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THE SEWING GOBLIN.

sired her to release the workmen from the thrall of the goblin.

"What you ask," replied the fairy, "is beyond my power; but I can serve you as well by providing you with workmen and work-women better than those abducted."

So the fairy instructed him what he must do. The next day, Pambookat having adhered to his proposition, the large audience hall at the palace, which was a hundred găzăs broad, and a hundred and fifty long, was filled at one extremity with silks, laces, velvets, and muslins. At the other end were the King and royal family, attended by the eunuchs of the puradian, the guards, and the principal offi

ous. There is but a week's time, and all the | cers of the Court. tailors and seamstresses of which Gurgasi has "I will show you, O King!" said Pambookat, deprived me could not now effect it. If I seek" that the malice of Gurgasi is idle; for the fairy to obtain them back, it is only to deliver them from their sad condition, and to furnish my daughters and their immediate attendants with new robes. More than that is now impossible."

"Nevertheless, O King!" persisted Pambookat, "let me at least make the trial."

"So be it," said the King. "An apartment shall be assigned you in the palace; all the materials you require shall be furnished, and a thousand slaves, if you need them, placed at your disposal. But if you succeed, you are certainly the most wonderful of all tailors."

"May it please the King," replied Pambookat, "I am no tailor, but a fisherman."

"Worse and worse," said the monarch. "I give you leave to withdraw your proposition. You had better consider well, for if you undertake the matter and fail, you will lose your head."

"I will consult a friend, and answer your Majesty to-morrow," said Pambookat, and left the audience.

That night he summoned the fairy, and de

who is my friend has promised that the work required shall be done in time, and that your Majesty shall see it in progress."

"She promises well," said Kochak, stroking his chumbang as he spoke. "Let us see her perform."

Pambookat advanced into the centre of the room, and said, as he rubbed the ring on his finger, "Keraña !"

At the word there was a faint whirring noise, the floor of the palace opened, and the fairy Pundapatan arose, and made her obeisance to the King, who trembled, for he saw she was one of the chundra, or immortals.

Pundapatan waved her wand thrice, and stamped on the floor, when there arose ten square boxes made of kayu-boodi, or wisdomwood, and each beautifully polished. She tapped each box with her wand, when they sunk again, but left in their stead ten young women with beautiful features, but pale of face and delicate of frame.

"O sisters of the needle!" said the fairy,

"obey her who called you to being, you and all return for ten pieces of gold, to convey him to your sisters of the needle!"

"To hear is to obey!" was the answer. Then the ten sisters stamped upon the floor, and before each of them arose ten black goblins, each of whom had one arm of iron and one of silver, and the silver arm had a needle in its fingers. Singular to say, the needle bore its thread near the point instead of at the head, and was fed from a great roll of thread on the goblin's shoulder. Each of the young women suddenly seized silk, velvet, or muslin, as happened to come the nearest, and cutting it the required shape, gave it to one of the goblins, and so continued to do. The goblins began to sew with the rapidity of lightning, and garment after garment was completed to the great wonder of the spectators. Still the work went on, long after the King and Court had retired-robe, gown, baju, sikapan, kabayu, jubah, and sacotar accumulated in high piles; and thousands of slaves were kept busy, hour after hour, in removing these and distributing them among those for whom they were destined.

At length the nuptial-day arrived-all the required garments had been provided-and when the Prince Moodah arrived, and rode into the city with his train, his followers wondered at the splendid dresses of the people, and declared that so much costly and elegant apparel had never before been seen, not even at the Court of Mulya the Magnificent.

After the nuptials were over King Kochak sent for Pambookat, and after presenting him with the most splendid robe wrought by the goblins, and girding a costly padang, or sword, to his side, caused the royal bundara, or treasurer, to pay him a thousand pieces of gold, and asked him to name any reward he chose for his great service.

"O King, live forever!" said Pambookat, prostrating himself on the purmadani. "I ask the hand of your second daughter, the Princess Manjalis."

"Truly," replied the King, "my word is pledged, and shall be kept. But you had better demand her younger sister, for it is an ancient law of the realm that he who marries the first or second daughter of the King, unless he be a king or a king's son, shall be put to death upon the day of his nuptials, and I will not repeal the law."

