flicted multitude,
And Tara and thy lords of state
Around their monarch weep and wait.
Arise my lord, with gentle speech,
As was thy wont, dismissing each,
Then in the forest will we play
And love shall make our spirits gay."

The Vanar dames raised Tara, drowned
In floods of sorrow, from the ground;
And Angad with Sugriva's aid,
O'erwhelmed with anguish and dismayed,
Weeping for his departed sire,
Placed Bali's body on the pyre:
Then lit the flame, and round the dead
Passed slowly with a mourner's tread.
Thus with full rites the funeral train
Performed the service for the slain,
Then sought the flowing stream and made
Libations to the parted shade.
There, setting Angad first in place,
The chieftains of the Vanar race,
With Tara and Sugriva, shed
The water that delights the dead.

Canto XXVI. The Coronation.

Each Vanar councillor and peer
In crowded numbers gathered near
Sugriva, mournful king, while yet
His vesture from the wave was wet,
Before the chief of Raghu's seed
Unwearied in each arduous deed,
They stood and raised the reverent hand
As saints before Lord Brahma stand.
Then Hanuman of massive mould,
Like some tall hill of glistering gold,
Son of the God whose wild blasts shake
The forest, thus to Rama spake:
"By thy kind favour, O my lord,
Sugriva, to his home restored
Triumphant, has regained to-day
His rank and power and royal sway.
He now will call each faithful friend,
Enter the city, and attend
With sage advice and prudent care
To every task that waits him there.
Then balm and unguent shall anoint
Our monarch, as the laws appoint,
And gems and precious wreaths shall be
His grateful offering, King, to thee.
Do thou, O Rama, with thy friend
Thy steps within the city bend;
Our ruler on his throne install,
And with thy presence cheer us all."

Then, skilled in lore and arts that guide
The speaker, Raghu's son replied:
"For fourteen years I might not break
The mandate that my father spake;
Nor can I, till that time be fled,
The street of town or village tread.
Let King Sugriva seek the town
Most worthy of her high renown,
There let him be without delay
Anointed, and begin his sway."

This answered, to Sugriva then
Thus spake anew the king of men:
"Do thou who knowest right ordain
Prince Angad consort of thy reign;
For he is noble, true, and bold,
And trained a righteous course to hold
Gifts like his sire's that youth adorn
Born eldest to the eldest born.
This