No More Learning

Priyamvadd [advancing hastily, her foot slips] — Ah ! through my eager haste I have let the basket fall ; and my
religious duties must not be postponed.
[She gathers fresh flowers.
ANTJFUYA reenters.
Anufiiyd — His wrath, my beloved, passes all bounds. Who living could now appease him by the humblest prostra tions or entreaties ? yet at last he a little relented.
Priyamvadd — That little is a great deal for him. But in form me how you soothed him in any degree.
THE LOST RING. 303
AnufHyd — When he positively refused to come back, I threw myself at his feet, and thus addressed him, " Holy sage, forgive, I entreat, the offense of an amiable girl, who has the highest veneration for you, but was ignorant, through distrac tion of mind, how exalted a personage was calling to her. "
Anuf&yd — He answered thus, " My word must not be recalled ; but the spell which it has raised shall be wholly removed when her lord shall see his ring. " Saying this he disappeared. —
Priyamvadd — What then ? What said he ?
We may now have confidence ; for before the monarch departed, he fixed with his own hand on the finger of Sacontala the ring, on which we saw the name Dush- manta engraved, and which we will instantly recognize. On
him, therefore, alone will depend the remedy for our mis fortune.
Anuftiyd — Come, let us now proceed to the shrines of the goddesses, and implore their succor. [Both advance.
Priyamvadd
Priyamvadd [looking'] — See ! my Anufuya, where our be loved friend sits, motionless as a picture, supporting her lan guid head with her left hand. With a mind so intent on one object, she can pay no attention to herself, much less to a stranger. —
*******
Let the horrid imprecation, Priyamvada, remain a secret between us two ; we must spare the feelings of our beloved, who is naturally susceptible of quick emotions.
Anuf&yd
Chamberlain [advancing humbly] —May our sovereign be victorious ! Two religious men, with some women, are come from their abode in a forest near the Snowy Mountains, and bring a message from Canna. The king will command.
Dushmanta [surprised] — What ! are pious hermits arrived in the company of women ?
Chamberlain — It is even so.
Dushmanta — Order the priest Somarata, in my name, to
show them due reverence in the form appointed by the Veda ; and bid him attend me. I shall wait for my holy guests in a place fit for their reception.
Chamberlain — I obey. [He goes out. Dushmanta — Warder, point the way to the hearth of the
consecrated fire.
304 THE LOST RING.
Warder — This, O king, this is the way. [He walks be
Here is the entrance of the hallowed inclosure ; and there stands the venerable cow to be milked for the sacrifice, looking bright from the recent sprinkling of mystic water. Let the king ascend.
[Dushmanta is raised to the place of sacrifice on the shoulders of his Warders. ]
fore. ]
Dushmanta — What message can the pious Canna have sent me ? Has the devotion of his pupils been impeded by evil spirits, or by what other calamity? Or has any harm, alas! befallen the poor herds who graze in the hallowed forest ? Or have the sins of the king tainted the flowers and fruits of the creepers planted by female hermits ? My mind is entangled in a labyrinth of confused apprehensions.
Warder —What our sovereign imagines, cannot possibly have happened ; since the hermitage has been rendered secure from evil by the mere sound of his bowstring. The pious men, whom the king's benevolence has made happy, are come, I pre sume, to do him homage.
[Enter Sarngarava, Saradwata, and GuatamI, leading Sacontala by the hand ; and before them the old Cham berlain and the Priest. ]
Chamberlain — This way, respectable strangers ; come this
fire.
Sdradwata — I was not less confounded than yourself on entering the populous city ; but now I look on it, as a man just bathed in pure water, on a man smeared with oil and dust, as the pure on the impure, as the waking on the sleeping, as the free man on the captive, as the independent on the slave.
way. — Sdrngarava
My friend Saradwata, there sits the king of men, who has felicity at command, yet shows equal respect to all : here no subject, even of the lowest class, is received with contempt. Nevertheless, my soul having ever been free from
attachment to worldly things, I consider this hearth, although a crowd now surround it, as the station merely of consecrated
Priest — Thence it is, that men, like you two, are so ele vated above other mortals.
Sacontald [perceiving a bad omen] — Venerable mother, I feel my right eye throb. What means this involuntary motion ?
