KING [listening].—Then we must await the holy father's leisure.
MÁTALI [looking at the King].—If your Majesty will rest under the shade, at the foot of this Aśoka-tree, I will seek an opportunity of announcing your arrival to Indra's reputed father.
KING.—As you think proper. [Remains under the tree.
MÁTALI.—Great King, I go. [Exit.
KING [feeling his arm throb].—Wherefore this causeless throbbing, O mine arm?
All hope has fled forever; mock me not
With presages of good, when happiness
Is lost, and nought but misery remains.
A VOICE [behind the scenes].—Be not so naughty. Do you begin already to show a refractory spirit?
KING [listening].—This is no place for petulance. Who can it be whose behavior calls for such a rebuke? [Looking in the direction of the sound and smiling.] A child, is it? closely attended by two holy women. His disposition seems anything but childlike. See,
He braves the fury of yon lioness
Suckling its savage offspring, and compels
The angry whelp to leave the half-sucked dug,
Tearing its tender mane in boisterous sport.
Enter a child, attended by two women of the hermitage, in the manner described.