Page:Shantiniketan; the Bolpur School of Rabindranath Tagore.djvu/113

Rh he looked upon this scene. These two guards seemed so strong that it looked as if they could easily overpower that radiant horse of fire. Their bodies were so upright and full of energy and their arms were so straight that it seemed as if they could at any moment overcome the most powerful lion, and yet from the look on their faces they appeared to be tranquil and smiling angels.

Utonka now turned to look at the man who was standing beside the horse. On examining him closely he recognised him as the same man who had shown himself seated on the cow which had appeared to him on the plain. Then the man said with a gentle smile, “My child, take this horse outside, breathe once in his nostrils and you will get back the ear-rings.” Utonka, stupefied with wonder, took the horse out, and in accordance with the man’s command he blew strongly in the horse’s nostrils. As he did so the hair of the horse’s body stood on end, and gradually from every hair fire came out. Without any sound the fire consumed the whole of the nether regions in a moment of time, so that there was not a trace of them left. But curiously enough the fire did not touch Utonka’s body at all. He called out in a loud voice,