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and his fortune. He began to live with the acrobats, became an expert acrobat himself. Once he went to perform before the king. All the court was there. Ilaichi Kumar climbed a bamboo pole and performed such acrobatics that his spectators were all spellbound. Not the king, however. He did not witness the performance at all because his attention was arrested by the beautiful maid who stood by the acrobat. The king was fascinated by her. The spectators were clapping like mad and shouted themselves hoarse, saying, "A wonderful! Bravo! Remarkable! May you live long!" All were fascinated by Ilaichi Kumar's skill, but the king himself was carried away by the maid. He bethought to himself: "As long as this acrobat lives, I cannot get her. He must die."
For three hours, llaichi Kumar performed to the delight of the crowd. With his bamboo stick, he performed upon the ropes, such marvellous tricks that made their hair stand on end. He was a great acrobat, his body perfectly trained. After the performance, he came down his pole and saluted the king, thinking the king would be mightily pleased and would give him a handsome reward. But to his great disappointment, the king said, "Have you not anything more wonderful to show?" Ilaichi Kumar wondered why the king did not appreciate the remarkable feats he had performed and which had fascinated all and sundry. But how could the king appreciate anything? His preoccupation lay elsewhere! The acrobat once again mounted his pole and displayed his skill in surprising acrobatics for another spell of three hours. But when he came down and approached the king, he found the latter still not pleased. His colleagues counselled him to re-do his feats, excel himself so as to please the king. If the king was not pleased, they said, he would give no reward, and unless the king was satisfied first, nobody else would give them anything. All their labour would be wasted. So Ilaichi Kumar went up for the third time and once again delighted the assemblage with his skill and yet the king was not pleased! The acrobat was greatly disheartened. He said, “No more attempts shall I make to please him. Let this day's labour be lost." At this the acrobat's wife came forward and strongly urged him to make just one attempt more. The poor fellow was utterly exhausted but at his wife's instance once again mounted the pole. He began to perform. Then
n the middle of a feat, his mood changed. A strong feeling of disenchantment overtook him. He rcalised all of a sudden that the king's attention was fastened elsewhere and there was no point in his continuing to perform. He came down, sorely disillusioned and did not once look in the direction of the king. His whole approach towards his wife and his profession underwent a change. He renounced everything then and there and started on a spiritual pilgrimage.
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