And instantly, as if his touch had filled her with a flood of life, a shiver ran like quicksilver over her stony limbs.  And as he started back, to watch, the colour came back into her face, and red blood rushed into her lips, and deep blue suddenly filled her eyes.  And the tresses of hair around her head turned all of a sudden a glossy black, that shone with a blue-green lustre, as if reflecting the grassy sheen of her winding robe.  And her bosom lifted slowly, and fell again with a deep sigh.  And all at once, she abruptly altered her position, and her eyes fell straight on Aja, standing just before her.  And she lifted up, first one eyebrow, and then the other, till they formed a perfect bow, for they joined each other in the middle.  And she uttered a faint cry, as if in joy, exclaiming:  Ha! can it be, and is it thou?  Or am I dreaming still?

III.

And Aja stood, staring at her with stony gaze, like a mirror of her own surprise.  And he said to himself:  Surely it is not she, but I myself, that am the dreamer.  For here since the sun rose last, I have escaped the desert, and found this city without a man, and acquired a bride of peerless beauty:  and now here is another, rising as it were from the dead, and seeming to expect me.  And he continued standing silent, gazing at her, sword in hand.  And after a while, she said:  What! is my form, then, so frightful as to rob thee of thy tongue?  Or art thou going to use that sword against me?  Speak:  but in the meanwhile, let me see, whether I have lost the use of my limbs, as thou hast that of thy tongue, after so long a sleep.  And she leaped from her little pedestal, and moved a little way here and there, waving her beautiful arms about:  and after a while, she came back, and sat down just before him, on one of the fallen pillars that were lying about the ground.  And all the while Aja watched her, as if fascinated by a serpent, saying within himself:  She moves like nothing I ever saw, save a panther or a gliding snake[9].  And then, all at once, she again put up one eyebrow, and said to him with a smile:  Must I, then, actually tell thee, that I am Natabhrukuti[10]?  Then Aja said:  O lady, it is obvious.  For thy bent brow would plant arrows even in the heart of the Great Ascetic.  And she said again:  O husband, is this thy welcome, after so long a separation?

   [9] It is a wonderful thing to see a cobra move.  Nothing
   can describe it.

   [10] That is, the Beauty of the arched eyebrows. 
   (Pronounce Nat- to rhyme with but.)