Part 19 (1/2)

Don't you know that he has gone?

Gone?--Where?

_Minstrel_

He said, I shall go and conquer him.

Whom?

_Minstrel_

The One who is feared by all. He said, ”Why else am I young?”

Ah, that was fine.--Dada goes to read his quatrains to the village people, and Chandra has disappeared,--for what purpose n.o.body knows.

_Minstrel_

He said, ”Men have always been fighting for a cause. It is the shock of that, which ruffles the breeze of this Spring.”

The shock?

_Minstrel_

Yes, the message that man's fight is not yet over.

Is this the message of Spring?

_Minstrel_

Yes. Those, who have been made immortal by death, have sent their message in these fresh leaves of Spring. It said, ”We never doubted the way. We never counted the cost: we rushed out: we blossomed. If we had sat down to debate, then where would be the Spring?”

Has that made Chandra mad?

_Minstrel_

He said----

(_The Minstrel sings._)

_The Spring flowers have woven my wreath of victory, The South wind breathes its breath of fire in my blood.

The voice of the house-corner wails in vain from behind.

Death stands before me, offering its crown.

The tempest of youth sweeps the skyharp with its fingers; My heart dances in its wild rhythm.

Gathering and storing are not for me, I spend and scatter.

And prudence and comfort bid me adieu in despair._

But where has he gone to?