KING.--Very likely. Who else would have dared to lay a finger on a wife, the idol of her husband? It is said that Menaká, the nymph of heaven, gave her birth. The suspicion has certainly crossed my mind that some of her celestial companions may have taken her to their own abode. SÁNUMATÍ [_aside_].--His present recollection of every circumstance of her history does not surprise me so much as his former forgetfulness. MÁTHAVYA.--If that's the case, you will be certain to meet her before long. KING.--Why? MÁTHAVYA.--No father and mother can endure to see a daughter suffering the pain of separation from her husband. KING.--Oh! my dear Máthavya, Was it a dream? or did some magic dire, Dulling my senses with a strange delusion, Overcome my spirit? or did destiny, Jealous of my good actions, mar their fruit, And rob me of their guerdon? It is past, Whatever the spell that bound me. Once again Am I awake, but only to behold The precipice o'er which my hopes have fallen. MÁTHAVYA.--Do not despair in this manner. Is not this very ring a proof that what has been lost may be unexpectedly found? KING [_gazing at the ring_].--Ah! this ring, too, has fallen from a station which it will not easily regain, and deserves all my sympathy. O gem, deserved the punishment we suffer, And equal is the merit of our works, When such our common doom. Thou didst enjoy The thrilling contact of those slender fingers, Bright as the dawn; and now how changed thy lot! SÁNUMATÍ [_aside_].--Had it found its way to the hand of any other person, then indeed its fate would have been deplorable. MÁTHAVYA.--Pray, how did the ring ever come upon her hand at all? SÁNUMATÍ.--I myself am curious to know. KING.--You shall hear. When I was leaving my beloved Śakoontalá that I might return to my own capital, she said to me, with tears in her eyes, "How long will it be ere my lord send for me to his palace and make me his queen?" MÁTHAVYA.--Well, what was your reply? KING.--Then I placed the ring on her finger, and thus addressed her-- Repeat each day one letter of the name Engraven on this gem; ere thou hast reckoned The tale of syllables, my minister Shall come to lead thee to thy husband's palace. But, hard-hearted man that I was, I forgot to fulfil my promise, owing to the infatuation that took possession of me. SÁNUMATÍ [_aside_].--A pleasant arrangement! Fate, however, ordained that the appointment should not be kept. MÁTHAVYA.--But how did the ring contrive to pass into the stomach of that carp which the fisherman caught and was cutting up? KING.--It must have slipped from my Śakoontalá's hand, and fallen into the stream of the Ganges, while she was offering homage to the water of Sachí's holy pool. MÁTHAVYA.--Very likely.