Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/121

Rh some rival king. Cross the whole earth until you find the horse. Then kill its thief and bring it back".

Immediately the sixty thousand sons put on their armour and taking their weapons set forth to seek the missing horse. They searched in vain over the whole surface of India until they came to the Western Ocean. Then they said, "The horse-thief must have hidden King Sagar's horse beyond the seven seas. We must therefore dig through the earth in various places, so that when we have reached its other side we may find our father's steed."

With these words King Sagar's sons began to dig, and they dug with such a will that in no long time they came to the very centre of the earth, where the snake people lived. They heeded not the snake people but digging their tunnel as before they came out in a few months on the eastern quarter of the opposite side of the earth. There they beheld a giant elephant. "Noble elephant," said King Sagar's sons, "who are you?" "My name is Virupaksha," replied the elephant, "and I hold up the eastern end of the earth. But what are you here for?" "We have come," said King Sagar's sons, "to look for our father's horse. Have you by any chance seen it, and an old woman with it?" "No," said Virupaksha, "I have not." As he spoke he shook his head and a terrible earthquake shook the whole country round.

King Sagar's sons said, "This noble elephant has no reason to lie. Our horse is surely not here. Let us search in some other region." They returned to the centre of the earth and began to bore a fresh tunnel, which in due course pierced the southern quarter of the opposite side of the earth. When they emerged into the daylight, they saw yet another elephant. "Noble ele-