PALÁSHA.
AND he lay all night, tossing on his bed of leaves . and in the morning, he arose before the sun, and stood sadly, plunged in meditation, like a crane, on the edge of the pool. And he never noticed how the chétí came towards him, till he looked up, and saw her standing beside him, with a red Palásha flower in her hand. Then she said: O King, my mistress sends her lord, by these unworthy hands, a flower, and if his sleep has been sound, it is well with her.
y in thy hands. And know, that once there was a merchant, who possessed a great pearl, such that the hand could hardly grasp it: and it resembled a mass of sea-foam, collected into a ball in the light of the moon on an ocean shell, under the constellation Swáti. And it was famous throughout the kingdom. Then having to go on a journey, he went to a brother merchant, and gave it to him, saying: This is a deposit with thee, till I return. So he said: Very well: go without fear. And the merchant departed. But the other buried the pearl in the ground. Then the King came to him and said: Give me the pearl which was deposited with thee, and I will enrich thee: if not, I will take it by force. Then the merchant said: What wilt thou take, to wait for a week: for I love to look at it? The King said: For one crore z, I will wait for one week. So the merchant gave him a crore. Then after a week, the King came
Footnotes
58:y This idea of a 'deposit' constantly recurs in Hindoo poetry.
58:z About a million sterling, when the rupee was equal to a florin.
