III.

With sense of the body made captive,
While that of the soul is complete.
For love of pure being, receptive,
So blessed, extravagant, sweet.
Oh victim, thy joys are Meresa's,
Who died on the bosom Divine.
Her madness of rapture appeases
The hunger of soul that is thine!

IV.

Inflammable impulse of beauty,
The breath of whose ardor is grief;
The God, in fulfilment of duty,
Hath stamped thee in highest relief!
From pots of auriferous metal,
Made pure by the torment of flame,
He pressed thee in fearful begettal,
A coinage too perfect for shame.

V.

He made thee, most splendid, a flower,
A heavy sweet rose, to unfold
Some petals immortal, and shower
Their fragrance on earth frozen cold.
Oh golden-hued rose, in such fashion,
By the love of the world thou art sought
Thus flushed with the triumph of passion
Or pale with the splendor of thought!

VI.

Oh soul, that inhales from the blossom
Delight in the rapture of breath,
A goddess aflame with her passion,
Ere beauty is wedded to death!
Oh virginal soul of the fountain,
Alive with the water of Youth,
All these, on the golden high mountain,
Thou dwellest, the image of Truth!

What followed was an intoxicating medley of dancing, song and magic.
Circles of the fairest girls, arrayed in the most ravishing costumes,
made the brain whirl with their gyrations. The oblation to the dancing
gods wound up the performance, and the chorus of a thousand voices
blended with the triumph of drums and explosions from musical
artillery.

The incomparable girl goddess then rose to her feet and waved the
blessing of Harikar over the multitude. The girdle of gold that clung
to her figure blazed with a thousand jewels. Her tiara sparkled with
enormous diamonds that were blue as sapphires, amber as topazes, green
as emeralds and red as rubies. Accompanied by the wailing of music,
the chant of megaphones, and the song of the enraptured people, she
sank into the heart of the throne, glorious as she rose, herself its
most precious jewel.

CHAPTER XXI.

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE SUPREME GODDESS.

The palace of Tanje, situated about fifty miles from Calnogor, was the
metropolitan palace of the supreme godd