Part 4

_Charudatta._ Until she seems the crescent moon. With clouds of autumn[38] mated? 54

But no! I may not gaze upon another's wife.

_Maitreya._ Oh, you need not fear that you are looking at another man's wife. This is Vasantasena, who has been in love with you ever since she saw you in the garden where Kama's temple stands.

_Charudatta._ What! this is Vasantasena? [_Aside._]

My love for whom--my fortune spent-- My wretched self in twain has rent. Like coward's anger, inward bent. 55

[23. 19. S.

_Maitreya._ My friend, that brother-in-law of the king says--

_Charudatta._ Well?

_Maitreya._ "This wench with golden ornaments and golden jewels, this female stage-manager looking after the rehearsal of a new play, this Vasantasena--she has been in love with you ever since she went into the park where Kama's temple stands. And when we tried to conciliate her by force, she went into your house."

_Vasantasena._ [_To herself._] "Tried to conciliate me by force"--truly, I am honored by these words.

_Maitreya._ "Now if you send her away yourself and hand her over to me, if you restore her at once, without any lawsuit in court, then I'll be friends with you forever. Otherwise, there will be a fight to the death."

_Charudatta._ [_Contemptuously._] He is a fool. [_To himself._] How is this maiden worthy of the worship that we pay a goddess! For now

Although I bade her enter, yet she seeks To spare my poverty, nor enters here; Though men are known to her, yet all she speaks Contains no word to wound a modest ear. 56

[_Aloud._] Mistress Vasantasena, I have unwittingly made myself guilty of an offense; for I greeted as a servant one whom I did not recognize. I bend my neck to ask your pardon.

_Vasantasena._ It is I who have offended by this unseemly intrusion. I bow my head to seek your forgiveness.

_Maitreya._ Yes, with your pretty bows you two have knocked your heads together, till they look like a couple of rice-fields. I also bow my head like a camel colt's knee and beseech you both to stand up. [_He does so, then rises._]

_Charudatta._ Very well, let us no longer trouble ourselves with conventions.

_Vasantasena._ [_To herself._] What a delightfully clever hint! But it would hardly be proper to spend the night, considering how I came hither. Well, I will at least say this much. [_Aloud._] If I am to receive thus much of your favor, sir, I should be glad to leave these jewels in your house. It was for the sake of the jewels that those scoundrels pursued me.

P. 45.14]

_Charudatta._ This house is not worthy of the trust.

_Vasantasena._ You mistake, sir! It is to men that treasures are entrusted, not to houses.

_Charudatta._ Maitreya, will you receive the jewels?

_Vasantasena._ I am much indebted to you. [_She hands him the jewels._]

_Maitreya._ [_Receiving them._] Heaven bless you, madam.

_Charudatta._ Fool! They are only entrusted to us.

_Maitreya._ [_Aside._] Then the thieves may take them, for all I care.

_Charudatta._ In a very short time--

_Maitreya._ What she has entrusted to us, belongs to us.

_Charudatta._ I shall restore them.

_Vasantasena._ I should be grateful, sir, if this gentleman would accompany me home.

_Charudatta._ Maitreya, pray accompany our guest.

_Maitreya._ She walks as gracefully as a female swan, and you are the gay flamingo to accompany her. But I am only a poor Brahman, and wherever I go, the people will fall upon me just as dogs will snap at a victim dragged to the cross-roads.

_Charudatta._ Very well. I will accompany her myself. Let the torches be lighted, to ensure our safety on the highway.

_Maitreya._ Vardhamanaka, light the torches.

_Vardhamanaka._ [_Aside to Maitreya._] What! light torches without oil?

_Maitreya._ [_Aside to Charudatta._] These torches of ours are like courtezans who despise their poor lovers. They won't light up unless you feed them.

[25.23. S.

_Charudatta._ Enough, Maitreya! We need no torches. See, we have a lamp upon the king's highway.

