Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/113

Rh King Parikshit was overjoyed at the sight of the queen. He bowed low before the frog king and in a voice choked with tears of happiness, he said, "O King Ayusha, you have conferred on me the greatest boon in all the world." King Ayusha bowed in return. But when he bade farewell to Queen Sushavana he looked at her with a frowning brow, and cursing her he said, "Because you have tricked this noble king and other noble kings before him the sons whom you bear to him will be haters of Brahmans." With these words King Ayusha went back to his home among the frog people.

In the course of three years Queen Sushavana bore three splendid sons to King Parikshit. The king named them Sala, Dala and Vala. When they had grown to manhood King Parikshit fell ill. And feeling death drawing near he decided to go into the forest, after the manner of Aryan princes, to be an anchorite until his life left him. He, therefore, called together his ministers and in his own place installed on the throne his eldest son Prince Sala. Then Parikshit and Sushavana walked together into the forest; and neither he nor she returned again to Ayodhya.

After Prince Sala had become king he devoted many hours of the day to hunting. Once, as he hunted, he wounded a stag and tried to overtake it in his chariot. But he could not draw near to the stag and at last his horses, tired with the chase, could go no further. The king bade his charioteer urge them with his whip. But the charioteer answered, "O king, the horses are wearied to death. They will never overtake the stag. You would catch it only if you had Vami horses yoked to your cha-