The king , however , did not share his pleasure at all , but called up a soldier to shoot the tiger , much to the relief of all the inmates of the serai except Moti . If the king , however , was before convinced that Moti was one of the wisest of men , he was now still more convinced that he was the bravest , and he increased his pay a hundredfold , so that our hero thought that he was the luckiest of men . A week or two after this incident the king sent for Moti , who on arrival found his master in despair . A neighbouring monarch , he explained , who had many more soldiers than he , had declared war against him , and he was at his wits ' end , for he had neither money to buy him off nor soldiers enough to fight him -- what was he to do ? ` If that is all , do n't you trouble , ' said Moti . ` Turn out your men , and I 'll go with them , and we 'll soon bring this robber to reason . ' The king began to revive at these hopeful words , and took Moti off to his stable where he bade him choose for himself any horse he liked . There were plenty of fine horses in the stalls , but to the king 's astonishment Moti chose a poor little rat of a pony that was used to carry grass and water for the rest of the stable . ` But why do you choose that beast ? ' said the king . ` Well , you see , your majesty , ' replied Moti , ` there are so many chances that I may fall off , and if I choose one of your fine big horses I shall have so far to fall that I shall probably break my leg or my arm , if not my neck , but if I fall off this little beast I ca n't hurt myself much . ' A very comical sight was Moti when he rode out to the war . The only weapon he carried was his staff , and to help him to keep his balance on horseback he had tied to each of his ankles a big stone that nearly touched the ground as he sat astride the little pony . The rest of the king 's cavalry were not very numerous , but they pranced along in armour on fine horses . Behind them came a great rabble of men on foot armed with all sorts of weapons , and last of all was the king with his attendants , very nervous and ill at ease . So the army started . They had not very far to go , but Moti 's little pony , weighted with a heavy man and two big rocks , soon began to lag behind the cavalry , and would have lagged behind the infantry too , only they were not very anxious to be too early in the fight , and hung back so as to give Moti plenty of time . The young man jogged along more and more slowly for some time , until at last , getting impatient at the slowness of the pony , he gave him such a tremendous thwack with his staff that the pony completely lost his temper and bolted . First one stone became untied and rolled away in a cloud of dust to one side of the road , whilst Moti nearly rolled off too , but clasped his steed valiantly by its ragged mane , and , dropping his staff , held on for dear life . Then , fortunately the other rock broke away from his other leg and rolled thunderously down a neighbouring ravine .
Meanwhile the advanced cavalry had barely time to draw to one side when XXXXX came dashing by , yelling bloodthirsty threats to his pony : ` You wait till I get hold of you !
First Moti fall horses infantry inmates mane pony war week