[44] Many Asiatic stories relate to the concealing of
        treasure—­generally at the foot of a tree, to mark the
        spot—­by two or more companions, and its being secretly
        stolen by one of them.  The device of the carpenter in
        the foregoing tale of abducting the rascally goldsmith’s
        two sons, and so on, finds an analogue in the
        Panchatantra, the celebrated Sanskrit collection of
        fables (Book I, Fab. 21, of Benfey’s German
        translation), where we read that a young man, who had
        spent the wealth left to him by his father, had only a
        heavy iron balance remaining of all his possessions, and
        depositing it with a merchant went to another country. 
        When he returned, after some time, he went to the
        merchant and demanded back his balance.  The merchant
        told him it had been eaten by rats; adding:  “The iron of
        which it was composed was particularly sweet, and so the
        rats ate it.”  The young man, knowing that the merchant
        spoke falsely, formed a plan for the recovery of his
        balance.  One day he took the merchant’s young son,
        unknown to his father, to bathe, and left him in the
        care of a friend.  When the merchant missed his son he
        accused the young man of having stolen him, and summoned
        him to appear in the king’s judgment-hall.  In answer to
        the merchant’s accusation, the young man asserted that a
        kite had carried away the boy; and when the officers of
        the court declared this to be impossible, he said:  “In a
        country where an iron balance was eaten by rats, a kite
        might well carry off an elephant, much more a boy.”  The
        merchant, having lost his cause, returned the balance to
        the young man and received back his boy.

The Sixth Tale of the Parrot, according to the India Office MS., relates to

The Woman Carved out of Wood.

Four men—­a goldsmith, a carpenter, a tailor, and a dervish—­travelling together, one night halted in a desert place, and it was agreed they should watch turn about until daybreak.  The carpenter takes the first watch, and to amuse himself he carves the figure of a woman out of a log of wood.  When it came to the goldsmith’s turn to watch, finding the beautiful female figure, he resolved also to exhibit his art, and accordingly made a set of ornaments of gold and silver, which he placed on the neck, arms, and ankles.  During the third watch the tailor made a suit of clothes becoming a bride, and put them on the figure.  Lastly, the dervish, when it came to his turn to watch, beholding the captivating female form, prayed that it might be endowed with life, and immediately the effigy became animated.  In the morning all four fell in love with the charming damsel,