His mother washed his clothes for him and gave him food for the journey and he set out.  On the way he met a man who asked him where he was going and he answered that he was going to make a petition to Singh Chando.  “Then,” said the man, “make a petition for me also.  I have so much wealth that I cannot look after it all; ask him to take away half from me.”  The youth promised and went on and he met another man who said that he had so many cattle that he could not build enough cow-houses for them and asked him to petition Singh Chando to diminish their number; and he promised, and went on and came to Singh Chando, and there he asked how to choose a wife and how to buy cattle.  And Singh Chando said, “When you buy a bullock first put your hand on its quarter and if it shrinks and tries to get free, buy it; and when you want a wife enquire first as to the character of her father and mother; good parents make good children.”  Then the youth asked about the two men he had met; Singh Chando said;—­“Tell the first man when he is ploughing to plough two or three furrows beyond the boundary of his field and his wealth will diminish and tell the second man to drive away three or four of his cattle every day and their number will decrease.”  So the youth returned and met the man who had too many cattle and told him what Chando had said, and the man thought “If I drive away three or four head of cattle every day I shall soon become poor” so from that time he looked out for any straying cattle and would drive them home with his own; if the owner claimed them, he gave them up, but if no claimant appeared, he kept them and so he became richer than ever.  And the youth went on and met the man who was too rich, and when he heard what Chando had said he thought “If I plough over the boundary on to my neighbour’s land it will be a great sin and I shall soon become poor;” and he went to his ploughmen and told them never to plough right up to the edge of the field but to leave two of three furrows space, and they obeyed and from that time he grew richer than ever.  And the youth returned to his mother and told her all that had happened and they understood the meaning of the advice which Chando had given to the two men and acted accordingly.  And it is true that we see that avaricious men who trespass across boundaries become poor.

XII.  The Changed Calf.

There was once a cowherd named Sona who saved a few rupees and he decided to buy a calf so as to have something to show for his labours; and he went to a distant village and bought a bull calf and on the way home he was benighted.  So he turned into a Hindu village and went to an oilman’s house and asked to be allowed to sleep there.  When the oilman saw such a fine calf he coveted it and he told Sona to put it in the stable along with his own bullock and he gave him some supper and let him sleep in the verandah.  But in the middle of the night the oilman