Chapter 3Scene 2

A hall in the palace at Cowsamby. Yougundharayan, Roomunwath. YOUGUNDHARAYAN I see his strength lie covered sleeping in flowers; Yet is a greatness hidden in his years. ROOMUNWATH Nourish not such large hopes. YOUGUNDHARAYAN I know too well The gliding bane that these young fertile soils Cherish in their green darkness; and my cares Watch to prohibit the nether snake who writhes Sweet-poisoned, perilous in the rich grass, Lust with the jewel love upon his hood, Who by his own crown must be charmed, seized, change Into a warm great god. I seek a bride For Vuthsa. ROOMUNWATH Wisely; but whom? YOUGUNDHARAYAN One only lives So absolute in her charm that she can keep His senses from all straying, the child far-famed For gifts and beauty, flower born by magic fate On a fierce iron stock.

Act I, Scene 2 ROOMUNWATH Vasavadutta, Avunthy’s golden princess! Hope not to mate These opposite godheads. Follow Nature’s prompting, Nor with thy human policy pervert Her simple ends. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Nature must flower into art And science, or else wherefore are we men? Man out of Nature wakes to God’s complexities, Takes her crude simple stuff and by his skill Turns things impossible into daily miracles. ROOMUNWATH This thing is difficult, and what the gain? YOUGUNDHARAYAN It gives us a long sunlit time for growth; For we shall raise in her a tender shield Against that iron victor in the west, The father’s heart taking our hard defence Forbid the king-brain in that dangerous man. Then when he’s gone, we are his greatness’ heirs In spite of his bold Titan sons. ROOMUNWATH He must Have fallen from his proud spirit to consent. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Another strong defeat and she is ours. ROOMUNWATH Blow then the conchs for battle.

Vasavadutta YOUGUNDHARAYAN I await Occasion and to feel the gods inclined. (to Vuthsa entering) My son, thou comest early from thy breezes. VUTHSA The dawn has spent her glories and I seek Alurca and Vasuntha for the harp With chanted verse and lyric ease until The golden silences of noon arrive. See this strange flower I plucked below the stream! Each petal is a thought. YOUGUNDHARAYAN And the State’s cares, King of Cowsamby? VUTHSA Are they not for thee, My mind’s wise father? Chide me not. See now, It is thy fault for being great and wise. What thou canst fashion sovereignly and well, Why should I do much worse? YOUGUNDHARAYAN And when I pass? VUTHSA Thy passing I forbid. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Vuthsa, thou art Cowsamby’s king, not Time’s, nor death’s. VUTHSA O, then,

Act I, Scene 2 The gods shall keep thee at my strong demand To be the aged minister of my sons. This they must hear. Of what use are the gods If they crown not our just desires on earth? YOUGUNDHARAYAN Well, play thy time. Thou art a royal child, And though young Nature in thee dallies long, I trust her dumb and wiser brain that sees What our loud thoughts can never reason out, Not thinking life. She has her secret calls And works divinely behind play and sleep, Shaping her infant powers. VUTHSA I may then go And listen to Alurca with his harp? YOUGUNDHARAYAN Thy will In small things train, Udaian, in the great Make it a wrestler with the dangerous earth. VUTHSA My will is for delight. They are not beautiful, This State, these schemings. War is beautiful And the bright ranks of armoured men and steel That singing kisses steel and the white flocking Of arrows that are homing birds of war. When shall we fight again? YOUGUNDHARAYAN When battle ripens. And what of marriage? Is it not desired? VUTHSA O no, not yet! At least I think, not yet.

Vasavadutta I’ll tell thee a strange thing, my father. I shudder, I know it is with rapture, at the thought Of women’s arms, and yet I dare not pluck The joy. I think, because desire’s so sweet That the mere joy might seem quite crude and poor And spoil the sweetness. My father, is it so? YOUGUNDHARAYAN Perhaps. Thou hast desire for women then? VUTHSA It is for every woman and for none. YOUGUNDHARAYAN One day perhaps thou shalt join war with wedlock And pluck out from her guarded nest by force The wonder of Avunthy, Vasavadutta. VUTHSA A name of leaping sweetness I have heard! One day I shall behold a marvellous face And hear heaven’s harps defeated by a voice. Do the gods whisper it? Dreams are best awhile. YOUGUNDHARAYAN These things we shall consider. PARENACA (entering) Hail, Majesty! A high-browed wanderer at the portals seeks Admittance. Tarnished is he with the road, Alone, yet seems a mighty prince’s son. VUTHSA Bring him with honour in. Such guests I love.

Act I, Scene 2 YOUGUNDHARAYAN We should know first what soul is this abroad And why he comes. VUTHSA We’ll learn that from his lips. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Hope not to hear truth often in royal courts. Truth! Seldom with her bright and burning wand She touches the unwilling lips of men Who lust and hope and fear. The gods alone Possess her. Even our profoundest thoughts Are crooked to avoid her and from her touch Crawl hurt into their twilight, often hating her Too bright for them as for our eyes the sun. If she dwells here, it is with souls apart. VUTHSA All men were not created from the mud. YOUGUNDHARAYAN See not a son of heaven in every worm. Look round and thou wilt see a world on guard. All life here armoured walks, shut in. Thou too Keep, Vuthsa, a defence before thy heart. Parenaca brings in Gopalaca. GOPALACA Which is Udaian, great Cowsamby’s king? VUTHSA He stands here. What’s thy need from Vuthsa? Speak. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Roomunwath, look with care upon this face.

