Thus forth in quest of Sitá
The legions King Sugríva.
To many a distant town they hied
By many a lake and river's side.
As their great sovereign's order taught,
Through valleys, plains, and groves they sought.
They toiled unresting through the day:
At night upon the ground they lay
Where the tall trees, whose branches swayed
Beneath their fruit, gave pleasant shade.
Then, when a weary month was spent,
Back to Prasravan's hill they went,
And stood with faces of despair
Before their king Sugrívae.
Thus, having wandered through the east,
Great Vinata his labours ceased,
And weary of the fruitless pain
Returned to meet the king again,
Brave S'atabali to the north
Had led his Vánarons forth.
Now to Sugríva he sped
With all his host dispirited.
Sushen the western realms had sought.
And homeward now his legions brought.
All to Sugriva came, where still
He sat with Ráma on the hill.
Before their sovereign humbly bent
And thus addressed him reverent:
'On every hill our steps have been,
By wood and cave and deep ravine;
And all the wandering brooks we know
throughout the land that seaward flow,
Our feet by thy command have traced
the tangled thicket and the waste,
and dens and dingles hard to pass
for creeping plants and matted grass
Well have we searched with toil and pain,
And monstrous creatures have we slain
But Hanumánoblest mind
The Maithil lady yet will find;
For to his quarter of the sky 1b
The robber fiend was seen to fly,'
380:1 Himálaya, the Hills of Snow.
380:2 Canto XI.