Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/90

60 "When was it ever heard of, that a woman was killed by a tiger while in the company of her husband?

"But even if a tiger kills me—I fear it not. I shall die without stain in the eyes of the people, and at the feet of my husband.

"You will be to me as a fig tree and I as a creeper unto you.

"I cling to your beautiful feet. O how can you desert me?

"While I was yet a maiden in my father's house, why did you not, O my pious prince, turn ascetic and renounce the world?

"Now I have attained to womanhood and am worthy of your love.

"If you leave me now, I shall kill myself with sorrow."

In a similar ballad. which gives an account of Govinda Chandra Rājāh, whom we consider to be identical with Rājāh Gopī Chandra, the poet Durlabha Mallik, recasting the song in comparatively modern times, describes Queen Adunā's sorrows in somewhat the same way.

When all importunities had failed and the king could not be moved from his resolution to go alone :—