Chapter 5Scene 2

A forest-glade in the Vindhya hills. Vicurna, a Captain. VICURNA The hunt rings distant still; but all the ways Troops and more troops besiege. Where is Gopalaca? CAPTAIN Our work may yet be rude before we reach Our armies on the frontier. VICURNA That I desire. O whistling of the arrows! I have yet To hear that battle music. CAPTAIN Someone comes, For wild things scurry forth. They take cover. Gopalaca enters. VICURNA Whither so swiftly? You are near the frontier for a banished man, Gopalaca. GOPALACA Why has my father sent Thy rash hot boyhood here, imperilling Both of his sons? I find not here his wisdom.

Act II, Scene 2 VICURNA There will be danger? I am glad. None sent me; I came unasked. GOPALACA And also unasking? VICURNA Right. GOPALACA Trust me to have thee whipped. But since thou art here! Where stand the chariots? CAPTAIN On our left they wait Screened by the secret tunnel which the Boar Tusked through the hill to Avunthy. Torches ready And men in arms stand in the cavern ranked They call the cavern of the Elephant By giants carved. But all the forest passages The enemy guards. GOPALACA There are some he cannot guard. I know the forest better than their scouts. When I shall speak of you and clap my hands, Surround us in a silence armed. CAPTAIN His men Resisting? GOPALACA No; we two shall be alone.

Vasavadutta VICURNA Fie! there will be no fighting? GOPALACA Goblin, off! They take cover again. Gopalaca goes; then arrive from another side Vuthsa with Vasuntha and Alurca. ALURCA We lose our escort! VASUNTHA They lose us, I think. ALURCA What fate conspires with what hid treachery? Our chariot broken, we in woods alone And the night close. VASUNTHA Roomunwath guards the paths. ALURCA The night is close. VUTHSA Here I will rest, my friends, Where all is green and silent; only the birds And the wind’s whisperings! Go, Alurca, meet Our comrades of the hunt; guide their vague steps To this green-roofed refuge. ALURCA It is the best, though bad. I leave thee with unwarlike hands to guard.

Act II, Scene 2 VASUNTHA I am no fighter; it is known. Run, haste. Alurca hastens out. And yet for all your speed, someone will worship Great Shiva in Avunthy. I hear a tread. Gopalaca returns. VUTHSA Where wert thou all this time, Gopalaca? GOPALACA Far wandering in the woods since a white deer Like magic beauty drew my ardent steps Into a green entanglement. VASUNTHA Simple! You found there what you sought? GOPALACA No deer, but hunters, Not of our troop. We spoke of this green glade Where many wandering paths might lead the king. In haste I came. VASUNTHA Greater the haste to go! VUTHSA Follow Alurca and come back with him. VASUNTHA What, cast myself into the forest’s hands To wander and be eaten by the night? Come here and bid me then a long farewell. Are thy eyes open at least? Is it thou in this Who movest? I should know that at least from thee,

Vasavadutta If nothing more. VUTHSA Why ask when thou hast eyes? Thou seest that mine are open and I walk; For no man drives me. VASUNTHA Walk! but far away From thy safe capital. VUTHSA What harm? VASUNTHA And with This prince Gopalaca? VUTHSA Suspicions then? Why not suspect at once it is my will To visit Avunthy? VASUNTHA So? VUTHSA Not so, but if? VASUNTHA Oh, if! And if return were much less easy Than the going? VUTHSA Who has talked of easy things? With difficulty then I will return.

Act II, Scene 2 VASUNTHA I go, King Vuthsa. VUTHSA But tell Yougundharayan And all who harbour blind uneasy thoughts, “Whatever seeks me from Fate, man or god, Leave all between me and the strength that seeks. War shall not sound without thy prince’s leave. Vuthsa will rescue Vuthsa.” VASUNTHA I will tell, But know not if he’ll hear. VUTHSA He knows who is His sovereign. VASUNTHA King, farewell. VUTHSA I shall. Farewell. Vasuntha disappears in the forest. We two have kept our tryst, Gopalaca. Hang there, my bow; lie down, my arrows. Now Of you I have no need. O this, O this Is what I often dreamed, to be alone With one I love far from the pomp of courts, Not ringed with guards and anxious friendships round, Free like a common man to walk alone Among the endless forest silences, By gliding rivers and over deciduous hills, In every haunt where earth our mother smiles Whispering to her children. Let me rest awhile My head upon thy lap, Gopalaca,

