The Substance of a Dream Page 4

  I

  On the Banks of Ganges

  BENEDICTION

  _What! the Digit of the Moon on his brow, Ganga in his hair, and Gaurion his knee, and yet proof against all Love's arrows! O wonder ofwonders! who but the greatest of all the gods would not have meltedlong ago, like butter between three fires?_[2]

  Now, long ago, it happened, that Parwati was left alone on Kailas fora little while, as she waited for the Lord of the Moony Tire. Andhaving nothing else to do, she amused herself by building an elephantof snow, with large ears and a little tail, made of a yak's hair. Andwhen it was finished, she was so delighted with her toy, that shebegan to clap her hands: and then, not being able to endure waiting,she went off with impatience to fetch the Moony-crested god, to showhim what she had done, and revel in his applause. And the moment thather back was turned, Nandi[3] happened to come along: and just as hereached the elephant, which owing to his abstraction he never noticed,taking it for a mere hump, formed at random by the snowdrifts, he wassuddenly seized with an irresistible desire to roll. And so, over herolled, and went from side to side, throwing up his legs into the air.And as luck would have it, exactly at that very moment the Daughter ofthe Snow returned, pulling Maheshwara along eagerly by the hand. Andshe looked and saw Nandi, rolling about on the flat snow just whereshe had left her elephant, which was gone. And she uttered a loud cry,and stood, aghast with rage and disappointment. And she opened hermouth to curse the author of the mischief, and was on the very vergeof saying: Sink into a lower birth, thou insolent destroyer! whenMaheshwara stopped her in the very act, guessing her intention, byputting his hand upon her mouth.[4] And he exclaimed: Say nothingrash, O angry one, for Nandi did not do it on purpose, after all. Anda good servant does not deserve cursing, for an accidental blunder.

  And then, Parwati burst into tears. And she exclaimed: Out of mysight, thou clumsy one! for I cannot bear to see thee. And she turnedaway, sobbing. And Maheshwara looked at her out of the corner of hiseye, and he said to himself: Now, then, I must do something to consoleher for the elephant, and bring back her good humour. For ill humourin a woman spoils all. And presently he said: Come now, enough! forNandi has gone off in disgrace, sufficiently punished by banishmentfor a time, and very sad to have been the unwitting cause of thydistress. And let us roam about awhile, in search of something new,that may help to obliterate recollection, and change thy gloom into asmile.

  And he took the goddess in his arms, and set her as she sobbed uponhis knee, and rose from the peak of Kailas, and shot like a fallingstar down into the plain below. And coming to Haradwara, where Gangaissues from the hills, he began to follow the holy stream down itscourse, gliding along just above it like a cloud that was unable torefrain from watching its own beautiful reflection in the blue mirrorof her wave. And so they went, until at last they reached an islandthat was nothing but a sandbank in the very middle of the river,covered with crocodiles lying basking in the sun. And then he said:See! we will go down, and rest awhile among the crocodiles on thissand, whose banks resemble nothing so much as the outline of thy owngraceful limbs. And Uma said tearfully: Pish! what do I care forcrocodiles, that sit for hours never even moving, like a _yogi_ in atrance?

  Then said the cunning god: None the less, we will go down: for it maybe that the island contains something besides its crocodiles. And asthey settled on it, he said again: Did I not say we should findsomething? for yonder it lies, and it is a very great curiosityindeed. And now, canst thou tell me what it is?

  And she looked at it with scrutiny, and presently she said: I can tellthis only, that it must have been in the water for a very long time,before it was washed up at last upon this bank by the river's flood:since it is but a shapeless lump, covered with sand and rust and dirt.Who but thyself could even guess what it might be? And Maheshwarasaid: It has had a very long journey, and been not only in the river,but in a crocodile too. For crocodiles swallow everything. And longago, this was carried by a man, who was drowned in another stream bythe upsetting of his boat, and became with all he carried the prey ofan old crocodile, which died long ago, and rotted away, letting thisat last escape out of its tomb, and roll along, till at last it gotinto the Ganges, and was thrown up here in the rainy season, only theother day. And when at last the water sank, lo! there it lay, as ithas lain until this moment, as if expecting thy arrival, to providethee with entertainment. And when all is over, thou wilt very likelybless Nandi, instead of cursing him; since but for his awkwardness inrolling on thy elephant, thou wouldst never have known anything aboutit.

