DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0495
RAMA'S MISSION FULFILLED 409
beheld a beauteous lotus in a clear stream, and, blinded
with tears, he deemed it was the face of Sita. " O hard-
hearted one," he exclaimed, " art thou hiding there among
" the water blooms ? Seekest thou to test my love in this
manner ? Arise and come to me, my sweet love, nor
doubt me any longer."
But the bloom moved not, and Lakshmana led away
his grief-distracted brother.
" Mayhap she hath returned to the hut now," Rama
cried. Then the brethren hastened to the hermitage, but
found it empty as before. . . . Rama wailed in the moon-
light and cried to the orb of night: " O moon! mankind
welcome thy coolness, but thou dost bring to me naught
but sorrow and tears. . . . Thou lookest over the whole
world, beholding all living beings. Where, O tell me,
where is my beloved one, my lost Sita?"
Rama wandered fitfully through the jungle: the
moonbeams and the shadows fluttered around, and it
seemed as if the face of Sita were peering from every-
where. So passed a sleepless night, full of mourning
and illusions.
On the morrow the brethren went forth again in
quest of the lost one. They came to the place where
Jatayus lay dying, and that lordly bird spake to Rama
and related all that had befallen Sita and himself.
Rama sat on the ground: he embraced the dying
Vulture King, and said unto Lakshmana: " Alas! my
brother, the noble Jatayus hath given up his life to
serve me. I have lost my kingdom and my sire; I have
lost Sita, and now our ally, the Rajah of Vultures, is
dying. . . . All my friends are passing away. If I were
to sit in the shade of a tree, the tree would fall; if I
stooped to drink water from a river, verily the river
would dry up." . . .
beheld a beauteous lotus in a clear stream, and, blinded
with tears, he deemed it was the face of Sita. " O hard-
hearted one," he exclaimed, " art thou hiding there among
" the water blooms ? Seekest thou to test my love in this
manner ? Arise and come to me, my sweet love, nor
doubt me any longer."
But the bloom moved not, and Lakshmana led away
his grief-distracted brother.
" Mayhap she hath returned to the hut now," Rama
cried. Then the brethren hastened to the hermitage, but
found it empty as before. . . . Rama wailed in the moon-
light and cried to the orb of night: " O moon! mankind
welcome thy coolness, but thou dost bring to me naught
but sorrow and tears. . . . Thou lookest over the whole
world, beholding all living beings. Where, O tell me,
where is my beloved one, my lost Sita?"
Rama wandered fitfully through the jungle: the
moonbeams and the shadows fluttered around, and it
seemed as if the face of Sita were peering from every-
where. So passed a sleepless night, full of mourning
and illusions.
On the morrow the brethren went forth again in
quest of the lost one. They came to the place where
Jatayus lay dying, and that lordly bird spake to Rama
and related all that had befallen Sita and himself.
Rama sat on the ground: he embraced the dying
Vulture King, and said unto Lakshmana: " Alas! my
brother, the noble Jatayus hath given up his life to
serve me. I have lost my kingdom and my sire; I have
lost Sita, and now our ally, the Rajah of Vultures, is
dying. . . . All my friends are passing away. If I were
to sit in the shade of a tree, the tree would fall; if I
stooped to drink water from a river, verily the river
would dry up." . . .