THE LOST RING. 806
Gautami — Heaven avert the omen, my Sweet child ! May every delight attend thee ! — [ They all advance. Priest [showing the king to them] There, holy men, is the
protector of the people, who has taken his seat, and expects you. Sdrngarava — This is what we wished ; yet we have no private interest in the business. It is ever thus; trees are bent by the abundance of their fruit ; clouds are brought low,
when they teem with salubrious rain ; and the real benefactors of mankind are not elated by riches.
Warder — O king, the holy guests appear before you with placid looks, indicating their affection. —
Dushmanta [gazing at Sacontald] Ah ! what damsel is that whose mantle conceals the far greater part of her beau tiful form? She looks, among the hermits, like a fresh green bud among faded and yellow leaves.
Warder — This, at least, O king, is apparent ; that she has a form which deserves to be seen more distinctly.
Dushmanta — Let her still be covered, she seems pregnant ; and the wife of another must not be seen even by me.
Sacontald [aside, with her hand to her bosom] — O my heart, why dost thou palpitate? Remember the beginning of the lord's affection, and be tranquil.
Priest — May the king prosper ! The respectable guests have been honored as the law ordains ; and they have now a message to deliver from their spiritual guide : let the king deign to hear it. —
I am attentive.
Both Misras [extending their hands] — Victory attend thy
Dushmanta [with reverence]
banners !
Dushmanta — I respectfully greet you both.
Both — Blessings on our sovereign !
Dushmanta — Has your devotion been uninterrupted? Sdrngarava — How should our rites be disturbed, when thou
art the preserver of all creatures ? How, when the bright sun blazes, should darkness cover the world?
Dushmanta [aside] — The name of royalty produces, I sup pose, all worldly advantages. [Aloud. ] Does the holy Canna then prosper? —
Sdrngarava O king, they who gather the fruits of devo tion may command prosperity. He first inquires affectionately whether thy arms are successful, and then addresses thee in these words : —
VOL. yh. — 20
306 THE LOST RING.
Dushmanta — What are his orders?
Sdrngarava — " The contract of marriage, reciprocally made between thee and this girl, my daughter, I confirm with tender regard ; since thou art celebrated as the most honorable of men, and my Sacontala is Virtue herself in a human form, no blas phemous complaint will henceforth be made against Brahma for suffering discordant matches : he has now united a bride and bridegroom with qualities equally transcendant. Since, there fore, she is pregnant by thee, receive her in thy palace, that she may perform, in conjunction with thee, the duties prescribed by religion. "
Q-autami — Great king, thou hast a mild aspect ; and I wish to address thee in few words.
Dushmanta [smiling] — Speak, venerable matron.
Q-autami — She waited not the return of her spiritual father ; nor were thy kindred consulted by thee. You two only were
present, when your nuptials were solemnized; now, therefore, converse freely together in the absence of all others.
Sacontald [aside] — What will my lord say ?
Dushmanta [aside, perplexed] — How strange an adventure ! Sacontald [aside] — Ah me, how disdainfully he seems to
receive the message !
Sdrngarava [aside] — What means that phrase which I over
heard, "How strange an adventure"? [Aloud. ] Monarch, thou knowest the hearts of men. Let a wife behave ever so discreetly, the world will think ill of her, if she live only with her paternal kinsmen ; and a lawful wife now requests, as her kindred also humbly entreat, that whether she be loved or not, she may pass her days in the mansion of her husband.
Sacontald [aside with anguish] — O my heart, thy fears have proved just.
Dushmanta — What sayest thou ? Am I the lady's husband ?
Sdrngarava — Does it become a magnificent prince to depart from the rules of religion and honor, merely because he repents of his engagements ?
Dushmanta — With what hope of success could this ground less fable have been invented ?
Sdrngarava [angrily] — The minds of those whom power intoxicates are perpetually changing.
Dushmanta — I am reproved with too great severity. Qautami [to Sacontald] — Be not ashamed, my sweet child ; let me take off thy mantle, that the king may recollect thee.
