What need of further words."
The king, with heart rejoicing, and unchanged
In countenance, hearing the sage's words,
Said, humbly bowing down before the saint,
"So be thy wish fulfilled." "O saintly king,"
Said Vi??v??mitra, "if the world is mine,
And power, and wealth, I pray you who shall reign,
Since in this kingdom as a devotee
I dwell?" Then Hari??chandra said: "'Ere this,
Before the world was thine by my free gift,
Thou wast the lord of all; how much more now?
Thy right is doubly sure." Then said the sage:
"If this indeed be so,--if the whole world
Be truly mine, and all its sovereignty,
Then should'st thou not remain, nor leave thyself
Aught of that kingdom which thou hast renounced,
But, casting off thy royal ornaments,
Thou should'st depart, clothed in a dress of bark."
The king, obedient to the sage's word,
Stripped off his royal dress, and, with his wife
And son, made haste to go. Then said the saint:
"Stop, Hari??chandra! Hast thou then forgot
The offering for the kingly sacrifice
That thou hast promised us?" Replied the king:
"O mighty saint! the kingdom now is __thine__;
All have I given to __thee__: and as for me,
What have I left?--nought! save myself,
My wife, my son!" "Thou sayest the truth, indeed,"
Answered the sage; "but yet there still remains
The offering for the kingly sacrifice.
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