The Little Clay Cart, Sudraka [highly recommended books .txt] 📗
- Author: Sudraka
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Courtier. Says what?
Sansthānaka. He shall neither go, nor shtay. He shall neither breathe up, nor breathe down. He shall fall down right here and die, before you can shay "boo."
Monk. Buddha be praised! I throw myself upon your protection.
Courtier. Let him go.
[114.24. S.
Sansthānaka. Well, on one condition.
Courtier. And what is that?
Sansthānaka. He musht shling mud in, without making the water dirty. Or better yet, he musht make the water into a ball, and shling it into the mud.
Courtier. What incredible folly!
So many a fool, so many a drone,
Whose thoughts and deeds are all awry—
These trees of flesh, these forms of stone.6
[The monk makes faces at Sansthānaka.]
Sansthānaka. What does he mean?
Courtier. He praises you.
Sansthānaka. Praise me shome more! Praise me again! [The monk does so, then exit.]
Courtier. See how beautiful the garden is, you jackass.
O'er which the clinging creepers interlace;
The watchmen guard them with the royal powers;
They seem like men whom loving wives embrace.7
Sansthānaka. A good deshcription, shir.
The blosshom freight bends down the lofty trees;
And, hanging from the leafy tree-top bowers,
The monkeys bob, like breadfruit in the breeze.8
Courtier. Will you be seated on this stone bench, you jackass?
Sansthānaka. I am sheated. [They seat themselves.] Do you know, shir, I remember that Vasantasenā even yet. She is like an inshult. I can't get her out of my mind.
Courtier. [Aside.] He remembers her even after such a repulse. For indeed,
But loves the more;
The wise man's passion gentler burns,
Or passes o'er.9
P. 190.16]
Sansthānaka. Shome time has passhed, shir, shince I told my shervant Sthāvaraka to take the bullock-cart and come as quick as he could. And even yet he is not here. I 've been hungry a long time, and at noon a man can't go a-foot. For shee!
And hard to look at as an angry ape;
Like Gāndhārī, whose hundred shons did die,
The earth is hard dishtresshed and can't eshcape.10
Courtier. True.
Lie drowsing in the shade;
In heated pool their lips to cool,
Deer throng the woodland glade;
A prey to heat, the city street
Makes wanderers afraid;
The cart must shun the midday sun,
And thus has been delayed.11
Sansthānaka. Yesshir,
Birds, flying creatures, alsho wingèd things
Resht in the branches of the trees, while men,
People, and pershons shigh and shigh again;
At home they tarry, in their houses shtay,
To bear the heat and burden of the day.12
Well, shir, that shervant is n't here yet. I 'm going to shing shomething to passh the time. [He sings.] There, shir, did you hear what I shang?
Courtier. What shall I say? Ah, how melodious!
[116.23. S.
Sansthānaka. Why should n't it be malodorous?
Of devil's-dung, ginger, and orris, and treacle;
That's the mixture of perfumes I eagerly eat;
Why should n't my voice be remarkably shweet?13
Well, shir, I 'm jusht going to shing again, [He does so.] There, shir, did you hear what I shang?
Courtier. What shall I say? Ah, how melodious!
Sansthānaka. Why should n't it be malodorous?
With devil's-dung added, and black pepper powder;
With oil and with butter I shprinkle the meat:
Why should n't my voice be remarkably shweet?14
But shir, the shervant is n't here yet.
Courtier. Be easy in your mind. He will be here presently.
[Enter Vasantasenā in the bullock-cart, and Sthāvaraka.]
Sthāvaraka. I 'm frightened. It is already noon. I hope Sansthānaka, the king's brother-in-law, will not be angry. I must drive faster. Get up, bullocks, get up!
Vasantasenā. Alas! That is not Vardhamānaka's voice. What does it mean? I wonder if Chārudatta was afraid that the bullocks might become weary, and so sent another man with another cart. My right eye twitches. My heart is all a-tremble. There is no one in sight. Everything seems to dance before my eyes.
Sansthānaka. [Hearing the sound of wheels.] The cart is here, shir.
Courtier. How do you know?
Sansthānaka. Can't you shee? It shqueaks like an old hog.
Courtier. [Perceives the cart.] Quite true. It is here.
Sansthānaka. Sthāvaraka, my little shon, my shlave, are you here?
Sthāvaraka. Yes, sir.
Sansthānaka. Is the cart here?
P. 194.9]
Sthāvaraka. Yes, sir.
Sansthānaka. Are the bullocks here?
Sthāvaraka. Yes, sir.
Sansthānaka. And are you here?
Sthāvaraka. [Laughing.] Yes, master, I am here too.
Sansthānaka. Then drive the cart in.
Sthāvaraka. By which road?
Sansthānaka. Right here, where the wall is tumbling down.
Sthāvaraka. Oh, master, the bullocks will be killed. The cart will go to pieces. And I, your servant, shall be killed.
Sansthānaka. I'm the king's brother-in-law, man. If the bullocks are killed, I 'll buy shome more. If the cart goes to pieces, I 'll have another one made. If you are killed, there will be another driver.
Sthāvaraka. Everything will be replaced—except me.
Sansthānaka. Let the whole thing go to pieces. Drive in over the wall.
Sthāvaraka. Then break, cart, break with your driver. There will be another cart. I must go and present myself to my master. [He drives in.] What! not broken? Master, here is your cart.
Sansthānaka. The bullocks not shplit in two? and the ropes not killed? and you too not killed?
Sthāvaraka. No, sir.
