The Plastic Age, Percy Marks [top 10 books of all time TXT] 📗

Shakuntala Said: "My Blessed

Father Has Gone From The Hermitage To Gather Fruits. Wait A Moment.

You Shall See Him When He Returns."

 

The King Did Not See The Sage,  But When The Lovely Girl Of The Fair

Hips And Charming Smile Spoke To Him,  He Saw That{} She Was Radiant In

Her Beauty,  Yes,  In Her Hard Vows And Self-Restraint All Youth And

Beauty,  And He Said To Her:

 

"Who Are You? Whose Are You,  Lovely Maiden? Why Did You Come To The

Forest? Whence Are You,  Sweet Girl,  So Lovely And So Good? Your Beauty

Stole My Heart At The First Glance. I Wish To Know You Better. Answer

Me,  Sweet Maid."

 

The Maiden Laughed When Thus Questioned By The King In The Hermitage,

And The Words She Spoke Were Very Sweet: "O Dushyanta,  I Am Known As

Blessed Kanva's Daughter,  And He Is Austere,  Steadfast,  Wise,  And Of A

Lofty Soul."

 

Dushyanta Said: "But He Is Chaste,  Glorious Maid,  Holy,  Honoured By

The World. Though Virtue Should Swerve From Its Course,  He Would Not

Swerve From The Hardness Of His Vow. How Were You Born His Daughter,

For You Are Beautiful? I Am In Great Perplexity About This. Pray

Remove It."

 

[Shakuntala Here Explains How She Is The Child Of A Sage And A Nymph,

Deserted At Birth,  Cared For By Birds (_Shakuntas_),  Found And Reared

By Kanva,  Who Gave Her The Name Shakuntala.]

 

Dushyanta Said: "You Are Clearly A King's Daughter,  Sweet Maiden,  As

You Say. Become My Lovely Wife. Tell Me,  What Shall I Do For You? Let

All My Kingdom Be Yours To-Day. Become My Wife,  Sweet Maid."

 

Shakuntala Said: "Promise Me Truly What I Say To You In Secret. The

Son That Is Born To Me Must Be Your Heir. If You Promise,  Dushyanta,  I

Will Marry You."

 

"So Be It," Said The King Without Thinking,  And Added: "I Will Bring

You Too To My City,  Sweet-Smiling Girl."

 

So The King Took The Faultlessly Graceful Maiden By The Hand And Dwelt

With Her. And When He Had Bidden Her Be Of Good Courage,  He Went

Forth,  Saying Again And Again: "I Will Send A Complete Army For You,

And Tell Them To Bring My Sweet-Smiling Bride To My Palace." When He

Had Made This Promise,  The King Went Thoughtfully To Find Kanva. "What

Will He Do When He Hears It,  This Holy,  Austere Man?" He Wondered,  And

Still Thinking,  He Went Back To His Capital.

 

Now The Moment He Was Gone,  Kanva Came To The Hermitage. And

Shakuntala Was Ashamed And Did Not Come To Meet Her Father. But

Blessed,  Austere Kanva Had Divine Discernment. He Discovered Her,  And

Seeing The Matter With Celestial Vision,  He Was Pleased And Said:

"What You Have Done,  Dear,  To-Day,  Forgetting Me And Meeting A Man,

This Does Not Break The Law. A Man Who Loves May Marry Secretly The

Woman Who Loves Him Without A Ceremony; And Dushyanta Is Virtuous And

Noble,  The Best Of Men. Since You Have Found A Loving Husband,

Shakuntala,  A Noble Son Shall Be Born To You,  Mighty In The World."

 

Sweet Shakuntala Gave Birth To A Boy Of Unmeasured Prowess. His Hands

Were Marked With The Wheel,  And He Quickly Grew To Be A Glorious Boy.

As A Six Years' Child In Kanva's Hermitage He Rode On The Backs Of

Lions,  Tigers,  And Boars Near The Hermitage,  And Tamed Them,  And Ran

About Playing With Them. Then Those Who Lived In Kanva's Hermitage

Gave Him A Name. "Let Him Be Called All-Tamer," They Said: "For He

Tames Everything."

 

But When The Sage Saw The Boy And His More Than Human Deeds,  He Said

To Shakuntala: "It Is Time For Him To Be Anointed Crown Prince." When

He Saw How Strong The Boy Was,  Kanva Said To His Pupils: "Quickly

Bring My Shakuntala And Her Son From My House To Her Husband's Palace.

A Long Abiding With Their Relatives Is Not Proper For Married Women.

It Destroys Their Reputation,  And Their Character,  And Their Virtue;

So Take Her Without Delay." "We Will," Said All The Mighty Men,  And

They Set Out With Shakuntala Colleges The Young Men With The Highest

Ideals,  The Loftiest Purpose."