Pambookat departed to his home in great grief, and summoned the fairy. She bade him go to the kingdom of Yemen, which would further his happiness, and with those words she vanished.

The young man prepared at once for his departure, and engaged passage with one Bajag, who passed for an honest trader, but whose vessel was in reality a piratical prau, and himself a leader of a band of orang-laut, or pirates, who made descents upon the neighboring coasts and carried off much booty. As Pambookat had no choice, there being but the one vessel on the coast, he contracted with Bajag, who agreed, in

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the chief sea-port of Yemen.

The night before his departure he walked out and stood before the King's palace. While there he heard a voice singing in an upper chamber, and knew it to be that of the Princess. The words of the pantung, or quatrain, that she sung. showed him that she was aware of his presence. They were these:

"If first you go, then seek for me
A leaf from the Kamboja-tree:
If first you die, then patient wait
For me at Paradise's gate."

The lattice opened when the song ceased, and a package fell at the feet of Pambookat. He opened it. There were inclosed a cinder and a feather, bound together with hair, which meant, in the language of lovers, "I burn for you. Take me, and fly." He took up a twig lying near and thrust it in the ground, signifying that she should wait and remain faithful, and then, after kissing his hand to her, departed.

The next morning Pambookat set sail with Bajag, and after ten days' sail arrived at the chief city of Yemen, where, in the character of a young man traveling for pleasure, he took lodgings at the house of an old man named Kullunggara.

The host of Pambookat was very curious and inquisitive concerning the origin of his guest, but the young man prudently kept his own counsel. Finding that he could learn nothing by direct queries, the old man then began to impart something: the next pleasure, after receiving information, being that of imparting it to others. Among other matters he mentioned that Galak the Ferocious, who reigned over the kingdom of Sind, had rebelled against King Mulya, to whom he had been tributary, and that the latter had been unable thus far to reduce his former vassal to subjection.

"But," said Pambookat, "I had always heard that Mulya was one of the most powerful of all monarchs. Has he not experienced generals, and a large army, and can he not overcome a country like Sind?"

"Nature fights for Galak," replied the other. "For between Yemen and Sind there lies a frightful desert which is a seven-days' journey in width. It is covered with a pestilential vapor, and those who are exposed to it more than twenty-four hours become so weakened and diseased that the greater part die at the close of their journey. So it has chanced that, of every army that has marched there, but few survived at the end of the journey, and those so weak that the troops of Galak easily overcame them."

"The King would doubtless well reward the man who could take an army safely to Sind?" said Pambookat.

"He has offered,” replied the host, "to give the conqueror the throne of Sind, and to release him from all tribute. But now that four armies have been destroyed no one will venture."

"I could overcome Galak easily," said Pambookat.

Kullunggara was so overjoyed at having some

thing to tell, that he forthwith repeated the renark of his lodger at the nearest rumah-kahwah, or coffee-house, from whence it traveled from mouth to mouth until it finally reached the King.

without witnesses, Pambookat summoned the fairy, and told her what he was expected to do. She waved her wand thrice, and stamping her foot there rose a fairy who seemed to be asleep, and who bore in her hand a flask of gold and a sponge, around which was wrapped a clean linen cloth.

The next day after the arrival of Pambookat, a pukkiriman, or messenger, was sent to command the presence of the stranger in the royal "Take these," said the fairy. "As you enpalace. Pambookat thereupon arrayed himself ter the cage pour the contents of the flask on the in his robe of honor, thurst his sword in his belt, sponge, wrap the cloth loosely around it, and and set out to the palace of Mulya, where the before the animal can recover from his surprise pungawals, or guards, at once conducted him to apply it to his nostrils. He will become powthe King, who was seated on his throne, sur-erless for a few minutes, and you can do with rounded by his viziers and the officers of the him as you choose." court. After the customary prostrations, Pambookat confessed, in reply to the question of the King, that he had made the remark attributed to him.

Having said this, the fairy and her attendant disappeared.

The guards now came and conducted Pambookat to the court-yard, where all the Court had assembled. Pambookat entered the cage, and the tiger, astounded at his audacity, crouch

"Were I to take you at your word," said Mulya, "what security have I that the army which I might place at your orders would reached for a moment in a corner growling and lashSind in safety?"

