'And what didst thou do?' said I.

'I wept, and they called me evil names, and then I smote HER, and we
wept together.'

'Thus did not the mendicant,' said Gobind; 'for he was a holy man, and
very poor. Parbati perceived him sitting naked by the temple steps where
all went up and down, and she said to Shiv, "What shall men think of the
Gods when the Gods thus scorn their worshippers? For forty years yonder
man has prayed to us, and yet there be only a few grains of rice and
some broken cowries before him after all. Men's hearts will be hardened
by this thing." And Shiv said, "It shall be looked to," and so he called
to the temple which was the temple of his son, Ganesh of the elephant
head, saying, "Son, there is a mendicant without who is very poor. What
wilt thou do for him?" Then that great elephant-headed One awoke in the
dark and answered, "In three days, if it be thy will, he shall have one
lakh of rupees." Then Shiv and Parbati went away.

'But there was a money-lender in the garden hidden among the marigolds'--
the child looked at the ball of crumpled blossoms in its hands--'ay,
among the yellow marigolds, and he heard the Gods talking. He was a
covetous man, and of a black heart, and he desired that lakh of rupees
for himself. So he went to the mendicant and said, "O brother, how much
do the pious give thee daily?" The mendicant said, "I cannot tell.
Sometimes a little rice, sometimes a little pulse, and a few cowries
and, it has been, pickled mangoes, and dried fish."'

'That is good,' said the child, smacking its lips.

'Then said the money-lender, "Because I have long watched thee, and