e his bundle. [_The maid takes his bundle and carries it
into the house._] What news do you bring of Prince Siddhattha?

_K._ I followed the Prince from place to place and saw him last near
Benares in the forest of Uruvela.

_Y._ How is his health, and will he come back?

_K._ His health is probably good, but he does not think of coming
back--not yet. O my dear lady! If you could see him! he is as thin as
a skeleton. I could count all his ribs.

_R._ What is the trouble with father.

_K._ He is fasting. He lives on a hempcorn a day; think of it, one
little hempcorn a day!

_Y._ Oh, he will die! My poor husband. I must follow him and attend to
his wants. He needs his wife's loving care. I will leave my home and
follow him.

_K._ Could you help him, princess? He might not like it, and the monks
abhor women. Moreover, I was told that he takes food again, every
morning a cup of rice milk. The day I left he looked better. Still, he
was pretty pale.

_Y._ Tell me all you know of him.

_K._ I went first to Rajagaha, and there I heard wondrous tales about
the noble monk Gotama. All the people knew about him, they called him
a "sage" or "muni" and the "Bodhisatta."

_R._ What does that mean, Kala?

_K._ Bodhisatta is the man who seeks the bodhi--and the bodhi is
enlightenment or Buddhahood.

_Y._ What did the people of Rajagaha say?

_K._ When Prince Siddhattha came to Rajagaha, he created a great
excitement in the city. Never had been seen a mendicant of such noble
appearance, and crowds flocked to him. They thought he was a Buddha
and greeted him as a Buddha; but he said to them "I am not a Buddha;
I am a Bodhisatta, I seek Buddhahood, and I am determined to find it."

_Y._ Did you meet people who saw him?

_K._ Indeed, I did. They say he looked like a god. The news spread all
over the capital, and King Bimbisara himself went out with his
ministers to see the Bodhisatta. King Bimbisara came to the place
where the stranger stayed--under a forest tree near a brook--and
greeted him most respectfully saying, "Great monk, remain here with me
in Rajagaha; I see that you are wise and worthy. Live with me at the
royal palace. Be my adviser and counselor. You are not made for a
mendicant. Your hands are fit to hold the reins of empire. Stay here,
I beg you, and you shall not lack honor and rank." "Nay," replied
Siddhattha, "let me go my way in quest of enlightenment. I am bent on
solving the problem of existence, an