spread abroad, and some one whispered to Rama that a famine in the country
was due to the guilt of Sita, who had suffered the caresses of the demon
while in captivity in Ceylon. Forgetful of the trial by fire, forgetful of
Sita's devotion to him through weal and woe, the ungrateful Rama
immediately ordered her to the forest in which they had spent together the
happy years of their exile.

Without a murmur the unhappy Sita, alone and unbefriended, dragged herself
to the forest, and, torn with grief of body and spirit, found the
hermitage of Valmiki, where she gave birth to twin sons, Lava and Kuca.
Here she reared them, with the assistance of the hermit, who was their
teacher, and under whose care they grew to manhood, handsome and strong.

It chanced about the time the youths were twenty years old, that Rama, who
had grown peevish and disagreeable with age, began to think the gods were
angered with him because he had killed Ravana, who was the son of a
Brahman. Determined to propitiate them by means of the great sacrifice, he
caused a horse to be turned loose in the forest. When his men went to
retake it, at the end of the year, it was caught by two strong and
beautiful youths who resisted all efforts to capture them. In his rage
Rama went to the forest in person, only to learn that the youths were his
twin sons, Lava and Kuca. Struck with remorse, Rama recalled the
sufferings of his wife Sita, and on learning that she was at the hermitage
of Valmiki, ordered her to come to him, that he might take her to him
again, having first caused her to endure the trial by fire to prove her
innocence to all his court.

Sita had had time to recover from the love of her youth, and the prospect
of life with Rama, without the _couleur de rose_ of youthful love, was
not altogether pleasant. At first, she even refused to see him; but