Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 21.djvu/133

Rh 60. Hyenas also perish there, in the act of eating one another. The excrements burn, and a loathsome stench spreads in all directions.

61. The centipedes, trying to fly, are devoured by the urchins. The ghosts, with burning hair, hover about, equally vexed with hunger and heat.

62. In such a state is that awful house, where thousands of flames are breaking out on every side. But the man who is the master of the house looks on from without.

63. And he hears his own children, whose minds are engaged in playing with their toys, in their fondness of which they amuse themselves, as fools do in their ignorance.

64. And as he hears them he quickly steps in to save his children, lest his ignorant children might perish in the flames.

65. He tells them the defect of the house, and says: This, young man of good family, is a miserable house, a dreadful one; the various creatures in it, and this fire to boot, form a series of evils.

66. In it are snakes, mischievous goblins, urchins, and ghosts in great number; hyenas, troops of dogs and jackals, as well as vultures, seeking their prey.

67. Such beings live in this house, which, apart