{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/lcc/lcc11.htm","path":"hin/lcc/lcc11.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/lcc/lcc11.htm","text":"[The love-lorn Ch\u0101rudatta appears, seated.]\nCh\u0101rudatta. [Looks up.]\nAN untimely storm 1 is gathering. For see!\nAnd again:\nAnd yet again:\nWhen lightning's lamp is lit, the silver river\n \u00a0\u00a0Impetuous falls from out the cloudy womb;\n \u00a0\u00a0Like severed lace from heaven-cloaking gloom,\n It gleams an instant, then is gone forever.4\nLike shoaling fishes, or like dolphins shy,\n Or like to swans, toward heaven's vault that fly,\n \u00a0\u00a0Like paired flamingos, male and mate together,\n Like mighty pinnacles that tower on high, p. 76\n \u00a0\u00a0In thousand forms the tumbling clouds embrace,\n \u00a0\u00a0Though torn by winds, they gather, interlace,\n And paint the ample canvas of the sky.5\nThe sky is black as Dhritar\u0101shtra's face;\n Proud as the champion of Kuru's race,\n \u00a0\u00a0The haughty peacock shrills his joy abroad;\n The cuckoo, in Yudhishthira's sad case,\n \u00a0\u00a0Is forced to wander if he would not die;\n \u00a0\u00a0The swans must leave their forest-homes and fly,\n Like P\u0101ndu's sons, to seek an unknown place.6\n[Reflecting.] It is long since Maitreya went to visit Vasantasen\u0101. And even yet he does not come.\n[Enter Maitreya.]\nMaitreya. Confound the courtezan's avarice and her incivility! To think of her making so short a story of it! Over and over she repeats something about the affection she feels, and then without more ado she pockets the necklace. She is rich enough so that she might at least have said: \"Good Maitreya, rest a little. You must not go until you have had a cup to drink.\" Confound the courtezan! I hope I'll never set eyes on her again. [Wearily.] The proverb is right. \" It is hard to find a lotus-plant without a root, a merchant who never cheats, a goldsmith who never steals, a village-gathering without a fight, and a courtezan without avarice.\" Well, I'll find my friend and persuade him to have nothing more to do with this courtezan. [He walks about until he discovers Ch\u0101rudatta.] Ah, my good friend is sitting in the orchard. I'll go to him. [Approaching.] Heaven bless you! May happiness be yours.\nCh\u0101rudatta. [Looking up.] Ah, my friend Maitreya has returned. You are very welcome, my friend. Pray be seated.\nMaitreya. Thank you.\nCh\u0101rudatta. Tell me of your errand, my friend.\nMaitreya. My errand went all wrong.\nCh\u0101rudatta. What! did she not accept the necklace?\nMaitreya. How could we expect such a piece of luck? She put her lotus-tender hands to her brow, 1 and took it.\nCh\u0101rudatta. Then why do you say \"went wrong\"?\nMaitreya. Why not, when we lost a necklace that was the pride of the four seas for a cheap golden casket, that was stolen before we had a bite or a drink out of it?\nCh\u0101rudatta. Not so, my friend.\nMaitreya. Now look here! I have a second grievance. She tipped her friend the wink, covered her face with the hem of her dress, and laughed at me. And so, Brahman though I am, I hereby fall on my face before you and beg you not to have anything more to do with this courtezan. That sort of society does any amount of damage. A courtezan is like a pebble in your shoe. It hurts before you get rid of it. And one thing more, my friend. A courtezan, an elephant, a scribe, a mendicant friar, a swindler, and an ass\u2014where these dwell, not even rogues are born.\nCh\u0101rudatta. Oh, my friend, a truce to all your detraction! My poverty of itself prevents me. For consider:\nThen too, my friend:\n[Aside. And not by virtue cold. Aloud.]\nBut wealth is now no longer mine,\n \u00a0\u00a0And her I may not hold.9\nMaitreya. [Looks down. Aside.] From the way he looks up and sighs, I conclude that my effort to distract him has simply increased his longing. The proverb is right. \"You can't reason with a lover.\" [Aloud.] Well, she told me to tell you that she would have to come here this evening. I suppose she isn't satisfied with the necklace and is coming to look for something else.\nCh\u0101rudatta. Let her come, my friend. She shall not depart unsatisfied.\n[Enter Kumbh\u012blaka.]\nKumbh\u012blaka. Listen, good people.\n[He bursts out laughing.]