But you mustn't give April all the credit for that. For I, Chandra, have hidden the yellow leaves of his manuscript book among the young buds of the _pial_ forest, and Dada is out looking for it. The manuscript book banished! What a good riddance! We ought to strip off Dada's grey philosopher's cloak also. _Chandra_ Yes, the very dust of the earth is tingling with youth, and yet there's not a single touch of Spring in the whole of Dada's body. _Dada_ Oh, do stop this fooling. What a nuisance you are making of yourselves! We aren't children any longer. _Chandra_ Dada, the age of this earth is scarcely less than yours; and yet it is not ashamed to look fresh. Dada, you are always struggling with those quatrains of yours, full of advice that is as old as death, while the earth and the water are ever striving to be new. Dada, how in the world can you go on writing verses like that, sitting in your den? _Dada_ Well, you see, I don't cultivate poetry, as an amateur gardener cultivates flowers. _My_ poems have substance and weight in them. Yes, they are like the turnips, which cling to the ground. _Dada_ Well, then, listen to me---- How awful! Here's Dada going to run amuck with his quatrains. Oh dear, oh dear! The quatrains are let loose. There's no holding them in. To all passers-by I give notice that Dada's quatrains have gone mad, and are running amuck. _Chandra_ Dada! Don't take any notice of their fun. Go on with your reading. If no one else can survive it, I think I can. I am not a coward like these fellows. Come on, then, Dada. We won't be cowards. We will keep our ground, and not yield an inch, but only listen. We will receive the spear-thrusts of the quatrains on our breast, not on our back. But for pity's sake, Dada, give us only one--not more. _Dada_ Very well. Now listen: _If bamboos were made only into flutes, They would droop and die with very shame, They hold their heads high in the sky, Because they are variously useful._ Please, gentlemen, don't laugh. Have patience while I explain. The meaning is---- The meaning? What? Must the infantry charge of meaning follow the cannonading of your quatrains, to complete the rout? _Dada_ Just one word to make you understand. It means, that if the bamboos were no better than those noisy instruments---- No, Dada, we must not understand. I defy you to make us understand. Dada, if you use force to make us understand we shall use force to force ourselves not to understand. _Dada_ The gist of the quatrain is this, that if we do no good to the world, then---- Then the world will be very greatly relieved. _Dada_ There is another verse that makes it clearer: _There are numerous stars in the midnight sky, Which hang in the air for no purpose; If they would only come down to earth, For the street lighting they might be useful._