e," replied the crying maid,
"That Sita followed Rama to the woods,
And that she of the Pandus also shared
With them their toils--if ever woman's charms
Had power to move the adamantine heart
Of man, then let thy Rati go with thee
To share with thee thy joys and woes as well.
If thou shouldst go alone, remember then,
Dear lord, the sin rests solely on thy head
That a young maiden has been left alone
To mourn for ever for her husband on
The seas--and all for gold and for a name."

"A _name_ thou sayest--never, never would
Thy Rudra die unhonoured and unknown
And bear the evil name and the reproach
For ever with his sons and his sons' sons,
That of his old illustrious family
He was the only one that feared to go
Upon the sea. The sun is going down,
And cruel darkness is invading fast
On us; and soon the ship will leave the port.
Within a year thou shalt see me again.
But if 'tis ruled by God that I should not
Return, to one thing listen ere I go.
To soothe thy spirits in a few short months
An infant will be lying on thy lap,
And if a daughter she should be, let her
Be married to one worthy of our race.
But if a son is born tend him with care;
When he grows old, let it be said of him
That he is his lost father's worthy son."
And when the few last awful words were spoke
The frighted wife that stood supported by
Her lord at once grew pale and motionless.
As one that watched with anxious care the growth
Of a young tendril slowly fixes it
Upon a new and stronger prop, e'en so
Brave Rudra extricated himself from
Her grasp and gently placed her on the couch;
Then gazed on her for a few moments with
His hands upon her throbbing temples, kissed
Her brow, and straightway vanished from the room.

And now the little ship in which he sailed
Safe bore the crew along the wat'ry waste,
And after twenty days' fast sailing she
Encountered on the way a storm, was wrecked,
And all save Rudra perished in the waves.
The shipwrecked merchant lost all that he had,
And wandered through a distant country with
No friends, no money but his hands to earn
For him his daily bread: the lonely youth
Thus dragged for years his miserable life
With nothing to make it worth living save
The hope, the only hope, to see his wife;
Till at the end of twenty years a ship
Was sighted that was bound for Nundipore.
In it he sailed and s