DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0429
WANDERINGS IN THE FOREST 345
wept bitterly, saying: "Ah! thou dost sleep on the bare
hard ground whom neither sun nor storm hath ever used
roughly. O my loved one, thou hast ever awakened to
smile. How wilt thou fare when thou dost discover that
thy lord hath abandoned thee in the midst of the perilous
forest ? . . . May sun and wind and the spirits of the
wood protect thee, and may thou be shielded ever by
thine own great virtue!"
Then the distracted rajah, prompted by Kali again,
hastened away; but his heart was torn by his love, which
drew him back. ... So time and again he came and
went, like to a swing, backward and forward, until in the
end the evil spirit conquered him, and he departed from
Damayanti, who moaned fitfully in her sleep; and he
plunged into the depths of the forest.
Ere long the fair princess awoke, and when she per-
ceived that she was all alone she uttered a piteous scream
and cried out : " Oh! where art thou, my king, my lord,
my sole protector? ... I am lost; oh ! I am undone.
I am helpless and alone in the perilous wood. . . . Ah!
now thou art but deceiving me. Do not mock me, my
lord. Art thou hidden there among the bushes ? Oh,
speak! . . . Why dost thou not make answer? ... I do
not sorrow for myself only. 1 cannot well endure that
thou shouldst be alone, that thou shouldst thirst and be
an hungered and very weary, and without me to give thee
comfort. . . ."
So she wailed as she searched through the forest for
Nala, now casting herself upon the ground, now sitting
to pine in silence, and anon crying out in her grief. At
length she said: "Oh, may he who causeth Nala to suffer
endure even greater agony than he endureth, and may he
live for ever in darkness and in misery!"
Hither and thither she wandered, seeking her lord,
wept bitterly, saying: "Ah! thou dost sleep on the bare
hard ground whom neither sun nor storm hath ever used
roughly. O my loved one, thou hast ever awakened to
smile. How wilt thou fare when thou dost discover that
thy lord hath abandoned thee in the midst of the perilous
forest ? . . . May sun and wind and the spirits of the
wood protect thee, and may thou be shielded ever by
thine own great virtue!"
Then the distracted rajah, prompted by Kali again,
hastened away; but his heart was torn by his love, which
drew him back. ... So time and again he came and
went, like to a swing, backward and forward, until in the
end the evil spirit conquered him, and he departed from
Damayanti, who moaned fitfully in her sleep; and he
plunged into the depths of the forest.
Ere long the fair princess awoke, and when she per-
ceived that she was all alone she uttered a piteous scream
and cried out : " Oh! where art thou, my king, my lord,
my sole protector? ... I am lost; oh ! I am undone.
I am helpless and alone in the perilous wood. . . . Ah!
now thou art but deceiving me. Do not mock me, my
lord. Art thou hidden there among the bushes ? Oh,
speak! . . . Why dost thou not make answer? ... I do
not sorrow for myself only. 1 cannot well endure that
thou shouldst be alone, that thou shouldst thirst and be
an hungered and very weary, and without me to give thee
comfort. . . ."
So she wailed as she searched through the forest for
Nala, now casting herself upon the ground, now sitting
to pine in silence, and anon crying out in her grief. At
length she said: "Oh, may he who causeth Nala to suffer
endure even greater agony than he endureth, and may he
live for ever in darkness and in misery!"
Hither and thither she wandered, seeking her lord,