Page 185 - Malay sketches

THE KING'S WAY

The people who trafficked in these goods could not
be taken into the presence of his master, and, in-
deed, the King had expressly declined to see them
(was not the King all-wise ?), but they had been
brought into a room of the house across which
hung a heavy curtain, and while he, the priest, dis-
cussed the terms with the seller on one side, the
King sat on the other, and not only heard all that
was said, but in the end, when the priest went
behind the curtain to consult his royal master, had
expressed his entire approval of the price, only
that he should first hear the box
stipulating sing
and ride the stomachless horse. This he had
arranged with some little difficulty, because the
sellers were needy men and wanted the money ;
moreover, they seemed to distrust his master, the
King, for some reason which he could not fathom.
But he arranged that the singing-box and the seat
on three wheels should stay with his master for four
days, and that then they should be returned or paid
for those were the orders of the King. So they
;
stayed, and the King turned the handle of the box
sing, or, more from
and made it often, prayer-time
to prayer-time he, the priest, had to turn the handle
and make music, and the King drank in the sound
and was glad. As for the three wheels, they lay
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