soon got tired and tied the dog up again.  Presently their master came along and asked what they had done with the dog and was told that the animal would not eat up the cold at all.  The headman would not believe that he had been duped and began to lead the dog round to try for himself.  Only too soon he had to admit that it made no difference.  So, in a rage he caught up a stick and beat the poor dog to death.  Thus he lost his money and got well laughed at by all the village for his folly.

XCI.  Another Lazy Man.

Once upon a time there was a man named Kora who was so lazy that his brothers turned him out of the house and he had to go out into the world to seek his fortune.  At first he tried to get some other young man of the village to keep him company on his travels but they all refused to have anything to do with such a lazy fellow, so he had to set out alone.  However, he was resolved to have a companion of some sort, so when he came to a place where a crab had been burrowing he set to work and dug it out of the ground and took it along with him, tied up in his cloth.

He travelled on for days and weeks until he came to a country which was being devastated by a Rakhas who preyed on human beings, and the Raja of the country had proclaimed that any one who could kill the Rakhas should have one of his sisters in marriage and a large grant of land.  Kora however knew nothing of all this and that evening he camped for the night under a tree on the outskirts of a village.  Presently the villagers came out and begged him to come and spend the night in one of their houses, as it was impossible for a man to sleep safely in the open by himself.  “Do not trouble about me,” said Kora, “I am not alone:  I have a companion and we two shall be quite safe together.”  The villagers saw no one with him and could not understand what he was talking about, but as he would not listen to them they had to leave him to his fate.

Night came on and as usual Kora untied the crab from his cloth and soon fell asleep.  About midnight the Rakhas came prowling along and seeing Kora sleeping alone made towards him.  But the crab rushed at the Rakhas and climbing up his body seized his neck with its claws and slit the windpipe.  Down fell the Rakhas and lay kicking on the ground.  The noise awoke Kora, who seized a big stone and dashed out the brains of the Rakhas.  He then cut off the tips of the ears and tongue and claws and wrapped them up in his cloth and lay down to sleep again with the crab in his bosom.

At dawn the chowkidar of the village, who was a Dome, came on his rounds and found the Rakhas lying dead.  He thought that it would be easy for him to obtain the credit of having killed it:  so he cut off one of the legs and hurrying home told his wife and children to clear out of the house at once:  he had nothing more to do with them, as he was going to marry the Raja’s sister and become a great