Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1917-02-23
/ Ten Minute Classics |
Famous Tales ard Legends Told in Brief Form
The Masterpiece Of Shakespears Great Indian Predecessor
BY j. M. w ULLE Re
!-.s-.. s... .. .. ..~.
The Masterpiece Of Shakespeare's Great India
Copyright by j. w. Muller

BY j. M. w ULLE r

"epI anu IaSteu. lie commanded that
there should be no spring festival that
year, he intermitted his daily audi
ence, and he could not bring himself to
sit in Judgment. He could but wan
der, an unquiet ghost, wasted
wretched, sunk in hopeless sorrow and
shame.
When he had suffered so for many q
long month, he stood one day on his
! cloud balcony which Overhung his pal
ace at such a height that even the
royal peacocks dared not fly to it. 1.-THE
royal line that flowed" he complained
aloud, "a river pure and grand, dies
In the childless king like streams in
desert sand!"
A chariot swept from the sky. 1t
was guided by Natal, the charioteer of
1ndra, heavens king. Enter" said
Natal.
The chariot bore Dushyanta to a
mountain from whose TANKS, that sank
into the eastern and western seas,
there dripped gold as from cloud at
sunset. 1t was Golden Peak, the home
of the fairy Centaurs. There dwelled
man so holy that for years he had
stood, poStliae and desolate, in an ant
hill that had grown around him, while
vines tough and sere choked him as he
stood sun-staring with dim eyes that
knew no rest.
In this holy sanctuary the king found
two t-Nxy yl,D oh, l.
that played with lion cubs and dragged
them from their mother as if they were
kittens and she a harmless cat. ut
makes me thrill to see him!" thought
Dushyanta. "Why SHOULD my heart go
out to this child of stranger? All
What measureless content must fill the
man who calls this boy his ownw
AS the boy struggled with cub, an
amulet slipped from his wrist. The
king stopped and the hermit-women
screamed wildly at him not to touch it..
But he had it in his hand. "He has
touched it," they said, and looked at
him in establishment.
ga holy man gave 1t to the child"
said they, wondering. st was decreed
that If anyone touch it, instantly it
would turn into serpent and sting
him to death. Many times have we
seen this oh stranger! There be only
three may touch it in safety-the boy,
his mother, Shakuntala, or his father,
Dushyanta.'
They ran to call Shakuntala. Half
fearing, half-hopeful, she advanced,
wearing her hair in one long braid in
| token of being forsaken. Her worn
face looked at the kings countenance
that was drawn with long grief.
He fell at her feet and cried: "Black
madness flies The loving star draws
to the moon!"
Natal stopped. "Was not this mat
ter known to Indra?" asked King Dush-
yanta humbly.
"What is hidden from the Gods?"
said Natal, smiling.
So little is known of KaIdaso
that 1t IS not even established
whether he lived in the Fifth or the
Strth century Of our era. But
though the Hindus haze been Curl
oaSIy indifferent to such matters as
historical incidents and dates, then
have aI,oays cared reuerently for the
works of their great writers. There
fore, KaIidaSa's dramas haze come
down through the ages in duthorita-
the purity, and there is no doubt
as to their authorship. Of "Sha-
kunta1a" Goethe said. "WouZd you
knoeO IN one word the bloom of the
early gear, the fruit of the late one,
mould you know all that tempts and
charms, all that nouriSheS and salts
feS, | name 'Shakuntala' and all is
said"