hatnd-en

and

ing

III.

THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON.

जन्मप्रभृति दारिद्र्यं दशवर्षाणि बन्धनम् ।समुद्रतीरे मरणं किञ्चित् भोगं भविष्यति ॥

Jacobs

Hilla

THUS a Soothsayer when on his death- bed wrotethe horoscope of his second son, and bequeathedit to him as his only property, leaving the wholeof his estate to his eldest son. The second sonpondered over the horoscope, and fell into thefollowing reflections:-

" Alas, am I born to this only in the world? Thesayings of my father never failed. I have seenthem prove true to the last word while he wasliving; and how has he fixed my horoscope! Janmaparabhṛiti daridryam! From my birth poverty! Noris that my only fate. Dasa varshani bandhanam: forten years, imprisonment— a fate harder than poverty;and what comes next? Samudratirê maraṇam:death on the sea- shore; which means that I must dieaway from home, far from friends and relatives ona sea- coast. The misery has reached its extremeheight here. Now comes the funniest part of the