"That is only to be seen by the event," replied Pambookat.

The King and his viziers conferred together, and at length Bijak, the chief vizier, spoke:

"His Majesty is pleased at your audacity," said he; "but know, O stranger! that he who aspires to combat with an enemy should give some tokens of courage and wisdom."

"It is just, O vizier!" replied Pambookat; "and I am ready to prove both."

Now there had been brought, the day before, from the forest where he had been captured, a huge tiger, who was then in a cage of iron in the court-yard of the palace. And Bijak proposed that Pambookat should enter the cage and confront the brute.

"I accept the task," said Pambookat; "and only ask to be left alone first for a moment in a chamber."

ing his sides with his tail; then he prepared to spring upon his prey. The young man followed the fairy's instructions, and just as the tiger was in the act of springing, thrust the sponge against the expanded nostrils of the beast. In an instant the limbs of the tiger relaxed, his eyes closed, and he lay motionless upon the ground. Pambookat opened and shut the tiger's jaws, thrust his hand between his teeth; and finally, seizing him by the tail, dragged him half way across the cage. Then drawing his kris he cut off a piece from the right ear of the brute, and tying his scarf around his fore-legs left the cage and presented himself before the King, who had looked with astonishment upon these proceedings.

"Doubtless," he said, as he knelt at the feet of the King, "none in your majesty's Court are inferior to me in boldness. Possibly, therefore, some one of the courtiers will return the tiger his ear, and ask him for my scarf in exchange."

This was acceded to, though the courtiers smiled at his confidence, and predicted to each But the tiger had now recovered, and was other that he would be speedily torn to pieces growling so fearfully with pain and rage that no and devoured. However, so soon as he was one offered to comply with the request.

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THE LIGHTNING GOBLIN.

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"The courage of the stranger is undoubted,' said Bijak; "but to command in the field or to rule a conquered nation requires wisdom as well as boldness. We have sent a messenger a journey of forty leagues, and he has not yet returned. We would know if he has reached the Court of Bayik the Good, and if the Queen, who is the sister of our sovereign, has recovered from her illness."

"It is but a trifle to know," answered the other. "Conduct me to the chamber, and leave me there alone for an hour."

So they sent him as he desired; and when they had left him he summoned the fairy again, and told her of the vizier's task. She waved her wand and stamped her foot as before, and this time there arose a goblin whose face was dark and terrible, and whose eyes threw out occasionally flashes of light.

"O Kilat, son of the cloud!" said the fairy, "tell me what I want to know, you and your brethren, the sons of the cloud."

"To hear is to obey," answered Kilat; and clapping his hands there entered others like him. One of them bore a curious magical instrument, which he placed upon a table; the other, applying his hands to his navel, began drawing out a slender line. Attaching the end of this to the machine he darted out of the window, all the while spinning out the line from his bowels, as a spider spins her web. He was out of sight in a moment, but his track through the air could be traced for a long way by flashes of lightning which he left behind him in his rapid flight. Pambookat had hardly time to count a hundred before the magical instrument began to click. Kilat bent his head down as though he was listening to what it said. Then he spoke: "Tell his glorious and Excellent Majesty, Lord of the earth and water, Lord of the White Elephant, Lord of the Celestial Weapon, Lord of Life, and Great Chief of Righteousness, the messenger has arrived, and sends tidings. The Queen has recovered from her illness; the King has been victorious; the treasure will be sent.

The messenger sent two days ago to his exalted Highness is now entering the city gates, and will reach the palace in a quarter of an hour."

The fairy and the goblins disappeared, and Pambookat sought the King, to whom he communicated the tidings given by Kilat. Just after he had finished the missing messenger rode up, and the letter he bore confirmed what Pambookat had said. The King thereupon gave orders that an army should be assembled and placed under

the command of the young stranger.

Pambookat returned to his lodgings to prepare for his departure, and there summoned the fairy once more, and consulted her as to the mode of transporting his troops speedily over the desert.

Waving her wand thrice, the fairy again stamped her foot, and this time there arose a hideous djinn, of colossal stature, with muscles of iron and brass; and his eyes, mouth, and nos trils gave forth smoke and sparks of fire.

