Bubbles of the Foam | Page 5

speak,
would be a proof of what I say.
And the goddess looked, and saw, close by, a little heap of bones, that
lay half-buried in the sand. And she said with curiosity: Whose are the
bones, and how are they a proof of thy consideration?
And Maheshwara replied: These are bones, not of a man, but of a camel,
that perished in the desert long ago. For into this body of a camel fell
the soul of which I spoke, in punishment of crimes committed in the
birth before, in the body of a man; who, blinded by passion, slew three
of his fellow mortals; as, if thou wilt, I will tell thee while we sit,
watching the illusion of the senses, that so closely represents the
illusion of the souls of the lovers in the tale.
II
Know, then, that once upon a time, long ago, all the gods had
assembled in the hall of Indra's palace, to listen to a singing
competition that took place among the Gandharwas. And all sat
listening attentively, till at length, all at once, came a pause in the
performance. And in the silence, while all the heavenly singers rested,
it so fell out, by the decree of destiny, that the flowery-arrowed god,[7]
striving to recollect a cadence that had pleased him, hummed it, as well
as he could, over again, aloud; and like the unskilful imitator that he
was, played havoc with his model, stumbling at the quarter tones, and
singing fiat. And out of delicacy and politeness, the gods all turned
away their faces, hiding their smiles, except Brahma,[8] whose face
never moved. But Kámadewa, looking up suddenly, caught the vestige
of a smile, hovering, just before it disappeared, on the corner of the lips
of Saraswati, as if it were unwilling to leave a resting-place so
unutterably sweet as that lovely lady's mouth. And instantly, he turned
red and pale alternately, with rage that followed shame: so little does he

who delights in making others blush like doing it himself. And
suddenly taking fire, he cried aloud: Ha! dost thou turn me into ridicule,
O thou malapert blue-stocking?[9] Then will I curse thee for thy pains.
Fall instantly into a lower birth, and suffer anguish in the form of a
mortal woman, for thy presumption and ill-mannered mirth.
[Footnote 7: i.e. the god of love, Kámadewa.]
[Footnote 8: It would have been useless for Brahma to turn away his
face, since he has four; one on every side.]
[Footnote 9: Kupanditá, the exact equivalent of our word. Saraswati is
the Hindoo Pallas Athene; with this distinction in her favour, that she is
as gentle as the Greek lady is the reverse. The flava virago of Ovid
becomes in India a lotus white and pure as her own celestial smile.]
And instantly, all the other gods, hearing him, broke out into a very
storm of indignation. And buzzing like infuriated bees around one who
seeks to rob them of their honey, they swarmed about that god of love,
exclaiming all together: What! shall Heaven be bereft, even for a very
little while, of the very crest-jewel of its brow, because of thy loss of
self-control, and a fault on her part which was not a fault at all, but only
the appropriate reproof of thy ill-advised endeavour to play the
musician without possessing the necessary skill? And there arose a
tumult in the hall; and finally, they made me arbitrator to settle the
dispute, knowing that Ananga was afraid of me, as well might he
be[10]. And so, after all were silent, I spoke. And I said, very slowly: O
bender of that bow, whose string is a row of bees, thou art surely
altogether inexcusable, first for thy singing, and secondly for thy loss
of temper, and finally for thy curse. For who could be so harsh as to
strike Saraswati, even with a shirísha petal? But now, the mischief is
utterly beyond repair, and once spoken, the curse cannot be recalled.[11]
And whether she will or no, she must now go to earth, and leave us for
a time, till thy curse has spent its force. And yet, for all that, it is not
right that the doer of injustice such as thine should escape scot-free.
Therefore now I will give thee curse for curse, and thou shalt eat the
fruit of thy own tree. Fall then, immediately into the body of a man,
and suffer that mortality which thou hast laid upon Saraswati. And thy

fortune shall be interwoven with her own, so that thy curse shall be
determined by the quality and period of hers.
[Footnote 10 Because Maheshwara had burned him, on a previous
occasion, with fire from his eye.]
[Footnote 11: In these and similar ideas,