traveller, "isn't this the daytime? Who would ever think of cutting a hole to commit burglary in broad daylight? Besides, I haven't made a hole in the wall of a house, but only in the ground, in order to cook my food." "Don't you know," replied the policemen, "that, in our Raja's country, this is night-time?" Saying this, they bound him and dragged him away.
Next day—that is, during the night that followed—Raja Hŏbachondrŏ was sitting with his Minister on his right hand and all his court assembled round him, when the policemen brought in the alleged thief and placed him before the Raja, charging him with burglary. Forthwith, the Raja, without giving the poor man a chance of saying a word in his own defence, ordered him to be impaled. Thereupon, the Minister, Gŏbachondrŏ, said, "Mŏharaj,[1] a new stake has just been made. It is a very thick one. It would be well to try it first on a very fat man. After that, this thief may be impaled." "That's a very sensible suggestion," said the Raja, "and ought certainly to be carried out." Accordingly, he gave orders that the so-called thief should be kept in custody in the meantime, and the fattest man in the city sought out and brought before him.
Hundreds of officers at once rushed off in all directions, and, amongst all the fat people of the place, there was the greatest consternation. But none of them seemed to the officers to be fat enough for the purpose, till, at length, some, going to the candy-sugar bazar, caught sight of Hŏridash, who, as has been said, had grown immensely stout through con-
- ↑ Sk., Maharājā = great king, Your Majesty.
