y God,
Lies the sad path that Bali trod.
"Still to thy plighted word be true,
Lest thou, O King, that path pursue.
I launched the shaft I pointed well.
And Bali, only Bali, fell.
But, if from truth thou dare to stray,
Both thee and thine this hand shall slay."
Thus be the Vanar king addressed,
Then add thyself what seems the best."

Canto XXXI. The Envoy.

Thus Rama spoke, and Lakshman then
Made answer to the prince of men:
"Yea, if the Vanar, undeterred
By fear of vengeance, break his word,
Loss of his royal power ere long
Shall pay the traitor for the wrong.
Nor deem I him so void of sense
To brave the bitter consequence.
But if enslaved to joy he lie,
And scorn thy grace with blinded eye,
Then let him join his brother slain:
Unmeet were such a wretch to reign.
Quick rises, kindling in my breast,
The wrath that will not be repressed,
And bids me in my fury slay
The breaker of his faith to-day.
Let Bali's son thy consort trace
With bravest chiefs of Vanar race."

Thus spoke the hero, and aglow
With rage of battle seized his bow.
But Rama thus in gentler mood
With fitting words his speech renewed:
"No hero with a soul like thine
To paths of sin will e'er incline,
He who his angry heart can tame
Is worthiest of a hero's name.
Not thine, my brother, be the part
So alien from the tender heart,
Nor let thy feet by wrath misled
Forsake the path they loved to tread.
From harsh and angry words abstain:
With gentle speech a hearing gain,
And tax Sugriva with the crime
Of failing faith and wasted time."

Then Lakshman, bravest of the brave,
Obeyed the hest that Rama gave,
To whom devoting every thought
The Vanar's royal town he sought.
As Mandar's mountain heaves on high
His curved peak soaring to the sky,
So Lakshman showed, his dread bow bent
Like Indra's(634) in the firmament.
His brother's wrath, his brother's woe
Inflamed his soul to fiercest glow.
The tallest trees to earth were cast
As furious on his way he passed,
And where he stepped, so fiercely fleet,
The stones were shivered by his feet.
He reached Kishkindha's city deep
Embosomed where the hills were steep,
Where street and open square were lined
With legions of the Vanar kind.
Then, as his lips with fury swelled,
The lord of Raghu's line beheld
A stream of Vanar chiefs outpoured
To do obeisance to their lord.
But when the mighty prince in view
Of the thick coming Vanars drew,
They turned them in amaze to seize
Crags