Page:The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás.djvu/477

Rh Tell the fool also by word of mouth my emphatic command—'Surrender Sita and submit yourself, or it will be your death.'

The spies bowed the head at Lakshman's feet and set out at once, praising his generosity. Still repeating Ráma's praises, they arrived at Lanká and prostrated themselves before Rávan. The Ten-headed with a smile asked them the news: "Tell me Suka, I pray, of your own welfare, and then let me hear about Vibhíshan, to whom death has drawn very nigh. The fool left Lanká where he was a king; but now the wretehed weevil must be crushed with the wheat. Tell me next what force these bears and monkeys muster, who have come here by command of their evil destiny; though the poor old sea has been soft-hearted enough to spare their lives. Tell me finally about the hermits, whose soul trembles for fear of me.

"Did he meet you as a suppliant, or did he take to flight on hearing the report of my renown? Will you tell me nothing about the enemy's might and magnificence? Your wits seem utterly dazed."

"Of your grace, my lord, be not wrath, but take a blunt reply to a blunt question. As soon as your younger brother joined him, Ráma bestowed upon him the mark of sovereignty. The monkeys, who had heard that we were your spies, put us in bonds and abused us shamefully. They were about to cut off our ears and nose, when we invoked the name of Ráma and they let us go. You ask, my lord, of Ráma's army; a myriad tongues would fail to tell it: such a host of bears and monkeys of diverse hue and gruesome visage, huge and terrible—the one who set fire to the city and slew your son is the very weakest of them all-champions with innumerable names, fierce and unyielding monsters of vast bulk, with the strength of unnumbered elephants.

"Dwivid and Mayand, Níla and Nala, Angad and Gada of the mighty sword, Dadhi-mukha and Kehari, the malignant Nisatha and the powerful Jambaván.

"Each of these monkeys is equal to Sugríva, and who could count all the myriads like them? By Ráma's favour their strength is unbounded; they