t I who have
deserted the prince, but by him have I been sent away; by him who now
has given up his ordinary adornments, and with shaven head and religious
garb, has entered the sorrow-giving grove."

Then the men hearing that he had become an ascetic, were oppressed with
thoughts of wondrous boding; they sighed with heaviness and wept, and as
their tears coursed down their cheeks, they spake thus one to the other:
"What then shall we do?" Then they all exclaimed at once, "Let us haste
after him in pursuit; for as when a man's bodily functions fail, his
frame dies and his spirit flees, so is the prince our life, and he our
life gone, how shall we survive? This city, perfected with slopes and
woods; those woods, that cover the slopes of the city, all deprived of
grace, ye lie as Bharata when killed!"

Then the men and women within the town, vainly supposing the prince had
come back, in haste rushed out to the heads of the way, and seeing the
horse returning alone, not knowing whether the prince was safe or lost,
began to weep and to raise every piteous sound; and said, "Behold!
Kandaka advancing slowly with the horse, comes back with sighs and
tears; surely he grieves because the prince is lost." And thus sorrow is
added to sorrow!

Then like a captive warrior is drawn before the king his master, so did
he enter the gates with tears, his eyes filled so that he said nought.
Then looking up to heaven he loudly groaned; and the white horse too
whined piteously; then all the varied birds and beasts in the palace
court, and all the horses within the stables, hearing the sad whinnying
of the royal steed, replied in answer to him, thinking "now the prince
has come back." But seeing him not, they ceased their cries!

And now the women of the after-palace, hearing the cries of the horses,
birds, and beasts, their hair dishevelled, their faces wan and yellow,
their forms sickly to look at, their mouths and lips parched, their
garments torn and unwashed, the soil and heat not cleansed from their
bodies, their ornaments all thrown aside, disconsolate and sad,
cheerless in face, raised their bodies, without any grace, even as the
feeble little morning star; their garments torn and knotted, soiled like
the appearance of a robber, seeing Kandaka and the royal horse shedding
tears instead of the hoped-for return, they all, assembled thus, uttered
their cry, even as those who weep for one beloved just dead. Confused
and wildly they r