nasal, though loud voice, "If Lalkamal be inside, let him show me the tip of his nose through the chink in the door." Neelkamal at once thrust out the point of a sharp knife to represent Lalkamal's nose, and the giants were terrified. "One having such a nose," they said, "is too dangerous a being to approach." Then they wanted to see the spittle Lalkamal threw, and on this Neelkamal cast at them the ghee that was burning in the lamp before him, which produced blisters on their bodies. Though the pain was very great the Khokkoshes did not runaway. They asked to have a sight of Lalkamal's tongue, and through the chink a sharp sword was thrust out. They laid hold of it, and all in a body commenced pulling at it. The fingers of their leader, however, were so badly cut that he ran away. But coming back within a short time he went near the door of the room, and again asked who was inside. A drowsiness had come upon Neelkamal, and unconsciously he said that it was he alone that was watching. At the mention of his name, and the omission of his brother's, the monsters in a body rushed into the room, and were about to tear him to pieces, when Lalkamal awoke and despatched them with gigantic strokes of his sword.
The next morning the people of the city were surprised to find a large heap of dead Khokkoshes. The king, hearing this, sent for the princes and gave them the promised rewards.
The Rakkhashi queen, being informed of the massacre of the Khokkoshes, and having by magic ascertained the whereabouts of her son and stepson, sent emissaries to bring about their destruction. She sent two of her attendants, who also were Rakkhashis in disguise, with the false message that their father was dying of an incurable disease, and that his life could be saved only by rubbing his body with a Rakkhashi's brain. The brothers, anxious to prolong the life of their father, at once started for the land of the Rakkhashis. After a very long journey they one evening reached a banyan tree, and rested at its foot. Overhead they heard two birds, called
