154 The Catskill Fazrtes.

“ The Rajah was dreaming a wonderful dream all this while.
He saw a beach, and water beyond. Waves broke on the
strand, and a thousand dazzling lights shifted over the sparkling
blue surface. It seemed a curious fact that when the Rajah
dipped his hand into the clear, cool-looking water to drink, the
flavor was salt and disagreeable.

“ Gazing around on the strange scene, he discovered a grove
of trees, rooted on the very brink where land and water met
—the spray dashed over their trunks. These trees rose in slen-
der columns, like mine, with a crown of graceful foliage at the
top. Yes, it was wonderful! While the Rajah marvelled, a
cobra-de-capello, the snake sacred to the Buddhists, glided to
his side, raised its spectacled hood, thrust out its blue, forked
tongue, bowed its head three times, and lapped water from the
leaf reserved for the Prince’s private use. Then the cobra dis-
appeared in the jungle. This was proof enough of Buddha's
favor.

“A cloud gathered close about him, which the Prince tried
in vain to pierce, growing darker and darker until it was night.
He was afraid of this cloud, and fixed his eyes anxiously on a
rift which clove the vapor like sunshine. Out of this splendor
grew an old man, whose face was calm, like the moon, and he
sat on the mist with his feet crossed. The Rajah knew that
this must be Maha-Sarana, the father of Buddha; so he fell
on his face, pressing his forehead to the ground in the way
his own subjects did when approaching him.

“«This is a sacred tree,’ said the old man, pointing to the
grove by the sea. ‘You have failed, through ignorance, to
show it the respect due to all created things. See! The deeply