Page:Little Clay Cart (Ryder 1905).djvu/195

P. 264.7]

Even foes have smiles

Maitreya. My good men, let my dear friend Chārudatta go free, and kill me instead.

Chārudatta. Heaven forbid! [''He looks about. Aside''.] Now I understand.

for men with Fortune biding;

But friends prove faithless when good fortune ends.

[Aloud.] These women, in their palaces who stay,

From half-shut windows peering, thus lament,

Alas for Chārudatta! Woe the day!"

And pity-streaming eyes on me are bent.

Goha. Out of the way, gentlemen, out of the way!

Why gaze upon the good man so,

When shame his living hope lays low?

The cord was broken at the well,

And down the golden pitcher fell.

Chārudatta. [Mournfully. ]

From thy dear lips, that vied with coral's red,

Betraying teeth more bright than moonbeams fair,

My soul with heaven's nectar once was fed.

How can I, helpless, taste that poison dread,

To drink shame's poisoned cup how can I bear?

Ahīnta. Proclaim the sentence again, man.

Chārud. So lowly fallen! till shame my virtues blur,

Till such an ending seem not loss, but gain!

Yet o'er my heart there creeps a saddening pain,

To hear them cry abroad "You murdered her!"

Sthāvaraka. [''After listening to the proclamation. In distress''.] What! the innocent Chārudatta is being put to death? And my master has thrown me into chains! Well, I must shout to them.—Listen, good gentlemen, listen! It was I, wretch that I am, who