(The princess sways and falls to her knees and remains crouching beside him.
The Princess: It is not just that he should die stretched on the ground here. I must carry him back.
(She tries to raise him.
How heavy he is! I cannot do it! And yet it must be done!
With these maimed hands, these arms that are weaker than tendrils of ivy, this body that cannot even support its own weight.
(She carries him with difficulty to the funeral bier where she replaces him.
I have done it! I have rivalled the black ant that drags a burden greater than itself.
(She puts her ear to the breast of the king.
But who would have believed
That he could still be alive! I hear the beating of his heart.