ould thy bosom anguish wring?
No crime was in thine heart!

"Unwittingly the deed was done;
It is my destiny,
O fear not thou, but pity one
Whose fate is thus to die.

"No curses, no!--I bear no grudge,
Not thou my blood hast spilt,
Lo! here before the unseen Judge,
Thee I absolve from guilt.

"The iron, red-hot as it burns,
Burns those that touch it too,
Not such my nature,--for it spurns,
Thank God, the like to do.

"Because I suffer, should I give
Thee, king, a needless pain?
Ah, no! I die, but mayst thou live,
And cleansed from every stain!"

Struck with these words, and doubly grieved
At what his hands had done,
The monarch wept, as weeps bereaved
A man his only son.

"Nay, weep not so," resumed the child,
"But rather let me say
My own sad story, sin-defiled.
And why I die to day!

"Picking a living in our sheaves,
And happy in their loves,
Near, 'mid a peepul's quivering leaves,
There lived a pair of doves.

"Never were they two separate,
And lo, in idle mood,
I took a sling and ball, elate
In wicked sport and rude,--

"And killed one bird,--it was the male,
Oh cruel deed and base!
The female gave a plaintive wail
And looked me in the face!

"The wail and sad reproachful look
In plain words seemed to say,
A widowed life I cannot brook,
The forfeit thou must pay.

"What was my darling's crime that thou
Him wantonly shouldst kill?
The curse of blood is on thee now,
Blood calls for red blood still.

"And so I die--a bloody death--
But not for this I mourn,
To feel the world pass with my breath
I gladly could have borne,

"But for my parents, who are blind,
And have no other stay,--
This, this, weighs sore upon my mind
And fills me with dismay.

"Upon the eleventh day of the moon
They keep a rigorous fast,
All yesterday they fasted; soon
For water and repast

"They shall upon me feebly call!
Ah, must they call in vain?
Bear thou the pitcher, friend--'tis all
I ask--down that steep lane."

He pointed,--ceased,--then sudden died!
The king took up the corpse,
And with the pitcher slowly hied,
Attended by Remorse,

Down the steep lane--unto the hut