Then they all set out with the five hundred rupees to a level field near the Raja’s palace; a great crowd collected to see the fun and the Raja went there expecting easily to win five hundred rupees.  The elephant was brought forward with vermilion on its cheeks, and a pad on its back, and a big bell round its neck, and a mahout riding it.  The crowd called out “Put down the stakes:”  so each side produced the money and publicly announced that the owner of the animal which should be victorious should take all the stakes.  But the oilman objected to the mahout’s riding the elephant; no one was going to ride his bullock.  This was seen to be fair and the mahout had to get off; then the fight began.  The bullock snorted and blew through its nose, and ran at the elephant with its head lowered.  Then the elephant also rushed forward but the bullock stood its ground and stamped; at this the elephant turned tail and ran away; the bullock ran after it and gored it from behind until it trumpeted with pain.  The crowd shouted “The Raja’s elephant is beaten.”  And the oilman took the five hundred rupees and they all went home.  From that day the oilman no longer put the bullock to work the oil mill but fed it well and left it free to go where it liked.  But the bullock only stayed on with him for one month and then died.

XXV.  How Sabai Grass Grew.

Once upon a time there were seven brothers who had an only sister.  These brothers undertook the excavation of a large tank; but although they spent large sums and dug very deep they could not reach water and the tank remained dry.

One day as they were consulting what to do to get the tank to fill, they saw a Jogi corning towards them with a lota in his hand; they at once called to him to come and advise them, for they thought that, as he spent his time wandering from country to country, he might somewhere have learned some thing which would be of use to them.  All the Jogi said to them was “You have a sister:  if you sacrifice her, the tank will fill with water.”  The brothers were fond of the girl, but in their despair at seeing their labour wasted they agreed to give the advice of the Jogi a trial.  So they told their mother the next day that, when their sister brought them out their midday meal, she was to be dressed in her best and carry the rice in a new basket and must bring a new water pot to draw their water in.  At midday the girl went down to her brothers with her best cloth and all her jewellry on; and when they saw their victim coming they could not keep from tears.  She asked them what they were grieving for; they told her that nothing was the matter and sent her to draw water in her new water-pot from the dry tank.  Directly the girl drew near to the bank the water began to bubble up from the bottom; and when she went down to the water’s edge it rose to her instep.  She bent down to fill her pot but the pot would not fill though the water rose higher and higher; then she sang:—­