3IO CRADLE TALES OF HINDUISM
to another, and refused to come and take her to himself. And she, poor lady, feeling unspeak- ably dishonoured by this refusal, but unable to be angry with the prince whose name she loved, prayed earnestly to the gods to let her, girl as she was, become a knight, that she might some day meet Bhishma face to face on the field of battle, and bring about his death. And her prayer was granted. And so, from this day onwards, the dark shadow of destiny lay ever across the path of the great and knightly warrior, and the footsteps of death were never far off from him.
Now the young King of Hastinapura lived happily with his two queens for seven years. Then he died, and they were left widows. But they had three sons — Dritarashtra the Blind, Pandu the Pale, and Vidura the Just. So once more Bhishma was left with the education of princes who were not his sons, and the care of a kingdom that was not his own, upon his hands. He found wives for Dritarashtra and for Pandu, and bestowed the royal domains on them.
It is told of Gandhari, the princess of Gandhara, or Afghanistan,^ bride of the blind King Drita- rashtra, that, when she heard of his infirmity, she bound her own eyes also with many folds of cloth, and vowed to remain thus sightless through-
^ Gandhara was a country bordering on, and in part inciuding^ A^hanistan.
