KING.--I am certainly very much perplexed. For here,
Two different duties are required of me
In widely distant places; how can I
In my own person satisfy them both?
Thus is my mind distracted and impelled
In opposite directions, like a stream
That, driven back by rocks, still rushes on,
Forming two currents in its eddying course.
[_Reflecting_.] Friend Mathavya, as you were my playfellow in childhood,
the Queen has always received you like a second son; go you, then, back
to her and tell her of my solemn engagement to assist these holy men.
You can supply my place in the ceremony, and act the part of a son to
the Queen.
MATHAVYA.--With the greatest pleasure in the world; but don't suppose
that I am really coward enough to have the slightest fear of those
trumpery demons.
KING [_smiling_].--Oh! of course not; a great Brahman like you could not
possibly give way to such weakness.
MATHAVYA.--You must let me travel in a manner suitable to the King's
younger brother.
KING.--Yes, I shall send my retinue with you, that there may be no
further disturbance in this sacred forest.
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