“Rise,” replied Hari-Sarman, overjoyed at hearing this.  “You have told me nothing that I did not know, for no secret is hidden from me.  What reward will you give me if I save you from the wrath of the king?”

“I will give you all the money I have,” said Jihva; “and that is not a little.”

“That also I knew,” said Hari-Sarman.  “For you have good wages, and many a time you have stolen money that did not belong to you.  Go now and fetch it all, and have no fear that I will betray you.”

11.  What mistakes do you think Jihva made in what she said to Hari-Sarman?

12.  What would have been the best thing for her to do when she thought she was found out?

CHAPTER VII

Without waiting a moment Jihva hurried away to fetch the money; but when she got back with it, the man on guard, who had heard everything that had passed between her and Hari-Sarman, would not let her in to the prison again till she gave him ten gold pieces.  Thinking that Hari-Sarman really knew exactly how much money she had, Jihva was afraid he would be angry when he missed some of it; and again she let out the truth, which he might never have guessed.  For she began at once to say, “I brought all I had, but the man at the door has taken ten pieces.”  This did vex Hari-Sarman very much, and he told her he would let the king know what she had done, unless she fetched the thief who had taken the money and jewels.  “I cannot do that,” said Jihva, “for he is very far away.  He lives with his brother, Indra Datta, in the forest beyond the river, more than a day’s journey from here.”  “I did but try you,” said the clever Hari-Sarman, who now knew who the thief was; “for I can see him where he is at this moment.  Now go home and wait there till I send for you.”

But Jihva, who loved the thief and did not want him to be punished, refused to go until Hari-Sarman promised that he would not tell the king who the man was or where he lived.  “I would rather,” she said, “bear all the punishment than that he should suffer.”  Even Hari-Sarman was touched at this, and fearing that if he kept Jihva longer, she would be found in the prison by messengers from the king, he promised that no harm should come to her or the thief, and let her go.

Very soon after this, messengers came to take Hari-Sarman once more before the king; who received him very coldly and began at once to threaten him with a terrible punishment, if he did not say who the thief was, and where the gold and jewels were.  Even now Hari-Sarman pretended to be unwilling to speak.  But when he saw that the king would put up with no more delay, he said, “I will lead you to the spot where the treasure is buried, but the name of the thief, though I know it, I will never betray.”  The king, who did not really care much who the thief was, so long as he got back his money, lost not a moment, but ordered his attendants to get spades and follow him.  Very soon Hari-Sarman brought them to the pomegranate tree.  And there, sure enough, deep down in the ground, was all that had been lost.