With His hands on the necks of His two favorite cows, those who ever followed Him about as a child, the white on His right side, the black on His left, homeward they ran, while the white dust arose and covered and caressed them; one after the other, each bedecked with garlands, and each boy between two cows, who like them were wreathed with wild flowers. And the elder Gopis and Gopas held their breath at the sight, so entrancing, that reached their eyes at the home-coming of the boys and their cows, bedecked and beflowered with the sweet wild flowers, and headed by Him whom they loved. CHAPTER XIX. Thus spring ripened into summer and autumn, and again the rolling seasons touched upon the heels of one another; and Krishna grew into greater beauty with each season of His earthly career. More and more the people of Brindāban became absorbed in Him. The young and old, those near and far, looked upon Him as one without whom they could not exist. And so it was, the complete whole was He of whom they were but parts, and ever were they reaching to again find the Heart out of which they had sprung. His smile was to them the sun that warmed, His words the flowers which filled them with joy, His deeds the fruits which satisfied the hunger of their hearts. The very quick of their lives He was; and nothing lived, breathed, bloomed, or grew in Brindāban, from the people to the cattle, creeping things and all that grew, that did not draw life from the Lord that dwelt as Youth among them. And the milk-maids, who in loving companionship oft with him roamed to the hillside where with the other boys he tended the cattle, would in fond love contemplate the Youth, knowing not what the potency was that drew them, forgetful of all duties, to His side. And among themselves they would speak thus: "Oh, how sweet is the hillside, when Krishna is near, how sublime is His countenance and His eyes how beautiful with piercing love-light filled! Serene doth He stand, yet bewilderingly entrancing is the joy that comes to our souls by His glances that seek us in softness and kindness." "Was aught as beautiful," they were wont to say, "as our Krishna, clothed in blue and gold, with the crown of peacock feathers on His brow and a garland of fresh flowers festooned from His shoulders? Why is it, that flowers that girdle Him thus never fade or wither or die, but deeper their colors and stronger their petals and sweeter their fragrance are, when in contact with Him they have come? And the fields where He walketh, see how they smile and give their treasures in greater abundance! And the rivers close by, they rise high on our land, as if to dwell longer on our banks, because our Krishna is here.