and pure,
    Lost in the wood, and still thou answerest not! 
    High-born, high-hearted, full of grace and strength
    In all thy limbs, shall I not find thee soon
    On yonder hill?  Shall I not see, at last,
    In some track of this grim, beast-peopled wood,
    Standing, or seated, or upon the leaves
    Lying, or coming, him who is of men
    The glory, but for me the grief-maker? 
    If not, whom shall I question, woe-begone,
    Saying, ’In any region of this wood
    Hast thou, perchance, seen Nala?’ Is there none,
    In all the forest, would reply to me
    With tidings of my lord, wandered away,
    Kingly in mind and form, of hosts of foes
    The conqueror?  Who will say, with blessed voice,
    ’That Raja with the lotus-eyes is near,
    Whom thou dost seek’?—­Nay, here comes one to ask,
    The yellow forest-king, his great jaws armed
    With fourfold fangs.  A tiger standeth now
    Face to face on my path; I’ll speak with him
    Fearlessly:  ’Dreadful chief of all this waste,
    Thou art the sovereign of the beasts, and I
    Am daughter of Vidarbha’s King; my name,
    The Princess Damayanti; know thou me,
    Wife of Nishadha’s Lord—­of Nala—­styled
    “Subduer of his Foes”?  Him seek I here—­
    Abandoned, sorrow-stricken, miserable. 
    Comfort me, mighty beast, if so thou canst,
    Saying thou hast seen Nala; but if this
    Thou canst not do, then, ah, thou savage lord,
    Terrible friend, devour me, setting me
    Free from all woes!’ The tiger answereth not;
    He turns, and quits me in my tears, to stalk
    Down where the river glitters through the reeds,
    Seeking its seaward way.  Then will I pray
    Unto yon sacred mount of clustered crags,
    Broad-shouldered, shining, lifting high to heaven
    Its diverse-colored peaks, where the mind climbs
    Its hid heart rich with silver veins, and gold,
    And stored with many a precious gem unseen. 
    Clear towers it o’er the forest, broad and bright
    Like a green banner; and the sides of it
    House many a living thing—­lions and boars,
    Tigers and elephants, and bears and deer. 
    Softly around me from its feathered flocks
    The songs ring, perched upon the kinsuk trees,
    The asokas, vakuls, and punnaga boughs,
    Or hidden in the karnikara leaves,
    And tendrils of the dhava or the fig;
    Full of great glens it soars, where waters leap
    And bright birds lave.  This king of hills I sue
    For tidings of my lord.  O Mountain Lord,
    Far-seen and celebrated hill! that cleav’st
    The blue of the sky, refuge of living things,
    Most noble eminence, I worship thee;
    Thee I salute, who am a monarch’s child,
    The daughter and the consort of a prince,
    The high-born Damayanti, unto whom
    Bhima, Vidarbha’s chief—­that