The boy who would not be bought off
Nachiketa is twelve years old, maybe younger, when he arrives at Yama's door. His father, Vajashravasa, has performed a yajna and given away his cattle, old, barren cattle, the kind that yield neither milk nor calves. Nachiketa watches this and feels something harden in him. He asks his father: to whom will you give me? His father ignores him. He asks again. And again. Finally, in anger, his father says: I give you to Death.
