bear to his palace and installed her as his wife.  Meanwhile the real bride had picked up the walking stick of the Raja and a cloth which he had left on the road when he went to the stream, and ran into the jungle.  She made her way to the house of a Ghasi woman who lived by the Raja’s palace with her daughters.  The daughters earned a living by selling flowers and one day one daughter, as she sold the Raja a garland, told him that his real bride was living in their house.  The Raja was very distressed and at once went to see his bride and was satisfied of her identity when she produced his stick and cloth.  The real Rani refused to go to his palace until the she bear had been put to death.  Thereupon the Raja gave instructions to his followers and sent word to the palace that he was dead.  The officers and servants at the palace then prepared a big pit and lit a large fire in it:  they then sent for the she bear and told her that she must perform the funeral ceremonies of her husband.  They made her take off her fine clothes and told her to kneel down by the burning pit and make salaam to it.  As she was doing so they pushed her into the pit and she was burned to death.  Then the Raja brought home his real bride in triumph.  But from that time bears attack men when they get the chance.

(14)—­The Jackal and the Kite.

Once upon a time a jackal and a kite agreed to join forces and get their food together.  In pursuance of their plan they sent word to a prosperous village that a Raja with his army was marching that way and intended the next day to loot the village.  The next morning the jackal took an empty kalsi and marched towards the village drumming on the kalsi with all his might, and the kite flew along overhead screaming as loud as he could.  The villagers thought that the Raja’s army was approaching and fled into the jungle.  The jackal and the kite began to feast on all the good things that had been left in the houses.  There was however one old woman who was too infirm to run away with the other inhabitants:  and had hid herself inside her house.  When she saw that no army came but only a jackal and a kite she crawled away into the jungle and told her friends.  They came back, and surrounding the village, caught the jackal:  they began to beat the jackal with sticks to kill it:  the jackal uttered no sound and pretended that it did not mind being beaten:  after a time it began to jeer at its captors and told them that they could never kill it by beating.  The asked how it could be killed and it said by burning.  So they tied a bunch of old cloths on to its tail and poured oil over them and set them on fire:  the jackal ran off with the burning bundle at the end of its tail and jumping on to the nearest house set fire to the thatch:  the fire spread and the whole village was burnt down.  The jackal then ran to a tank and jumping into the water extinguished its blazing tail.  But if you look you will see that all jackals have a burnt tip to their tail to this day.