As he wandered, the summer came on him like a lion, the blazing sun its mouth, and the sunbeams its mane.And the hot wind blew, made hotter yet by the sighs of travellers separated from their wives.And the yellow mud dried and cracked, as if the lakes were broken-hearted at the loss of their lotuses.And the trees, filled with chirping birds, seemed to lament the absence of the spring, and their withering leaves seemed like lips that grow dry in the heat.
At this time Hariswami was distressed by the heat and the loss of his wife, by hunger, thirst, and weariness.And as he sought for food, he came to a village.There he saw many Brahmans eating in the house of a Brahman named Lotus-belly, and he leaned against the doorpost, speechless and motionless.
Then the good wife of that pious Brahman pitied him, and she thought: "Hunger is a heavy burden.It makes anyone light.Look at this hungry man standing with bowed head at the door.He looks like a pious man who has come from a far country, and he is tired.Therefore he is a proper person for me to feed."So the good woman took in her hands a dish filled with excellent rice,melted butter, and candied sugar, and courteously gave it to him.And she said: "Go to the edge of our pond, and eat it."He thanked her, took the dish, went a little way, and set it down under a fig-tree on the edge of the pond.Then he washed his hands and feet in the pond, rinsed his mouth, and joyfully drew near to eat the good food.
At that moment a hawk settled on the tree, carrying a black snake in his beak and claws.And the snake died in the grasp of the hawk, and his mouth opened, and a stream of poison came out.This poison fell into the dish of food.
But Hariswami did not see it.He came up hungry, and ate it all.And immediately he felt the terrible effects of the poison.He stammered out: "Oh, when fate goes wrong, everything goes wrong.Even this rice and the milk and the melted butter and the candied sugar is poison to me." And he staggered up to the Brahman's wife and said: "Oh, Brahman's wife, I have been poisoned by the food you gave me.Bring a poison-doctor at once.Otherwise you will be the murderer of a Brahman."And the good woman was terribly agitated.But while she was running about to find a poison-doctor, Hariswami turned up his eyes and died.Thus, though she was not to blame, though she was really charitable, the poor wife was reproached by the angry Brahman who thought she had murdered her guest.She was falsely accused for a really good action.So she was dejected and went on a pilgrimage.
When he had told this story, the goblin said: "O King, who murdered the Brahman? the snake, or the hawk, or the woman who gave him the food, or her husband? This was discussed in the presence of the god of death, but they could not decide.Therefore, O King, do you say.Who killed the Brahman? Remember the curse, if you know and do not tell the truth."Then the king broke silence and said: "Who did the murder? The snake cannot be blamed, because he was being eaten by his enemy and could not help himself.The hawk was hungry and saw nothing.He was not to blame.And how can you blame either or both of the charitable people who gave food to a guest who arrived unexpectedly? They were quite virtuous, and cannot be blamed.I should say that the dead man himself was to blame,for he dared to accuse one of the others."When the goblin heard this, he jumped from the king's shoulder and escaped to the sissoo tree.And the king ran after him again, determined to catch him.
