The mother of the family, seeing the faces of her son and daughter daily fading like the dew-drenched lotus from the pinch of poverty, had early sunk upon the bed of death.

All the other stars had been extinguished with that moon.

The support of the race, the jewel of his mother's eye, the hope of his father's age, even he had been laid on the pyre before his father's eyes.

No one remained save the old man and this enchanting girl.

They dwelt in this ruined, deserted house in the midst of the forest.