The Little Clay Cart | Page 7

II., entitled The Shampooer who Gambled. Second day.--The act opens in Vasantasena's house. Vasantasena confesses to her maid Madanika her love for Charudatta. Then a shampooer appears in the street, pursued by the gambling-master and a gambler, who demand of him ten gold-pieces which he has lost in the gambling-house. At this point Darduraka enters, and engages the gambling-master and the gambler in an angry discussion, during which the shampooer escapes into Vasantasena's house. When Vasantasena learns that the shampooer had once served Charudatta, she pays his debt; the grateful shampooer resolves to turn monk. As he leaves the house he is attacked by a runaway elephant, and saved by Karnapuraka, a servant of Vasantasena.
ACT III., entitled The Hole in the Wall. The night following the second day.--Charudatta and Maitreya return home after midnight from a concert, and go to sleep. Maitreya has in his hand the gem-casket which Vasantasena has left behind. Sharvilaka enters. He is in love with Madanika, a maid of Vasantasena's, and is resolved to acquire by theft the means of buying her freedom. He makes a hole in the wall of the house, enters, and steals the casket of gems which Vasantasena had left. Charudatta wakes to find casket and thief gone. His wife gives him her pearl necklace with which to make restitution.
ACT IV., entitled Madanika and Sharvilaka. Third day.--Sharvilaka comes to Vasantasena's house to buy Madanika's freedom. Vasantasena overhears the facts concerning the theft of her gem-casket from Charudatta's house, but accepts the casket, and gives Madanika her freedom. As Sharvilaka leaves the house, he hears that his friend Aryaka, who had been imprisoned by the king, has escaped and is being pursued. Sharvilaka departs to help him. Maitreya comes from Charudatta with the pearl necklace, to repay Vasantasena for the gem-casket. She accepts the necklace also, as giving her an excuse for a visit to Charudatta.
ACT V., entitled The Storm. Evening of the third day.--Charudatta appears in the garden of his house. Here he receives a servant of Vasantasena, who announces that Vasantasena is on her way to visit him. Vasantasena then appears in the street with the courtier; the two describe alternately the violence and beauty of the storm which has suddenly arisen. Vasantasena dismisses the courtier, enters the garden, and explains to Charudatta how she has again come into possession of the gem-casket. Meanwhile, the storm has so increased in violence that she is compelled to spend the night at Charudatta's house.
ACT VI., entitled The Swapping of the Bullock-carts. Morning of the fourth day.--Here she meets Charudatta's little son, Rohasena. The boy is peevish because he can now have only a little clay cart to play with, instead of finer toys. Vasantasena gives him her gems to buy a toy cart of gold. Charudatta's servant drives up to take Vasantasena in Charudatta's bullock-cart to the park, where she is to meet Charudatta; but while Vasantasena is making ready, he drives away to get a cushion. Then Sansthanaka's servant drives up with his master's cart, which Vasantasena enters by mistake. Soon after, Charudatta's servant returns with his cart. Then the escaped prisoner Aryaka appears and enters Charudatta's cart. Two policemen come on the scene; they are searching for Aryaka. One of them looks into the cart and discovers Aryaka, but agrees to protect him. This he does by deceiving and finally maltreating his companion.
ACT VII., entitled Aryaka's Escape. Fourth day.--Charudatta is awaiting Vasantasena in the park. His cart, in which Aryaka lies hidden, appears. Charudatta discovers the fugitive, removes his fetters, lends him the cart, and leaves the park.
ACT VIII., entitled The Strangling of Vasantasena. Fourth day.--A Buddhist monk, the shampooer of the second act, enters the park. He has difficulty in escaping from Sansthanaka, who appears with the courtier. Sansthanaka's servant drives in with the cart which Vasantasena had entered by mistake. She is discovered by Sansthanaka, who pursues her with insulting offers of love. When she repulses him, Sansthanaka gets rid of all witnesses, strangles her, and leaves her for dead. The Buddhist monk enters again, revives Vasantasena, and conducts her to a monastery.
ACT IX., entitled The Trial. Fifth day.--Sansthanaka accuses Charudatta of murdering Vasantasena for her money. In the course of the trial, it appears that Vasantasena had spent the night of the storm at Charudatta's house; that she had left the house the next morning to meet Charudatta in the park; that there had been a struggle in the park, which apparently ended in the murder of a woman. Charudatta's friend, Maitreya, enters with the gems which Vasantasena had left to buy Charudatta's son a toy cart of gold. These gems fall to the floor during a scuffle between Maitreya and Sansthanaka. In view of Charudatta's poverty, this seems to establish the motive for the crime, and