[She unveils her. ]
THE LOST RING. 307
Dushmanta [aside, looking at Sacontald] — While I am doubtful whether this unblemished beauty which is displayed before me has not been possessed by another, I resemble a bee fluttering at the close of night over a blossom filled with dew ; and in this state of mind I neither can enjoy nor forsake her.
Warder [aside to Dushmanta] — The king best knows his rights and his duties; but who would hesitate when a woman, bright as a gem, brings luster to the apartments of his palace? —
Sdrngarava What, O king, does thy strange silence im port ?
Dushmanta — Holy man, I have been meditating again and again, but have no recollection of my marriage with this lady. How then can I lay aside all consideration of my military tribe, and admit into my palace a young woman who is preg nant by another husband?
Sacontald [aside] — Ah ! woe is me. Can there be a doubt even of our nuptials ? The tree of my hope, which had risen so luxuriantly, is at once broken down.
Sdrngarava — Beware, lest the godlike sage, who would have bestowed on thee, as a free gift, his inestimable treasure, which thou hadst taken, like a base robber, should now cease to think of thee, who art lawfully married to his daughter, and should confine all his thoughts to her whom thy perfidy disgraces.
Sdradwata — Rest a while, my Sarngarava ; and thou, Sa contald, take thy turn to speak ; since thy lord has declared his forgetfulness.
Sacontald [aside] — If his affection has ceased, of what use will it be to recall his remembrance of me. Yet, if my soul
must endure torment, be it so ;
to Dushmanta. ] O my husband ! [Pausing. ] Or (if the just application of that sacred word be still doubted by thee), 0 son of Puru, is it becoming that, having been once enamored of me in the consecrated forest, and having shown the excess of thy passion, thou shouldst this day deny me with bitter expressions? —
Be the crime removed from my soul ! Thou hast been instructed for some base purpose to vilify me, and make me fall from the dignity which 1 have hitherto supported : as a river which has burst its banks and altered its placid current overthrows the trees that had
risen aloft on them.
Dushmanta [covering his ears]
I will speak to him.
[Aloud
308 THE LOST RING.
Sacontald — If thou sayest this merely from want of recol- leotion, I will restore thy memory by producing thy own ring, with thy name engraved on it.
Dushmanta A capital invention !
I have no ring. — [She fixes her eyes with anguish on GAtTTAMf.
Qautaml The fatal ring must have dropped, my child, from thy hand, when thou tookest up water to pour on thy head in the pool of Sachitirt'ha, near the station of Sacra vatara.
Sacontald [looking at her finger] — Ah me !
Dushmanta [smiling'] —So skillful are women in finding ready excuses ! I will yet
Sacontald — The power of Brahma must prevail ; mention one oircumstance.
Dushmanta — I must submit to hear the tale.
Sacontald — One day, in a grove of Vetasas, thou tookest water in thy hand from its natural vase of lotos leaves —
Dushmanta — What followed ?
Sacontald •— At that instant a little fawn, which I had reared as my own child, approached thee ; and thou saidst with be nevolence, "Drink thou first, gentle fawn. " He would not drink from the hand of a stranger, but received water eagerly from mine 5 when thou saidst, with increasing affection, " Thus every creature loves its companions ; you are both foresters alike, and both alike amiable. "
Dushmanta — By such interested and honeyed falsehoods are the bouIb of voluptuaries insnared.
Q-autami — Forbear, illustrious prince, to speak harshly. She was bred in a sacred grove where she learned no guile. Dushmanta — Pious matron, the dexterity of females, even when they are untaught, appears in those of a species different
from our own. What would it be if they were duly instructed ! The female Cocilas, before they fly towards the firmament, leave their eggs to be hatched, and their young fed, by birds who have no relation to them.
Sacontald [with anger] — Oh ! void of honor, thou meas- urest all the world by thy own bad heart. What prince ever resembled or ever will resemble thee, who wearest the garb of religion and virtue, but in truth art a base deceiver ; like a deep well whose mouth is covered with smiling plants !
Dushmanta [aride] —- The rusticity of her education makes her speak thus angrily and inconsistently with female decorum. She looks indignant ; her eye glows ; and her speech, formed
THE LOST KING.
