And she was silent for a while, and then she said with a sigh: What! am
I then to thee but a Rákshasi, and only an impostor? And the King
said: Dear Guru, every Rákshasi can assume at will a form of more than
mortal beauty, and this very beauty of thine makes thee suspicious in
my eyes, for nothing like it was ever seen. And yet I would rather be
devoured by thee than die in any other way, or fall, as is probable, in
battle.
And she looked at him a moment, and then she said: Thou art very young,
and as I think, hardly older than myself: and hast thou, then, been
present in many battles? And he said: In some. Then she said: How is
it, then, that thou art still alive? And the King laughed, and said:
Dearest little Guru, there would be no battles, if in every battle all
were killed. And she said: But thy own father was killed in battle,
and one day, it may be thy case also. And Chand said: Who knows? For
some fall, on their very first field: and others spend their whole
lives on battle-fields, and Death flies from them continually, as if he
was afraid of them himself. Or, it may be, he chooses whom he pleases.
Then she said: And art thou, then, not afraid, lest he should choose
thee?
And Chand looked at her, for a while, in silence. And all at once he
said: Who can escape what is written on his forehead? And if a brave
man fall in battle, what harm? For he must die somehow, and in that
case, at any rate, the Apsaras appointed for him waits, to carry off
his soul. But I have found my Apsaras, while I am alive. Ha! and now
that I bethink me, surely that is what thou art. Aye! doubtless I am
dead, having died somehow or other, unawares, and thou art the very
Apsaras that has come to fetch away my soul. And who knows but that
this arbour of thine is a very bit of heaven, lifted as it is above the
lower world, among the clouds?
And all at once, she exclaimed, with emphasis: Never shall the
Apsarases take thee. Thou shalt never fight on any battle-field again.
And then again, she stopped short, while the colour rushed over her
face like dawn. And instantly, the King started to his feet,
exclaiming with rapture: Ah! Guru of my heart! What! would my death
displease thee? And she said, with confusion: Nay, I did but fear for
thy life, on some future day. But look! where my flower lies, that I
gave thee, to treasure for a _yuga_. Already dost thou neglect it?
For in his emotion, the King had thrown it to the ground. And she said
again: See! in the confusion caused by matters of more moment, how the
poor flower falls neglected to the ground!