Attended by her starry servants all, And pale to see as a loving maiden's cheeks, Rises before our eyes the moon's bright ball, Whose pure beams on the high-piled darkness fall Like streaming milk that dried-up marshes seeks. 57

[_His voice betraying his passion._] Mistress Vasantasena, we have reached your home. Pray enter. [_Vasantasena gazes ardently at him, then exit._] Comrade, Vasantasena is gone. Come, let us go home.

All creatures from the highway take their flight; The watchmen pace their rounds before our sight; To forestall treachery, is just and right, For many sins find shelter in the night. 58

[_He walks about._] And you shall guard this golden casket by night, and Vardhamanaka by day.

_Maitreya._ Very well. [_Exeunt ambo._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 30: During the mating season, a fragrant liquor exudes from the forehead of the elephant. Of this liquor bees are very fond.]

[Footnote 31: The most striking peculiarity of Sansthanaka's dialect--his substitution of _sh_ for _s_--I have tried to imitate in the translation.]

[Footnote 32: Red arsenic, used as a cosmetic.]

[Footnote 33: Here, as elsewhere, Sansthanaka's mythology is wildly confused. To a Hindu the effect must be ludicrous enough; but the humor is necessarily lost in a translation. It therefore seems hardly worth while to explain his mythological vagaries in detail.]

[Footnote 34: A name of Krishna, who is perhaps the most amorous character in Indian story.]

[Footnote 35: Cupid.]

[Footnote 36: The five deadly sins are: the slaying of a Brahman, the drinking of wine, theft, adultery with the wife of one's teacher, and association with one guilty of these crimes.]

[Footnote 37: These are all epithets of the same god.]

[Footnote 38: Which look pretty, but do not rain. He doubtless means to suggest that the cloak, belonging to a strange man, is as useless to Vasantasena as the veil of autumn clouds to the earth.]

ACT THE SECOND

THE SHAMPOOER[39] WHO GAMBLED

[_Enter a maid._]

_Maid._

I am sent with a message to my mistress by her mother. I must go in and find my mistress. [_She walks about and looks around her._] There is my mistress. She is painting a picture, and putting her whole heart into it. I must go and speak to her.

[_Then appear the love-lorn Vasantasena, seated, and Madanika._]

_Vasantasena._ Well, girl, and then--

_Madanika._ But mistress, you were not speaking of anything. What do you mean?

_Vasantasena._ Why, what did I say?

_Madanika._ You said, "and then"--

_Vasantasena._ [_Puckering her brows._] Oh, yes. So I did.

_Maid._ [_Approaching._] Mistress, your mother sends word that you should bathe and then offer worship to the gods.

_Vasantasena._ You may tell my mother that I shall not take the ceremonial bath to-day. A Brahman must offer worship in my place.

_Maid._ Yes, mistress. [_Exit._

_Madanika._ My dear mistress, it is love, not naughtiness, that asks the question--but what does this mean?

_Vasantasena._ Tell me, Madanika. How do I seem to you?

_Madanika._ My mistress is so absent-minded that I know her heart is filled with longing for somebody.

_Vasantasena._ Well guessed. My Madanika is quick to fathom another's heart.

_Madanika._ I am very, very glad. Yes, Kama is indeed mighty, and his great festival is welcome when one is young. But tell me, mistress, is it a king, or a king's favorite, whom you worship?

[28.1. S.

_Vasantasena._ Girl, I wish to love, not to worship.

_Madanika._ Is it a Brahman that excites your passion, some youth distinguished for very particular learning?

_Vasantasena._ A Brahman I should have to reverence.

_Madanika._ Or is it some young merchant, grown enormously wealthy from visiting many cities?

_Vasantasena._ A merchant, girl, must go to other countries and leave you behind, no matter how much you love him. And the separation makes you very sad.

_Madanika._ It isn't a king, nor a favorite, nor a Brahman, nor a merchant. Who is it then that the princess loves?

