Upon which, before tasting the
water thyself, thou didst kindly offer some to the little creature,
saying fondly--"Drink first, gentle fawn." But she could not be induced
to drink from the hand of a stranger; though immediately afterwards,
when I took the water in my own hand, she drank with perfect confidence.
Then, with a smile, thou didst say--"Every creature confides naturally
in its own kind. You are both inhabitants of the same forest, and have
learnt to trust each other."
KING.--Voluptuaries may allow themselves to be seduced from the path of
duty by falsehoods such as these, expressed in honeyed words.
GAUTAMI.--Speak not thus, illustrious Prince. This lady was brought up
in a hermitage, and has never learnt deceit.
KING.--Holy matron,
E'en in untutored brutes, the female sex
Is marked by inborn subtlety--much more
In beings gifted with intelligence.
The wily Koeil, ere towards the sky
She wings her sportive flight, commits her eggs
To other nests, and artfully consigns
The rearing of her little ones to strangers.
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