Sansthānaka. Come, shir. Let's look at the cart. You are my teacher, shir, my very besht teacher. You are a man I reshpect, my intimate friend, a man I delight to honor. Do you enter the cart firsht.
Courtier. Very well. [He starts to do so.]
Sansthānaka. Not much! Shtop! Is thish your father's cart, that you should enter it firsht? I own thish cart. I 'll enter it firsht.
Courtier. I only did what you said.
[119.8. S.
Sansthānaka. Even if I do shay sho, you ought to be polite enough to shay "After you, mashter."
Courtier. After you, then.
Sansthānaka. Now I 'll enter. Sthāvaraka, my little shon, my shlave, turn the cart around.
Sthāvaraka. [Does so.] Enter, master.
Sansthānaka. [Enters and looks about, then hastily gets out in terror, and falls on the courtier's neck.] Oh, oh, oh! You're a dead man! There's a witch, or a thief, that's sitting and living in my bullock-cart. If it's a witch, we 'll both be robbed. If it's a thief, we 'll both be eaten alive.
Courtier. Don't be frightened. How could a witch travel in a bullock-cart? I hope that the heat of the midday sun has not blinded you, so that you became the victim of an hallucination when you saw the shadow of Sthāvaraka with the smock on it.
Sansthānaka. Sthāvaraka, my little shon, my shlave, are you alive?
Sthāvaraka. Yes, sir.
Sansthānaka. But shir, there's a woman sitting and living in the bullock-cart. Look and shee!
Courtier. A woman?
Like steers whose eyes the falling raindrops daze;
In public spots my dignity I show;
On high-born dames I hesitate to gaze.15
Vasantasenā. [In amazement. Aside.] Oh, oh! It is that thorn in my eye, the king's brother-in-law. Alas! the danger is great. Poor woman! My coming hither proves as fruitless as the sowing of a handful of seeds on salty soil. What shall I do now?
Sansthānaka. Thish old shervant is afraid and he won't look into the cart. Will you look into the cart, shir?
Courtier. I see no harm in that. Yes, I will do it.
P. 198.12]
Sansthānaka. Are those things jackals that I shee flying into the air, and are those things crows that walk on all fours? While the witch is chewing him with her eyes, and looking at him with her teeth, I 'll make my eshcape.
Courtier. [Perceives Vasantasenā. Sadly to himself.] Is it possible? The gazelle follows the tiger. Alas!
Who waits for her upon the sandy dune;
And yet the swan will leave him? and will go
To dance attendance on a common crow?16
[Aside to Vasantasenā.] Ah, Vasantasenā! This is neither right, nor worthy of you.
Yet now for gold, and for your mother's will
Vasantasenā. No! [She shakes her head.]
Courtier.
You honor him, a common woman still.17
Did I not tell[79] you to "serve the man you love, and him you hate"?
Vasantasenā. I made a mistake in the cart, and thus I came hither. I throw myself upon your protection.
Courtier. Do not fear. Come, I must deceive him. [He returns to Sansthānaka.] Jackass, there is indeed a witch who makes her home in the cart.
Sansthānaka. But shir, if a witch is living there, why are n't you robbed? And if it 's a thief, why are n't you eaten alive?
Courtier. Why try to determine that? But if we should go back on foot through the gardens until we came to the city, to Ujjayinī, what harm would that do?
Sansthānaka. And if we did, what then?
[121.7. S.
Courtier. Then we should have some exercise, and should avoid tiring the bullocks.
Sansthānaka. All right. Sthāvaraka, my shlave, drive on. But no! Shtop, shtop! I go on foot before gods and Brahmans? Not much! I 'll go in my cart, sho that people shall shee me a long way off, and shay "There he goes, our mashter, the king's brother-in-law."
Courtier. [Aside.] It is hard to convert poison into medicine. So be it, then. [Aloud.] Jackass, this is Vasantasenā, come to visit you.
Vasantasenā. Heaven forbid!
Sansthānaka. [Gleefully.] Oh, oh! To visit me, an arishtocrat, a man, a regular Vāsudeva?
Courtier. Yes.
Sansthānaka. This is an unheard-of piece of luck. That other time I made her angry, sho now I 'll fall at her feet and beg her pardon.
Courtier. Capital!
Sansthānaka. I 'll fall at her feet myshelf. [He approaches Vasantasenā.] Little mother, mamma dear, lishten to my prayer.
Thine eyes are large, thy teeth are clean and neat,
Thy finger-nails are ten—forgive thy shlave
What, love-tormented, he offended, shweet.18
Vasantasenā. [Angrily.] Leave me! Your words are an insult! [She spurns him with her foot.]
Sansthānaka. [Wrathfully.]
That never bent to worship god, I wist,
Upon thish head she dared to plant her feet,
Like jackals on the carrion they meet.19
Sthāvaraka, you shlave, where did you pick her up?
Sthāvaraka. Master, the highway was blocked by villagers' wagons. So I stopped my cart near Chārudatta's orchard, and got out. And while I was helping a villager with his wagon, I suppose she mistook this cart for another, and climbed in.
P. 201.14]
Sansthānaka. Oho! she mishtook my cart for another? and did n't come to shee me? Get out of my cart, get out! You 're going to visit your poor merchant's shon, are you? Those are my bullocks you 're driving. Get out, get out, you shlave! Get out, get out!
Vasantasenā. Truly, you honor me when you say that I came to see Chārudatta. Now what must be, must be.
Sansthānaka.
These hands sho lotush-leafy,
Are itching-anxious, girl, to dally
With you; and in a jiffy
I 'll
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