“In the town of Liavati, lived a king, called Mukunda. One day he saw a hunchback performing such comical actions that he invited him to become an inmate of his palace, and, as his court fool, to divert him in his hours of idleness and depression. The king was so taken up with this droll rascal, that his prime minister was seriously displeased, and he said, in reproof, to his master-- ‘Far flies rumour with three pairs of ears.’ To which the king laughingly replied-- ‘The man is an idiot, so have no fears.’ “Grumbling still, the old and prudent minister said-- ‘The beggar may rise to royal degree, The monarch descend to beggary.’ “One day a Brahmin came to the palace, and offered to teach the king various magical arts. The monarch agreed with delight, and for a small sum of money acquired power to send his soul from his own body into any disengaged carcass that he wished to vivify. The hunchback was in the room when the king learned his lesson. “A few days after, Mukunda and his fool were riding in the forest, when they lit on the corpse of a Brahmin who had died of thirst. Here was an opportunity for the king to practise what he had learned. But first he asked the hunchback if he had given attention to the instruction of the Brahmin. The fool replied that he never bothered his head with the pedantry of professors. The king, satisfied with the answer, pronounced the magical words. Down fell his body, senseless, and his soul animating the corpse, the dead Brahmin sat up and opened his eyes. Instantly the crafty hunchback repeated the incantation, and took possession of the carcass of his majesty, mounted the king’s horse, and rode off to Liavati, where he was received by the courtiers, the servants, the ministers, and the queen as if he were the true Mukunda, whilst the real monarch, in the shape of a begging Brahmin, roved the forests and the villages, cursing his folly, half starved on the scanty charity of the faithful. “Suspicions that all was not right forced their way into the queen’s mind, and she mentioned her doubts to the minister. ‘Far flies rumour with three pairs of ears,’ said he, addressing the false king, who shrugged his shoulders, and laughed. Again the minister tried him with-- ‘The beggar may rise to royal degree,’ and received a peremptory order to be silent as he valued his head. “‘He is not the king,’ said the minister to the queen. ‘We must find the true Mukunda, wherever he may be.’ “In order to effect this, to every one whom the vizier addressed he uttered the two half-verses-- ‘Far flies rumour with three pairs of ears,’ and ‘The beggar may rise to royal degree,’ but with no results. One evening, however, as he was walking home, deep in thought, a poor Brahmin clamoured for alms. The minister made no answer; but when the pauper continued his importunities, he said, sharply,-- ‘Far flies rumour with three pairs of ears’; to which the Brahmin promptly answered--