m to renew.
Before the fury of an angered king
For full three days and nights they ran, and found
At last a safe and happy shelter in
A shepherd's cot, and in those troublous times
'Twas easier for the brave to kingdoms found,
Rear palaces, and rulers strong become,
Than for the toiling peasants, from sown fields,
To reap their crops and safely bear them home.
Brave Timma was a stranger 'mongst new men;
The many tigers by his arrows killed
And neighboring clans and lawless robbers kept
In check gave them sure hopes of future peace
And future joy, and straightway they made him
Their king to guard their women and their homes,
While they their avocations of the soil
In peace pursued, and soon was raised a fort;
A stately palace too was reared within
By willing hands, and safe from dang'rous foes,
And far away from their dear native vale
Of Vijiapore they spent their peaceful days
In joy, beloved by all their loyal men.
But 'tis a saying often told in Ind,
_He hath a foe who hath a lovely wife._
Her very loveliness is reason deemed
To hate her lord, nay, murder him, and hence
Her husband's foe unconscious she becomes.
For Chandra's beauty all these evils wrought
Upon the youth, who for his country fought
So many battles, and the Moslem kept
In constant dread, and for his virtue's sake,
Though most beloved in his native land,
And dreaded most for valour by his foes,
He lived a stranger in a foreign land.
She, too, that maiden, 'twas her fate to share
Her husband's troubles for her beauty rare.
Still 'twas a little heav'n their new home where
The halcyon days of mutual love were spent.
'Tis sweet to love and sweeter to be loved;
And thus in their new home their life of joy
They spent in undisturbed solitude;
But ah! this even was not long to be.
One day the news was brought to their new king,
By a small troop of sorrow-stricken men,
That ev'ry night a tiger from his den
Came down and fearful havoc wrought amongst
Their toiling cattle, and the piteous tales
Of dreadful woe they poured into his ear
Moved Timma's heart, who took his trusty bow
And forthwith started with a faithful band
To drag the tiger from his mountain cave
And then for ever stop his mad career.
For days and nights he wandered in the woods,
But sad to tell found not the dreaded beast.
Still, nothing daunted, continued the search,