The Light of Asia | Page 6

take counsel now?To fetch therewith our falcon from the clouds.?Let messengers be sent to ask the maid?In marriage for my son." But it was law?With Sakyas, when any asked a maid?Of noble house, fair and desirable,?He must make good his skill in martial arts?Against all suitors who should challenge it;?Nor might this custom break itself for kings.?Therefore her father spake: "Say to the King,?The child is sought by princes far and near;?If thy most gentle son can bend the bow,?Sway sword, and back a horse better than they,?Best would he be in all and best to us?But how shall this be, with his cloistered ways?"?Then the King's heart was sore, for now the Prince?Begged sweet Yasodhara for wife--in vain,?With Devadatta foremost at the bow,?Ardjuna master of all fiery steeds,?And Nanda chief in sword-play; but the Prince?Laughed low and said, "These things, too, I
have learned;?Make proclamation that thy son will meet?All comers at their chosen games. I think?I shall not lose my love for such as these."?So 't was given forth that on the seventh day?The Prince Siddartha summoned whoso would?To match with him in feats of manliness,?The victor's crown to be Yasodhara.
Therefore, upon the seventh day, there went?The Sakya lords and town and country round?Unto the maidan; and the maid went too?Amid her kinsfolk, carried as a bride,?With music, and with litters gaily dight,?And gold-horned oxen, flower-caparisoned.?Whom Devadatta claimed, of royal line,?And Nanda and Ardjuna, noble both,?The flower of all youths there, till the Prince came?Riding his white horse Kantaka, which neighed,?Astonished at this great strange world without?Also Siddartha gazed with wondering eyes?On all those people born beneath the throne,?Otherwise housed than kings, otherwise fed,?And yet so like--perchance--in joys and griefs.?But when the Prince saw sweet Yasodhara,?Brightly he smiled, and drew his silken rein,?Leaped to the earth from Kantaka's broad back,?And cried, "He is not worthy of this pearl?Who is not worthiest; let my rivals prove?If I have dared too much in seeking her."?Then Nanda challenged for the arrow-test?And set a brazen drum six gows away,?Ardjuna six and Devadatta eight;?But Prince Siddartha bade them set his drum?Ten gows from off the line, until it seemed?A cowry-shell for target. Then they loosed,?And Nanda pierced his drum, Ardjuna his,?And Devadatta drove a well-aimed shaft?Through both sides of his mark, so that the crowd?Marvelled and cried; and sweet Yasodhara?Dropped the gold sari o'er her fearful eyes,?Lest she should see her Prince's arrow fail.?But he, taking their bow of lacquered cane,?With sinews bound, and strung with silver wire,?Which none but stalwart arms could draw a span,?Thrummed it--low laughing--drew the twisted string?Till the horns kissed, and the thick belly snapped?"That is for play, not love," he said; "hath none?A bow more fit for Sakya lords to use?"?And one said, "There is Sinhahanu's bow,?Kept in the temple since we know not when,?Which none can string, nor draw if it be strung."?"Fetch me," he cried, "that weapon of a man!"?They brought the ancient bow, wrought of black steel,?Laid with gold tendrils on its branching curves?Like bison-horns; and twice Siddartha tried?Its strength across his knee, then spake "Shoot now?With this, my cousins!" but they could not bring?The stubborn arms a hand's-breadth nigher use;?Then the Prince, lightly leaning, bent the bow,?Slipped home the eye upon the notch, and twanged?Sharply the cord, which, like an eagle's wing?Thrilling the air, sang forth so clear and loud?That feeble folk at home that day inquired?"What is this sound?" and people answered them,?"It is the sound of Sinhahanu's bow,?Which the King's son has strung and goes to shoot;"?Then fitting fair a shaft, he drew and loosed,?And the keen arrow clove the sky, and drave?Right through that farthest drum, nor stayed its flight,?But skimmed the plain beyond, past reach of eye.
Then Devadatta challenged with the sword,?And clove a Talas-tree six fingers thick;?Ardjuna seven; and Nanda cut through nine;?But two such stems together grew, and both?Siddartha's blade shred at one flashing stroke,?Keen, but so smooth that the straight trunks upstood,?And Nanda cried, "His edge turned!" and the maid?Trembled anew seeing the trees erect,?Until the Devas of the air, who watched,?Blew light breaths from the south, and both green crowns?Crashed in the sand, clean-felled.
Then brought they steeds,?High-mettled, nobly-bred, and three times scoured?Around the maidan, but white Kantaka?Left even the fleetest far behind--so swift,?That ere the foam fell from his mouth to earth?Twenty spear-lengths he flew; but Nanda said,?"We too might win with such as Kantaka;?Bring an unbroken horse, and let men see?Who best can back him." So the syces brought?A stallion dark as night, led by three chains,?Fierce-eyed, with nostrils wide and tossing mane,?Unshod, unsaddled, for no rider yet?Had crossed him. Three times each young Sakya?Sprang to his mighty back, but the hot steed?Furiously reared, and flung them to the plain?In dust and shame; only Ardjuna held?His seat awhile, and, bidding loose the chains,?Lashed the black flank,