Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-08-08
COpyrishs hy J. ". Muller

wept and tasted. He 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 a
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 ike streams In
desert sand I"
A chariot swept from the sky. 1t
was guided by Natal, the charioteer of
Indra. heavens king. Enter" said
Matali.
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 dwelIed
a man so holy that for years he had
stood, postlike and desolate, in an ant
bill 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 hermit-women who watched q boy
that played with lion cubs and dragged
them from their mother as if they were
kittens and she a harmless cat 1T
makes me thrill to see him - thought
Dushyanta. why should my. heart go
out TO this child of a stranger? All !
What measureless content must fill the
man who calls this boy his own!"
As the boy struggled with a 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'll" they said, and looked at
him in establishment.
"a holy man gave 1t to the child, -
said they, wondering. 1T was decreed
that If anyone touch it, instantly it
would turn into a serpent and sting
him to death. Many times have we
seen this, oh strangerI There be only
three may touch it in safety-the boy,
his mother, Shakuntala, or his father.
Dushyanta.n
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 countenanee
that was drawn with long grief.
He fell at her feet and cried: eBlack
madness fiesl The loving star draws
TO the moOnr'
Natal stopped. 'Was not this mat
ter known to Indra? 2" asked King Dush-
yanta humbly.
what is hidden from the Gods?"
said Natal, smiling.
So little IS known of Kazidasa
that it is not eUen establish ed
tDhether he lived In the Fifth or the
Sirth century of our era. But
though the HindaLs hare been Curl
ousEy indifferent to such matters as
historical incidents and dates, then
hare Arrays cared reUerently for the
fUorks Of their great aOriters. There
fore, KalidGsG's dramas haze come
dOUn through the ages in authorize
the purity, and there IS no doubt
as to their authorship. OF "Sha-
kuHtala" Goethe said. Would Uou
kn0tO IN one 1Uord the bloom of the
early year, the fruit of the late one,
scouId gou knoW al that tempts and
charms, al that n0urisHes and salts
1fes, I name tSHakuntala' and al Is
said"