Indian Fairy Tales | Page 7

do the things the
king tells him to do; so all the Rajas and Rajas' sons who have tried

have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do go away."
But the prince would not listen to anything she said.
The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his servants
brought the Raja's son to the king's court-house to the king. There the
king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to crush all
the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him to the
court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to the
prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have him killed.
So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard seed, you will die."
The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil
out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if I do
not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old woman's
house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the
Ant-Raja, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Raja and his ants came to
him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Raja.
The prince showed him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I
crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not
take the oil to the king to-morrow morning, he will kill me."
"Be happy," said the Ant-Raja; "lie down and sleep; we will crush all
the oil out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall
take it to the king." The Raja's son lay down and slept, and the ants
crushed out the oil for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the
oil.
The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the king
said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so, you
must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a long
time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what to
do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let them
loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country; and he
did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons who
wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these demons;
"for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be killed, and
then I shall be rid of them."
When he heard of the demons the Raja's son was very sad. "What can I
do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?"
Then he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and
said, "Why are you so sad?" The Raja's son answered, "The king has

ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do
this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my wife
will fight with them for you."
Then the Raja's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were
all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he put
on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the king, and
said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?" "Yes," said
the king, who did not care in the least who killed his demons, provided
they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the Raja's son, "and
these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and the tigers and the
demons fought and fought until the tigers had killed the demons.
"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before I
give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must go
and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you."
The Raja's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old woman's
house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the sky is the
king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up with him, and
the Raja's son beat the drum, and the king heard him. Still, when he
came down, the king would not give him his daughter. "You have," he
said to the prince, "done the three things I told you to do; but you must
do one thing more." "If I can, I