Charlevoix county herald., 1908-06-20

nurses. III terrlnc Senll cOrked up In
bottles, and in men transformed into
animals. Here is veracious and very
ancient tale from the Sanskrit, which
does credit to its original narrator,
whoever he may have been.
The great king Nihla-Keton lived
and ruled wisely in his beautiful city
of Barty-Poura, which was the capital
of his flourishing kingdom of Anga-
Dessa. You must not ask any Ques-
tons about these proper names, for
one cannot In this day turn TO books
OF geography and history and put his
finger upon the persons and places Of
five or six thousand years ago; and
this story is one of the Oldest
The kings premier, the great Lord
Vahaca, was a man of wonderful re-
sources, who was equal to every emer
gency in statecraft. The queen and
her three daughters were as beauti-
ful as bahama, the Dawn. But for
one thing, the kings happiness would
have been complete. Like Napoleon,
century ago, he lacked an heir; and
Just as Napoleon was led to divorce
he devoted Josephine for purely dy-
nastic reasons, King Nihla-Keton was
considering the matter of a separation
from the queen.
The ladies of the palace were over
~helmed with sorrow and dread. Just
then another child was born. 1t was
girl. In her desperation, the queen
appealed to the great Lord Vahaca
10 save her; and this he undertook to
do at great risk to himself. He an
nounced to the king that at last a son
was born-a son, the very image of
his sire, evidently favored of heaven,
and giving every promise of a glori-
Gus career. The king was mad with
delight but according to the etiquette
of the time, he must not be permitted
to see the child until the twelfth day
after its birth. Then he must solemn
ly greet it and bestow upon it its
name at great mama-carma, or
christening feast.
For II days he tumbled over in his
mind the Sanskrit roots, in a search
for a combination which should be
grand and inspiring, as becoming the
title of such a prince; and for II
days the premier planned how he
might carry on the deception upon
which he had entered. The pahorita,
or royal astrologer, was appealed to,
and-for a consideration, doubtless
gave the king the horoscope of the
child. The stars, he declared, forbade
the formalities of the nama-carma,
and would prevent the king from see
ing the baby. In fact, he continued,
the brilliant career of the prince was
strictly conditional. The stars decreed
that the king was not to see his son
until the latter should be grown and
married-which would be about 16
years later, according to Hindu GUS
I tom. The king was deeply disappoint-
ed, but was pacified by the promise
Of life and health and honor for the
prince, and so bowed to the will of
heaven. He was at liberty to arrange
for his sons ducation-through the
premier, of course-to build a palace
for him, and to inquire about him from
day to day; but to see the child was
out of the question.
Fifteen years passed rapidly away.
The great Lord Vahaca was still in
his prime, the queen and her daugh-
ters were still beautiful. The sup
posed prince was grown to woman
hood. And now, more than ever be-
fore, all the parties to the scheme of
deception were filled with apprehen-
sion, for the king was bent on having
his heir married as soon as possible
The proper thing for royal father
to do, in that day, was to raise
large army, place his son at the head
of it, invade the realm of some neigh
boring potentate, and demand the
daughter of the latter King Nihla-
Keton followed the custom. He had
heard of the beauty of a certain prin-
cess of Pattaly-Poura. She must be
the bride of his son. Troops were
gathered in the city of Barty-Poura,
and the supposed prince was ordered
to lead them to the neighboring capt.
tai, to marry the princess, and to re-
turn for the royal blessing.
With a faint heart the poor prin-
cess of Anga-Dessa determined to
carry out her part as best she might,
to save herself and her mother from
exposure and destruction. But the
premier must go along with them.
This was granted. The Lord Vahaca
had his own head to save, and must
make a success of the expedition in
some way. And as the army set out,
at it's head and arrayed in the garb of
a prince, rode the luckless maid.
while all Bary-Poura rang with
cheers, and only the poor king was
denied the pleasure of seeing the
adored leader. AS they drew nigh to
Pattaly- Poura, the premier was at his
wits end. What was to be done?
Luckily, fate offered him temporary
assistance. AS they passed through