LITMIR.BIZ

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the soorma-stick,

      Fresh-bathed and scented; all in shawls and cloths

      Of gayest; slender hands and feet new-stained

      With crimson, and the tilka-spots stamped bright.

      Fair show it was of all those Indian girls

      Slow-pacing past the throne with large black eyes

      Fixed on the ground, for when they saw the Prince

      More than the awe of Majesty made beat

      Their fluttering hearts, he sate so passionless,

      Gentle, but so beyond them. Each maid took

      With down-dropped lids her gift, afraid to gaze;

      And if the people hailed some lovelier one

      Beyond her rivals worthy royal smiles,

      She stood like a scared antelope to touch

      The gracious hand, then fled to join her mates

      Trembling at favour, so divine he seemed,

      So high and saint-like and above her world.

      Thus filed they, one bright maid after another,

      The city's flowers, and all this beauteous march

      Was ending and the prizes spent, when last

      Came young Yasodhara, and they that stood

      Nearest Siddartha saw the princely boy

      Start, as the radiant girl approached. A form

      Of heavenly mould; a gait like Parvati's; the

      Eyes like a hind's in love-time, face so fair

      Words cannot paint its spell; and she alone

      Gazed full-folding her palms across her breasts

      On the boy's gaze, her stately neck unbent.

      "Is there a gift for me?" she asked, and smiled.

      "The gifts are gone," the Prince replied, "yet take

      This for amends, dear sister, of whose grace

      Our happy city boasts;" therewith he loosed

      The emerald necklet from his throat, and clasped

      Its green beads round her dark and silk-soft waist;

      And their eyes mixed, and from the look sprang love.

      Long after—when enlightenment was full—

      Lord Buddha—being prayed why thus his heart

      Took fire at first glance of the Sakya girl,

      Answered, "We were not strangers, as to us

      And all it seemed; in ages long gone by

      A hunter's son, playing with forest girls

      By Yamun's spring, where Nandadevi stands,

      Sate umpire while they raced beneath the firs

      Like hares at eve that run their playful rings;

      One with flower-stars crowned he, one with long plumes

      Plucked from eyed pheasant and the junglecock,

      One with fir-apples; but who ran the last

      Came first for him, and unto her the boy

      Gave a tame fawn and his heart's love beside.

      And in the wood they lived many glad years,

      And in the wood they undivided died.

      Lo! as hid seed shoots after rainless years,

      So good and evil, pains and pleasures, hates

      And loves, and all dead deeds, come forth again

      Bearing bright leaves or dark, sweet fruit or sour.

      Thus I was he and she Yasodhara;

      And while the wheel of birth and death turns round,

      That which hath been must be between us two."

      But they who watched the Prince at prize-giving

      Saw and heard all, and told the careful King

      How sate Sidddrtha heedless till there passed

      Great Suprabuddha's child, Yasodhara;

      And how—at sudden sight of her—he changed,

      And how she gazed on him and he on her,

      And of the jewel-gift, and what beside

      Passed in their speaking glance.

      The fond King smiled:

      "Look! we have found a lure; take counsel now

      To fetch therewith our falcon from the clouds.

      Let messengers be sent to ask the maid

      In marriage for my son." But it was law

      With Sakyas, when any asked a maid

      Of noble house, fair and desirable,

      He must make good his skill in martial arts

      Against all suitors who should challenge it;

      Nor might this custom break itself for kings.

      Therefore her father spake: "Say to the King,

      The child is sought by princes far and near;

      If thy most gentle son can bend the bow,

      Sway sword, and back a horse better than they,

      Best would he be in all and best to us

      But how shall this be, with his cloistered ways?"

      Then the King's heart was sore, for now the Prince

      Begged sweet Yasodhara for wife—in vain,

      With Devadatta foremost at the bow,

      Ardjuna master of all fiery steeds,

      And Nanda chief in sword-play; but the Prince

      Laughed low and said, "These things, too, I have learned;

      Make proclamation that thy son will meet

      All comers at their chosen games. I think

      I shall not lose my love for such as these."

      So 't was given forth that on the seventh day

      The Prince Siddartha summoned whoso would

      To match with him in feats of manliness,

      The victor's crown to be Yasodhara.

      Therefore, upon the seventh day, there went

      The Sakya lords and town and country round

      Unto the maidan; and the maid went too

      Amid her kinsfolk, carried as a bride,

      With music, and with litters gaily dight,

      And gold-horned oxen, flower-caparisoned.

      Whom Devadatta claimed, of royal line,

      And Nanda and Ardjuna, noble both,

      The flower of all youths there, till the Prince came

      Riding his white horse Kantaka, which neighed,

      Astonished at this great strange world without

      Also Siddartha gazed with wondering eyes

      On all those people born beneath the throne,

      Otherwise housed than kings, otherwise fed,

      And yet so like—perchance—in joys and

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