Never saw they in Him the son of a King. They knew Him but as a cowherd boy who, like them, tended the cows in pastures and forests.
CHAPTER XIII.
Again the cowherds, including Krishna, went with their cows to give them drink, and also to quench their own great thirst. Sporting on the banks of the lake, they suddenly saw a monster crane coming towards them, with great flapping wings.
Affrighted they turned, all but Krishna, to flee, but ere a moment had passed, the huge bird had devoured Krishna.
But only an instant He was lost to sight, for before the boys knew what calamity had come upon them, the bird in great haste gave up the prey that brought to his throat the sensation of burning. For when Krishna entered his body it was as if liquid fire poured all through him.
Then seeing Krishna again in the midst of the boys, lo, with the beak and the talon he again made for Him, but Krishna seized the beak with His hands and ripped the great body in halves, even as women tear in half fine linen which requires no effort, and the demon was again allayed.
Again it happened that the boys with Krishna sought the forests, in sport to engage.
While bounding in frolicsome play, they beheld at a distance a huge serpent stretched forth in its length, like a range of hills. Wide open its mouth was, and close to the path of the boys it lay.
In an instant within it they walked, all but Krishna, who contemplated the monster, with eyes full of power; then straight into its jaws He too went.
But now the hideous serpent writhed in pain and, like monstrous bellows, its great sides heaved; for Krishna had expanded within its throat, till it expired, shaking all the earth in its throes of death.