\nMy mistress Vasantasen\u0101 said to me \"Kumbh\u012blaka, go and tell Ch\u0101rudatta that I am coming.\" So here I am, on my way to Ch\u0101rudatta's house. [He walks about, and, as he enters, discovers Ch\u0101rudatta.] Here is Ch\u0101rudatta in the orchard. And here is that wretched jackanapes, too. Well, I'll go up to them. What! the orchard-gate is shut? Good! I'll give this jackanapes a hint. [He throws lumps of mud.]\nMaitreya. Well! Who is this pelting me with mud, as if I were an apple-tree inside of a fence?\nCh\u0101rudatta. Doubtless the pigeons that play on the roof of the garden-house.\nMaitreya. Wait a minute, you confounded pigeon! With this stick I'll bring you down from the roof to the ground, like an over-ripe mango. [He raises his stick and starts to run.]\nCh\u0101rudatta. [Holding him back by the sacred cord.] Sit down, my friend. What do you mean? Leave the poor pigeon alone with his mate.\nKumbh\u012blaka. What! he sees the pigeon and doesn't see me? Good! I'll hit him again with another lump of mud. [He does so.]\nMaitreya. [Looks about him.] What! Kumbh\u012blaka? I'll be with you in a minute. [He approaches and opens the gate.] Well, Kumbh\u012blaka, come in. I'm glad to see you.\nKumbh\u012blaka. [Enters.] I salute you, sir.\nMaitreya. Where do you come from, man, in this rain and darkness?\nKumbh\u012blaka. You see, she's here.\nMaitreya. Who's she? Who's here?\nKumbh\u012blaka. She. See? She.\nMaitreya. Look here, you son of a slave! What makes you sigh like a half-starved old beggar in a famine, with your \"shesheshe\"?\nKumbh\u012blaka. And what makes you hoot like an owl with your \"whowhowho\"?\nMaitreya. All right. Tell me.\nKumbh\u012blaka. [Aside.] Suppose I say it this way. [Aloud.] I'll give you a riddle, man.\nMaitreya. And I'll give you the answer with my foot on your bald spot.\nKumbh\u012blaka. Not till you've guessed it. In what season do the mango-trees blossom?\nMaitreya. In summer, you jackass.\nKumbh\u012blaka. [Laughing.] Wrong!\nMaitreya. [Aside.] What shall I say now? [Reflecting.] Good! I'll go and ask Ch\u0101rudatta. [Aloud.] Just wait a moment. [Approaching Ch\u0101rudatta.] My friend, I just wanted to ask you in what season the mango-trees blossom.\nCh\u0101rudatta. You fool, in spring, in vasanta.\nMaitreya. [Returns to Kumbh\u012blaka.] You fool, in spring, in vasanta.\nKumbh\u012blaka. Now I'll give you another. Who guards thriving villages?\nMaitreya. Why, the guard.\nMaitreya. Well, I'm stuck. [Reflecting.] Good! I'll ask Ch\u0101rudatta again. [He returns and puts the question to Ch\u0101rudatta.]\nCh\u0101rudatta. The army, my friend, the sen\u0101.\nMaitreya. [Comes back to Kumbh\u012blaka.] The army, you jackass, the sen\u0101.\nKumbh\u012blaka. Now put the two together and say \u2018em fast.\nMaitreya. Sen\u0101-vasanta.\nKumbh\u012blaka. Say it turned around.\nMaitreya. [Turns around.] Sen\u0101-vasanta.\nKumbh\u012blaka. You fool! you jackanapes! Turn the parts of the thing around!\nMaitreya. [Turns his feet around.] Sen\u0101-vasanta.\nKumbh\u012blaka. You fool! Turn the parts of the word around!\nMaitreya. [After reflection.] Vasanta-sen\u0101.\nKumbh\u012blaka. She's here.\nMaitreya. Then I must tell Ch\u0101rudatta. [Approaching.] Well, Ch\u0101rudatta, your creditor is here.\nCh\u0101rudatta. How should a creditor come into my family?\nMaitreya. Not in the family perhaps, but at the door. Vasantasen\u0101 is here.\nCh\u0101rudatta. Why do you deceive me, my friend?\nMaitreya. If you can't trust me, then ask Kumbh\u012blaka here. Kumbh\u012blaka, you jackass, come here.\nKumbh\u012blaka. [Approaching.] I salute you, sir.\nCh\u0101rudatta. You are welcome, my good fellow. Tell me, is Vasantasen\u0101 really here?\nKumbh\u012blaka. Yes, she's here. Vasantasen\u0101 is here.\nCh\u0101rudatta. [Joyfully.] My good fellow, I have never let the bearer of welcome news go unrewarded. Take this as your recompense. [He gives him his mantle.]\nKumbh\u012blaka. [Takes it and bows. Gleefully.] I'll tell my mistress.\n[Exit.\nMaitreya. Do you see why she comes in a storm like this?\nCh\u0101rudatta. I do not quite understand, my friend.\nMaitreya. I know. She has an idea that the pearl necklace is cheap, and the golden casket expensive. She isn't satisfied, and she has come to look for something more.\nCh\u0101rudatta. [Aside.] She shall not depart unsatisfied.