Afterwards the Prince told it at the hand of the widow-mother; then the widow-mother wept. The young rats asked, “What is it, mother, that you are weeping for?”
The widow-mother said, “When our son has gone into that well he will die.”
Then the four young rats said, “What are you weeping for at that?” From the house to the well they cut a tunnel. Having cut it, they said at the Prince’s hand, “We have cut the tunnel from this house until the time when it goes to the well. When you have gone into the well, should the King close it with earth[22] come along this tunnel.” Having said [this], they showed the tunnel to the Prince.
On the following day, the King having told the Prince to descend into the well, the King remained on the surface. The Prince having descended into the well, when he is about (lit., making) to try to take a little earth the King closed it with earth.
Then this Prince having come along that tunnel to the house of the widow-mother, remained [there].
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
In the Kathā Sarit Sāgarā (Tawney), vol. i, p. 549, it is stated that in a country in which the deficiency of rain had caused a famine, “the King began to play the bandit, leaving the right path, and taking wealth from his subjects unlawfully.”
In the same work, vol. ii, p. 569, a great sandbank is described as suddenly rising up in the midst of the sea, near Ceylon.