46 
G. A. Grierson —Song of Gopi Chand. 
[No. 1, 
palace is empty. Say not so, Gopi Chand,’ saith his mother Maina. 
£ First pay me the price of my milk and then go and become an 
ascetic.’ When Gopi Chand heard this, he gazed upon the earth 
and upon the sky above. ‘ What sort of son is that, who can count 
the stars of heaven F He alone can pay his mother the price of her milk. 
If, mother, thou hadst desired cow’s 
milk, I could have bought it in 
the market, and given it to thee. 
But for thy milk I am without 
resource. Mother, my whole body 
hath been nourished by thy milk. 
Thy milk is beyond price.’ His 
mother answered, ‘ It was not the 
milk of cow or buffalo that I gave 
thee to drink, ’twas the milk of my 
bosom. Thou art forgetting* the 
milk. Be not an ascetic. Protect 
me in days and nights of trouble 
(lit. on thick days and nights). 
Some day 0 my son, be a help to 
me in calamity. So, go not forth to become an ascetic. Say not 
so, Gopi Chand.’ 
2. £ Bring hither, mother Maina, sword aud dagger, that I may 
plant them in my liver. Or else let me go forth to be an ascetic. 
Give me, mother, thy milk as a free gift. Thine own ascetic of a 
foreign land beginneth to entreat thee.’ His mother replied, £ Live 
my son and be an ascetic. Go thou forth, but come back to me. 
Great is the spiritual reward of visiting holy places and performing 
vows.’ £ Mother, the day of meeting me again is gone far off. Say 
not, mother ££ It is I who have given the free gift.” It is God who 
giveth me my birth, and decideth my fate.’ 
3. Gopi Chand leaveth his elephants. He leaveth his camels in 
the camel-stables, and his horses in the horse-stables. Nine hundred 
Paithan attendants doth he leave behind. Five hundred damsels and 
princes weep for him. Nine hundred wedded wives weep for him. 
His mother Maina dasheth down the throne and weepeth for him. 
The swans weep on the turrets of his house; in the villages weep the 
cultivators; on the way, the wayfarers ; and by the well, the girls 
£ If thou desire milk of cow or 
buffalo, I will buy it in the mar¬ 
ket and give it to thee. I will fill 
my father’s tank with it, and with 
it wilt thou recover* the price of 
the milk. Even if I gave all this 
I would not be free from the debt. 
Do thou, 0 mother, give me a free 
gift of the milk, for the sake of 
virtue (i. e., as a free gift).’ 
£ Thou appearest, 0 my ascetic, 
to me, as amongst men of another 
land. I give thee, 0 son, the milk 
as a free gift, but mark this much 
of my words. 
* <TTT ^f*T, to recover, cf. # 
7 vj 
it has not been lost. So also 
to be found, recovered. 
