192                           ALBERUNPS INDIA.

was that the caldron became cold, and the dissolved
man became consolidated in the shape of the said piece
of silver.

The Hindus tell a tale about Vallabha, the king of
the city of Vallabhi, whose era we have mentioned in
the proper chapter.
story of the A luau of the rank of a Siddha di^\.ed a herdsman
Rahka and with reference to a plant called Thohar, of the species of
vaUabha. the T^actciria, from which milk flows when they are torn
off, whether he had ever seen Lactaria from which
blood flows instead of milk. When the herdsman
declared he had, he gave .him some drink-money that
he should show it to him, which he did. When the
man now saw the plant, he set fire to it, and threw the
dog of the herdsman into the flame. Enraged thereby,
the herdsman caught the man, and did with him the
same as he had done to his dog. Then he waited till
the fire was extinguished, and found both the man and
the dog, but turned into gold. He took the dog with
him, but left the man on the spot.

Now some peasant happened to find it. He cut off
a finger, and went to a fruit-seller who was called
Banket, i.e. tlie poor, because he was an utter pauper,
and evidently near bankruptcy. After the peasant had
bought from him what he wanted, he returned to the
golden man, and then he found that in the place where
the cut off finger had been, a new finger had grown.
He cut it off a second time, and bought again from the
same fruit-seller all that he wanted. But when the
fruit-seller asked him whence he had the finger, he was
stupid enough to tell him. So Eaiika went out to the
body of the Siddha, and brought it on a carriage to his
house. He stayed in his old abode, but managed by
degrees to buy the whole town. The king Vallabha
desired to own the same town, and asked him to cede
it to him for money, but Rahka declined. Being how¬
ever afraid of the king's resentment, he fled to the lord