The Little Clay Cart Part 53

_Maitreya._ My good men, let my dear friend Charudatta go free, and kill me instead.

_Charudatta._ Heaven forbid! [_He looks about. Aside._] Now I understand.

for men with Fortune biding; But friends prove faithless when good fortune ends. (16)

[_Aloud._]

These women, in their palaces who stay, From half-shut windows peering, thus lament, "Alas for Charudatta! Woe the day!"

And pity-streaming eyes on me are bent. (11)

_Goha._ Out of the way, gentlemen, out of the way!

Why gaze upon the good man so, When shame his living hope lays low?

The cord was broken at the well, And down the golden pitcher fell. 24

_Charudatta._ [_Mournfully._]

From thy dear lips, that vied with coral's red, Betraying teeth more bright than moonbeams fair, My soul with heaven's nectar once was fed.

How can I, helpless, taste that poison dread, To drink shame's poisoned cup how can I bear? (13)

_Ahinta._ Proclaim the sentence again, man. [_Goha does so._]

_Charud._

So lowly fallen! till shame my virtues blur, Till such an ending seem not loss, but gain!

Yet o'er my heart there creeps a saddening pain, To hear them cry abroad "_You_ murdered _her_!" 25

[162.18. S.

[_Enter Sthavaraka, fettered, in the palace tower._]

_Sthavaraka._ [_After listening to the proclamation. In distress._]

What! the innocent Charudatta is being put to death? And my master has thrown me into chains! Well, I must shout to them.--Listen, good gentlemen, listen! It was I, wretch that I am, who carried Vasantasena to the old garden Pushpakaranda, because she mistook my bullock-cart for another. And then my master, Sansthanaka, found that she would not love him, and it was he, not this gentleman, who murdered her by strangling.--But they are so far away that no one hears me. What shall I do? Shall I cast myself down? [_He reflects._] If I do, then the n.o.ble Charudatta will not be put to death. Yes, through this broken window I will throw myself down from the palace tower. Better that I should meet my end, than that the n.o.ble Charudatta should perish, this tree of life for n.o.ble youths. And if I die in such a cause, I have attained heaven. [_He throws himself down._] Wonderful! I did not meet my end, and my fetters are broken. So I will follow the sound of the headsmen's voices. [_He discovers the headsmen, and hastens forward._] Headsmen, headsmen, make way!

_Headsmen._ For whom shall we make way?

_Sthavaraka._ Listen, good gentlemen, listen! It was I, wretch that I am, who carried Vasantasena to the old garden Pushpakaranda, because she mistook my bullock-cart for another. And then my master, Sansthanaka, found that she would not love him, and it was he, not this gentleman, who murdered her by strangling.

_Charudatta._ Thank heaven!

But who thus gladdens this my latest morn, When in Time's snare I struggle all forlorn, A streaming cloud above the rainless corn? 26

Listen! do you hear what I say?

Death have I never feared, but blackened fame; My death were welcome, coming free from shame, As were a son, new-born to bear my name. 27

And again:

That small, weak fool, whom I have never hated, Stained me with sin wherewith himself was mated, An arrow, with most deadly poison baited. 28

_Headsmen._ Are you telling the truth, Sthavaraka?

P. 266.13]

_Sthavaraka._ I am. And to keep me from telling anybody, he cast me into chains, and imprisoned me in the tower of his palace.

[_Enter Sansthanaka._]

_Sansthanaka._ [_Gleefully._]

I ate a shour and bitter dish Of meat and herbs and shoup and fish; I tried at home my tongue to tickle With rice-cakes plain, and rice with treacle. 29

[_He listens._] The headsmen's voices! They shound like a broken bra.s.s cymbal. I hear the music of the fatal drum and the kettle-drums, and sho I shuppose that that poor man, Charudatta, is being led to the place of execution. I musht go and shee it. It is a great delight to shee my enemy die. Bes.h.i.+des, I 've heard that a man who shees his enemy being killed, is sure not to have sh.o.r.e eyes in his next birth. I acted like a worm that had crept into the knot of a lotush-root. I looked for a hole to crawl out at, and brought about the death of thish poor man, Charudatta. Now I 'll climb up the tower of my own palace, and have a look at my own heroic deeds. [_He does so and looks about._] Wonderful what a crowd there is, to shee that poor man led to his death! What would it be when an arishtocrat, a big man like me, was being led to his death? [_He gazes._] Look! There he goes toward the shouth, adorned like a young shteer. But why was the proclamation made near my palace tower, and why was it shtopped? [_He looks about._] Why, my shlave Sthavaraka is gone, too. I hope he has n't run away and betrayed the shecret. I musht go and look for him. [_He descends and approaches the crowd._]

_Sthavaraka._ [_Discovers him._] There he comes, good masters!

_Headsmen._

Give way! Make room! And shut the door!

Be silent, and say nothing more!

Here comes a mad bull through the press, Whose horns are sharp with wickedness. 30

[164.16. S.

_Sansthanaka._ Come, come, make way! [_He approaches._] Sthavaraka, my little shon, my shlave, come, let 's go home.

_Sthavaraka._ You scoundrel! Are you not content with the murder of Vasantasena? Must you try now to murder the n.o.ble Charudatta, that tree of life to all who loved him?

_Sansthanaka._ I am beautiful as a pot of jewels. I kill no woman!

_Bystanders._ Oho! _you_ murdered her, not the n.o.ble Charudatta.

_Sansthanaka._ Who shays that?

_Bystanders._ [_Pointing to Sthavaraka._] This honest man.

_Sansthanaka._ [_Fearfully. Aside._] Merciful heavens! Why did n't I chain that shlave Sthavaraka fasht? Why, he was a witnessh of my crime. [_He reflects._] I 'll do it thish way. [_Aloud._] Lies, lies, good gentlemen. Why, I caught the shlave shtealing gold, and I pounded him, and murdered him, and put him in chains. He hates me. What he shays can't be true. [_He secretly hands Sthavaraka a bracelet, and whispers._] Sthavaraka, my little shon, my shlave, take thish and shay shomething different.

_Sthavaraka._ [_Takes it._] Look, gentlemen, look! Why, he is trying to bribe me with gold.

_Sansthanaka._ [_s.n.a.t.c.hes the bracelet from him._] That 's the gold that I put him in chains for. [_Angrily._] Look here, headsmen! I put him in charge of my gold-chest, and when he turned thief, I murdered him and pounded him. If you don't believe it, jusht look at his back.

_Headsmen._ [_Doing so._] Yes, yes. When a servant is branded that way, no wonder he tells tales.

_Sthavaraka._ A curse on slavery! A slave convinces n.o.body.

[_Mournfully._] n.o.ble Charudatta, I have no further power. [_He falls at Charudatta's feet._]