And hearing his voice, the girl answered by the second stanza:--

"I thought the crookback king of men, and loved him for his worth,--
Who, like a lute with broken strings, lies huddled on the earth."

And when the Bodhisatta perceived that she had only followed him in disguise, he caused her to bathe, and adorned her, and took her into his carriage and went to his home.

_____________________________

When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth:--"The girl is the same in both cases; and the merchant of Benares was I myself."

[j233]