I90 CRADLE TALES OF HINDUISM
decided that a great sacrifice should be made in Mathura, with many days' celebration of games and feasting, and that to this the cowherds should be bidden, with Nanda, as the King's vassals, and Krishna and His brother Bolarama as his kinsmen. The darkness had fallen, and all the evening tasks were going forward, when the messenger of the King arrived at Brindaban, carrying the invita- tion of Kansa to the chieftain Nanda. The cow- herds were wanderers by habit, and to them it was no great undertaking to move from place to place, milking their cows and making butter and curds daily on the march. Many times already had they gone to Mathura to offer the annual tribute, and they were familiar with the large green reserves outside the city, which were known as the king's parks, where they and their herds would find abundance of room. Long before dawn, therefore, they had set to work to prepare the gifts which would be sent out in carts for offering to the King, and to make themselves and their camp ready for the removal. But first they sat for many hours about the newly arrived guest, talk- ing, late into the night, of the childhood and youth of Krishna and Bolarama, and of the dreams and thoughts that the face of the Lord was potent to stir in the hearts of His devotees. For the messenger of Kansa was an uncle of the two lads, and he knew and worshipped the divine
