with gold embossed,
Brave Yudhishthir kept that sabre when the king his kingdom lost!

Yonder sword with goat-skin scabbard brave Nakula wields in war,
In the cowhide Sahadeva keeps his shining scimitar!"

"Strange thy accents," spake Uttara, "stranger are the weapons bright,
Are they arms of sons of Pandu famed on earth for matchless might?

Where are now those pious princes by a dire misfortune crossed,
Warlike Arjun, good Yudhishthir, by his subjects loved and lost?

Where is tiger-waisted Bhima, matchless fighter in the field,
And the brave and twin-born brothers skilled the arms of war to wield?

O'er a game they lost their empire, and we heard of them no more,
Or perchance they lonesome wander on some wild and distant shore!

And Draupadi noble princess, purest best of womankind,
Doth she wander with Yudhishthir, changeless in her heart and mind?"

Proudly answered valiant Arjun, and a smile was on his face,
"Not in distant lands the brothers do their wandering footsteps trace!

In thy father's court disguised lives Yudhishthir just and good,
Bhima in thy father's palace as a cook prepares the food!

Brave Nakula guards the horses, Sahadeva tends the kine,
As thy sister's waiting-woman doth the fair Draupadi shine!

_Pardon, prince, these rings and bangles, pardon strange unmanly guise,
'Tis no poor and sexless creature, Arjun greets thy wondering eyes!"_

IV

Rescue of the Cattle

Arjun decked his mighty stature in the gleaming arms of war,
And with voice of distant thunder rolled the mighty battle-car!

And the Kurus marked with wonder Arjun's standard lifted proud,
Heard with dread the deep _gandiva_ sounding oft and sounding loud!

And they knew the wondrous bowman wheeling round the battle-car,
And with doubts and grave misgivings whispered Drona skilled in war:

"That is Arjun's monkey-standard, how it greets my ancient eyes!
Well the Kurus know the standard like a comet in the skies!

Hear ye not the deep _gandiva_? How my ear its accents greet!
Mark ye not these pointed arrows falling prone before my feet?

By these darts his salutation to his teacher loved of old,
Years of exile now completed, Arjun sends with greetings bold!

How the gallant prince advances! Now I mark his form and face,
Issuing from his dark concealment with a brighter, haughtier grace,

Well I know his bow and arrows and I know his standard well,
And the deep and echoing accents of his far-resounding shell!

In