_Y._ Gopa, take his bundle. [_The maid takes his bundle and carries it into the house._] What news do you bring of Prince Siddhattha? _K._ I followed the Prince from place to place and saw him last near Benares in the forest of Uruvela. _Y._ How is his health, and will he come back? _K._ His health is probably good, but he does not think of coming back--not yet. O my dear lady! If you could see him! he is as thin as a skeleton. I could count all his ribs. _R._ What is the trouble with father. _K._ He is fasting. He lives on a hempcorn a day; think of it, one little hempcorn a day! _Y._ Oh, he will die! My poor husband. I must follow him and attend to his wants. He needs his wife's loving care. I will leave my home and follow him. _K._ Could you help him, princess? He might not like it, and the monks abhor women. Moreover, I was told that he takes food again, every morning a cup of rice milk. The day I left he looked better. Still, he was pretty pale. _Y._ Tell me all you know of him. _K._ I went first to Rajagaha, and there I heard wondrous tales about the noble monk Gotama. All the people knew about him, they called him a "sage" or "muni" and the "Bodhisatta." _R._ What does that mean, Kala? _K._ Bodhisatta is the man who seeks the bodhi--and the bodhi is enlightenment or Buddhahood. _Y._ What did the people of Rajagaha say? _K._ When Prince Siddhattha came to Rajagaha, he created a great excitement in the city. Never had been seen a mendicant of such noble appearance, and crowds flocked to him. They thought he was a Buddha and greeted him as a Buddha; but he said to them "I am not a Buddha; I am a Bodhisatta, I seek Buddhahood, and I am determined to find it." _Y._ Did you meet people who saw him? _K._ Indeed, I did. They say he looked like a god. The news spread all over the capital, and King Bimbisara himself went out with his ministers to see the Bodhisatta. King Bimbisara came to the place where the stranger stayed--under a forest tree near a brook--and greeted him most respectfully saying, "Great monk, remain here with me in Rajagaha; I see that you are wise and worthy. Live with me at the royal palace. Be my adviser and counselor. You are not made for a mendicant. Your hands are fit to hold the reins of empire. Stay here, I beg you, and you shall not lack honor and rank." "Nay," replied Siddhattha, "let me go my way in quest of enlightenment. I am bent on solving the problem of existence, and I will become a Buddha." Said the King, "Hear then, great monk. Go in quest of enlightenment, and when you have found it come back to Rajagaha." _Y._ Is King Bimbisara so religious?