In Hindu Literature 241 



" Be not relentless, dearest, 



Nor wroth with me forever. 

 I mark where thou appearest 

 A fair and mountain river. 



" Like Ganga proud thou showest. 

 From heavenly regions springing; 

 Around thee, as thou flowest. 



The birds their course are winging. 



" The timid deer confiding, 



Thy flowery borders throng ; 



And bees, their store providing. 



Pour forth enraptured song." 



Coming upon the vine into which the nymph has been 

 changed, the king pauses, filled with a strange emotion, and 

 addresses the now flowerless vine, — 



" No bees regale her with their songs ; silent 



And sad, she lonely shows the image 

 Of my repentant love, who now laments 



Her causeless indignation. I will press 

 Th,e melancholy likeness to my heart." 



In his embrace the vine changes into the nymph and he 

 sings in a very different mood, — 



" I have sued to the starry-plumed bird, 



And the k6il of love-breathing song; 

 To the lord of the elephant herd, 



And the bee as he murmured along; 

 To the swan, and the loud waterfall, 



To the chakwa, the rock and the roe. 

 In thy search have I sued them all. 



But none of them lightened my woe." 



In the drama of the " Toy Cart," written by ^udraka, the 

 most Shakespearian of the Hindu dramatists, and contem- 

 porary with Kalidasa, we find the verse more dignified, if 

 less graceful, and the bee as much a favorite as ever. 



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