regular menagerie of
birds. Really, the courtezan's house seems to me like Indra's heaven.
Show me the way, madam.

_Maid._ Come, sir, and enter the eighth court.

_Maitreya._ [_Enters and looks about._] Madam, who is this in the
silk cloak, adorned with such astonishingly tautologous ornaments,
who wanders about, stumbling and stretching his limbs?

_Maid._ Sir, this is my mistress' brother.

_Maitreya._ What sort of ascetic exercises does a man have to perform,
in order to be born as Vasantasena's brother? But no,

He may be shiny, may be greasy,
And perfumed may he be.
And yet I warn you to go easy;
He's a graveyard champak-tree. 29

[_He looks in another direction._] But madam, who is that in the
expansive garment, sitting on the throne? She has shoes on her
greasy feet.

[72.9. S.

_Maid._ Sir, that is my mistress' mother.

_Maitreya._ Lord! What an extensive belly the dirty old witch has
got! I suppose they couldn't put that superb portal on the house
till after they had brought the idol in?

_Maid._ Rascal! You must not make fun of our mother so. She is
pining away under a quartan ague.

_Maitreya._ [_Bursts out laughing._] O thou blessed quartan ague!
Look thou upon a Brahman, even upon me, with this thy favor!

_Maid._ Rascal! May death strike you.

_Maitreya._ [_Bursts out laughing._] Why, wench, a pot-belly like
that is better dead.

Drinking brandy, rum, and wine,
Mother fell extremely ill.
If mother now should peak and pine,
A jackal-pack would have its fill. 30

Well, I have seen Vasantasena's palace with its many incidents
and its eight courts, and really, it seems as if I had seen the triple
heaven in a nut-shell. I haven't the eloquence to praise it. Is this
the house of a courtezan, or a piece of Kubera's[57] palace? Where's
your mistress?

_Maid._ She is here in the orchard. Enter, sir.

_Maitreya._ [_Enters and looks about._] Well! What a beautiful orchard!
There are any number of trees planted here, and they are
covered with the most wonderful flowers. Silken swings are hung
under the thick-set trees, just big enough for a girl to sit in. The
golden jasmine, the shephalika, the white jasmine, the jessamine,
the navamallika, the amaranth, the spring creeper, and all the other
flowers have fallen of themselves, and really, it makes Indra's heaven
look dingy. [_He looks in another direc