utter out. When Yasoda
returns and sees the mess, she seizes a stick and goes to look for
Krishna. She cannot find it in her heart, however, to be angry for long
and when Krishna says, 'Mother, let me go. I did not do it,' she laughs
and throws the stick away. Then pretending to be still very angry, she
takes him home and ties him to a mortar. A little later a great crash is
heard. Two huge trees have fallen and when the cowherds hurry to the spot,
they find that Krishna has dragged the mortar between the trunks, pulled
them down and is quietly sitting between them.[17] Two youths--by name Nala
and Kuvara--have been imprisoned in the trees and Krishna's action has
released them. When she sees that Krishna is safe, Yasoda unties him from
the mortar and hugs him to her.

This incident of the trees now forces Nanda to make a decision. The
various happenings have been profoundly unnerving and he feels that it is
no longer safe to stay in Gokula. He decides therefore to move a day's
march farther on, to cross the river and settle in the forests of
Brindaban. The cowherds accordingly load up their possessions on carts and
the move ensues.[18]

The story now enters its second phase. Krishna is no longer a mischievous
baby, indulging in tantrums yet wringing the heart with his childish
antics. He is now five years old and of an age to make himself useful. He
asks to be allowed to graze the calves. At first Yasoda is unwilling. 'We
have got so many servants,' she says. 'It is their job to take the calves
out. Why go yourself? You are the protection of my eye-lids and dearer to
me than my eyes.' Krishna, however, insists and in the end she entrusts
him and Balarama to the other young cowherds, telling them on no account
to leave them alone in the forest, but to bring them safely home. Her
words are, in fact, only too necessary, for Kansa, the tyrant king, is
still in quest of the child who is to kill him. His demon minions are
still on the alert, attacking any likely boy, and as Krishna plays with
the cowherds and tends the calves, he suffers a further series of attacks.

A cow demon, Vatsasura, tries to mingle with the herd. The calves sense
its presence and as it sidles up, Krishna seizes it by the hind leg,
whirls it round his head and dashes it to death. A crane demon, Bakasura,
then approaches. The cowherds recognize it, but while they are wondering
how to escape, the crane opens its beak and engulfs Krishna. Krishna,
howe