“Oh! What talk is this of yours about admiration?”
she retorted, “you are accustomed to seeing much more
t
if she
idn’t and, in speaking of it, I happily forgot my bashful‐
e her, and told
er how, at the sight of her, the Love God had rained his
e
p in her breast also.
ek on my
uld expire for joy, until
ll like
h
ing
skilful players in your home‐town!”
From this remark I gathered with satisfaction that I
had been talked of and that the words I had used to
Somadatta had been accurately repeated. But I grew hot
and then cold at the thought that I had spoken almost
slightingly and I hastened to assure her that there was no
one word of truth in my statement, and that I had only
spoken thus in order not to betray my precious secret to
my friend. But she wouldn’t believe it, or made as
d
ness, grew passionately eager to convinc
h
flower darts upon me:— I was convinced, I said, that in a
former existence she had been my heart’s companion —
otherwise how could such a sudden and irresistible lov
have arisen? But if that were so, then she must equally
have recognised in me her former belovèd, and a similar
love must have sprung u
With such audacious words did I besiege her, until
at length she had her burning and tearful che
breast and acknowledged in words that were scarcely
audible, that it had been with her as it had been with me,
and that she would surely have died had not her foster‐
sister brought her the picture.
Then we kissed and caressed one another countless
times and felt as if we sho
suddenly the thought of my impending departure fe
a dark shadow over my happiness and forced a deep sig
from within me.
Dismayed, Vāsitthī asked why I sighed, but when I
told her of the cause she sank back fainting on the bench
and broke into a perfect tempest of tears and heart‐rend
sobs. Vain were all my attempts to comfort my heart’s
39
belovèd one. In vain did I assure her that as soon as the
rainy season was over I would return and never again
leave her, even if I had to take service as a manual
labourer in Kosambī. Spoken to the winds were all my
assurances that my despair at the separation was not less
ity
,
st w
get
there were many maidens
ore
lful
e
nder that
soon found myself lying at her feet, covering the hand
tears, and that I
romised not to leave her? And who could then have been
ore
was
et
aid
s,
dinī
than her own, and that only stern, inexorable necess
tore me away from her so soon. Between her sobs, she
was scarcely able to utter the few words needed to ask
why it was so imperative to go away as early as tomorrow
ju
hen we had found one another. And when I then
explained it all to her very exactly, with every detail, she
seemed neither to hear nor to comprehend two syllables
together:— Oh, she saw perfectly that I was longing to
back to my native town where
m
beautiful than she, who were also far more ski
ball‐players, as I myself had acknowledged.
I might affirm, protest, and swear whatever I chos
— she nevertheless adhered to her assertion, and ever
more copiously flowed her tears. Can anyone wo
I
that hung limply down with kisses and
p
m
blissful than I when Vāsitthī flung her soft arms
around me, kissing me again and again, laughing and
crying for joy?
It is true she now instantly said: “There, you see, it
not at all so necessary for you to travel away, for then
you would unquestionably have had to go.” But when I s
myself once more to explain everything clearly to her,
she closed my mouth with a kiss and said that she knew I
loved her and that she did not really mean what she had s
of the girls in my native town.
Filled with tender caresses and sweet confidence
the hours flew by as in a dream, and there would have
been no end to all our bliss had not Somadatta and Me
40
suddenly appeared to tell us that it was high time to think
e
ste
ttled
d
not know what kind of business is
n ha
self
as already too
any
st,
of returning home.
In the courtyard at Somadatta’s we found every‐
thing ready for my setting out. I called the overseer of th
ox‐wagons to me and — bidding him use the utmost ha
— sent him to the ambassador with the information that
my business was, I was sorry to say, not yet entirely se
and that I must, as a consequence, relinquish the idea of
making the journey under the escort of the embassy. My
one request was that he would be so good as give my love
to my parents and with that I closed my message.
*
*
*
Scarcely had I stretched myself on my bed, in order
— if possible — to enjoy a few hours’ sleep, when the
ambassador himself entered. Thoroughly dismayed, I
bowed deeply before him while he, in imperious voice,
asked what this unheard‐of behaviour meant:— I was to
come with him at once!
In reply, I was about to speak of my still unfinishe
business, but he stopped me in mid‐stream.
“What nonsense! Business! Enough of such lies. Do
you suppose I would
o
nd when a young puppy suddenly declares him
unable to leave a town, even if I had not seen that your
wagons already stand fully loaded, harnessed up with the
oxen, in the courtyard?”
Of course I now stood scarlet with shame and
trembling, completely revealed in my lie. But when he
ordered me to come with him at once,
m
of the precious, cool morning hours had been lo
he encountered an opposition for which he was plainly
not prepared. From a tone of command he passed to a
threatening one, and finally was reduced to pleading. He
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