The Little Clay Cart Part 48

_Charudatta._ Man, you are crazy.

The very clouds of heaven wet not you; Your lips are like the blue-jay's wing-tip worn, Yes, full as fickle with their speech untrue, And like the winter lotus l.u.s.tre-lorn. 19

P. 241.19]

_Judge._ [_Aside._]

Take the Himalayan hills within your hand, And swim from ocean strand to ocean strand, And hold within your grasp the fleeting wind: Then may you think that Charudatta sinned. 20

[_Aloud._] This is the n.o.ble Charudatta. How could he commit this crime?

[_He repeats the verse_ "A countenance like his:" _page 141._]

_Sansthanaka._ Why thish partiality in a lawshuit?

_Judge._ Away, you fool!

Illiterate, you gloss the Sacred Law, And still your tongue uninjured find?

The midday sun with steadfast eye you saw, And are not straightway stricken blind?

You thrust your hand into the blazing fire, And draw it forth, unscathed and sound?

Drag Charudatta's virtue in the mire, Nor sink beneath this yawning ground? 21

How could the n.o.ble Charudatta commit a crime?

Of all the riches of the mighty sea Only the swelling waters now are left, Because, without consideration, he-- For others' good--himself of all has reft.

And should this high-souled man, this store-house where All gems of virtue gather and unite, For lucre's sake, so foul a trespa.s.s dare That in it even his foe could not delight? 22

_Mother._ You scoundrel! When the golden casket that was left with him as a pledge was stolen by thieves at night, he gave in place of it a pearl necklace that was the pride of the four seas.

And he should now, for a mere trifle--for her money!--do this sin? Oh, my child, come back to me, my daughter! [_She weeps._]

[147.16. S.

_Judge._ n.o.ble Charudatta, did she go on foot, or in a bullock-cart?

_Charudatta._ I did not see her when she went. Therefore I do not know whether she went on foot, or in a bullock-cart.

[_Enter Viraka, in anger._]

_Viraka._

My anger was so prodded to the quick, By that dishonoring, insulting kick, And so I brooded, till at last the night Unwilling yielded to the dawning light. 23

So now I will go to the court-room. [_He enters._] May happiness be the lot of these honorable gentlemen.

_Judge._ Ah, it is Viraka, the captain of the guard. Viraka, what is the purpose of your coming?

_Viraka._ Well! I was looking for Aryaka, in all the excitement about his escape from prison. I had my suspicions about a covered bullock-cart that was coming, and wanted to look in. "You 've made one inspection, man, I must make another," said I, and then I was kicked by the highly respectable Chandanaka. You have heard the matter, gentlemen. The rest is your affair.

_Judge._ My good man, do you know to whom the bullock-cart belonged?

_Viraka._ To this gentleman here, Charudatta. And the driver said that Vasantasena was in it, and was on her way to have a good time in the old garden Pushpakaranda.

_Sansthanaka._ Lishten to that, too!

_Judge._

This moon, alas, though spotless-bright, Is now eclipsed, and robbed of light; The bank is fallen; the waves appear Befouled, that once were bright and clear. 24

P. 244.8]

Viraka, we will investigate your case here later. Mount the horse that stands before the court-room door, go to the garden Pushpakaranda, and see whether a woman has perished there or not.

_Viraka._ Yes, sir. [_He goes out, then returns._] I have been there.

And I saw the body of a woman, torn by wild beasts.

_Gild-warden and Clerk._ How do you know that it was the body of a woman?

_Viraka._ That I perceived from the traces of hair and arms and hands and feet.

_Judge._ Alas for the difficulties which are caused by the actions of men!

The more one may apply his skill, The harder is the matter still; Plain are indeed the law's demands, Yet judgment insecurely stands As some poor cow on s.h.i.+fting sands. 25

_Charudatta._ [_Aside._]

As bees, when flowers begin to blow, Gather to sip the honey, so When man is marked by adverse fate, Misfortunes enter every gate. 26

_Judge._ n.o.ble Charudatta, speak truth!

_Charudatta._

A mean and jealous creature, pa.s.sion-blind, Sets all his soul, some fatal means to find To slay the man he envies; shall his lies By evil nature prompted, win the prize?

No! he is unregarded by the wise. 27

And more than this:

The creeper's beauty would I never blight, Nor pluck its flowers; should I not be afraid To seize her hair so lovely-long, and bright As wings of bees, and slay a weeping maid? 28

[149.15. S.

_Sansthanaka._ h.e.l.lo, magishtrates! How can you inveshtigate the cashe with such partiality? Why, even now you let thish shcoundrel Charudatta shtay on his sheat.

_Judge._ My good beadle, so be it [_The beadle follows Sansthanaka's suggestion._]

_Charudatta._ Consider, magistrates, consider what you are doing!

[_He leaves his seat, and sits on the floor._]