122 
Indian Idylls, Ho. I. 
[No. 2, 
High rose his fury, but he raged in vain 
Like a mad snake that magic herbs restrain. 
A greater marvel, when, with voice of man, 
The lion, holding still his prey, began : 
“ Cease to contend ! Thine arrow, launched at me, 
Though erring never, now in vain would be. 
The tree may fall beneath the tempest’s force, 
But the firm-rooted hill resists its course. 
“ For know, the servant of the Lord Most High 
Who wears at will eight various forms,* am I, 
And, when his dusky Bull he deigns to ride, 
He sets his foot upon my honoured side. 
Look yonder, King ! Before thee stands a Pine, 
Loved like a daughter by my Lord divine ; 
In its first youth ’twas gentle U'ma’s joy 
To nurse it even as she nursed her boy : 
And, when an elephant once hurt her tree, 
She mourned for it as she would mourn to see 
Her own young War-God wounded by the bows 
Of Heaven’s fierce enemies, his demon foes. 
Since then, obedient to my Lord’s command, 
In lion’s form to guard this tree I stand ; 
To scare wild elephants, and feed on deer 
That, tempted by the herbage, wander near. 
Now, sweet, as to the Gods’ tremendous foef 
The streams of Amrit from the Moon that flow, 
In her appointed hour, my destined prey, 
This Cow has come to be my feast to-day ; 
Return, O King, return ! The Saint can claim 
No further duty from thee : feel no shame : 
For loss of treasures that no might can save 
Stains not the glory of the good and brave.” 
The King no more his humbled power disdained, 
For S iva’s might, he knew, his arm restrained, 
* S'iva. His eight forms are earth, water, fire, air, ether, the Sun, the Moon, 
and the Priest who drinks tho Soma-juice. 
t The monster Sdhu, who by attempting to swallow the Moon causes its 
eclipses. 
