CHILD.--No, no; I shall go on playing with the young lion.
[_Looks at the female attendant and laughs_.
KING.--I feel an unaccountable affection for this wayward child. How blessed the virtuous parents whose attire Is soiled with dust, by raising from the ground The child that asks a refuge in their arms! And happy are they while with lisping prattle, In accents sweetly inarticulate, He charms their ears; and with his artless smiles Gladdens their hearts, revealing to their gaze His tiny teeth, just budding into view.
ATTENDANT.--I see how it is. He pays me no manner of attention. [_Looking off the stage._] I wonder whether any of the hermits are about here. [_Seeing the King._] Kind Sir, could you come hither a moment and help me to release the young lion from the clutch of this child, who is teasing him in boyish play?
KING [_approaching and smiling_].--Listen to me, thou child of a mighty saint. Dost thou dare show a wayward spirit here? Here, in this hallowed region? Take thou heed Lest, as the serpent's young defiles the sandal, Thou bring dishonor on the holy sage, Thy tender-hearted parent, who delights To shield from harm the tenants of the wood.
ATTENDANT.--Gentle Sir, I thank you; but he is not the saint's son.
KING.--His behavior and whole bearing would have led me to doubt it, had not the place of his abode encouraged the idea.
[_Follows the child, and takes him by the hand, according to the request of the attendant. Speaking aside._ I marvel that the touch of this strange child Should thrill me with delight; if so it be, How must the fond caresses of a son Transport the father's soul who gave him being!
ATTENDANT [_looking at them both_].--Wonderful! Prodigious!
KING.--What excites your surprise, my good woman?
ATTENDANT.--I am astonished at the striking resemblance between the child and yourself; and, what is still more extraordinary, he seems to have taken to you kindly and submissively, though you are a stranger to him.
KING [_fondling the child_].--If he be not the son of the great sage, of what family does he come, may I ask?
KING [_aside_].--What! are we, then, descended from the same ancestry? This, no doubt, accounts for the resemblance she traces between the child and me. Certainly it has always been an established usage among the princes of Puru's race, To dedicate the morning of their days To the world's weal, in palaces and halls, 'Mid luxury and regal pomp abiding; Then, in the wane of life, to seek release From kingly cares, and make the hallowed shade Of sacred trees their last asylum, where As hermits they may practise self-abasement, And bind themselves by rigid vows of penance. [_Aloud._] But how could mortals by their own power gain admission to this sacred region?