Page:Indian fairy tales (1892).djvu/173

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Raja Rasalu
139

as he passed under the palace windows, he heard his mother weeping, and the sound softened his heart, so that his wrath died down, and a great loneliness fell upon him, becaused he was spurned by both father and mother. So he cried sorrowfully,

"Oh heart crown'd with grief, hast thou nought
But tears for thy son?
Art mother of mine? Give one thought
To my life just begun!

And Queen Lona answered through her tears:

"Yea! mother am I, though I weep,
So hold this word sure,
Go, reign king of all men, but keep
Thy heart good and pure! "


So Raja Rasalu was comforted, and began to make ready for fortune. He took with him his horse Bhaunr and his parrot, both of whom had lived with him since he was born.

So they made a goodly company, and Queen Lona, when she saw them going, watched them from her window till she saw nothing but a cloud of dust on the horizon; then she bowed her head on her hands and wept, saying:

" Oh! son who ne'er gladdened mine eyes,
Let the cloud of thy going arise,
Dim the sunlight and darken the day;
For the mother whose son is away
Is as dust! "

Rasalu had started off to play chaupur with King Sarkap. And as he journeyed there came a fierce storm of thunder