h smiles and nods.
She saw, and with her heart at ease,
Addressed the fiend in words like these;
"Hast thou no friend to love thee, none
In all this isle to bid thee shun
The ruin which thy crime will bring
On thee and thine, O impious King?
Who in all worlds save thee could woo
Me, Rama's consort pure and true,
As though he tempted with his love
Queen Sachi(836) on her throne above?
How canst thou hope, vile wretch, to fly
The vengeance that e'en now is nigh,
When thou hast dared, untouched by shame,
To press thy suit on Rama's dame?
Where woods are thick and grass is high
A lion and a hare may lie;
My Rama is the lion, thou
Art the poor hare beneath the bough.
Thou railest at the lord of men,
But wilt not stand within his ken.
What! is that eye unstricken yet
Whose impious glance on me was set?
Still moves that tongue that would not spare
The wife of Dasaratha's heir?"

Then, hissing like a furious snake,
The fiend again to Sita spake:
"Deaf to all prayers and threats art thou,
Devoted to thy senseless vow.
No longer respite will I give,
And thou this day shalt cease to live;
For I, as sunlight kills the morn,
Will slay thee for thy scathe and scorn."

The Rakshas guard was summoned: all
The monstrous crew obeyed the call,
And hastened to the king to take
The orders which he fiercely spake:
"See that ye guard her well, and tame,
Like some wild thing, the stubborn dame,
Until her haughty soul be bent
By mingled threat and blandishment."(837)

The monsters heard: away he strode,
And passed within his queens' abode.

Canto XXIII. The Demons' Threats.

Then round the helpless Sita drew
With fiery eyes the hideous crew,
And thus assailed her, all and each,
With insult, taunt, and threatening speech:
"What! can it be thou prizest not
This happy chance, this glorious lot,
To be the chosen wife of one
So strong and great, Pulastya's son?
Pulastya--thus have sages told--
Is mid the Lords of Life(838) enrolled.
Lord Brahma's mind-born son was he,
Fourth of that glorious company.
Visravas from Pulastya sprang,--
Through all the worlds his glory rang.
And of Visravas, large-eyed dame!
Our king the mighty Ravan came.
His happy consort thou mayst be:
Scorn not the words we say to thee."

One awful demon, fiery-eyed,
Stood by the Maithil queen and cried:
'Come and be his, if thou art wise,
Who smote the sovereign of the skies,
And made the thirty Gods and three,(839)
O'ercome in fu