The right and lawful sum. Take it!" He tied
The money in the king's bark dress, and led
Them both away--the mother and the child--
Together bound. But when the king beheld
Himself bereft of both his wife and son,
He burst forth: "Ah! my wife! whom neither sun,
Nor moon, nor air have ever seen I who hast
Been kept from vulgar gaze! Alas I a slave
Hast thou become! Alas! thou, too, my son!--
A scion of the noble dynasty,
Sprung from the sun! disgrace has seized on thee,
And--shame upon me!--thou too art a slave!
Ye have become a sacrifice; ye, through my fault,
Have fallen. Would that I were dead!" Thus spoke
The king. Meanwhile the Brahman hastily
Entered the grove wherein his dwelling stood,
And vanished with his slaves. Then met the king
The Brahman Visvamitra. "Prince!" he said,
Pay me the offering!" Harischandra gave
The money gained by the shameful sale
Of wife and child. And when the priest beheld
The money, overcome with wrath, he said:
"How canst thou mock me with this paltry sum!
Base Kshatriya! And thinkest thou that this
Suffices for a sacrificial gift
Such as I would accept? But if thy mind
Thus far misleads thee, thou shalt feel my power--
Power transcendant, gained by penances,
And scripture meditation. Yes! the power
Of my pure Brahmanhood shall show itself