fled,
And servant fiends were smitten dead.
How Hanuman was seized; their ire
When Lanka blazed with hostile fire.
His leap across the sea once more;
The eating of the honey store.
How Rama he consoled, and how
He showed the gem from Sita's brow.
With Ocean, Rama's interview;
The bridge that Nala o'er it threw.
The crossing, and the sitting down
At night round Lanka's royal town.
The treaty with Vibhishan made:
The plan for Ravan's slaughter laid.
How Kumbhakarna in his pride
And Meghanada fought and died.
How Ravan in the fight was slain,
And captive Sita brought again.
Vibhishan set upon the throne;
The flying chariot Pushpak shown.
How Brahma and the Gods appeared,
And Sita's doubted honour cleared.
How in the flying car they rode
To Bharadvaja's cabin abode.
The Wind-God's son sent on afar;
How Bharat met the flying car.
How Rama then was king ordained;
The legions their discharge obtained.
How Rama cast his queen away;
How grew the people's love each day.
Thus did the saint Valmiki tell
Whate'er in Rama's life befell,
And in the closing verses all
That yet to come will once befall.

Canto IV. The Rhapsodists.

When to the end the tale was brought,
Rose in the sage's mind the thought;
"Now who throughout this earth will go,
And tell it forth that all may know?"
As thus he mused with anxious breast,
Behold, in hermit's raiment dressed,
Kusa and Lava(56) came to greet
Their master and embrace his feet.
The twins he saw, that princely pair
Sweet-voiced, who dwelt beside him there
None for the task could be more fit,
For skilled were they in Holy Writ;
And so the great Ramayan, fraught
With lore divine, to these he taught:
The lay whose verses sweet and clear
Take with delight the listening ear,
That tell of Sita's noble life
And Ravan's fall in battle strife.
Great joy to all who hear they bring,
Sweet to recite and sweet to sing.
For music's sevenfold notes are there,
And triple measure,(57) wrought with care
With melody and tone and time,
And flavours(58) that enhance the rime;
Heroic might has ample place,
And loathing of the false and base,
With anger, mirth, and terror, blent
With tenderness, surprise, content.
When, half the hermit's grace to gain,
And half because they loved the strain,
The youth within their hearts had stored
The poem that his lips outpoured,
Valmiki kissed them on the head,
As at his feet they bowed, and said;
"Recite ye this heroic song
In tranquil