JEALOUSY
He appeared one day at the Palace of Golconda--the enemy--the
fiancé--whom I had already learned to detest.
When I saw him advancing from a distance, talking and laughing with
Parvati, a red flame danced before me, and I closed my eyes to escape
from the frenzy of rage which overwhelmed me at the sight of him.
I could hear them coming; the voice of the stranger reached my ears,
resounded in them, and pierced them like a sharp arrow! On hearing it
I seemed to see once more the bloody battlefield--the corpses crushed
under my feet, and my Master in chains, and our perilous flight through
the wilderness....
A tremor shook me from head to foot. I lowered my head and kept my eyes
obstinately shut, and I tore up the ground with my tusks to try and
work off my fury.
I heard them coming nearer and nearer, she with her light step, and he
dragging his feet along carelessly. He had seen me, and it was of me
that he was speaking.
"Ah!" said he, "you have a white elephant! I know that a great
veneration is felt for animals of this species in some countries--among
others in Siam, the country of the Queen your mother. We, however, are
less simple-minded, and we like them for processions, but value them
less than the others because they are less robust." Parvati had stopped
near me, disturbed by my silent rage, which was plainly visible to her;
she sought to soothe me with her gentle hand, and her voice shook as
she replied to the Prince: "Iravata is the good Genius of our family.
The soul of one of my ancestors dwells in him, and he is my dearest
friend!"
"Not dearer than your fiancé, I hope!" said he with a conceited laugh.
"He who has been devoted to me since my birth is more of a friend than
the fiancé of yesterday...."
"Why, this is serious!" cried Baladji, laughing still louder: "Must I
really be jealous of a great beast like that?"...
I could no longer restrain myself from opening my eyes, and at the look
that met his, the Prince recoiled several steps.
"By Kali," said he, "your Ancestor has not a very pleasant expression!
his eyes are as ferocious as a tiger's!"
"Let us go on, I beg of you," said Parvati. "I do not know what has
irritated him, but Iravata is not himself to-day."
"I will go on very willingly," said the Prince, endeavouring to conceal
his fright, "for I detest the vicinity of elephants because of their
odour!" He turned and went away hurriedly, while Parvati, before
rejoining him, looked back at me, and clasped her hands supplicatingly.
It was well that he left, for I could no longer control myself; the
idea of crushing him under my feet, and stamping him to a jelly had
come over me, and in spite of the shame I felt at such a murderous
impulse, I could not banish it.