309
of harsh terms, falters as she utters them. Her lip, ruddy as the Bimba fruit, quivers as if it were nipped with frost ; and her eyebrows, naturally smooth and equal, are at once irregu larly contracted. Thus having failed in circumventing me by the apparent luster of simplicity, she has recourse to wrath, and snaps in two the bow of Cama, which, if she had not belonged to another, might have wounded me. [Aloud. ] The heart of Dushmanta, young woman, is known to all ; and thine is be trayed by thy present demeanor,
Sacontald [ironically] — You kings are in all cases to be credited implicitly ; you perfectly know the respect which is due to virtue and to mankind ; while females, however modest, however virtuous, know nothing, and speak nothing truly. In a happy hour I came hither to seek the objeot of my affection : in a happy moment I received the hand of a prince desoended from Puru ; a prince who had won my confidence by the honey of his words, whilst his heart ooncealed the weapon that was to pieroe mine. — [She hides her face and weeps.
Sdrngarava This insufferable mutability of the king's temper kindles my wrath. Henceforth let all be oiroumspect before they form secret connections : a friendship hastily con tracted, when both hearts are not perfectly known, must ero- long become enmity.
Dushmanta — Wouldst thou force me then to commit an enormous crime, relying solely on her smooth speeches?
Sdrngarava [scornfully] — Thou hast heard an answer. The words of an incomparable girl, who never learned what iniquity was, are here to receive no credit ; while they, whose learning consists in accusing others, and inquiring into crimes, are the only persons who speak truth !
Dushmanta — man of unimpeached veracity, I certainly am what thou describest ; but what would be gained by accus ing thy female associate ?
Sdrngarava — Eternal misery.
Dushmanta — No; misery will never be the portion of Puru's descendants.
Sdrngarava — What avails our altercation? O king, we have obeyed the commands of our preceptor, and now return. Sacontala is thy wife by law, whether thou desert or acknowl edge her; and the dominion of a husband is absolute. Go before us, Gautami.
[The two Misras and Gautami returning.
310 THE LOST RING.
Sacontald — I have been deceived by this perfidious man ; but will you, my friends, will you also forsake me ?
Sdmgarava
— [Following them. My son, Sacontala follows us with
Q-autaml [looking back']
affectionate supplications. What can she do here with a faith less husband — she who is all tenderness?
Sdmgarava [angrily to Sacontald] — O wife, who seest the faults of thy lord, dost thou desire independence ?
[Sacontala stops, and trembles. Sdradwata — Let the queen hear. If thou beest what the king proclaims thee, what right hast thou to complain? But if thou knowest the purity of thy own soul, it will become thee to wait as a handmaid in the mansion of thy lord. Stay,
then, where thou art ; we must return to Canna.
Dushmanta — Deceive her not, holy men, with vain expecta
tions. The moon opens the night flower, and the sun makes the water lily blossom ; each is confined to its own object ; and thus a virtuous man abstains from any connection with the wife of another. —
Yet thou, O king, who fearest to offend reli gion and virtue, art not afraid to desert thy wedded wife, pre
tending that the variety of thy public affairs has made thee forget thy private contract.
Dushmanta [to his priest] — I really have no remembrance of any such engagement; and I ask thee, my spiritual coun selor, whether of the two offenses be the greater, to forsake my own wife, or to have an intercourse with the wife of another ?
Priest [after some deliberation] — We may adopt an expedi ent between both.
Dushmanta — Let my venerable guide command.
Priest — The young woman may dwell till her delivery in
will be the father of an illustrious prince, whose dominion will be bounded by the western and eastern seas ; now, if the holy man's daughter shall bring forth a son whose hands and feet bear the marks of extensive sovereignty, I will do homage to her as my queen, and conduct her to the royal apartments; if not, she shall return in due time to her father.
Dushmanta — Be it as you judge proper.
my house. — Dushmanta
For what purpose ?
Priest — Wise astrologers have assured the king that he
THE LOST RING. 311
Priest [to Sacontala] — This way, my daughter, follow me.
Sacontald — O earth ! Mild goddess ! give me a place within thy bosom !
[She goes out weeping with the Priest ; while the two Misras go out by a different way with GautamL Dushmanta stands meditating on the beauty of Sacontala ; but the
imprecation still clouds his memory. ]
[Behind the scenes'] — Oh, miraculous event ! Bushmanta [listening] — What can have happened !
