.] Ah! thus does the lover delude himself; judging of the state of his loved one's feelings by his own desires. But yet,
The stolen glance with half-averted eye,
The hesitating gait, the quick rebuke
Addressed to her companion, who would fain
Have stayed her counterfeit departure; these
Are signs not unpropitious to my suit.
So eagerly the lover feeds his hopes,
Claiming each trivial gesture for his own.
MÁTHAVYA [still in the same attitude].—Ah, friend, my hands cannot move to greet you with the usual salutation. I can only just command my lips to wish your majesty victory.
KING.—Why, what has paralyzed your limbs?
MÁTHAVYA.—You might as well ask me how my eye comes to water after you have poked your finger into it.
KING.—I don't understand you; speak more intelligibly.
MÁTHAVYA.—Ah, my dear friend, is yonder upright reed transformed into a crooked plant by its own act, or by the force of the current?
KING.—The current of the river causes it, I suppose.
MÁTHAVYA.—Aye; just as you are the cause of my crippled limbs.
KING.—How so?