SIDDHATTHA _follows the Princess into the palace_.

_K._ A Buddha's life
Is not for every one.
He has no wife
No pleasure and no fun.
He cannot laugh,
He cannot cry;
He cannot love
He cannot sigh.
He's always preaching, preaching.
He's always teaching, teaching.
He wonders at time's transiency
And ponders on man's misery,
And findeth his salvation
In dreary resignation.
That life I see
Is not for me:
'Twould be ill spent;
I would not find enlightenment.
I lift not the world's woe
And in my quest for truth would fail
[_Muses a moment._]
So I had better go
And listen to the nightingale.

_KALA UDAYIN exit._

[During the last scene twilight has gradually set in.]

THIRD SCENE.

[The scene changes by open curtain. A veil comes down, and when its
goes up again we see the bed chamber of Siddhattha and Yasodhara dimly
lit by tapers.]

_YASODHARA (Y) on the bed with babe in arms, two maids in
waiting. SIDDHATTHA (B) comes in. A halo of light (not too
strong) surrounds his head. The princess rises, lays the babe
down and advances toward her husband._

_Y._ O good my Lord, my Prince, my Husband!

_A pause. She changes her voice as if ashamed of her show of
feeling. With a matter-of-fact intonation._

Rahula fell asleep again.

_B._ Why art thou sad, my good Yasodhara?
I see a tear that glitters in thine eye.

_Y._ An unspeakable melancholy steals over my soul when
I hear you speak of your religious longings.

_B._ Wouldest thou not rejoice if I fulfilled
My mission; if I reached the highest goal?

_Y._ Oh! Siddhattha! you do not love me.

_B._ My heart embraces all the world--and thee.

_Y._ If you loved me truly, there would not be much room for all the
world. You think of the world all day long, and have not a minute's
time for your wife.

_B._ I have, my dear!

_Y._ My noble Husband!

_B._ Speak!

_Y._ Scarcely do I dare to call you by that name. You are kind and
gentle, but for a husband you are too lofty, too distant in your
dignity. It may be wrong in me, it may be sinful, but I wish you were
less lofty and more loving.

_B._ My dearest "Wife," I call thee so on purpose--
My dearest "Wife," thou dost not understand:
The misery and ills of all the world
Weigh heavy on