\n[Then enter the love-lorn Vasantasen\u0101, in a splendid garment, fit for a woman who goes to meet her lover, a maid with an umbrella, and the courtier.]\nCourtier. [Referring to Vasantasen\u0101.]\nSee how she moves, so gracefully and slow!\n \u00a0\u00a0In passion's hour she still loves modesty;\n In her, good wives their dearest sorrow know.\nWhen passion's drama shall enacted be,\n \u00a0\u00a0When on love's stage appears the passing show,\n \u00a0\u00a0A host of wanderers shall bend them low,\n Glad to be slaves in such captivity.12\nSee, Vasantasen\u0101, see!\nVasantasen\u0101. 1 Sir, what you say is most true. For\nCourtier. Yes, yes. That is right. Scold the night.\nVasantasen\u0101. And yet, sir, why scold one who is so ignorant of woman's nature? For you must remember:\nCourtier. But see, Vasantasen\u0101! Another cloud,\nRages within the sky, and shows him bold\n \u00a0\u00a0\u2019Mid beams that to the moon allegiance owe,\n Like a hero-king within the hostile hold\n \u00a0\u00a0Of his unwarlike foe.17\nVasantasen\u0101. True, true. And more than this:\nCourtier. Very true, Vasantasen\u0101. And yet again:\nVasantasen\u0101. But look, sir, look!\nCourtier. See, Vasantasen\u0101, see!\nAnd look yonder!\nSmitten with falling drops, the fragrant sod,\n Upon whose bosom greenest grasses nod,\n Seems pierced with pearls, each pearl an arrowy rod.22\nVasantasen\u0101. And here is yet another cloud.\nThe wistful swans espy\n The lotus-sweeter sky;\n The darkest colors lie\n On heaven clingingly.23\nCourtier. True. For see!\nThe face of heaven, thus shrouded in the night,\n Is only for a single instant bright,\n When momentary lightning gives us sight;\n \u00a0\u00a0Else is it dark alway.\nNow sleeps the world as still as in the night\n Within the house of rain where naught is bright, p. 85\n Where hosts of swollen clouds seem to our sight\n \u00a0\u00a0One covering veil of gray.24\nVasantasen\u0101. True. And see!\nCourtier. True.\nVasantasen\u0101. O shameless, shameless sky!\nO Indra, mighty Indra!\nRemember:\nAnd yet:\nLet thunders roar, for men were cruel ever;\n But oh, thou maiden lightning! didst thou never\n Know pains that maidens know?32\nCourtier. But mistress, do not scold the lightning. She is your friend,\nVasantasen\u0101. And here, sir, is his house.\nCourtier. You know all the arts, and need no instruction now. Yet love bids me prattle. When you enter here, you must not show yourself too angry.\nBe angry! make him angry then!\n Be kind! and make him kind again\n \u00a0\u00a0The man you love.34\nSo much for that. Who is there? Let Ch\u0101rudatta know, that\nCh\u0101rudatta. [Listening.] My friend, pray discover what this means.\nMaitreya. Yes, sir. [He approaches Vasantasen\u0101. Respectfully.] Heaven bless you!\nVasantasen\u0101. I salute you, sir. I am very glad to see you. [To the courtier.] Sir, the maid with the umbrella is at your service.\nCourtier. [Aside.] A very clever way to get rid of me. [Aloud.] Thank you. And mistress Vasantasen\u0101,\n[Exit.]\nVasantasen\u0101. Good Maitreya, where is your gambler?\nMaitreya. [Aside.] \"Gambler\"? Ah, she's paying a compliment to my friend. [Aloud.] Madam, here he is in the dry orchard.\nVasantasen\u0101. But sir, what do you call a dry orchard?\nMaitreya. Madam, it's a place where there's nothing to eat or drink. [Vasantasen\u0101 smiles.] Pray enter, madam.\nVasantasen\u0101. [Aside to her maid.] What shall I say when I enter?\nMaid. \"Gambler, what luck this evening?\"\nVasantasen\u0101. Shall I dare to say it?\nMaid. When the time comes, it will say itself.\nMaitreya. Enter, madam.\nVasantasen\u0101. [Enters, approaches Ch\u0101rudatta, and strikes him with the flowers which she holds.] Well, gambler, what luck this evening?\nCh\u0101rudatta. [Discovers her.] Ah, Vasantasen\u0101 is here. [He rises joyfully.] Oh, my belov\u00e8d,\nYou are very, very welcome. Here is a seat. Pray be seated.\nMaitreya. Here is a seat. Be seated, madam. [Vasantasen\u0101 sits, then the others.]\nCh\u0101rudatta. But see, my friend,\nMy friend, Vasantasen\u0101's garments are wet. Let other, and most beautiful, garments be brought.\nMaitreya. Yes, sir.\nMaid. Good Maitreya, do you stay here. I will wait upon my mistress. [She does so.]\nMaitreya. [Aside to Ch\u0101rudatta.] My friend, I'd just like to ask the lady a question.