And the very next morning, King Mitra's capital went as it were wild with joy, with smiles in the form of red banners hung from every housetop, and laughter in the form of drums beaten in every street, and shouts of victory in every mouth: since all had heard that King Chand was going to marry the King's daughter, and so would the hereditary enemy become a friend.[1] And the marriage was celebrated with all its rites, with speed that did not however keep pace with King Chand's impatience, who almost lost his reason on account of the delay of the astrologers in fixing the auspicious day. And as soon as he had led his bride with trembling hand around the fire, he took her away to his own home.
And as he went away, Yogeshwara said to him, at the city gate: O King Chand, dost thou bear a grudge against the old minister that lured thee into a snare? And Chand laughed, and said: O Yogeshwara, I wish I had a minister like thee. And as to the grudge, I owe thee what I am anxious to repay. Come to my capital below, when thou hast leisure, and ask me for anything whatever of most value to thee in the three worlds, and it is thine. And Yogeshwara said instantly: I choose thy bride. And Chand laughed again, and said: It is well chosen: and now I see, that thy reputation for wisdom is well deserved. Nevertheless, thou wilt have to choose again, for thou hast asked for the only thing I will not give.
So then, as they went away, Yogeshwara said softly to himself: Now, were I only a young man, my fortune would be made. But as it is, I am old, and my work is done: and I have attained the fruit of my birth. And see! how the Deity, in this case, as frequently before, has brought about things contrary to all expectation, and such as no man could have believed even to be possible, by the very simplest means. For King Chand and his son have done nothing all their lives, but subdue the regions of the earth: whereas King Mitra has done absolutely nothing, except marry a wife and beget a daughter. And yet, aided by my policy, this daughter has, like a wishing-tree, dropped all Chand's gains into our lap, and so far from losing anything, we have gained all. So much more powerful has proved this slender digit of the moon than all the fury of the sun. And now, then, I will put off the burden of the State, and spend the days that still remain to me in accumulating merit, by penance and austerities.
And he handed over everything to his son, and becoming a pilgrim, went to Wáránasi. And there he took up his station on the margin of the holy stream, and sat there, motionless and speechless, till he died. And they made a pyre and burned him on the Ghat: and his soul entered another body, while the ashes of the old one floated down the river, and were lost at last in the waters of the sea.
And then, Maheshwara stopped.
And after a while, the Daughter of the Mountain said softly: O Moony-Crested, thy story, after all, proves absolutely nothing. For beyond a doubt, Chand would have loved his beautiful and crafty mountain-bride every whit as much, had she never committed any fault at all.
Then said the God: O Daughter of the Snow, thou art altogether mistaken. For the fact that he had, as it were, to forgive her for a fault, in the very crisis and ecstasy of his passion, increased it not merely a hundred, but a thousand-fold, and enriched it with a sweetness which otherwise it could never have possessed. And so it is in every other case: for therein lies the flattery of sex.[2] And each sex loves the other better, if it love at all, for having something to forgive. For nothing augments affection so much as the forgiveness of its object. And the tests of love are only two, the power of recollection, and the capacity to forgive. For false love forgets at once, and cannot forgive at all. But love that is really love forgives for ever, and never forgets.
Then said the mountain goddess: But in what, then, lies the superiority of sex to sex, and man to woman? And why is not he a mine of faults, as well as she?
And as she spoke, she was conscious of a change: and all at once she looked, and found that she was lying, not on the Great God's breast, but on the green side of a hill. And instantly she exclaimed, in a pet: Now he has cheated me again, suddenly substituting this green hill for his own body, and going somewhere else, leaving me in the lurch, without an answer to my doubt. And now I shall have to wait, until he chooses to return. And doubtless he thinks, that after a little while, I shall have utterly forgotten all about it; but on the contrary, I will very carefully remember to make him answer, and I will take my hair down, and keep it so, until he does. And in the meantime, I will go, and listen to my own praises; and show myself, it may be, for a moment, in return for them, to my worshippers in the Windhya hills.
[1] Theupahára sandhi, or alliance produced by a gift from one of the contracting parties, is, according to Wishnusharma, of the fourteen different kinds of alliance, the best. I have selectedCordial Understandingas its nearest equivalent.
