Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 512

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE SAINT
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nothing to eat at
all,
and
I
am
still
quite in the dark as to
when and how all this will end.'
The palace was reached while the supposed sannyasi
was turning over all these things in his head. Carried into
a superb apartment, he had not long to wait before he was
visited by the princesses, who came one by one to prostrate
themselves at his feet. Each of them, after gazing at him
in wonder and silence for some time, was consumed with
the desire of possessing one of his hairs as a relic to be kept
in a locket of gold, and to be reckoned as the most precious
of their jewels.
But in vain they searched every visible
part of his body. The crowd of devotees who had preceded
them had not left a single hair to be seen. At length, after
most careful search, they managed to discover here and
there, in the wrinkles of his coarse skin, a few hairs which
had escaped notice. With these they were perforce obliged
to be content, and having religiously collected them they
retired.
Thereupon the king ordered that the penitent
should be left alone during the night, in order that he
might enjoy the repose of which he was so much in need,
after the fatiguing and painful days which he had passed.
Appaji, however, having slipped quietly into the apartment
where the poor shepherd was languishing of hunger, fatigue,
and anguish, addressed him in the following consoling
manner
Kuruba, the time of thy trial is at an end.
Thou hast played thy part most excellently, and I am very
pleased with thee. I promised thee a reward. Rest
assured that thou wilt get it. Meanwhile lay aside this
costume of the penitent and put on thy shepherd's gar-
ments again. Go and refresh thyself by good food and
peaceful slumber, and to-morrow morning thou shalt return
to thy occupation.'
The poor fellow did not require to be told twice. He
fled by a secret passage which his master pointed out to
him, determined never to allow himself to be entrapped
in the same way again.
The next morning the king, accompanied by his principal
officials, returned to the apartment where the sannyasi had
been left the night before, in order to offer him anew the
:
—
'
homage due
But
to his holiness.
to find that he had disappeared
what was
!
their surprise
This circumstance, of