Det är ett stort namn som söks här - och han är minst lika legendarisk för sin dramatik som för poesin. Jag skriver i nedanstående korta utdrag huvudpersonens namn som S??:
"---S??:- Ha! I am lost. The Ring is missing from my finger.
Gautami:- The Ring must have slipped off and fallen into the water when you immersed yourself in holy Saki's Pool next to Indra's Landing.
King, smiles ironically:- A good example of the ready wit that is womankind's gift.
S??:- Alas, Fate shows its inexorable power. But I shall relate something, an incident.
King:- Ah, now we have something that is to be heard.
S??:- You do remember that day in the bower of canes covered by vines - you held a cup ot lotus leaves filled with water?
King:- I am listening.
S??:- Just at that moment, the little fawn, my adopted son, whom I had named 'Liquid Long-eyes' came trotting up. Feeling affectionate towards him, you held the cup out saying, 'let him drink first' and coaxed him to drink. But he would not come near, because you were a stranger to him. When I took the cup from you and held it in my hand, he was happy to drink. And you laughed saying 'One trusts one's own kind, you are both creatures of the woods.'
King, laughing sarcastically:- By such honeyed words are pleasure-loving men lured by young women out to gain their own ends.
Gautami:- Gracious Prince, you should not speak to her like that. Brought up in a sacred grove, this girl is a stranger to guile.
King:- Ascetic matron, listen:
Intuitive cunning is seen even in females
of lower creatures: what then of those
endowed with reason and understanding:
the cuckoo, as we know, has her young reared
by other birds before they take to the air.
S??, in anger:- Ignoble man! You who are like a well covered with grass...you judge every one by the measure of your own heart...who would stoop to imitate your conduct...practicing falseness while putting on the mantle of virtue?
King:- The lady's anger is real - the spontaneous outburst of one who lives in the green world.
Her eyes red with anger look straight at me,
her words flung out harsh, not smoothed into a drawl;
her lower lip like a ripe bimba-fruit
is all quivering as if struck by an icy blast;
her eyebrows, graceful curves,
knot together in a twisting frown.---"
"---S??:- Ha! I am lost. The Ring is missing from my finger.
Gautami:- The Ring must have slipped off and fallen into the water when you immersed yourself in holy Saki's Pool next to Indra's Landing.
King, smiles ironically:- A good example of the ready wit that is womankind's gift.
S??:- Alas, Fate shows its inexorable power. But I shall relate something, an incident.
King:- Ah, now we have something that is to be heard.
S??:- You do remember that day in the bower of canes covered by vines - you held a cup ot lotus leaves filled with water?
King:- I am listening.
S??:- Just at that moment, the little fawn, my adopted son, whom I had named 'Liquid Long-eyes' came trotting up. Feeling affectionate towards him, you held the cup out saying, 'let him drink first' and coaxed him to drink. But he would not come near, because you were a stranger to him. When I took the cup from you and held it in my hand, he was happy to drink. And you laughed saying 'One trusts one's own kind, you are both creatures of the woods.'
King, laughing sarcastically:- By such honeyed words are pleasure-loving men lured by young women out to gain their own ends.
Gautami:- Gracious Prince, you should not speak to her like that. Brought up in a sacred grove, this girl is a stranger to guile.
King:- Ascetic matron, listen:
Intuitive cunning is seen even in females
of lower creatures: what then of those
endowed with reason and understanding:
the cuckoo, as we know, has her young reared
by other birds before they take to the air.
S??, in anger:- Ignoble man! You who are like a well covered with grass...you judge every one by the measure of your own heart...who would stoop to imitate your conduct...practicing falseness while putting on the mantle of virtue?
King:- The lady's anger is real - the spontaneous outburst of one who lives in the green world.
Her eyes red with anger look straight at me,
her words flung out harsh, not smoothed into a drawl;
her lower lip like a ripe bimba-fruit
is all quivering as if struck by an icy blast;
her eyebrows, graceful curves,
knot together in a twisting frown.---"
