uld make me raja of the Sakyas, if I would recognize him
as my liege.

_The full moon rises and the scene becomes gradually
brighter. VISAKHA knocks at the gate._

Who is on guard?

_Officer comes out._

_D._ I am, my Lord, 'tis Captain Devala.

_V._ 'Tis well. King Suddhodana requests you to double your guard
to-night, for he has reasons. Further he wants you to remove the
corpse of Udayin, the gardener who died to-day of an infectious
disease. Be on your guard, for where a dead body lies there are
ghosts--and [_in a half whisper_] when you see demons or gods, keep
yourselves, you and your men, locked up in the guard house, and the
spook will pass without harm.

_D._ Your order shall be punctiliously obeyed.

_Pays his military salute and returns to the guard house._

_V._ That settles the guard, and should Siddhattha flee he will find
no obstacle.

_Two men come out of the guard house and enter the palace
with a bier. KALA UDAYIN comes back from the garden. VISAKHA
retires into the background._

_K._ The nightingale is a sweet bird, but I like the lark better. The
nightingale is more artistic, but his song is melancholy, he is so
sentimental! The lark has a mere twitter like my own song, I like the
lark better. How beautiful is this summer night; How glorious is the
moon; how fragrant are the roses in the garden! It is a most
auspicious night, and all breathes happiness.

_VISAKHA from his hiding place watches KALA._

_V._ He comes in time, his presence will prosper my plans.

[Kala is lost in thought. Music, from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony,
somber and as if coming from a distance, is heard.]

_K._ [_while the music plays_] What a strange presentiment is stealing
over my soul. Perhaps I was too happy! What does Siddhattha say?

"All conformations always are transient,[A]
Harrassed by sorrow, lacking a self."

[Footnote A: The quoted lines run in the same rhythm as the melody and
should be pronounced accordingly. See _Buddhist Hymns_, p. 22.]

_The men come with the corpse on the bier. KALA stops them._

_K._ What do you carry? Who is this? [_he shrieks_] My father! [_The
carriers set the corpse down and Kala sinks down by the bier._] Oh, my
father! my dearest father! How did you die? Why did you leave me? Oh,
my father! [_he sobs_].

_The moon sinks behind a cloud._

_SIDDHATTHA comes._

_B._ What may the trouble be? I heard a shriek.