_Maitreya._ [_Aside to Charudatta._] Why don't you simply say that she went home?
_Charudatta._ Though I say it, it is not believed, so unfortunate is my condition.
_Maitreya._ But gentlemen! He adorned the city of Ujjayini with mansions, cloisters, parks, temples, pools, and fountains, and he should be mad enough to commit such a crime--and for a mere trifle? [_Wrathfully._] You offspring of a loose wench, you brother-in-law of the king, Sansthanaka, you libertine, you slanderer, you buffoon, you gilded monkey, say it before me! This friend of mine does n't even draw a flowering jasmine creeper to himself, to gather the blossoms, for fear that a twig might perhaps be injured. How should he commit a crime like this, which heaven and earth call accursèd? Just wait, you son of a bawd! Wait till I split your head into a hundred pieces with this staff of mine, as crooked as your heart.
_Sansthanaka._ [_Angrily._] Lishten to that, gentlemen! I have a quarrel, or a lawshuit, with Charudatta. What right has a man with a pate that looks like a caret, to shplit my head into a hundred pieces? Not much! You confounded rashcal! [_Maitreya raises his staff and repeats his words. Sansthanaka rises angrily and strikes him. Maitreya strikes back. During the scuffle the jewels fall from Maitreya's girdle._]
_Sansthanaka._ [_Picks up the jewels and examines them. Excitedly._] Look, gentlemen, look! These are the poor girl's jewels! [_Pointing to Charudatta._] For a trifle like thish he murdered her, and killed her too. [_The magistrates all bow their heads._]
'T is thus my fate would vent its gall, That at this moment they should fall, These gems--and with them, I. 31
_Maitreya._ But why don't you simply tell the truth?
The king perceives with blinded eye, Nor on the truth that eye will bend; Though telling all, I cannot fly A wretched and inglorious end. 32
With Mars strives Jupiter, and dies; Beside them both there seems to rise A comet-planet[84] in the skies. 33
_Gild-warden and Clerk._ [_Looking at the casket. To Vasantasena's mother._] Madam, pray examine this golden casket attentively, to see whether it be the same or not.
_Mother._ [_Examining the casket._] It is similar, but not the same.