LITERATURE. 71 



" War ! The bright son ol Kan ! \\ c an- glad, sparkling, shining ; wo run and How and 

 foam for thee ; wc are pearls, emeralds, rubies, dropping, iliving, rising for thee ; wu are thy 

 Mother Kari ; we Hit along rellecting thee, looking at thee, son of Kari ; we dingle, roll, and 

 sing for thee." 



Then they seemed to sob, and throb, and fall leaden, heaving, sighing, jerking with 

 pain at the dragging of this weary refrain. 



" We are pure but bitter ; we burned the eyes of thy mother ; we are sad, though brightly 

 clad ; in sorrow shed, by despair led ; we arc poor Kari's longuigs ; the tears she wept when 

 War had left, her long mourning, her slow dying. We shall be forever, we know, sobbing, 

 throbbing, rolling, sullen, leaden sorrow." 



And Atah, who had been following the thoughts of War, was suffering all his j^angs and 

 his silent anguish. 



Suddenly War turneil round, and addressing several of his followers who were close to 

 him, he said, " Thou, Glowing Gold, go to the north ; thou, Lazuli, to the West; you two white 

 lights and thou. Emerald, to the South, down where there are those four asters which look 

 towards us now. As for thee," said he to anotlu'r, " thou siialt go and rule in that region 

 which is north of that cluster of stars yonder. I know your mind," continue<l War, " 1 know 

 it. Do not think that I exile you from me. f give you the greatest jiroof of m\- loxc You 

 shall be the guardians and protectors of Atah. and let everything perish rather than anytlung 

 happen to her; I leave you these two dogs, which will be ready day and night to help you in 

 your watch." 



" Oh, God ! " exclaimed Atah, " Oh, God ! Love of my heart ! Life ! Hope ! Dost 

 thou cast me off? " 



" My mother is between us ! " 



" Oh ! War, have pity. War, what will become of me? " 



"Look at the river, Atah. I love thee, Atah. I would die for thee. I would ravish, 

 burn, and remould the whole of the universe. I would that I had never been born. I am 

 mad, and the whole of my life will be a torture to feel that I have lost thee." 



" Oh, War ! As God annihilate me, let me disappear, burn my life out with one of 

 thy divine looks . . ." 



" Though a God I cannot destroy. To attempt to do what thou askest would only be 

 to attract to me the whole of thy being. My mother Kari is, and will ever be, between us. 

 She is no more but a river of tears. Sit by its banks, and in their eternal rolling down its 

 pearls will speak to thee of me. I shall pass by it ever\- day. I shall look at thee, and the 

 sobbing of the waves will always tell to me what thou hast told to them." 



" Oh. God ! I must obey. Oh, War, I will follow thee with my eyes and feel a thrill 

 of happiness if thou but look at me when passing by the river," and as she spoke a tear of 

 blood dropped from her eye. W'ar could not resist it. He went to her, took the tear, and gave 

 it to Lazuli, saying, " Take that treasure, it is a tear shed by Atah when parting from War. 

 It shall be under thy guard, and be known henceforth as the brightest ruby of the whole 

 firmament." 



His chest swelling with emotion. War looked once more towards Atah, then with a 

 heroic effort, worthy of a God, he tore himself away from that contemplation, and taking 

 with him his train of followers he dived into space with the swiftness of a dart. 



After having rolled during long ages, throughout the inlinite expanse. War chose as 

 his abode the region through which flowed the river of tears . . . There he located his 

 followers, allotting to each a given course to be gone through at an appointed time. He 

 was meditating as to what he should do with some thousands of them who had always 

 kept at the rear of the train at a long distance from him . . . He called them, and they 

 did not dare to disobey, but moved with reluctance and approached him crawling and 

 supplicating, with their heads dowTi as though afraid to show their faces. 



" Stand upright ! " ordered \Var. " Stand I tell you," and he recognised familiar faces. 

 They were a legion of warriors sent by Timu to capture his son War. 



