went and met with a rhinoceros, asleep under a great tree. And he said to his slaves, "To-day we have seen the nunda." "Where, master?" "That under the tree." "Eh! what are we to do, master?" And he said, "Now let us eat our fill, that we may go and smite it, we have found it well; if it kills us, so it must be." And they said, "Come on, master." And they took out their bumundas, and ate till they were satisfied. And he said, "Let every one take two guns; let one lie on the ground and one in his hand." And they said, "All right, master." And he said, "Let us fire all these at once." And they said, "All right, master." And they went gently in the midst of the thorns, till they got in by the tree, and came out upon it at its back; and they drew on till they were near it, and fired, and the bullets went hard into it. And the rhinoceros rushed out, running from where it had been struck, and fell down a little way off. And they followed it, till they saw it fallen down dead. And they bound it, and dragged it for the space of two days on the road, till when they reached half the way they sang,
"O mother, I have killed
The Nunda, eater of people." (Ten times.)
"My son, this is not he,
The Nunda, eater of people." (Seven times.)
And many people came to look at the rhinoceros, and were very sorry about the youth.
And his father and his mother wept much. And they said to him, "Father stay at home." And he said to his father, "What I have told you cannot be drawn back. If it is my death to go as I am going every day, I am dead already, but I know it not; let me go then."
His father said to him, "I will give you what property you please; I will give you, too, my royalty, that you may
