'
'Very strange!' said the Raja, turning round to his followers.
'Yes,' replied they,' it is very strange, Raja Sahib; but such is
your 'ikbal' (good fortune), that everything thrives under it; and,
if the colonel should wish to have a few crows, we could easily
collect them for him.'
'If', said the colonel, greatly delighted, 'you could provide us with
a few of these crows, we should really feel very much obliged to you;
for we have a long and cold campaign before us among the bleak hills
of Nepal; and we are all fond of crows.'
'Indeed,' returned the Raja, 'I shall be happy to send you as many as
you wish.' ('Much' and 'many' are expressed by the same term.)
'Then we should be glad to have two or three bags full, if it would
not be robbing you.'
'Not in the least,' said the Raja; 'I will go home and order them to
be collected immediately.'
In the evening, as the officers, with the colonel at their head, were
sitting down to dinner, a man came up to announce the Raja's present.
Three fine large bags were brought in, and the colonel requested that
one might be opened immediately.
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