 

"You Want To Tell Me That Those Ideals Are Low And The Purpose

Materialistic And Selfish. I Know It,  But The Average College Graduate,

I Repeat,  Has Loftier Ideals And Is Less Materialistic Than The Average

Man Who Has Not Gone To College. I Wish That I Could Believe That The

College Gives Him Those Ideals. I Can't,  However. The Colleges Draw The

Best That Society Has To Offer; Therefore,  They Graduate The Best."

 

"Oh,  I Don't Know," A Student Interrupted. "How About Edison And Ford

And--"

 

"And Shakspere And Sophocles," Henley Concluded For Him. "Edison Is An

Inventive Genius,  And Ford Is A Business Genius. Genius Hasn't Anything

To Do With Schools. The Colleges,  However,  Could Have Made Both Ford And

Edison Bigger Men,  Though They Couldn't Have Made Them Lesser Geniuses."

 

"No,  We Must Not Take The Exceptional Man As A Standard; We've Got To

Talk About The Average. The Hand Of The Potter Shook Badly When He Made

Man. It Was At Best A Careless Job. But He Made Some Better Than Others,

Some A Little Less Weak,  A Little More Intelligent. All In All,  Those

Are The Men That Come To College. The Colleges Ought To Do A Thousand

Times More For Those Men Than They Do Do; But,  After All,  They Do

Something For Them,  And I Am Optimistic Enough To Believe That The Time

Will Come When They Will Do More."

 

"Some Day,  Perhaps," He Concluded Very Seriously,  "Our Administrative

Officers Will Be True Educators; Some Day Perhaps Our Faculties Will Be

Wise Men Really Fitted To Teach; Some Day Perhaps Our Students Will Be

Really Students,  Eager To Learn,  Honest Searchers After Beauty And

Truth. That Day Will Be The Millennium. I Look For The Undergraduates To

Lead Us To It."

 

Chapter 23

The College Year Swept Rapidly To Its Close,  So Rapidly To The Seniors

That The Days Seemed To Melt In Their Grasp. The Twentieth Of June Would

Bring Them Their Diplomas And The End Of Their College Life. They Felt A

Bit Chesty At The Thought Of That B.S. Or A.B.,  But A Little Sentimental

At The Thought Of Leaving "Old Sanford."

 

Suddenly Everything About The College Became Infinitely Precious--Every

Tradition; Every Building,  No Matter How Ugly; Even The Professors,  Not

Just The Deserving Few--All Of Them.

 

Hugh Took To Wandering About The Campus,  Sometimes Alone,  Thinking Of

Cynthia,  Sometimes With A Favored Crony Such As George Winsor Or Pudge

Jamieson. He Didn't See Very Much Of Norry The Last Month Or Two Of

College. He Was Just As Fond Of Him As Ever,  But Norry Was Only A

Junior; He Would Not Understand How A Fellow Felt About Sanford When He

Was On The Verge Of Leaving Her. But George And Pudge Did Understand.

The Boys Didn't Say Much As They Wandered Around The Buildings,  Merely

Strolled Along,  Occasionally Pausing To Laugh Over Some Experience That

Had Happened To One Of Them In The Building They Were Passing.

 

Hugh Could Never Pass Surrey Hall Without Feeling Something Deeper Than

Sentimentality. He Always Thought Of Carl Peters,  From Whom He Had Not

Heard For More Than A Year. He Understood Carl Better Now,  His Desire

To Be A Gentleman And His Despair At Ever Succeeding. Surrey Hall Held

Drama For Hugh,  Not All Of It Pleasant,  But He Had A Deeper Affection

For The Ivy-Covered Dormitory Then He Would Ever Have For The Nu Delta

House. He Wondered What Had Become Of Morse,  The Homesick Freshman.

Poor Morse.... And The Bull Sessions He Had Sat In In Old Surrey. He

Had Learned A Lot From Them,  A Whole Lot....

 

The Chapel Where He Had Slept And Surreptitiously Eaten Doughnuts And

Read "The Sanford News" Suddenly Became A Holy Building,  The Building

That Housed The Soul Of Sanford.... He Knew That He Was Sentimental,  That

He Was Investing Buildings With A Greater Significance Than They Had In

Their Own Right,  But He Continued To Dream Over The Last Four Years And

To Find A Melancholy Beauty In His Own Sentimentality. If It Hadn't

Been For Cynthia,  He Would Have Been Perfectly Happy.

 

Soon The Examina,  As It Involves A Play On Words. The

King's Anxiety To Discover Whether The Maiden's Father Is Of A Caste

That Permits Her To Marry Him Is Reproduced (Act I). The Marriage

Without A Ceremony Is Retained (Act Iv),  But Robbed Of All Offence.

