would be put to death. Not one escaped as Daibang had done. And still the people came to the widow's cottage and entreated Daibang to tell them the monarch's secret. Now he was a tender-hearted and a willing youth, and he yearned most earnestly to break his promise, more especially when mothers and fathers besought him with tears and prayers to tell them how he had been spared, so that their sons might live also.
At length, so great was the strain of the secret on his mind and heart, that Daibang grew very ill. Doctors came to him from all parts of the country, and his mother nursed him with tender care, day and night, yet steadily he grew worse and worse.
"The lad will die," the doctors said to his mother; "he will surely die unless he breathes forth the secret that is resting so heavily upon his mind."
But Daibang remained faithful. "I have promised," said he, "by my mother's
