BALOCHI TALES.
XIII.
The Prince, the Goatherd, and Naina Bai.
A CERTAIN king, who had no son, went and turned his bedstead upside down, and laid himself down on it by the gate of his fort. A faqīr passing by said to him, "How is it that thou, the king of this land, art lying here in this way?" He replied, "Faqīr, if I tell you, what can you do?" The Faqīr said, "Tell me." The king said, "The reason is that I have no son," The Faqīr then said, "To-morrow morning I will tell you what to do." Next morning the king went to the Faqīr, who handed him two kunar-fruits,[1] saying, "Eat one yourself and give one to your wife." The king took away the two kunars and ate one, and gave one to his wife. His wife conceived, and in the tenth month she gave birth to a son.
Then the king made a proclamation as follows: "If a son has to-day been born to anyone let him bring him to me, to be brought up with my own son." There was a Baloch goatherd in whose house a son had been born that day. He brought his son to the king, and the king brought up the two boys together. After four or five years had passed, the Baloch came to the king, saying, "My lord, let my son go; let me take away my own." The king said, "I will let him go, and mine with him; take them both, and let them stay with you for a year." So the Baloch took the prince and his own son away to his house, and sent them out to graze the kids. After two or three years the king sent one of his servants to fetch his son, but the
- ↑ The kunar is the Zizyphus Jujuba, well known in Northern India as the Ber.