Kanva's Celestial Vision,  Which Made It Unnecessary For His Child To

Tell Him Of Her Union With The King,  Is Introduced With Great Delicacy

(Act Iv). The Curious Formation Of The Boy's Hand Which Indicated

Imperial Birth Adds To The King's Suspense (Act Vii). The Boy's Rough

Play With Wild Animals Is Made Convincing (Act Vii) And His Very

Nickname All-Tamer Is Preserved (Act Vii). Kanva's Worldly Wisdom As

To Husband And Wife Dwelling Together Is Reproduced (Act Iv). No Small

Part Of The Give-And-Take Between The King And Shakuntala Is Given

(Act V),  But With A New Dignity.

 

Of The Construction Of The Play I Speak With Diffidence. It Seems

Admirable To Me,  The Apparently Undue Length Of Some Scenes Hardly

Constituting A Blemish,  As It Was Probably Intended To Give The Actors

Considerable Latitude Of Choice And Excision. Several Versions Of The

Text Have Been Preserved; It Is From The Longer Of The Two More

Familiar Ones That The Translation In This Volume Has Been Made. In

The Warm Discussion Over This Matter,  Certain Technical Arguments Of

Some Weight Have Been Advanced In Favour Of This Choice; There Is Also

A More General Consideration Which Seems To Me Of Importance. I Find

It Hard To Believe That Any Lesser Artist Could Pad Such A

Masterpiece,  And Pad It All Over,  Without Making The Fraud Apparent On

Almost Every Page. The Briefer Version,  On The Other Hand,  Might

Easily Grow Out Of The Longer,  Either As An Acting Text,  Or As A

School-Book.

 

We Cannot Take Leave Of Shakuntala In Any Better Way Than By Quoting

The Passage[2] In Which Levi's Imagination Has Conjured Up "The

Memorable _Premiere_ When Shakuntala Saw The Light,  In The Presence Of

Vikramaditya And His Court."

 

  La Fete Du Printemps Approche; Ujjayini,  La Ville Aux Riches

  Marchands Et La Capitale Intellectuelle De L'inde,  Glorieuse Et

  Prospere Sous Un Roi Victorieux Et Sage,  Se Prepare A Celebrer

  La Solennite Avec Une Pompe Digne De Son Opulence Et De Son

  Gout.... L'auteur Applaudi De Malavika ... Le Poete Dont Le

  Souple Genie S'accommode Sans Effort Au Ton De L'epopee Ou De

  L'elegie,  Kalidasa Vient D'achever Une Comedie Heroique

  Annoncee Comme Un Chef-D'oeuvre Par La Voix De Ses Amis.... Le

  Poete A Ses Comediens,  Qu'il A Eprouves Et Dresses A Sa Maniere

  Avec Malavika. Les Comediens Suivront Leur Poete Familier,

  Devenu Leur Maitre Et Leur Ami.... Leur Solide Instruction,

  Leur Gout Epure Reconnaissent Les Qualites Maitresses De

  L'oeuvre,  L'habilete De L'intrigue,  Le Juste Equilibre Des

  Sentiments,  La Fraicheur De L'imagination ...

 

  Vikramaditya Entre,  Suivi Des Courtisans,  Et S'asseoit Sur Son

  Trone; Ses Femmes Restent A Sa Gauche; A Sa Droite Les Rois

  Vassaux Accourus Pour Rendre Leurs Hommages,  Les Princes,  Les

  Hauts Fonctionnaires,  Les Litterateurs Et Les Savants,  Groupes

  Autour De Varaha-Mihira L'astrologue Et D'amarasimha Le

  Lexicographe ...

 

  Tout A Coup,  Les Deux Jolies Figurantes Placees Devant Le

  Rideau De La Coulisse En Ecartent Les Plis,  Et Duhsanta,  L'arc

  Et Les Fleches A La Main,  Parait Monte Sur Un Char; Son Cocher

  Tient Les Renes; Lances A La Poursuite D'une Gazelle

  Imaginaire,  Ils Simulent Par Leurs Gestes La Rapidite De La

  Course; Leurs Stances Pittoresques Et Descriptives Suggerent A

  L'imagination Un Decor Que La Peinture Serait Impuissante A

  Tracer. Ils Approchent De L'ermitage; Le Roi Descend A Terre,

  Congedie Le Cocher,  Les Chevaux Et Le Char,  Entend Les Voix Des

  Jeunes Filles Et Se Cache. Un Mouvement De Curiosite

  Agite Les Spectateurs; Fille D'une Apsaras Et Creation De

  Kalidasa,  Cakuntala Reunit Tous Les Charmes;