Burmese Sketches - Khamkoo

CHAPTER XI -FICTION
THE MYSTERIOUS RING.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century, an Arakanese
King was on a pilgrimage by boat to the Maha Muni Image
which was formerly placed in the old town of Arakan, and is
now in Mandalay—when his royal signet ruby ring dropped into
the water. About a month after this event, a guard of the
Palace ushered into the Royal presence a scantily-clad fisherman
with a basket load of fish on his shoulder. The King was
not at all aware of the nature of the visit now paid him, and,
thinking that it was great impudence on the fisherman's part
to approach the Golden Feet with no substantial presents and
with such scanty clothing, he was just going to order him out
of his presence when the latter, in a crouching posture, exclaimed
earnestly : —
" O glorious King !
I, your faithful servant, have found this
invaluable ruby ring in the abdomen of this fish. Of my own
free will, I now present it to you, as I fully know that I should
bring royal punishment upon myself, if I were to keep such a
precious thing which does not become me "; and, so saying, he
abruptly left the Palace, leaving the fish behind him. Whereupon
the King sent for his wise Minister, MahS Pyinnya Gyaw,
and asked him whether he could explain the strange destiny
through which the signet ring had passed. The cringing
Minister replied : " O King of Kings ! never have I, indeed,
heard of the recovery of a royal ring from the abdomen of a
fish. This very fact attests to the great power and glory
which you, my dread sovereign, possess. By the Three
Precious Gems, I do solemnly avow that the fish, which now
lies at the Golden Feet, has sacrificed its very life to restore
the ring to your Majesty. This explanation will, perhaps, not
be comprehended by the shallow-headed vulgar herd, so by
means of my wisdom, 1 shall prove the validity of my assertion."
So saying, he inserted the recovered ring in a tolerably large
piece of meat, and having minced it up, he scattered the pieces
about. Thereupon flocks of crows and kites alighted and fiew
away each with its share of meat. The piece, in which the
ring was placed, happened to be swallowed by a kite, which
was subsequently caught by a bird-catcher. This bird-
catcher, too, like the fisherman, restored the lost ring to its
—