Atondido Stories
believed the word of a goldsmith, and offered him the hand of
his daughter and the whole kingdom, instead of half, as he
promised. Gangazara would not accept anything, but asked the
king to assemble all his subjects in a wood near the town. "I shall
there call in all the tigers and serpents, and give them a general
order."
When the whole town was assembled, just at the dusk of
evening, Gangazara sat dumb for a moment, and thought upon
the Tiger King and the Serpent King, who came with all their ar-
mies. People began to take to their heels at the sight of tigers.
Gangazara assured them of safety, and stopped them.
The grey light of the evening, the pumpkin colour of Gan-
gazara, the holy ashes scattered lavishly over his body, the tigers
and snakes humbling themselves at his feet, gave him the true
majesty of the god Gangazara. For who else by a single word
could thus command vast armies of tigers and serpents, said
some among the people. "Care not for it; it may be by magic.
That is not a great thing. That he revived cartloads of corpses
shows him to be surely Gangazara," said others.
"Why should you, my children, thus trouble these poor sub-
jects of Ujjaini? Reply to me, and henceforth desist from your
ravages." Thus said the Soothsayer's son, and the following reply
came from the king of the tigers: "Why should this base king im-
prison your honour, believing the mere word of a goldsmith that
your honour killed his father? All the hunters told him that his
father was carried away by a tiger. I was the messenger of death
sent to deal the blow on his neck. I did it, and gave the crown to
your honour. The prince makes no inquiry, and at once impris-
ons your honour. How can we expect justice from such a stupid
king as that? Unless he adopt a better standard of justice we will
go on with our destruction."
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