salute him, but, being without bones in his body, his movements enraged the object of his worship. The Brahmun thought the boy was making fun of him, by imitating his ungraceful gestures; and thus interpreting the child’s innocent deeds, cursed him. “Proud prince, darest thou mock my awkward person, which Krishto has given me? In despising my person thou dost despise my maker. Let it be according to thy will; if pride has led thee to mock at me, be thou awkward like me; and if owing to some defect in thy own person thou didst make the irreverent gestures, be thou whole, and henceforth live a handsome child.” To the joy of the child and his relatives, the “cursing of the Brahmun begat blessing,” at that very moment he stood before the saint with a well-proportioned, stout, and handsome person! At the age of five he was put under the tuition and guidance of a celebrated sage. Besides the mental and physical training, the sage took particular care to develop the spiritual nature of his pupil, to set his infant step in the path of truth, to inspire his simple heart with the love for the gods. His relations did not bring the knowledge of the great calamity that had befallen the family to the child’s notice. Every precaution was taken to keep from his knowledge even the word _father_. One day, as he was playing with the young children in the neighborhood, he heard them ask each other’s father’s name. The turn came to him, and a boy asked him what his father’s name was. A difficult question to answer, for he had never heard the name of _father_ in his house, and never seen a _man_ who was so related to him, except the teacher and other Brahmuns, who often came to console the widows with their kind words. “Friends,” he said, “ask the names of my mother, aunts, teacher, &c., and I will tell you; I do not know who my father is. In our house we have no such relative.” The children burst into laughter, to the mortification of Vogiroth, and began to express their surprise in their childish way. The fatherless prince left his gay comrades for his mother, who he hoped would adjust the matter, and teach him to answer the questions of the children in future. The joke of the boys had pained him so much that his blooming face seemed pale. Embarrassment threw a thick veil on his forehead, and it looked like the moon in eclipse. His hasty steps trod the chamber floor, and drew the anxious household around him. “Mother!” burst forth the insulted child, “I was very much pained by unkind words of the boys, one of which I did not fully comprehend, so I came to you to have it explained. Strange words, mother, they uttered, which I alone among them was unacquainted with. ‘_Father_’! what does it mean? The boys asked me the name of my _father_, which I could not tell; where is my father, and what is his name, mother?” The troubled queen heard the sad recital with sighs; and, as the child seemed determined to know all about the mysterious term _father_, she could not keep