" But the child,
His eyes bedewed with tears, ran after her,
Calling her "Mother!" As the boy came near,
The Br??hman spurned him with his foot; but he
Still following close would not be torn from her,
Calling her "Mother!" "Oh, my lord! I pray,
Be gracious to me!" said the queen. "Oh, buy
My son with me; divide us not! For I
Without him shall be nought of use to you.
Be gracious, O my lord!" Then said the priest:
"Here! take the money! give the boy to me!
The saints, who know the scriptures, have ordained
The right and lawful sum. Take it!" He tied
The money in the king's bark dress, and led
Them both away--the mother and the child--
Together bound. But when the king beheld
Himself bereft of both his wife and son,
He burst forth: "Ah! my wife! whom neither sun,
Nor moon, nor air have ever seen I who hast
Been kept from vulgar gaze! Alas I a slave
Hast thou become! Alas! thou, too, my son!--
A scion of the noble dynasty,
Sprung from the sun! disgrace has seized on thee,
And--shame upon me!--thou too art a slave!
Ye have become a sacrifice; ye, through my fault,
Have fallen.
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