he here, O King? A great storm came on soon after we went into the
water. It grew very dark. When we came out of the water the prince was
not with us."

At once the king had the gates thrown open. He and all his men
searched up and down the banks of the river for the missing prince.
But no trace of him could be found.

In the darkness the prince had been swept down the river. He was
crying for fear he would drown when he came across a log. He climbed
upon the log, and floated farther down the river.

When the great storm arose, the water rushed into the homes of a Rat
and a Snake who lived on the river bank. The Rat and the Snake swam
out into the river and found the same log the prince had found. The
Snake climbed upon one end of the log, and the Rat climbed upon the
other.

On the river's bank a cottonwood-tree grew, and a young Parrot lived
in its branches. The storm pulled up this tree, and it fell into the
river. The heavy rain beat down the Parrot when it tried to fly, and
it could not go far. Looking down it saw the log and flew down to
rest. Now there were four on the log floating down stream together.

Just around the bend in the river a certain poor man had built himself
a hut. As he walked to and fro late at night listening to the storm,
he heard the loud cries of the prince. The poor man said to himself:
"I must get that man out of the water. I must save his life." So he
shouted: "I will save you! I will save you!" as he swam out in the
river.