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And one day, as the king's sons were practising with their weapons of war, they all saw an enormous crane in front of the palace. And while they were looking with astonishment at that misshapen bird, a Buddhist mendicant, who possessed supernatural knowledge, came that way and said to them— " Princes, this is not a crane, it is a Rákshasa named Agniśikha, who wanders about in an assumed shape destroying towns. So pierce him with an arrow, that being smitten he may depart hence." When they heard this speech of the mendicant's, the ninety-nine elder brothers shot their arrows, but not one struck the crane. Then that naked mendicant again said to them— " This younger brother of yours, named Śringabhuja, is able to strike this crane, so let him take a bow suitable for the purpose." When Nirvásabhuja heard that, the treacherous one remembered the injunction of his mother, an opportunity for carrying out which had now arrived, and reflected— " This will be a means of getting Śringabhuja out of the country.*[1] So let us give him the bow and arrow belonging to our father. If the crane is pierced and goes off with our father's golden arrow sticking in it, Śringabhuja will folio wit, while we are searching for the arrow. And when he does not find, in spite of his search, that Rákshasa transformed into a crane, he will continue to roam about hither and thither, he will not come back without the arrow." Thus reflecting, the treacherous one gave to Śringabhuja his father's bow with the arrow, in order that he might smite the crane. The mighty prince took it and drew it, and pierced that crane with the golden arrow, the notch of which was made of a jewel. The crane, as soon as it was pierced, went off with the arrow sticking in its body, and flying away departed with drops of blood falling from the wound. Then the treacherous Nirvásabhuja and the other brothers, instigated by his hints, said to the brave Śringabhuja— " Give us back the golden arrow that belongs to our father, otherwise we will abandon our bodies before your eyes. Tor unless we produce it, our father will banish us from this country, and its fellow is not to be made or obtained." When Śringabhuja heard that, he said to those crafty ones— " Be of good cheer ! Do not be afraid— Abandon your terror ! I will go and slay that miserable Rákshasa and bring back the arrow." Having said this, Śringabhuja took his own bow and arrows, and went in the same direction in which the Rákshasa had gone, quickly following up the track of the drops of blood, that had fallen on the ground. The other sons returned delighted to their mothers, and Śringabhuja, as he went on step by step, at last reached a distant forest. Seeking about in it, he found in the wood a great city, like the fruit of his own tree of merit fallen to him in due time for enjoy -
- ↑ * See Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 80 where numerous parallels are adduced. Cp. also Genzenbach's Sicilianische Marchen, Vol. I, p. 199.
