And he answered, "Cakes kneaded of rice-flour and milk; such cakes
do I eat."
And when the Khan asked for some to taste, he gave him one, and the
Khan ate it. When the Khan had eaten the cake, he said, "The scent and
the flavour of these cakes is good. How are they composed? tell me."
The widow's son answered, "My mother made them for me with milk of
her own breast, and kneaded them with rice-flour."
When the Khan heard that, he said within himself, "How shall I put this
youth to death, seeing he and I have both partaken of one mother's
milk? That were unnatural and unheard of." Then said he aloud, "If
that be so, I will not put thee to death this day; but only take an
oath of thee that thou tell no man that I have ears like to asses'
ears. Shouldst thou, however, break thine oath, then, know that thou
shalt surely be put to death."
"Unto no man, O Khan," swore the youth, "will I declare this
thing. Neither unto my mother herself." And having thanked the Khan
for sparing his life he went his way.
Day after day, however, all the youths who went in to comb the Khan's
hair were put to death as before, and all the people wondered greatly
why the widow's son had been spared. Nevertheless, remembering the
oath which he had given the Khan, he told no man how it had befallen
for all their wondering and inquiring, nor even his own mother.
But as he continued thus keeping his own counsel, and telling no man
the reason why the Khan killed all the other youths who combed his
hair and spared him, the secret vexed his heart, nor could he stand
against the oppression of his desire to speak it, so that he fell ill,
and like to die. Nor were medicaments nor yet offerings in sacrifice
(4) of any avail to heal him of that sickness, though many Lamas
were called to see him. At last a Lama came, who having felt his
pulse said, "In this kind of sickness medicaments avail nothing;
only tell what it is thou hast on thine heart, and as soon as thou
shalt have told it, to whomsoever it may be, thou shalt be relieved,
and be well again. Other remedy is there none." Thus spoke the Lama.
Then all they that stood by the bed spoke to him, saying, "If it
be that thou hast any thing on thy mind, as the Lama has said, even
though it be the least matter, speak it now and recover. Of what good
shall it be to thee to keep the secret if, after all, thou diest?"
But neither so would he break his oath to the Khan. But at night
when they were all gone, and his mother only was with him, and she
urged him much, he told her, saying, "Of a truth have I a secret;
but I have sworn to the Khan that I will tell it to no man, nor yet
even to thee, my mother."
Then spoke his mother again, saying, "If this be so, then go out far
from the habitations of men, and hiding thy face in a crack of the
earth where the soil is parched for want of moisture; or else, in the
hollow of an ancient tree, or in a narrow cleft of the everlasting
rock, and speak it there."
And the youth listened to her word; and he went out far from the
habitations of men till he came where there was a hole of a marmot
in the ground. Putting his mouth into the hole he cried, "Our Khan,
Daibang, has ears even like to the ears of an ass!" and he repeated
the same four times, and was well again.
But the marmot living in the hole, had heard the words, and she
repeated them to the echo, and the echo told them to the wind, and
the wind brought them to the Khan.
So the Khan sent, and called the youth, even the widow's son, before
him, saying, "Charged I thee not that thou told no man this thing,
and swarest thou not unto me that thou wouldst declare it to no man,
nor even to thine own mother? How then hast thou gone and spoken
it abroad?"
But the youth answered, saying, "To no man either at home or abroad
have I spoken the thing, O Khan!"
"How then came the words back to me unless it be that thou hast spoken
them, seeing that none other knows the thing save thee?" again asked
the Khan.
"I know not," replied the youth, "unless it be that through refraining
of myself that I might keep the secret I fell ill, and when all
medicaments and offerings of sacrifice failed, there came a Lama
who said there was no remedy save that I should unburden that which
oppressed my mind. Then to save my life, and yet not betray the
Khan's confidence, I spoke it in the hole of a marmot in the waste,
far from the habitations of men."
Then when the Khan found he was so faithful and discreet he believed
his word, and forbore to put him to death. Further he said to him,
"Tell me, now, canst thou devise any means by which these asses'
ears may be concealed, so that I may go forth among my subjects like
other Khans?"
"If the Khan would listen to the word of one so humble, even now a
means of concealment is plain to my mind," replied the youth.
And the Khan answered him, "Speak, and I will listen to what thou
hast to advise."
The youth therefore spoke, saying, "O mighty Khan! Let now a
high-fashioned cap be made to cover thine head, and let there be on
either side lappets to the cap, covering the ears. Then shall all
men when they see the Khan wearing such a cap deem it beseeming to
wear such a cap likewise." Thus the youth counselled the Khan.
And the Khan found the counsel good, and he made him a high-fashioned
cap with lappets covering the ears; and when the ministers of state
and the counsellors and nobles saw the Khan wearing such a cap,
they made to themselves caps like unto it, and all men wore it, and
it was known by the name of "the lappet cap." But no man knew that
the king's ears were like to asses' ears.
Furthermore, the Khan no longer had need to put to death the youths
who combed his hair, and all the people rejoiced greatly. But for
the youth, even the widow's son, he made him steward over all his
household, and whatsoever he did, he did with prudence and judgment,
his mother advising him.
"The Khan who put so many youths to death to save his own reputation
did not deserve so good a counsel!" exclaimed the Khan.
And as he let these words escape him, the Siddhî-kür replied,
"Forgetting his health, the Well-and-wise-walking Khan hath opened
his lips." And with the cry, "To escape out of this world is good!" he
sped him through the air, swift out of sight.