  And Parwati said peevishly: Where is the entertainment in thisfoolish lump of flotsam, of which thou hast related the adventureswithout ever saying what it is?

  And the Moony-crested god said: Aha! Snowy One, do not be too sure.For many things hold in their heart things not to be anticipated,judging by their outside: and this lump which thou despisest is like acoco-nut, whose coarse skin is full of nectar. But it has been shut solong, that it would not easily be opened by anyone but me.[5] And hetouched it with his foot, saying, Open, and it opened like a shell.And he said: See! it has in it a very strange kernel, preserved safeand sound only because all its adventures added to its case, sheathafter sheath. And all the leaves are still there, a very littlemouldy, and the silk that tied them, and the seal. And the goddesssaid: But what is it after all? And Maheshwara said: It is a case ofurgency, that all came to nothing in the end, being a letter thatnever even reached its destination, because the sender was in so greata hurry that he defeated his own object, bidding his messenger go sofast that in his haste his boat turned over, and he and his messagewere eaten on their way by a river beast. For those who go too fastoften go so slow as never to arrive at all, as was the case here. Thensaid Uma: He that sent it must have been a fool. And Maheshwara said!Nay, O Snowy One, not at all: far from it: and yet he became, as manydo, a fool for the occasion, under the influence of passion, whichblinds the eyes, and shuts up the ears, and twists the wholecharacter awry, so that it acts in a manner contrary to itself, as ifthe man had been suddenly changed into another, or his body entered bya Wetala, in the temporary absence of his soul.

  And Parwati said: What was the passion here? And the Moony-crested godsaid slowly: It was a threefold cord, and very strong: love, and loveturned by intense disappointment into hatred, and rage against arival: each by itself alone enough to turn reason into madness. Butthe whole story is told, by its hero himself, in the very letter: andif thou wilt, I will read it aloud to thee, exactly as he wrote it,word for word. And the goddess said: Thou knowest all: why not tell itin thy own way, without the trouble of reading? And Maheshwara said:Nay, on the contrary, it is far better to let him tell it for himself:for who knew everything better than he did? And moreover, every storytold by a stranger is imperfect, since he is obliged to fill up thegaps in his knowledge by imagination or conjecture: whereas, when theactor in it all is himself the narrator, it is the very truth itself,unless he expressly desires to conceal it, which is not the case here.For he was very anxious indeed to tell his enemy everything, onpurpose to offend him: and he only made one mistake, which I will showthee in due time. So I will read it exactly as it stands, omittingabsolutely nothing. And the Daughter of the Snow said: Read. But shethought: If it is not worth hearing, I will simply go to sleep as hereads. And Maheshwara said: Nay, O Snowy One, I will guarantee thatthou dost not go to sleep.

  And then, the goddess suddenly threw her arms about his neck, and hidher face on his breast. And she said: What is the use of trying tohide anything at all from thee? Read. But for all that, I will go tosleep, if I choose. And the Moony-crested god said with a smile: Aye!but thou wilt not choose.

  And then he began to read, throwing away the leaves as they ended, oneby one into the stream, which carried them away. And the crocodilesall lay round him in a circle, worshipping their Lord, as he read.

  FOOTNOTES:

  [Footnote 2: Maheshwara is the ascetic _par excellence_, who punishedLove for trying to tempt
him by burning him up like a moth with afiery glance from his third eye. And yet for all that, the Master Yogiwas not always proof against feminine fascination: he might be chasteas ice, yet he has not escaped scandal.]

  [Footnote 3: Nandi is the divine Bull, on which, or whom, the GreatGod rides.]

  [Footnote 4: Had the awful words passed her lips, Nandi was a doomedbull, as a curse once uttered is irrevocable.]

  [Footnote 5: Because he is the Lord of Creatures animate or inanimate,which all obey him.]