e things,
Disregarding fear and favor, such a one may succor kings.'

Oh, my Liege! war is uncertain! Nay, it may ruin victor and
vanquished--

'Sunda the strong, and giant Upasunda,
Contending, like the lightning and the thunder,
Slew each the other. Learn, the while you wonder.'

'Tell me that,' said the King of the Peacocks.

'The Vulture related--

THE DUEL OF THE GIANTS

"Long ago, my Liege, there were two Daityas named Sunda and Upasunda,
the which with penance and fasting worshipped that God who wears the
moon for his forehead-jewel; desiring to win his favor, and thereby the
lordship of the Three Worlds. At last the God, propitiated by their
devotion, spake thus unto them:--

'I grant a boon unto ye--choose what it shall be.'

'And they, who would have asked dominion, were suddenly minded of
Saraswati--who reigns over the hearts and thoughts of men--to seek a
forbidden thing.

'If,' said they, 'we have found favor, let the Divinity give us his own
cherished Parvati, the Queen of Heaven!'

'Terribly incensed was the God, but his word had passed, and the boon
must be granted; and Parvati the Divine was delivered up to them. Then
those two world-breakers, sick at heart, sin-blinded, and afire with the
glorious beauty of the Queen of Life--began to dispute, saying one to
another: 'Mine is she! mine is she!' At the last they called for an
umpire, and the God himself appeared before them as a venerable Brahman.

'Master,' said they, 'tell us whose she is, for we both won her by our
might.'

'Then spake that Brahman:--

'Brahmans for their lore have honor; Kshattriyas for their bravery;
Vaisyas for their hard-earned treasure; Sudras for humility,'

Ye are Kshattriyas--and it is yours to fight; settle, then, this
question by the sword.'

'Thereupon they agreed that he spoke wisely, and drew and battled; and
being of equal force, they fell at the same moment by an exchange of
blows. Good my Lord,' concluded the Minister, 'peace is a better thing
than war,'

'But why not say so before?' asked Jewel-plume.

'I said it at the first,' replied the Minister. 'I knew King
Silver-sides for a just King, upon whom it was ill to wage battle. How
say the Scriptures?--

'Seven foemen of all foemen, very hard to vanquish be:
The Truth-teller, the Just-dweller, and the man from passion free,
Subtle, self-sustained, and counting frequent well-won victories,
And the man