Translations Of Shakuntala And Other Works Part 23

_Chamberlain (advancing)_. Victory to your Majesty. I have examined the garden. Your Majesty may visit its retreats.

_King_. Vetravati, tell the minister Pishuna in my name that a sleepless night prevents me from mounting the throne of judgment. He is to investigate the citizens' business and send me a memorandum.

_Portress_. Yes, your Majesty. _(Exit.)_

_King_. And you, Parvatayana, return to your post of duty.

_Chamberlain_. Yes, your Majesty. (_Exit_.)

_Clown_. You have got rid of the vermin. Now amuse yourself in this garden. It is delightful with the pa.s.sing of the cold weather.

_King_ (_sighing_). My friend, the proverb makes no mistake.

Misfortune finds the weak spot. See!

No sooner did the darkness lift That clouded memory's power, Than the G.o.d of love prepared his bow And shot the mango-flower.

No sooner did the ring recall My banished maiden dear, No sooner do I vainly weep For her, than spring is here.

_Clown_. Wait a minute, man. I will destroy Love's arrow with my stick. (_He raises his stick and strikes at the mango branch_.)

_King_ (_smiling_). Enough! I see your pious power. My friend, where shall I sit now to comfort my eyes with the vines? They remind me somehow of her.

_Clown_. Well, you told one of the maids, the clever painter, that you would spend this hour in the bower of spring-creepers. And you asked her to bring you there the picture of the lady Shakuntala which you painted on a tablet.

_King_. It is my only consolation. Lead the way to the bower of spring-creepers.

_Clown_. Follow me. (_They walk about_. MISHRAKESHI _follows_.) Here is the bower of spring-creepers, with its jewelled benches. Its loneliness seems to bid you a silent welcome. Let us go in and sit down. (_They do so_.)

_Mishrakeshi_. I will hide among the vines and see the dear girl's picture. Then I shall be able to tell her how deep her husband's love is. (_She hides_.)

_King_ (_sighing_). I remember it all now, my friend. I told you how I first met Shakuntala. It is true, you were not with me when I rejected her. But I had told you of her at the first. Had you forgotten, as I did?

_Mishrakeshi_. This shows that a king should not be separated a single moment from some intimate friend.

_Clown_. No, I didn't forget. But when you had told the whole story, you said it was a joke and there was nothing in it. And I was fool enough to believe you. No, this is the work of fate.

_Mishrakeshi_. It must be.

_King_ (_after meditating a moment_). Help me, my friend.

_Clown_. But, man, this isn't right at all. A good man never lets grief get the upper hand. The mountains are calm even in a tempest.

_King_. My friend, I am quite forlorn. I keep thinking of her pitiful state when I rejected her. Thus:

When I denied her, then she tried To join her people. "Stay," one cried, Her father's representative.

She stopped, she turned, she could but give A tear-dimmed glance to heartless me-- That arrow burns me poisonously.

_Mishrakeshi_. How his fault distresses him!

_Clown_. Well, I don't doubt it was some heavenly being that carried her away.

_King_. Who else would dare to touch a faithful wife? Her friends told me that Menaka was her mother. My heart persuades me that it was she, or companions of hers, who carried Shakuntala away.

_Mishrakeshi_. His madness was wonderful, not his awakening reason.

_Clown_. But in that case, you ought to take heart. You will meet her again.

_King_. How so?

_Clown_. Why, a mother or a father cannot long bear to see a daughter separated from her husband.

_King_. My friend,

And was it phantom, madness, dream, Or fatal retribution stern?

My hopes fell down a precipice And never, never will return.

_Clown_. Don't talk that way. Why, the ring shows that incredible meetings do happen.

_King_ (_looking at the ring_). This ring deserves pity. It has fallen from a heaven hard to earn.

Your virtue, ring, like mine, Is proved to be but small; Her pink-nailed finger sweet You clasped. How could you fall?

_Mishrakeshi_. If it were worn on any other hand, it would deserve pity. My dear girl, you are far away. I am the only one to hear these delightful words.

_Clown_. Tell me how you put the ring on her finger.

_Mishrakeshi_. He speaks as if prompted by my curiosity.

_King_. Listen, my friend. When I left the pious grove for the city, my darling wept and said: "But how long will you remember us, dear?"

_Clown_. And then you said----

_King_. Then I put this engraved ring on her finger, and said to her----

_Clown_. Well, what?

_King_.

Count every day one letter of my name; Before you reach the end, dear, Will come to lead you to my palace halls A guide whom I shall send, dear.

Then, through my madness, it fell out cruelly. _Mishrakeshi_. It was too charming an agreement to be frustrated by fate.

_Clown_. But how did it get into a carp's mouth, as if it had been a fish-hook?

_King_. While she was worshipping the Ganges at Shachitirtha, it fell.

_Clown_. I see.

_Mishrakeshi_. That is why the virtuous king doubted his marriage with poor Shakuntala. Yet such love does not ask for a token. How could it have been?