Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven wives and they were all childless, and he was very unhappy at having no heir.  One day a Jogi came to the palace begging, and the Raja and his Ranis asked him whether he could say what should be done in order that they might have children; the Jogi asked what they would give him if he told them and they said that they would give him anything that he asked for and gave him a written bond to this effect.  Then the Jogi said “I will not take elephants or horses or money, but you shall give me the child which is born first and any born afterwards shall be yours, do you agree?” And the Ranis consulted together and agreed.  “Then,” said the Jogi, “this is what you must do:  you must all go and bathe, and after bathing you must go to a mango orchard and the Raja must choose a bunch of seven mangoes and knock it down with his left hand and catch it in a cloth, without letting it touch the ground; then you must go home and the Ranis must sit in a row according to their seniority and the Raja must give them each one of the mangoes to eat, and he must himself eat the rinds which the Ranis throw away; and then you will have children.”  And so saying the Jogi went away promising to return the next year.

A few days later the Raja decided to give a trial to the Jogi’s prescription and he and the Ranis did as they had been told; but the Raja did not eat the rind of the youngest Rani’s mango; he did not love her very much.  However five or six months after it was seen that the youngest Rani was with child and then she became the Raja’s favourite; but the other Ranis were jealous of her and reminded the Raja that he would not be able to keep her child.  But when her time was full she gave birth to twin sons, and the Raja was delighted to think that he would be able to keep the younger of the two and he loved it much.

When the year was up the Jogi came and saw the boys and he said that he would return when they could walk; and when they could run about, he came again, and asked whether the Raja would fulfil his promise.

The Raja said that he would not break his bond.  Then the Jogi said that he would take the two boys and when the Raja objected that he was only entitled to one, he said that he claimed both as they were born at the same time; but he promised that if he took both he would teach them magic and then let one come back; and he promised also that all the Ranis should have children.  So the Raja agreed and sent away the boys with the Jogi and with them he sent goats and sheep and donkeys and horses and camels and elephants and furniture of all sorts.

The Jogi was called Sitari Jogi and he was a Raja in his own country.  But before they reached his country all the animals died, first the goats, then the sheep and the donkeys and the horses and the camels and the elephants.  And when the goats died the boys lamented: 

    “The goats have died, father,
      How far, father,
    Is it to the country of the Sitari Jogi?”