tree, which has suddenly shot up into blossom
at the coming of spring in thy form. But as for thee, why, O why dost
thou regard me that live for only thee as if I were a deadly snake, and
thou a startled deer? In vain, in vain, dost thou endeavour to repel me,
for I will not be repelled. I will melt thy cold ice in thy despite, by
the fire of my affection, and drown thee in its flood, and sweep thee
away from the rocks of thy resistance till thou art lost for ever in its
dark and pearly depths.

[18] _Wishamritam_: lit. poison-nectar.

[19] Also means _without affection_.

And as Aja stood, listening in confusion to her words, which poured from
her like a torrent, suddenly she clapped her hands, and exclaimed, as he
started again at her vehemence: Ha! shall I tell thee, thou wilful and
reluctant boy, of what thou dost remind me, standing as it were aghast,
and obstinately set against me, mute, and yet asking what I am? Know,
that long ago there was a King, who had for wives a thousand queens. And
it happened that one day, he went with his wives to ramble in the heart
of a forest. So after sporting for a while, he grew tired, in the heat
of the day, and lay down and fell asleep. Then all his queens stole away
and left him lying, and went roaming up and down, very strange creatures
in that wild rough wood, looking like living flowers of every hue and
kind, that had somehow or other got free from their roots, a body of
deer-eyed decoys let loose by Love the Hunter, to lure into his toils
every man that should behold them. So as they rambled here and there,
they came suddenly on an old ascetic. And he was standing still, half
buried in the hills of ants, themselves covered over by his long white
hair, immersed in meditation. Then all those fair women went up and
stood around him in a cluster of beautiful curiosity, wondering at the
sight of him, and asking each other in amazement, what in the world he
could possibly be. So as they crowded round him, that old ascetic
emerged from his trance, and as thou art doing, stood silent and aghast,
thinking, as perhaps thou dost thyself, that Indra must have sent him
all the nymphs of heaven in a body, to lure him from the path of
liberation. For, O, thou beautiful suspicious youth, what is there so
terrible about me, as to cause thee to shrink from my approach? Know,
that many would be glad to be wooed as was that old ascetic, and as thou
art now.

IX.

And then, A