Vasavadutta GOPALACA Hail, then, Cowsamby’s majesty, well borne Though in a young and lovely vessel! Hail! VUTHSA Thou art some great one surely of this earth Who com’st to me to live guest, comrade, friend, Perhaps much more. GOPALACA I have fought against thee, king. VUTHSA The better! I am sure thou hast fought well. Com’st thou in peace or strife? GOPALACA In peace, O king, And as thy suppliant. VUTHSA Ask; I long to give. GOPALACA Know first my name. VUTHSA Thy eyes, thy face I know. GOPALACA I am Gopalaca, Avunthy’s son, Once thy most dangerous enemy held on earth. VUTHSA A mighty name thou speakest, prince, nor one To supplications tuned. Yet ask and have.

Act I, Scene 2 GOPALACA Thou heardst me well? I am thy foeman’s son. VUTHSA And therefore welcome more to Vuthsa’s heart. Foemen! they are our playmates in the fight And should be dear as friends who share our hours Of closeness and desire. Why should they keep Themselves so distant? Thou the noblest of them all, The bravest. I have played with thee, O prince, In the great pastime. GOPALACA This was Vuthsa, then! YOUGUNDHARAYAN And wherefore seeks the son of Mahasegn Hostile Cowsamby? or why suppliant comes To his chief enemy? GOPALACA I should know that brow. This is thy great wise minister? That is well. I seek a refuge. YOUGUNDHARAYAN And thou sayst thou art Avunthy’s son? GOPALACA Because I am his son. My father casts me from him and no spot Once thought my own will suffer now my tread. Therefore I come. Vuthsa Udaian, king, Grant me some hut, some cave upon thy soil, Some meanest refuge for my wandering head. But if thy heart can dwell with fear, as do

Vasavadutta The natures of this age, or feed the snake Suspicion, over gloomier borders send My broken life. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Vuthsa, beware. His words Strive to conceal their naked cunning. VUTHSA Prince, What thou demandst and more than thou demandst, Is without question thine. Now, if thou wilt, Reveal the cause of thy great father’s wrath, But only if thou wilt. GOPALACA Because his bidding Remained undone, my exile was embraced. YOUGUNDHARAYAN More plainly. GOPALACA Ask me not. I am ashamed. Nor should a son unveil his father’s fault. They, even when they tyrannise, remain Most dear and reverend still, who gave us birth. This, Vuthsa, know; against thee I was aimed, A secret arrow. VUTHSA Keep thy father’s counsel. If he shoot arrows and thou art that shaft, I’ll welcome thee into my throbbing breast. What thou hast asked, I sue to thee to take. Thou seekst a refuge, thou shalt find a home: Thou fleest a father, here a brother waits

Act I, Scene 2 To clasp thee in his arms. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Too frank, too noble! VUTHSA Come closer. Child of Mahasegn, wilt thou Be king Udaian’s brother and his friend? This proud grace wilt thou fling on the bare boon That I have given thee? Is it much to ask? GOPALACA To be thy brother was my heart’s desire. Shod with that hope I came. VUTHSA Clasp then our hands. Gopalaca, my play, my couch, my board, My serious labour and my trifling hours Share henceforth, govern. All I have is thine. GOPALACA Thine is the noblest soul on all the earth. VUTHSA Frown not, my father. I obey my heart Which leaped up in me when I saw his face. Be sure my heart is wise. Gopalaca, The sentinel love in man ever imagines Strange perils for its object. So my minister Expects from thee some harm. Wilt thou not then Assure his love and pardon it the doubt? GOPALACA He is a wise deep-seeing statesman, king, And shows that wisdom now. But I will swear, But I will prove to thee, thou noble man,

Vasavadutta That dearest friendship is my will to him Thou serv’st and to work on him proudest love. Is it enough? VUTHSA My father, hast thou heard? A son of kings swears not to lying oaths. YOUGUNDHARAYAN It is enough. VUTHSA Then come, Gopalaca, Into my palace and my heart. He goes into the palace with Gopalaca. YOUGUNDHARAYAN O life Besieged of kings! What snare is this? what charm? There was a falsehood in the Avunthian’s eyes. ROOMUNWATH He has given himself into his foemen’s hands And he has sworn. He is a prince’s son. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Yes, by his sire; but the pale queen Ungarica Was to a strange inhuman father born And from dim shades her victor dragged her forth. ROOMUNWATH There’s here no remedy. Vuthsa is ensnared As with a sudden charm. YOUGUNDHARAYAN I’ll watch his steps. Keep thou such bows wherever these two walk

Act I, Scene 2 As never yet have missed their fleeing mark. ROOMUNWATH Yet was this nobly done on Vuthsa’s part. YOUGUNDHARAYAN O, such nobility in godlike times Was wisdom, but not to our fall belongs. Sweet virtue now is mother of defeat And baser, fiercer souls inherit earth.