Page:A history of Sanskrit literature (1900), Macdonell, Arthur Anthony.djvu/369

 :Of an old forest hermit is so great,
 * How keen must be the pang a father feels
 * When freshly parted from a cherished child!

Then calling on the trees to give her a kindly farewell, he exclaims—


 * The trees, the kinsmen of her forest home,
 * Now to Çakuntalā give leave to go:
 * They with the Kokila's melodious cry
 * Their answer make.

Thereupon the following good wishes are uttered by voices in the air—


 * Thy journey be auspicious; may the breeze,
 * Gentle and soothing, fan thy cheek; may lakes
 * All bright with lily cups delight thine eye;
 * The sunbeams' heat be cooled by shady trees;
 * The dust beneath thy feet the pollen be
 * Of lotuses.

The fifth act, in which Çakuntalā appears before her husband, is deeply moving. The king fails to recognise her, and, though treating her not unkindly, refuses to acknowledge her as his wife. As a last resource, Çakuntalā bethinks herself of the ring given her by her husband, but on discovering that it is lost, abandons hope. She is then borne off to heaven by celestial agency.

In the following interlude we see a fisherman dragged along by constables for having in his possession the royal signet-ring, which he professes to have found inside a fish. The king, however, causes him to be set free, rewarding him handsomely for his find. Recollection of his former love now returns to Dushyanta. While he is indulging in sorrow at his repudiation of Çakuntalā, Mātali, Indra's charioteer, appears on the scene to ask the king's aid in vanquishing the demons.