Page:Tales from the Indian Epics.djvu/110

104 and mango orchards and row after row of flower beds. And far away in a corner of the grounds he dug a lake and filled it with water by turning a stream into it. When the work was finished he sought an audience of the king. Reluctantly the king left his beautiful bride and received his chief minister. "O King," said the minister, "the summer heat grows daily greater. I have made a pleasure garden not far from Ayodhya. It has noble trees and orchards and flower beds. And no water can be found anywhere in it. Therefore, O King, hasten there with your queen and pass the summer days pleasantly."

The king gladly accepted the minister's gift. Causing his chariot to be harnessed he drove with all speed to the minister's pleasure garden. And he took with him his lovely forest bride. For days together the king and the queen wandered through the garden marvelling at its beauty and at the, skill with which the chief minister's workmen had designed it. One day they strayed into the distant corner of the park, where the chief minister had dug a lake. At first they did not see it; the flowering shrubs grew so thickly along its banks. Then it happened that the king, pushing aside the foliage, forced his way to the edge of the lake. Its waters mirrored the deep blue of the sky and yet were so transparent that the king could see the fish swimming along the bottom of the lake or chasing each other just below the surface. Instantly a desire seized him to swim in its waters. For the day was hot and he was weary with walking through the great park. Stripping off his clothes, he plunged into the water and, swimming hither and thither, he called to his queen to follow him into the lake. Without a word the forest damsel came to the bank and plunged beneath the crystal waters with the skill of a practised swimmer.