BE THOU BLESSED.
ONCE on a bright moonlight night the wise and mighty Krishna fell into deep meditation, and said,—
"I thought man the most beautiful creation on earth; but I was mistaken. Here I see the lotus, rocked by the night breeze. Oh, how much more beautiful it is than any living being; its leaves have just opened to the silver light of the moon, and I cannot wrest my eyes from it!
"Among men there is nothing to compare with it," repeated he, sighing.
But after a while he thought,—
"Why should I, a god, not create, by the power of my word, a being who would be among men what the lotus is among flowers? Let it be then to the delight of man and the earth. Lotus, change thou into a living maiden and stand before me."
The water trembled slightly, as if touched by the wings of a swallow; the night grew bright; the moon shone with more power in the sky; the night thrushes sang more distinctly, then stopped on a sudden, and the charm was accomplished: before Krishna stood the lotus in human shape.
The god himself was astonished.
"Thou wert a flower of the lake," said he; "henceforth be the flower of my thought, and speak."
The maiden began to whisper in a voice as low as the sound made by the white leaves of the lotus when kissed by a summer breeze,—