134 On tie Ballads and Legends of (he Punjab. [No. 2. 



But not to cleave its r gory path : the massive granite rock 

 Eeceives and foils the hero's wrath, jet shivers in the shock. 

 Amaz'd he glares on all around, mistrusts his reason's ray ; 

 Where cumbering late the groaning ground, the monster weltering lay. 

 A huge grey ridge of rock alone juts from the sandy plain, 

 And mimics rude in granite stone some mighty giant slain ; 

 Of monster, maid, sole visible trace ; around the rock he rides, 

 Assails it with his steely mace. The rock his wrath derides, 

 Till with the fruitless toil distraught and warn'd by fading light, 

 A Dhurmsala* lone he sought and coach' d him for the night. 



Fytte 3rd. 



Meanwhile, within a cavern' d hall Beera lay r reclin'd, 

 Pondering her glory's darken'd fall with tempest shaken mind : 

 Now o'er her mighty brother's fate the tears unbidden rise, 

 Now with revenge and deadly hate blend love's insidious sighs, 

 Despite her rage and shame and woe, her woman's heart is won, 

 As tigress mates with but the foe, whose might excels her own : 

 The dismal gloom around her spread were utter, Ethiop night, 

 But that her flashing eyes still shed an ever-changeful light ; 

 And that above her hung sripent (23) carbuncle large and rare, 

 Which through the gloom its radiance sent, like Sirius' burning star. 

 Rich sculptur'd gold and ivory rare her beauteous form uphold, 

 Kose-tinted silks make doubly fair, those limbs of faultless mould. 

 But save her loveliuess alone and proud, fierce innocence, 

 No robe the maiden e'er had known, nor felt shame's withering sense. 

 Above the cavern's roof reclin'd her mighty brother lay, 

 Sense, life in solid rock confin'd, a mass of granite grey. 



The maiden's beauteous cheek was pale, her brow was nush'd, 

 her eye 

 Suffus'd with tears which ere they^fall, the flashing lightnings dry. 



* Dhurmsala, Hull of charity. The Hospitium of the Hindoo. 



