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Then were the thoughts of the boh in great confusion, and he said to himself: “Of a truth I am about to arrive at destruction at last. I have had my last adventure. If I do not follow the king he will assuredly call out to the guard and I shall be taken. If I go, how shall I be delivered from the great dangers which will surround me in the Golden Palace? I am undone whichever way I take.”

Then said he to the king: “O disciple, whom I love much, I fear to enter the Golden Palace, for this I perceive is one of my unlucky days. We will therefore go to Pin Tha village, for I saw this morning a great number of coolies there. They were following a great prince from the hills. They have been traveling far to-day and are therefore heavy with sleep, and we can despoil them of as much as we can carry away. As they are very weary with their journey, none will know aught till they awake in the morning.”

“Upon what day wast thou born?” demanded the king, and the boh said that it was upon a Saturday.

“Then,” said the king, “behold! this is a lucky day,” and he drew forth from under his jacket a horoscope, which showed that this was a lucky day upon which a man who had been born upon a Saturday could undertake any deed requiring great wisdom and bravery in its accomplishment, and in spite of all that Maung Lek Byah could say the king led the way toward the palace, and the boh was obliged to follow him, which he did with very slow and hesitating steps, for his heart had become as weak as water.

Even as the king had said, there was a rope-ladder hanging over the palace wall, and the boh perceived in what manner the king had left the Golden Palace, but being a very wise man he followed without opening his mouth.

They passed through the palace courtyard and saw there a thing good to marvel at; all the guards who ought to have been watching their lord were slumbering, so that the king and the boh gathered up all the spears and dahs belonging to these men and carried them away, hiding them in a secret place under one of the houses.

As they entered the palace buildings the thief became so full of alarm that all his strength left him and he could hardly walk. Then the king saw that his follower had arrived at great fear, and as they passed the house where the royal food was prepared, he said:

“Friend, I perceive that thou art in sore distress; come, eat the food I am about to prepare for thee and thou wilt become strong.”

“Nay,” said the boh, “that I cannot do. Can a common man eat of the golden food and live? This will I not do; surely I should be accounted worthy of death.” The king would not listen to him, but entered the royal kitchen, and with his own hands cooked some food which he compelled the thief to eat.

Now, the king had prepared two messes, one in which he had cunningly placed some opium and one without, and it was the food which contained the opium that the king gave to the boh. Therefore, after a little time, he said to the king:

“O disciple of mine, I know not what is the matter with me. I have no strength and although it is death to sleep in the Golden Palace yet must I sleep, for if I do not I shall surely die.”

As he said these words his head drooped upon his chest, his eyes closed and he fell asleep. Once more was the heart of the king filled with joy and he bound the boh with strong ropes in great haste and made him a prisoner.