Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/557

০ V. | BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 521 them with frolicsome leaps ;—how Krisna plucks flowers and fruits and distributes them amongst the boys and how they play together, sometimes mimicking the cries of birds,—dancing with pea. cocks,—trying to skip over their own shadows and sometimes pursuing monkeys through the _ boughs of trees; at such a moment appears Trina- barta or some other demon while Krisna leaves his comrades, and though only a boy, manifests him- self in all his glory, and then destroying the demon re-joins his companions in triumph. So the boys, forsaken by Krisna, feel that they are helpless. They know him to be their friend and playmate but he is also a mystery to them. They cannot realise his greatness but his personality is dearer to them than life. In many dangers it is he who protects them in a way unintelligible tothem. The lake Kaliya was poisoned by the great snake Kali; some of the shepherds go there, drink the water and die by poison; Krishna is informed of it ; he comes swiftly to the lake, restores the children to life and enters the lake himself, disappearing in its waters ; he wrestles with the great snake for a long time and in the meantime the shepherd-boys having lost Krisna, the friend of their souls, stand statue-like on the bank of the lake with tearful eyes. Who will now kill Kamsa’s emissaries for them? Who will now protect them from Indra, the God of clouds, who has already tried to destroy the Vrinda groves by sending floods? Who will protect the cattle when a demon like Baka comes down to devour them ? The apple of their eyes, their protector, play- fellow and constant companion, their friend and philosopher, their ever-beloyed Krishna has now 66 The lake Kaliya.