The Boy whom his Parents, the King, and the Giant conspired to Kill.Why did he laugh at the moment of death?
Then the king went to the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his shoulder as before, and started in silence.And the goblin on his shoulder saw that he was silent and said: "O King, why are you so obstinate? Go home.Spend the night in rest.You ought not to take me to that rascally monk.But if you insist, then I will tell you another story.Listen."There is a city called Brilliant-peak.There lived a glorious king named Moon, who delighted the eyes of his subjects.Wise men said that he was brave, generous, and the very home of beauty.But in spite of all his wealth, he was very sad at heart.For he found no wife worthy of him.
One day this king went with soldiers on horseback into a great wood, to hunt there and forget his sorrow.There he split open many boars with his arrows as the sun splits the black darkness, and made fierce lions into cushions for his arrows, and slew mountainous monsters with his terrible darts.
As he hunted, he spurred his horse and beat him terribly.And the horse was so hurt by the spur and the whip that he could not tell rough from smooth.He dashed off quicker than the wind, and in a moment carried the king into another forest a hundred miles away.
There the king lost his way, and as he wandered about wearily, he saw a great lake.He stopped there, unsaddled his horse, let him bathe and drink, and found him some grass in the shade of the trees.Then he bathed and drank himself, and when he had rested, he looked all about him.
And he saw a hermit's daughter of marvellous beauty under an ashoka tree with another girl.She had no ornaments but flowers.She was charming even in a dress of bark.She was particularly attractive because of her thick masses of hair arranged in a girlish way.
And the king fell in love with her and thought: "Who is she? Is she a goddess come to bathe in these waters? Or Gauri, separated from her husband Shiva, leading a hard life to win him again? Or the lovely moon, taking a human form, and trying to be attractive in the daytime? I will goto her and find out."
So he drew near to her.And when she saw him coming, she was astonished at his beauty and dropped her hands, which had been weaving a garland of flowers.And she thought: "Who can he be in this forest? Some fairy perhaps.Blessed are my eyes this day."So she rose, modestly looking another way, and started to go away, though her limbs failed her.Then the king approached and said: "Beautiful maiden, I have come a long distance, and you never saw me before.I ask only to look at you, and you should welcome me.Is this hermit manners, to run away?"Then her clever friend made the king sit down and treated him as an honoured guest.And the king respectfully asked her: "My good girl, what happy family does your friend adorn? What are the syllables of her name, which must be a delight to the ear? Or why at her age does she torture a body as delicate as a flower with a hermit's life in a lonely wood?"And the friend answered: "Your Majesty, she is the daughter of the hermit Kanva and the heavenly nymph Menaka.She grew up here in the hermitage, and her name is Lotus-bloom.With her father's permission she came here to the lake to bathe.And her father's hermitage is not far from here."Then the king was delighted.He mounted his horse and rode to the hermitage of holy Kanva, to ask for the girl.And he entered the hermitage in modest garb, leaving his horse outside.Then he was surrounded by hermits with hoary crowns and bark garments like the trees, and saw the sage Kanva radiant and cool like the moon.And he drew near and fell at his feet.
And the wise hermit greeted him and let him rest, then said: "My son Moon, I will tell you something to your advantage.Listen.I know what fear of death there is in mortal creatures.Why then do you uselessly kill the wild beasts? Warriors were made by the Creator to protect the timid.Therefore protect your subjects in righteousness, and root out evil.As Happiness flees before you, strive to overtake her with all your means, elephants and horses and things.Enjoy your kingship.Be generous.Become glorious.Abandon this vice of hunting, this sport of Death.Forslayer and slain are equally deceived.Why spend your time in such an evil pursuit?"The sensible king was pleased and said: "Holy sir, I am instructed.And great is my gratitude for this instruction.From now on I hunt no more.Let the wild animals live without fear."Then the hermit said: "I am pleased with your protection of the animals.Choose any boon you will."Then the quick-witted king said: "Holy sir, if you are kindly disposed, give me your daughter Lotus-bloom."So the hermit gave him his daughter, the child of the nymph, who then came up after her bath.So they were married, and the king wore cheerful garments, and Lotus-bloom was adorned by the hermits' wives.And the weeping hermits accompanied them in procession to the edge of the hermitage.Then the king took his wife Lotus-bloom, mounted his horse, and started for his city.
At last the sun, seeing the king tired with his long journeying, sank wearily behind the western mountain.And fawn-eyed night appeared, clad in the garment of darkness, like a woman going to meet her lover.And the king saw an ashvattha tree on the shore of a pond in a spot covered with grass and twigs, and he decided to spend the night there.
So he dismounted, fed and watered his horse, brought water from the pond, and rested with his beloved.And they passed the night there.
In the morning he arose, performed his devotions, and prepared to set out with his wife to rejoin his soldiers.Then, like a cloud black as soot with tawny lightning-hair, there appeared a great giant.He wore a chaplet of human entrails, a cord of human hair, he was chewing the head of a man, and drinking blood from a skull.
