The girl’s father and relations turned out with bows and arrows to look for the monkey who had carried her off but he had gone so far away that they never found him.  When the monkey boy appeared with his bride all the villagers were astonished that he had found anyone to marry him, but everything was made ready for the marriage as quickly as possible and all the relations were invited and the wedding took place and the monkey boy and his wife lived happily ever after.

XVI.  The Miser’s Servant.

Once there was a rich man who was a miser.  Although he kept farm servants they would never stay out the year with him; but ran away in the middle.  When the villagers asked why they ran away and so lost their year’s wages the servants answered.  “You would do the same in our place:  at the busy time of the year he speaks us fair and feeds us well, but directly the crops are gathered he begins to starve us; this year we have had nothing to eat since September.”

And the villagers said “Well, that is a good reason, a man can stand scolding but not starvation; we all work to fill our bellies, hunger is the worst disease of all.”  The news that the miser made his servants work for nothing spread throughout the neighbourhood so he could get no servants near by and when he brought them from a distance they soon heard of his character and ran away.  Men would only work for him on daily wages and because of his miserliness they demanded higher wages than usual from him and would not work without.  Now there was a young fellow named Kora who heard all this and he said “If I were that man’s servant I would not run away.  I would get the better of him; ask him if he wants a servant and if he says, yes, take me to him.”  The man to whom Kora told this went to the miser and informed him that Kora was willing to engage himself to him; so Kora was fetched and they had a drink of rice beer and then the miser asked Kora whether he would work for the full year and not run away in the middle.  Kora said that he would stay if he were satisfied with the wages.  The master said “I will fix your wages when I see your work; if you are handy at every thing I will give you 12 Kats of rice and if you are only a moderate worker then 9 or 10 Kats besides your clothes.  How much do you ask for?”

And Kora said “Well, listen to me:  I hear that your servants run away in the middle of the year because you give them so little to eat, all I ask for my wages is that you give me once a year one grain of rice and I will sow it and you must give me low land to plant all the seed that I get from it; and give me one seed of maize and I will sow it for seed, and you must give me upland to sow all the seed I get from it; and give me the customary quantity of clothes, and for food give me one leaf full of rice three times a day.  I only want what will go on a single leaf, you need not sew several leaves together into a plate.