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By dinner-time poor King Karan was visibly thinner; but he was a man of his word, and though the wily Bikru came and tried to persuade him to eat, by saying he could not possibly be blamed, he shook his head, and turned his face to the wall.
Then King Karan went solemnly to bed, without any breakfast, and the crowd, after waiting for hours expecting to see the palace doors open and the servants come out with the baskets of gold, melted away, saying it was a great shame to deceive poor folk in that way!
So Karan, not to be outdone in generosity, let the swan's wife go, and she spread her broad white wings and flew southwards to Bikramajit, and told him how her husband lay a prisoner at the court of King Karan.
The informant here added that if the man had not been guilty, Karan and Umook would surely have been punished with sickness; but since they were not ill, it is certain that he was bad, and that Dwata had taken his body up and would not punish his murderers.
On the morning of the 12th, they departed from Karan Kalla, and it being but a short day's journey to Kemmoo, they travelled slower than usual, and amused themselves by collecting eatable fruits near the road side. Thus engaged, Mr. Park had wandered a short distance from his people, when two negro horsemen, armed with muskets, came galloping from the thickets.
So, every day, before King Karan for that was his name had his breakfast, the palace servants would come out with baskets and baskets of gold pieces to scatter amongst the crowds of poor folk, who, you may be sure, never forgot to be there to receive the alms. How they used to hustle and bustle and struggle and scramble!
But the faqir was a very remarkable faqir indeed, and when he had eaten the King, and picked the bones quite quite clean, he just put them together, said a charm or two, and, hey presto! there was King Karan as fat and jolly as ever, ready for the next morning's breakfast.
Of course, had the faqir been an ordinary sort of person, the compact would not have lasted long, for once King Karan had been fried and eaten, there would have been an end of the matter.
'Who are you? asked the faqir, who, to begin with, was somewhat short-sighted, and in addition felt drowsy after his heavy meal. 'Who! Why, I'm King Karan, come to be fried! Don't you want your breakfast? 'I've had my breakfast! sighed the faqir regretfully. 'You tasted very nice when you were devilled, I can assure you!
Now, of course, there was some secret in all this, and this secret I shall now tell you. King Karan had made a compact with a holy and very hungry old faqir who lived at the top of the hill; and the compact was this: on condition of King Karan allowing himself to be fried and eaten for breakfast every day, the faqir gave him a hundredweight of pure gold.
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