\nCh\u0101rudatta. Then do so.\nMaitreya. [Aloud.] Madam, what made you come here, when it is so stormy and dark that you can't see the moon?\nMaid. Mistress, the Brahman is very plain-spoken.\nVasantasen\u0101. You might better call him clever.\nMaid. My mistress came to ask how much that pearl necklace is worth.\nMaitreya. [Aside to Ch\u0101rudatta.] There! I told you so. She thinks the pearl necklace is cheap, and the golden casket is expensive. She isn't satisfied. She has come to look for something more. Maid. For my mistress imagined that it was her own, and gambled it away. And nobody knows where the gambling-master has gone, for he is employed in the king's business.\nMaitreya. Madam, you are simply repeating what somebody said before.\nMaid. While we are looking for him, pray take this golden casket. [She displays the casket. Maitreya hesitates.] Sir, you examine it very closely. Did you ever see it before?\nMaitreya. No, madam, but the skilful workmanship captivates the eye.\nMaid. Your eyes deceive you, sir. This is the golden casket.\nMaitreya. [Joyfully.] Well, my friend, here is the golden casket, the very one that thieves stole from our house.\nCh\u0101rudatta. My friend,\nMaitreya. But it is so. I swear it on my Brahmanhood.\nCh\u0101rudatta. This is welcome news.\nMaitreya. [Aside to Ch\u0101rudatta.] I'm going to ask where they found it.\nCh\u0101rudatta. I see no harm in that.\nMaitreya. [Whispers in the maid's ear.] There!\nMaid. [Whispers in Maitreya's ear.] So there!\nCh\u0101rudatta. What is it? and why are we left out?\nMaitreya. [Whispers in Ch\u0101rudatta's ear.] So there!\nCh\u0101rudatta. My good girl, is this really the same golden casket?\nMaid. Yes, sir, the very same.\nCh\u0101rudatta. My good girl, I have never let the bearer of welcome news go unrewarded. Take this ring as your recompense. [He looks at his finger, notices that the ring is gone, and betrays his embarrassment.]\nVasantasen\u0101. [To herself.] I love you for that.\nCh\u0101rudatta. [Aside to Maitreya.] Alas,\nLike wingless birds, dry pools, or withered trees,\n Like fangless snakes\u2014the poor are like to these.41\nLike man-deserted houses, blasted trees,\n Like empty wells\u2014the poor are like to these.\n For them no pleasant hours serve happy ends;\n They are forgotten of their sometime friends.42\nMaitreya. But you must not grieve thus beyond reason. [He bursts out laughing. Aloud.] Madam, please give me back my bath-clout.\nVasantasen\u0101. Ch\u0101rudatta, it was not right that you should show your distrust of me by sending me this pearl necklace.\nCh\u0101rudatta. [With an embarrassed smile.] But remember, Vasantasen\u0101,\nMaitreya. Tell me, girl, are you going to sleep here to-night?\nMaid. [Laughing.] But good Maitreya, you show yourself most remarkably plain-spoken now.\nMaitreya. See, my friend, the rain enters again in great streams, as if it wanted to drive people away when they are sitting comfortably together.\nCh\u0101rudatta. You are quite right.\nSee, my belov\u00e8d, see!\n[Vasantasen\u0101 betrays her passion, and throws her arms about Ch\u0101rudatta. Ch\u0101rudatta feels her touch, and embraces her.]\nCh\u0101rudatta. More grimly yet, O thunder, boom;\nMaitreya. Confound you, storm! You are no gentleman, to frighten the lady with the lightning.\nCh\u0101rudatta. Do not rebuke the storm, my friend.\nAnd oh, my friend,\nVasantasen\u0101, my belov\u00e8d,\n[He looks up.] The rainbow! See, my belov\u00e8d, see!\nCome, let us seek a shelter. [He rises and walks about.]\n[Exeunt omnes.\n75:1 In Indian love-poetry, the rainy season is the time when lovers most ardently long to be united.\n75:2 In allusion to Vishnu's name, Krishna, \"black.\"\n77:1 A gesture of respect.\n81:1 The goddess of wealth and beauty, usually represented with a lotus.\n81:2 K\u0101ma's (Cupid's) arrows are flowers.\n82:1 Throughout this scene, Vasantasen\u0101's verses are in Sanskrit. Compare note 1 on page 73.\n83:1 The cry of the heron resembles the Sanskrit word for \"rain.\" Indian love-poetry often paints the sorrow, even unto death, of her whose belov\u00e8d does not return before the rainy season.\n86:1 The elephant of Indra. Indra is the god of the thunderstorm.","title":"The Little Clay Cart: Act the Fifth: The Storm","type":"page"}