Read Ebook: Sakoontala; Or The Lost Ring: An Indian Drama by Kalidasa Monier Williams Monier Sir Translator

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Ebook has 1273 lines and 40112 words, and 26 pages

BOTH THE OTHER HERMITS. . If other duties require not your presence, deign to enter and accept our hospitality.

When you behold our penitential rites Performed without impediment by saints Rich only in devotion, then with pride Will you reflect:--Such are the holy men Who call me Guardian; such the men for whom To wield the bow I bare my nervous arm, Scarred by the motion of the glancing string.

KING.

Is the Chief of your Society now at home?

HERMIT.

No; he has gone to Soma-t?rtha to propitiate Destiny, which threatens his daughter akoontal? with some calamity; but he has commissioned her in his absence to entertain all guests with hospitality.

KING.

Good! I will pay her a visit. She will make me acquainted with the mighty sage's acts of penance and devotion.

HERMIT.

And we will depart on our errand.

. The gentle roe-deer, taught to trust in man, Unstartled hear our voices. On the paths Appear the traces of bark-woven vests Borne dripping from the limpid fount of waters.

And mark!

CHARIOTEER.

I observe it all.

KING.

Charioteer, see that the horses are watered, and attend to them until I return from visiting the inhabitants of the hermitage.

CHARIOTEER.

I Will.

? Why should it whisper here Of happy love? Yet everywhere around us Stand the closed portals of events unknown.

A VOICE BEHIND THE SCENES.

This way, my dear companions; this way.

KING.

Ah! here are the maidens of the hermitage coming this way to water the shrubs, carrying water-pots proportioned to their strength.

How graceful they look!

In palaces such charms are rarely ours; The woodland plants outshine the garden flowers.

I will conceal myself in this shade and watch them.

AKOONTAL?

This way, my dear companions; this way.

ANAS?Y?.

Dear akoontal?, one would think that father Kanwa had more affection for the shrubs of the hermitage even than for you, seeing he assigns to you, who are yourself as delicate as the fresh-blown jasmine, the task of filling with water the trenches which encircle their roots.

AKOONTAL?.

Dear Anas?y?, although I am charged by my good father with this duty, yet I cannot regard it as a task. I really feel a sisterly love for these plants.

With the soft edge of a blue lotus-leaf.

Well! concealed behind this tree, I will watch her without raising her suspicions.

AKOONTAL?.

Good Anas?y?, Priyamvad? has drawn this bark-dress too tightly about my chest. I pray thee, loosen it a little.

ANAS?Y?.

I will. with the aivala entwined Is not a whit less brilliant; dusky spots Heighten the lustre of the cold-rayed moon; This lovely maiden in her dress of bark Seems all the lovelier. E'en the meanest garb Gives to true beauty fresh attractiveness.

AKOONTAL?. ara-tree beckons to me with its young shoots, which, as the breeze waves them to and fro, appear like slender fingers. I will go and attend to it.

akoontal?, prithee, rest in that attitude one moment.

AKOONTAL?.

Why so?

PRIYAMVAD?

The Keara-tree, whilst your graceful form bends about its stem, appears as if it were wedded to some lovely twining creeper.

AKOONTAL?.

Ah! saucy girl, you are most appropriately named Priyamvad? .

KING.

What Priyamvad? says, though complimentary, is nevertheless true. Verily,

Her ruddy lip vies with the opening bud; Her graceful arms are as the twining stalks; And her whole form is radiant with the glow Of youthful beauty, as the tree with bloom.

ANAS?Y?.

See, dear akoontal?, here is the young jasmine, which you named 'the Moonlight of the Grove,' the self-elected wife of the mango-tree. Have you forgotten it?

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