Page:Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan.djvu/42

6 Savitri's first care was to tell
 * Her mother all her feelings new;

The queen her own fears to dispel
 * To the king's private chamber flew.

"Now what is it, my gentle queen,
 * That makes thee hurry in this wise?"

She told him, smiles and tears between
 * All she had heard; the king with sighs

Sadly replied:—"I fear me much!
 * Whence is his race and what his creed?

Not knowing aught, can we in such
 * A matter delicate, proceed?"

As if the king's doubts to allay,
 * Came Narad Muni to the place

A few days after. Old and gray,
 * All loved to see the gossip's face,

Great Brahma's son,—adored of men,
 * Long absent, doubly welcome he

Unto the monarch, hoping then
 * By his assistance, clear to see.

No god in heaven, nor king on earth,
 * But Narad knew his history,—

The sun's, the moon's, the planets' birth
 * Was not to him a mystery.