Hindoo Tales

"After some days I came to a small temple of Durgâ, where a party of Bheels were about to make the child an offering to the goddess, in the hope of obtaining success through her favour; and they were then deliberating in what manner they should kill him, whether by hanging him on the branch of a tree and cutting him to pieces with swords, or by partly burying him in the ground and shooting at him with arrows, or by worrying him with young dogs.

"Then I went up to them very humbly, and said: 'O Kirâtas, I am an old brahman; having lost my way in the forest, I laid down my child whom I was carrying, while I went away for a moment to try to find an opening out of the dense thicket; when I came back he was gone. I have been searching for him ever since; have you seen him?' 'Is this your child?' said they. 'O yes!' I exclaimed. 'Take him, then,' they replied; 'we respect a brahman.' Thus I got possession of the boy, and, blessing them for their kindness, took him away as quickly as possible, and have now br