Page:Rabindranath Tagore - A Biographical Study.djvu/79

 support him. What the wife Bindhya does in this apologue is only the sacrifice and self-annihilation of the funeral pyre in another form. In the tale of another more attractive kind of parasite—Rasik, the fond brother—Bansi shows the same extraordinary devotion; and Souravi, who loves Rasik, is a companion portrait worthy to set by Bindhya's.

There you have only one motive out of many dealt with in these tales of Bengal. Among the creators of the fantasy of place there are few who can call up as he does by direct and indirect touches the illusion of a scene. He is particularly skilful in working the charm by means of an agent of romance, youth or maid, man or woman, who is at odds with ordinary good fortune, yet at one with the given environment.

In the story of the "Auspicious Look"—that is the look given by a bridegroom to his bride at the customary wedding-rite—there is a savour of childish mystery about the girl who is the signal figure. She is very beautiful, and, like the figure of Kusum in the story of the Ghât, her charm is used to evoke the spirit of a river-side scene. She comes to the water with two ducklings pressed to her bosom with both her hands;