Now one day the monk came to court, gave the king a piece of fruit as
usual, and went away. But on this day the king gave the fruit to a pet
baby monkey that had escaped from his keepers, and happened to wander
in. And as the monkey ate the fruit, he split it open, and a priceless,
magnificent gem came out.
When the king saw this, he took it and asked the treasurer: "Where have
you been keeping the fruits which the monk brought? I gave them to
you." When the treasurer heard this, he was frightened and said: "Your
Majesty, I have thrown them all through the window. If your Majesty
desires, I will look for them now." And when the king had dismissed
him, he went, but returned in a moment, and said again: "Your Majesty,
they were all smashed in the treasury, and in them I see heaps of
dazzling gems."
When he heard this, the king was delighted, and gave the jewels to the
treasurer. And when the monk came the next day, he asked him: "Monk,
why do you keep honouring me in such an expensive way? Unless I know
the reason, I will not take your fruit."
Then the monk took the king aside and said: "O hero, there is a
business in which I need help. So I ask for your help in it, because
you are a brave man." And the king promised his assistance.
Then the monk was pleased, and said again: "O King, on the last night
of the waning moon, you must go to the great cemetery at nightfall, and
come to me under the fig-tree." Then the king said "Certainly," and
Patience, the monk, went home well pleased.
So when the night came, the mighty king remembered his promise to the
monk, and at dusk he wrapped his head in a black veil, took his sword
in his hand, and went to the great cemetery without being seen. When he
got there, he looked about, and saw the monk standing under the
fig-tree and making a magic circle. So he went up and said: "Monk, here
I am. Tell me what I am to do for you."
And when the monk saw the king, he was delighted and said: "O King, if
you wish to do me a favour, go south from here some distance all alone,
and you will see a sissoo tree and a dead body hanging from it. Be so
kind as to bring that here."
When the brave king heard this, he agreed, and, true to his promise,
turned south and started. And as he walked with difficulty along the
cemetery road, he came upon the sissoo tree at some distance, and saw a
body hanging on it. So he climbed the tree, cut the rope, and let it
fall to the ground. And as it fell, it unexpectedly cried aloud, as if
alive. Then the king climbed down, and thinking it was alive, he
mercifully rubbed its limbs. Then the body gave a loud laugh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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