June 26, 1960

Tjtumlaaan !flm»i

fully slipped into the
water. His troubles, how-
ever, were by no means
at an end, for the magi,
oians ohanged into seven
hawks, and harried him
in the ihallow water till
ha wai exhausted. Des-
perately he glanced sky-
wards, and, seeing a pi-
geon flying above, he
turned from a fish into
a similar bird. The seven
hawks immediately beoama
seven faloons, and conti-
nued their pursuit of the
now completely exhausted
Prinee. Southwards he
flew, over hill and dale,
the falcons, gradually gain-
ing on him. . Just as tbey
were about to stoop for
the kill, the pigeon drop-
ped to the ground, and
entered a cave. This w»s
in the land of Beta, far
from his home. Inside
the rave the i rinoe found
the hermit Lopon Ludrup,
seated in deep meditation.
Still in the form of a
pigeon, the Prince addres-
sed the sage thus,—"0
Master ! I am pursued
by seven wicked men in
the form of fslcons. These
have now arrived at your
retreat and have trans-
formed themselves into
seven mendicant lamas,
who stand asking for your
blessing. Will you not
save me ? I will change
myself into the prinoipal
brad of your rosary, and,
when they approaoh, please
place me in your mouth
for safety."

The sage agreed, and
no sooner had the trem-
bling pigeon disappeared
than the seven mendicant
|»mxs approached and
asked the hermit's blest,
ing. Lopon Ludrup quickly
placed the chief bead of
his rosary in his mouth,
but, as be was in the
act of blessing the sup-
plicants, the string of the
beads broke, and, with
the exoeption of the one
in his mouth, all the
beads fell on the ground
where they became worms.
Instantly the seven men-
dicants transformed them-
selves into seven fowls,
which quiokly gobbled up
all the worms. Upon this,
the principal bead drop-
ped from the holy man's
mouth, and ..lb 1 there
stcod the Prinoe in human
form. Snatching up. »
stick, the youth slew the
birds, but, instead of the
bodies of fowls, there
were seven human corpses
strewn on the ground.

The hermit was much
angered, and said,—"O
Prince I I saved your
life, and you repay me
by strewing my dwelling
with corpses, seven lives
having been lost ' How-
ever, the fact of my ha-
ving aided you absolves
you from sin, even though
you deserve punishment ''

"0 Sage!" replied
the Prince, "because you
have aided me and saved
my life, I will willingly

perform any task, you
set me !',' ]

''Very well !" returned
the hermit, l'Go to the
place of burial, and bring"
me back the 'Luck-Con-
ferring Ghost,' whose body
is fashioned from pure
gold, whose hair is of
turquoise, threads, and
whose limbs are of the
finest turquoise ' If you
oan accomplish this, I
shall be fully satisfied !"

Now this Ghost was
the chief of all the Spi-
rits in Jambuling,' (i e. the
Indian continent in Tibe-
tan Buddhist cosmogony),
and had lived over a
thousand years.

The Master then ins-
tructed the Prinee to
make all preparations for
a long journey, and. these
completed, gave the follow-
ing parting advice:—"On
your way you will pass
through a strange and
lonely plsoe, full of gra-
ves. From these the livid
corpses will rise and ad-
vance towards you to
hinder your progress. Be
not afraid, however, but
oast upon them this ma-
gic dust, at the same
time repeating the spell
"Hala ! Hala ! Swaha !"
Tbey will then no longer
vex you. Still further on
your journey \ ou will
oome to another grave-
yard, where only little
children are interred.
Their corpses will also
rise from the sepulchres,