ner. Is not this very ring a proof that
what has been lost may be unexpectedly found?

KING. [_Gazing at the ring_.

Ah! this ring, too, has fallen from a station not easily
regained, and I offer it my sympathy. O gem,

The punishment we suffer is deserved,
And equal is the merit of our works,
When such our common doom. Thou didst enjoy
The thrilling contact of those slender fingers,
Bright as the dawn; and now how changed thy lot!

SANUMATI. [_Aside_.

Had it found its way to the hand of any other person, then indeed
its fate would have been deplorable.

MA[T.]HAVYA.

Pray, how did the ring ever come upon her hand at all?

SANUMATI. [_Aside_.

I myself am curious to know.

KING.

You shall hear. When I was leaving my beloved [S']akoontala that I
might return to my own capital, she said to me, with tears in her
eyes: 'How long will it be ere my lord send for me to his palace
and make me his queen?'

MA[T.]HAVYA.

Well, what was your reply?

KING.

Then I placed the ring on her finger, and thus addressed her:--

Repeat each day one letter of the name Engraven on this gem; ere
thou hast reckoned The tale of syllables, my minister Shall come
to lead thee to thy husband's palace.

But, hard-hearted man that I was, I forgot to fulfil my promise,
owing to the infatuation that took possession of me.

SANUMATI. [_Aside_.

A pleasant arrangement! Fate, however, ordained that the
appointment should not be kept.

MA[T.]HAVYA.

But how did the ring contrive to pass into the stomach of that
carp which the fisherman caught and was cutting up?

KING.

It must have slipped from my [S']akoontala's hand, and fallen into
the stream of the Ganges, while she was offering homage to the
water of [S']achi's holy pool.

MA[T.]HAVYA.

Very likely.

SANUMATI. [_Aside_.

Hence it happened, I suppose, that the King, always fearful of
committing the least injustice, came to doubt his marriage with
my poor [S']akoontala. But why should affection so strong as his
stand in need of any token of recognition?

KING.

Let me now address a few words of reproof to this ring.

MA[T.]HAVYA. [_Aside_.

He is going stark mad, I verily believe.