Page:Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan.djvu/126

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Ballads of Hindustan.

He cooked their simple mess of roots,
Content to live obscure.

To fretful questions, answers mild
He meekly ever gave,
If they reproved, he only smiled,
He loved to be their slave.

Not that to him they were austere,
But age is peevish still,
Dear to their hearts he was,—so dear,
That none his place might fill.

They called him Sindhu, and his name
Was ever on their tongue,
And he, nor cared for wealth nor fame,
Who dwelt his own among.

A belt of Bela trees hemmed round
The cottage small and rude,
If peace on earth was ever found
'Twas in that solitude.