hou dost seek to sully my good name
By base aspersions, like a swollen torrent,
That, leaping from its narrow bed, o'erthrows
The tree upon its bank, and strives to blend
Its turbid waters with the crystal stream?

[S']AKOONTALA.

If, then, thou really believest me to be the wife of another, and
thy present conduct proceeds from some cloud that obscures thy
recollection, I will easily convince thee by this token.

KING.

An excellent idea!

[S']AKOONTALA.

[_Feeling for the ring_.

Alas! alas! woe is me! There is no ring on my finger!

[_Looks with anguish at_ GAUTAMI.

GAUTAMI.

The ring must have slipped off when thou wast in the act of
offering homage to the holy water of [S']achi's sacred pool, near
Sakravatara[82].

KING. [_Smiling_.

People may well talk of the readiness of woman's invention! Here
is an instance of it.

[S']AKOONTALA.

Say, rather, of the omnipotence of fate. I will mention another
circumstance, which may yet convince thee.

KING.

By all means let me hear it at once.

[S']AKOONTALA.

One day, while we were seated in a jasmine-bower, thou didst pour
into the hollow of thine hand some water, sprinkled by a recent
shower in the cup of a lotus-blossom--

KING.

I am listening; proceed.

[S']AKOONTALA.

At that instant, my adopted child, the little fawn, with soft,
long eyes, came running towards us. Upon which, before tasting
the water thyself, thou didst kindly offer some to the little
creature, saying fondly:--'Drink first, gentle fawn.' But she
could not be induced to drink from the hand of a stranger; though
immediately afterwards, when I took the water in my own hand,
she drank with perfect confidence. Then, with a smile, thou didst
say;--'Every creature confides naturally in its own kind. You are
both inhabitants of the same forest, and have learnt to trust
each other.'

KING.

Voluptuaries may allow themselves to be seduced from the path of
duty by falsehoods such as these, expressed in honeyed words.

GAUTAMI.

Speak not thus, illustrious Prince. This lady was brought up in a
hermitage, and has never learnt deceit.

KING.

Holy matron,

E'en in untutored brutes, the female sex
Is marked by inborn subtlety--much more
In beings gifted with intelligence.
The wily Koil[83], ere towards the sky
She wings her sportive flight, commits her eggs
To other