Page:Karl Gjellerup - The Pilgrim Kamanita - 1911.djvu/191

 in which huge stones rolled and bounded as they dashed onward. And these it was that had caused the uproar. How dost thou suppose that just here, when listening to these sounds, this memory out of the time of my pilgrimage should rise within me?"

"It comes from this," answered Vasitthi, "that the sounds are analogous, though in that mountain stream merely stones, while here in the stream of the heavenly Gunga, worlds are rolled and propelled along. These it is from which the booming sounds like thunder proceed."

"Worlds!" exclaimed Kamanita, horrified.

Vasitthi smiled, and, as she did so, floated onward; but Kamanita, full of terror, caught and held her back by the robe.

"Take care of thyself, Vasitthi. Who knows what powers, what fearful forces hold sway over this stream of the universe, forces into whose power thou mightst fall, by forsaking the shore. I tremble already at the thought of seeing thee torn suddenly from me."

"Wouldst thou not dare to follow me, then?"

"Certainly, I would follow thee. But who knows whether I could reach thee, whether we should not be torn from one another? And even if we remained together, what misery would it not be to be borne away to the illimitable, far from this abode of bliss."

"To the illimitable!" repeated Vasitthi dreamily, and her glance swept over the surface of the heavenly Gunga, far out to where the silver flood touched the black border of the sky, and seemed to desire to penetrate ever farther. "Is it possible, then, for eternal happiness to exist where there is limitation? " she asked, as if she were lost in thought.

"Vasitthi!" exclaimed Kamanita, becoming alarmed