'I grant a boon unto ye—choose what it shall be.'
'And they, who would have asked dominion, were suddenly minded of Saraswati—who reigns over the hearts and thoughts of men—to seek a forbidden thing.
'If,' said they, 'we have found favor, let the Divinity give us his own cherished Parvati, the Queen of Heaven!'
'Terribly incensed was the God, but his word had passed, and the boon must be granted; and Parvati the Divine was delivered up to them. Then those two world-breakers, sick at heart, sin-blinded, and afire with the glorious beauty of the Queen of Life—began to dispute, saying one to another: 'Mine is she! mine is she!' At the last they called for an umpire, and the God himself appeared before them as a venerable Brahman.
'Master,' said they, 'tell us whose she is, for we both won her by our might.'
'Then spake that Brahman:—
'Brahmans for their lore have honor; Kshattriyas for their bravery;
Vaisyas for their hard-earned treasure; Sudras for humility,'
Ye are Kshattriyas—and it is yours to fight; settle, then, this question by the sword.'
'Thereupon they agreed that he spoke wisely, and drew and battled; and being of equal force, they fell at the same moment by an exchange of blows. Good my Lord,' concluded the Minister, 'peace is a better thing than war,'
'But why not say so before?' asked Jewel-plume.