THE MALAY PANTUN. 9 
“ Winter-clouds are big with thunder, 
But they yield no freshening rain; 
False relations smile and greet us, 
But their soothing words are vain.” 
“ Bees are tempted by the honey, 
But from flower to flower they range; 
False relations share our favours 
But in secret seek a change.” 
With these verses Ravan reproaches his brother Bibishan, who had. 
given him advice not much to the Raksha-king’s liking, but they 
quaintly resemble pantuns wherewith a Malay girl rebukes a faith- 
less lover. | 
' Kalidasa, who lived probably in the fifth century of the Chris- 
tian era, the greatest of the later Sanskrit poets, has generously 
interspersed the prose of his dramas with lyric and descriptive 
stanzas. The following quotations are taken from Arthur W. 
Ryder’s translation of “ Shakuntala” in “* Everyman’s Library.” 
Act. IV, 2. King Dushyanta, owing to the curse of the Rishi 
Durvasas, has entirely forgotten that he had married Shakuntala, 
and her foster-father, the hermit Kanva, decides to send her to 
the King’s palace. One of his pupils on the dawn of the day of 
her departure, says: 
“Night-bloomimg lilies, when the moon is hidden, 
Have naught but memories of beauty left; : 
Hard, hard to bear! Her lot, whom heaven has bidden 
To lwe alone, of love and lover reft!”— 
Act V. When the hermits, who bring Shakuntala to the palace, 
are received by the king, one of them says: 
“ Frutt-laden trees bend down to earth, 
The water-pregnant cloud hangs low; 
Good men are not puffed by power; 
The unselfish are by nature so.” 
When Shakuntala reminds him of his former kindness and pro- 
mises, the king replies: 
“A stream, that eats away the bank, 
Grows foul and undermines the tree ; 
So you would stain your honour, while 
You plunge me into misery.” 
And when the hermits reproach him, the king reminds them of 
the verse :— 
“ Night blossoms open to the moon, 
Day-blossoms to the sun; 
A man of honour ever strives 
Another's wife to shun.” 
R. A. Soc., No. 85, 1922. 
