must be drawn around, and the monkeys must be killed inside the enclosure, when they climbed the tree in search of food. Accordingly all the trees growing around that place were cut down, only one Tinduka tree being allowed to stand; and that tree was surrounded by a hedge of thorns, and a watchman was set there, with orders to give notice as soon as the monkeys assembled.