my heart. I'll find no peace
Until at last a remedy be found.

_Y._ Why dost thou trouble about others? Think of thy son, thy
sweetest Rahula, and if thou lovest me a little only, think of me.

_B._ I think of thee, my loving Wife, but when
I think of thee I think of all--of all
The loving wives, the happy trembling mothers
All over in the world. Happy they are,
But trembling for their babes. Oh! bear in mind,
We all are in the net of sorrow caught.
This world is full of pain, disease and death;
And even death brings no relief. Because
The wheel of life rolls on. The ills continue
In births that constantly repeat themselves.

_Y._ Oh! do not speak of it my Lord, it makes me sad. Why do you think
of misery, while here we are surrounded by wealth and comfort, and
even the prospects of our future are most auspicious. Why borrow
trouble before it comes?

_B._ My dear Yasodhara, change is the law
Of being. Now we prosper, but the wheel
Goes round and brings the high into the dust.

_Y._ You suffer from bad dreams;

_B._ Listen to me.

_They sit down._

In this luxurious palace and these gardens,
Surrounding it, was I brought up with care.
I saw naught but the fair, the beautiful,
The pleasant side of life.

_Y._ I know, Siddhattha--
I know it very well.

_B._ You know, my father
Has kept me ignorant of evil things.
I might have thought that such is life throughout,
But I began to doubt and asked for leave
To see the world outside these palace walls.
Not without difficulty did I gain
Permission, and with Channa in a chariot
I drove away--when suddenly before me
I saw a sight I'd never seen before.
There was a man with wrinkled face, bleared eyes,
And stooping gait, a sight most pitiable.

_YASODHARA is much moved._

While I was horror-struck, Channa passed by
Indifferent, for _he_ had seen such men.
Too well he knew the common fate of all;
But I, the first time in my life, did learn
That, _if_ we but live long enough, we all
Shall be such miserable wretched dotards.

_Y._ Too sudden came this saddening truth to you.

_B._ Channa sped on his horses out of town,
But there again! what an ungainly sight!
A man lay on the road-side, weak and helpless,
With trembling frame and feverish cramps.
I shut mine eyes to so much racking pain,
Still I could hear his groaning and his moaning.
"Oh, Channa," said I to the charioteer:
"Why does this happen? How deserves thi