Vasavadutta Before we plunge into this emerald world. Shall we not wander in her green-roofed house Where mighty Nature hides herself from men, And be the friends of the great skyward peaks That call us by their silence, bathe in tarns, Dream where the cascades leap, and often spend Slow moonless nights inarmed in leafy huts Happier than palaces, or in our mood Wrestle with the fierce tiger in his den Or chase the deer with wind-swift feet, and share With the rough forest-dwellers natural food Plucked from the laden bounty of the trees, Before we seek the citied haunts of men? Shall we not do these things, Gopalaca? GOPALACA Some day we shall. VUTHSA Why some day? why not now? Have I escaped my guards in vain? GOPALACA Not vainly. VUTHSA This sword encumbers; take it from me, friend, And fling it there upon the bank. GOPALACA It is far. I keep my arms lest some wild thing invade These green recesses. VUTHSA Keep thy arms and me. O, this is good to be among the trees

Act II, Scene 2 With thee to guard me and no soul besides. GOPALACA Thyself thou hast given wholly into my hands. VUTHSA Yes, take me, brother. GOPALACA I shall use the trust And yet deserve it. VUTHSA I love thee well, Gopalaca. How dost thou love me? GOPALACA It was hard to speak, Now I can tell it. As a brother might Elder and jealous, as a mother loves Her beautiful flower-limbed boy or grown man yearns Over some tender girl, his sister, comrade, child, In all these ways, but many more besides, But always jealously. VUTHSA Why? GOPALACA Because, Vuthsa, I’ld have thee for my own and not as in Thy city where a thousand shared thy rays Who were strangers to me. In my own domain, Part of a world that’s old and dear to me, Where thou shalt be no king, but Vuthsa only And I can bind with many dearest ties Heaped on thee at my will. This, Vuthsa, I desired

Vasavadutta And therefore I have brought thee to this glade. VUTHSA And therefore I have come to thee alone. GOPALACA Thou must go farther. VUTHSA Yes? Then haste. Was that A clank of arms amid the silent trees? He makes as if to rise, but Gopalaca restrains him. GOPALACA Thy escort. VUTHSA Mine? GOPALACA My father sends for thee. I seize upon thee, Vuthsa, thou art mine, My captive and my prize. I’ll bear thee far As Heaven’s great eagle bore thy mother once Rapt to his unattainable high hills. As he speaks the armed men appear. Swift, captain, swift! I hold the royal boy. On to the tunnel of the Boar. CAPTAIN Haste, haste! There is a growing rumour all around. GOPALACA Care not for that, but follow me and guard. They disappear among the trees. Vasuntha enters.

Act II, Scene 2 VASUNTHA The forest lives with sound; but here all’s empty. The stake is thrown; it cannot be called in Whatever happens. Armed men break in from all sides; Yougundharayan, Roomunwath, Alurca. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Where is King Vuthsa? where? His bow hangs lonely! sword and arrows lie. VASUNTHA (indifferently) I cannot tell. ALURCA Not tell! but you were here, Were with him! VASUNTHA I was sent away like that. But for a guess he’s travelling far and fast To Shiva in Avunthy. ALURCA And thou laughst, Untimely jester! YOUGUNDHARAYAN Impetuously pursue! The forest ways and mountain openings flood That flee to Avunthy. Over her treasonous borders Drive in your angry search. VASUNTHA Thy king commands thee To leave all twixt him and the strength that seeks Their quarrel; throw not armies in the balance. War shall not sound her conch; but Vuthsa only

Vasavadutta Shall rescue Vuthsa. ROOMUNWATH This is a boy’s madness. What lies behind this message? YOUGUNDHARAYAN Roomunwath, this. The lion’s cub breaks forth Whom we so guarded, from our strict control To measure with the large and perilous world The bounding rapture of his youth and force. He throws himself into his foeman’s lair Alone and scorning every aid. I guess His purpose and find it headlong, subtle, rash. If he failed? This boy and iron Mahasegn! We must obey. ROOMUNWATH There’s time to arrest their flight This side our frontier. Hastily pursue. He goes with Alurca and the armed men, all in a tumult of haste. YOUGUNDHARAYAN It will be vain. A perilous leap and yet Heroic with the bold and antique scorn Of common deeds and the safe guarded paths. This is the spirit that smiled hidden in him Waiting for birth! At least my spies shall enter Their secret chambers, even in his prison My help be timely and near. Back to Cowsamby!