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126 CRADLE TALES OF HINDUISM king and his guests, and all sat down and entered together into consultation. But first the great monkey, Hanuman, son of the Wind God, produced a fire by means of two pieces of wood. Then, worshipping the flame with flowers, he placed it carefully between Rama and Sugriva, and they went, round it together, and so were fastened in friendship. And it is said that at that moment, in her distant prison, the left eye of Sita throbbed for joy at that alliance between her lord and the monkey-chief.

It was agreed between the two sovereigns — Sugriva and Rama — that the King of Kosala should first slay Vali, the enemy of the monkeys, and restore his own wife to Sugriva. This having been done, Sugriva, on his side, would undertake to discover the hiding-place of Sita, and to furnish troops for the conquest of Ravana and the destruction of his strongholds. This expedition could not, it was determined, be undertaken in the rainy season, but immediately on the setting in of autumn, it should be carried out without fail.

Scrupulously did the two human allies fulfil their share of this treaty. Within a few days Sugriva's enemy was slain, and his wife restored to him. But alas, for the instability of the monkey -nature ! He became straightway immersed in woodland frolics, and Rama saw the