KING.--Good! I will pay her a visit. She will make me acquainted with
the mighty sage's acts of penance and devotion.
HERMIT.--And we will depart on our errand.
[_Exit with his companions_.
KING.--Charioteer, urge on the horses. We will at least purify our souls
by a sight of this hallowed retreat.
CHARIOTEER.--Your Majesty is obeyed.
[_Drives the chariot with great velocity_.
KING [_looking all about him_].--Charioteer, even without being told, I
should have known that these were the precincts of a grove consecrated
to penitential rites.
CHARIOTEER.--How so?
KING.--Do not you observe?
Beneath the trees, whose hollow trunks afford
Secure retreat to many a nestling brood
Of parrots, scattered grains of rice lie strewn.
Lo! here and there are seen the polished slabs
That serve to bruise the fruit of Ingudi.
The gentle roe-deer, taught to trust in man,
Unstartled hear our voices. On the paths
Appear the traces of bark-woven vests
Borne dripping from the limpid fount of waters.
And mark! Laved are the roots of trees by deep canals,
Whose glassy waters tremble in the breeze;
The sprouting verdure of the leaves is dimmed
By dusky wreaths of upward curling smoke
From burnt oblations; and on new-mown lawns
Around our car graze leisurely the fawns.
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