Mistress mine, do not hope to pacify love with airy nothings. Give me something to clasp, something that can last longer than pleasure, that can endure even through suffering. Chitra Hero mine, the year is not yet full, and you are tired already! Now I know that it is Heaven's blessing that has made the flower's term of life short. Could this body of mine have drooped and died with the flowers of last spring it surely would have died with honour. Yet, its days are numbered, my love. Spare it not, press it dry of honey, for fear your beggar's heart come back to it again and again with unsated desire, like a thirsty bee when summer blossoms lie dead in the dust. SCENE VII Madana TONIGHT is thy last night. Vasanta The loveliness of your body will return tomorrow to the inexhaustible stores of the spring. The ruddy tint of thy lips freed from the memory of Arjuna's kisses, will bud anew as a pair of fresh asoka leaves, and the soft, white glow of thy skin will be born again in a hundred fragrant jasmine flowers. Chitra O gods, grant me this my prayer! Tonight, in its last hour let my beauty flash its brightest, like the final flicker of a dying flame. Madana Thou shalt have thy wish. SCENE VIII Villagers WHO will protect us now? Arjuna Why, by what danger are you threatened? Villagers The robbers are pouring from the northern hills like a mountain flood to devastate our village. Arjuna Have you in this kingdom no warden? Villagers Princess Chitra was the terror of all evil doers. While she was in this happy land we feared natural deaths, but had no other fears. Now she has gone on a pilgrimage, and none knows where to find her. Arjuna Is the warden of this country a woman? Villagers Yes, she is our father and mother in one. [Exeunt. Enter CHITRA. Chitra Why are you sitting all alone? Arjuna I am trying to imagine what kind of woman Princess Chitra may be. I hear so many stories of her from all sorts of men. Chitra Ah, but she is not beautiful. She has no such lovely eyes as mine, dark as death. She can pierce any target she will, but not our hero's heart. Arjuna They say that in valour she is a man, and a woman in tenderness.