_V._ Oh! What a chance for me! Siddhattha will flee, if he be not prevented; he will be disinherited. Rahula is a babe, and it will take twenty years before he grows up to manhood.--[_He muses._] I may proceed on different lines, and one of them must certainly lead to success. I may marry the Princess and become the stepfather of the heir apparent, his guardian, the man who has him in his power--Hm! Hm! I need not plan too far ahead. And if that plan did not work, the King of Magadha would make me raja of the Sakyas, if I would recognize him as my liege. _The full moon rises and the scene becomes gradually brighter. VISAKHA knocks at the gate._ Who is on guard? _Officer comes out._ _D._ I am, my Lord, 'tis Captain Devala. _V._ 'Tis well. King Suddhodana requests you to double your guard to-night, for he has reasons. Further he wants you to remove the corpse of Udayin, the gardener who died to-day of an infectious disease. Be on your guard, for where a dead body lies there are ghosts--and [_in a half whisper_] when you see demons or gods, keep yourselves, you and your men, locked up in the guard house, and the spook will pass without harm. _D._ Your order shall be punctiliously obeyed. _Pays his military salute and returns to the guard house._ _V._ That settles the guard, and should Siddhattha flee he will find no obstacle. _Two men come out of the guard house and enter the palace with a bier. KALA UDAYIN comes back from the garden. VISAKHA retires into the background._ _K._ The nightingale is a sweet bird, but I like the lark better. The nightingale is more artistic, but his song is melancholy, he is so sentimental! The lark has a mere twitter like my own song, I like the lark better. How beautiful is this summer night; How glorious is the moon; how fragrant are the roses in the garden! It is a most auspicious night, and all breathes happiness. _VISAKHA from his hiding place watches KALA._ _V._ He comes in time, his presence will prosper my plans. [Kala is lost in thought. Music, from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, somber and as if coming from a distance, is heard.] _K._ [_while the music plays_] What a strange presentiment is stealing over my soul. Perhaps I was too happy! What does Siddhattha say? "All conformations always are transient,[A] Harrassed by sorrow, lacking a self." [Footnote A: The quoted lines run in the same rhythm as the melody and should be pronounced accordingly. See _Buddhist Hymns_, p. 22.] _The men come with the corpse on the bier. KALA stops them._ _K._ What do you carry? Who is this? [_he shrieks_] My father! [_The carriers set the corpse down and Kala sinks down by the bier._] Oh, my father! my dearest father! How did you die? Why did you leave me? Oh, my father! [_he sobs_]. _The moon sinks behind a cloud._ _SIDDHATTHA comes._ _B._ What may the trouble be? I heard a shriek. _KALA raises himself half way up. The scene is bright again._