ho delights
To shield from harm the tenants of the wood.

ATTENDANT.

Gentle Sir, I thank you; but he is not the saint's son.

KING.

His behaviour and whole bearing would have led me to doubt it,
had not the place of his abode encouraged the idea.

[_Follows the_ CHILD, _and takes him by the hand, according to
the request of the attendant. Aside_.

I marvel that the touch of this strange child
Should thrill me with delight; if so it be,
How must the fond caresses of a son
Transport the father's soul who gave him being!

ATTENDANT. [_Looking at them both_.

Wonderful! Prodigious!

KING.

What excites your surprise, my good woman?

ATTENDANT.

I am astonished at the striking resemblance between the child and
yourself; and, what is still more extraordinary, he seems to have
taken to you kindly and submissively, though you are a stranger
to him.

KING. [_Fondling the_ CHILD.

If he be not the son of the great sage, of what family does he
come, may I ask?

ATTENDANT.

Of the race of Puru.

KING. [_Aside_.

What! are we, then, descended from the same ancestry? This, no
doubt, accounts for the resemblance she traces between the child
and me. Certainly it has always been an established usage among
the princes of Puru's race,

To dedicate the morning of their days
To the world's weal, in palaces and halls,
'Mid luxury and regal pomp abiding;
Then, in the wane of life, to seek release
From kingly cares, and make the hallowed shade
Of sacred trees their last asylum, where
As hermits they may practise self-abasement,
And bind themselves by rigid vows of penance.

[_Aloud_.]

But how could mortals by their own power gain admission to this
sacred region?

ATTENDANT.

Your remark is just; but your wonder will cease when I tell you
that his mother is the offspring of a celestial nymph, and gave
him birth in the hallowed grove of Ka[s']yapa.

KING. [_Aside_.

Strange that my hopes should be again excited!

[_Aloud_.]

But what, let me ask, was the name of the prince whom she deigned
to honour with her hand?

ATTENDANT.

How could I think of polluting my lips by the mention of a wretch
who had the cruelty to desert his lawful wife?

KING.