[2]Abhimánikais a piece of profound psychology, utterly beyond translation. It means the intense self-gratification, or egoistic pride felt by either lover, conscious of monopolising the other's love, in being that other's adequate and reciprocal opposite and satisfaction: the strange and sweet emotion, half bashful, half triumphant; that seethes and bubbles in a young man's soul, when first a woman falls in love with him.
THE END
********
A Selection from theCatalogue of
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Complete Catalogues senton application
Books by F. W. Bain
Translated from Original Manuscripts
A Digit of the Moon
And Other Love Stories from the Hindu
Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Net, $1.30
A Draught of the Blue
together with
An Essence of the Dusk
Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Net, $1.50
An Incarnation of the Snow
Crown 8vo, Illustrated. Net, $1.25
A Mine of Faults
Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Net, $1.25
The Ashes of a God
"Mr. Bain's stories are full of wistfulness and beauty. There is a tenderness, a richness of color, a warmth of passion, and an elemental understanding of men and women.... They seem to me to place Mr. Bain on an eminence isolated and unique.... No words that I can write can fittingly express the fascination of these books."—Mr. E. V. Lucas in theLondon Bookman.
"Charming love stories that will be absolutely novel to most readers. They are delicate, vivid, and told in beautiful English. They show Hindu life and thought in the true light, a thing worth doing in view of the mushy mysticisms and theosophical gibbering that have obscured it in this country."—N. Y. Sun.
*****
A Fascinating Romance
GREAT POSSESSIONS
By MRS. WILFRID WARD
Mrs. Ward's latest book is the romance of a mysterious bequest. Sir David Bright, a distinguished soldier and prominent figure in London society, has died leaving the bulk of his immense fortune not to his wife, but to an unknown woman living in Florence. Starting with this somewhat melodramatic situation, the author has told a fascinating story of London life marked by pictures of the great world, a presentation at court, and all the lesser observances of fashionable society, with moving and sympathetic character studies, and throughout a strong and striking plot.The Great Possessionsmight be called the EnglishHouse of Mirth.
Crown 8vo. Fixed price, $1.35 net
*****
"A Remarkable Book"
SAN CELESTINO
BY JOHN AYSCOUGH
Author of "MAROTZ," "DROMINA," etc.
In form, it is almost exactly like a novel with frequent conversations, and going, in minor matters at least, far beyond the record of history. The narrative opens with Petruccio as a child in the home of his parents, who belong to the minor nobility of the Abruzzi. It follows his career at Salerno, where he attended the University as a lonely figure making few friends. Afterwards he became a hermit and the story tells how disciples gathered round him, beginning with two worldly young men who had known him at Salerno. The Order of the Celestines thus founded grew in numbers and importance through fifty quiet years, when the call to the Papacy came. From this point, Mr. Ayscough's chronicle moves swiftly and dramatically—the poor simple old man dragged weeping from his hermit's cave and borne to the triumph from which he shrank in horror,—the miserable weeks in Rome, touching examples of his simplicity and guilelessness. Then the peace which came with the renunciation, and his last days passed quite happily as a captive in a prison cell.
Crown 8vo. $1.50
*****
"Bound to be one of the most popular novelsof the year"
THE WIVING OFLANCE CLEAVERAGE
BY ALICE MACGOWAN
Author of "JUDITH OF THE CUMBERLANDS,""RETURN," "LAST WORD," ETC.
By its stirring dramatic appeal, its varied interest, its skilful artistry, Miss MacGowan's new Tennessee mountain story marks a long step in advance of her earlier novels. It is an interesting company that is brought together in this book—notably the proud high-spirited mountain beauty who is the heroine, and the bold and fiery young hero, who will surely stand high in the good graces of readers of the tale—and a company of distinct types drawn with a graphic and spirited hand, a company moved by strong passions—love, and hate too, green jealousy and black revenge.
With Illustrations in Color by ROBERT EDWARDS
Fixed price, $1.35 net
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONSNEW YORK LONDON
*****
By F. W. BAIN
Translated from the Original Manuscripts
A Digit of the MoonAnd Other Love Stories from the Hindu
A Draught of the Bluetogether withAn Essence of the Dusk
An Incarnation of the SnowA Mine of FaultsThe Ashes of a God