The Priest reenters.
Priest — Hear, O king, the stupendous event. When Canna's pupils had departed, Sacontala, bewailing her adverse fortune, extended her arms and wept ; when —
Priest — A body of light, in a female shape, descended near Apsarastfrt'ha, where the nymphs of heaven are worshiped ; and having caught her hastily in her bosom, disappeared.
[All express astonishment. Bushmanta — I suspected from the beginning some work of sorcery. The business is over ; and it is needless to reason
more on it. Let thy mind, Somarata, be at rest.
Priest — May the king be victorious. [He goes out. Dushmanta — Chamberlain, I have been greatly harassed ;
Dushmanta — What then ?
and thou, Warder, go before me to a place of repose.
Warder — This way ; let the king come this way.
Dushmanta [advancing, aside] — I cannot with all my efforts
»•*•••* Scene. — A street.
recollect my nuptials with the daughter of the hermit ; yet so agitated is my heart, that it almost induces me to believe her story. [All go out.
Enter a Superintendent of Police, with two Officers leading a man with his hands bound.
to spare me : suspect.
First Officer [striking the prisoner] — Take that, Cumbbilaca, if Cumbhilaca be thy name ; and tell us now where thou gottest this ring, bright with a large gem, on which the king's name is engraved.
Cumbhilaca [trembling] — Spare me, I entreat your honors
I am not guilty of so great a crime as you
312 THE LOST RING.
First Officer —» O distinguished Brahman, didst thou then receive it from the king as a reward of some important
service ? — I am a poor fisherman dwell OumbMlaca Only hear me :
ing at Sacravatara —
Second Officer — Did we ask, thou thief, about thy tribe or
thy dwelling-place ?
Superintendent — O Suchaca, let the fellow tell his own
story. Now, conceal nothing, sirrah.
First Officer — Dost thou hear ? Do as our master com
mands.
Cumbhilaca — I am a man who support my family by catch
ing fish in nets, or with hooks, and by various other contriv ances.
Superintendent [laughing-] — A virtuous way of gaining a
livelihood ! — Cumbhilaca
Blame me not, master. The occupation of our forefathers, how low soever, must not be forsaken ; and a man who kills animals for sale may have a tender heart, though
his act be cruel. — Go on, go on.
Superintendent
Cumbhilaca — One day, having caught a large Rohita fish, I
cut it open, and saw this bright ring in its stomach ; but when I offered to sell it, I was apprehended by your honors. So far only am I guilty of taking the ring. Will you now continue beating and bruising me to death ? —
Superintendent [smelling the ring] It is certain, Jaluca, that this gem has been in the body of a fish. The case requires consideration ; and I will mention it to some of the king's household. —
Both Officers
Come on, cutpurse. [They advance. Superintendent — Stand here, Suchaca, at the great gate of
the city, and wait for me, while I speak to some of the officers
in the palace. — Both Officers
Go, Rajayucta. May the king favor thee. [The Superintendent goes out.
Second Officer — Our master will stay, I fear, a long while.
First Officer — Yes ; access to kings can only be had at their leisure.
Second Officer — The tips Jaluca, to kill this cutpurse.
of my fingers itch, my friend Cumbhilaca — You would put to death an innocent man.
THE LOST RING. 813
First Officer {looking] — Here comes our master. The king has decided quickly. Now, Cumbhilaca, you will either see your companions again, or be the food of shakals and vultures.
The Superintendent reenters.
Superintendent — Let the fisherman immediately — Cumbhilaca [in an agony] — Oh ! I am a dead man.
Superintendent — Be discharged. Hola ! set him at liberty. The king says he knows his innocence ; and his story is true.
Second Officer — As our master commands. The fellow is brought back from the mansion of Yama, to which he was hastening. [Unbinding the fisherman.
Oumbhilaca [bowing] — My lord, I owe my life to your kindness.
Superintendent — Rise, friend, and hear with delight that the king gives thee a sum of money equal to the full value of the ring ; it is a fortune to a man in thy station.
[ Giving him the money. Oumbhilaca [with rapture] — I am transported with joy.
First Officer — This vagabond seems to be taken down from the stake, and set on the back of a state elephant.
