at last he succeeded; heaven threw in his way a ruined well. he thought he could collect some water if he let down his chombu with the string that he always carried noosed to the neck of it. accordingly he let it down; it went some way and stopped, and the following words came from the well: "oh, relieve me! i am the king of tigers, dying here of hunger. for the last three days i have had nothing. fortune has sent you here. if you assist me now you will find a sure help in me throughout your life. do not think that i am a beast of prey. when you have become my deliverer i will never touch you. pray, kindly lift me up." gangazara thought: "shall i take him out or not? if i take him out he may make me the first morsel of his hungry mouth. no; that he will not do. for my father's prophecy never came untrue. i must die on a sea coast, and not by a tiger." thus thinking, he asked the tiger-king to hold tight to the vessel, which he accordingly did, and he lifted him up slowly. the tiger reached the top of the well and felt himself on safe ground. true to his word, he did no harm to gangazara. on the other hand, he walked round his patron three times, and standing before him, humbly spoke the following words: "my life-giver, my benefactor! i shall never forget this day, when i regained my life through your kind hands. in return for this kind assistance i pledge my oath to stand by you in all calamities.