The Little Clay Cart Part 11

_Vasantasena._ [_Puckering her brows._] Oh, yes. So I did.

_Maid._ [_Approaching._] Mistress, your mother sends word that you should bathe and then offer worship to the G.o.ds.

_Vasantasena._ You may tell my mother that I shall not take the ceremonial bath to-day. A Brahman must offer worship in my place.

_Maid._ Yes, mistress. [_Exit._

_Madanika._ My dear mistress, it is love, not naughtiness, that asks the question--but what does this mean?

_Vasantasena._ Tell me, Madanika. How do I seem to you?

_Madanika._ My mistress is so absent-minded that I know her heart is filled with longing for somebody.

_Vasantasena._ Well guessed. My Madanika is quick to fathom another's heart.

_Madanika._ I am very, very glad. Yes, Kama is indeed mighty, and his great festival is welcome when one is young. But tell me, mistress, is it a king, or a king's favorite, whom you worship?

[28.1. S.

_Vasantasena._ Girl, I wish to love, not to worship.

_Madanika._ Is it a Brahman that excites your pa.s.sion, some youth distinguished for very particular learning?

_Vasantasena._ A Brahman I should have to reverence.

_Madanika._ Or is it some young merchant, grown enormously wealthy from visiting many cities?

_Vasantasena._ A merchant, girl, must go to other countries and leave you behind, no matter how much you love him. And the separation makes you very sad.

_Madanika._ It isn't a king, nor a favorite, nor a Brahman, nor a merchant. Who is it then that the princess loves?

_Vasantasena._ Girl! Girl! You went with me to the park where Kama's temple stands?

_Madanika._ Yes, mistress.

_Vasantasena._ And yet you ask, as if you were a perfect stranger.

_Madanika._ Now I know. Is it the man who comforted you when you asked to be protected?

_Vasantasena._ Well, what was his name?

_Madanika._ Why, he lives in the merchants' quarter.

_Vasantasena._ But I asked you for his name.

_Madanika._ His name, mistress, is a good omen in itself. His name is Charudatta.

_Vasantasena._ [_Joyfully._] Good, Madanika, good. You have guessed it.

_Madanika._ [_Aside._] So much for that. [_Aloud._] Mistress, they say he is poor.

_Vasantasena._ That is the very reason why I love him. For a courtezan who sets her heart on a poor man is blameless in the eyes of the world.

P. 59.14]

_Madanika._ But mistress, do the b.u.t.terflies visit the mango-tree when its blossoms have fallen?

_Vasantasena._ That is just why we call _that_ sort of a girl a b.u.t.terfly.

_Madanika._ Well, mistress, if you love him, why don't you go and visit him at once?

_Vasantasena._ Girl, if I should visit him at once, then, because he can't make any return--no, I don't mean that, but it would be hard to see him.

_Madanika._ Is that the reason why you left your jewels with him?

_Vasantasena._ You have guessed it.

_A voice[40] behind the scenes_. Oh, sir, a shampooer owes me ten gold-pieces, and he got away from us. Hold him, hold him! [_To the fleeing shampooer._] Stop, stop! I see you from here. [_Enter hurriedly a frightened shampooer._]

_Shampooer._ Oh, confound this gambling business!

Freed from its tether, the ace-- I might better say "a.s.s"--how it kicks me!

And the cast of the dice called the "spear"

Proves true to its name; for it sticks me. 1

The keeper's whole attention Was busy with the score; So it took no great invention To vanish through the door.

But I cannot stand forever In the unprotected street.

Is there no one to deliver?

I would fall before his feet. 2

While the keeper and the gambler are looking somewhere else for me, I'll just walk backwards into this empty temple and turn G.o.ddess. [_He makes all sorts of gestures, takes his place, and waits._]

[_Enter Mathura and the gambler._]

[30.1. S.

_Mathura._ Oh, sir, a shampooer owes me ten gold-pieces, and he got away from us. Hold him, hold him! Stop, stop! I see you from here.

_Gambler._

You may run to h.e.l.l, if they'll take you in; With Indra, the G.o.d, you may stay: For there's never a G.o.d can save your skin.

While Mathura wants his pay. 3

_Mathura._

Oh, whither flee you, nimble rambler.

You that cheat an honest gambler?