Were helpless in the giant's hold.
Then Raghu's son, heroic still,
Felt not a pang his bosom thrill;
But young, with no protection near,
His brother's heart was sad with fear,
And thus with trembling tongue he said
To Rama, sore disquieted:

"Ah me, ah me, my days are told:
O see me in the giant's hold.
Fly, son of Raghu, swiftly flee,
And thy dear self from danger free.
Me to the fiend an offering give;
Fly at thine ease thyself and live.
Thou, great Kakutstha's son, I ween,
Wilt find ere long thy Maithil queen,
And when thou holdest, throned again,
Thine old hereditary reign,
With servants prompt to do thy will,
O think upon thy brother still."
As thus the trembling Lakshman cried,
The dauntless Rama thus replied:
"Brother, from causeless dread forbear.
A chief like thee should scorn despair."
He spoke to soothe his wild alarm:
Then fierce Kabandha(517) long of arm,
Among the Danavs(518) first and best,
The sons of Raghu thus addressed:
"What men are you, whose shoulders show
Broad as a bull's, with sword and bow,
Who roam this dark and horrid place,
Brought by your fate before my face?
Declare by what occasion led
These solitary wilds you tread,
With swords and bows and shafts to pierce,
Like bulls whose horns are strong and fierce.
Why have you sought this forest land
Where wild with hunger's pangs I stand?
Now as your steps my path have crossed
Esteem your lives already lost."

The royal brothers heard with dread
The words which fierce Kabandha said.
And Rama to his brother cried,
Whose cheek by blanching fear was dried:

"Alas, we fall, O valiant chief,
From sorrow into direr grief,
Still mourning her I hold so dear
We see our own destruction near.
Mark, brother, mark what power has time
O'er all that live, in every clime.
Now, lord of men, thyself and me
Involved in fatal danger see.
'Tis not, be sure, the might of Fate
That crushes all with deadly weight.
Ne'er can the brave and strong, who know
The use of spear and sword and bow,
The force of conquering time withstand,
But fall like barriers built of sand."

Thus in calm strength which naught could shake
The son of Dasaratha spake,
With glory yet unstained
Upon Sumitra's son he bent
His eyes, and firm in his intent
His dauntless heart maintained.

Canto LXXI. Kabandha's Speech.

Kabandha saw each chieftain stand
Imprisoned by his mighty hand,
Which like a snare around him pressed
And thus the royal pair ad