Part 8 (1/2)

Maung Lek Byah guided his boat toward the bank near where the king was seated, for he was a skillful oarsman, and when he had fastened it with a rattan loop to the end of his oar stuck into the soft mud at the water's edge he ascended the path to the village, and as he reached the top of the bank he caught sight of the king in his dingy clothes and wearing the old sword with the wooden handle, sitting on the side of the path.

He was surprised to see a man there at that time of night, for the gongs which call the priests and old women to wors.h.i.+p had sounded long before, and everybody in the village was sound asleep, therefore he gazed earnestly at the king and then called out:

”Who is that?”

”It is a man who wishes to arrive at the rank of disciple to our lord,”

replied the king.

”Art thou a man of the day or a man of the night?” asked the robber looking down at him.

”Thy servant is a man of the night,” replied the king.

”Hast thou not heard how many of my followers have been caught and executed? How that the tigers at the entering in of the villages will not now eat oxen but wait till one of my men is tied up for them? I tell thee they have not long to wait either. Art thou not afraid?”

”Ah, our lord,” replied the king, ”thy disciples suffered because they did not take heed and follow in the footsteps of our lord, therefore have they arrived at destruction; but thy servant will study thee, O payah, and thus will I learn how to become a great _boh_ and also to escape their fate.”

Now when the king talked in this fas.h.i.+on the _boh_ was very pleased with him, and gave him permission to follow. He also promised to teach his new disciple all his arts; that he would not let him ever be caught and would make him as famous a _boh_ even as he was. ”And so,” said he, ”as thou hast a sword with thee, follow me. I will give thee thy first lesson.”

Now it happened that as they walked along toward the city the thief began to think within himself, ”Who can this new disciple be? He surely comes from a high family, for he speaks not like the common people, but as kings have a custom of speaking. He wears the clothes of a common man, and carries the sword of a coolie, but yet his words are the words of one used to command. Can he be a spy sent by the _amat_ whom I tricked so nicely the other day, I wonder?” and thus he turned it over and over in his mind.

The _hpeas_ have ever aided the kings of Burma, and now those whom the king had been in the habit of feeding daily were watching over him, and when they heard the _boh_ thus talk with himself, for the spirits can hear us think even when we make no sounds of words, they put it into the head of the robber to go to the house of the king's own astrologer.

It was not very far and they soon arrived there. Then Maung Lek Byah said to the king:

”Stay thou here and watch; if thou dost see or hear aught come and call me,” but he himself went under the house of the astrologer to discover whether he slept or not. When he knew that the man was sound asleep he would draw a sharp knife which he carried in his girdle, cut a hole in the mat side of the house, creep in through this hole and take what he wished; then he would escape before the lord of the house awoke.

As he was watching, however, he heard the astrologer come out upon the veranda so that he could study the stars, for that was his custom; then he heard him say to himself:

”Truly this is a good thing to marvel at, for I see the star of that famous robber chief, Boh Lek Byah, and following it closely is the star of none other than the ruler of the Golden Palace himself.”

For a long time the astrologer sat upon his veranda pondering over this strange occurrence and trying to think what it should portend; but in vain. He could think of no solution of the mystery, so after again saying that it was a good thing to marvel at he gave it up and went into his house to sleep.

Thus did the thief discover the high rank of his new disciple, for the astrologer knew the star of the _boh_ well and would make no mistake. He also knew the star of the king. Had this same astrologer not cast the horoscope of the robber chief and foretold which days were lucky and which unlucky to him, so that by taking heed he had never been caught?

Therefore when he again came forth from under the royal astrologer's house and saw the king was still waiting without, even as he had given orders, his mind was filled with great fear.

Then said the king directly he saw the robber: ”O Kin Byah, thy servant knows a place where there are so many rubies that they are as common as _maknin_ seeds that the children play with in the dust; gold is as plentiful as iron is with us, and there is enough silk to stock ten bazaars. All this is within reach of our hands. I can guide thee to the place, for I know it well; wilt thou follow?”

Then said the thief: ”I know of but one place of which thou canst say that with truth, and that is the Golden Palace; but a man may not enter there and live. Knowest thou not that the guards carry sharp _dahs_, and that if a man is caught there without permission from the king or one of his _amats_, he is immediately impaled? In very truth it is a place good to shun and fear greatly, even as the den of a hungry tiger in the jungle.”

”True, O brave man,” replied the king, ”but this evening as I pa.s.sed by the palace I saw hanging from the top of the wall a rope-ladder; we can climb over, take enough to make us rich for the rest of our lives, and run away before the guards with the sharp _dahs_ discover that we have been there. Thus shall we earn much wealth and glory, and people throughout the land will call our lord the 'Boh Who Entered the Golden Palace,' and all men will fear his name more than the name of a hungry leopard.”

Then were the thoughts of the _boh_ in great confusion, and he said to himself: ”Of a truth I am about to arrive at destruction at last. I have had my last adventure. If I do not follow the king he will a.s.suredly call out to the guard and I shall be taken. If I go, how shall I be delivered from the great dangers which will surround me in the Golden Palace? I am undone whichever way I take.”

Then said he to the king: ”O disciple, whom I love much, I fear to enter the Golden Palace, for this I perceive is one of my unlucky days. We will therefore go to Pin Tha village, for I saw this morning a great number of coolies there. They were following a great prince from the hills. They have been traveling far to-day and are therefore heavy with sleep, and we can despoil them of as much as we can carry away. As they are very weary with their journey, none will know aught till they awake in the morning.”

”Upon what day wast thou born?” demanded the king, and the _boh_ said that it was upon a Sat.u.r.day.

”Then,” said the king, ”behold! this is a lucky day,” and he drew forth from under his jacket a horoscope, which showed that this was a lucky day upon which a man who had been born upon a Sat.u.r.day could undertake any deed requiring great wisdom and bravery in its accomplishment, and in spite of all that Maung Lek Byah could say the king led the way toward the palace, and the _boh_ was obliged to follow him, which he did with very slow and hesitating steps, for his heart had become as weak as water.