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JUDGMENT-SEAT OF VIKRAMADITYA 283 The boys could never forget that day, and when- ever they heard of any perplexing dispute they (vould set this boy on the mound, and put it to him. And always the same thing happened. The spirit of knowledge and justice would come to him, and he would show them the truth. But when he came down from his seat, he would be no different from other boys.

Gradually the news of this spread through the country-side, and grown-up men and women from all the villages about that part would bring their lawsuits to be decided in the court of the herd-boys on the grass under the green trees. And always they received a judgment that both sides understood, and went away satisfied. So all the disputes in that neighbourhood were settled.

Now Ujjain had long ceased to be a capital, and the King now lived very far away, hence it was some time before he heard the story. At last, however, it came to his ears. " Why," he said, " that boy must have sat on the Judgment-Seat of Vikramaditya ! " He spoke without thinking, but all around him were learned men, who knew the chronicles. They looked at one another. " The King speaks truth," they said ; " the ruins in yonder meadows were once Vikramaditya's palace !"

Now this sovereign had long desired to be pes-