Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/679

 | ' VI. ] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 639 some appearance of the Prince and offered to lodge him for the night and as long as he might wish to do so, if he wanted to put up at her place. He called her aunt, and though she was not pleased with the prince for calling her so, as in her heart of hearts she entertained the hope of being flattered with a little attention from him, yet she showed him every hospitality at her house; but when she asked him who he was and what his mission was at Burdwan she could elicit no satisfactory reply. The Prince said he was a youngman who had taken a fancy to travel in various lands for the sake of pleasure. The evening passed in pleasant conversation, .and in the night the flower-woman began to wreathe her floral store into garlands; and placed them in a beautiful basket, and Sundar asked her what she would do with them. She said that the garland would be presented to Princess Vidya at early dawn, a task which it was her duty to perform every morning by appointment from the queen. The Prince was very much delighted to find in Hira a woman who had ac- cess to the Princess. He asked her many questions about the beauty of Vidya and Hira following the close lines of classical metaphor and a highly or- nate style, as dictated by the Sanskrit rules of rhetoric, drew an over-coloured sketch of the Princess which had the effect of greatly heightening the desire of the Prince for an interview with the far-famed beauty. He made a request to Hira to allow him to weave a garland of flowers for Vidya to be presented to her next morning; of course he did not mean that it was to be offered in his name ; as usual she would give it to the Princess ;—the garland was to be woven by him—this was all that Offers to presenta gariand,