THE CONQUEST OF LANKA 135
parting words with secret smiles — for news was brought to her that in the orchards of the demons all the young fruit had been destroyed in a single night, by a terrible monkey, who had slain numberless guards, and had been seen at one bound to leap across the sea.
Rama, meanwhile, had ranged his army in order, and tested his command. When Hanuman, therefore, returned with his welcome news, he was ready to order the march upon the sea-shore. The next problem was that of taking the troops across the straits. At the fiercely-impatient prayer of Rama, Ocean himself now appeared to him, and reft his own bed upwards to form the basis of a bridge from the mainland to Lanka. Then all the hosts of monkeys came forward with branches and logs. and trunks of trees, and built the whole into a firm and lofty structure, steady enough to withstand the tides of the salt sea. And the people tell how even the little squirrels helped in the building of the bridge to Lanka, bringing stones and shells and broken nuts to make it smooth. And for this, when the work was ended, the Lord took one of these smallest workmen in his hand, and stroked him, blessing him, from head to tail. And because of this blessing of Rama it is that the Indian squirrel wears three white stripes on his dark fur — they are the finger-marks of the blessing of the Lord of the Universe.
