its use in breaking them.  When he struck the first blow a voice came out of the fish, like that of some one in pain, at which the potter was greatly surprised.  “Perhaps,” thought he, “the fish is possessed by a bhut.[FN#513] I’ll try again,” whereupon he struck another blow with his axe.  Again the voice came forth from the fish, saying, “Woe is me! woe is me!” On hearing this, the potter thought, “Well, this is evidently not a bhut, but the voice of an ordinary man.  I’ll cut the flesh carefully.  May be that I shall find some poor distressed person.”  So he began to cut away the flesh carefully, and presently he perceived a man’s foot, then the legs appeared, and then the entire body.  “Praise be to God,” he cried, “the soul is yet in him.”  He carried the man to his house as fast as he could, and on arriving there did everything in his power to recover him.  A large fire was soon got ready, and tea and soup given the man, and great was the joy of the potter and his wife when they saw him reviving.[FN#514] For some months the stranger lived with those good people, and learnt how to make pots and pans and other articles and thereby helped them considerably.  Now it happened that the king of that country died and it was the custom of the people to take for their sovereign whomsoever the late king’s elephant and hawk should select.  And so on the death of the king the royal elephant was driven all over the country, and the hawk was made to fly about, in search of a successor and it came to pass that the person before whom the elephant saluted and on whom the hawk alighted was considered as the divinely-chosen one.  Accordingly the elephant and the hawk went about the country, and in the course of their wanderings came by the house of the potter who had so kindly succoured the poor man whom he found in the belly of the monstrous fish; and it chanced that as they passed the place the stranger was standing by the door, and behold, no sooner did the elephant and hawk see him than the one bowed down before him and the other perched on his hand.  “Let him be king! let him be king!” shouted the people who were in attendance on the elephant, and they prostrated themselves before the stranger and begged him to accompany them to the palace.[FN#515]

The ministers were glad when they heard the news, and most respectfully welcomed their new king.  As soon as the rites and ceremonies necessary for the installation of a king had been observed, his majesty entered on his duties.  The first thing he did was to send for the potter and his wife and grant them some land and money.  In this and other ways such as just judgments, proper laws, and kindly notices of all who were clever and good, he won for himself the good opinion and affection of his subjects and prospered in consequence thereof.  After a few months, however, his health was impaired, and his physicians advised him to take out-door exercise.  Accordingly, he alternately rode, hunted and fished.  He was especially fond of fishing, and whenever he indulged in this amusement, he was attended by two sons of a fisherman, who were clever and handsome youths.