_Vasantasena._ Girl! Girl! You went with me to the park where Kama's temple stands?

_Madanika._ Yes, mistress.

_Vasantasena._ And yet you ask, as if you were a perfect stranger.

_Madanika._ Now I know. Is it the man who comforted you when you asked to be protected?

_Vasantasena._ Well, what was his name?

_Madanika._ Why, he lives in the merchants' quarter.

_Vasantasena._ But I asked you for his name.

_Madanika._ His name, mistress, is a good omen in itself. His name is Charudatta.

_Vasantasena._ [_Joyfully._] Good, Madanika, good. You have guessed it.

_Madanika._ [_Aside._] So much for that. [_Aloud._] Mistress, they say he is poor.

_Vasantasena._ That is the very reason why I love him. For a courtezan who sets her heart on a poor man is blameless in the eyes of the world.

P. 59.14]

_Madanika._ But mistress, do the butterflies visit the mango-tree when its blossoms have fallen?

_Vasantasena._ That is just why we call _that_ sort of a girl a butterfly.

_Madanika._ Well, mistress, if you love him, why don't you go and visit him at once?

_Vasantasena._ Girl, if I should visit him at once, then, because he can't make any return--no, I don't mean that, but it would be hard to see him.

_Madanika._ Is that the reason why you left your jewels with him?

_Vasantasena._ You have guessed it.

* * * * *

_A voice[40] behind the scenes_. Oh, sir, a shampooer owes me ten gold-pieces, and he got away from us. Hold him, hold him! [_To the fleeing shampooer._] Stop, stop! I see you from here. [_Enter hurriedly a frightened shampooer._]

_Shampooer._ Oh, confound this gambling business!

Freed from its tether, the ace-- I might better say "ass"--how it kicks me! And the cast of the dice called the "spear" Proves true to its name; for it sticks me. 1

The keeper's whole attention Was busy with the score; So it took no great invention To vanish through the door. But I cannot stand forever In the unprotected street. Is there no one to deliver? I would fall before his feet. 2

While the keeper and the gambler are looking somewhere else for me, I'll just walk backwards into this empty temple and turn goddess. [_He makes all sorts of gestures, takes his place, and waits._]

[_Enter Mathura and the gambler._]

[30.1. S.

_Mathura._ Oh, sir, a shampooer owes me ten gold-pieces, and he got away from us. Hold him, hold him! Stop, stop! I see you from here.

_Gambler._

You may run to hell, if they'll take you in; With Indra, the god, you may stay: For there's never a god can save your skin. While Mathura wants his pay. 3

_Mathura._

Oh, whither flee you, nimble rambler. You that cheat an honest gambler? You that shake with fear and shiver. All a-tremble, all a-quiver; You that cannot trip enough. On the level ground and rough; You that stain your social station, Family, and reputation! 4

_Gambler._ [_Examining the footprints._] Here he goes. And here the tracks are lost.

_Mathura._ [_Gazes at the footprints. Reflectively._] Look! The feet are turned around. And the temple hasn't any image. [_After a moment's thought._] That rogue of a shampooer has gone into the temple with his feet turned around.

_Gambler._ Let's follow him.

_Mathura._ All right. [_They enter the temple and take a good look, then make signs to each other._]

_Gambler._ What! a wooden image?

_Mathura._ Of course not. It's stone. [_He shakes it with all his might, then makes signs._] What do we care? Come, let's have a game. [_He starts to gamble as hard as he can._]

_Shampooer._ [_Trying with all his might to repress the gambling fever. Aside._] Oh, oh!

Oh, the rattle of dice is a charming thing, When you haven't a copper left; It works like a drum on the heart of a king, Of all his realm bereft. 5

For gamblers leap down a mountain steep-- I know I shall not play. Yet the rattle of dice is as sweet as the peep Of nightingales in May. 6

_Gambler._ My turn, my turn!

