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TALE TWO
THE PROMISE OF MASSANG
Long ago, there dwelt by the bank of a river a very poor man who had nothing in the world but a cow. "If only I had a calf too," he would say to himself, "I would be so much better off, for then I could sell the calf and with the money buy goods and trade with them, and in time might even become rich." So he wished and wished for a calf, and prayed to his gods and recited many magic forms; and every morning he went hopefully into the shed where his cow was kept, thinking he might find the longed-for calf beside her. At last, one morning he heard a strange, noise in the shed and rushed out, feeling sure that his wishes and prayers were at length to be rewarded. What was
