However the monkey was really in a fix, for he was sure that the Rakhas would return, and he knew that if he let the children be eaten, their parents would make him pay for it with his life.  So he went off to a blacksmith and bought sharp knives and tied them on to the trunk of the palm tree:  and when the Rakhas came back and tried to climb the tree, he was so badly cut by the knives, that he fell down to the ground with a thud and lay there groaning.  Then the monkey cautiously descended and the Rakhas begged him to cure his wounds; the monkey answered that he would cure him if he gave him complete outfits for the children.  The Rakhas said that he would give them directly he was cured.  So the monkey applied some medicines and recited the following spells:—­

    “Rustling, rustling sesamum,
    Slender sesamum: 
    Tell your grandfather,
    Tell him of seven waist strings.

    Rustling, rustling sesamum,
    Slender sesamum: 
    Tell your grandfather,
    Tell him of seven dhotis.”

And in succeeding verses, he mentioned seven coats, seven pair of shoes, seven hats, seven swords, seven horses, and seven hogs; and as he repeated the incantation he blew on the Rakhas, and he was healed.

The Rakhas was to give the things mentioned in the incantation, but when seven hogs were mentioned he objected and wished only to give one, and in the end the monkey agreed to be content with two; so the Rakhas departed and the next day appeared with seven waist strings, seven dhoties, seven coats, seven hats, seven pairs of shoes, seven swords, seven horses and two hogs.  Then the monkey rigged the children out in this apparel and mounted them on the horses; and the monkey and the Rakhas mounted on the two hogs,—­the Rakhas having faithfully promised not to eat the children or their parents,—­and they all set out for the children’s home.  When the mothers saw the cavalcade come jingling along, they were frightened at first; but when they recognised their children they were delighted, and they gave the monkey and Rakhas a good dinner.  Then the monkey made over the children to their parents and gave up his post as nurse, and left amid the good wishes of all.

LXXVII.  The Wife Who Could Not Keep a Secret.

Once there was a man of the Goala caste, who looked after the cattle of a rich farmer.  One day a cow dropped a calf in the jungle without the Goala knowing, and at evening the cow came running to join the others, without the calf.  When they got home the cow kept on lowing and the master asked whether she had had a calf; the Goala had to confess that the calf had been left in the jungle; the master scolded him well, so he took a rope and stick and went out into the night.