Sacred Kusa-grass is spread;
Holy flames, that waft to heaven
Sweet oblations daily given,
Mortal guilt to purge away;--
Hear, oh hear me, when I pray--
Purify my child this day!
Now then, my daughter, set out on thy journey. [_Looking on one side_.]
Where are thy attendants, Sarngarava and the others?

YOUNG HERMIT [_entering_].--Here we are, most venerable father.

KANWA.--Lead the way for thy sister.

SARNGARAVA.--Come, Sakoontala, let us proceed.
[_All move away_.

KANWA.--Hear me, ye trees that surround our hermitage!
Sakoontala ne'er moistened in the stream
Her own parched lips, till she had fondly poured
Its purest water on your thirsty roots;
And oft, when she would fain have decked her hair
With your thick-clustering blossoms, in her love
She robbed you not e'en of a single flower.
Her highest joy was ever to behold
The early glory of your opening buds:
Oh, then, dismiss her with a kind farewell!
This very day she quits her father's home,
To seek the palace of her wedded lord.
[_The note of a Koeil is heard_.
Hark! heard'st thou not the answer of the trees,
Our sylvan sisters, warbled in the note
Of the melodious Koeil? they dismiss
Their dear Sakoontala with loving wishes.

VOICES [_in the air_].--
Fare thee well, journey pleasantly on amid streams
Where the lotuses bloom, and the sun's glowing beams
Never pierce the deep shade of the wide-spreading trees,
While gently around thee shall sport the cool breeze;
Then light be thy footsteps and easy thy tread,
Beneath thee shall carpets of lilies be spread.
Journey on to thy lord, let thy spirit be gay,
For the smiles of all Nature shall gladden thy way.
[_All listen with astonishment_.

GAUTAMI.--Daughter! the nymphs of the wood, who love thee with the
affection of a sister, dismiss thee with kind wishes for thy happiness.
Take thou leave of them reverentially.

SAKOONTALA [_bowing respectfully and walking on. Aside to her
friend_].--Eager as I am, dear Priyamvada, to see my husband once more,
yet my feet refuse to move, now that I am quitting forever the home of
my girlhood.

PRIYAMVADA.--You are not the only one, dearest, to feel the bitterness
of parting. As the time of separation approaches, the whole grove seems
to share your anguish.
In sorrow for thy loss, the herd of deer
Forget to b