become perfectly acquainted with his friend's intention, and what he did was this. He put his wife on the top of the house and pulled down the staircase. Kubuddhi soon appeared on the scene, and Subuddhi said to him: " I am very glad to see you; pray take out of my house whatever you like." So Kubuddhi, who could not reach the lady on the housetop, went off to get a ladder. "Stop!" said Subuddhi; " this will never do ! The bargain is, that you may take what you like out of my house with your two hands; there is nothing about ladders in the agreement." Se Kubuddhi got the worst of it and had to go home again without having gained his object, besides which he became the laughing- stock of the whole town.
Story XLII
IN a village called Devalâkhya lived a prince whose name was Râjasinha. His wife was a person of irreproachable reputation, but very ill- tempered and quarrelsome. One day she had a violent altercation with her husband, and in consequence left home and started off with her two
