THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO. 



183 



Soon a stench began to issue 

 From the forests and the mountains 

 Stench of Gonds that lived so foully. 

 Rose the stench to Mahadeva, 

 To his mountain Dewalgiri.* 

 Wrathful then became the Great God, 

 Called his messenger Narayan, 

 Said he, ' ' Bring these Gonds before 



me 

 Outcast wretches ! How their stink has 

 Spread o'er all my Dewalgiri." 

 Then the messenger Narayan 

 Called the Koitor all together, 

 Called them up to Dewalgiri 

 To the Great God Mahadeva, 

 Ranged them all in rows before him 

 In the courtyard of the Great God. 

 Then the Great God washed his body, 

 Washed a little of the dirt off ; 

 Fashioned it into the likeness 

 Of the King of Squirrels Warche ; 

 Breathed the breath of life into it ; 

 Down before the Koitor threw it. 

 Straight the Squirrel then his tail 



made, 

 Seeking passage to escape them, 

 Jerking in and out among them ; 

 And the Gonds began to chase it, 

 Crying, < Catch it ! " crying, Kill it J" 

 " Let us catch and skin and eat it," 

 Some took sticks, and some took stones, 

 Some took clods, and off they scurried 

 After W&rche, King of Squirrels,, 

 Hip-cloths streaming out behind them. 

 But 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, 



Fled 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 Red Hills, Lahugada, 



The Iron Valley, Kachikopa. 



There they sped them through the 



forest, 

 And they hid them from the Great God. 

 Now the goddess-queen Parbuttee 

 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 Gonds 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? 

 And my Mahadev, also, 

 Him I see not ; much I fear me 

 He has done my Gonds a mischief." 

 And she grieved, and took no dinner, 

 Prayed and fasted like a hermit, 

 Devotee-like penance doing 

 For her lost sweet-smelling Koitor. 



* Dewalgiri is one of the highest peaks of the Himalaya range 

 used as identical with Kailas, the mythic heaven of Siva. 



and is here 



