ought to have been given to the brave man; for he won her by the might of his arm and at the risk of his life, slaying that rakshasa in combat.  But the man of knowledge and the man of magic power were appointed by the Creator to serve as his instruments.”  The perplexed Harisvamin would have been glad, no doubt, could he have had such a logical solution of the question as this of the sagacious King Trivikramasena—­such was his six-syllabled name.

The Hindi version ("Baytal Pachisi”) corresponds with the Sanskrit, but in the Tamil version the father, after hearing from each of the three suitors an account of his accomplishments, promises to give his daughter to “one of them.”  Meanwhile a giant comes and carries off the damsel.  There is no difference in the rest of the story.

In the Persian Parrot-Book ("Tuti Nama” ) where the tale is also found [FN#414]—­it is the 34th recital of the loquacious bird in the India Office Ms. No. 2573, the 6th in B. Gerrans’ partial translation, 1792, and the 22nd in Kaderi’s abridgment—­the first suitor says that his art is to discover anything lost and to predict future events; the second can make a horse of wood which would fly through the air; and the third was an unerring archer.

In the Persian “Sindibad Nama,” a princess, while amusing herself in a garden with her maidens, is carried away by a demon to his cave in the mountains.  The king proclaims that he will give his daughter in marriage to whoever should bring her back.  Four brothers offer themselves for the undertaking:  one is a guide who has travelled over the world; the second is a daring robber, who would take the prey even from the lion’s mouth; the third is a brave warrior; and the fourth is a skilful physician.  The guide leads the three others to the demons’ cave, the robber steals the damsel while the demon is absent; the physician, finding her at death’s door, restored her to perfect health; while the warrior puts to flight a host of demons who sallied out of the cave.

The Sanskrit story has undergone a curious transformation among the Kalmuks.  In the 9th Relation of Siddhi Kur (a Mongolian version of the Vampyre Tales) six youths are companions:  an astrologer, a smith, a doctor, a mechanic, a painter, and a rich man’s son.  At the mouth of a great river each plants a tree of life and separates, taking different roads, having agreed to meet again at the same spot, when if the tree of any of them is found to be withered it will be a token that he is dead.  The rich man’s son marries a beautiful girl, who is taken from him by the Khan, and the youth is at the same time put to death by the Khan’s soldiers and buried under a great rock.  When the four other young men meet at the time and place appointed they find the tree of the rich youth withered.  Thereupon the astrologer by his art discovers where the youth is buried; the smith breaks the rock asunder; the physician restores the youth to life, and he tells them how the Khan had