Himalayan Times (1960)

' Juu. 28, 1860

TIBETAH TALES:

THE STORY OF THE SEVEN MAGICIANS

BY DAVID MACDONALD

ONCE upon a time,
there lived in the
Central-Middle Kingdom
of Aaia seven brothers,
all of whom were magi-
cian! well vened in all
forms of sorcery and ma-
gio 'This kingdom was
ruled by two Prinoe*.
One day the elder said
to hie brether,—"Brother I
I have deoided to bo-
come a magioian, and for
this purpose I shall go
to study the arts of magio
and aoroery with the seven
noted sorcerers for seven
years I"

80 the elder Prinoe
abode with the seven
brothers for seven years,
but was not able to mas-
ter their mysteries. At
the end of that period
the younger Prinoe, tired
of his loneliness, went to
pay his brother a visit,
taking with him many
gifts.

When he arrived at
the magicians' house, how-
ever, his brother was not
to be seen, bo be spent
the time of awaiting his
arrival in observing the
sorcerers at work. So
great was his intelligence,
that in the eourje of an
hour or two, he had mas-
tered many of their sec.
rets, even those whiob

his brother had failed to
acquire. So, when the
elder Prinoe returned from
wherever he had gone,
his brother deoided not
to offer his gifts, but,
instead,said,—"0 Brother'
Of what use is sorcery
and magio to us ? Re-
turn with me to our
palaoe, for you are only
wasting yonr time here !
After a' little persuasion,
the elder agreed to aban-
don his studies, and the
Prinoes returned to their
anoestral home together.

One day, soon after
this, the younger said to
the elder,—''Now, ainee
you have given up the
study of magic, will you
not take up some other

00 en put ion to pass your
time ?" The elder enquired
if his brother had any
suggestions to offer,' which
brought the reply,—"Tied
in the oourtyard is a
beautiful white horse !
Why not take it and set
forth on e trading ven-
ture to foreign lands ?
Of one thing, however,

1 must warn you ! This
is that, whatever else you
do, never allow the horse
to take you near the
house of the seven ma-
gicians." Having spoken
thus, the younger Prinoe

ran quickly down to the
oourtyard, and transfor-
med himself into a white
stallion. The elder Prinoe
did as had been sugges-
ted but, no sooner had
ha got on the horse than
he lost oontrol over it.
Do what he would, he
oould not prevent it from
taking h>m towards the
magicians' house. Arrived
there, breathless and hu-
miliated, he oalled out,—
''Would any of you like
to buy my horse ?"

Now, by their magio
powers, the sorcerers re-
cognised the transformed
Prinoe, and, having con-
sulted together, deoided
to buy the animal, paying
the price asked at onoe,
without any argument,
their idea being to kill
the animal, and so kill
the younger Prince, who
had stolen their seorete.
They tied the horse in
their blaok tiled courtyard,
that was olose by the
river bank. The horse
took oounsel with him-
self, having overheard that
his death was planned, ai
to bow he might esoape.
"May-be," he considered,
"if I take the form of
another oreature, T can
esoape from these evil
men I"

Just then, he noticed
a fish swimming in the
river, and immediately, by
his magio powers, trans-
formed himself into a
similar shape, and thank-