~ a legendary Romance ~ By karl gjellerup
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refined feminine virtue: my darling showed me that she as p
s of the masculine mind but could not be
ws een her foster‐sister, my ere
on ld like
As he said this, he laughed with much slyness and I laughed with him, assuring him that he would have my company. In the best of spirits, we took the chessboard which was leaning against the wall and were about to pass the time by engaging in this game when a man‐servant came in and announced that a stranger wished to speak with me.
In the entrance hall I found the ambassador’s attendant, who informed me that I must prepare for departure at once and come to the courtyard of the palace that very night, bringing my wagons in order to be able to start with the first glimmer of daylight on the morrow.
My despair knew no bounds and I imagined that I must have offended one of the deities in some mysterious way. As soon as I was able to collect my thoughts I dashed away to the ambassador and filled his ears with lies about some business that I had not yet arranged, and that it could not possibly be brought to a satisfactory conclusion in so short a time. With hot tears I begged him to put off w erfectly capable of understanding the subtlety and daring way induced to imitate them.
Besides which I found immediate comfort for my disappointed expectations in Somadatta’s next words.
“But this fair one with the beautiful brows, even if she is no great poetess, really has a good heart. She kno that for a long time I have not s belovèd Medinī, except at large social gatherings wh only the eyes may speak and even these solely by stealth. And so she has arranged a meeting for tomorrow night, the terrace of her father’s palace. Tonight it is, I regret to say, not possible as her father gives a banquet; so until tomorrow we must have patience. Perhaps you wou to accompany me on this adventure?”
33 the journey for but a single day.
“But you said eight days ago that you were ready,” he replied.
I assured him that afterwards, and quite unexpect‐ edly, the opportunity of gaining a valuable prize had presented itself. And that was indeed no falsehood, for what gain could mean more to m than winning the heart of this incomparable maiden? So finally succeeded in willing this one day from him.
The hours of the next day wore quickly away, filled as they were with the preparations necessary for our journey, so that in spite of my longing the time did not drag. When evening came our carts stood loaded in the courtyard. Everything was prepared for yoking in the oxen so that, as soon as I should appear — that is, before daybreak — we might be able to start.
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~ 6 ~
O N THE TERRACE OF THE SORROWLESS
deep
* n n who had played ball with my heart. At e sig
OW THAT NIGHT AND darkness had come, Somadatta and I took ourselves — clad in shadow‐coloured clothing which we gathered well up about us, our waists firmly belted and with swords in our hands — to the western side of the palatial house of the goldsmith, where the terrace that we sought was perched crowning the steep and rocky side of a deep ravine. With the help of a bamboo pole that we had brought with us, and by the dexterous use of a few existing projections, we climbed the face of the rock at a spot veiled in darkness. We swung over the wall with ease and found ourselves on a spacious terrace decorated with palms, Asoka trees and magnificent flowering plants of every description, all now bathed in the silver light of the moon.
* *
Not far away, beside a young girl on a garde bench and looking like a visitant from the heavenly spheres in her wonderful likeness to Lakshmī, sat the great‐eyed maide th ht I began to tremble so violently that I was obliged to lean against the parapet, the touch of whose marble cooled and quieted my fevered and failing senses.
Meanwhile Somadatta hastened to his belovèd, 37
who had sprung up with a low cry. Seeing this, I also pulled myself together so far as to be able to approach the at the s
d me
at s d er nks she did not seem to understand what I ad m h
ust et
ou incomparable one. She, to all appearances surprised arrival of a stranger, had risen and seemed undecided a whether she should go or stay; her eyes meanwhile, like those of a startled young gazelle, shot sidelong glances at me, and her body quivered like a tendril swaying in a gentle breeze. As for me, I stood in steadily increasing confusion, with disordered hair and tell‐tale eyes, and was barely able to stammer a few words in which I told her how much I appreciated the unhoped‐for happiness of meeting her here. But she, when she noticed my great shyness, seemed herself to become calmer. She sat down on the bench again, and invited me with a gentle movement of her lotus‐hand to take a seat beside her; an then, in a voice full of tremulous sweetness, assured th he was very glad to be able to thank me for having flung the ball back to her with such skill that the game suffered no interruption; for, had that happened, the whole merit of her performance would have been lost an the Goddess so clumsily honoured would have visited h anger upon her, or would at least have sent her no happiness. To which I replied that she owed me no tha as I had, at the very most, only made good my own mistake and, as h eant by that, I ventured to remind her of the meeting of our eyes and of the ensuing confusion whic caused her to fail in her stroke so that the ball flew away. But she reddened violently and absolutely refused to acknowledge such a thing:— What should have confused her in that?
“I imagine,” I answered, “that m have rivalled flowers in full bloom then, such a swe odour of admiration streamed forth that for a moment y were stupefied and so your hand went beside the ball.”
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