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Now the king was in the habit of wearing Burmese clothing instead of Shan, and one day when he had gone to his room to put on his ptsoe, he found that a little sparrow had built, her nest in it. He was a very kind man, and so allowed the little bird to live there, and in gratitude to the king this sparrow was in the habit of telling him all she saw as she flew around the city from morn to night, and whenever the king wished to find out anything that puzzled him, he would often call the sparrow to tell him what to do.

He therefore now called the little bird and asked it what ailed the tree, and the sparrow told him that the woman who was then in the royal apartments and wearing the clothes of the Nang Me Prah was not the real queen, but a woman named Nang E, and seeing her approach, the brave little bird began whistling, “This is not the Nang Me Prah, this is Nang E, Nang E. Oh! Nang E!”

In a great rage the king commanded his servants to call the woman, and when she was come into the royal presence she dared not open her mouth to answer the king, for she was not so clever as her mother, who could disguise her voice as well as her face, and she knew that if she began to speak the king would see that she was not Nang Hsen Gaw, so she remained silent. But this did not save her, for the king looked at her and said:

“You wear the robes and jewels of my queen, but you have not the same face, and you are afraid to speak to me,” and he immediately called his chief executioner to take her away and cut off her head.

But even this did not bring back the music to the tree, and the king was disconsolate.

The next morning when the guard of the royal garden went to his post, he saw, near the well, a beautiful mawk moo flower, took it home with him and placed it in the chattie of water that every Shan keeps in his house as an offering to the hpeas. The old mother Nai, soon after took her basket and went to the bazaar to buy puc for her son’s breakfast, but when she returned she was surprised to see that during her absence some one had swept the house, cooked the food, and that the “morning rice” was all ready to eat. The eating-tray was set out in the middle of the room. The rice and curry was arranged in order on it, and the drinking chattie was full of scented water. She called her son and all the neighbors to ask who had done this, but no one could tell her, and in great amazement they sat down to their meal. That evening the same thing happened again. While she was out, the house was again swept, the food was prepared, and the tray arranged as in the morning. For several days this happened, and then the old woman determined to hide and see who did these kind acts. She did so, and was amazed to see that as soon as she had left the house (she went under the floor and looked up through a hole between the bamboos), that a spirit came out of the mawk moo flower that her son had brought from the road leading to the well, and commenced to sweep the house. In the midst of it the old woman rushed up to the flower and destroyed it, so that the spirit could not go back to its refuge. At the same instant, it changed into the most beautiful woman ever seen.