So the king knew that a goblin lived in it, and said without fear:
"What are you laughing about? Come, let us be off." But then he
did not see the goblin on the ground any longer. And when he
looked up, there he was, hanging in the tree as before. So the king
climbed the tree again, and carefully carried the body down. A
brave man's heart is harder than a diamond, and nothing makes it
tremble.

Then he put the body with the goblin in it on his shoulder, and
started off in silence. And as he walked along, the goblin in the
body said: "O King, to amuse the journey, I will tell you a story.
Listen."


FIRST GOBLIN

The Prince's Elopement. Whose fault was the resulting death of
his parents-in-law?

There is a city called Benares where Shiva lives. It is loved by
pious people like the soil of Mount Kailasa. The river of heaven
shines there like a pearl necklace. And in the city lived a king
called Valour who burned up all his enemies by his valour, as a
fire burns a forest. He had a son named Thunderbolt who broke the
pride of the love-god by his beauty, and the pride of men by his
bravery. This prince had a clever friend, the son of a counsellor.

One day the prince was enjoying himself with his friend hunting,
and went a long distance. And so he came to a great forest. There
he saw a beautiful lake, and being tired, he drank from it with his