If he be not the son of the great sage, of what family does he come, may I ask?

ATTENDANT.

Of the race of Puru.

KING. [Aside.

What! are we, then, descended from the same ancestry?  This, no doubt, accounts for the resemblance she traces between the child and me.  Certainly it has always been an established usage among the princes of Puru’s race,

  To dedicate the morning of their days
  To the world’s weal, in palaces and halls,
  ’Mid luxury and regal pomp abiding;
  Then, in the wane of life, to seek release
  From kingly cares, and make the hallowed shade
  Of sacred trees their last asylum, where
  As hermits they may practise self-abasement,
  And bind themselves by rigid vows of penance.

[Aloud.]

But how could mortals by their own power gain admission to this sacred region?

ATTENDANT.

Your remark is just; but your wonder will cease when I tell you that his mother is the offspring of a celestial nymph, and gave him birth in the hallowed grove of Ka[s’]yapa.

KING. [Aside.

Strange that my hopes should be again excited!

[Aloud.]

But what, let me ask, was the name of the prince whom she deigned to honour with her hand?

ATTENDANT.

How could I think of polluting my lips by the mention of a wretch who had the cruelty to desert his lawful wife?

KING. [Aside.

Ha! the description suits me exactly.  Would I could bring myself to inquire the name of the child’s mother!

[Reflecting.]

But it is against propriety to make too minute inquiries about the wife of another man[120].

FIRST ATTENDANT.

[Entering with the china peacock in her hand.

Sarva-damana, Sarva-damana, see, see, what a beautiful [S’]akoonta (bird).

CHILD. [Looking round.

My mother!  Where?  Let me go to her.

BOTH ATTENDANTS.

He mistook the word [S’]akoonta for [S’]akoontala.  The boy dotes upon his mother, and she is ever uppermost in his thoughts.

SECOND ATTENDANT.

Nay, my dear child, I said:  Look at the beauty of this [S’]akoonta.

KING. [Aside.

What! is his mother’s name [S’]akoontala?  But the name is not uncommon among women.  Alas!  I fear the mere similarity of a name, like the deceitful vapour of the desert[94], has once more raised my hopes only to dash them to the ground.

CHILD.

Dear nurse, what a beautiful peacock!

[Takes the toy.

FIRST ATTENDANT.