192 



THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTRAL IXDIA. 



" Let us catch and skin and eat it." 

 Some took sticks and some took 



stones, 

 Some took clods, and off they 



scurried 

 After Warche, King of Squirrels, 

 Hip-cloths streaming out behind 



them. 

 I3ut the Squirrel— Artful Dodger- 

 Jerking in and out among them 

 Popped into a hole convenient 

 In the mountain Dewalgiri. 

 And the Gonds all ran in after — 

 All but four that stayed behind 



them. 

 Then a stone took Mahadeva, 

 A great stone of sixteen cubits, 

 Shut them up within the cavern 

 In the mountain Dewalgiri ; 

 Shut them up, and placed the 



demon — 

 Monster horrid, fierce Basmasur — 

 Placed him guardian o'er the 



entrance. 

 And the four that were remaining 

 Swiftly fled from Dewalgiri, 

 PJed across the hills and valleys, 

 Fled to hide them from the Great 



God, 

 From the wrath of Mahadeva. 

 Long they wandered thus in 



terror, 

 But no hiding-place discovered ; 

 Till a tree at last ascending. 

 On a hill a straight-stemmed date 



tree, 

 Thence looked forth and saw a 



refuge — 

 Saw the Ked Hills, Lahiigada, 

 The Iron Valley, Kachikopa. 

 There they sped them through the 



forest, 



And they hid them from the Great 



God. 

 Now the goddess-queen Par- 



buttee — 

 Consort she of Mahadeva — 

 On the mountain top was sleeping, 

 On the top of Dewalgiri. 

 Waked she shortly from her 



slumber, 

 Waked to find a something 



wanting 

 In the air of Dewalgiri, 

 Then she grieved, and thought 



within her, 

 " Where can all my G6nds have 



gone to ? 

 Many days our hill is silent. 

 Once that echoed to their shouting; 

 Many days no smell ascendeth, 

 Pleasant smell of Gonds ascending; 

 My sweet-smelling Gonds, where 



are they 1 

 And my Mahadeva, also. 

 Him I see not ; much I fear me 

 He has done my Gonds a mis- 

 chief." 

 And she grieved, and took no 



dinner, 

 Prayed and fasted like a hermit, 

 Devotee-like penance doing 

 For her lost sweet-smelling Koitor. 

 Six months thus she prayed and 



fasted. 

 Till the King of Gods, Bhag- 



wantdl,* 

 Swinging in a SAving and snoozing, 

 By her penance greatly moved 



was — 

 ]\Ioved to rise and look about him ;. 

 Sent the messenger Narayan, 

 Sent him forth to Dewalgiri, 

 Sent to see what she Avas up to, 



* This is intended for Bhagwan, the unworshipped Creator of the 

 Hindus (vide p. 154). His introduction here as a mythical personage 

 is not consonant with the usual practice in Hindu writings. 



