CHAPTER IX

In the end the poor young king decided that he would go right away as his father and uncles had done; and his mind being made up, he became more cheerful and began to think he might meet with some interesting adventures in a new country, where nobody knew anything about him. As soon as it was light, he wandered off into the forest, feeling, it is true, very lonely, but at the same time taking a certain pleasure in being entirely his own master; which a king can never really be, because he has to consider so many other people and to keep so many rules.

After all Putraka did not find the forest so very lonely; for he had not gone far in it before his sad thoughts were broken in upon by his coming suddenly to a little clearing, where the trees had been cut down and two strong-looking men were wrestling together. The king watched them for a little while, wondering what they were fighting about. Then he called out, “What are you doing here? What are you quarrelling about?”

The men were greatly surprised to hear Putraka’s voice, for they thought that they were quite alone. They stopped fighting for a minute or two, and one of them said: “We are fighting for three very precious things which were left behind him by our father.”

“What are those things?” asked Putraka.

“A bowl, a stick and a pair of shoes,” was the reply. “Whoever wins the fight will get them all. There they lie on the ground.”

“Well, I never!” cried the king, laughing as he looked at the things, which seemed to him worth very little. “I shouldn’t trouble to fight about such trifles, if I were you.”

“Trifles!” exclaimed one of the men angrily. “You don’t know what you are talking about. They are worth more than their weight in gold. Whoever gets the bowl will find plenty of food in it whenever he wants it; the owner of the stick has only to write his wishes on the ground with it and he will get them; and whoever puts on the shoes can fly through the air in them to any distance.”

17. Which of these things would you rather have had?

18. What lesson do you learn from what the men said about the things on the ground?