And the elephant said: Pippala, as I gazed at her, struck by the
thunderbolt of astonishment and dismay, my heart smote me: for all
unintentionally, I found myself playing the traitor to my minister, and
becoming, as indeed I was already, the worshipper of his wife. And
well I knew, that love would prove stronger than gratitude, and more
powerful than friendship, and that he was already doomed. And I said
to myself: Ha! now destiny and the deity of Love have combined, to
throw me, as it were against my will, into the company of one whom I
had determined to avoid, and are driving me to injure, one, whom I
would rather wish to honour and regard. But now it is too late, and
well I see, that will happen which must happen, and she and I and her
husband are but puppets, dancing to the bidding of powers that are
greater than our own. And once again I murmured: Watsatarí;
Trishodadhi; it cannot be. Then she said: Who art thou, to be so well
acquainted, as it seems thou art, both with my husband and myself, and
what is there in the circumstances that arouses in thee such surprise?
And as I looked at her, I trembled, saying to myself: Now perhaps it is
as well, she cannot see. And now I dare not tell her who I am, for
that would be utter ruin, since doubtless rumour has told her all about
me. And I thought for a moment, and then all at once I laughed aloud.
And I exclaimed: O wife of Trishodadhi, if one should have commissioned
thee, saying, Go at dead of night to the very middle of the sea, and
there catch in its immensity a single little _mina_[11] that has
swallowed such-and-such a ring; and thou going accordingly and grasping
blindly in its water shouldst find that very fish enclosed in thy hand,
say, would it not surprise thee also, to find chance putting into thy
clutch a thing no ingenuity could ever have discovered? And she said
with a smile: Who then is the fish; is it I, or is it he? And I said:
It is thy own pretty neck which is the fish; for yonder necklace was
commissioned to encircle it. And now let me tell thee, since I see
thou art suspicious of myself, fearing no doubt the anger of thy
husband, should he discover thee in my society, that he would hardly
have excused thee for sending me away, as presently he himself will
tell thee, as soon as he returns. For know that I am a Rajpoot, and
the confidential agent of a neighbouring king, to whom thy husband
lately rendered by his policy an inestimable service. And since he
absolutely refused reward, the king my master said to me: Gratitude,
like a river, dammed in one direction, will find an outlet in another;
and since I may do nothing for Trishodadhi, I will at least do
something for his wife. For I have heard, that she is of incomparable
beauty. Take, then, this necklace, and answer for its safety with thy
head. And ride night and day, going towards the capital of Ruru, and
seek out his minister, and ask for Watsatarí his wife. And when she is
actually before thee, put with thy own hands the necklace on her neck,
and say: King Chandradatta bids thee know, by this emblem, that the
chain of obligation to thee and to thy husband is on his neck, and when
there is a difficulty, send him this; and he will overcome it. And
now, right glad I am to find thee; for I have not slept since I
started, for fear of losing the necklace, and forfeiting my head. And
surely the bird which filched it from me to carry it to thee was some
deity in disguise; for how could a mere bird know, for whom it was
designed? So take thou the necklace, and when thy husband sees it,
summon me: and I will tell him also, and depart.
And she listened attentively, looking as it were straight at me as I
lied, till I trembled, rejoicing, and yet hardly crediting, that she
could not see me; and when I ended, she stood meditating, while I
watched her, in ecstasy at having hit upon a clever lie, by means of
which I hoped to prolong our conversation, and look at her with
impunity, careless of what might come of it at last. And presently she
said: Where then is the necklace? And I placed it in the lotus of the
hand she held toward me, stealing guilty undetected glances at her
creeper of an arm; and she took it, and felt it all over, telling every
pearl, exactly as yonder old ascetic told his beads as I passed him;
while I stood gazing at her, hardly able to draw breath. And after a
while she said: Surely these pearls are very large? And I said: There
are no others equal to them, even in the sea. And she sighed a very
little, and she said with regret: Their beauty is for other eyes than
mine. And I watched her eagerly, saying to myself: Ha! can it be that
this delicious beauty resembles all her far inferior sisters, and is
tempted by the pearls she cannot see? O pippala, I tell thee, that
though it made for my advantage, it was a grief to me to find her, as I
thought, like other women. Ha! but I did her wrong, and did not know
her, for she had something in her soul that I did not understand.
And all at once, half, as I conjectured, in derision, and half, it may
be, tempted by the shadow of a wish to try them on her neck, she took
the necklace by both ends in her hands, and hung it up around her
throat, letting those lucky pearls rest for a single instant on the
margin of her swelling breast. And utterly bewildered, instantly I
forgot my self-control. And I stepped forward, saying hastily: Nay,
thou dost not know the secret of its clasp. And before she could
prevent me, for blind as she was, she knew not what I meditated, I put
my two arms, that trembled with intoxication and timidity, and wonder
at their own audacity, suddenly around her neck, and took the two ends
of the necklace in my hands, and placing them together, was just about
to clasp them. And at that very moment, I looked, and lo! there, at a
distance in the garden, stood Trishodadhi her husband, looking at me
with eyes that resembled caverns, filled with black and shining water
in the form of unutterable despair.
And Trishodadhi, as he listened, groaned within himself, writhing as he
sat at the reminiscence of that moment, which shot into his heart like
a flame. And utterly oblivious of his muttering, he listened eagerly
for the remainder of the tale.