Second Officer — The king, I suppose, has a great affection for his gem.
Superintendent — Not for its intrinsic value ; but I guessed the cause of his ecstasy when he saw it.
Both Officers — What could occasion it?
Superintendent — I suspect that it called to his memory some person who has a place in his heart ; for though his mind be naturally firm, yet, from the moment when he beheld the ring, he was for some minutes excessively agitated.
Second Officer — Our master has given the king extreme
pleasure. — First Officer
—
Yes ; and by the means of this fish catcher. [Looking fiercely at him. Be not angry. Half the money shall be
Cumbhilaca
divided between you to purchase wine.
******* Dushmanta — Was it sleep that impaired my memory ? Was it delusion ? Was it an error of my judgment ? Or was
First Officer — Oh ! now thou art our beloved friend. Good wine is the first object of our affection. Let us together to the vinters. [They all go out.
314 THE LOST RING.
it the destined reward of my bad actions ? Whatever it was, I am sensible that, until Sacontala return to these arms, I shall be plunged in the abyss of affliction.
Mddhavya — Do not despair; the fatal ring is itself an example that the lost may be found. Events which were fore doomed by Heaven must not be lamented.
Dushmanta [looking at his ring] —The fate of this ring, now fallen from a station which it will not easily regain, I may at least deplore. O gem, thou art removed from the soft finger, beautiful with ruddy tips, on which a place had been assigned thee; and, minute as thou art, thy bad qualities appear from the similarity of thy punishment to mine.
Misras [aside] — Had it found a way to any other hand, its lot would have been truly deplorable. O Menaca, how wouldst thou be delighted with the conversation which gratifies my ears !
Mddhavya — Let me know, I pray, by what means the ring obtained a place on the finger of Sacontala.
Dushmanta — You shall know, my friend. When I was coming from the holy forest to my capital, my beloved, with tears in her eyes, thus addressed me, " How long will the son of my lord keep me in his remembrance ? "
Mddhavya — Well, what then ?
Dushmanta — Then, fixing this ring on her lovely finger, I thus answered, "Repeat each day one of the three syllables engraved on this gem ; and before thou hast spelled the word Dushmanta, one of my noblest officers shall attend thee, and conduct my darling to her palace. " Yet I forgot, I deserted her in my frenzy. —
Misras [aside] A charming interval of three days was fixed between their separation and their meeting, which the will of Brahma rendered unhappy.
Mddhavya — But how came the ring to enter, like a hook, into the mouth of a carp?
Dushmanta — When my beloved was lifting water to her head in the pool of Sachitirt'ha, the ring must have dropped
fears nothing but injustice, doubted the reality of his mar riage ; but how, I wonder, could his memory be connected with a ring ?
unseen. — Mddhavya
It is very probable.
Misras [aside] — Oh ! it was thence that the king, who
VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE. 315
Dushmanta — I am really angry with this gem.
Mddhavya [laughing] — So am I with this staff.
Dushmanta — Why so, Madhavya?
Mddhavya — Because it presumes to be so straight when I
am so crooked. Impertinent stick ! — Dushmanta [not attending to him]
How, O ring, couldst thou leave that hand adorned with soft long fingers, and fall into a pool decked only with water lilies ? The answer is obvious : thou art irrational. But how could I, who was born
with a reasonable soul, desert my only beloved ? Misras [aside] — He anticipates my remark.
I must wait here during his medi tations, and perish with hunger.
Mddhavya [aside] — So ;
Dushmanta — O, my darling whom I treated with disrespect, and forsook without reason, when will this traitor, whose heart is deeply stung with repentant sorrow, be once more blessed with a sight of thee ?
VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE.
" (A collection of short Hindoo tales, with a framework as excuse, like the Arabian Nights. ")
Translation by 3m R. F. BURTON.
