to his children, they would not listen to him. They screamed at him
and shouted, "Papa, Papa, Mummy says that she will buy us images of
Parwati if you will get food to offer to them." "Papa, Papa, why should
we not have images of Parwati like the other little boys and girls." At
last they bothered the poor Brahman so much that he felt worried to
death. "I love," he said, "my children as if they were made of gold,
but they will not mind what I say. They will not understand that it
is nothing but poverty which prevents my buying food and offering it
to Parwati. I might go out and beg, but when I do, no one ever gives
me anything. Death is better than a life like this." With these words
he got up and walked to the edge of the village pond and determined
to drown himself. It was dark when he started, and half-way he met
an old woman. She heard him coming and asked him who he was. He told
her all his trouble, and said that he meant to jump into the pond to
escape from his children. The woman comforted him and prevailed on him
to turn home again. He took her home. His wife came to the door with
a lamp and asked who she was. The husband did not like to say that he
had only just met her on the road, so he said to his wife, "She is my
grandmother." The wife thereupon welcomed her and invited her to come
in and stay to supper. But her heart felt as heavy as lead, for she
knew that there was nothing to eat inside the house. When the old woman
had seated herself inside the house, the Brahman's wife got up and, in
despair, went to look inside the grain-pots. She knew they were empty,
but she thought that she would first look into them once again. But,
lo and behold! when she looked this time she found the grain-pots
brimming over with grain. She called her husband, and they were both
perfectly delighted. And the wife prepared bowls full of rice-gruel,
and every one, children and all, ate the rice-gruel till the skins
on their stomachs felt quite tight. And they went to bed as happy as
possible. Next morning the old woman called to the Brahman, "My son,