Atondido Stories
never allowed to go. Katar was very glad to see the child, who
was now four years old. After he had played for some time, the
horse swallowed him again. At the end of another year, when the
boy was five years old, Katar brought him up again, caressed
him, loved him, and let him play about the stable as he had done
a year before. Then the horse swallowed him again.
But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and
when it was morning, and the King had gone away to his hunt-
ing, he went to the four wicked Queens, and told them all he had
seen, and all about the wonderful, beautiful child that lived in-
side the King's horse Katar. On hearing the groom's story the
four Queens cried, and tore their hair and clothes, and refused to
eat. When the King returned at evening and asked them why
they were so miserable, they said, "Your horse Katar came and
tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and we ran away for
fear he should kill us."
"Never mind," said the King. "Only eat your dinner and be
happy. I will have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he thought that
two men unaided could not kill such a wicked horse, so he or-
dered his servants to bid his troop of sepoys shoot him.
So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the sta-
ble, and he took up his stand with them; and he said he would
himself shoot any one who let his horse escape.
Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he
brought up the child and said to him, "Go into that little room
that leads out of the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and
bridle which you must put on me. Then you will find in the
room some beautiful clothes such as princes wear; these you
must put on yourself; and you must take the sword and gun you
will find there too. Then you must mount on my back." Now Ka-
tar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies' country, so
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