Malayan Literature | Page 8

thoughts were surging in her brain.?A combat raged within her heart. She feared?The King might see the maiden. "Send away,"?She said, "the nurses and the women all."?Fair Bidasari wept when they retired.?The princess called her to her side and said:
"Thou must not weep so, Bidasari. They?Will all return. When thou dost wish to go,?They will go with thee. Now depart, dyangs.?Ye need not care for Bidasari more.?I will procure her dames of company?And servants. You may come from time to time."?So they arose, and, with prostrations, went.?The Queen conducted Bidasari then?Into a room and left her all alone,?And all afraid.
When evening shadows fell,?The great King bade the Queen to sup with him.?He sat beside her, smiled and gayly talked,?As he had been young Bedouwandas, on?His horse, with sword at belt. "My royal spouse,?How thou dost love me! for thou wouldst not sup?Without me, though thou needest food and drink."?Now when the King had eaten, he retired?Unto his sleeping-chamber.
Still alone?And weeping much, fair Bidasari stayed,?In darkness with no one to speak to her.?She thought on her dear parents. "O my God!?Why dost Thou leave me here?" The solitude?Filled her with terror, and she wept until?The middle of the night, and thought of home.?Out spake the King: "Now what is that I hear??What voice is that so sorrowful and sweet?"?"It is an infant crying," said the Queen.?"In all the darkness it has lost its way."?Her heart was burning, and she sent a word?To Bidasari that she must not weep,?And held her peace and waited till the dawn.?But Bidasari wept the whole night long?And cried for home. When the dyangs all ran?To comfort her, they found the door was locked,?And none could enter. Bidasari thought,?"What wrong have I committed, that the Queen?Should be so vexed with me?" When day appeared,?To the pavilion went the King. The Queen?Threw wide the door of Bidasari's room?And entered all alone.
Then Bidasari?The Queen's hand kissed, and begged that she would let?Her homeward fare. "O gracious Queen," she said,?"Take pity on me; let me go away.?I'll come to thee again."
The wicked Queen?Struck her, and said, "Thou ne'er shalt see again?Thy home." The gentle Bidasari drooped?Her head and wept afresh, shaking with fear.?"Forgive the evil I have done, my Queen,?For I am but a child, and do not know?How I have sinned against thee," falling at?Her feet she said. The Queen in anger struck?Her once again. "I know full well," she said,?"All thy designs and projects. What! Am I?To rest in peace and see thy beauty grow,?And thee become my rival with the King?"?Then Bidasari knew 'twas jealousy?That caused the fury of the Queen. Her fear?Increased, she trembled and bewailed her fate.?The livelong day she was insulted, struck,?And of her food deprived.
Before the King?Returned, the Queen departed from the room?Of Bidasari. The poor child had lost?Her former color. Black her face had grown?From blows, as if she had been burnt. Her eyes?She could not open. Such her sufferings were?She could not walk. Then unto God she cried:?"O Lord, creator of the land and sea,?I do not know my fault, and yet the Queen?Treats me as guilty of a heinous crime.?I suffer hell on earth. Why must I live??Oh, let me die now, in the faith, dear Lord.?My soul is troubled and my face is black?With sorrow. Let me die before the dawn.?My parents do not help me. They have left?Me here alone to suffer. In the false?Dyangs I trusted, as to sisters dear.?Their lips are smiling, but their hearts are base.?Their mouths are sweet as honey, but their hearts?Are full of evil. Oh, what can I say??It is the will of God."
Such was the grief?Of Bidasari, and her tears fell fast.?Now when the King went forth again, the Queen?Began anew her persecutions harsh.?With many blows and angry words, she said:?"Why dost thou groan so loudly? Dost thou seek?By crying to attract the King, to see?Thy beauty? 'Tis thy hope, I know full well,?His younger wife to be. And thou art proud?Of all thy beauty." Bidasari was?Astounded, and replied with many tears:?"May I accursed be if ever I?Such plottings knew. Thou art a mighty Queen.?If I have sinned against thee, let me die?At once. For life is useless to the hearts?That suffer. Hast thou brought me here to beat??How thou hast made me weep! O Queen, art thou?Without compassion?"
All possessed with rage?The Queen replied: "I do not pity thee.?I hate thee, when I see thee. Open not?Thy mouth again." The wicked Queen then seized?The lovely tresses of the beauteous maid,?And took a piece of wood with which to strike;?But Bidasari wept and swooned away.?The King's voice sounded through the corridor,?As he returned. The Queen then hastened forth?And left a mandar there to close and guard?Fair Bidasari's room, that nothing should?Be seen. Then asked the King of her, "Whom hast?Thou beaten now?"