me prepare the bed myself (_prepares the bed in fancy._) The mat was not washed (_extends her hands a little_). I can’t reach to the pillow; the coat of shreds is become dirty, (_rubs the floor with her hands_). Let me make the child lie down (_placing the dead body slowly on the ground._) My son, what fear near a mother? You lie down peacefully. I shall spit here (_spits on its breast_). If that Englishman’s lady come here this day, I shall kill her by pressing down her neck. I shall never have my child out of my sight. Let me place the bow round it (_gives a mark with her finger round the floor, while reading a certain verse as a sacred formula read to a God_). “The froth of the serpent, the tiger’s nose, the fire prepared by the Sala’s[74] resin, the whistling of the swinging machine, the white hairs of seven co-wives[75]—_bhanti_[76] leaves, the flowers of the _dhuturá_, the seeds of the Indigo, the burnt pepper, the head of the corpse, the root of the _maddar_, the mad dog, the thief’s reading of the Chundi; these together make the arrow to be directed against the gnashing teeth of Yama.” _Enter_ SARALOTA. _Saralota._ Where are these gone to? Ah! she is turning round the dead body. I think, my husband, tired with excessive travelling, has given himself up to Sleep, that goddess who is the destroyer of all sorrows and pains. Oh Sleep! how very miraculous is thy greatness, thou makest the widow to be with her husband in this world, thou bringest the traveller to his country; at thy touch, the prisoner’s chain breaks; thou art the Dhannantari[77] of the sick; thou hast no distinction of castes in thy dominions; and thy laws are never different on account of the difference of nations or castes; thou must have made my husband a subject of thy impartial power; or else, how is it, that the insane mother brings away the dead son from him. My husband is become quite distracted by being deprived of his father and his brother. The beauty of his countenance has faded by and by, as the full-moon decreases day by day. My mother, when hast thou come up? I have left off food and sleep, and am looking after thee continually; and did I fall into so much insensibility; I promised, that I shall bring thy husband from Yama, (Invisible) in order to cure thee, and therefore thou remainedest quiet for some. In this formidable night, so full of darkness, like unto that which shall take place on the destruction of the Universe; when the skies are spread over with the tenors of the clouds, the ashes of lightning are giving a momentary light, like the arrows of fire, and the race of living creatures are given up, as it were, to the sleep of Death; all are silent; when