"Api-gwloojoo," said the fairy, "you are welcome! I command you to serve my friend here-you, the creature of my will; you and your brethren, the eaters of fire."

"To hear is to obey," answered the djinn. "What must I do?"

"Prepare to convey a hundred thousand armed men to the chief city of Sind in three hours."

The djinn bowed and vanished; and the fairy, after bidding Pambookat collect his army in front of the King's palace on the following morning, disappeared.

The next day, at dawn, the army of the King, a hundred thousand strong, were all assembled in front of the palace, where they found all the people of the city gathered, and all in a state of excited surprise. For during the night thousands of djinni had come and built an iron road extending far into the desert beyond the reach of the eye; and on that road, harnessed to great chariots that were capable of holding a thousand men each, were a hundred horses with bodies and limbs of iron and brass, and nostrils breathing fire and smoke. Pambookat ordered the army to enter the chariots, whereupon the horses each gave a scream that chilled the blood of those who heard it, and with a snort and puff they all dashed along the iron road with the speed of lightning, and were soon out of sight, leaving the multitude wondering at the extraordinary spectacle. On sped the horses dragging the chariots behind, and in the space of three hours the troops were all set down in the chief city of Sind.

THE IRON HORSE.

Galak was taken unawares, but he made a bold stand. His small army, however, was soon cut to pieces or dispersed, and he was taken by his own people, who loathed him, and put to death. Pambookat was proclaimed king, and the edict of Mulya the Magnificent, recognizing the new monarch as an independent sovereign, was read to the people amidst great rejoicing.

But Pambookat found the affairs of the kingdom in bad order. The taxes were oppressive; wicked men were in office; and, to crown all, the crops although heavy were rotting in the fields, because Galak had drawn so many men to his army that there were few to labor in the fields. To lower the taxes was easy; and after some trouble good men were found to take the place of those who plundered alike the government and the people, but the scarcity of reapers was not so easily remedied. In this dilemma

THE REAPING GOBLINS.

Pambookat bethought him of the fairy, whom he summoned once more, and confided to her his difficulty.

At the waving of the wand of Pundapatan and the stamping of her foot there speedily arose a djinn, of a prodigious size, whose wide mouth was armed with long steel teeth, which passed each other in a fearful manner.

"O Son of the Sickle!" said the fairy, "obey her who called you into being, and reap me all these fields of corn, you and your brethren, the sons of the sickle!"

"To hear is to obey," answered Orung-tuwai, for such was the name of the djinn; and he stamped his foot, when there arose hundreds of djinni like himself. To and fro they ran through the fields, falling upon the standing corn, and cutting it with their iron teeth, and binding it in sheaves ready to be gathered into the barns and granaries; which when the people saw they speedily made haste to store it ready for use. Having done all this the djinni disappeared.

The fame of these exploits of Pambookat was spread far and wide. All the monarchs of the East sought his alliance and favor. The King of Pegu sent to him a wonderful White Elephant. He was ten cubits high, as white as snow. He wore upon his forehead a golden plate, upon which were engraved his name and titles, surrounded with two circles of nine precious stones to guard against all evil influences. His covering was of crimson silk, studded with rubies and diamonds. In his trunk he bore a letter written on a palm-leaf, saying that he was Senmeng, the "Lord Elephant, one of the seven precious things, the possession of which marks the Maha Chakravartti Raja. The Great Wheel-turning King, the holy and universal sovereign, whose advent marks a new cycle."

But Pambookat sent back the elephant, saying that he was but a mortal, raised to power by celestial favor, and that he must humbly use his power for the good of his subjects and not for conquest or his own glory.

King Pambookat having set all matters in order in his kingdom, set off in the chariots on

the iron road for Yemen. From thence he embarked for Zanguebar, where he demanded, as a king, the hand of the Princess Manjalis. The nuptial ceremonies lasted during two weeks, after which he returned with his queen to the capital of Sind, where the people welcomed him with flowers and fireworks and great rejoicings. Over his kingdom Pambookat reigned long and happily; and his deeds, and the many great things he effected for the good of his people through the help of Pundapatan, are written in the Chronicles of Sind.

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