" Their father
at first searched all over the house but could find no grain. And
then he looked in his purse but he could find no money with which to
go to the bazaar and buy grain. But although he tried to explain this
to his children, they would not listen to him. They screamed at him
and shouted, "Papa, Papa, Mummy says that she will buy us images of
Parwati if you will get food to offer to them." "Papa, Papa, why should
we not have images of Parwati like the other little boys and girls." At
last they bothered the poor Brahman so much that he felt worried to
death. "I love," he said, "my children as if they were made of gold,
but they will not mind what I say. They will not understand that it
is nothing but poverty which prevents my buying food and offering it
to Parwati. I might go out and beg, but when I do, no one ever gives
me anything. Death is better than a life like this." With these words
he got up and walked to the edge of the village pond and determined
to drown himself. It was dark when he started, and half-way he met
an old woman.
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