The darkness of the night was frightful, the gloom deep ened till it was hardly possible to walk. The clouds opened their fountains, raining so that you would say they could never rain again. Lightning blazed forth with more than the light of day, and the roar of the thunder caused the earth to shake. Baleful gleams tipped the black cones of the trees, and fitfully scampered like fireflies over the waste. Unclean goblins dogged the travelers and threw themselves upon the ground in their path and obstructed them in a thousand different ways. Huge snakes, whose mouths distilled blood and black venom, kept clinging around their legs in the roughest part of the road till they were persuaded to loose their hold either by the sword or by reciting a spell. In fact, there were so many horrors and such a tumult and noise that even a brave man would have faltered, yet the king kept on his way. At length, having passed over, somehow or other, a very difficult road, the Raja arrived at the smashana, or burning place, pointed out by the
316 VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE.
jogi. Suddenly he sighted the tree where from root to top every branch and leaf was in a blaze of crimson flame. And when he, still dauntless, advanced toward it, a clamor con tinued to be raised, and voices kept crying, "Kill them! kill them ! seize them ! seize them ! take care that they do not get away ! let them scorch themselves to cinders ! let them suffer the pains of Patala ! "
Far from being terrified by this state of things, the valiant Raja increased in boldness, seeing a prospect of an end to his adventure. Approaching the tree, he felt that the fire did not burn him, and so he sat there for a while to observe the body, which hung, head downward, from a branch a little above him.
Its eyes, which were wide open, were of a greenish brown, and never twinkled ; its hair also was brown, and brown was its face — three several shades which, notwithstanding, approached one another in an unpleasant way, as in the overdried cocoanut. Its body was thin and ribbed like a skeleton or a bamboo frame work, and as it held on to a bough, like a flying fox, by the toe- tips, its drawn muscles stood out as if they were rope of coir. Blood it appeared to have none, or there would have been a decided determination of that curious juice to the head ; and as the Raja handled its skin, it felt icy cold and clammy as might a snake. The only sign of life was the whisking of a ragged little tail much resembling a goat's.
Judging from these signs, the brave king at once determined the creature to be a Baital — a Vampire. For a short time he was puzzled to reconcile the appearance with the words of the giant, who informed him that the anchorite had hung the oil man's son to a tree. But soon he explained to himself the difficulty, remembering the exceeding cunning of jogis and other reverend men, and determining that his enemy, the better to deceive him, had doubtless altered the shape and form of the young oilman's body. "
With this idea, Vikram was pleased, saying, My trouble has been productive of fruit. " Remained the task of carrying the Vampire to Shanta-Shil the devotee. Having taken his sword, the Raja fearlessly climbed the tree, and ordering his son to stand away from below, clutched the Vampire's hair with one hand, and with the other struck such a blow of the sword that the bough was cut and the thing fell heavily upon the ground. Immediately on falling it gnashed its teeth and began to utter a loud, wailing cry, like the screams of an infant
VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE.
317
in pain. Vikram, having heard the sound"of its lamentations, was pleased, and began to say to himself, This devil must be alive. " Then nimbly sliding down the trunk, he made a captive of the body, and asked, " Who art thou ? "
Scarcely, however, had the words passed the royal lips, when the Vampire slipped through the fingers like a worm, and utter ing a loud shout of laughter, rose in the air with its legs upper most, and as before suspended itself by its toes to another bough. And there it swung to and fro, moved by the violence of its cachinnation. "
" Decidedly this is the young oilman !
after he had stood for a minute or two with mouth open, gazing upwards and wondering what he should do next. Presently he directed Dharma Dhwaj not to lose an instant in laying hands upon the thing when it next might touch the ground, and then he again swarmed up the tree. Having reached his former position, he once more seized the Baital's hair, and with all the force of his arms — for he was beginning to feel really angry — he tore it from its hold, and dashed it to the ground, saying, " O wretch, tell me who art thou ? "
Then, as before, the Raja slid deftly down the trunk, and hurried to the aid of his son, who, in obedience to orders, had fixed his grasp upon the Vampire's neck. Then, too, as before, the Vampire, laughing aloud, slipped through their fingers and returned to its dangling-place.
To fail twice was too much for Raja Vikram's temper, which was right kingly and somewhat hot. This time he bade his son strike the Baital's head with his sword.
Then, more like a wounded bear of Himalaya than a prince who had established an era, he hurried up the tree, and directed a furious blow with his saber at the Vampire's lean and calfless legs. The violence of the stroke made its toes loose their hold of the bough, and when it touched the ground, Dharma Dhwaj's blade fell heavily upon its matted brown hair. But the blows appeared to have lighted on iron-wood, — to judge, at least, from the behavior of the Baital, who no sooner heard the ques tion, " O wretch, who art thou ? " than it returned in loud glee and merriment to its old position.
