he bidding of heaven's king. Go,
acquaint the minister Pishuna with the matter, and add these words of
mine:

Your wisdom only shall control
The kingdom for a time;
My bow is strung; a distant goal
Calls me, and tasks sublime.

_Clown_. Very well. (_Exit_.)

_Matali_. Enter the chariot. (_The king does so. Exeunt omnes_.)

ACT VII

(_Enter, in a chariot that flies through the air, the king and_
MATALI.)

_King_. Matali, though I have done what Indra commanded, I think
myself an unprofitable servant, when I remember his most gracious
welcome.

_Matali_. O King, know that each considers himself the other's debtor.
For

You count the service given
Small by the welcome paid,
Which to the king of heaven
Seems mean for such brave aid.

_King_. Ah, no! For the honour given me at parting went far beyond
imagination. Before the gods, he seated me beside him on his throne.
And then

He smiled, because his son Jayanta's heart
Beat quicker, by the self-same wish oppressed,
And placed about my neck the heavenly wreath
Still fragrant from the sandal on his breast.

_Matali_. But what do you not deserve from heaven's king? Remember:

Twice, from peace-loving Indra's sway
The demon-thorn was plucked away:
First, by Man-lion's crooked claws;
Again, by your smooth shafts to-day.

_King_. This merely proves Indra's majesty. Remember:

All servants owe success in enterprise
To honour paid before the great deed's done;
Could dawn defeat the darkness otherwise
Than resting on the chariot of the sun?

_Matali_. The feeling becomes you. (_After a little_.) See, O King!
Your glory has the happiness of being published abroad in heaven.

With colours used by nymphs of heaven
To make their beauty shine,
Gods write upon the surface given
Of many a magic vine,
As worth their song, the simple story
Of those brave deeds that made your glory.

_King_. Matali, when I passed before, I was intent on fighting the
demons, and did not observe this region. Tell me. In which path of the
winds are we?

_Matali_.

It is the windpath sanctified
By holy Vishnu's second stride;
Which, freed from dust of passion, ever
Upholds the threefold heavenly river;
And, driving them with reins of light,
Guides the stars in wheeling flight.

_King_. That is why serenity pervades me, body and soul. (_He observes
the path taken by the chariot_.) It se