ired,
Beneath the demon's blows expired,
Due rites at Rama's hands obtained,
And bliss that ne'er shall minish, gained.
Then Rama with Sugriva made
A covenant for mutual aid,
And Bali, to the field defied,
By conquering Rama's arrow died.
Sugriva then, by Rama's grace,
Was monarch of the Vanar race.
By his command a mighty host
Seeks Rama's queen from coast to coast.
Sent forth by him, in every spot
We looked for her, but find her not.
Vain is the toil, as though by night
We sought to find the Day-God's light.
In lands unknown at length we found
A spacious cavern under ground,
Whose vaults that stretch beneath the hill
Were formed by Maya's magic skill.
Through the dark maze our steps were bent,
And wandering there a month we spent,
And lost, in fruitless error, thus
The days our king allotted us.
Thus we though faithful have transgressed,
And failed to keep our lord's behest.
No chance of safety can we see,
No lingering hope of life have we.
Sugriva's wrath and Rama's hate
Press on our souls with grievous weight:
And we, because 'tis vain to fly,
Resolve at length to fast and die."

Canto LVIII. Tidings Of Sita.

The piteous tears his eye bedewed
As thus his speech the bird renewed;
"Alas my brother, slain in fight
By Ravan's unresisted might!
I, old and wingless, weak and worn,
O'er his sad fate can only mourn.
Fled is my youth: in life's decline
My former strength no more is mine.
Once on the day when Vritra(765) died,
We brothers, in ambitious pride,
Sought, mounting with adventurous flight,
The Day-God garlanded with light.
On, ever on we urged our way
Where fields of ether round us lay,
Till, by the fervent heat assailed,
My brother's pinions flagged and failed.
I marked his sinking strength, and spread
My stronger wings to screen his head,
Till, all my feathers burnt away,
On Vindhya's hill I fell and lay.
There in my lone and helpless state
I heard not of my brother's fate."

Thus King Sampati spoke and sighed:
And royal Angad thus replied:
"If, brother of Jatayus, thou
Hast heard the tale I told but now,
Obedient to mine earnest prayer
The dwelling of that fiend declare.
O, say where cursed Ravan dwells,
Whom folly to his death impels."

He ceased. Again Sampati spoke,
And hope in every breast awoke:
"Though lost my wings, and strength decayed,
Yet shall my words lend Rama aid.
I know the worlds where Vishnu trod,(766)
I know the realm of Ocean's God;
How Asurs fo