Though the commands of royalty pervade
The world, yet sovereigns ever should remember,
The light of justice must direct their path.

Hindú Drama.

THERE was a city called Alakápuri, famous for all the riches that sea and land can yield, and inhabited by people speaking different languages. In that city reigned a king named Alakésa,* who was a storehouse of all excellent qualities. He was so just a king that during his reign the cow and the tiger amicably quenched their thirst side by side in the same pond, and the kite and the parrot laid their eggs in the same nest, as though they were “birds of a feather.”* The women never deviated from the path of virtue, and regarded their husbands as gods.* Timely rain refreshed the soil, and all Alakésa's subjects lived in plenty and happiness. In short, Alakésa was the body and his subjects the soul of that body, for he was upright in all things.