the king turned to prayer and good works, his princes
and generals stayed their measures for defence, until
the usurper swept in on the tide of destiny and seized
the kingdom. The king fled, but was pursued, overtaken,
and cast into prison. The queen escaped to the
enchanted mountain Wela, where a son was born to her
in her sorrow.
When the little Prince Welatha (“ son of W e la ”)
was six years old, he saw his mother in tears, and
by questioning her learned that he was a prince and
his father a captive. When he was seven, his mother
yielded to his importunity and sent him with her
royal ornaments to visit his father. On approaching
Sampenago he met his father being led out to execution.
The brave boy stopped the procession and revealed
himself, offering to die instead of his father. The king
Kuttha thereupon ordered him to be thrown into the
Irrawaddy. But the river rose in tremendous waves, the
earth shook, and the executioners could not for terror
obey the royal order. This being reported to Kuttha,
he ordered that the prince should be trodden to death
by wild elephants; but the beasts could not be goaded
to attack him. A deep pit was then dug and filled with
burning fuel, into which the prince was cast ; but the
flames came on him like cool water, and the- burning
faggots became lilies. When Kuttha heard this, he grew
furious in his rage, and had the young prince .taken
down to the spirit-haunted mountain and cast from the
great precipice into the river; but he was caught. up
by a Naga and carried away to the Naga country.
172
WRECK OF THE KING OF BURM A’ S STEAMER IN THE SECOND D E F IL E