Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/287



there lived a great Rajah, whose name was Salabhan, and he had a Queen, by name Lona, who, though she wept and prayed at many a shrine, had never a child to gladden her eyes. After a long time, however, a son was promised to her.

Queen Lona returned to the palace, and when the time for the birth of the promised son drew nigh, she inquired of three Jogis who came begging to her gate, what the child's fate would be, and the youngest of them answered and said: "Oh, Queen! The child will be a boy, and he will live to be a great man. But for twelve years you must not look upon his face, for if either you or his father see it before the twelve years are past, you will surely die! This is what you must do: As soon as the child is born you must send him away to a cellar underneath the ground, and never let him see the