the tree, holding out his bowl and looking as poor and thin as ever,
so that nobody had the least idea of the truth.

3. Why was it wrong for the Brahman to hide away his money and jewels?

4. Can anyone be a miser about other things as well as money and
jewels? If so, what other things?



CHAPTER III


For many months the Brahman led this double life; until one day,
when he went as usual to his hiding-place, he saw at once that some
one had been there before him. Eagerly he knelt down, full of fear
of exactly what had actually happened. All his care in concealing the
hole had been wasted, for it was quite empty. The poor man could not
at first believe his own eyes. He rubbed them hard, thinking that
there was something the matter with them. Then he felt round and
round the hole, hoping that after all he was mistaken; and when at
last he was obliged to believe the terrible truth that there really
was not a sign of his money and jewels, he became almost mad with
misery. He began to run from tree to tree, peering into their roots,
and when there was nothing to be seen, he rushed back again to his
empty hole, to look into it once more. Then he wept and tore at his
hair, stamped about and cried aloud to all the gods he believed in,
making all kinds of promises, of what he would do if only they would
give him back his treasures. No answer came, and he began to wonder who
could have done such a terrible thing. It must, he felt sure, have been