Five mortal times did Raja Vikram repeat this profitless labor. But so far from losing heart, he quite entered into the spirit of the adventure. Indeed, he would have continued climbing up that tree and taking that corpse under his arm —
exclaimed the Raja,
318 VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE.
he found his sword useless — and bring it down, and asking it who it was, and seeing it slip through his fingers, six times sixty times, or till the end of the fourth and present age, had such extreme resolution been required. However, it was not neces sary. On the seventh time of falling, the Baital, instead of eluding its capturer's grasp, allowed itself to be seized, merely remarking that "even the gods cannot resist a thoroughly obstinate man. " And seeing that the stranger, for the better protection of his prize, had stripped off his waistcloth and was making it into a bag, the Vampire thought proper to seek the most favorable conditions for himself, and asked his conqueror who he was, and what he was about to do ?
" Vile wretch," replied the breathless hero, " know me to be Vikram the Great, Raja of Ujjayani, and I bear thee to a man who is amusing himself by drumming to devils on a skull. "
" Remember the old saying, mighty Vikram ! " said the Baital, with a sneer, "that many a tongue has cut many a throat. I have yielded to thy resolution and I am about to accompany thee, bound to thy back like a beggar's wallet. But hearken to my words, ere we set out upon the way. I am of a loquacious disposition, and it is well nigh an hour's walk be tween this tree and the place where thy friend sits, favoring his friends with the peculiar music which they love. Therefore, I shall try to distract my thoughts, which otherwise might not be of the most pleasing nature, by means of sprightly tales and profitable reflections. Sages and men of sense spend their days in the delights of light and heavy literature, whereas dolts and fools waste time in sleep and idleness. And I propose to ask thee a number of questions, concerning which we will, if it seems fit to thee, make this covenant : —
" Whenever thou answerest me, either compelled by fate or entrapped by my cunning into so doing, or thereby gratifying thy vanity and conceit, I leave thee and return to my favorite place and position in the siras tree ; but when thou shalt remain silent, confused, and at a loss to reply, either through humility or thereby confessing thine ignorance, and impotence, and want of comprehension, then will I allow thee, of mine own free will, to place me before thine employer. Perhaps I should not say so ; it may sound like bribing thee, but — take my counsel, and modify thy pride, and assumption, and arrogance, and haughti ness as soon as possible. So shalt thou derive from me a benefit which none but myself can bestow. "
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Raja Vikram hearing these rough words, so strange to his royal ear, winced ; then he rejoiced that his heir-apparent was not near ; then he looked round at his son Dharma Dhwaj, to see if he was impertinent enough to be amused by the Baital. But the first glance showed him the young prince busily em ployed in pinching and screwing the monster's legs, so as to make it fit better into the cloth. Vikram then seized the ends of the waistcloth, twisted them into a convenient form for handling, stooped, raised the bundle with a jerk, tossed it over his shoulder, and bidding his son not to lag behind, set off at a round pace toward the western end of the cemetery.
The shower had ceased, and, as they gained ground, the weather greatly improved.
The Vampire asked a few indifferent questions about the wind and the rain and the mud. When he received no answer, he began to feel uncomfortable, and he broke out with these words, " O King Vikram, listen to the true story which I am about to tell thee. "
The Vampire's Fourth Story, of a woman who told the truth.
" Listen, great king ! " again began the Baital. " An unim portant Baniya (trader), Hiranyadatt, had a daughter, whose name was Madansena Sundari, the beautiful army of Cupid. Her face was like the moon ; her hair like the clouds ; her eyes like those of a muskrat; her eyebrows like a bent bow; her nose like a parrot's bill ; her neck like that of a dove ; her teeth like pomegranate grains ; the red color of her lips like that of a gourd ; her waist lithe and bending like the pard's ; her hands and feet like softest blossoms ; her complexion like the jasmine ; in fact, day by day the splendor of her youth increased.
" When she had arrived at maturity, her father and mother began often to resolve in their minds the subject of her mar riage.