POETRY.

SARO SAN.

(Suggested by the Reticulated Python at the Zoo.)

So long ago that it can't be counted, There lived in a palace of golden glass, Roofed with crystal and jet, and mounted On seventy pillars of blazoned brass, A mighty ruler, whose line began Before the k-ndwledge of living man—.

The Rajah of Rajahs, Saro San.

He was fat and ugly and cruel and old, But the count of his treasure remains untold;

And his courtiers cried with one accord—

"Hail and hail to the King and Lord,

The God of Wealth in the guise of man.

Richest of beings is Saro San."

But there came one day from the inner mountains A holy man in a garb of shame, Who sat him down by the scented fountains And begged a trifle in mercy's name.

Bnt Saro San had none to spare, " Beggars," said he, " should live on air" : And they hustled the pilgrim fast and faster Down the long steps of alabaster.

At the foot he turned, and "Tell your master," Said he, " it is naught but an idle boast That of living creatures he owns the most; For by sun and moon and evening star, The Serpent King is richer far."

Saro San, the old books tell us, Became on the instant madly jealous.

He gathered his army, and all the best Of his vassals came at their lord's behest, And by day or by night they took no rest Till they came at last to the Snake King's lair Behind the Hill of the Moonstone Stair.

And Saro San, as the old bards sing, With his own hand slew the Serpent King.

But before the sword could completely sever Head from body, the Snake King turned And said with a sneer and with eyes that burned,

" Great King Saro, live for ever."

Ages passed and the palace walls Crumbled and mouldered, and through the halls The little things of the jungle ran And played unheeded, but Saro San Lived in the gloom of his treasure-vault, Older and uglier, blind and halt.

Palace and people were overthrown, But the Rajah dwelt in the dark alone : His eyes grew small and his head grew flat,

And he lost his limbs, so still he sat.

And the broidered robes he had worn of old Clung ever closer, fold on fold.

And at last (so the Eastern bards declare) It was only a python that brooded there.

And there men found him upon a day When even the treasure had rotted away, And they brought him over for me and you To gaze at here in the London Zoo.

But you still can see, if you look with care, That it's really the Rajah who's coiled up there; And you still can catch, if you only try, The miser look in his regal eye; And there isn't a doubt be still believes He has all the wealth of the Forty Thieves, And still he thinks himself that great man, The Rajah of Rajahs, Saro San.

C. HILTON BROWN.