THE SLAYING OF BAKASURA

How can we live after consigning to death our only solace in life and our hope for the here after? If he is lost, who wouldpour libations for us and our ancestors? Alas! you did not pay heed to my words, and this is the deadly fruit of your perversity.

If I give up my life, this girl and boy will surely die soon for want of a protector. What shall I do? It is best that all of us perish together" and the brahmana burst forth sobbing.

The wife replied: "I have been a good wife to you, and done my duty by bearing you a daughter and a son. You are able, and I am not, to bring up and protect your children.

Just as castout offal is pounced upon and seized by rapacious birds, a poor widowed woman is an easy prey to wicked and dishonest people. Dogs fight for a cloth wet with ghee, and in pulling it hither and thither in unclean greed, tear it to foul rags.

In like manner, a woman without a guardian becomes the sport of wicked people who drag her hither and thither. It is impossible for me to protect two fatherless orphans - - and they will perish miserably like fish in a waterless pond.

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