By-and-bye he came to the sea and was puzzled as to how he was to cross it.  As he walked up and down the shore he saw an alligator rolling about in pain with a swollen stomach; and when it saw the boy it said “I am like to die with this pain in my stomach, how can I be cured?” and the boy proposed that it should take him to the cotton tree in the midst of the sea and there they might learn a remedy from the Bohmae birds.  The alligator agreed, so the boy got on its back and was taken across the water.  Then the boy sat at the foot of the cotton tree and sang:—­

    “Come down, Bohmae birds,
    I wish to consult the oracle.”

But the birds were frightened and flew to the top of the tree.  But as he went on singing, they became curious and came down and asked what was the matter, and he said “There are three old woman and one has a stool stuck to her and one a bundle of grass and one a rice pounder; how are they to be freed?” And they said “The first old woman never asked visitors to her house to take a seat; if she does so in future she will get rid of the stool,”—­and as they said this they came nearer—­“and the second old woman, if she saw anyone with straws sticking in their hair never offered to take them out.  If she does so in future she will be freed,” and as they said this they came nearer still—­“and the third old woman would not allow widows and orphans to use her rice pounder:  if she does so she will be freed:”  and as they said this they came quite near, and the boy seized them and broke their wings, and as he did so the Jogi’s arms were broken; then he snapped off their legs, and as he did so the Jogi’s legs were broken; and the birds screamed and the Jogi howled.

Then the alligator carried the boy back, and by the time it reached the shore it was cured of its pain.  On his way back the boy told the three old women of what the birds had said; and when he got to the Jogi’s palace he twisted off the heads of the Bohmae birds and then the Jogi’s head fell to the ground.

Then he started homewards with his mother, carrying the birds and their heads; and the Jogi’s head came rolling after them.  But he saw a blacksmith’s fire burning by the side of the road and he threw the birds into the fire and the Jogi’s head rolled into the fire and was burnt, and that was the end of him.  When they came to the river where his father and uncles were turned into stones, he bathed in the river, and then put a cloth over the stones and they were restored to human shape; and they rubbed their eyes and said “We must have slept a long time” and were astonished when they heard how the Jogi had turned them into stones.  Then they all went home and lived happily ever after.

LXXIV.  The Tiger’s Foster Child.

Once upon a time a Potter woman went to dig earth for making pots, and while she was working she was prematurely delivered of a boy.  And she considered whether she should carry the child home, or the basket of clay, but in the end decided to take the clay which was urgently wanted, while she would doubtless have plenty more children in the course of time.  So she went away, leaving the baby in the pit.  At evening a tiger came by and heard the child crying and he took pity on it and carried it away and he and his wife reared it.