efore his lord his bidding to obey.

The prince rose early on that fated day
And to the temple of his God repaired,
There to invoke His blessing on the field.
Then to the palace hastened he to meet,
Ere he went forth to fight, his youthful wife,
Who day by day in beauty grew amidst
A score of maidens, like the waxing moon;
And, with a screen of silk between, they met.
As one lured by the fragrance of the rose
Stoops down gently to lift the truant stalk
That to the other side of the thick hedge
Shoots out alone from its own parent stem,
So fondly down stooped Jinji's noble prince
To kiss the jewelled arm of his fair spouse
Which through the screen she offered to her lord.
Prince Desing was the first who silence broke.
"My dear wife! on the day when we were wed
These eyes of mine had not e'en this arm seen,
Although on the same bridal seat we sat.
The screen which by the custom of our race
Was drawn by cruel hands hid thee from view.
So wondrous fair this arm looks that methinks
Rare beauties must be seated on thy face.
My foe hath come; fear not; I go to fight,
And come with honours loaded from the field,
A victor to rejoice with thee to-night
At the propitious hour which, by the aid
Of all his starry lore, our Brahmin sage
Hath for our nuptials named,--to gaze and scan
In silent joy what charms, what beauties rare
The hand divine has showered upon thy face,
And to recount to thee, when with thine own
My arm in friendship plays, what blood it shed,
What havoc in the Moslem camp it wrought.
So let me now depart." To which the Queen:
"I was the only daughter of my sire,
And cradled in his sinewy arms I grew;
And when upon his warrior breast I laid
My head to sleep, my mother by his side
Lulled me with songs of how in days gone by
The martial women of our noble race
Went with their husbands by their side to fight;
And one so nursed fears not the Moslem foe.
But now, alas! some evil it forebodes
That thou shouldst on this day go forth to fight."

And as she spoke tears trickled down his eyes,
And one, a pearly drop, stole to her palm.
She felt it: instantly her hand withdrew,
And then began to speak in words like these:
"It is not meet that Jinji's valiant prince
Should like a child at this last hour shed tears
And fear to meet his foe; fear not, my lord,
To meet him like a soldier on the field.
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