Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/20

14 his teaching. The pupil who does not pay the fee and the master who will not receive it are alike to blame. And in after years the fault, whether of master or of pupil, will bear fruit, and the love which they should have for each other will be absent, and hatred will take its place."

"Uttanka, my child." said the rishi, with a kindly smile, "I am in want of nothing. So let us wait until the need arises."

Uttanka waited for some weeks and then again he went to his teacher. "O my master," he said, "I pray you, tell me what I shall bring you as the fee due to you for your teaching."

"My son," said the rishi, "I am still in want of nothing. But as you again press me, I cannot again refuse you. Go therefore to my wife, your mistress, and bid her tell you what you should bring her as a pupil's fee."

Uttanka went to the rishi's wife and, telling her what his teacher had said, begged her to say what she wished, so that he might bring it to her as a return for Veda's teaching. The saintly lady thought for a moment and then spoke: "Uttanka, my son, four days hence is a sacred day. It will then be my duty to give food to many Brahmans. But I have no ornaments fit for so great an occasion. So go to King Paushya and beg from him the earrings that his queen wears."

Uttanka bowed to the feet of his teacher's wife. And although he knew that King Paushya's palace was many hundred leagues away, he set out on his errand with a brave heart. When he had walked two or three thousand paces he met a giant riding an enormous