The Little Clay Cart Part 34

_Chandanaka._ On Charudatta's.

_Viraka._ Who is Charudatta, or who is Vasantasena, that the cart should pa.s.s without inspection?

_Chandanaka._ Don't you know Charudatta, man? nor Vasantasena?

If you don't know Charudatta, nor Vasantasena, then you don't know the moon in heaven, nor the moonlight.

Who does n't know this moon of goodness, virtue's lotus-flower, This gem of four broad seas, this savior in man's luckless hour? 13 These two are wholly wors.h.i.+pful, our city's ornaments, Vasantasena, Charudatta, sea of excellence. 14

_Viraka._ Well, well, Chandanaka! Charudatta? Vasantasena?

I know them perfectly, as well as I know anything; But I do not know my father when I 'm serving of my king. 15

_Aryaka._ [_To himself._] In a former existence the one must have been my enemy, the other my kinsman. For see!

Their business is the same; their ways Unlike, and their desire: Like flames that gladden wedding days, And flames upon the pyre. 16

_Chandanaka._ You are a most careful captain whom the king trusts. I am holding the bullocks. Make your inspection.

_Viraka._ You too are a corporal whom the king trusts. Make the inspection yourself.

_Chandanaka._ If I make the inspection, that 's just the same as if you had made it?

_Viraka._ If you make the inspection, that 's just the same as if King Palaka had made it.

P. 171.5]

_Chandanaka._ Lift the pole, man! [_Vardhamanaka does so._]

_Aryaka._ [_To himself._] Are the policemen about to inspect me?

And I have no sword, worse luck! But at least,

Bold Bhima's spirit I will show; My arm shall be my sword.

Better a warrior's death than woe That cells and chains afford. 17

But the time to use force has not yet come. [_Chandanaka enters the cart and looks about._] I seek your protection.

_Chandanaka._ [_Speaking in Sanskrit._] He who seeks protection shall be safe.

_Aryaka._

Whene'er he fight, that man will suffer hurts, Will be abandoned of his friends and kin, Becomes a mock forever, who deserts One seeking aid; 't is an unpardoned sin. 18

_Chandanaka._ What! the herdsman Aryaka? Like a bird that flees from a hawk, he has fallen into the hand of the fowler. [_Reflecting._]

He is no sinner, this man who seeks my protection and sits in Charudatta's cart. Besides, he is the friend of good Sharvilaka, who saved my life. On the other hand, there are the king's orders.

What is a man to do in a case like this? Well, what must be, must be. I promised him my protection just now.

He who gives aid to frightened men, And joys his neighbor's ills to cure, If he must die, he dies; but then, His reputation is secure. 19

[_He gets down uneasily._] I saw the gentleman--[_correcting himself_]

I mean, the lady Vasantasena, and she says "Is it proper, is it gentlemanly, when I am going to visit Charudatta, to insult me on the highway?"

_Viraka._ Chandanaka, I have my suspicions.

_Chandanaka._ Suspicions? How so?

[103.2. S.

_Vir._ You gurgled in your craven throat; it seems a trifle shady.

You said "I saw the gentleman," and then "I saw the lady." 20

That's why I'm not satisfied.

_Chandanaka._ What's the matter with you, man? We southerners don't speak plain. We know a thousand dialects of the barbarians--the Khashas, the Khattis, the Kadas, the Kadatthobilas, the Karnatas, the Karnas, the Pravaranas, the Dravidas, the Cholas, the Chinas, the Barbaras, the Kheras, the Khanas, the Mukhas, the Madhughatas, and all the rest of 'em, and it all depends on the way we feel whether we say "he" or "she," "gentleman" or "lady."

_Viraka._ Can't I have a look, too? It's the king's orders. And the king trusts me.

_Chandanaka._ I suppose the king doesn't trust _me_!

_Viraka._ Is n't it His Majesty's command?

_Chandanaka._ [_Aside_] If people knew that the good herdsman escaped in Charudatta's cart, then the king would make Charudatta suffer for it. What's to be done? [_Reflecting._] I'll stir up a quarrel the way they do down in the Carnatic. [_Aloud._] Well, Viraka, I made one inspection myself--my name is Chandanaka--and you want to do it over again. Who are you?

_Viraka._ Confound it! Who are you, anyway?

_Chandanaka._ An honorable and highly respectable person, and you don't remember your own family.

_Viraka._ [_Angrily._] Confound you! What is my family?

_Chandanaka._ Who speaks of such things?

_Viraka._ Speak!

_Chandanaka._ I think I'd better not.

I know your family, but I won't say; 'T would not be modest, such things to betray; What good's a rotten apple anyway? 21

_Viraka._ Speak, speak! [_Chandanaka makes a significant gesture._]

Confound you! What does that mean?

P. 175.1]

_Chand._

A broken whetstone in one hand--a thing That looks like scissors in the other wing-- To trim the scrubby beards that curl and cling, And you--why, you 're a captain of the king! 22

_Viraka._ Well, Chandanaka, you highly respectable person, you don't remember your own family either.

_Chandanaka._ Tell me. What is the family I belong to, I, Chandanaka, pure as the moon?