P. 56.10]

_Mathura._ Not much! it's my turn.

_Shampooer._ [_Coming up quickly from behind._] Isn't it _my_ turn?

_Gambler._ We've got our man.

_Mathura._ [_Seizing him._] You jail-bird, you're caught. Pay me my ten gold-pieces.

_Shampooer._ I'll pay you this very day.

_Mathura._ Pay me this very minute!

_Shampooer._ I'll pay you. Only have mercy!

_Mathura._ Come, will you pay me now?

_Shampooer._ My head is getting dizzy. [_He falls to the ground. The others beat him with all their might._]

_Mathura._ There [_drawing the gamblers ring_] you're bound by the gamblers' ring.

_Shampooer._ [_Rises. Despairingly._] What! bound by the gamblers' ring? Confound it! That is a limit which we gamblers can't pass. Where can I get the money to pay him?

_Mathura._ Well then, you must give surety.

_Shampooer._ I have an idea. [_He nudges the gambler._] I'll give you half, if you'll forgive me the other half.

_Gambler._ All right.

_Shampooer._ [_To Mathura._] I'll give you surety for a half. You might forgive me the other half.

_Mathura._ All right. Where's the harm?

_Shampooer._ [_Aloud._] You forgave me a half, sir?

[31.24. S.

_Mathura._ Yes.

_Shampooer._ [_To the gambler._] And you forgave me a half?

_Gambler._ Yes.

_Shampooer._ Then I think I'll be going.

_Mathura._ Pay me my ten gold-pieces! Where are you going?

_Shampooer._ Look at this, gentlemen, look at this! Here I just gave surety to one of them for a half, and the other forgave me a half. And even after that he is dunning me, poor helpless me!

_Mathura._ [_Seizing him._] My name is Mathura, the clever swindler, and you're not going to swindle me this time. Pay up, jail-bird, every bit of my money, and this minute, too.

_Shampooer._ How can I pay?

_Mathura._ Sell your father and pay.

_Shampooer._ Where can I get a father?

_Mathura._ Sell your mother and pay.

_Shampooer._ Where can I get a mother?

_Mathura._ Sell yourself and pay.

_Shampooer._ Have mercy! Lead me to the king's highway.

_Mathura._ Go ahead.

_Shampooer._ If it must be. [_He walks about._] Gentlemen, will you buy me for ten gold-pieces from this gambling-master? [_He sees a passer-by and calls out._] What is that? You wish to know what I can do? I will be your house-servant. What! he has gone without even answering. Well, here's another. I'll speak to him. [_He repeats his offer._] What! this one too takes no notice of me. He is gone. Confound it! I've had hard luck ever since Charudatta lost his fortune.

_Mathura._ Will you pay?

_Shampooer._ How can I pay? [_He falls down. Mathura drags him about._] Good gentlemen, save me, save me! [_Enter Darduraka._]

P. 61.5]

_Darduraka._ Yes, gambling is a kingdom without a throne.

You do not mind defeat at all; Great are the sums you spend and win; While kingly revenues roll in, Rich men, like slaves, before you fall. 7

And again:

You earn your coin by gambling, Your friends and wife by gambling, Your gifts and food by gambling; Your last cent goes by gambling. 8

And again:

My cash was taken by the trey; The deuce then took my health away; The ace then set me on the street; The four completed my defeat. 9

[_He looks before him._] Here comes Mathura, our sometime gambling-master. Well, as I can't escape, I think I'll put on my veil. [_He makes any number of gestures with his cloak, then examines it._]

This cloth is sadly indigent in thread; This lovely cloth lets in a lot of light; This cloth's protective power is nearly fled; This cloth is pretty when it's rolled up tight. 10

Yet after all, what more could a poor saint do? For you see,

One foot I've planted in the sky, The other on the ground must lie.[41] The elevation's rather high, But the sun stands it. Why can't I? 11

_Mathura._ Pay, pay!

