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Tales of the Gods
In the weeks after the birth, Vraja was uneasy and nobody could say why. There were more strangers on the roads, asking which households had welcomed a new son.
In the weeks after the birth, Vraja was uneasy and no one could say why.
Nanda doubled the watch on the herds. He could not have said what he was watching for.
There were more strangers on the roads than usual. They stayed a night and moved on. And while they were there they asked careful questions. Which households had recently welcomed a new son.
Yashoda felt it too. A low unease she could not place. The particular alertness of a mother who senses a danger before she can point at its shape.
A voice from the sky had told him, at his own sister's wedding, that her eighth child would kill him.
He had tried to kill her on the spot. Her husband Vasudeva begged for her life, and promised instead to hand over every child they had.
Kamsa held him to it. Seven children, seven times, each killed at birth.
The rest of this story, read aloud, and a new one every day.