The servants had to obey their king. So they seized and bound the poor
man. They beat him at every corner of the street. The poor man did not
cry out, but he said, over and over again, "It is better to save poor,
weak animals than to save a prince."

At last some wise men among the crowds along the street asked the poor
man what prince he had saved. Then the poor man told the whole story,
ending with the words, "By saving your king, I brought all this pain
upon myself."

The wise men and all the rest of the crowd cried out: "This poor man
saved the life of our king, and now the king has ordered him to be
killed. How can we be sure that he will not have any, or all, of us
killed? Let us kill him." And in their anger they rushed from every
side upon the king as he rode on his elephant, and with arrows and
stones they killed him then and there.

Then they made the poor man king, and set him to rule over them.

The poor man ruled his people well. One day he decided once more to
try the Snake, the Rat, and the Parrot. So, followed by many servants,
the king went to where the Snake lived.

At the call of "Snake!" out came the Snake from his hole, saying,
"Here, O King, is your treasure; take it."

"I will," said the king. "And I want you to come with me."

Then the king had his servants dig up the gold.