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THE SNAKE-WOMAN AND KING ALI MARDAN 179

dewdrops over the beds of flowers, and laden fruit- trees bend over the marble colonnades. And there, amid the flowers and sunshine, she lived with the King, who specdily became so enamoured of her that he forgot everything else in the world.

So the days passed until it chanced that a Jogi’s servant, coming back from the holy lake Gangabal, which lies on the snowy peak of Haramukh, whither he went every year to draw water for his master, passed by the gardens; and over the high garden wall he saw the tops of the fountains, leaping and splashing like silver sunshine, He was so astonished at the sight that he put his vessel of water on the ground, and climbed over the wall, determined to see the wonderful things inside. Once in the garden amid the fountains and flowers, he wandered hither and thither, bewildered by beauty, until, wearied out by excitement, he lay down under a tree and fell asleep.

Now the King, coming to walk in the garden, found the man lying there, and noticed that he held something fast in his closed right hand. Stooping down, Ali Mardan gently loosed the fingers, and discovered a tiny box filled with a sweet-smelling ointment. While he was examining this more closely, the sleeper awoke, and missing his box, began to weep and wail; where- upon the King bade him be comforted, and showing him the box, promised to return it if he would faithfully fully tell why it was so precious to him.

'O great King,' replied the Jogi’s servant, ‘the box belongs to my master, and it contains a holy ointment of many virtues. By its power I am preserved from all harm, and am able to go to Gangabal and return with my jar full of water in so short a

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