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SUNSHINE AND MOONSHINE
181

"You are a wiser youth than I thought," said the Siddhi-kur, when he had a little recovered from his mirth. "Did you put that wedge in your mouth before I began my tale, so that you could not speak, no matter how much you wanted to?"

The Khan's son nodded.

The Siddhi-kur settled back in his sack with a sigh. "You have won," he said, "and I might as well resign myself to my fate! Farewell, dear mango tree and lovely garden of ghost children! Farewell, for now I must dwell far away in another cool grove beside the cave of Nagarguna, on the Shining Mountain!

"But I suppose you really deserve to know the ending of my story," he continued, in a more cheerful tone, "though you might guess the rest for yourself.

"Of course, the princess went back to her father, who was nigh dead with repentance now that his wrath had cooled, and Sunshine hastened to the cave in the desert to relieve the minds of the good