not in the world a more wonderful man than I; but having heard of two men in distant lands of very great cleverness, the one of whom is a Wrestler, and the other a shooter of Pearls from his wife's nose-ring, I go to find them and learn if the things I heard are true.'—'They are true,' said the other; 'for we, O Pundit, are the very two men of whom you speak.'
At this news the Pundit was overjoyed, and cried, 'Then let us be as brothers; since your homes are far distant, return with me to my house, which is close by; there you can rest a while, and each of us put our various powers to the proof.' This proposal pleased the Wrestler and the Pearlshooter, who accompanied the Pundit to his house.
Now, in the Pundit's kitchen there was an enormous caldron of iron, so heavy that five-and-twenty men could hardly move it; and in the dead of night, the Wrestler, to prove his power, got up from the verandah where he was sleeping, and as quietly as possible lifted this great caldron on to his shoulders, and carried it down to the river, where he waded with it into the deepest part of the water, and there buried it. After having accomplished this feat, he returned to the Pundit's house as quietly as he had left it, and, rolling himself up in his blanket fell fast asleep. But though he had come never so softly, the Pundit's wife heard him, and waking her husband, she said, 'I hear footsteps as of people creeping quietly about and not wishing to be heard, and but a little while ago I noticed the same thing; perhaps there are thieves in the house, let us go and see; it is strange they should choose such a bright moonlight night.' And they both got up quickly, and walked round the house. They found nothing, however, out of order, nor any signs of anything having been touched or disarranged, until they came to the kitchen. And, indeed, at first they thought all was as they left it there, when, just as they were going away, the Pundit's wife cried out to him, 'Why, what has become of the great caldron? I never thought of looking to see if that were safe; for it did not seem possible that it could have been moved.' And they both looked inside the house and outside, but the caldron was nowhere to be seen. At last, however, they discovered deep footprints in the sand close to the kitchen-door, as of some one who had been carrying a very heavy weight, and these they traced down to the river-side.
Then the Pundit said, 'Some one immensely strong has evidently done this, for here are the footprints of one man only; and
