"
When they reached the shore, some of the servants who had not gone
into the river said, "Where is Prince Wicked?"
"Isn't he here?" they asked. "Perhaps he came out of the river in the
darkness and went home." Then the servants all went back to the
palace.
The king asked where his son was, and again the servants said: "Isn't
he here, O King? A great storm came on soon after we went into the
water. It grew very dark. When we came out of the water the prince was
not with us."
At once the king had the gates thrown open. He and all his men
searched up and down the banks of the river for the missing prince.
But no trace of him could be found.
In the darkness the prince had been swept down the river. He was
crying for fear he would drown when he came across a log. He climbed
upon the log, and floated farther down the river.
When the great storm arose, the water rushed into the homes of a Rat
and a Snake who lived on the river bank. The Rat and the Snake swam
out into the river and found the same log the prince had found. The
Snake climbed upon one end of the log, and the Rat climbed upon the
other.
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