Page:Stories of India's Gods & Heroes.djvu/147

Rh I sighed deeply; and thereon fell from heaven this horse, and a voice was heard, saying, 'This steed can traverse unwearied the whole circuit of earth with the sun; he can course unstayed through sky and sea and the nether world. For thee has he been produced, and Kuvalaya is his name. Take him to King Satrujit; for his noble son, mounted thereon, shall slay the base Danava who vexes thee and shall win to himself a deathless name.' Obedient to the heavenly voice, I have brought the steed to thee, O King; give commandment therefore to thy son, as it was spoken, that thy righteousness may endure."

So King Satrujit took the horse, and, calling his son, mounted him thereon; and the prince, taking the name Kuvalayaswa, departed with the sage on his honourable quest. Dwelling for a season at the Brahman's pleasant hermitage, he overcame every obstacle that stayed the performance of holy rites.

Then the vile demon, incensed against the sage and full of pride and arrogance, not knowing that Kuvalayaswa dwelt there, took on him the form of a hog, and drew near to do despite to the saint's evening sacrifice. Whereon, roused by the outcry, the prince leaped on his horse and pursued the boar; and drawing his mighty bow, smote it with a crescent-tipped shaft. The beast, sore wounded, fled apace through the great forests, but the magic steed followed hard upon him.

Thousands of leagues were thus covered by hunter and hunted. Then, on a sudden, the flying boar