Ch. 5: The Finances of the Gods - Page 2

'I do not forget,' said the child in a hushed voice.

'Also to give reverence to thy teacher, and'--Gobind's voice softened--'
to abstain from pulling holy men by the beard, little badling. Eh, eh,
eh?'

The child's face was altogether hidden in the great white beard, and it
began to whimper till Gobind soothed it as children are soothed all the
world over, with the promise of a story.

'I did not think to frighten thee, senseless little one. Look up! Am I
angry? Are, are, are! Shall I weep too, and of our tears make a great
pond and drown us both, and then thy father will never get well, lacking
thee to pull his beard? Peace, peace, and I will tell thee of the Gods.
Thou hast heard many tales?'

'Very many, father.'

'Now, this is a new one which thou hast not heard. Long and long ago
when the Gods walked with men as they do to-day, but that we have not
faith to see, Shiv, the greatest of Gods, and Parbati his wife, were
walking in the garden of a temple.'

'Which temple? That in the Nandgaon ward?' said the child.

'Nay, very far away. Maybe at Trimbak or Hurdwar, whither thou must make
pilgrimage when thou art a man. Now, there was sitting in the garden
under the jujube trees, a mendicant that had worshipped Shiv for forty
years, and he lived on the offerings of the pious, and meditated
holiness night and day.'

'Oh father, was it thou?' said the child, looking up with large eyes.

'Nay, I have said it was long ago, and, moreover, this mendicant was
married.'

'Did they put him on a horse with flowers on his head, and forbid him to
go to sleep all night long? Thus they did to me when they made my
wedding,' said the child, who had been married a few months before.

'And what didst thou do?' said I.

'I wept, and they called me evil names, and then I smote HER, and we
wept together.'

'Thus did not the mendicant,' said Gobind; 'for he was a holy man, and
very poor. Parbati perceived him sitting naked by the temple steps where
all went up and down, and she said to Shiv, "What shall men think of the
Gods when the Gods thus scorn their worshippers? For forty years yonder
man has prayed to us, and yet there be only a few grains of rice and
some broken cowries before him after all. Men's hearts will be hardened
by this thing." And Shiv said, "It shall be looked to," and so he called
to the temple which was the temple of his son, Ganesh of the elephant
head, saying, "Son, there is a mendicant without who is very poor. What
wilt thou do for him?" Then that great elephant-headed One awoke in the
dark and answered, "In three days, if it be thy will, he shall have one
lakh of rupees." Then Shiv and