shall be my favorite.  Of course the others will be jealous; but if they quarrel, and talk, and trouble me I will belabor them like this—­and this’—­and therewith he flourished his staff to such a purpose as to smash his meal-dish and break several of the potter’s jars.  The potter, rushing out, took him by the throat, and turned him off; and so ended his speculations.  I smiled, my Liege,’ concluded the Vulture, ’at your precipitancy, thinking of that story.’

‘Tell me, then, my Father, what should be done,’ said the King.

’Tell me first, your Majesty, what took the fortress:  strength or stratagem?’

‘It was a device of yours,’ said the King.

‘It is well,’ replied the Minister, ’and my counsel now is to return before the rainy season, while we can return; and to make peace.  We have won renown and taken the enemy’s stronghold; let it suffice.  I speak as a faithful adviser; and it is written—­

    ’Whoso setting duty highest, speaks at need unwelcome things,
    Disregarding fear and favor, such a one may succor kings.’

Oh, my Liege! war is uncertain!  Nay, it may ruin victor and vanquished—­

    ’Sunda the strong, and giant Upasunda,
    Contending, like the lightning and the thunder,
    Slew each the other.  Learn, the while you wonder.’

‘Tell me that,’ said the King of the Peacocks.

’The Vulture related—­

THE DUEL OF THE GIANTS

“Long ago, my Liege, there were two Daityas named Sunda and Upasunda, the which with penance and fasting worshipped that God who wears the moon for his forehead-jewel; desiring to win his favor, and thereby the lordship of the Three Worlds.  At last the God, propitiated by their devotion, spake thus unto them:—­

‘I grant a boon unto ye—­choose what it shall be.’

’And they, who would have asked dominion, were suddenly minded of Saraswati—­who reigns over the hearts and thoughts of men—­to seek a forbidden thing.

‘If,’ said they, ’we have found favor, let the Divinity give us his own cherished Parvati, the Queen of Heaven!’

’Terribly incensed was the God, but his word had passed, and the boon must be granted; and Parvati the Divine was delivered up to them.  Then those two world-breakers, sick at heart, sin-blinded, and afire with the glorious beauty of the Queen of Life—­began to dispute, saying one to another:  ‘Mine is she! mine is she!’ At the last they called for an umpire, and the God himself appeared before them as a venerable Brahman.

‘Master,’ said they, ’tell us whose she is, for we both won her by our might.’

’Then spake that Brahman:—­

    ’Brahmans for their lore have honor; Kshattriyas for their bravery;
    Vaisyas for their hard-earned treasure; Sudras for humility,’

Ye are Kshattriyas—­and it is yours to fight; settle, then, this question by the sword.’