_Shampooer._ How can I pay? [_Mathura drags him about._]

_Darduraka._ Well, well, what is this I see? [_He addresses a bystander._] What did you say, sir? "This shampooer is being maltreated by the gambling-master, and no one will save him"? I'll save him myself. [_He presses forward._] Stand back, stand back!

[33.25. S.

[_He takes a look._] Well, if this isn't that swindler Mathura. And here is the poor saintly shampooer; a saint to be sure,

Who does not hang with bended head Rigid till set of sun, Who does not rub his back with sand Till boils begin to run, Whose shins dogs may not browse upon, As they pass him in their rambling.[42] Why should this tall and dainty man Be so in love with gambling? 12

Well, I must pacify Mathura. [_He approaches._] How do you do, Mathura? [_Mathura returns the greeting._]

_Darduraka._ What does this mean?

_Mathura._ He owes me ten gold-pieces.

_Darduraka._ A mere bagatelle!

_Mathura._ [_Pulling the rolled-up cloak from under Darduraka's arm._] Look, gentlemen, look! The man in the ragged cloak calls ten gold-pieces a mere bagatelle.

_Darduraka._ My good fool, don't I risk ten gold-pieces on a cast of the dice? Suppose a man has money--is that any reason why he should put it in his bosom and show it? But you,

You'll lose your caste, you'll lose your soul, For ten gold-pieces that he stole, To kill a man that's sound and whole, With five good senses in him. 13

_Mathura._ Ten gold-pieces may be a mere bagatelle to you, sir. To me they are a fortune.

_Darduraka._ Well then, listen to me. Just give him ten more, and let him go to gambling again.

_Mathura._ And what then?

_Darduraka._ If he wins, he will pay you.

P. 63.12]

_Mathura._ And if he doesn't win?

_Darduraka._ Then he won't pay you.

_Mathura._ This is no time for nonsense. If you say that, you can give him the money yourself. My name is Mathura. I'm a swindler and I play a crooked game, and I'm not afraid of anybody. You are an immoral scoundrel.

_Darduraka._ Who did you say was immoral?

_Mathura._ You're immoral.

_Darduraka._ Your father is immoral. [_He gives the shampooer a sign to escape._]

_Mathura._ You cur! That is just the way that you gamble.

_Darduraka._ That is the way I gamble?

_Mathura._ Come, shampooer, pay me my ten gold-pieces.

_Shampooer._ I'll pay you this very day. I'll pay at once. [_Mathura drags him about._]

_Darduraka._ Fool! You may maltreat him when I am away, but not before my eyes.

[_Mathura seizes the shampooer and hits him on the nose. The shampooer bleeds, faints, and falls flat. Darduraka approaches and interferes. Mathura strikes Darduraka, and Darduraka strikes back._]

_Mathura._ Oh, oh, you accursed hound! But I'll pay you for this.

_Darduraka._ My good fool, I was walking peaceably along the street, and you struck me. If you strike me to-morrow in court, then you will open your eyes.

_Mathura._ Yes, I'll open my eyes.

_Darduraka._ How will you open your eyes?

_Mathura._ [_Opening his eyes wide._] This is the way I'll open my eyes.

[_Darduraka throws dust in Mathura's eyes, and gives the shampooer a sign to escape. Mathura shuts his eyes and falls down. The shampooer escapes._]

[35.20. S.

_Darduraka._ [_Aside._] I have made an enemy of the influential gambling-master Mathura. I had better not stay here. Besides, my good friend Sharvilaka told me that a young herdsman named Aryaka has been designated by a soothsayer as our future king. Now everybody in my condition is running after him. I think I will join myself to him. [_Exit._

_Shampooer._ [_Trembles as he walks away and looks about him._] Here is a house where somebody has left the side-door open. I will go in. [_He enters and perceives Vasantasena._] Madam, I throw myself upon your protection.

