Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/69

 here in the long evenings and tell thee stories when thou wert a child?"

"I, too, was thinking of that," replied Hemlata, bashfully.

"Thou art a child no longer, Hemlata, and dost mot like to listen to my stories now."

"I do, Noren," said Hemlata, almost in a whisper.

"Listen then. Dost thou see that North Star?"

"Yes, just above that tree."

"It is called Dhruba, which means The Constant and True."

"And why is it called—The Constant and True?"

"There is a story which our poets connect with that star, Hemlata."

"Tell me the story, Noren," said Hemlata once more with a child's impulse.

"They say that a certain King had two wives who bore him two sons. The elder wife and her son were the favourites of the King; the younger wife and her son were treated with neglect. And she often wept, retiring with the child to a cottage, and he knew not why she wept.

"But when he grew to be a young man his mother told him that though she was a King's wife, and he a King's son, they were miserable on earth. The boy listened and went away and pondered. Then, at last, he came to his mother and said he would win a higher glory than belonged to kings—he would be a saint on earth!

"That youth's name was Dhruba—The Constant and True. He passed his days in the forest in the worship of the Great Being who is the King of kings, and he became a great saint, respected through all