_Vasantasena._ He who throws himself upon my protection shall be safe. Close the door, girl. [_The maid does so._]

_Vasantasena._ What do you fear?

_Shampooer._ A creditor, madam.

_Vasantasena._ You may open the door now, girl.

_Shampooer._ [_To himself._] Ah! Her reasons for not fearing a creditor are in proportion to her innocence. The proverb is right:

The man who knows his strength and bears a load Proportioned to that strength, not more nor less, Is safe from stumbling and from sore distress, Although he wander on a dreary road. 14

That means me.

_Mathura._ [_Wiping his eyes. To the gambler._] Pay, pay!

_Gambler._ While we were quarreling with Darduraka, sir, the man escaped.

_Mathura._ I broke that shampooer's nose for him with my fist Come on! Let's trace him by the blood. [_They do so._]

_Gambler._ He went into Vasantasena's house, sir.

_Mathura._ Then that is the end of the gold-pieces.

_Gambler._ Let's go to court and lodge a complaint.

P. 67.1]

_Mathura._ The swindler would leave the house and escape. No, we must besiege him and so capture him.

* * * * *

[_Vasantasena gives Madanika a sign._]

_Madanika._ Whence are you, sir? or who are you, sir? or whose son are you, sir? or what is your business, sir? or what are you afraid of?

_Shampooer._ Listen, madam. My birthplace is Pataliputra, madam. I am the son of a householder. I practise the trade of a shampooer.

_Vasantasena._ It is a very dainty art, sir, which you have mastered.

_Shampooer._ Madam, as an art I mastered it. It has now become a mere trade.

_Madanika._ Your answers are most disconsolate, sir. Pray continue.

_Shampooer._ Yes, madam. When I was at home, I used to hear travelers tell tales, and I wanted to see new countries, and so I came here. And when I had come here to Ujjayini, I became the servant of a noble gentleman. Such a handsome, courteous gentleman! When he gave money away, he did not boast; when he was injured, he forgot it. To cut a long story short: he was so courteous that he regarded his own person as the possession of others, and had compassion on all who sought his protection.

_Madanika._ Who may it be that adorns Ujjayini with the virtues which he has stolen from the object of my mistress' desires?

_Vasantasena._ Good, girl, good! I had the same thought in mind.

_Madanika._ But to continue, sir--

_Shampooer._ Madam, he was so compassionate and so generous that now--

_Vasantasena._ His riches have vanished?

_Shampooer._ I didn't say it. How did you guess it, madam?

_Vasantasena._ What was there to guess? Virtue and money seldom keep company. In the pools from which men cannot drink there is so much the more water.

_Madanika._ But sir, what is his name?

[37.23. S.

_Shampooer._ Madam, who does not know the name of this moon of the whole world? He lives in the merchants' quarter. He whose name is worthy of all honor is named Charudatta.

_Vasantasena._ [_Joyfully rising from her seat._] Sir, this house is your own. Give him a seat, girl, and take this fan. The gentleman is weary. [_Madanika does as she is bid._]

_Shampooer._ [_Aside._] What! so much honor because I mentioned Charudatta's name? Heaven bless you, Charudatta! You are the only man in the world who really lives. All others merely breathe. [_He falls at Vasantasena's feet._] Enough, madam, enough. Pray be seated, madam.

_Vasantasena._ [_Seating herself._] Where is he who is so richly your creditor, sir?

_Shamp._

The good man's wealth consists in kindly deeds; All other wealth is vain and quickly flies. The man who honors not his neighbor's needs, Does that man know what honor signifies? 15

_Vasantasena._ But to continue--

_Shampooer._ So I became a servant in his employ. And when his wealth was reduced to his virtue, I began to live by gambling. But fate was cruel, and I lost ten gold-pieces.

_Mathura._ I am ruined! I am robbed!

_Shampooer._ There are the gambling-master and the gambler, looking for me. You have heard my story, madam. The rest is your affair.